Flyhigh Works has announced that it will be bringing Ambition of the Slimes to the Switch eShop later this month.
This quirky RPG gives the genre’s weakest enemy – the slime, as seen in games like Dragon Quest – the chance to be the hero. In this new adventure, this lowly character has the chance to set the record straight by “claiming” enemies and taking over their bodies.
Ambition of the Slimes was previously available on 3DS; we awarded 8/10 it and said:
All in all, Ambition of the Slimes is a lovable little game. It takes a classic concept — the grid-based strategy-RPG — and infuses it with a fun new conceit, by placing characters in the role of the lowly Slimes that would be experience-point fodder in any other RPG. Even better, it runs with that idea to deliver fun twists on the gameplay — like the ‘Claim’ command that lets you take over your enemies — that make the most of the theme. Add in a fun old-school presentation and a heap of personality, and Slimes is an easy recommendation for SRPG fans looking for quick, quirky fun.
If you’re keen, then the game hits Switch on 18th January, priced at $5USD / €5.
Just before 2018 arrived hackers declared that a custom launcher would be made available for Switch that would allow users to run homebrew apps on their systems.
We’re now seeing the first fruits of this development, and unsurprisingly a host of emulators have appeared, covering platforms such as the NES, SNES and even the Atari Jaguar. All are shown working within RetroArch, a popular emulator package which pulls together different apps under a unified interface with a focus on accurate performance.
This shouldn’t come as a massive surprise as the Switch is based on Nvidia tech, which is used in Android devices like the Shield TV and Shield Tablet – both systems which are capable of running various emulators to a high standard.
The issue here is that by opening the door to homebrew apps, these hackers are also allowing pirates to illegally install games on their Switch consoles.
We’d imagine Nintendo will be doing everything it possibly can to shut the door on such exploits in a future firmware update, but in the meantime let us know what you think of these developments by posting a comment below.
It’s a new week, so it’s time to check out the UK software charts again. Last week Super Mario Odyssey was the star of the show, holding its own against strong third party competition on PS4/Xbox One. This week we see it slip from 6th place to 8th place, but we’d imagine that Nintendo will more than happy with that.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild jumps from 10th place last week to 9th place this week. Could people who picked up a Switch be looking for that next game to add to their collection perhaps? Whatever the reason, it’s a strong showing for a game that is almost a year old.
If you’ve ever wanted to control a tiny pug as he jumps over boxes, platforms, and spikes whilst collecting little, spinning pug-head tokens, today is the day for you.
The creator of Turbo Pug, a game previously released on Steam with thousands of glowing reviews to its name, has confirmed that Turbo Pug DX will be heading to Nintendo Switch. The game is a casual runner with difficult, random, procedurally generated levels. Players have to keep an eye out for random weather types such as lightning which can give your pug a nasty zap, and you are able to collect new costumes and characters to play as.
Whilst there is no confirmed release date just yet, the Turbo Pug founder went on to say that they are going to do their best for “an ASAP 2018 Switch release.” Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get to see what all the fuss is about.
Are you ready for a new, cheap and cheerful runner to take with you on the go? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Only a week into 2018, and we’re already getting weak at the knees as Nintendo Switch racks up more and more positive headlines – including its recent conquest of Wii U’s lifetime sales in Japan – but will the rest of the year hold for the Big N’s game changing console? Well, if one tweet from a big name at Nintendo itself is to be believed then the next 12 months could be even more successful than 2017.
The social media post came from none other than Damon Baker, the head honcho of third-party titles and ‘nindies’, who responded to one gamer’s screenshot of his Switch menu (and all the games featured on it, including Rocket League and LA Noire). Could he be trolling us? Is he trying to drum up a bit of hype? The mind boggles…
Okay, well maybe we’re reading a little too much into a small exchange on Twitter, but you get the sense everyone at Nintendo is as excited about Switch’s next chapter as we all are. Do you think 2018 will be a big year for Nintendo and Switch? Share some your predictions with us below…
As one of Nintendo’s newest first-party IP, ARMS came out swinging haymakers in 2017, but it’s often struggled to keep the same kind of exposure as the likes of Splatoon 2, Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Well, along with continued support from Nintendo itself, ARMS’ competitive community has boiled to a core of dedicated players determined to build the game’s exposure in the salty world of fighting tournaments.
In an enlightening feature over on Kotaku UK, a number of those players opened up about the challenges of taking ARMS into the competitive fighting game scene, a place where finding and keeping sponsorship can be a tough ask when the game you’re repping isn’t as big as others in the genre. Apparently, it’s the least popular game at EVO Japan (a regional branch of annual fighting game expo) in terms of the number of players signing up to compete, but ARMS continues to hold a much stronger competitive scene in Japan thanks to officially-sponsored tournaments such as the Japan Grand Prix.
How many of you are still playing ARMS? Would you ever want to take your boxing skills into the competitive scene? We’d love to hear from you below…
Much like the first two instalments, The King Of Fighters ’96 gives you a diverse roster of 2D fighters to pick from as you assemble a team of three to punch, kick, throw and brag your way to victory. The third instalment in the series also sees the sprites of old discarded for an instantly familiar hand-drawn style, as well as folding in a series of much-welcomed gameplay tweaks.
For a start, there’s the removal of the sidestepping ability, replaced with a much more tactile and intuitive roll that can be used to avoid attacks. Initially designed to perform the same function as the old sidestep, it enables you to get close to an opponent (or put some distance between you), possibly opening the door for a sweet counter attack. It’s performed by simply pushing a direction with whatever buttons you’ve mapped for Neo Geo’s A and B, although for ease of use this particular button combo is mapped to Switch’s ZR button.
Another change is the ability to run by double-tapping forwards, quickly closing the gap between fighters without the need for a risky jump. Jumping itself is also different this time around as it’s affected by whether you go from a standing or running position. You can also pull off a slight jump animation by quickly tapping up (useful for faking out opponents and potentially gaining the upper hand). The rolls, jumping options and run ability make for fast, frantic fights and offer plenty of player agency during fights, adding significantly to the entertainment (particularly during two-player bouts).
Character-wise, there are 27 fighters to pick from and the lineup is quite similar to that of the ’95 edition, although that game’s boss characters (Saisyu Kusanagi, Omega Rugal) are gone, replaced with new final challengers Chizuru Kagura and Goenitz. As far as playable characters are concerned there are seven newcomers including the popular Leona, but four fighters (including Billy Kane) have been left out.
Should you grab The King of Fighters ’98 from the eShop you’ll find all but one of the ’95 omissions included alongside a chunk of this game’s additions, but not all of them. Art Of Fighting 3’s Kasumi Todoh is in this game, but not ’98 and more notably this game features a Boss Team absent from the Dream Match title. The appeal of this team is that it is headed up by the Fatal Fury series’ ultimate bad egg Geese Howard, joined by Fatal Fury 2’s Krauser and Art Of Fighting’s Mr Big.
In addition to the regular arcade mode, the usual ACA Hi Score and Caravan modes are included, limiting you to one credit and five minutes respectively as you try to gain as many points as possible to move up the online leaderboards. It provides a slightly different way to play, but as with most fighters the modes aren’t as appealing as with other genres. Other than team battles, you can still dive into the options menu and switch the arcade mode to a traditional one-on-one, best of three rounds fighter – although as with its predecessor, cutscenes/endings play out the same as if you had a full team.
Story-wise this is the second part of the Orochi saga, offering up a few scenes to read through towards the end of the game. There’s some replayability in going through the game again too, as each of the set teams have their own endings in addition to the standard one you get from fielding a custom group.
Conclusion
The King of Fighters ’96 offers the usual enjoyable team battles with a good range of fighters to pick from. This particular entry introduces some nifty gameplay changes to the series. Of course, all of this and more would feature in the ultimately better The King of Fighters ’98, but it’s a confident entry in the series nonetheless. If you’re interested in the ongoing story then The King of Fighters ’96 is still a competent fighter, and there’s plenty of entertainment to be had in its hand-drawn brawls.
As reported in Famitsu earlier in the week – and picked up on by Twitter user Nibel yesterday morning – Nintendo Switch has officially passed the lifetime sales of Wii U in Japan. According to the latest issue’s figures, Nintendo Switch has now sold 3,407,158 console units, surpassing the lifetime sales of its predecessor (which stalled out at 3,301,555).
So in the course of only 10 months, Nintendo Switch has already hit the milestone that took Wii U six years to reach. It’s a staggering figure and comes hot on the heels of two other sales records, with Switch having beaten PlayStation 2’s year one sales record in Japan and become the fastest selling console in US history with 4.8 million flying off American shelves. It’s been a great start to 2018, and that’s saying something.
If Nintendo keeps this up, more records are going to fall around the world as Switch confidently strides towards its first birthday in March. Do you think Switch will continue to sell as well in 2018? Let us know in the comments section forthwith…
Nonogram puzzles, with their grid-based picture building by numbers formula, have been a staple on Nintendo consoles since the days of Game Boy. In fact, Switch has barely been out a year and it already has two such titles to its name – Picross S and Piczle Lines DX – and now it has a third in the form of Pic-A-Pix Deluxe. Question is, does this thrice slice of pictorial puzzling justify its existence?
Ironically, for a game that’s slapped the word ‘deluxe’ in its name, Pic-A-Pix doesn’t look, play or feel particularly luxurious. It is, in no uncertain terms, a by-the-numbers ‘picross’ game – a fact that plays both to its benefit and its detriment. With 150 standard puzzles to choose from, there’s certainly a lot of content if you’re a) a fan of nonograms or b) looking for something to tickle your grey matter for five minutes or five hours at a time. It’s just a shame the game doesn’t attempt to crack its own mold, never mind break it.
If you’ve never played a puzzler like this before, the concept straddles that line between achingly simple and blood-boilingly difficult. It’s all about building pixelated pictures by following the numbered clues on either side of a grid. With multiple colours to choose from and numbers to help you work out how big or small each shape should be, this incarnation offers a satisfying and impressively vast vault of brain teasers for the uninitiated, but if you’ve played anything in a similar vein before Pic-A-Pix Deluxe will neither surprise nor shock you.
Being able to access any of its puzzles – ranging from simple 5×5 pixel creations to monster 35×25 illustrations – gives more experienced players the chance to jump into the more challenging conundrums right from the off, so if you’re a picross pro you’ll find a neat open setup that won’t force you through waves of simple pictures. Unfortunately, regardless of whether you take on its toughest grids or its most accessible, that basic aesthetic only serves to hold the overall package back.
While its simple menus and presentation place it in line with Nintendo’s own Picross S, this particular nonogram package lacks the personality of similar titles on Switch, including the Sudoku-esque mashup of Score Studios’ Piczel Lines DX. However, what Pic-A-Pix Deluxe lacks in unique charm, it does try to address with Switch-specific features. The handheld’s capacitive touchscreen supports on-screen controls, and while they’re serviceable, they can make the minute pixel control in the more complicated puzzles difficult to navigate.
On the other hand, the ability to play in co-op with up to three other players is a great addition and embraces Switch’s local multiplayer ethos perfectly. Sure, it’s not the sexiest of games to play with friends but considering how well Lightwood Games has retained the classic picross formula, you’ll be surprised just how addictive it can be when played in company. There’s also an 150 extra puzzles hidden away in the game’s Extra section, which embrace the nonogram’s black and white origins to add a little retro chic to the picross party. Further packs can be purchased for a few pounds/dollars, making Pic-A-Pix Deluxe a relatively cost effective way to scratch that puzzle itch on the go or at home.
There’s also plenty of replay value in trying to rack up the best score on each puzzle. Since each one has a timer that tracks your performance and the ability to check your current progress for errors (with a simple press of ‘Y’) there’s a real benefit to using logic to solve each conundrum as you go. Alternatively, if you’re new to this numerical brain teasers, the power to check your work for erroneous pixels will help educate you on your mistakes.
Conclusion
Basic in both presentation and premise, Pic-A-Pix Deluxe serves up a dish of picross puzzling that will test your brain capacity but does little to innovate on a well-worn conundrum recipe. Still, with some Switch-specific features – including four-player multiplayer support – and plenty of nonograms to its name, Lightwood Games’ pixel puzzler is right at home on Nintendo’s new handheld home.
Back in December we covered an up and coming Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game from Bitmap Bureau (yes, an actual old school cartridge that really works with Sega’s old 16-bit beast). Xeno Crisis immediately caught our attention as well as piquing the interest of retro gamers everywhere. So much so that’s it’s smashed its original $20,000 funding goal nearly three times over, with backer numbers getting close to the 1,000 mark at the time of writing.
Bitmap Bureau has been adding stretch goals from the get-go – with a Sega Dreamcast edition, a two-player co-operative mode (now with female marine option), the game’s soundtrack on vinyl and more all joining in on the action – but as the Kickstarter is reaches its final stretch (with just three days left on the clock), Bitmap Bureau has one final trick up its sleeve. A potential Switch version!
The final stretch goal – which requires the crowdfunding campaign to hit $65,000 (it’s currently on $56K) – will bring this blast processed throwback on the Switch eShop, something we’re sure will no doubt please those Nintendo Life readers who requested such a port on the original news post. Will this change you mind about helping fund this game? Maybe you’re a backer already? Tell us everything in the comments while we make sure our Mega Drives in the office are all in working order for October 2018.
