Digerati has announced that HackyZack, a puzzle-platformer that released on Steam last year, is headed to Nintendo Switch next week.
In this game, you play as the titular Zack, juggling balls, bouncing off walls, and avoiding fatal falls. You’ll be trying to make it through over 100 levels of precision puzzle-platforming, collecting stickers along the way to unlock optional time-trial challenge levels, as well as extra playable characters.
In addition to this, an all-new two-player mode has been announced for the game, exclusively available on the Switch version only. This mode will let you take on HackyZack’s levels alongside a friend, and you can see some of this in action in the trailer up above. If that’s not enough information for you, here’s even more:
Key features: – Precision-platforming puzzle-stunt game – Multiple ways to conquer 100+ levels across 6 challenging worlds – Keepy-up with a variety of balls, including extra-bouncy and slo-mo – Master movement and aiming: Bouncing! Ricochets! Wall jumps! Much more! – Local 2-player mode: Take on HackyZack with a friend, exclusive to Nintendo Switch (supports split Joy-Con play) – Goal Mode: guide the ball to the exit to complete the stage – Target Mode: use the ball to smash all diamonds on a stage as quickly as possible – Collect stickers to unlock Target Mode levels and additional playable characters – Relaxing, stress-alleviating soundtrack by Vincent Rubinetti
The game will be releasing on Switch on 23rd August, and is currently available to pre-order directly from the Nintendo Switch eShop with a 10% discount from its usual $9.99 / £8.99 price.
Does this look like the kind of puzzle-platformer challenge you’d like to try? Tell us below if you’re thinking of picking HackyZack up next week.
Bandai Namco has announced a new, confirmed release date for Dark Souls: Remastered on Switch. You’ll finally be able to get your hands on this portable remaster on 19th October.
Back in April, Bandai Namco revealed that the game had been delayed until the summer. With the summer months almost behind us, however, fans were no doubt starting to be ever so slightly concerned about the game’s whereabouts. Luckily, despite missing that initial estimate, the game is well and truly on the way.
In case you were wondering – which we’re sure you were – the amiibo figure based on Solaire of Astora will also be released on the same day. The figure will allow the true Warrior of the Sunlight to prove their faith by using the ‘Praise the Sun’ gesture from the beginning of the adventure. If you didn’t want to nab the figure, you can also obtain this gesture through normal gameplay.
Extra details have also been confirmed for the title, including how it will run on Switch. Dark Souls: Remastered will run at 1080p while docked, and 720p in handheld mode, with a frame rate of 30fps. Available DLC is included with the game, and the online system will have a “specific game server” with support for up to six players available.
Are you ready for Dark Souls on Switch? Feel free to explode with excitement in the comments down below.
Overcooked 2 has managed to make a nice dent in the UK charts in its first week on sale, but there are still no signs of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy moving away from that top spot despite several new releases.
Yes, Crash has kept hold of its number one place in the charts for the seventh week running, with combined platform sales – particularly those of Xbox One and Switch – helping it to do so. Overcooked 2 squeezed itself into an eighth-place position, with the PS4 version narrowly outselling the Switch option.
Elsewhere, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has also remained at number one in the individual formats chart, equating to a fourth-place spot when all format sales are combined. The usual evergreen titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 7 are still going strong in the top 40, but the all formats top ten has been relatively quiet on the Nintendo-published game front this week.
Here is that very list in all its glory:
1. (1) Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy 2. (2) LEGO The Incredibles 3. (5) Grand Theft Auto V 4. (3) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe 5. (New) Madden NFL 19 6. (6) Call of Duty: WWII 7. (7) God of War 8. (New) Overcooked 2 9. (8) Super Mario Odyssey 10. (New) We Happy Few
Did you buy any of these chart-topping games this week? Any surprises this time around? Let us know your thoughts below.
In this special one-off piece, reader Alex Norton explains how he ended up being the first gamer to get his hands on Donkey Kong Country, way back in 1994.
Back in 1994, I felt like the luckiest kid alive. I was the one-millionth caller to the Nintendo Hotline in the UK and had won my height in computer games, as well as the first copy in the world of Donkey Kong Country. To top it all off, a program on Sky TV called Games World was going to cover the whole thing, and shoot live from my house.
I have Princess Toadstool to thank for this; when she overtook me right on the finish line of the last stage in the special cup in Super Mario Kart on the SNES – a move which ultimately robbed me of the cup – I was so infuriated I had to ring the hotline for any tips. Little did I know that I would end up being the one-millionth person to have done so since the Hotline opened – thanks, Peach!
A team from Hewland International – the producers of both Games World and GamesMaster, the latter being perhaps the most famous TV show dedicated to games the UK has ever seen – came to my house to do some preliminary filming for the show which would be added to the live broadcast. On the day of the show, a much larger team arrived and packed out our house with all kinds of equipment; there was a large satellite on a trailer set up outside, with cables and monitors all over the place.
The scene was set on a cold November evening in the Shropshire hills, both myself and the presenter Andy Collins poised in front of a camera while the TV crew counted down to transmission in 3, 2, 1. Gulp. I was live on Sky TV, which was absolutely terrifying but an experience I didn’t want to end.
After the introduction, the show went back to a studio where phone-in challengers were picked to play against my team using a telephone keypad as a controller. It was difficult to play as there was some lag between pressing a button and the character on screen responding. The first challenge was to collect as many marbles as possible in Bubsy the Bobcat on the SNES in a set time. Luckily, I happened upon a bag of marbles on my playthrough, easily beating my opponent.
What followed next completely took me by surprise, as I had no knowledge whatsoever that I was to be presented – live on British TV, no less – with the first edition of Donkey Kong Country by none other than Donkey Kong himself (who turned out to be a lady in a suit). Nintendo had sent some representatives to award me the game and officially invite me to their HQ in Hampshire; this was an absolute dream come true, as you can imagine.
We had breaks in between studio scenes and then continued to play phone-in challengers with both me and my sister getting through to the final, while my friend Rowan was unfortunately knocked out, meaning he had to face a rather nasty forfeit (watch the video at the bottom of this page to see).
I was only allowed to play Donkey Kong Country for a short time under the watchful eye of a Nintendo employee, as they would be taking it back to their office where I would pick up during my upcoming visit. By this point, I had won my height in Nintendo games and a Sega Mega Drive with Sonic & Knuckles (which I gave to my friend Rowan) so the little time I had with Donkey Kong is a little bit of a blur; my head was spinning, as you can no doubt appreciate.
To be the first gamer to play it outside of Rare and Nintendo was a massive honour, and I am so pleased that I still have it; out of all my games, it remains the jewel in the crown and I would never part with it. I still have all the games, consoles and accessories I won, along with an official Nintendo Hotline jumper and various other things from Nintendo.
I would say that after that experience of being on TV and receiving all those games did change me a little but I felt incredibly fortunate and would like to say it didn’t go to my head (although it probably did). When the show was over, the crew packed up and said their goodbyes, leaving behind a very quiet house which was incredibly surreal.
Following on from the game show I visited Nintendo’s HQ in Hampshire, which was an absolutely magical experience. I met the Hotline team and the editor of the Nintendo Magazine System Andy McVittie, as the magazine was writing a small article on me. One of the most amazing experiences I had there was being asked what I would like to play, after which I was taken to a room with every Nintendo game under the sun. My choice? The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, this was when my obsession with all things Zelda started.
My interest in computer games goes back to the late ’80s when I was playing on the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, but this experience really solidified me as a Nintendo fan; I always felt a sense of belonging to Nintendo and also part of its history, albeit in a small way. Life was not easy for me before all of this happened and I would like to thank Nintendo, Rare and the production company for making a 13-year-old boy’s world light up. I’m now 37 and still a massive gamer, as well as a big kid at heart – and don’t see that ever changing. Thanks, Nintendo.
Crunching Koalas has revealed My Memory of Us as its latest game headed to Switch, starring none other than Patrick Stewart (from Star Trek: The Next Generation and X-Men fame) as the narrator.
My Memory of Us is a puzzle-based, side-scrolling story game based around the idea of hope and heroism standing in the face of absolute terror. The game’s story begins in The City – a place inspired by pre-Second World War Warsaw – where a young boy and girl from two different worlds come together to simply be kids, free to play and able to enjoy life in innocence. However, war soon breaks out and the children, faced with forced separation, must find a way to stay together and survive.
Features: – A moving story about friendship and love in dangerous times – Beautiful, sketch-like graphics inspired by naïve art – Pair mechanics: take control of two separate? characters with different skills and abilities, or control them as a pair – A grotesque tale mixed with bittersweet humor – The events shown in the game are based on actual stories from war – A dialogue system built around the language of symbolic pictures – Various logical puzzles in 2.5D – A story that offers deeper meaning, set in historical realities
This isn’t Patrick Stewart’s first time acting for a video game; he previously lent his talents to the likes of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Nonetheless, it certainly adds an interesting twist to a game that already looks almost hauntingly compelling in its own right. The game is scheduled to launch on Switch in “Q4 this year” – hopefully we’ll receive more news on this one in the following months.
Do you like the look of this game? Has the trailer piqued your interest? Share your thoughts with us below.
If you’re a fan of smartphone gadgets and accessories – perhaps to enhance your Pokémon GO trips – you may well be aware of phone rings. By plonking one of these little rings on the back of your device, you can help to keep it secure in your hand at all times, and now Japan is getting a double set designed to be the perfect size for your Joy-Con.
The ‘Joy-Con Ring Holder’ works in exactly the same way as the smartphone versions of the accessory, with one ring per Joy-Con being used for extra security. You simply attach the rings to the back of your Joy-Con, slide a finger through the metallic ring protruding from the controller, and you’re good to go.
As you can see at the bottom of the image below, the rings can also be locked into an upright position, working as a neat way to prop up your Switch for any tabletop gaming sessions. Of course, you’ll need a second set of Joy-Con or a Pro Controller to play this way, but it could be a cheap and cheerful way of supporting your device.
Of course, the Joy-Con controllers do already come with wrist straps – and these are less likely to intrude upon your button pressing – so we’re not entirely convinced that these are necessary for your motion control gaming. Having them permanently attached to the back of your Joy-Con, ready to be swivelled out for tabletop mode, however, could be a clever little feature.
If you’re interested, they’re available to pre-order from Amazon Japan for ￥1,188 (approx. £8.40 / $10.70 before shipping) with a release date of 10th October.
We’ll leave this one up to you lovely readers to decide in the comments. A genius idea? Or just a pointless accessory? Let us know your thoughts below.
A couple of weeks ago, news broke that Undertale would be hitting Japanese shelves this September, alongside a lovely Collector’s Edition for good measure. It has now been confirmed that western territories will also be getting the game, and its additional box of goodies, in the same month.
Yes, the indie RPG will be available both digitally and physically, with all physical versions of the game being sold exclusively through merchandise site Fangamer. You can grab a standard edition for $29 (approx. £23), or the Collector’s Edition for $69 (approx. £54). The collector’s edition (which you can see above) contains the following items:
– The complete UNDERTALE soundtrack: Over 100 songs on 2 CDs -UNDERTALE sheet music booklet featuring six songs with annotations by Toby Fox – A 14k gold-plated brass music box locket – A sturdy matchbox-style collector’s box -A standard edition copy of UNDERTALE – A 24-page storybooklet illustrated by Temmie Chang (which also comes with the standard edition)
On top of all this, Fangamer is also selling a range of Undertale merchandise for your consideration. If you’re interested, you can check out all of the products here – you have until 28th August to snap up your favourites.
Have you been waiting to get your hands on Undertale on Nintendo Switch? Are you tempted by this Collector’s Edition? Tell us in the comments below.
You’ll very likely recall the recent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate direct, which – amongst other things – revealed a plethora of new content in the form of characters, stages, and modes. You might also recall that Luigi seemed to have his soul ripped out during the show, and a large section of the game’s main menu was blurred out for a future reveal. These two things aren’t actually related, are they? Or are they?
If you missed the news last week, we reported on an excellent effort from Twitter user @noctulescent, who used various tricks to take a deeper look at the blurred section of that menu. It appears that the section contains the word ‘Spirits’, signalling the possibility of a brand new mode under that fancy name. We immediately jumped to the conclusion that Luigi’s spirit being removed in the show’s opening sequence could be involved, but fans have taken things to another level.
Several threads on Reddit are currently full to the brim of speculation from eager and excited fans, with mentions of a new single-player campaign – or at least a revamp of The Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl – popping up all over the place. With Luigi’s ‘death’ in this Nintendo Direct, and Mario and Mega Man seemingly being wiped out during Ridley’s reveal at E3, the general consensus is pointing towards a story mode where the player must collect the souls of ‘murdered’ victims, unlocking them as a playable character in the process. Other theories suggest that you might actually ‘kill’ the characters to unlock them, although this seems a little un-Nintendo to us.
We have to say that we completely agree that the first theory could be a possibility, however – two members of team Nintendo Life actually discussed this very idea in a recent YouTube video (at around the 12:34 mark). It could well produce a much larger, deeper single-player mode than we’ve ever seen before, once again living up to the game’s ‘Ultimate’ name.
Masahiro Sakurai did say to expect more news on the blurred out section in the future, so we’ll be eagerly waiting for confirmation on what the mode will be exactly. In the meantime, though, let us know what you think about these theories with a comment or two below.
2Awesome Studio has announced its first game as a publisher, teaming up with Awfully Nice Studios to bring The Bug Butcher to Nintendo Switch this summer.
The Bug Butcher is an action-packed 2D side-scroller shoot ’em up game where your main threat comes from above. The core mechanics are heavily inspired by classic arcade shooter Super Pang, a game which tasked you with shooting vertically, but is said to come with its own modern day twists.
You play as Harry, a brash and tenacious exterminator who has a knack for decimating bugs. The publisher has described the game as “pest control with machine guns in space”, which we think is a rather nice way of putting it. Feast your eyes on the game’s feature list, as well as a couple of screenshots, below.
Features: – Chaotic, fast paced action shooting inspired by the arcade classic Super Pang! – Play solo or in local co-op – 30 levels and 5 Merciless boss fights crammed with relentless waves of bugs – Online leaderboards and 3 difficulty modes offer the ultimate challenge – Upgradeable Weapons and Power-ups to make any trigger happy player smile – Handcrafted 2D graphics with explosion animations galore -Developed by Awfully Nice guys, ported and published by 2Awesome dudes. Can’t get better than that!
The trailer sure does look like this could be a lot of fun, but no specific release date has been given just yet despite the mention of ‘summer 2018″. Hopefully it’ll land on the Switch’s eShop soon.
Do you like the look of this one? Share your initial impressions with us below.
Hamster has confirmed that this week’s Neo Geo title heading to Switch is none other than Real Bout Fatal Fury 2.
Yes, this fighting game will be joining Hamsters’ ever-growing lineup of faithfully reproduced classic titles, becoming available on Switch this Thursday (16th August). The original game was released by SNK back in 1998, actually becoming the seventh title in the Fatal Fury series, but if you haven’t come across the game before, here’s a quick overview to get you up to speed:
Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 is a fighting game released by SNK in 1998. It is the 7th title in the Fatal Fury series. New elements have been added on top of refining the previous systems. This entry adds Rick Strowd and Li Xiangfei as playable characters, and Geese Howard makes his return as well!
As mentioned above, the game will be available to download from the Switch’s eShop from 16th August, priced at $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29. It joins Real Bout Fatal Fury and Real Bout Fatal Fury Special on the digital storefront, giving you plenty of fighting action to choose from.
Will you be dishing out some Fatal Fury to your opponents later this week? Let us know if you’ll be grabbing this one with a comment below.
