Well, this is incredibly odd. A Reddit user by the name of chico24 recently purchased a physical copy of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI on the Switch and found half a game card inside their case.
There’s no information about how this loose chip got inside the case in the first place, but it’s safe to say it shouldn’t be in there. It’s also unknown if it actually works or what it could potentially contain if anyone was able to get it up and running. Maybe it’s the first half of the game.
We’re also left wondering what has happened to the top section of the card. What if there’s another Switch owner out there who opened up their new copy of Civilization VI and found this other half? We can only hope the factory that packaged this game sees this news doing the rounds and tightens up their production line so it doesn’t happen again.
Have you ever found anything weird in one of your game cases? What do you think is on this chip? Tell us down in the comments.
The above photo might look like an old school Nintendo advertisement, but it was actually taken quite recently on the set of the upcoming Marvel film, Avengers: Endgame.
This image was shared on Twitter by the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and shows Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) on a couch together enjoying a two-player Game Boy session with the assistance of a Link Cable. According to IGN, the game they’re playing is Tetris, which was first released on the device in 1989.
If you’re not familiar with either of these stars and have somehow managed to avoid hearing about what is expected to be one of the biggest movies of 2019, it concludes the epic battle between Thanos and Tony Stark’s team of heroes.
Later this year, you’ll also be able to take control of Captain America and Black Widow when Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order arrives exclusively on Nintendo’s hybrid device. Until then, you can always enjoy the free-to-play battle royale game Tetris 99 for a much more modern Tetris fix.
Idea Factory has announced that Super Neptunia RPG will be coming to Nintendo Switch this summer, both digitally and physically.
Developed by Artisan Studios in Canada, this game is said to bring the characters of the Neptunia series to life in “a whole new 2D way”. Each character was hand-drawn by Tsunako, the artist behind the series, and then animated by what the publisher calls “computer magic” to create a world thatâs mysteriously switched from three dimensions to two.
You can probably guess that the game features RPG elements, thanks to that highly self-aware title, and this is made up of side-scrolling dungeons and turn-based battles. We have a list of key features for you to explore below.
Key Features: – New Me in 2D â Your favorite Goddesses jump from three dimensions to two! Artisan Studios and Compile Heart proudly present new, vibrant backgrounds and newly developed 2D animations hand drawn in this action-inspired side-scrolling RPG! With Artisan Studios and Tsunako collaborating to create new background and character art, fans and newcomers alike can see Gamindustri in a new 2D perspective. – Where You Lead, I Will Follow â With four Goddesses to rotate on-the-fly during battle, players can change their formation type and unleash devastating attack combos. Depending on which Goddess is leading the pack, players can strategize attacks from four different formations: Strike, Magic, Support and Heal! – Goddess âbout to Break! â Strut your stuff and dish out your special Break Attack to ensure victory! Armed with their classic ability to transform, the Goddesses gain additional stat bonuses that enhance their attacks and lay waste to any enemy! – Put a +2 Str Ring On It â Strengthen your Goddesses by utilizing Skills and Abilities that can be unlocked with weapons, armors, or accessories! Strategically assign Skills and rearrange your abilities for each battle.
We don’t have any release information beyond the slightly vague “summer 2019” window, but we’re sure a fixed date will be shared in the near future.
Until then, why not let us know your thoughts on this one in the comments below? Will you be picking it up?
Indie publisher Modus Games has today announced that it will release Remothered: Going Porcelain, the second chapter in the psychological horror series, on Nintendo Switch.
The game arrives as a sequel to 2018’s Remothered: Tormented Fathers, a survival horror available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Tormented Fathers was also revealed to be coming to Switch in 2019, although we haven’t heard anything of this release since its announcement back in March 2018.
Details are still rather slim for this new release, too, but Chris Darril, Creative Director of Darril Arts and Remothered, has shared the following in a press release:
âI am immensely proud of the success gained by Remothered: Tormented Fathers and even more proud about the collaboration that will give life to the second title of the trilogy. Get ready for something new, something mad, something to be scared of and to cry for at the same time. Get ready to enter a tragic love story.â
This new sequel is scheduled to arrive on all major platforms in 2020. Hopefully we’ll definitely get the first entry in the series on Switch before that time.
Have you played the original on another platform? Do you like the sound of more horror scaring its way to your Switch? Tell us below.
A brand new games console is about to burst onto the scene and, while it’s still very early days, it looks like the Nintendo Switch might be about to receive a hybrid system rival.
Introducing Evercade, a “brand new handheld console with unique multi-game retro cartridges”. At present, details on the new system are relatively slim, although an FAQ section has been posted on its website to provide a little more info.
The console apparently already has “several publishers” on board, with three soon to be announced; will “play games from the most popular consoles of the 8bit and 16bit era”; has a rechargeable battery which will last for 4-5 hours; has a focus on “quality over quantity”, and can connect to your TV via HDMI. No internet connection is required – the system has a retro, ‘old school’ approach – and it will feature a screen which is 4.3 inches in size (the same size as a PSP).
One answer in the FAQ section explains why the console is being produced:
“Weâre retro gamers. Weâre a team of passionate gamers who want to create a single platform for retro gamers to enjoy their favourite games. We havenât developed this because we âsaw a gap in a marketâ. This is a project being developed with passion.”
Another explains how the games will make their way to the console:
“Where possible, we are working directly with the original software/emulator developers to support them for their hard work and also to ensure their emulation is accurately reflected on our hardware â to deliver the best possible experience for you. We will aim to share more information on this as we reveal more about the console.“
Evercade is set to launch in 2019 (an exact release date and more details will be shared soon). You can sign up your email on the website if you’re interested in learning more.
For now, we’ll leave you with a screenshot of some of the features you can expect to enjoy when it arrives.
What do you think? Are you interested in hearing more? Could this become a major player in the retro scene? Share all your thoughts with us below.
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the series’ trophies were entirely scrapped, replaced instead with Spirits. Collecting all of these Spirits is one heck of a challenge, and there are plenty of characters featured that many will be discovering for the first time, but the descriptions of each character – which used to be presented alongside their trophy – have also been removed.
We’re sure most will agree that this is a bit of a shame – it was great learning about a character’s history once you’d unlocked them – and this has been lost in the new entry. Help is at hand, though, as a group of fans have created a website dedicated to providing descriptions for every single Spirit.
You can go ahead and check it out right here if you’re interested. Aptly called SmashUltimateSpirits.com, the site has imagery and a description for every single Spirit available in the game at the time of writing, right from 0001. Mario to 1303. Piranha Plant.
Do you think the game should have included descriptions of each character? Or are you more than happy with the crazy amount of content already available in the game? Let us know in the comments.
In an article that feels absolutely perfect for our ‘random’ tag, and as a great way to wind down on a Friday afternoon, we present to you this rather alarming Toad video.
Before we explain what’s going on (if that’s possible) and before you see it for yourself, note that this little clip has been shared by an official Nintendo account. The video comes from Nintendo’s Line account – an instant messaging app that’s incredibly popular in Japan – and, at first glance, it’s absolutely bonkers.
We’ve shared it for all to see on our Twitter account. Make sure to turn your sound on as you experience Toad enjoying a good foot pressing.
While Toad’s enjoyment levels seem to be creepily off the charts here, watching the video to the end reveals that the person is actually making him do sit-ups, and not whatever you were thinking at first. What a time to be alive.
So, we’ll never be able to look at Toad the same way ever again. But how about you? Share your current emotions with us in the comments below.
Thereâs an old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, yet while thereâs certainly something to be gained through being inspired by a previously existing work, a new work generally must add something to the mix to keep things fresh and interesting. If the new work fails to add anything fresh, it simply becomes derivative and is almost certainly doomed to wither in the shadow of what came before.
Few games stand as a better example of this than Metagal, a new run ânâ gun platformer that clearly borrows heavily from Capcomâs Mega Man series. Though mildly enjoyable in its own right, Metagal seldom makes any notable efforts to differentiate itself from its inspiration, leaving us with a game that never hits the same highs and often sinks to new lows.
As opposed to Mega Man being predominantly about, well, robot men, Metagalâs âtwistâ is that all the robots this time around are women. The story opens with Dr. Rayâa genius robotics scientistâbeing accosted by the nefarious General Keeper, who wishes for Dr. Ray to give him an android army with which he can conquer the world. When Ray refuses, Keeper uses an android of his own to kidnap Rayâs GAL robots (*cough* Robot Masters *cough*) and presumably turn them evil later on. Meta, who conspicuously isnât present during this confrontation, is thus left as the last GAL robot standing and must embark on a mission to retrieve her sisters, her creator, and save the world from destruction. Itâs about as flimsy of a plot as youâd expect for this sort of game, and while itâs not exactly one that earns points for its originality or intrigue, it does its job well enough.
Metagal follows the old school Mega Man formula to a T, with the bulk of your experience consisting of running and shooting your way through tough, themed levels that culminate in an even tougher boss fight, which then grants you a unique weapon which does increased damage against a boss from one of the other levels. Itâs a straightforward, easy-to-follow structure and Metagal does a solid job of replicating it, but the game manages to fall short of its ambitions by offering up a paltry five main levels, followed by a three-part finale. Itâs no joke to say that you can clear Metagal in its entirety in about two hours on the high end, and for a game thatâs so focused on copying something that came before, it feels a bit odd that there wasnât more effort put into designing at least a few more levels to bring it up to the par of eight bosses.
Unfortunately, the levels themselves arenât terribly compelling to begin with, though there are some positives that first bear mentioning. One area in which Metagal manages to excel is in the overall feel and control of its gameplay; Metaâs running and jumping feels properly tight and the shooting mechanics are snappy, making for a game thatâat least in the moment to moment actionâcan be legitimately enjoyable.
Another (perhaps divisive) element that we feel adds to the experience is the inclusion of passive regeneration for the ammo that your special weapons use. Any weapons aside from Metaâs default blaster use up some or all of a small energy bar devoted to ammunition, but instead of having to rely on randomized energy drops to ensure you can keep using your weapons Ă la Mega Man, the bar just slowly refills once it’s depleted. With this small âquality of lifeâ change, you can use your full arsenal of weapons freely and without fear of wasting shots, and this helps to make enemy encounters feel that much fresher.
The unfortunate reality, however, is that the most difficult enemy you face in Metagal is not found in any of the filler enemies or boss encounters on your adventure, but in the level design itself. Though not to the point of being egregious, Metagal is far too reliant on cheap enemy placement, leaps of faith, and trap sections that require trial and error to properly clear, which makes for a generally frustrating and boring experience. Rather than offering up a legitimate, thoughtful challenge that tests the limits of the playerâs dexterity, Metagal is much more content to simply hide obstacles that a player running blind has no chance of clearing and send them back to the last checkpoint so they can try again.
Granted, this issue is sidestepped somewhat by the âRebirthâ system, which allows you to spend consumable gears dropped by some enemies to start over at the start of the current screen, but thatâs a remedy for a symptom of a deeper issue with the level design. At best, the levels of Metagal are just âokayâ, and at worst, theyâre infuriatingly difficult for all the wrong reasons; for a game that has an unusually low level count to begin with, this issue of poor level design is quite damning.
Similarly, Metagalâs presentation is uninspired and bland, even if much of the pixel art is satisfying to the eye. For starters, the boss designs lack any significant creative spark; all the GALS you face off against are functionally color swaps of each other with a few tweaks and new weapon patterns thrown in. Given the high bar set by Mega Manâs Robot Masters, these GAL designs fail to prove themselves as anything more than lazy, creatively bankrupt rip-offs. To match this, each level is themed after the boss at the end of it, but the unmemorable stage gimmicks and enemy types tend to blend together after a few levels.
To its credit, Metagal features some relatively solid pixel artâsprites are well-detailed and the backgrounds can prove to be especially eye-catchingâbut when the general stage themes are dull to begin with, thereâs only so much that can be done. The soundtrack is equally monotonous, replacing the anthemic notes of many Mega Man tracks with generic, low-key chiptune music that youâre sure to forget almost immediately after hearing it.
Conclusion
You may have noticed that we mentioned Mega Man a lot in this review, and the reason for this is simply that Metagal is so devoid of any defining or memorable traits that it can hardly stand on its own; itâs a game that makes every effort to actively copy something that came before it, and it often falls short of properly doing so. Though it controls rather well and has moments where it almost approaches the quality of its inspiration, the terrible level design, uninspired art direction, and almost criminally short runtime make Metagal a game thatâs difficult to recommend. If youâre a rabid Mega Man fan, have already played all the main games to death, and are desperate for something to fill that void, Metagal is maybe worth your five bucks. Otherwise, weâd encourage you to save your money and put it towards something thatâs more worth your time.
If you love the platforming antics of Celeste, and also happen to love Nintendo’s loveable joyball Kirby, then you’re almost guaranteed to get enjoyment out of this fan-made project.
A team of modders have taken the original Celeste release – a prototype that formed the basis of the full thing we know and love today – and replaced protagonist Madeline with Kirby. As you can imagine, the game gets considerably easier when you can float around and inhale those pesky strawberries, but it’s a fun little thing to play.
We’ve had a quick go ourselves – you can play it too right from your internet browser – and it’s surprisingly good. A remix of a classic Kirby tune helps, but flapping around as our favourite pink blob in Celeste’s world is strangely relaxing. The team explains the reasoning behind the project on its Itch.io page.
“This is an idea that started as a joke during Episode 46 of Youâre Too Show, a podcast where we look for depth and hilarity in kids’ media. Weâve been talking about Kirby: Right Back At Ya! and were struck by a scene in which Kirby falls asleep while fighting. Metaknight says that Kirbyâs freedom from anxiety is his greatest strength. We were like, âWhoa! That reminds me of the feather scene in Celeste. Wouldnât it be funny ifâŠ?â And then we realized it was actually a cute and thematic idea, and put it together over a few weeks as a side project.”
We particularly like the project’s name, too. As fans of puns and clever uses of language ourselves, we give a strong 10/10 to whoever came up with the name ‘Ingeste’. Good work.
A successor to Wiiware’s Retro City Rampage, Shakedown: Hawaii is firing onto Switch and 3DS this spring. Keeping us in a state of excitement for its release is this brand new trailer, which we’ve shared for you up above.
The game is a 16-bit, destructible, open-world adventure that parodies big business and the white collar crimes associated with it. You’ll take control of a trio of protagonists as you build a corporation, acquire businesses, sabotage competitors, rezone land (by demolishing it) and shake down shops for protection money.
The game’s developer tells us that the game is now in console certification, meaning we should hear of an exact release date soon. Until then, though, feel free to learn more with this game overview video. You can never have too much 16-bit chaos beamed into your eyeballs.
Are you looking forward to picking this one up? Will you be getting it for Switch, or giving it a whirl on the good ol’ 3DS? Tell us below.
