As previously reported by Nintendo Life back in January, developer Might And Delight and publisher Circle Entertainment are bringing Shelter Generations to Nintendo Switch as a console exclusive – and now we finally know when the emotional wildcat sim will be making an appearance. Next week no less, on 12th April.
The collection – which brings together Shelter 2 and the Paws: A Shelter 2 Game expansion – will launch with an introductory price of €17.99 / £16.28 / $17.99 during week one, and €19.99 / £18.09 / $19.99 from then on. So if you’re looking to add this PC curio to your handheld console – and raise some lynx kittens while you’re at it – then be sure to grab a copy when it arrives next Thursday.
Will you be picking up a copy of Shelter Generations on the Nintendo Switch eShop? Be sure to share your thoughts with the Nintendo Life community below…
We’ve got some sad news today as it’s being reported that veteran writer and game designer Hidenori Shibao has passed away. Shibao was best known for writing and directing the Super Nintendo RPG Paladin’s Quest, which was published by Enix.
In later years Shibao would go on to work on PlayStation RPG Legend of Legaia among various other games. Paladin’s Quest is certainly still a well-regarded RPG to this day, and if you want to learn more about it then check out Gamasutra’s game design analysis.
Our thoughts are with Shibao-san’s family at this very sad time.
Both the original Urban Trial Freestyle and last year’s stunt bike sequel managed to stick their landings on 3DS, though it’s fair to say that neither game really attempted any outrageous stunts. At first glance, developer Teyon seems to have declined the opportunity to try something a little more gnarly with Switch exclusive Urban Trial Playground. To all intents and purposes, this is yet another 2.5D stunt racer in thrall to the Trials series.
Before long, however, you’ll come to appreciate that Urban Trial Playground represents an extremely focused and surprisingly nuanced progression for the series. Once again your mission is to ride from left to right on a dirt bike, avoiding crashes, gaining air, and pulling off stunts. Key to this is a familiar body-balance system where pushing right on the left analog stick will lean your biker forward, while pushing left achieves the opposite. On the floor this will let you adjust where your weight is positioned on your bike, while in the air it will enable you to pull off flips.
So far so run of the mill. There are a couple of small but meaningful additions that subtly enrich the stunt-biking formula, however. It’s relatively easy to pull off a sustained wheelie in Urban Trial Playground, though it remains just precarious enough to be enjoyable. This feeds into the fact that riding on your back wheel is the fastest way to travel along flat sections. It isn’t scared to stretch its levels out a little more to suit, and the result is a stunt-fuelled game that can still feel blisteringly fast.
Another new inclusion is the provision of independent front and rear brakes, which are thoughtfully assigned to ZL and ZR. The rear brake is generally more practical, but skillful use of the front brake enables you to force a stoppie (a front wheelie) and speed up the pace of a front flip. The final control addition we should mention is a smart jump-extension system that requires both skill and timing to perform. Holding down on the analog stick to duck on the saddle, then up just before the edge of a ramp will give your rider extra air.
While you’re not forced to master that last move, it’s a big help when it comes to reaching some of the mid-air chip collectibles, or to access some of the subtle level splits that can take you onto rooftops and awnings. Indeed, Urban Trial Playground as a whole is a remarkably welcoming game to play. It’s both startlingly easy and fun to blast through a whole bunch of levels in a row, simply enjoying the speed and fluidity of the racing. But there’s also plenty of incentive to return and absolutely rinse a stage.
Besides the aforementioned chip collectibles that are hidden throughout each level, you also get given a rating out of five stars depending on how many points you accumulate. In addition there are multiple challenges to tick off, such as achieving a certain number of front flips, landing a set jump distance, or simply completing a clean run. You might want to revisit earlier levels as you unlock new and more capable bikes, or when you get enough credit to enhance your existing ride with better components. It’s a sign of the game’s welcoming nature that when you do get a new bike, the components you’ve already bought can be transferred over.
All of this, and the game looks crisp and colourful – if a little lacking in personality. It moves like a dream too, especially in docked mode. The frame rate seems less fluid in handheld mode, and it’s a game that’s evidently been optimised for a large 1080p display. This is comfortably the most handsome handheld Urban Trial game yet, regardless. There’s no online multiplayer, unfortunately, but local multiplayer fans are well catered for with a range of two-player split-screen modes. The option to chase down your opponent after a brief head start, in particular, really drives home the game’s intoxicating balance of speed and precision.
Conclusion
Urban Trial Playground may not reinvent the stunt bike wheel, but it does provide an extremely fluid and inviting arcade experience for Switch owners. Tactile controls and pacy, highly replayable levels make this an accomplished cut-price racer package.
Last month, the combination of a new firmware update and a raft of third-party docks/USB chargers led to multiple reports of Switch units being bricked as a result. Nintendo itself was quick to comment back in March, and now the Big N has released an official list of USB chargers that can safely charge your console without causing it to turn into an expensive paperweight.
According to the official FAQ from Nintendo of Japan, using a USB-A to USB-C charging cable is perfectly fine as long as it has a 56K OHM resistor – the official Switch charging cable meets these requirements to a tee, so make sure any dock you might be purchasing ticks these boxes or you’re going to run the risk of putting your handheld wonder six feet under.
Have you had your Switch brick from using a third-party charger? Has your Switch been perfectly fine with a non-first-party dock? Let us know in the comments below…
Pokémon GO’s Field Research system has been active for around a week now, which means players are finally getting enough stamps to unlock their first big reward – and it’s a doozy.
It’s being reported that securing a full week of research stamps gives you the chance to battle the legendary Moltres, which was previously only available in legendary raid battles for a limited period of time last summer.
Pokémon GO’s raid battles have been a bone of contention for players who live in remote parts of the world or in areas where it’s not possible to get enough people involved to beat the top-tier monsters. This new system changes all of that, and we’d imagine that more legendaries will become available in the future.
Let us know how you’ve been getting on with Pokémon GO’s new Field Research system by posting a comment below.
Ripstone Games has announced that The Spectrum Retreat, an upcoming first-person narrative puzzler, will be launching on Nintendo Switch this year.
Developed by Bafta Young Game Designer award-winner, Dan Smith, The Spectrum Retreat is said to revolve around intuitive first-person puzzle action set within an intriguing narrative. Players must explore the pristine and uncanny hotel, The Penrose, solving its ingenious colour-coded puzzles and discovering the reasons behind their seemingly never-ending stay.
There isn’t any news of a release date as of yet, but with the promise of a dramatic, and sometimes unsettling story, we can’t help but feel intrigued by what we might find.
What do you think? Are you intrigued, too? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Boxed Switch game collectors rejoice, Microïds will be bringing Yesterday Origins to retail on 31st May, alongside the eShop release. This adventure game was developed by the Madrid-based Pendulo Studios.
So what’s Yesterday Origins all about then? Let’s check out the game’s synopsis:
It all starts in the 15th century, when the young John Yesterday is imprisoned for sorcery by the Spanish Inquisition. After escaping, he undergoes an alchemical ritual that makes him immortal. But things do not go as planned, and each time he is resurrected he loses his memory, retaining only flashes of his previous lives. In modern times, John lives peacefully in Paris with his girlfriend, Pauline. She is also immortal, but unlike John, she has kept her memories of her past lives. Together they will try to solve the mysteries of the past and reproduce the ritual so that John can keep his memories. They are not the only ones in search of these secrets however…
With its unique artistic style and mature storyline, this looks like it could be a fun game for adventure fans to go on a journey with. In 2019, the studio will also be releasing a story game inspired by Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece.
Check out the trailer above and let us know if you plan on checking this out in May…
According to the post, one of the areas of the game that suffered notorious frame rate issues in previous versions – the grimly-named Blighttown – has now been carefully massaged to improve performance. The game will be running at 1080p and 60fps on PS4 and Xbox One, and 1080p/720p in Switch’s docked/handheld mode. The Switch version will also be, according to reports, locked at 30fps. In other subtle changes, multiple Hard Souls can now be used at once (saving you from sitting through the same animation multiple times), while jumping has been mapped to the left analog stick. This is the case for the PS4/Xbox One versions, so such a configuration could differ on Switch.
Dark Souls: Remastered arrives on Nintendo Switch on 25th May.
Will you be returning to Lordran come May, or will this be the first time you’ve become ‘hollowed’? Share your takes with the Nintendo Life community below…
Despite efforts to smooth things over after the dust had settled, some attendees decided to open a class action lawsuit against Niantic last year. TechCrunch is reporting that Niantic has decided to settle this with a whopping $1,575,000 payout, intended to cover the costs of travel, accommodation, car rental, and other expenses racked up by a big section of the 20,000 who attended the event.
There’s a catch, though. If you want to make a claim then you will have to prove you were there (attendees will have checked into the event through the Pokémon GO app) and you’ll also need receipts for expenses which amount to more than $107.
Should any of this cash remain unclaimed, it will be split between the Illinois Bar foundation and nonprofit Chicago Run.
As gamers, we are genuinely spoiled when it comes to 2D platformers on Nintendo Switch. From Sonic Mania to Celeste, there certainly isn’t a shortage, but when one comes along and dares to mix up the classic formula once again, our interest flares. Shadow Bug, for the most part, takes the platforming genre and successfully manages to tip it on its head and deliver a formidable experience that offers a unique and gratifying way to play.
One of the first things that helps Shadow Bug stand out from the densely populated platforming crowd is its uncommon control system. Easy to learn but challenging to master, traversing the bite-sized levels as a tiny ninja bug is, at first, tricky to nail. You’re not able to jump, but with the right Joy-Con being used as a handy pointer to lock on to enemies, we have our little critter zoom over to them and automatically rid them with a satisfying slash of our swords with a simple squeeze of ‘R’.
Timing your dash to avoid spiked platforms, deadly lasers and insect-hungry robots is where this game stopped us from blissfully gliding through its 30 something levels. Carefully timing your dash is paramount to success and, at times, is super challenging. One boss sees us frantically slicing our way through a circle of constantly regenerating bots – all while avoiding a chunky laser beam emitting from a rotating mechanical cube. You can instantly tell that the developer had a great deal of evil fun with this unique mechanic, and battling through its designs is a real joy.
The game is best enjoyed with the Joy-Cons detached and the action played out in TV mode. There’s the option to play in handheld mode, but we run into some annoyances when using just one finger to control our dinky creature. Important and hard-to-see areas are often obstructed because of the need to constantly hold down where we want our Bug to walk. Physically jabbing at enemies is fun to start with; however, having access to a responsive pointer via the use of the right Joy-Con made the gameplay far more straightforward.
Within minutes we find ourselves chaining multiple attacks, zipping across the screen while grabbing as many orbs as possible before reaching the end gate. Unfortunately, there’s no notable, outstanding reward for nabbing all of the orbs in a level. Thankfully, Switch-exclusive in-game global leaderboards have been added, which makes it a cut above the mobile iteration and will be a popular addition for speed-runners.
There are a total of three Shurikens per level that are rewarded by simply completing the stage, exceeding a quota of collected orbs and by reaching the gate before a certain time limit – it’s not too difficult to 100% the game. Checkpoints aren’t marked, so it’s down to guesswork when it comes to dying, but restarting tougher situations is a breeze with next to no load times. The length of the levels varies considerably with some taking over five minutes to complete, but a few had us clearing them in under a minute. The variation is well received and is perfect for those shorter play sessions on your lunch break or commute.
Something that can’t go unnoticed, however, is the lack of storyline. We were plonked on a stage and left to our own devices with zero explanation as to why you’re slicing through hundreds of bad guys. Checking out the description on the eShop gave us a minimal amount of context, but even so, we feel like this could easily be included in the title.
Where it lacks in a story though, artistically, it can’t be faulted. The art design of the levels in particular looks great on both the small and big screens. The picturesque parallax backgrounds are often breathtaking and fondly reminded us of Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition, which is in no way a bad thing. Speeding our way through the levels with an expansive steampunk environment layered behind our Bug, coupled with colossal chainsaws falling towards you is pleasantly beautiful.
Deadly neon-green slime, brightly coloured bubbling lava and the ambient glow of the sunrise makes for a real treat for the eyes, but never detracts from the hectic action that unfolds right from the start. With its pastel colour pallet plastered among inky black foreground pieces, the game positions itself as one of the most visually striking games currently available on the eShop.
Conclusion
Shadow Bug is a welcome breath of fresh air in a stuffy virtual space that’s up to the ceiling with 2D platformers. Experiencing the title with detached Joy-Cons on the big screen, as opposed to utilising the touchscreen; you’ll be cheerfully surprised by its unique art style and play method. Slicing your way to the end boss won’t take more than a couple of hours for some, but for those wanting to beat global high scores and to collect all three shurikens per level will, beyond a shadow of a doubt, get more bang for their buck.
