Rad Rodgers Radical Edition will be locking and loading on Nintendo Switch very soon indeed, with a brand new trailer (up above) confirming that the game will be available from 26th February.
As had already been revealed towards the end of last year, the Switch version will boast all-new content in the form of local co-op support, a versus mode, and several new playable characters. The Radical Edition adds ‘90s gaming stars Duke Nukem, Lo Wang from Shadow Warrior, and Cosmo from Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure, as well as 3D Realms’ Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison from Bombshell and the upcoming Ion Maiden.
Other new features include new levels, abilities, mini-games, a new overworld, and “tons of new secrets, collectables and unlockables”. Frederik Schreiber, co-owner of publisher 3D Realms, has shared the following in a press release today:
“We love Rad, and we thought he deserved some awesome new friends to play with. With new levels, weapons, couch co-op and a versus mode, I think our fans may have a hard time putting this game down.”
As noted above, the game arrives on Switch on 26th February; the new content will also be added to the game on other platforms as a free update on the same day.
Is this cheeky adventure going on your Switch wishlist? Let us know down below.
Targem Games has revealed that it will be bringing its arcade racer BlazeRush to Nintendo Switch, the first of its games to arrive on the console.
The game is described as a “dynamic arcade racing survival game” with no health, no levelling up and, terrifyingly, no brakes. There’s quite an emphasis on local and online multiplayer here – the developer notes that setting up multiplayer games is “easy” – and players can team up to enjoy wreckless, explosive mayhem.
Targem Games has shared a little more info in a comment on its YouTube trailer upload, and we’ve tracked down a list of the game’s key features for you below.
“Another interesting feature of the game: there is no health and damage from weapons — only physical interaction. No matter how many shells hit you, as long as you can stay on the road — you’re in the race. This creates unpredictable situations on the track between the players, you can really feel the physics of the game. Intense, insane, yet intuitive”
Key features:
Simple multiplayer. Up to 4 players locally and up to 8 players over the Internet;
Couch vs. couch. Start races with local players;
Connect to the game at any time;
Dozens of fun tracks on three planets, 16 cars and a variety of cool guns;
Lots of medals for various tricks and antics.
The game is scheduled to arrive on Switch on 19th February, so just one week from today, although no pricing has been confirmed just yet. It originally launched on Steam back in 2014 receiving “very positive” user reviews.
Do you like the look of this one? Will you pick it up if the price is right? Let us know with a comment.
Nintendo has revealed that a brand new Nintendo Direct will air tomorrow, and the internet can finally calm down for a few days.
The show will be approximately 35 minutes long and will focus on upcoming Nintendo Switch games, including Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Fire Emblem is currently slated for a spring 2019 release, so hopefully we’ll get a proper release date.
The Direct will be streamed live at 11pm CET tomorrow (so that’s 10pm GMT / 2pm PST / 5pm EST).
As always, we’ll be covering the entire thing right here on Nintendo Life, so make sure to get your excited selves back here at that time.
Right, go on then… What do you expect to see? Comment away!
Some video games gently pull you through a narrative experience, offering the player everything they need along the way without any barriers or fuss. Movement is unrestricted, the environment is an ally, and there are no pressures of failure or time in sight. And then there is The King’s Bird.
Developer Serenity Forge has thrown their hat into the precision-platformer ring with a game that poses no lack of challenge nor demand of skill. Those who live by the “git gud” mantra may feel right at home here, although there are a few noteworthy wrinkles that keep The King’s Bird from being too derivative of similar indie outings.
The adventure begins when a feminine figure awakens and makes her way toward a brief, heated confrontation with a royal father figure; or at least, presumably so, since “dialogue” is delivered via musical sound effects, and no text accompanies the exchange. Further clues to the underlying story can be found in background murals, and perhaps in considering the general no-longer-pristine state of the world.
Our titular bird gains a flowy white scarf, along with the power of flight (or gliding, more accurately), and thus embarks on her journey. The tutorial intro offers sections to practice her platforming abilities, along with background art depicting button-presses and her position to match. She can scamper onto ledges, she can wall-jump, she can slide down inclines, she can zip down slanted ceilings. This is a game of momentum – building it, keeping it, mastering it.
The protagonist can dash with RZ and glide in midair with LZ. It is from these two moves that her repertoire unfolds and the player will form chains of button commands to traverse the dozens of stages to come. The gliding feels great, something akin to the cape from Super Mario World, and forms the highlight of The King’s Bird – building speed and launching into the skies, carefully steering over and under the features of the landscape, offers a real thrill.
The King’s Bird is trying to set itself apart from other platformers with this gliding mechanic, but what might be more interesting is another, more subtle movement: not only can the protagonist wall-jump, but when she uses a dash on contact with a wall, she will dash upward against the wall somewhat. This is used constantly for traversal throughout the levels, and by gaining altitude is combined with the gliding to unlock new vertical possibilities. The design philosophy is to tie double-jumping to wall contact, rather than have it freely available, and this distinction allows for some very tight, twitchy little spots of intense challenge.
The player’s mastery of these movements is put to the test across four worlds, or Kingdoms rather: Forest, Lake, Sky, and Fallen. Each of these worlds has a hub area, where doorways can be unlocked to access smaller groupings of four levels each. Beating a foursome unlocks a new doorway, until the player has earned access to a Shrine, which adds a wrinkle to the story and transitions to the next area. In each individual level, the aim is simple: reach the goal at the end.
Although the Kingdoms vary slightly in theme, this game takes a minimalist approach to graphical detail and narrative weight. The limited-palette, high-contrast visuals are just the table setting for a steady diet of every possible permutation of Dash and Glide and Jump trajectories. The design is very tight, with very little room for error – some areas especially so – and even more especially so toward the endgame.
The player’s only foe is their self, in a sense, because there are no enemy characters. Death comes at the hand of bottomless pits, or water, or ever-presents thorns that dot and blot and cover this world. Fortunately, checkpoints are plentiful, and respawns are near-instant to the last one attained. An outside observer may think some of these lamppost checkpoints are comically close together; although, upon actually playing the thing, you will be grateful for each and every one.
One other gameplay aspect is optionable collectables called Spirit Birds that populate each stage. Touching them enables them to follow you for the rest of the level, which becomes a pretty sight when you have several. The problem is that they are small, compared to an already-small protagonist, and easy to lose sight of against some of the lighter backgrounds. Ultimately, this does not mean much, since they do not affect progress, but collecting them all in order to unlock a little more story flavour is likely too much of a pain for most to bother dealing with.
The King’s Bird sports an enjoyable soundtrack, gracious in how its melancholy melodies never overpower what’s happening on-screen, but accompany them with a consistent, pleasant sensation from rich arrangements. Between that and the unobtrusive plot, along with the somewhat minimalist graphics, at least Bird makes its intentions clear. This is a precision platformer through and through, head to tail, and the player will need to accept this wholeheartedly if they wish to succeed.
Later sections will ask the player to not only defy gravity, but slap its mother and call it nasty names. Some portions have near-zero room for failure, and may take many, many attempts to conquer. We imagine many players will swear under their breath at this game, but learning to laugh at the sudden inexplicable deaths might be key to improving. The vast majority of the spaces in this game only have one way out, and it is up to the player to figure out the methodology through good ol’ trial and error. This can be an irritating headache, for sure.
The King’s Bird is a game built for speedrunners and high-skill players. If there was any doubt, it should be noted that the majority of the in-game text takes the form of showing the player their best time per any stage. The message here, even in completing it, is to try again and improve.
However, there is one saving grace that must be mentioned, one addition to The King’s Bird that truly adds a valuable dimension: Assist Mode. For those who want an easier playthrough, or are stuck at a particularly difficult passage and need a little help, Assist Mode can be activated and change some game parameters. You can opt for longer glides, or to no longer be harmed by the spiky surfaces, or even skip to the next checkpoint altogether. There are several different options to toggle on or off in any combination the player would like, in order to craft an experience more tailored to their taste for challenge. The Assist Mode is the refreshing cherry on top of what would otherwise feel more like a torturous slog throughout, though even with all its assistance the player will still probably have problems with the final area of the game when the entire formula suddenly changes.
Although The King’s Bird definitely reaches heights of difficulty at times, at least it does to transparently, and presents prospective gliders with a simple question: can you train yourself to beat this challenge? Ultimately the answer is ‘yes’, but whether or not you’ll want to devote the time is up to how much you enjoy the genre.
Disclosure note: During our playthrough, we encountered a couple different progress-affecting bugs in the lategame. We got in touch with Serenity Forge, and they were able to help navigate these spots. It is our understanding that they have a patch ready to go, and it should “fix all later-game crashing issues across the board.”
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with some cute and cuddly Nintendo characters.
Nintendo eShop There’s nothing more romantic than holding your loved one close as you explore a haunted house in the Luigi’s Mansion™ game for the Nintendo 3DS™ family of systems. You can find more great titles in the Games You’ll Love and Retro Romance collections.
Play Nintendo The Valentine’s Day activities on Play Nintendo are perfect for younger players and their families. Grown-ups will love them, too! You can turn foes into friends with charming printable cards, or take a quiz to find out which Nintendo character could be your video-game Valentine!
My Nintendo This month is all about sharing the love, and My Nintendo is doing just that with fun new rewards featuring everyone’s favorite pink puff, Kirby! Use your My Nintendo Points* to download fun printables, wallpapers for your PC or smart device, or an episode of the Kirby™: Right Back At Ya! show.
For Nintendo 3DS systems, use Parental Controls to restrict 3D mode for children 6 and under.
Nintendo has shared a brand new video interview with Motion Twin, the developer behind one of Switch’s most recent success stories, Dead Cells.
When it launched last summer, Dead Cells received an awful lot of praise from critics (including ourselves) and was soon devoured by gaming fans around the world as they heard about its excellent roguelike design. The game sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week, and since then, Motion Twin has revealed that, while there are no plans for a Dead Cells 2, the studio has been hard at work on a DLC package and smaller updates.
Motion Twin’s Steve Filby and Sebastien Bénard briefly discuss these plans in the video above, talking about the game’s surprising success and reiterating their plans for DLC. One particular tidbit worth noting is talk of the game reaching 60fps; the developer publicly apologised for the Switch version’s frame rate drops last summer, but Filby mentions in the interview that a full 60fps has now been achieved internally. Hopefully this improvement will arrive in the game soon.
Make sure to check out the full interview above and share your thoughts with us in the comments. Have you played Dead Cells? What did you think?
Since launching back in March 2017, the Switch has amassed a pretty impressive collection of different Joy-Con options. Don’t get us wrong, we feel like there could be lots more – just think about how many franchise-specific 3DS consoles were released – but by mixing up each side you can create a whole lot of combinations.
In what must have taken a seriously impressive amount of effort, Reddit user FoxyPMC has created and shared an image of every single Joy-Con combo available to date. This image includes the standard colours readily available at retail, as well as weird exclusives like the Labo Joy-Con, the mustard-coloured Pokémon: Let’s Go design, and even Hori’s blue D-Pad Joy-Con.
If you’re struggling to see the designs up close, check out FoxyPMC’s spreadsheet here. The spreadsheet contains tabs that show exclusive docks and systems, too (as well as being ready to edit should more Joy-Con designs pop up in the future).
Have you collected many of the different Joy-Con? Do you like to switch them around, or do you have a preferred set which stays on at all times? Let us know in the comments.
We’re pretty used to seeing glitches in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at this point – an inevitability really, considering the huge number of possible inputs and actions players can cause within the game – and this one joins the glitch roster in style.
Seemingly discovered by Twitter user, Nudolf, this glitch causes an odd little scenario with assist trophies. Exact details for replicating the glitch aren’t clear, but it only happens when an assist trophy is attracted to a player through a Spirit ability – as you can see below, the trophy is attracted to the player while floating through the air, causing it to land incorrectly and bounce up and down.
From there, the trophy follows the player’s movements and, if you’re patient enough, the black shadowy figure actually starts to creepily edge its way out of its casing. We know the game is centred around freeing spirits, but we didn’t expect to see this kind of thing going on.
This isn’t the first time a glitch has been found with the game’s assist trophies; back in December, a glitch was found which could make infinite versions of the trophy character appear on screen. We don’t know which one’s the most terrifying, really.
Are you still playing through World of Light and snagging all of those Spirits? Let us know in the comments.
Flyhigh Works has revealed that Alchemic Dungeons DX will be its next game headed to Nintendo Switch, and it’s set to launch on the system later this week.
Originally launching on 3DS as just Alchemic Dungeons, this updated Switch version has been revamped with new content and updated aesthetics. The new edition includes new characters, items, and dungeons, as well as enhanced background music and visuals (although it still keeps its original retro feel throughout).
If you missed this one on 3DS, the game blends roguelike mechanics with item crafting, taking place in randomly generated dungeons where you must progress by taking on turn-based battles. We’ve got a collection of screenshots for you to check out below.
Alchemic Dungeons DX launches worldwide on Nintendo Switch on 14th February. Pricing will be set at $7.99 / €7,99.
Does this look like your kind of thing? Will you be enjoying your Valentine’s Day in the company of retro monsters? Let us know in the comments.
Joining Spyro Reignited Trilogy on the list of worst-kept secrets on Switch, the recently revealed Assassin’s Creed III remaster once again looks well and truly set to arrive on Nintendo’s machine. This time, the ‘leak’ comes from Ubisoft itself.
Just like Spyro, Assassin’s Creed III Remastered has been heavily rumoured for Switch for some time but has never officially been announced. The first rumours came from a German retail listing which suggested an ‘Assassin’s Creed Compilation’ was set to arrive on Switch and other consoles and, not long after, multiple retailers listed the remastered game under its proper title as coming to Switch, too.
Despite all of this, a press release sent from Ubisoft just last week finally spilt the beans on the game’s official release date, clearly stating that it would arrive on PS4, Xbox One and PC. No Switch version was mentioned at all, and while we thought it could be down to Nintendo holding the announcement back for an upcoming Direct, it seemed like a Switch version was potentially out of the question, at least for the time being.
Now, though, as originally spotted by Twitter user @AwesomePlatter, the game is available to view on the Ubisoft Club website. You have to be logged in to view the game, but listed clearly alongside those previously mentioned platforms is ‘Switch’. We’ve grabbed a screenshot for you below.
A screenshot of the Ubisoft Club website
If Ubisoft’s own website has the game listed under Switch, and multiple retailers have a very convincing boxart image of the game along with fixed release dates, it’s got to be coming to the console, right? We still haven’t received official confirmation that the game is indeed coming to Switch, but it seems incredibly likely now.
Do you think it’s only a matter of time before it gets properly revealed? Do you think it is being held back for a Nintendo Direct? Tell us below.
