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Nintendo Download: 20th December (Europe)

Firewatch!

The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Switch Retail – New Releases

Fitness Boxing (Nintendo, €49.99 / £29.99) – It’s time to get moving! In Fitness Boxing, you can participate in boxing-based workouts while bopping along to instrumental versions of some popular music hits! Whether it’s becoming more fit, improving general well-being, targeting specific areas of the body, or simply getting active with a friend, grab a Joy-Con (or two!) and box to the beat as you work towards the fitness goals you’ve set. Your very own fitness instructor will provide encouragement during your workouts, and guide you through the poses and motions…until you master them all!

Switch eShop – New Releases

Firewatch (Campo Santo, €19.99 / £14.99) – Perched high atop a mountain, it’s your job to look for smoke and keep the wilderness safe. An especially hot, dry summer has everyone on edge. Your supervisor Delilah is available to you at all times over a small, handheld radio—your only contact with the world you’ve left behind. But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the forest, you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have. – Read our Firewatch review

Bring Them Home (Higgs Games, €11.99 / £10.79) – Since each astronaut has unique abilities, complex puzzle worlds must be mastered to find a way out. Explore many interesting locations, activate and use different mechanisms to bring the brave heroes home! This is the moment to embark on a unique journey into space! Find your way through places full of obstacles!

City Builder (BoomBox, €9.99 / £8.99) – City Builder combines two classic game mechanics in a fun, bouncy new game where players stack pipes, roads and power lines to form ever-larger cities, moving from one to the next across the planet’s continents. Along the way, they run into a large number of challenges, ranging from clever/pesky Mole-men to the elusive Bigfoot, Aliens, Wandering Hot-Air Balloons, Huge Bonus Levels and much more.

Hardway Party (Wastelands, €1.99 / £1.99) – Hardway Party is a fast-paced arcade game. Unlock over 50 unique cars and over a dozen worlds. Play with up to 3 of your friends in versus mode or crazy survival mode. If that’s not enough, show off your skills in 6 differently-themed missions. Let’s get the party rollin’!

InkyPen (InkyPen, Free) – Get your hands on thousands of comics with a monthly subscription. InkyPen includes comics from across the globe. From big name publishers to indies and webcomics. Including comics such as Hellboy (Dark Horse), Robotech (Titan), Transformers and Judge Dredd (IDW), Sarah’s Scribbles (Andrews McMeel Universal) and many, many more.

Nippon Marathon (Pqube, €12.99 / £11.99) – Stretch your muscles and embark upon the ultimate marathon of Japan in a crazy party racer! Hurdle barrels, outrun Shiba Inu and dive out of the paths of bicycles – all while throwing fruit at your opponents and dashing across planks precariously balanced over waterfalls in an unreal marathon across the whole of Japan!

Party Arcade (FarSight Studios, €24.99 / £19.99) – Party Arcade is a family-friendly party game. We are creating a virtual modern arcade starting with 13 games (with more to come) where players collect tickets, unlock different equipment skins, and battle against family/friends at home or online across the world! With 13 games, a ticket system which rewards players, customizes their equipment look, and allows them to compete with others around the world, the goal is to make Party Arcade the premier party game experience for any platform or console!

Donut County (Annapurna Interactive, €11.99 / £10.99) – Donut County is a story-based physics puzzle game where you play as an ever-growing hole in the ground. Meet cute characters, steal their trash, and throw them in a hole. Raccoons have taken over Donut County with remote-controlled trash-stealing holes. You play as BK, a hole-driving raccoon who swallows up his friends and their homes to earn idiotic prizes.

Sheltered (Team 17, €11.99 / £7.99) – After a global apocalypse, you take on the role of protecting four family members living in a deserted underground shelter. Their well-being and survival are your responsibility. One bad decision and a loved one is gone, forever. – Read our Sheltered review

Dreamwalker (Code Mystics, €4.39 / £3.99) – Meet Walker. Walker is wandering the land of dreams, following his sleepy path amongst the clouds and stars. Guide Walker peacefully through Dreamland to Sunrise without him waking up. But be careful… Walker faces many challenges to a good night’s sleep! Alarm Clocks, Early Birds, and Night Mares thwart your efforts.

RAZED (Pqube, €9.99 / £9.29) – RAZED is a lightning-fast, single-player platform racing game that’s all about speedrunning. Sprint through dynamic neon levels in the quickest time possible, employing skills such as super-speed boosts, mega-jumps, drifts, stomps and strafes to bypass obstacles and uncover shortcuts to propel yourself up the online leaderboards. But there’s a catch: powers cost momentum, and if your energy falls too low your shoes (and you) could very well explode…

ACA NEOGEO PUZZLE BOBBLE (HAMSTER, €6.99 / £6.29) – “PUZZLE BOBBLE” is an action puzzle game released by Taito in 1994. Bub and Bob, the bubble spitting dragons from the action game, BUBBLE BOBBLE, are back in a new bubble-based puzzle! Skillfully bounce bubbles off the walls and match 3 or more bubbles of the same colour to erase them! Enjoy the easy to learn, but hard to master, bubble shooter puzzle game!

Awe (BLG-Publishing, €4.99 / £4.49) – Awe is a god-game about expressing one’s creativity by shaping and building planets’ ecosystems in a tranquil, relaxing ambience accompanied by exquisite, minimalist low-poly 3D art and atmospheric music. A constant sense of progression and discoveries will maintain the player’s interest throughout puzzle-like levels, leading him to eventually understand his place and purpose as a god in this universe he has created. The objective is not to make a difficult game, and although some puzzles may seem more complex than others, they are always easily solvable.

Chronus Arc (KEMCO, €12.99 / £11.69) – On their way to the Chronus Shrine to get the Chronus Fragments, Loka and his teacher Teth are surrounded by a mysterious man named Geppel and his gang. They demand the Fragments. While Teth plays for time, Loka rushes out of the cave on his own to fetch reinforcements. He is successful, but Teth and Geppel are nowhere to be found. Aiming to gather information about his missing teacher, Teth, Loka decides to set out on a journey with his friend Sarna.

Funghi Puzzle Funghi Explosion (D3 Publisher, €17.00 / £18.29) – Easy to play alone and fun with a friend, this puzzle game is great for beginner or veteran alike. The rules are simple: gather up three of the same Funghi to make them disappear. Funghis will sprout on the log depending on how many blocks you’ve cleared. When the log is full, the Funghis will be loaded into a box, earning you points.

Guess the Character (JanduSoft, €2.99 / £2.69) – Guess the Character is a two-player guessing game. Each player starts the game with a board that includes cartoon images of 24 people. The game starts with each player with a random character from the board. The object of the game is to be the first to determine which character one’s opponent have.

Horizon Shift ’81 (Funbox Media, €7.99 / £7.19) – The player controls a ship in the centre of the screen, enemies approach from the top and bottom and the player is able to switch up and down to deal with the encroaching hoard. Different enemies react differently when they reach the horizon, some sit on the horizon, some destroy sections of the horizon and some run up and down the horizon. The player is equipped with a dash attack where they can knock enemies off the horizon and smash them into other incoming enemies for a score bonus. Dashing an enemy of the line refills the dash metre allowing for ‘Dash chaining’, this is where the big points are scored.

Kingmaker: Rise to the Throne (Artifex Mundi, €14.99 / £13.49) – Two royal knights, Edmund and Randall Ulmer, are tricked into a conspiracy against the crown. Pursued by the royal guard and ruthless conspirators, the brothers embark on a dangerous journey that will uncover the kingdom’s shameful secrets, restore the honour of the Ulmer family and change their fate forever.

Leopoldo Manquiseil (BLG-Publishing, €5.99 / £5.39) – The video game industry is in danger! A dishonest organisation (A.M.E.) has set out to monopolize the industry and thus control the minds of the players. Developers and distributors have two options: either they take their side or else the market will end up crushing them. The freedom of creation has disappeared and only small independent studios seem to offer a small resistance.

Nightshade (D3 Publisher, €47.99 / £43.19) – A romance visual novel game made in collaboration with D3P Otomebu and Red Entertainment, two companies known for their creative range and production of heavyweight visual novel games. Character design and illustrations are by the popular illustrator Teita. The romance revolves around Ninjas who have lived through the Sengoku Period. The story is set in Japan soon after the Sengoku Period. Follow the romances between the protagonist and other main characters through a compelling tale of conflicting loyalties.

Revertia (PLiCy, €3.99 / £3.99) – By turning over the panel and sandwiching the others like Reversi, you can see various actions such as making footholds, erasing obstacles, beating and dropping enemies. Make full use of the actions and solve puzzles to get to the goal!

TRYBIT LOGIC (HIMACS, €5.24 / £4.54) – TRYBIT LOGIC is a fun puzzle game that lets you learn about logical operations used in computer programming. Strategically combine the logical operations panels to defeat the bugs. If a bug’s switch reaches 0000 or 1111, you can destroy it!

Viviette (DYA GAMES, €9.99 / £9.99) – Uncover the secrets and mysteries of Neuville’s Mansion. Test your logic against diverse puzzles, locate and use a variety of items, and don’t lose your sense of direction, as navigation itself becomes an obstacle in your path.

Arcade Archives DONKEY KONG JR. (HAMSTER, €6.99 / £6.29) – “DONKEY KONG JR.” is an action game released by Nintendo in 1982. Donkey Kong has been captured and caged in his latest encounter with Mario. Donkey Kong Jr. is on his way to set him free! Skillfully utilise jumps and the cranes to avoid enemies, get to the top, and steal the cage’s key from Mario.

Clouds & Sheep 2 (HandyGames, €9.99 / £8.99) – Plant grass, flowers, trees and shear your animals’ different-coloured wool to stock up your resources! Collect happy stars, harvest wood and flower petals and use them to provide your flock with food, accessories, toys and more! Control the clouds and make it rain to ensure your sheep never run out of fresh water to drink. If your sheep feel happy and content, they’ll bring tiny lambs into the world!

Dynamite Fishing – World Games (HandyGames, €9.99 / £8.99) – Join the fun in this wild fishing action and rush across the seven seas. Fly fishing is boring! Grab your guns and explosives and let’s catch some fish REDNECK STYLE! Forget about idyllic ponds or beautiful coral reefs. Dynamite Fishing – World Games will ship you to the best fishing spots all over the globe including an awesome jungle adventure! Choose your favourite characters and boats, explore the most daring scenarios and catch as many fish as you can.

Jewel Fever 2 (Sprakelsoft, €3.99 / £3.59) – “Jewel Fever 2” is an addictive match-3-puzzle-game! Three game modes: Normal, Quick and Infinite. 15 Objectives to be completed (in normal-mode or quick-mode). Combos: You can achieve more points by making combos! HD graphics

Sundered: Eldritch Edition (Thunder Lotus Games, €19.99 / £15.49) – Confront hordes of terrifying enemies in an ever-changing world inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Sundered is a challenging and unique take on a classic genre from the creators of Jotun, now with local co-op! You play Eshe, a wanderer in a ruined world, trapped in ever-­changing caverns filled with hordes of terrifying enemies. Harness the power of corrupted relics to defeat gigantic bosses, at the cost of your humanity. Resist or embrace. – Read our Sundered: Eldritch Edition review

Koloro (QubicGames, €4.99 / £4.49) – Embrace a unique one-button gameplay, lovable characters, a wonderful art style and a captivating soundtrack. Play the adventure alone or with a friend as a team in a cooperative mode. Once this is over, a hard mode will keep challenging you!

Mana Spark (QubicGames, €4.99 / £4.49) – Explore a dreadful dungeon and fight smart enemies that will plan and collaborate between themselves to defeat you.

Wondershot (QubicGames, €4.99 / £4.49) – Enjoy a new “couch game” with your friends and family, presented by the publishers of the best-selling Astro Bears Party. No luck, just skill and rage! Hilariously intense multiplayer battle arena! You only have one ammo to defeat your opponent. Miss your target and you will have to pick it back up or steal your enemy’s!

Mech Rage (Drageus Games, €9,99 / £8.99) – The aliens are coming! The life of your crew is in your hands. Can you defend your ship from the pesky invaders? Take control of a powerful Combat Mech and take them head on! Upgrade your abilities and weapons to be able to stand your ground against increasingly more overwhelming enemy assault. Show off your combat skills, reflexes and endurance. Remember: even the smallest mistake can lead to an abrupt end of your adventure!

Paladins Obsidian Pack Bundle (Hi-Rez Studios, €14.99 / £13.49) – Ride into battle atop a gleaming Obsidian Warhorse, exclusive to this great Paladins bundle! Even better: You’ll get 3 MILLION Battle Pass XP to level up and unlock sweet loot. And you’ll get 200 Crystals to unlock your favourite Skin, Emote, or Voice Pack!

Paladins Digital Deluxe Edition (Hi-Rez Studios, €59.99 / £53.99) – The ultimate Paladins experience. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes the Champion Pack and the Season Pass 2018. Enjoy every current and future Paladins Champion — forever. Instantly unlock all three Battle Passes for 2018 and get sweet loot all year long. Plus, we’re throwing in 1,500 Crystals that you can use however you want in Paladins. There’s no better deal in the Realm.

Paladins Season Pass 2018 (Hi-Rez Studios, €39.99 / £35.99) – The Paladins Season Pass 2018 makes every game matter more! You’ll immediately unlock the current Battle Pass and the Remix Strix skin. And you’ll be on your way to unlocking even more rewards! Plus: Get 1,500 Crystals to claim your favourite Skins in the Realm, and instantly unlock the Limited rewards for Battle Pass 1 and 2.

Paladins Champions Pack (Hi-Rez Studios, €17.49 / £15.79) – Every Paladins Champion. Forever. Purchasing the Champions Pack will immediately unlock all 35+ Champions currently in Paladins. Plus, you’ll also get all future Champions as soon as they are released. If you previously unlocked Champions in Paladins, your account will be refunded the gold value for those Champions when you purchase the Champions Pack.

Switch eShop – Demos

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story Demo (Pqube, Free) – Oversee the development of your hero school, build structures, upgrade facilities, and manage the day-to-day activities of your students. Train your warrior, mage, and ranger students to hone their abilities and unlock powerful sub-classes such as paladin, scholar, harlequin and more! Deploy students on timed errand missions across the world or head out to take on quests with your own squad to experience the adventure first-hand

Jewel Fever 2 Demo (Sprakelsoft, Free) – “Jewel Fever 2” is an addictive match-3-puzzle-game! Three game modes: Normal, Quick and Infinite. 15 Objectives to be completed (in normal-mode or quick-mode). Combos: You can achieve more points by making combos! HD graphics.

3DS eShop – New Releases

PixelMaker Studio (Nostatic Software, €9.99 / £8.99) – Using easy to use tools on your Nintendo 3DS, you can design images as simple or as complex as you like. Experiment, and create characters and scenes based on your favourite classic video games, or draw straight out of your own imagination!

Switch eShop – Pre-Orders

99Seconds (EnjoyUp Games, €1.97 / £1.77, pre-order from 17/12/2018) – 99Seconds, a fun, retro-style video game, where you can modify time to avoid all kinds of dangers. After finishing off Black Eye, V-99 entered a mysterious zone called Bit 8, without knowing why V-99 could modify time!. But everything became complicated with the appearance of the BLACK VECTORS: mysterious beings that aim to destroy any intruder who reaches Bit 8.

Cake Laboratory (GRIMTALIN, €2.69 / £2.42, pre-order from 17/12/2018) – Tower of cakes, every child’s dream! Let the kid in you go crazy with sweet and delicious cake towers. Cake Laboratory is a stacking game with a sweet twist to it. Use cakes instead of taking breaks, and make the most delicious tower. A casual game for all family to enjoy, child-friendly and challenging at the same time.

Odium to the Core (QubicGames, €2.49 / £2.24, pre-order from 17/12/2018) – Guide Odium through dangerous and intense music-fueled levels to fight and stop the spreading corruption. Reach the core and save the world! Keep the balance to avoid traps, enemies and move through narrow passages. Defeat challenging bosses and discover the story behind the corruption of Odium’s world.

Super Hero Fight Club: Reloaded (QubicGames, €4.99 / £4.49, pre-order from 17/12/2018) – Welcome to the marvelous Super Hero Fight Club: – 17 fabulous fighters and their superpowers – Quick tactical combats – Tricky modes, levels and powerups – Up to 4 players rumble – Single player challenges Become the Queen or King of the Fight Club!

The Keep (Cinemax, €13.99 / £11.99, pre-order from 17/12/2018) – Enter the Keep as an unsung hero on a quest to destroy the mighty wizard Watrys. Explore the dark and complex corridors, treacherous prisons and subterranean realms in this first-person dungeon crawler featuring real-time tactical combat, a unique rune magic system, and puzzle solving. This game will awaken memories of what made old-school RPG dungeons so much fun to play while you fight, hunt for hidden treasures, avoid deadly traps, experiment with magic and solve complex riddles inside the dungeon.

Doodle God: Evolution (JoyBits, €6.99 / £6.29, pre-order from 20/12/2018) – Doodle God: Evolution is a unique edition of the well-known game that includes not only the classic Doodle God, but Doodle Farm as well. And now, in this addicting all ages game, not only fire, earth, water and air but also plankton, mammals or birds will be at your disposal. Mix and match different combinations of elements to build an entire civilization and re-create the evolution of the animal world!

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Heavy Barrel (FTE Games, €7.99 / £7.10, pre-order from 20/12/2018) – Fight through the enemy’s army and collect pieces for a secret weapon to destroy their underground artillery base.

Venture Towns (Kairosoft, €10.00 / £8.99, pre-order from 20/12/2018) – Assume the reins of a mega-conglomerate to build your very own metropolitan utopia! Stores, houses, mansions–towers! The sky’s the limit as you fashion your humble burg into the world’s most powerful fiscal force! Place compatible structures near each other to craft specialty districts or “combos,” adding flavour to your town while reaping big bonuses and boosting Land Price!

DLC / Add-On Content

Nintendo Switch

  • Color Zen: Reflection Mode (Cypronia) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Color Zen: Serenity Mode (Cypronia) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Color Zen: Nature Mode (Cypronia) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Color Zen: Add 3 more skips for each mode (Cypronia) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Color Zen: Add 5 more skips for each mode (Cypronia) – €1.39 / £1.29
  • Color Zen: Add 7 more skips for each mode (Cypronia) – €1.59 / £1.39
  • Guacamelee! 2 – The Proving Grounds (Challenge Level) (DrinkBox Studios) – €3.49 / £3.19
  • Pinball FX3 – Williams Pinball: Volume 2 (Zen Studios) – €9.99 / £8.99
  • Valkyria Chronicles 4 – A United Front with Squad 7 (SEGA) – €5.99 / £4.79
  • DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2 – Extra DLC Pack 4 (BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment) – €7.99 / £6.49
  • Chronus Arc: Experience x3 – Chronus Arc (KEMCO) – €4.99 / £4.49
  • Chronus Arc: No Encounters – Chronus Arc (KEMCO) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • Chronus Arc: Damage x2 – Chronus Arc (KEMCO) – €4.99 / £4.49
  • Chronus Arc: Full Restore – Chronus Arc (KEMCO) – €3.99 / £3.59
  • Chronus Arc: Mining x3 – Chronus Arc (KEMCO) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • Pic-a-Pix Deluxe – Giant Puzzles 6 (Lightwood Games) – €2.99 / £2.99
  • Paladins Digital Deluxe Edition (Hi-Rez Studios) – €59.99 / £53.99
  • Paladins Champions Pack (Hi-Rez Studios) – €17.49 / £15.79
  • Paladins Season Pass 2018 (Hi-Rez Studios) – €39.99 / £35.99
  • Paladins Obsidian Pack (Hi-Rez Studios) – €14.99 / £13.49
  • Paladins Gift Giving Bundle (Hi-Rez Studios) – €9.99 / £8.99
  • Party Arcade: Tickets1000 (FarSight Studios) – €0.99 / £0.99
  • Party Arcade: Tickets5500 (FarSight Studios) – €4.99 / £4.99
  • Party Arcade: Tickets12000 (FarSight Studios) – €9.99 / £9.99

Wii U

  • Minecraft: The Nightmare Before Christmas Mash-up (Mojang) – €5.99 / £4.79

Themes

Nintendo 3DS

  • Kitty with cherries (Sanrio, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Kitty is a plush toy (Sanrio, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Kitty loves her snacks (Sanrio, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Kitty plays with her toys (Sanrio, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • CHRISTMAS 2 (Umusic online France, Theme) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • FUN CHRISTMAS (Umusic online France, Theme) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • HAPPY NEW YEAR (Umusic online France, Theme) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • HELLO WINTER (Umusic online France, Theme) – €1.99 / £1.79
  • MUSIC PACK 15 (Umusic online France, Theme) – €3.99 / £3.59
  • SmileyWorldChristmas 01 (SmileyWorld, Theme) – €1.49 / £1.39
  • SmileyWorldChristmas 02 (SmileyWorld, Theme) – €1.49 / £1.39
  • SmileyWorldSlogan 01 (SmileyWorld, Theme) – €1.49 / £1.39
  • SmileyWorldSlogan 02 (SmileyWorld, Theme) – €1.49 / £1.39
  • Bronto on the snow (Animundi, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • A gift for Nichus (Animundi, Theme) – €0.99 / £0.89
  • Jurassic Cubs on Noel (Animundi, Theme) – €1.49 / £1.39
  • Jurassic Cubs 3packNumber 19 (Animundi, Theme) – €2.49 / £2.29

So that’s your lot for this week’s Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!

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Party Platformer Joggernauts Gets New Guest Stars From Runbow, BIT.TRIP Runner And More

Autorunning party platformer Joggernauts is being treated to a tasty update today on Nintendo Switch, adding new levels, changes to its modifier system, and some lovely new characters.

The new characters you can expect to find come from a selection of other indie titles that you’ve likely already heard of, mostly because they’re all excellent games in their own right. We have Cowpokes from West of Loathing, Hue and Val from Runbow, and CommanderVideo from BIT.TRIP Runner.

Cowpokes (West of Loathing). He was found in a makeshift saloon, which is odd because normally space ships don’t have saloons, and definitely not in their cargo rooms. I mean, there was that one TNG episode, but… well, nevermind.

Hue and Val (Runbow). They were discovered trying to turn a box of Switchalizer 5000s into some sort of color-based racing game.

CommanderVideo (BIT.TRIP Runner). He managed to climb a set of stairs, slide into an escape pod, and land on the moon Splizorp. He should be easy to find in one of the new levels, though.

Accommodating these three new characters are three brand new levels, and we’ve also been treated to an updated modifiers menu and some difficulty changes. The modifiers menu can now be accessed from the pause menu during level play, and the team has worked hard to subtly reduce the game’s steep learning curve through feedback from players.

So, what are you waiting for? Make sure to update your copy of the game to enjoy these new features. Alternatively, if you don’t own it yet, you can find it on the eShop for $14.99 / £13.49.

Do you own Joggernauts on Switch? Will you be trying out these new characters? Tell us below.

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Review: Battle Princess Madelyn – An Aimless Adventure Redeemed By Its Fantastic Arcade Mode

Causal Bit Games founder Chris Obritsch loved playing Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, and his daughter Madelyn loved watching him. One day Madelyn explained that she wished she could be in the game but “girls can’t be knights”, so her dad decided to work with her to make a game in which she was the star, to show that girls can indeed be knights if they want to be.

The result is Battle Princess Madelyn, an impressive-looking action platformer that takes more than a little inspiration from Capcom’s arcade classic, but also adds a bunch of other things to the mix. While many of these new additions add to the overall experience, though, others aren’t quite so welcome.

The main story – told to a cartoon version of the actual Madelyn by her grandpa in a lovely intro which reminds us of The Princess Bride (RIP, William Goldman) – opens with the titular battle princess’s hometown being attacked by an evil wizard, who also kills her dog Fritzy (because he’s a nasty sod, you see). Thankfully, Fritzy comes back as a ghost, so it’s up to Madelyn and her phantom pooch to explore the world and try to find the evil individual responsible.

The key word here is ‘try’, because the one major issue Battle Princess Madelyn suffers from is a severe lack of signposting. To pay tradition to that, then, we’ll go in a completely different direction for now and talk about the game’s aesthetics. Simply put, it looks and sounds fantastic. Retro-looking indie games on Switch are ten a penny these days, but this is a particularly lovely example. It may not be accurately ‘retro’ – there’s no way some of its lighting effects would have been possible back in the day – but it’s respectful enough to the era that you’ll let it slip. There’s even an optional CRT scanline filter.

The ears are in for a treat too, as the game offers two entire musical scores depending on your personal tastes: an old-school retro style one or a fully orchestrated one (with a choir and everything). Either option delivers a fantastic aural accompaniment, which is really to its credit; it’s tricky enough for most games to deliver one excellent soundtrack, let alone be generous enough to give us two.

It plays well too. Anyone with even the slightest familiarity with Ghouls ‘n Ghosts or its SNES sequel will be able to see that the inspiration here is more than just cosmetic; there are plenty of little nods that come straight from the arcade classic. From the way some enemies spawn by either rising out of the ground in coffins or by poking out from behind trees, to the way you can lose your armour – letting you take one more hit before you die – the whole thing’s a pleasantly faithful tribute… at least, in terms of how it feels.

There’s one large difference between this game and its inspiration: whereas Ghouls ‘n Ghosts was a linear affair, Battle Princess Madelyn’s main story mode is more of a Metroidvania, where you can roam back and forth throughout the various environments, unlocking new abilities and backtracking to use them in previous areas. And that’s where the signposting issues we mentioned earlier come into play.

Simply put, there’s very little signposting at all. You’re pretty much on your own from the very beginning and other than the basic story at the start, you’re left to your own devices. There’s no map or no in-game tutorial, either. Now, we appreciate that there will be some people who are delighted with this, since it provides a truly old-school experience. But even some of the older examples of the genre were at least designed to guide the player along – even if unconsciously so – whereas most of the time here, you feel like you’re picking a direction and hoping beyond hope that it’s the right one.

The only time you’re given any real instructions are when you take on side missions by speaking to one of the numerous NPCs dotted around, but even then their requests are generally vague (“I lost my hammer in a cave, please get it for me”) and once you’ve asked them they won’t repeat it again. Since there’s also no pause menu that lists all your active side quests, you’ll almost certainly forget what they wanted you to do and where they wanted you to go; the issue is exacerbated by the fact that there are loads of side-quests on offer at any one time; keeping track of them all is almost impossible. An update – applied just prior to launch – hands out more obvious hints to the player, but it’s still not a perfect solution.

This vagueness extends to major collectables too, such as the important upgrades needed to progress through the game. Take the double-jump, which is one of the first you get (or are supposed to, if you can find it). The second town you come to (which is located up in the treetops in a mushroom-filled marshland area) actually allows you drop down through the floor (by holding down while pressing jump). We accidentally did it and landed next to a door containing a boss fight with a giant spider. Our reward was the boots that give you the double-jump, but there was no feeling of achievement when we got them, more an exasperated “Well, how was I supposed to know I had to do that?”. The aforementioned update places an NPC directly above where you have to drop down, making it a little clearer – but even so, it feels too much like trial-and-error.

This is usually the point where we go “What a shame, so much potential, but completely ruined by one massive problem, don’t buy it”, but thankfully Battle Princess Madelyn pulls a last-minute solution out of the bag. As well as the main Story mode – aimlessly confused wandering and all – there’s also a more direct Arcade mode, which ditches the Metroidvania malarkey and resorts to the old faithful linear gameplay that made Ghouls ‘n Ghosts such a well-loved game in the first place. In this mode, armed with your double jump and powerful weaponry from the start and a clear idea of where you have to go next, all is well; it’s almost a shame that this isn’t the main mode of the game, because it offers a tighter and more enjoyable experience.

(We just want to point out one more little disappointment, though it’s more of a personal one and doesn’t affect our scoring of the game. The story behind the game’s development is a lovely one, but there are many gamers out there – including this reviewer – who have daughters of their own. The option to change the character’s name from Madelyn to anything else would have resulted in a game that would feel just as special to any girl as it does to the designer’s daughter.)

Conclusion

Too much hand-holding in games can be a problem, but Battle Princess Madelyn goes in the opposite direction with its main Story mode and is just as annoying (if not more so) as a result. Thankfully, its alternative Arcade mode really does save the day, stripping away all the convoluted and confused exploration and leaving nothing but pure, unfiltered arcade action goodness. It’s just a shame its main mode – and perhaps the key reason the developer wants your £15.79 / $19.99 – is so frustratingly unhelpful and awkward to play. Still, fans of Capcom’s Ghouls ‘n Ghosts will most definitely want to check this out.

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Travis Strikes Again DLC, Season Pass Pricing And Voice Cast Fully Detailed

A Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes presentation has just taken place in Japan, hosted by none other than Suda51. It didn’t feature the “huge announcement” that the series director had promised, but it did deliver some finer details about some of the game’s content.

First up was a reveal for the actors lending their voices to characters in the game. Robin Atkin Downes returns to play Travis, Killer7’s Steve Blum will play Badman, Kimberly Brooks is Shinobu, Kathryn Fiore will play Bad Girl, and Greg Ellis will be bringing stage boss Brian Buster Jr. to life.

Traviscast

The Season Pass will be available for $9.99 / £8.99 / €9.99 – although this is included in physical copies of the game and some digital bundles. It’ll be made up of two DLC packs, both of which have now been detailed (see below).

DLC Vol. 1: Black Dandelion:
– Scheduled release: 2/28/2019
– New playable character: Shinobu Jacobs (+special skills)
– Badman Ver. ADV Part

DLC Vol. 2: Bubblegum Fatale:
– Scheduled release: 4/30/2019
– New playable character: Bad Girl (+special skills)
– Additional stage: Killer Marathon
– Travis Ver. ADV Part

Are you feeling the hype for this one yet? Will you be giving the game a spin when it launches next month? Let us know with a comment.

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This Portable GameCube Controller Switch Adapter Hits Kickstarter Next Month

ultimate gamecube adaptor

If you’re one of the countless Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans who insist on playing with a traditional GameCube controller (or like using one, at least) then you might want to keep an eye on this little project.

eSports team Panda Global has revealed that it will soon be starting a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for an all-in-one GameCube adapter, charging station, and portable stand for the Nintendo Switch called the ‘Ultimate GameCube Adapter’. The Kickstarter is expected to launch in mid-January, with backer pledges being set at $45.

As you can see, the setup is designed to make on-the-go GameCube controller play a much easier and more convenient option. An FAQ posted on Panda Global’s website (where you can also register your interest to receive a Kickstarter discount) assures fans that the accessory will not ‘brick’ your Switch, noting that the product “works the same way as Nintendo’s GameCube adapter”.

Do you think this is a smart solution for your portable GameCube controller needs? Will you be checking out the Kickstarter when it arrives next month? Tell us below.

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Video: Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate With Just A Wii Nunchuk

When it comes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there are plenty of perfectly acceptable control methods. Using just a Wii Nunchuk is absolutely not one of them.

We’re a funny bunch here at Nintendo Life, so once the idea of using a single Nunchuk to play the game popped into our simple little heads, there was absolutely no going back. Why settle for using a Pro Controller or even the classic GameCube controller when you can do this? And why not jump online to try it out, even though it was almost inevitable that we’d lose spectacularly?

Our video overlord and all round nice chap Alex decided to do the honours, hooking up a standard Wii Remote Nunchuk accessory to the Switch using 8BitDo’s GBros. Adapter. You can see the shenanigans take place in the video above – we’re actually pretty impressed with how he managed to get on.

Already watched it? Then let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Pokémon GO’s January Community Day Set To Star Totodile, Heatran Appears In Raid Battles

pokemon go

As we draw ever closer to the start of yet another new year, Pokémon GO is still running along and keeping things fresh. A new Raid Boss appeared in the game just this week, and January’s Community Day details have also been confirmed.

Let’s kick things off with the Community Day, for which Johto starter Pokémon Totodile is set to be the star. Following the recent trend of having a starter Pokémon appear every other month, this event should hopefully give players the chance to complete their collection of Totodile’s evolution chain, in both regular and shiny forms.

Totodile’s Community Day will take place on 12th January 2019 from 10am – 1pm GMT. As always, expect to find Totodile all over the place during those hours and get the opportunity to learn a previously unavailable move for either it, or its evolutions.

Elsewhere, the Fire and Steel-type Legendary Pokémon Heatran has now appeared in Raid Battles, replacing previous star Cresselia (and signalling the end of Lugia and Ho-Oh’s recent re-appearance). Heatran will be available to battle and catch from now until 15th January, so make sure to get a strong team of Water, Fighting, and Ground-type Pokémon at the ready.

Have you been braving the winter weather to catch ’em all? Let us know if you’ve been enjoying the game recently in the comments below.

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Review: V-Rally 4 – A Bumpy Ride That Will Only Reward Dedicated Motorsport Fans

The Switch isn’t lacking when it comes to racing games, but there’s one particular subsection of the genre in which it’s been left wanting so far: rally games. The current king of rally in the gaming world is Codemasters, but it’s been slow to support the Switch and its first offering (coming in 2019) will be a port of 2014’s GRID Autosport, which isn’t a rally game.

Step forward French developer Hylotonn, who’s been responsible for the previous three official World Rally Championship games and now wants to resurrect a much-loved rally series that’s been lying dormant for a decade and a half. The third instalment of V-Rally launched on the GameCube back in 2003: fifteen years later, does V-Rally 4 bring the series roaring into the current generation? You can’t see us, but we’re shrugging our shoulders just now.

The main meat of V-Rally 4 is its career mode, where you buy a rally car and start entering various single races and multi-race tournaments in order to afford better vehicles and upgrades. This money can also be used to improve your repair and research staff, letting you fix your cars cheaper and get better parts for them respectively. It’s all fairly straightforward stuff, even if the UI is a little unwieldy at times.

The main gimmick here that separates the fourth game from its predecessors, however, is that – in an apparent nod to Codies’ DIRT series – there are different types of rally racing on offer here, each with their own fleet of suitable vehicles to buy and upgrade. Naturally, the most obvious (and the one you kick off your career with) is standard rally racing, where you race alone and have to beat a set course as quickly as possible, with the winner being the driver who clears the stage the fastest.

There are two other types of solo racing, Hillclimb (where the tracks you race on have a steady upwards incline) and Extreme-Khana (where you take on more acrobatic courses with things like banked turns, jumps and doughnut turns). The former is good fun, the latter is rubbish; your car’s handling isn’t really sturdy enough to stop it turning into a bit of an annoying mess.

Finally, there are two disciplines that involve racing against other cars. V-Rally Cross is similar to Rally except it’s a standard lap-based event where you race other opponents at the same time. Buggy is similar, except you’re racing in… actually, we’ll let you figure that one out. These events are fun to a degree, although the AI is as smart as a bag of screwdrivers and the numerous jumps in Buggy races will have you cursing the game’s unforgiving physics.

This takes us to one of the game’s most notable issues, regardless of which discipline you choose to race. It feels like these cars are made of cardboard; the slightest brush against a piece of scenery, a ditch at the side of the road or a bump in the track will cause you to go flying and completely lose control. If you can’t put together an entirely clean run, chances are you’re going to come away extremely frustrated – at least early on, when you’re still trying to get to grips with the handling – by the fact that one little lapse can ruin things entirely. The lack of a rewind function will also exacerbate things for amateurs, especially given that some races are more than 10 minutes long and a mistake nine minutes in means you can pretty much forget winning.

Visually, V-Rally 4 is, well… let’s just say it pays an impressively accurate tribute to its 2003 predecessor, whether it means to or not. Trackside detail is low, trees and flowers are blurry, and while there are some occasional highlights – the small village you have to carefully make your way through in some Japan stages is a neat touch – for the most part, this is an extremely underwhelming package in terms of presentation. There’s even lens flare in there.

The worst example of all though is the pop-in, which is among the most blatant we’ve seen in the past couple of generations. Let’s be clear: pop-in happens in a lot of games, particularly racing games where the system can struggle to render and place the scenery in time, meaning it suddenly appears in the distance as you approach it. The key phrase here is “in the distance”, which is something not really adhered to here. Enormous trackside objects like trees and rocks can appear without warning, and the ineffective lighting system means large shadows literally draw themselves onto the road a few feet in front of you, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘chasing shadows’.

Things get even worse in the races against other cars. When you’re doing the solo rally events everything tends to run at a fairly stable 30fps, but some of the V-Rally Cross and Buggy races can become a stuttering, chugging mess, especially when a number of cars are in front of you and there’s an effect like night racing or rain applied. While we get that the V-Rally name is supposed to conjure up memories of late ‘90s gaming, using the same frame rate as GoldenEye on the N64 is maybe taking things a little too far.

The frustrating thing is that despite all of these performance issues, the game can actually get fairly compelling once you put a lot of practice in. Switch to the in-car view and you’ll find the back of your vehicle swings out far less than it does in the standard behind-the-car view (which usually feels like your car’s on an ice rink), and even though the whole ‘mess up once and you’re stuffed’ idea can lead to some infuriating moments, it can also lead to some satisfying ones when you finally nail it and start putting in good race times. The problem is the often irritating journey you have to take to get there.

Conclusion

V-Rally 4 is an old-school rally game at heart, for better and worse (but mainly the latter). If you stick with it you’ll eventually start to master and enjoy it, but the slippery handling and unforgiving ‘no mistakes allowed’ rally races make getting to that point a real slog. On top of this, its numerous performance issues are so severe that they aren’t just ugly, they’re downright distracting: the result being that although this is now the best rally game on Switch by default, pretty much every aspect of it leaves acres of room for improvement.

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Mom Hid My Game! Gets Limited Time Sale On Switch And 3DS

It’s almost exactly a year to the day since Mom Hid My Game! launched on Switch and Nintendo 3DS, and celebrating its anniversary in style, the game is now on sale for a limited time on both systems.

If you haven’t heard of this one before, Mom Hid My Game! is described as “an easy-going and funny escape game” in which your in-game mom rather literally hides your favourite games console. The absolute cheek of it.

We found that it had both good and bad points in our review last year; while its admittedly lower production mobile origins leave a lot to be desired, it has its own quirky charm to it reminiscent of games like WarioWare. It’s definitely an interesting one at the very least.

You’d usually expect to find the game available for $4.99 / £4.49, but this 30% sale takes that price down to $3.49 / £3.19 – the sale lasts until 9th January. If you’re after something rather different, and very silly, you might want to consider giving this one a chance.

Have you played the game before on either Switch or 3DS? Share your thoughts on the game with the rest of the community in the comments below.

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Pre-purchase digital version of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, earn double Gold Points!

Pre-purchase digital version of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, earn double Gold Points!

Looking to strike (virtual) gold? For a limited time, you can earn up to 600 My Nintendo Gold points—twice the normal amount—when you pre-purchase the digital version of the New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe game through Nintendo eShop or Nintendo.com (where available).

  • Receive a bonus of 300 My Nintendo Gold Points when you pre-purchase the digital version of the New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe game through Nintendo eShop or Nintendo.com (where available).
  • Offer ends 1/10/2019 at 8:59 p.m. PST.
  • Gold Points are awarded based on the amount you pay (excluding tax and any points or discounts used) and have no cash value.
  • Bonus points will be issued on the game’s launch day, are earned based on the original list price of the game on Nintendo eShop, and will vary by country and currency.
  • A Nintendo Account is required to receive and redeem My Nintendo points. Terms apply: https://accounts.nintendo.com/term_point.

For more information, be sure to check out the My Nintendo website.


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