Author: sick skills

It’s time for European Nintendo Download Update, and this week has a number of tempting Switch releases both at retail and as download-only titles. The 3DS and Wii U don’t entirely miss out, while there are also plenty of DLC options and discounts to consider – let’s get into the details, shall we?

Switch Retail Downloads

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo, €59.99 / £49.99) – It’s a series that’s now embedded within Nintendo console gaming culture, offering a hefty dose of immersive (and downright complicated) RPG gaming. This ‘main’ sequel does a lot of things very well and will keep plenty of Switch owners busy into 2018 – here’s our full Xenoblade Chronicles 2 review. Available from 1st December.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 + Expansion Pass (Nintendo, €89.98 / £76.98)

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 (WB Games, €59.99 / £49.99) – For fans of LEGO and Marvel this is high on wishlists, and as expected it serves up crazy crossovers, knockabout charm and an open world to explore. It does very little to take the LEGO series forward, but we gave it a recommendation in our LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 review. Available from 1st December.

SUPERBEAT: XONiC (Rising Star Games, €44.99 / £39.99) – Another welcome music rhythm release on the Switch, adding its own spin to the genre along with 68 songs to play.

Gear.Club Unlimited (Microïds, €49.99 / £44.99) – This aims to fill a gap in the Switch library with realistic driving and some tasty licensed cars. It has multiple modes and local co-op and aims to deliver a premium driving experience; we gave it a test drive in our Gear.Club Unlimited review.

Switch eShop

Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom, €14.99 / £11.99 if you own Resident Evil Revelations 2 on Switch, otherwise €19.99 / £15.99) – Originally a game that showcased the 3DS and its Circle Pad Pro, this solid spin-off entry in the series then made its way to Wii U and other assorted HD platforms. The arrival on Switch offers motion controls that bring back good memories of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. Here’s our Resident Evil Revelations review.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Capcom, €19.99 / £15.99 if you own Resident Evil Revelations on Switch, otherwise €24.99 / £19.99) – It’s the first time that this sequel will be playable on Nintendo hardware; it was an episodic release originally, but now comes as one complete package. We put it to the test in our Resident Evil Revelations 2 review.

Serial Cleaner (Curve Digital, €14.99 / £14.99) – A rather quirky 2D / stealth game in which you play the role of crime scene ‘cleaner’ for the mob. It’s heavily stylised and certainly looks like a fun concept; our review will be with you later today.

Syberia 2 (Microïds, €29.99 / £26.99) – This series of remastered point-and-click titles continues, following a very solid first outing on the Switch not too long ago. “Kate Walker and the eccentric old Hans Voralberg set forth in search of a forgotten world” in this one, which sounds like a reasonable way to pass a weekend.

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth (Flyhigh Works, €5.00 / £4.49) – A title that seems to aim for an atmospheric experience, it’s set millions of years in the future as a small robot tries to find Earth by charting the stars. It looks like a mix of stargazing and a touching narrative, and we’ll see how it fares in a review.

Star Ghost (Rainy Frog / Squarehead Studios, €8.99 / £7.99) – Developed by Rare alumni Rhys Lewis (with music by David Wise), this adds an interesting spin to the sidescrolling space shooter; it has controls not too dissimilar to Barrel Rocket levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns, and we thought it was a darn good combination when we reviewed it on Wii U.

ACORN Tactics (TACS Games, €9.99 / £8.99) – A turn-based strategy title, this sees mechs go to battle with alien blobs over a 25 level campaign, seemingly also offering some nice customisation and depth. We’ll dive in for a review.

MUJO (Oink Games, €8.99 / £8.09) – A blend of match-three and puzzle elements in which you use combinations to destroy mythological monsters. It has a simplistic (but relatively clean) look, but this is a pretty lazy port by the look of things.

Traverse USA (Hamster, €6.99 / £6.29) – This is the first IREM Arcade Archives release, a sentence to cheer the spirit of many retro gamers. Both a motorcycle overhead racing and sprite scaling hybrid game, you trying to get from LA to New York in once piece.

World Heroes (HAMSTER, €6.99 / £6.29) – It’s the Neo Geo ACA series, so we might as well get another fighting game into the line-up. What helps this one stand out is its use of somewhat demented representations of historical figures from through the ages; it was arguably bettered by its sequels, but you can check out our original World Heroes review for another bit of retro goodness.

Switch DLC

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Expansion Pass (Nintendo, €29.99 / £26.99) – If you own the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 game and buy this Expansion Pass, you’ll gain access to some new content, including new story content in fall 2018! On Dec. 1, the Helpful Item Pack will roll out, with the New Quest Pack opening up in January. Plus, the New Rare Blade Pack will be added to the game in spring, with the New Challenge Mode Pack next summer.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Japanese Voice Pack (Nintendo, free)

Sonic Forces: SANIC T-SHIRTS (SEGA, free)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – TP Medal Pack (x5000) (Bandai Namco, €29.99 / £24.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – TP Medal Pack (x2000) (Bandai Namco, €12.99 / £11.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – TP Medal Pack (x1000) (Bandai Namco, €6.99 / £6.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – TP Medal Pack (x500) (Bandai Namco, €3.99 / £3.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – TP Medal Pack (x200) (Bandai Namco, €1.99 / £2.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – Extra Pack Set (Bandai Namco, €16.99 / £14.00)

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – Extra Pack 1 (Bandai Namco, €9.99 / £8.00)

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 – Classic Guardians of the Galaxy Character Pack (WB Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 – Season Pass (WB Games, €14.99 / £11.99)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Bonus Bundle Pack (Rising Star Games, free)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Bundle Pack 1 (Rising Star Games, €4.99 / £3.99)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Bundle Pack 2 (Rising Star Games, €4.99 / £3.99)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Bundle Pack 3 (Rising Star Games, €4.99 / £3.99)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Bundle Pack 4 (Rising Star Games, €4.99 / £3.99)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Americana Exotica (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – iNSANiTY (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track -Skyline (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – ZZuck ZZuck Groove (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Going Back (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – PLUS (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Blue Screen (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Debonair Heavy Industry (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Zombie Chase (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Afternoon of Summer (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Missing Parts (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

SUPERBEAT XONiC EX DLC Single Track – Indigo Wind (Rising Star Games, €1.99 / £1.69)

MUJO – 5 Lightnings (Oink Games, €1.09 / £0.99)

MUJO – 20 Lightnings (Oink Games, €3.49 / £3.19)

MUJO – 45 Lightnings (Oink Games, €5.49 / £4.99)

MUJO – 120 Lightnings (Oink Games, €10.99 / £9.89)

MUJO – 240 Lightnings (Oink Games, €21.99 / £19.79)

MUJO – 480 Lightnings (Oink Games, €40.99 / £36.89)

MUJO – 720 Lightnings (Oink Games, €52.99 / £47.69)

Switch eShop Temporary Discounts

The Bridge (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, €6.99 / £6.29 until 28th December, normally €9.99 / £8.99)

The Jackbox Party Pack (Jackbox Games, €14.69 / £13.29 until 7th December, normally €20.99 / £18.99)

JYDGE (10tons, €11.99 / £10.39 until 7th December, normally €14.99 / £12.99)

3DS eShop

80’s Overdrive (Insane Code, €9.99 / £8.99) – An OutRun-style racer with music by Vectorwolf, this certainly gives us a nostalgic feeling. There’s a Career mode in which you can earn car upgrades, Time Attack, and even a built-in track generator for making your own courses that you can then share. We’ll hit the accelerator and bring you a review soon.

3DS DLC

Culdcept Revolt – Racoon (NIS America, free)

3DS eShop Temporary Discount

Crollors Game Pack (Nvriezen, €0.99 / £0.93 until 31st December, normally €1.49 / £1.39)

New 3DS eShop Temporary Discount

Hit Ninja (Petite Games, €1.39 / £1.25 until 14th December, normally €1.99 / £1.79)

3DS HOME Themes

Xmas with Baby-JC (Animundi, €1.49 / £1.39)

Jurassic Cubs on the snow (Animundi, €0.99 / £0.89)

Nunzy and Bronto on ice (Animundi, €0.99 / £0.89)

JC 3pack Number 10 (Animundi, €2.49 / £2.29)

Wii U Virtual Console

Break In (Konami, €5.99 / £5.39) – The latest TurboGrafx-16 title to arrive courtesy of Konami, this is a retro pool game for your consideration. We weren’t big fans in our original Break In review.

Power Golf (Konami, €6.99 / £6.29) – Konami’s gradual and slightly surprising roll-out of TurboGrafx-16 games on the Wii U VC continues with Hudson’s take on the grand old sport. Unfortunately we were rather unimpressed when we review this on the Wii Virtual Console.

Wii U eShop Temporary Discounts

The Bridge (The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, €6.99 / £6.29 until 28th December, normally €9.99 / £8.99)

Laser Blaster (Petite Games, €1.39 / £1.25 until 14th December, normally €1.99 / £1.79)

---

That’s the full line-up for this week – let us know what you’ll be downloading in the poll and comments below.

• 
• by Damien McFerran
• 12 hours ago

• Share:
• 105

MUJO hits the Switch eShop this week and, in terms of presentation at least, looks pretty appealing. It’s got a cool mythology theme going on and the puzzle-based gameplay is twinned with some neat, RPG-lite elements.

The big problem – as you can see from NintenDaan’s video above – is that it’s basically been ported from smartphones with little (if any) optimisation for Switch. The game is presented in a portrait fashion, just like it would be on a phone’s screen, leaving massive borders down the left and right sides.

Perhaps more egregious is the fact that the game includes premium currency which has to be purchased with real money, yet it costs $9.99. The mobile version has these in-app purchases too, but is free to download.

Oh dear.

Tough-as-nails 3D brawler Furi is coming to the Switch next year, it has been announced.

Featuring character designs by Takashi Okazaki (Afro Samurai) and boasting a soundtrack which contains the likes of Carpenter Brut and Danger, Furi focuses on intense one-on-one battles and has been compared to Japanese titles like No More Heroes, Metal Gear Solid and Godhand.

Creative Director Emeric Thoa explains why this version is so special:

Furi is a game that’s constantly taunting you. There is something deeply personal about a boss fight: it’s just you against one opponent. And being interrupted is even more frustrating than losing. But with the Switch, you can take the game and all of its boss fights with you wherever you go.

The Switch port will have feature parity with other versions and will include all of the content and improvements released so far. The price will be 20/20€.

Our friends over at Push Square awarded the PS4 version 7/10, saying:

Furi excels when you’re in the heat of the moment, fighting for survival against great looking boss characters. Super responsive controls elevate the action, and a fantastic soundtrack only adds to the brilliant rush that the game’s capable of providing – it’s just a shame that everything outside of the crisp combat doesn’t quite measure up. When Furi’s on point, it looks, sounds, and feels incredible, but a little too often, it struggles to maintain its intensity.

Will you be laying down some cash for this when it arrives?

Limited Run Games is famous with collectors for its range of physical releases of digital titles, but the company now has some competition in this arena.

German-based Strictly Limited Games has announced its intention to publish a new physical game each month, with the exact print number of every release being disclosed openly, with no reprints likely. Strictly Limited will also offer original art prints and soundtracks, depending on the games.

The company’s opening releases are Tokyo 42 on PlayStation 4 and Umihara Kawase on PS Vita, but the most exciting news is that the company is working with Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa on the physical release of one of his “never before seen” games. 

While confirmation is expected soon, we’d be willing to bet the farm on this being the legendary Aquario of the Clockwork, which, it was confirmed a while back, M2 has the source files for.

We approached Strictly Limit’s co-founder Dennis Mendel to ask if the firm had plans for Switch, and were told:

A few weeks ago we had the invitation to visit Nintendo of Europe’s Headquarter in Frankfurt, Germany. The next day we were officially licensed for Nintendo Switch.

There are several games that we intend to publish for Nintendo Switch, one of them is our yet to be revealed “mystery project” by the creator of Wonder Boy.

We also have plans to work with Toshinobu Kondo from Studio Saizensen on something related to Umihara Kawase (a series which started on Nintendo Super Famicom in 1994).

It seems that Strictly Limited has big plans for Switch, and if the “mystery game” does indeed turn out to be Aquario, then it will make a lot of Nishizawa fans very happy. What do you think the game will be? Let us know with a comment.

Plenty of publishers are recognising the merits of bringing download games to the Switch eShop, with a number of studios enjoying plenty of success on the store. Armor Games Studios is getting in on the act, confirming that it’s bringing the Massive Monsters-developed title The Adventure Pals to the Switch in Spring 2018 alongside PC / Mac, PS4 and Xbox One releases.

A sidescrolling action game with optional local co-op, it looks rather bonkers – check out a trailer and press release details below.

The Adventure Pals is a side-scrolling action-adventure platformer about friendship and exploration, featuring RPG elements and two-player local drop-in/drop-out co-op. Leap, slash and blast your way through increasingly madcap levels filled with dangerous traps, weird enemies, ridiculous bosses and glorious treasure. Visit friendly towns, unlock fun costumes and fill your scrapbook with secret stickers on a journey with a bizarre but lovable cast and colorfully animated storytelling.

Hop on the back of your giraffe, Sparkles, and discover 105 levels across five whimsical worlds filled with unique quests and characters, including zombie pirate cats, post-apocalyptic dinosaurs and hot dogs that poop explosive mines. Help a whale regain confidence, take a side in the battle between toast and dinosaur, travel to a legendary sunken city, decide the fate of a pirate election and more, all while leveling up to gain new and more powerful abilities!

Is this going on your wishlist for next year?

One of the nicer developments in recent times on My Nintendo has been the addition of full ‘Nindie’ games that can be picked up in exchange for Gold Points. Yes, they’re all Wii U and 3DS titles, but it’s a nice way to try something different for free.

The European service added its latest batch of free downloads last week, and now Nintendo of America has stepped in with four new eShop downloads to choose from. We had a sense of deja-vu looking at the list, and that’s because it’s very similar to previous European updates – check out the details below.

Those are all rather good games, so if any of them passed you by when they originally released they’re all worth consideration.

Will any of you in North America be picking up these My Nintendo rewards?

Thanks to all that sent this in.