Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 12th, 2023. Well, today is the day: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom should be out pretty much everywhere by the time you read this, and by all accounts it seems to be a more than worthy follow-up to Breath of the Wild. How do you compete with such a monumental release? It seems for most publishers the answer is that you don’t, but we do have a selection of lower-priced fare that may attract some who are looking for something else to play today. We also have the sales to look at, so there’s that. Let’s get to the good stuff!
New Releases
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ($69.99)
Trouble is afoot, and it’s up to Link to save the kingdom again. This time he’ll need to take to the skies above the vast land of Hyrule and explore its mysteries. We’re going to have a review of this one as soon as early next week, but I suspect most of you reading this have already made your decision on it.
Little Disaster ($4.99)
Here’s a puzzle-platformer with seventy stages to complete. The main gimmick is that your character explodes to get around, and you need to mind your timing because you can’t just explode willy-nilly. Nothing too fancy, but it has nice five-dollar Switch platformer energy going for it.
For a Vast Future ($14.99)
This is a surprisingly decent small-scale RPG with Game Boy-style aesthetics. Following a massively destructive war, the people are trying to pick up what remains of their lives and move on. Unfortunately, a corrupt government is building a secret weapon that threatens to spark an even greater disaster. It’s up a small group of outlaws to put a stop to these machinations and save the world. No bigs. It features turn-based combat and has a crafting system because those are the rules, pal.
Mr. Brocco & Co. ($4.99)
A living broccoli in some hot pants, a cape, and a mask teams up with his veggie friends to battle normal food in a highly standard 2D platformer. I guess I’ll give it some points for the unusual main character. Who buys games like these? Kids, I guess? If I was a kid I would never buy a game about broccoli, but maybe times have changed.
2021: Moon Escape ($4.99)
So this is an actual Game Boy game. You can buy a cartridge for your real Game Boy if you like, though this is certainly the more economical option. The idea here seems to be a sci-fi action-adventure, with more than a few cues taken from the Game Boy Zelda games. It has its share of rough edges, but for such a reasonable price I’m sure it’s going to land with some players. I like that you can choose to play it in portrait/tate mode to get that old “holding a Game Boy” feel.
Pixel Driver ($5.99)
Some games really don’t give me much to work with for these paragraphs. This is one of those endless driver games where you’re just trying to avoid traffic and pick up coins that you can use to unlock things. The description in the eShop suggests that playing this game is a good way to learn how to drive. I am going to strongly suggest that you not learn to drive by playing a crappy Switch game.
Secret Dimension ($4.99)
Collect the goobers and make your way to the exit in each stage of this isometric action-puzzler. It makes use of its perspective to set up tricks and obstacles, so you’ll have to use your spatial reasoning skills if you mean to get very far. Not bad for a fiver, though it’s extremely challenging in a way that often could be described as frustrating.
Heartbeat Hospital: Love, Lies, and Betrayal ($4.99)
Here is Cooking & Publishing with another poor attempt at a choice-based adventure game. This time it’s a romance set in a hospital, and while the art is decent the dialogue is absolutely dreadful. Make your decisions and you’ll arrive at one of the game’s multiple endings, though I think the best choice you can make is to not buy the game at all.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Not much interesting in the list of new sales today. Owlboy doesn’t come around terribly often, and the Telltale Batman games are a nice way to kill a weekend if you have a mind to. Not a lot in that weekend outbox either. It really does feel like the universe has aligned to allow people to just spend their money on the new Zelda and call it a week. Check those lists anyway, as you never know when something might grab your attention.
Select New Games on Sale
Batman: The Telltale Series ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/15)
Batman: The Enemy Within ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/16)
Axiom Verge 2 ($15.99 from $19.99 until 5/18)
Local News with Cliff Rockslide ($8.99 from $9.99 until 5/18)
Subnautica: Below Zero ($12.59 from $29.99 until 5/18)
Fur Squadron ($4.89 from $6.99 until 5/19)
Owlboy ($9.99 from $24.99 until 5/19)
Lost in Random ($5.99 from $29.99 until 5/23)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit ($7.99 from $39.99 until 5/23)
It Takes Two ($29.99 from $39.99 until 5/23)
Island Cities ($2.09 from $2.99 until 5/25)
Railway Islands: Puzzle ($2.99 from $3.99 until 5/26)
Vaporum: Lockdown ($7.47 from $21.99 until 5/26)
Rise: Race the Future ($6.59 from $16.49 until 6/1)
Samurai Maiden ($47.99 from $59.99 until 6/1)
Kuukiyomi Consider It ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/1)
Xeodrifter ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/1)
Totes the Goat ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/1)
Milk inside a bag of milk inside… ($5.35 from $7.99 until 6/1)
Sales Ending This Weekend
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot TFC ($11.99 from $29.99 until 5/13)
Animus ($2.15 from $7.99 until 5/13)
Animus: Harbinger ($2.15 from $7.99 until 5/13)
Animus: Revenant ($6.20 from $22.99 until 5/13)
Beyond a Steel Sky ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/13)
Bullet Battle: Evolution ($2.99 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Bunker Life ($10.49 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Car+Toon Race: RVC ($4.06 from $10.99 until 5/13)
Counter Crossline: Crime War ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Counter Delta: The Bullet Rain ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Counter Recon 2: The New War ($8.99 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Counter Recon: The First Mission ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Crime Busters: Strike Area ($11.99 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Dark Water: Slime Invader ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Dead Rain: New Zombie Virus ($6.59 from $10.99 until 5/13)
Demong Hunter ($2.15 from $7.99 until 5/13)
Dungeon Limbus ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Girls Tank Battle ($2.19 from $10.99 until 5/13)
Grand Mountain Adventure: Wonderlands ($17.49 from $34.99 until 5/13)
Haunted Dawn: The Zombie Apocalypse ($4.04 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Haunted Zombie School ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Haunted Zombie Slaughter ($10.49 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/13)
Kasiori ($4.90 from $7.00 until 5/13)
Last 4 Alive: Escape From Zombies ($2.96 from $10.99 until 5/13)
Modern War: Tank Battle ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Moon Dancer ($13.99 from $18.99 until 5/13)
New Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja ($17.99 from $29.99 until 5/13)
Oddworld: Soulstorm ($29.99 from $49.99 until 5/13)
Off the Tracks ($3.51 from $4.39 until 5/13)
Redden: 100denarii ($2.15 from $7.99 until 5/13)
Smurfs Kart ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/13)
Space Genesis ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Space Stella: The Unknown Planet ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
Super Shadow Break Showdown ($6.49 from $12.99 until 5/13)
Uchu Shinshuchu ($1.99 from $8.00 until 5/13)
World Class Champion Soccer ($6.59 from $10.99 until 5/13)
World War: Prologue ($11.99 from $14.99 until 5/13)
World War: Tank Battle ($5.54 from $14.99 until 5/13)
XIII ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/13)
Zombie is Planting ($2.19 from $10.99 until 5/13)
A Winter’s Daydream ($2.99 from $5.99 until 5/14)
Blood Waves ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/14)
Burn! SuperTrucks ($2.07 from $7.99 until 5/14)
FootGoal! Tiki Taka ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/14)
Megaquarium ($9.83 from $24.59 until 5/14)
Rift Keeper ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/14)
Stellatum ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/14)
That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new releases, more sales, some reviews, and some news. I’m going to be spending my weekend the way I imagine many of you will be: playing as much of Tears of the Kingdom as my schedule will allow. I hope you all have a great weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!