Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 19th, 2023. It’s Thursday, and that means we’ve got a lot of new releases to look at. For the first time this year, I’d say this is actually a really impressive lot of games. Probably more here I want to buy than I actually have money to buy. And tomorrow will add even more to the pile! Oh dear. After the usual summaries, we head over to the sales section to see what’s old and new. Let’s get to business!
New Releases
Persona 3 Portable ($19.99)
Persona 3 is the game that established the tone and style of the latter part of the series, but there’s a good chance those who came in with Persona 4 or Persona 5 haven’t played it yet. It’s a great JRPG, and this enhanced port of the PSP version of the game is a decent way to experience it. You lose some of the presentation punch of the PlayStation 2 version, but it’s far more user-friendly and offers the choice of a female protagonist who has her own social links to master. The upscaling here is a little iffy in places, but it’s hard to go wrong here for twenty bucks.
Persona 4 Golden ($19.99)
Odds are good, however, that you’re more interested in this one. Here’s an enhanced port of the Vita version of Persona 4, also known as the one that got the Western market to pay attention to the series. Another top-shelf JRPG, and this one upscales a lot more cleanly than Persona 3 Portable. I’ll have a review of both of these games soon, but I can say upfront that the ports are well-done and if you like RPGs at all you really should play both of these games.
NeverAwake ($24.99)
This is a twin-stick scrolling shoot-em-up whose eighty-plus stages are all drawn from the nightmares of a young girl. That means you’re going to be fighting a lot of vegetables, dogs, and dentists among other things. But they’re all weirded up, because they’re the nightmare versions of them. Each level is relatively short, giving this a lot of pick up and play appeal. As you put more time into the game, you’ll unlock more power-ups and upgrades to help smooth out the difficulty curve if needed. Heck, it even has a story that is worth paying attention to. This game has gotten a lot of praise on other platforms, and it’s easy to see why.
Graze Counter GM ($14.99)
Here’s a vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter that, as you could probably guess from the name, places a strong emphasis on getting as dangerously close to danger as you can without getting thwacked. Graze the enemy bullets to fill up your Counter Gauge, which you can then use to trigger some more powerful attacks. Enemies destroyed by those will leave behind stars that fill up your Break Gauge, and when that is full you can enter a special mode that temporarily enhances your abilities. Seven stages to play, more than a dozen unlockable ships to go with the default duo, and a bunch of modes add up to a really slick package for shoot-em-up fans.
A Space for the Unbound ($19.99)
Lots of good games today, I tell you. This one is an adventure game set in a small rural Indonesian town in the 1990s, where a supernatural event threatens the existence of a pair of high school sweethearts. They’ll have to investigate the town, talk to its residents, and unwind its mysteries if they want to get to the bottom of what’s happening to them. Mikhail’s going to have a review of this one for us fairly soon, so do look forward to that.
Void Prison ($2.99)
Void Prison is a very simple game, but a very satisfying one. It’s a twin-stick shooter where your aim is to survive as long as you can. How it differs from the usual game of this sort is that enemies won’t actually kill you they hit you. Instead, they’ll push you. You see, the whole game takes place in a circular field that is constantly fluctuating in size. If you touch the edge, you’re dead. Some enemies leave behind temporary power-ups to give you a bit of a breather, but things get pretty chaotic in a hurry. For the price, it’s a lovely pick-up.
Arcade Archives Tank Force ($7.99)
The follow-up to Tank Battalion and Battle City takes its second spin on the Nintendo Switch after being part of the Namco Museum collection released in the console’s first year. This has all the usual Arcade Archives features, and includes both the two-player and four-player variants of the game. It adds new enemies and boss battles to the familiar formula, but otherwise sticks to what worked in the previous games. Unless you’re very interested in some of the Arcade Archives-specific extras, you’re probably better off buying the frequently-on-sale Namco Museum if you want the best value for your money.
Last Command ($14.99)
This is an unusual mix of bullet hell dodging and the classic Snake game. Avoid the enemy attacks and pick up the Data Points to throw some damage back in return. Collect power-ups to give yourself a better chance at survival, and make use of your dash ability to quickly zip out of harm’s way. It’s a hard one to explain in words, but if you check a video of it you’ll see what it’s like pretty quickly.
A Matter of Principle ($3.99)
Touted as an interactive comic novel, A Matter of Principle follows the lives of Gavrilo Princip and Franz Ferdinand during the events leading up to moment when the former assassinated the latter and sparked the first world war. The art looks good, and I’m sure a lot of folks will find this a very educational experience. The low price certainly helps justify what is likely a one-and-done playthrough. One for the folks looking to study a bit of history today, I suppose.
Smilemo ($9.99)
A challenging platformer featuring a little fellow named Smilemo. Make your way through the stages and collect the vaccine code to defeat the virus that is threatening the world. If you so much as touch anything infected with the virus, you’ll be sent flying back, continually bouncing as you hit previous obstacles. Absolutely infuriating stuff, but it’s easy to see why some have gotten very into it in its computer form. If you want a sadistic precision platformer today, this might be what you’re after.
Car Parking Multiplayer ($24.99)
Bloody audacious, I’ll give them that. This is a port of a free-to-play mobile game, which you might be able to tell by the fact that you can’t play it in TV mode. Thirty dollars. They want thirty dollars for this. They didn’t remove the in-app purchases, and you can still buy consumable coins. Go give it a try on your mobile device of choice, and if after that you feel like dropping ten bucks more than a whole-butt Persona game on this low-effort port, then so be it. I am not the mayor of your wallet.
Zumiman ($3.00)
The poorly-translated game description can’t decide whether the hero of this game is called Zumiman or Zoomyman, but I’m going to keep using Zumiman. Anyway, you control Zumiman. He uses water balloons that explode like bombs and splash the area with water. You need to use these to navigate the stages and defeat enemies. You can probably sort out which game this top-down action-puzzler pays homage to. It has fifty levels and three different difficulty levels to play on.
Minimal Move ($11.99)
This is a puzzle game where you have to use two characters, each with their own unique skill, to solve each stage and make it to the exit. Kaiten can rotate blocks and Ido can move blocks side to side or up and down. You can control both characters alone or pull in a friend for some local co-op multiplayer. If you enjoy block-pusher puzzles, you might want to have a closer look at this. It seems well-made enough, though I haven’t had a chance to put hands on it myself.
Rubber Bandits ($9.99)
A party game for up to four players via local or online multiplayer, Rubber Bandits sees you avoiding traps and escaping from the police as you try to grab as much loot as you can. The reviews for this are solid on other platforms so unless the developers have made some sort of grievous error in porting this to the Switch, party game fans should consider dropping a tenner to add another amusing game to their rotation.
Hack and Shoot Heroes ($3.99)
The screenshots and description almost make this seem like a halfway competent effort, but then you see it’s a Benjamin Kistler game and all hope fades. Choose from six different heroes and try to fend off the hordes for as long as you can. Survive long enough and you’ll get to face off against the boss. There are three stages to complete. You can get different weapons and persistent upgrades, as is the style in this kind of game. Not fancy dining.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Nobody Saves the World has a new free update you should check out if you have the game. And if you don’t, it’s on sale right now. So… you know, do what you will there. Bandai Namco has a bunch of games on sale, and there are also a bunch of indie games discounted. Over in the outbox, the brief sale on Dragon Quest Treasures is coming to an end. Act now or wait until the next sale, which might be a ways off. There will be a lot more sales to consider tomorrow, so don’t blow all of your cash right now.
Select New Games on Sale
Nobody Saves the World ($14.99 from $24.99 until 1/30)
Nobody Saves the World Frozen Hearth DLC ($3.99 from $4.99 until 1/30)
Nobody Saves the World Bundle ($18.19 from $27.99 until 1/30)
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival ($19.99 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Doraemon Story of Seasons FotGK ($37.49 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Doraemon Story of Seasons FotGK SE ($44.99 from $59.99 until 2/1)
SD Gundam Battle Alliance Deluxe ($59.49 from $84.99 until 2/1)
Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris ($34.99 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Sword Art Online Hollow Realization DE ($7.49 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Captain Tsubasa RoNC ($14.99 from $59.99 until 2/1)
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus ($5.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythm Festival Deluxe ($40.14 from $54.99 until 2/1)
QuickSpot ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adv. All-Star BR Deluxe ($48.99 from $69.99 until 2/1)
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Pac-Man 99 Mode Unlock ($9.74 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Dragon Ball FighterZ ($8.99 from $59.99 until 2/1)
My Hero One’s Justice Deluxe ($19.99 from $79.99 until 2/1)
Super Dragon Ball Heroes WM ($8.99 from $59.99 until 2/1)
One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 Deluxe ($17.99 from $89.99 until 2/1)
The Lost Labyrinth ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Secrets of Magic 4: Potion Master ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Secrets of Magic 5: BtS ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Queen’s Garden Sakura Season ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
AngerForce: Reloaded ($6.99 from $9.99 until 2/2)
My Downtown ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Graze Counter GM ($11.99 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Casual Challenge Players’ Club ($3.49 from $4.99 until 2/3)
Super Jagger Bomb ($3.49 from $4.99 until 2/3)
Rule No.1 ($4.19 from $5.99 until 2/3)
Project Starship ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/3)
Cake Invaders ($2.99 from $5.99 until 2/3)
Dead End Job ($4.24 from $16.99 until 2/8)
Gamedec Definitive Edition ($4.99 from $29.99 until 2/8)
Arise A Simple Story Definitive Edition ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/8)
Splatter Zombiecalypse Now ($2.99 from $7.99 until 2/8)
Rigid Force Redux ($5.99 from $19.99 until 2/8)
Truberbrook ($5.99 from $29.99 until 2/8)
Vambrace Cold Soul ($4.99 from $24.99 until 2/8)
Windscape ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/8)
Glitch’s Trip ($2.59 from $12.99 until 2/8)
Bridge Constructor Ultimate ($3.74 from $14.99 until 2/8)
Bridge Constructor Portal ($3.74 from $14.99 until 2/8)
Bridge Constructor Walking Dead ($2.49 from $9.99 until 2/8)
Gigapocalypse ($6.99 from $9.99 until 2/8)
The Inner World ($2.39 from $11.99 until 2/8)
The Inner World: Last Wind Monk ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/8)
Slime-San ($3.59 from $11.99 until 2/8)
Beautiful Desolation ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/8)
Silver Chains ($4.99 from $24.99 until 2/8)
Wings of Bluestar ($11.99 from $14.99 until 2/8)
Funghi Explosion ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/9)
EDF World Brothers Deluxe ($39.59 from $59.99 until 2/9)
Samurai Maiden ($47.99 from $59.99 until 2/9)
Abyss of the Sacrifice ($19.99 from $39.99 until 2/9)
The Little Acre ($4.89 from $12.99 until 2/9)
Sherlock Holmes & Hound of Baskervilles ($6.49 from $12.99 until 2/9)
The Sinking City Deluxe ($12.99 from $64.99 until 2/9)
Miles & Kilo ($1.99 from $7.99 until 2/9)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, January 20th
1971 Project Helios ($8.99 from $19.99 until 1/20)
Attack on Beetle ($2.99 from $5.99 until 1/20)
Axiom Verge ($7.99 from $19.99 until 1/20)
Baila Latino ($5.99 from $9.99 until 1/20)
Camper Van Simulator 2 ($7.79 from $12.99 until 1/20)
Cresteaju ($3.49 from $6.99 until 1/20)
Dragon Quest Treasures ($49.79 from $59.99 until 1/20)
Dragon Quest Treasures Deluxe ($53.94 from $64.99 until 1/20)
Espacio Cosmic Light-Seeker ($2.26 from $3.49 until 1/20)
Pocoyo Party ($13.49 from $29.99 until 1/20)
Sine Mora EX ($1.99 from $29.99 until 1/20)
Super Crush KO ($3.70 from $14.99 until 1/20)
X-Force Genesis ($2.00 from $7.00 until 1/20)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with another healthy list of new releases, with the leader of the pack being Fire Emblem Engage. We’ll have summaries of all of those new titles, plus whatever sales and big news items come our way in the interim. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!