Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for February 21st, 2023. My personal business today took a lot longer than expected, but everything went well with it so I’m okay with that. How that affects all of you is that I didn’t have time to do much more than the bare essentials for today’s article. There are a handful of new releases today, and I’ve got summaries for each of them. There are some sales, and those are here too. And that’s it. I could talk about that Call of Duty business but I’m not putting much stock in any of that until Microsoft’s purchase of Activision is approved. But I will vaguely refer to it. Anyway, on to today’s goodies!
New Releases
Akka Arrh ($19.99)
One of the many cool things about the Atari 50 collection was its inclusion of Akka Arrh, an Atari arcade game that went unreleased back in the day. It’s a little complicated and certainly challenging, but I think it’s enjoyable. Well, this release gives the game the Jeff Minter treatment: psychedelic colors, random words and phrases, livestock, trippy audio, and expanded gameplay mechanics. The result is something less broadly appealing than, say, Tempest 2000, but one that Atari fans will want to check out anyway.
Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle +Hell ($19.99)
Okay, so a bunch of Ninja JaJaMaru games are coming out today, and this is the best of the lot. It’s a modern reimagining of the original JaJaMaru style of gameplay, and it’s a surprisingly solid bit of fun. It has a lot of mechanics that feel like they come from a free-to-play game, and there’s probably some kind of reason for that. But it doesn’t really matter much in the end; this is probably a better revival than JaJaMaru deserved. Buy it along or toss in another ten bucks for the Deluxe Edition which includes all of the games in the Retro Collection, which we’ll get into in just a second.
Ninja JaJaMaru: Retro Collection ($14.99)
This set includes five “classic” JaJaMaru games, all done up in that nice wrapper that Ratalaika made. You get NES Ninja JaJaMaru-Kun, NES Ninja JaJaMaru’s Big Adventure, NES Ninja JaJaMaru: Operation Milky Way, Super NES Super Ninja-Kid, and a colorized-for-the-first-time Game Boy Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great World Adventure, previously released in the West under the title Maru’s Mission. I’ll be frank: these games are not especially great. But they do have a vibe, I suppose. Considering the price, especially if you grab it with The Great Yokai Battle in the Deluxe Edition, this might be of interest.
Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs ($12.99)
This, on the other hand… this is a tougher call. I commend ININ Games for translating all of these games, and in this set’s case that was not a small job. There are two games in here. Ninja JaJaMaru: Ninja Skill Book is a shameless Dragon Quest wannabe, and it falls incredibly short of its source of inspiration despite coming out years later. Ninja JaJaMaru: The Legend of the Golden Castle is more of a Zelda-style action RPG. It is also not anywhere near as good as the game it resembles. There’s no way to get this set cheaper as it is not included in the Deluxe Edition. I’ll have a review of all of these JaJaMaru things fairly soon but you can probably guess where I’m landing on them.
Galaxy Revo 2 ($0.99)
Oh dear. No. Just no. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this template before. Save your buck.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Whole lot of junk in the new sales list today, but there are some treasures too. Katamari Damacy Reroll is the latest Game Trials selection for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, but anyone can buy it for the bonkers price of $4.49. Seriously great value there. Some might want to grab the Asterix & Obelix beat-em-up Slap Them All at its low sale price. Just, you know. Be careful with the bottom part of that list. Check the outbox while you’re at it, as there are a few good games in there that may not be on sale again for a couple of months.
Select New Games on Sale
Katamari Damacy Reroll ($4.49 from $29.99 until 2/27)
Writhe ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/27)
Quest Hunter: Deluxe Edition ($11.39 from $37.99 until 3/6)
Harmony’s Odyssey ($9.74 from $14.99 until 3/7)
Project Highrise: AE ($7.99 from $39.99 until 3/13)
Garfield Lasagna Party ($26.79 from $39.99 until 3/13)
Scrap Riders ($13.99 from $19.99 until 3/13)
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! ($11.99 from $29.99 until 3/13)
Asterix & Obelix XXXL: TRfH ($26.79 from $39.99 until 3/13)
Marsupilami Hoobadventure ($11.99 from $29.99 until 3/13)
Paradise Lost ($1.99 from $14.99 until 3/13)
Fort Triumph ($3.99 from $19.99 until 3/13)
XIII ($23.99 from $39.99 until 3/13)
Moon Dancer ($13.29 from $18.99 until 3/13)
Eufloria HD ($1.99 from $9.99 until 3/13)
Bunker Life ($11.54 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Haunted Zombie Slaughter ($11.54 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Car+Toon Race: RVC ($7.14 from $10.99 until 3/14)
World Class Champion Soccer ($7.14 from $10.99 until 3/14)
Animus: Harbinger ($2.23 from $7.99 until 3/14)
Animus: Revenant ($6.43 from $22.99 until 3/14)
Animus ($2.23 from $7.99 until 3/14)
Dead Rain: New Zombie Virus ($7.14 from $10.99 until 3/14)
Haunted Dawn: Zombie Apocalypse ($4.19 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Counter Recon: The First Mission ($4.19 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Counter Recon 2: The New War ($9.74 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Counter Delta: The Bullet Rain ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Counter Crossline: Crime War ($9.74 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Redden: 100denarii ($3.27 from $7.99 until 3/14)
Haunted Zombie School ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Space Genesis ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Bullet Battle Evolution ($4.19 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Girls Tank Battle ($3.07 from $10.99 until 3/14)
Space Stella: The Unknown Planet ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Dungeon Limbus ($4.19 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Dark Water: Slime Invader ($4.19 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Last 4 Alive: Escape From Zombies ($4.50 from $10.99 until 3/14)
World War: Tank Battle ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Modern War: Tank Battle ($6.14 from $14.99 until 3/14)
Zombie is Planting ($4.50 from $10.99 until 3/14)
Demong Hunter ($2.23 from $7.99 until 3/14)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 22nd
8-Bit Farm ($7.00 from $14.00 until 2/22)
Aquarist ($2.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Back to Brother ($3.14 from $4.49 until 2/22)
Dadish ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Dadish 2 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Demolish & Build Classic ($10.49 from $14.99 until 2/22)
Dream House Days DX ($7.00 from $14.00 until 2/22)
Extinction Eclipse ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Farm Manager 2022 ($4.79 from $15.99 until 2/22)
Grand Hike ($2.49 from $4.99 until 2/22)
HyperParasite ($2.69 from $17.99 until 2/22)
Lost Dream Stars ($3.49 from $4.99 until 2/22)
Lost Dream: Memories ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/22)
Mad Experiments: Escape Room ($2.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Motocycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 ($13.99 from $19.99 until 2/22)
OlliOlli Switch Stance ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/22)
Pink Explorer ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/22)
Ravenous Devils ($3.49 from $4.99 until 2/22)
Sacred Valley ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/22)
Shiny Ski Resort ($7.00 from $14.00 until 2/22)
Super Fowlst ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Super Fowlst 2 ($2.00 from $10.00 until 2/22)
The Midnight Sanctuary ($2.99 from $9.99 until 2/22)
Tiny Metal ($4.49 from $14.99 until 2/22)
Tokyo Dark Remembrance ($5.99 from $19.99 until 2/22)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with a surprisingly solid plate of Wednesday releases, plus some sales and maybe even that review I meant to do today. I’m pretty tired after this long day, so I’m going to head home and get some sleep. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!