Developer and publisher Colorgrave will be launching its gorgeous 2D platformer Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils on the Nintendo Switch eShop next week on August 24th, 2023.
Inspired by handheld platformers, the game puts heavy emphasis on acrobatic movement as you make your way through a series of vibrant levels. You can either take things easy and make sure you pick up every possible item, or race through and aim to complete each level in the best time. Perfect for replays, then.
Here’s a list of features from Colorgrave:
– Experience 2D platforming freedom as you jump and vault as Belle, using her companion Chime to swing on objects or topple enemies. – Each level is built for replayability – go slow and steady to find secrets, or test your skills to find new routes and reach the goal as quickly as possible. – Take a break from the action to explore the overworld or try out minigames. – Think you’ve mastered the game? Check out Arcade Mode after the credits roll for a different play experience with nine levels of difficulty. – Play along to a retro-inspired soundtrack that will have you thinking it’s 1998 all over again.
Does this one look up your alley? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
It’s been 7 years since Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky first launched back in 2016 for the PlayStation 4. Can you believe it?
Despite the mixed reception at launch, the first-person space exploration title received a number of updates and expansions over the ensuing years, substantially improving No Man’s Sky’s reputation amongst fans. Finally, in October 2022, the game launched on the Nintendo Switch, and it was a pretty darn good port, too.
To celebrate, Hello Games has released a new video celebrating the game’s 7th anniversary, looking back on all the major updates released over the course of its life (including some rather grating fan reaction noise in the background).
At the end of the video, however, it also provides a short tease on what’s next for No Man’s Sky, with the word ‘ECHOES‘ materialising on-screen like the opening credits of an ‘Alien‘ movie. That’s really all we have to go on right now, but Hello Games promises that more information will be available very soon.
Are you still playing No Man’s Sky? What are your thoughts on the experience so far? Let us know with a comment.
Developer Worm Club has today announced that the beloved Frog Detective series is coming to Switch in one neat package as Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery scoots over to the Nintendo console later this year.
If you have never come across Frog Detective before, it’s exactly what you might expect. You play as a detective (who is a frog) and solve a series of animal-based mysteries. It’s cute and hilarious and exactly what you would want to see from a game with a title like that.
The three cases — The Haunted Island, The Case of the Invisible Wizard and Corruption at Cowboy County — were originally released on Steam in 2018, 2019 and 2022 respectively, with the low-poly first-person visuals and comedy writing racking up an impressive following ever since. This Switch version will contain all three mysteries plus a brand-new scooter minigame, so you can solve crimes and hang fives like the best of ’em.
For a little more information about what the cases will have in store and a look at some screenshots, check out the following from Worm Club.
About “The Entire Mystery” cases In Case 1, The Haunted Island, a sloth has been haunted for weeks by a mysterious ghost that nobody can seem to track down. Even after hiring a team of ghost scientists, the mystery is no closer to being solved. Luckily for this tropical sloth, and unluckily for this pesky ghost, Frog Detective is here to crack the case! The Haunted Island is the first in this award-winning series, and this bite-sized mystery is what started an international cult obsession with the world of Frog Detective.
In the second mystery, The Case of the Invisible Wizard, we follow the Detective to Warlock Woods, where a celebratory parade for their newest neighbour has been maliciously destroyed. Now the neighbour is nowhere to be seen, and the town is in ruin. Can Frog Detective get to the bottom of things? We sure hope so, otherwise the game would be a bummer.
In the exciting series finale, Corruption at Cowboy County, The Detective and Lobster Cop are tasked with solving the conundrum of a sheriff-less town. But not all is as it seems here, as a surprisingly simple solution to the case reveals a sinister scheme. Maybe crime is real after all…
New stuff in “The Entire Mystery” The Entire Mystery will also feature an exclusive and fun new scooter mini game. Did Tony Hawk ever get a detective game? Checkmate, birdman.
Plus, this will be the first time that Frog Detective will be localised into multiple languages! The game will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
We don’t know exactly when Frog Detective will be leaping our way just yet outside of some point this year, but we will be keeping our magnifying glasses close by in the hopes of uncovering more details over the coming months.
Are you excited to play Frog Detective on Switch? Ribbit your thoughts in the comments below.
You would be forgiven for thinking that Nihon Falcom’s action RPG Popful Mail was a series. In fact, the game underwent so many reimaginings following its release on the PC-8801 in 1991 that you might find a drastically different experience playing it on one console compared to another.
These differences range from additional music and levels to complete graphical overhauls, though perhaps the most interesting change is one that was only ever planned and never saw the light of day: the game was to become part of the Sonic series in its Mega CD form.
Popful Mail would be remade as ‘Sister Sonic’, with the main character, Mail, taking on the role of one of Sonic’s female relatives (not necessarily his sister, confusingly). This would be a remake of Popful Mail for Western audiences (though it was also planned for a Japanese release) with the added pull of Sonic as a recognisable name for those who had not come across the Japanese RPG before.
YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming covered this planned reimagining in a video last month, pointing out that there are no official screenshots or footage from the game’s transformation into a Sonic RPG. The game was definitely in development — as confirmed by the Sega-Falcom director in a November 1992 issue of the Japanese magazine Beep Megadrive — but it appears to have been swiftly cancelled. The channel claims that this was down to backlash in Japan, with fans demanding that a more faithful remake be brought to the Mega CD, however, it appears that this does not explain the project’s full cancellation.
As revealed in a new investigation by our sister site Time Extension, it turns out that the fan complaints only had an effect on the planned Japanese release of the Sister Sonic game. In an interview with Diehard GameFan magazine from 1993 Sega-Falcom director Kazutaka Yano noted that the company was still pressing on with releasing Sister Sonic in America, while Japan would receive the regular Popful Mail on Mega CD.
You can find the director’s quote to Diehard GameFan (via Time Extension) below.
Our plan is to change Popful Mail’s character to Sister Sonic and release it for the foreign market. Sega of America has OK’d the use of this character and many consumers are looking forward to playing an entirely new game based on this character. So we decided to consider them as two different concepts.
The real mystery, then, is why the game never ended up coming in its Sonic form to the West. Unfortunately, this is a mystery that still hasn’t been solved. Time Extension spoke to Victor Ireland of Working Designs, who was able to confirm that the game was planned for release outside of Japan, but even he didn’t know why the West ended up with a faithful remake instead.
So yes, Popful Mail did end up coming to the Mega CD outside of Japan, though it was far closer to the original game than the strange Sonic spin-off that was initially announced. It’s a shame really, we have rather a soft spot for the DS’ Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood so we like the thought of there being more Sonic RPGs out there somewhere.
Whether Popful Mail could have filled that hole, who knows? We never saw any official art of Sister Sonic so your guess of what the red-headed protagonist would have looked like in hedgehog form is as good as ours. Of course, that hasn’t stopped some talented artists from imagining the character for us (perhaps with some help from the Sonic Underground cartoon in which Sonic had an actual sister, Sonia), so let’s finish with a look at what Sister Sonic could have been.
For more information on Popful Mail’s different console variations and the rise of Sister Sonic, be sure to check out Time Extension’s full investigation here.
Would you have wanted to see Popful Mail get reimagined as a Sonic spin-off? Let us know in the comments.
Cast your tired minds all the way back through the mists of time to the year 2010. It was a truly great 12 months for video games, with the likes of Super Mario Galaxy 2, the best Mass Effect – AKA Mass Effect 2 – and the juggernaut that is Xenoblade Chronicles all arriving on the scene. It was also the year that David Cameron was appointed Prime Minister of the UK, but we’ll…eh…let’s not think about that just now.
As highly anticipated and ultimately well-received as these amazing games were, they still stood somewhat in the shadow of the year’s biggest release, the all-conquering behemoth that was Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar Games’ epic Western was a real tour de force, a surprisingly serious, studied, and actually rather emotional rumination on the final days of the American frontier, which also had plenty of toilet humour and knockabout ragdoll violence, of course. It remains one of the highest-ranked games of all time on Metacritic and was heralded as Rockstar’s best work to date by many critics at the time. Now that’s really saying something.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
If you’ve never played it before, you’ve certainly seen and heard plenty about it, we’re sure. It’s one of the all-time greats, it spawned a sequel that’s up there with the very best modern gaming has to offer, and, well looky here pardner, it’s just arrived on Nintendo Switch. We already know some folks aren’t happy about the high price tag *spits chewing tobacco into the dirt* and we’re in agreement on that front, but ’round these parts we’re also concerned with how it plays and performs — whether it’s all hat and no cattle, as the man says.
Well, let’s get straight to it, dagnammit. This is a fine version of a fantastic game, running at a solid 30fps whilst – whether intentionally or not – looking slightly better than we remember from the last time we booted it up on ye olde-timey PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles. If you’ve seen any of the comparison videos currently floating around the internet you may have noticed this Switch port appears brighter and more vibrant in places. It certainly doesn’t seem to have been touched up in any way in terms of its textures or character models, and everything moves and plays as it did, but the lighting here seems a tad more pleasant in places and it’s less fuzzy overall thanks to portable mode’s smaller screen and a slightly higher resolution whilst docked.
In portable mode, the game looks positively radiant, in fact, with that small screen hiding jaggies and making pop-in less noticeable than when you’ve got it hooked up to a TV, where minor flaws and blemishes are laid bare. Blazing across the Wild West on your trusty steed looks great here, then, and during our time with the campaign and the excellent Undead Nightmare, we haven’t had any issues or bugs.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
So, this is John Marston’s odyssey looking and feeling pretty great, an enormous slice of Rockstar’s very best work jammed into portable form in perfect working order. Job’s a good ‘un, slap a 10 on that varmint, send it on up to the ranch, and we’ll mosey on down to the bar for a sarsaparilla. Something like that. If only it were so straightforward. The thing is, no matter how amazing the game is, and it really is still quite something, there’s an underlying lack of reverence here, especially for the price tag, that makes it hard to be as positive as we’d like to about this exciting release.
We’re not expecting Rockstar to turn around and serve us up a fully remastered spectacle, that’s never gonna happen, especially on the ageing Switch hardware, but when it feels so threadbare, when the graphics haven’t had any noticeable touch-ups and when you haven’t added any gyro controls or other bits and bobs, it’s really hard to feel as enthused as we could and should be had we got a little something extra for our money over a decade later.
Yes, you get Undead Nightmare, the highly entertaining single-player zombie DLC, and you’re getting all the rest of the add-ons and updates that came along with the Game of the Year edition, but on the flipside multiplayer is out. That’s a big omission, one that we could perhaps overlook (and fully understand from a technical standpoint) if you weren’t charging us full price for a 13-year-old game. What’s here isn’t anywhere near a shambles like Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition was. If you just want Red Dead Redemption on Switch, well, this is it and it plays and looks fine. But doesn’t a game this great deserve a little more than just ‘fine’? If the Switch can handle The Witcher 3 couldn’t we have had a little more TLC for this older and smaller open-world effort?
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
We’re only slightly disappointed because we care. Thinking back on our first time playing this one, that amazing opening sequence on the train, an opening that absolutely took us by surprise the first time around with its grittiness and willingness to delve straight into the real-world issues of the time. Dutch’s grand speeches, sauntering into Mexico for the first time accompanied by an incredible musical interlude…there’s some timeless stuff here, and that’s all before a highly charged and genuinely emotional ending.
Along the way there are plenty of classic Rockstar side quests, involving a delightfully odd bunch of unsavoury characters, that are a blast to play through for the dialogue and acting as much as for the shooting, and returning to the game now it all holds up pretty well. Yes, it may not match its prequel in terms of gravitas, or with regards to its core gameplay, which is certainly a little janky in places by today’s standards, but it’s still a very good time, with plenty of beautifully framed shots and camerawork ensuring the captivating narrative here doesn’t look all of its 13 years.
In terms of the action at hand, though, it definitely does feel its age, especially with regards to how Marston manoeuvres whilst off his horse. It really does resemble trying to turn a bus in a narrow lane at times. However, the most important stuff — the gunning down of outlaws, gang members, and other folk you just felt like blasting to kingdom come for no good reason — is still fun despite these rough edges, the slo-mo targeting is as slick and stylish as ever, and those exaggerated ragdoll physics never get old as you choose which limbs to pump full of lead. We’ve also been surprised by just how engrossing the story still is. If you’ve played the prequel and never managed to get around to this older game, you should make the time to dive in, as it stands up and enriches the experience of making your way through the events of 2018’s masterpiece.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
Indeed, if you’ve never saddled up and journeyed through John Marston’s epic tale before, regardless of the rather high price tag it’s currently sat at, we still highly recommend picking this one up – it’s a no-brainer if Switch is your only option for doing so – and even those of us who’ve been through it before can find plenty to enjoy in returning to the American frontier to experience it all over again.
So, to the score. We’d love to award a higher number, as the game – and the experience of playing it handheld — is certainly worthy of one, but as things stand this Red Dead Redemption on Nintendo Switch rides into the eShop in perfect working condition, but with zero bells or whistles, and at a price that leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many. This game deserves its remasters, revamps, remakes, and if it can’t get those it at least deserves a little more attention than the no-fuss port we’ve got ourselves here. In the end, it’s your choice whether to saddle up or skedaddle, cowboy.
Conclusion
Red Dead Redemption on Switch is a straightforward port of 2010’s masterpiece with no added bells or whistles for a rather high price tag. If you can get over that, this is a game we highly recommend digging into, especially if you’ve yet to experience it. Rockstar’s Western epic holds up surprisingly well, its story is as powerful as ever, its knockabout action still feels great, and it looks and plays perfectly well on Nintendo’s console. Multiplayer has been cut, which is a sore but understandable excision, and we’d really have liked to see effort put into adding gyro controls or touching up the graphics a little, but it is what it is. This is a proper all-timer ported successfully to Switch and, if you can stump up the cash, you’ll have a great time here regardless of the lack of TLC.
Publisher Dear Villagers has released a playable demo for its upcoming Paper Mario-inspired RPG Born of Bread, and it’s available to download right now on the European eShop (so if you’re in another region, get yourself an additional European account).
The game currently doesn’t have a release date, so it’s actually quite refreshing to be able to play a sample of something that, for now at least, might still be quite a way off. You play as a ‘Flour Golem’ who must team up with a colourful cast of characters and use his eclectic range of abilities to succeed in combat. Attacks require specific button prompts in order to maximise damage, and of course, knowledge of what your enemies are weak against will also give you a much-needed edge.
Here’s some more information from Dear Villagers:
Artistic direction Unique artistic direction Born of Bread’s visuals are a nice mix of 2D characters evolving in a 3D world. While the camera angle is fixed like in a side-scroller, the environment features a lot of depth and players are encouraged to explore the vast levels.
A light-hearted storyline Born of Bread is packed with humor and likable characters. The storyline while tackling serious topics, such as characters growth and the consequences of choices, always manages to remain joyful and funny.
A wonderful cast of buddies! Loaf quest will take him to every corners of the kingdom, where he will meet new buddies who will tag along on his adventure. Each buddy will bring their own set of abilities to the party to help, either in combat or during exploration.
Weapon types Born of Bread’s combat system features different type of weapons with a combination of physical damage types that enemies can resist & special damage types to which enemies are weak to. Find the most efficient combination to overcome villains in style.
QTE turn-based combats In addition to weaknesses and resistances, each type of weapon comes with a QTE that makes combat more interactive and fun.
We’ve tried the demo out for ourselves and it’s really quite charming. The writing is on point and the combat system is very reminiscent of Paper Mario. We like it!
What do you make of Born of Bread? Have you tried out the demo yet? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
Mario Kart Tour‘s Vacation Tour is coming to a close next week, so we have now had our first look at what’s around the corner and this one looks to bring something new to the track.
The ‘Summer Tour’ will be getting off the starting line on 23rd August, introducing a brand-new city course in the shape of ‘Madrid Drive’ — which will see you drive around… uhh… Madrid.
We don’t know all that much about what the upcoming newbie will have in store for us, though the above trailer gives a hint of some hairpin turns around tight street corners, flying through fountains and driving through delis.
There’s only one more pack of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC still to come this year, but we’d say that this new course is certainly a shoo-in for making the jump over to Switch.
Of course, the announcement of the next tour also brought with it the reveal of this update’s Mii Racing Suits. This time, a classic Orange number will be taking the spotlight alongside one that is modelled on a Blooper — inkredible (sorry).
We still have a couple of days left to enjoy the Vacation Tour, which brought the recently-released Squeaky Clean Sprint track over to the mobile game for the first time.
Are you excited to take to the streets of Madrid? Let us know in the comments.
FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, is a lossless audio compression format that preserves all the original audio data. This means that FLAC files can be decoded to an identical copy of the original audio file, without any loss in quality. However, lossless compression typically results in larger file sizes than lossy compression, which is why a method to convert FLAC to lossy formats is desirable. This is where TransFLAC can help.
FLAC is a popular format for archiving digital audio files, as well as for storing music collections on home computers. It is also becoming increasingly common for music streaming services to offer FLAC as an option for high-quality audio.
For portable devices, where storage space is limited, lossy audio formats such as MP3, AAC, and OGG Vorbis are often used. These formats can achieve much smaller file sizes than lossless formats, while still providing good sound quality.
In general, FLAC is a good choice for applications where lossless audio quality is important, such as archiving, mastering, and critical listening. Lossy formats are a good choice for applications where file size is more important, such as storing music on portable devices or streaming music over the internet.
TransFLAC: Convert FLAC to lossy formats
TransFLAC is a command-line application that converts FLAC audio files to a lossy format at a specified quality level. It can keep both the FLAC and lossy libraries synchronized, either partially or fully. TransFLAC also synchronizes album art stored in the directory structure, such as cover, albumart, and folder files. You can run TransFLAC interactively in a terminal window, or you can schedule it to run automatically using applications such as cron or systemd.
The following four parameters must be specified:
Input FLAC Directory: The directory to recursively search for FLAC audio files. The case of the directory name matters. TransFLAC will convert all FLAC audio files in the directory tree to the specified lossy codec format. The program will resolve any symlinks encountered and display the physical path.
Output Lossy Directory: The directory to store the lossy audio files. The case of the directory name matters. The program will resolve any symlinks encountered and display the physical path.
Lossy Codec: The codec used to convert the FLAC audio files. The case of the codec name does not matter. OPUS generally provides the best sound quality for a given file size or bitrate, and is the recommended codec. Valid values are: OPUS | OGG | AAC | MP3
Codec Quality: The quality preset used to encode the lossy audio files. The case of the quality name does not matter. OPUS STANDARD quality provides full bandwidth, stereo music, good audio quality approaching transparency, and is the recommended setting. Valid values are: LOW | MEDIUM | STANDARD | HIGH | PREMIUM
TransFLAC allows for customization of certain items in the configuration. The project wiki provides additional information.
This game blends dance, paint graffiti, beats, and tricks as you face off against rival crews and dispatch the military police to conquer the five boroughs of New Amsterdam. It also happens to be a really busy week with games like Red Dead Redemption and Vampire Survivors also arriving on the Switch.
It’s got us wondering who will be showing their support for this one, with its exclusive Switch launch today. Other platforms will receive this title in September. So vote in our poll and leave a comment below.
Will you be getting Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on Switch? (1,766 votes)
Cult of the Lamb was one of the indie highlights of 2022 and since its successful launch on the Switch, it’s received multiple updates and even some DLC.
The next batch of content that’s been teased is a collaboration with the ‘Don’t Starve‘ series. Here’s the line attached to the latest trailer: “The portal has opened but will the Lamb survive?”. This update, whatever it happens to be, will be officially revealed on 21st August.
Don’t Starve developer Klei has also confirmed this collaboration with its own trailer. It seems to suggest Cult of the Lamb might even be coming to the Don’t Starve series, but again – we’ll just have to wait and see.
If you haven’t played Cult of the Lamb or Don’t Starve yet, be sure to check out our reviews here on Nintendo Life.
Would you be interested in revisiting Cult of the Lamb for this upcoming collab? Comment below.
