Category: Nintendo News

Devolver Digital and Megacat Studios are teaming up to create a brand-new SNES game which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues within the game development industry.

Fork Parker’s Crunch Out was announced at the Game Developer Conference today, and is available to preorder at megacatstudios.com for $49.99 right now. 

The entirety of Devolver Digital’s profits from the game will go to the Take This organisation, a nonprofit outfit dedicated to “informing the games community about mental health issues, providing education and services within the industry and tackling mental illness prevention.”

Descrbed as a “classic arcade-style game” with Devolver Digital’s CFO as the maniacal studio head, the game puts a satirical spin on the process of game development, but carries an important message – as Kate Edwards, board member at Take This, explains:

As demonstrated in our 2016 white paper “Crunch Hurts”, crunch is an unsustainable practice that exploits game creators’ passion at the expense of their physical and mental wellness. We applaud and appreciate Devolver Digital’s and Megacat Studios’ creative approach to exposing the reality of crunch while generously supporting our mission.

The game will be distributed on cartridge and will come boxed with a printed manual “that will be inevitably lost by a younger sibling”, according to the amusingly-written PR. The game is limited to 1,000 physical copies and, as well as being available direct from Megacat Studios, will also be sold at select independent game retailers around the United States.

We’re really looking forward to checking out Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on the Switch. While we used to associate Crash Bandicoot games with the PlayStation brand, soon we’ll be able to play these classic titles in glorious HD on the move thanks to the Nintendo Switch. 

But we’ve got even better news! The game was originally slated for release on the 10th July, but according to a tweet from the official Crash Bandicoot Twitter account, it turns out that it will now launch two weeks earlier on 29th June, instead.

https://twitter.com/CrashBandicoot/status/994581843381927936

Let us know if you plan to pick up this N. Sane trilogy with a comment below.

The Nintendo Download for North America is here, bringing with it another slew of new games, activities and demos right to the eShops. As always, be sure to share which games you’ll be downloading this week in the poll and in the comments section at the bottom of the article. Enjoy!

Switch eShop

Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Nordic Games, $39.99) – Battle Chasers: Nightwar is an RPG inspired by the console genre greats, featuring deep dungeon diving and turn-based combat presented in classic JRPG format, and a rich story driven by exploration of the world. Build your adventuring party by choosing three of six available heroes from the famed Battle Chasers comic series, each with unique abilities, perks, items and dungeon skills. Battle Chasers: Nightwar is available on May 15.

ACA NEOGEO SUPER SIDEKICKS 2 (HAMSTER, $7.99) – “SUPER SIDEKICKS 2” is a soccer game released in 1994 by SNK. Battle for the championship in the peak sports event held once every four years. This version introduces the actual rules as well as fouls in order to provide exciting and thrilling soccer matches. Another highlight is the variety of enhanced rendering.

Garage (tinyBuild Games, $14.99) – Garage is a bloody shooter in the style of an 80s B-movie. Playing as a drug dealer named Butch, you stand alone against hordes of the living dead. Read our review.

Immortal Redneck (Crema Games, $19.99) – Immortal Redneck is an FPS set in Egypt with rogue-lite elements. The game mixes old-school first-person shooter action with rogue-lite mechanics. Frantic gameplay, twitch controls and an arcade-style feel meet randomly generated dungeons, a complete skill tree, permanent death and 9 classes with different traits. Read our review.

ONE PIECE: Pirate Warriors 3 Deluxe Edition (Bandai Namco Entertainment, $39.99) – Re-live the original ONE PIECE story from Fushia village, where everything started, to the kingdom of Dressrosa, a mysterious island dominated by the evil “Heavenly Demon” himself, Donquixote Doflamingo. Gather members of the Straw Hat Crew and sail to the most illusive places and enter epic battles.

Suicide Guy (Chubby Pixel, $7.99) – Suicide Guy is set in the incredibile and extraordinary dreams of its protagonist. What would you do in order to save the thing you love most? Immerse yourself into his weird dreams and help him to wake up before it’s too late.

Super Chariot (Microïds, $19.99) – Designed for the Nintendo Switch, Super Chariot is a 2D platform game that can be played through to the end in either solo or co-op mode. You play as either the brave Princess or her faithful fiancé in a subterranean fantasy adventure…

The Fall (Over The Moon, $6.99) – Take on the role of ARID, the artificial intelligence onboard a high-tech combat suit. ARID’s program activates after crashing on an unknown planet. The human pilot within the combat suit is unconscious, and it is ARID’s duty to protect him at all costs! 30% off for a limited time!

Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition (Digerati, $8.99) – Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition is an award-winning and critically acclaimed visual short story that explores the emotional ties of family relationships.

Arcade Archives TERRA CRESTA (HAMSTER, $7.99) – “TERRA CRESTA” is a shooting game that was released from Nichibutsu in 1985. Players recapture parts that have been left in the ground, to intercept the enemy in the formation attack. To aim the space devil Mandora.

Hyper Sentinel (Huey Games, $12.99) – A face-melting, pixel-pumping, Neo-Retro arcade shoot ’em up featuring awesome power-ups, epic boss battles and spectacular effects at a blistering 60fps. Blast through hordes of Alienoids in Arcade Mode, tackle endless waves of invaders in Survival Mode and battle epic level guardians in Boss Run mode. Available May 11. Read our review.

InkSplosion (Ratalaika Games, $3.99) – Why should war be hell when it could be fun? Enter InkSplosion, a single screen twin-stick shooter, where the only real enemy is beating your previous high-score! Promotional price will last until May 28th! Available May 11.

L.F.O. -Lost Future Omega- (mebius., $7.99) – Synchronize the sound, synchronize the future. As the screen changes your actions and the sound synchronize with the music. Some of the sounds you select can be passed to the next stage. By doing so and depending on your progress at that point, even if you are playing in the same stage, you will get feeling that you are listening to another arrangement.

Splitter Critters (RAC7, $6.99) – Split and rearrange the world to bring faraway platforms together, move deadly lasers out of the way, and create floating swimming pools to guide alien critters back to their spaceship. Available May 15.

The Adventures of Elena Temple (GRIMTALIN, $4.99) – The game is a monochromatic puzzle platformer made to look as if it were created in the 80s. Overcome obstacles, figure out how to collect all the coins, find all the gems and remember your childhood while doing it! Progress through the game’s dungeon through non-linear exploration and keep an open eye for secrets to find. Available May 15.

The Mystery of the Hudson Case (Magic Frame Studios, $4.89) – In 1979, a daring journalist sets out to investigate on his own, after continuous disapproval by his editorial department, the famous case of the Hudson Family, a family living in the vicinity of New New Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. They lived in the time of British America, around the year 1830. They boasted an estate of four hectares where the rich landowner Mr. Benjamin Hudson owned a large number of slaves from the African continent, whom he tortured and raped in numerous occasions, provoking death. Available May 14.

Wizard of Legend (Humble Bundle, $15.99) – Wizard of Legend is a fast-paced dungeon crawler with an emphasis on dynamic magical combat. Quick movement and even quicker use of spells will allow you to chain spells together to unleash devastating combinations against your enemies! Unlock over 100 unique spells and discover powerful spell combinations! A wide variety of elemental spells allows you to create a hand best suited to your play style. Dive head first into the fray or stand back and let your minions do the work for you. Play solo or co-op! The choice is yours! Available May 15.

3DS eShop

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (Atlus, $39.99) – In the Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux game, you play as a brave United Nations soldier investigating a spatial anomaly called the Schwarzwelt – a dome of dark energy that threatens to consume the world. Inside, you’ll find it home to a nightmare mirror of our own Earth, populated with demons dying to meet you. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux is available May 15.

UP UP BOT (RCMADIAX, $1.49) – In UP UP BOT help your robot friend climb the platforms by tapping the screen. Be careful and watch out for bad robots trying to stop you from progressing even higher. Endless fun for everyone!

Demos

Nintendo Switch

ARMS – Demo Version – Fighting superstars from around the world share one thing in common: extendable arms! Fight as never before with this free demo. Pick from a selection of characters equipped with super-powered arms, and use simple motion or button controls to dish out highly strategic beatdowns in select stages of the single-player campaign or even in one-on-one matches.

One More Dungeon – Demo Version (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch) – Available May 14

Nintendo 3DS

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers – Demo Version – As a team, defend a post-apocalyptic Wild West from an invasion of transforming rock monsters with Dillon the armadillo and his squirrel engineer, Russ. You can even put yourself in the game and battle alongside Dillon and Russ as an animal version of your Mii character. Recruit hired gunners to back you up in battle, and then roll into fights and high-speed chases to take down waves of enemies as Dillon, the “Red Flash” himself!

Activites

• Earn My Nintendo Platinum Points with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – My Nintendo members can earn 100 Platinum Points by finding the hidden K-O-N-G letters on the game website. In addition, members can also redeem their points for new Donkey Kong digital wallpapers for their PC or mobile devices. Check out My Nintendo news for more information.
• Nintendo Labo Creators Contest for Best Decorated Toy-Con ends soon—enter today! – Make, play, and discover with Nintendo Labo! Create your masterpiece using a Nintendo Labo kit and a Nintendo Switch system, then post a video or picture of your creation to the My Nintendo – Nintendo Labo Creators Contest site for a chance to win some great prizes.* The “Best Decorated Toy-Con” contest ends on 10:59 a.m. PT on May 11, so act fast!
• Are you curious about what other My Nintendo members have made so far? Check out them out here, and be sure to click the “Like” button for your favorite creations!
• Fire Emblem Heroes Version 2.5.0 Update – The new update to the Fire Emblem Heroes mobile game adds many new features, including updates to the Arena, tutorial improvements and new Heroes. Check out all the details about everything included in the new update here.

So that’s your lot for this week. Be sure to leave a vote in our poll, and a comment down below with your hot picks from the Nintendo Download update…

Brighton-based independent developer Snap Finger Click, the team behind ACT IT OUT! on Wii U, has just revealed the first details of its new party game, Awkward.

Taking the title rather literally, Awkward is designed to test how much friends and family really know about each other, with over 5,000 questions that must first be answered by one player, before another attempts to correctly guess how they responded. The questions vary from trivial matters about food and pop culture to, in the game’s final round, several debate-provoking issues that could cause quite a stir.

The game is played locally by passing the controller between one and six players, although an option to stream the game via Twitch, YouTube, or Mixer, allows for audiences of up to 500,000 viewers to simultaneously play along. Unfortunately, due to the lack of any in-built streaming features on Switch, the Nintendo version is currently missing out on this mode and is only available via other platforms.

Awkward is set to be priced at £9.99 / €12,99 / $11.99 and will launch on Switch on 19th June.

Will you be gathering your friends and family for some awkward games of Awkward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

About a year ago, WayForward released Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, the fourth entry in the studio’s popular platforming franchise. Since then, the developer has been busy working on various side campaigns that were promised during the original Kickstarter run, releasing a new one every few months. Now, WayForward has bundled everything together in Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – Ultimate Edition, the ‘complete’ version of the game. For the purposes of this hands-on, we’ll be focusing on the DLC expansions that were added over the months, but if you’re looking for our original review, you can find it here.

Pirate Queen’s Quest is the first expansion, seeing you take control of the villainous Risky Boots in a side-story that smartly weaves into the narrative of the main game, filling in the gaps of what Risky was doing behind the scenes of certain parts. Those of you that were fans of Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse will particularly enjoy this campaign, as Risky’s moveset borrows plenty of elements from Shantae’s own in that adventure.

She plays mostly the same as Shantae, with moves such as a sword swipe replacing the hair whip, but she has some additional moves to mix things up, including the ability to summon Tinkerbat minions to fight your enemies, or to fire a gun that can utilise several different kinds of ammunition. What’s nice about this gameplay style is that Risky’s abilities all feel organic and seamless in how they’re employed. Here, every weapon and traversal method is just a quick button press away, rather than having to stop the game like with Shantae’s dancing.

Risky’s goal is to obtain five Dynamo parts from the five main bosses in the initial campaign, and you can tackle the stages in any order that you wish. Upon defeating a boss, Risky’s Tinkerbats will give her a new weapon or tool that expands her abilities and ‘unlocks’ more opportunities to find secrets. The main collectibles that you’ll be looking for are chests filled with dark magic, which can be used to upgrade Risky’s attacks or abilities. For example, her pirate hat glide can be upgraded to go farther, or her gun can be upgraded to fire faster. This overall design is a welcome change, as it gives the experience a more open-ended approach, rather than the controversial linear(ish) design of the initial campaign.

Risky’s adventure doesn’t bring her to any new levels, but instead it remixes the existing ones with newer and more difficult enemy placements and obstacles. At the start, the difficulty of these levels can feel a little bit too high at times given Risky’s underpowered state, but it doesn’t take long for things to quickly tilt the other way once you’ve collected a few dark magic chests. It’s a little disappointing that the stage designs don’t seem to take full advantage of Risky’s unique moveset – as each of them has to be beatable without any special abilities – but retreading the levels to collect all the chests can be quite satisfying when you’re fully loaded out.

The next expansion is Friends to the End mode, which sees you simultaneously playing as Rottytops, Sky, and Bolo in a group effort to save Shantae at a certain point in the story. Each character has specific abilities, like Rotty being able to throw her head and teleport or Sky being able to glide with her bird, Wrench, and gameplay requires you to continuously be swapping between the three of them to overcome unique obstacles. This swap mechanic is clever and fun to use at first, although over time it becomes a bit cumbersome and one note. Each character feels like a one-trick pony, and many of the obstacles make it blindingly obvious which character needs to be used. We would’ve liked to have seen a bit more exploration of the mechanics that are introduced with these characters; the obstacles you come across tend to level off in creativity and challenge after a few levels.

Like Pirate Queen’s Quest, Friends to the End sees you taking the trio through the same levels and environments of the core campaign, but with new layouts to freshen things up. The main issue with this is that Déjà vu begins to set in all too quickly, and it can become a slog to see the story through to the conclusion. It’s not that any of the content or levels here are bad, but you can only fight the Giga Mermaid so many times before it becomes repetitive. It’s a much leaner experience than Shantae and Risky’s modes, too, removing all the Metroidvania elements and replacing them with dozens of collectable (and mostly useless) Dream Squids and a Cave Story-like level up system for each character’s attacks.

All told, Friends to the End feels like a rather tacked on affair. It brings a few interesting new ideas to the table, but these ideas are underutilised and overshadowed by the lack of any major new additions to this campaign. This is, unfortunately, a textbook example of filler content, added just to keep players engaged and to up the overall playtime of the complete package, something which is shared by the next expansion, too.

Costume Mode is the final expansion, adding in three different variants of Shantae’s run in which she dons a different costume and the gameplay changes to match. Ninja mode sees the purple-haired genie pursuing mastery of the mystic arts, and gives her a moveset that lets her throw kunais, swipe a sword, stick to walls, and vanish. Beach mode sees her donning a swimsuit and searching for the perfect beach, while under a glaring hot sun. A sunburn meter on the bottom of the screen is constantly filling, and you must collect sunscreen bottles scattered around or jump into water to stay cool and lower the meter. Officer mode is a crossover with Mighty Switch Force!, and sees Shantae wielding a pistol as she platforms her way through stages built around the Switch mechanic from WayForward’s other popular series.

Costume Mode suffers the same problem that Friends to the End does, but worsens things by being drawn out over three different campaigns. Each campaign has some fun twists on the core experience, but none of these twists are compelling enough to sustain one’s interest for a full run. Now, if you haven’t already played through a few of the other campaigns, your enjoyment will likely increase; the issue is simply that there isn’t enough here to necessarily justify a new mode. Each mode could’ve just been a brief chapter or level in the main campaign, and not much would’ve been lost in the process.

Although these DLC additions can be rather hit or miss in terms of quality, the core campaign is still the same awesome experience that it was when we first reviewed it. Hero mode and Hard Core mode are fun difficulty modifiers for it, too, although with all the retreading that goes on in the DLC, you might not want to burn yourself out with a relatively unaltered run through the main game.

Aside from all the game content, WayForward has also tossed in plenty of fan art that was contributed through the Kickstarter, and you can also collect all the win screens from the various modes, with a different picture being awarded to the player depending on how fast they cleared the mode and how much they collected along the way. Naturally, this is just supplementary content, but fans of Shantae will no doubt appreciate that the developer thought to include this.

So Shantae: Half-Genie Hero – Ultimate Edition is the same amazing game that it was at launch, with a slew of additional content tossed on top. Granted, this additional content borrows a little too heavily from the main game, but there’s still plenty of cool ideas and gameplay styles introduced to warrant a few extra playthroughs. The DLC campaigns may be a little disappointing individually, but they together add a meaningful element to the game, and the disappointment is perhaps a consequence of them existing alongside such a strong core campaign. We’d give the Ultimate Edition a recommendation to those who haven’t yet tried out Shantae: Half-Genie Hero; there’s something here for everybody, and dozens of hours of content mean that you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck. However, if you’ve already put plenty of time into the original game, you may want to think twice before double dipping.

Let us know what you think of this collected edition from WayForward in the comments below…

Around a month ago we reported on Monster Crown, a heavily Pokémon-inspired Kickstarter project that places an emphasis on the breeding element of your monster-taming adventure. Since then, the crowdfunding campaign has gone on to be a huge success, already generating $35,000 more than its original target.

The game’s developer Studio Aurum has kindly shared some juicy new info with us, including an exclusive reveal of one of the monsters coming to the title. In Monster Crown there are several Wandering Tamers, each with their own specific flagship monster. Many of them have unique, “family monsters” that are not available in the wild and, to add these to your collection, you’ll have to impress them first. You can check out one such pairing below.

“Ivan and his Salalisk are an odd-looking pair, but the teenage boy and his monster are inseparable. Having found an egg when he was a small child, his parents threw the egg into the fireplace to dispose of it – only for it to hatch into a strange monster. Ivan has grown alongside the monster for as long as he can remember, and often Salalisk has been his only comfort in a home with his strict and often neglectful parents.”

You’ll encounter these pairings roaming the roads, mountains and forest of Crown Island, and each Tamer has a special backstory and relationship with their monster.

“Mistreating boy and beast alike, [Ivan’s parents] believed the monster would grow up bloodthirsty and that their child was a fool for trusting a wild creature. After an argument in which Ivan’s parents threatened physical punishment, Salalisk lashed out to protect the boy – and soon after, the odd pair ran from home, never looking back. Though it can be tough out in the wild, together the shy but stubborn Ivan and the slithery, stalking Salalisk survive with each other’s help and respect.”

As you explore the game, you may well end up coming across these Wandering Tamers time and time again, getting to know them as their team grows in strength with time. It certainly seems like Monster Crown has an awful lot of content to explore, both gameplay-wise and through story setting and lore. At the time of writing, the crowdfunding campaign has just under 24 hours left to go so make sure to pledge quickly if you want to support the project.

Do you like the look of this one so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Good Shepard Entertainment has confirmed Milanoir, a ’70s-set crime adventure, will be arriving on Nintendo Switch (and some other platforms) on 31st May. Here’s the official synopsis on what you’ll be doing on the mean streets of a bygone era: 

Inspired by classic films such as Caliber 9 and Almost Human, Milanoir is a story of greed, betrayal and revenge drawn to life with stylish pixel art graphics and a funky ‘70s soundtrack. Sneak, choke and shoot through the violent criminal underbelly of Milan on the hunt for the man who framed you, surviving breathtaking vehicle chases and gunfights while taking out anyone who stands in your way.

There’s also a fancy new trailer to get you in the mood. Because if you’re going to kick someone’s pixelated head in, you might as well do it in style:

Let us know what you make of Milanoir, and if you’ll be adding it to your Switch digital collection come the 31st May…