Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for November 4th, 2021. It’s a bit of an odd Thursday, as our pal Mikhail has put together a review of a brand-new release for us to enjoy. We also have a couple of news bites to check out, and the usual big list of new releases to sift through. Naturally, the new and expiring sales lists are here as well. It’s a lot, so let’s get to it!
News
‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Ver. 2.0 Free Update Available Now
While at the time of writing the Happy Home Paradise expansion for Animal Crossing: New Horizons isn’t yet available, the free Ver. 2.0 free update is. Update your game to get access to tons of new content, including Brewster’s Cafe, island ordinances, farming and cooking, Harv’s expanded island, island tours with Kapp’n, and a whole lot more. This is the game’s final major content update, and it’s a whopper. So update your game, pull those weeds, and squash those cockroaches, because Animal Crossing is back on the menu.
Show Your Teeth in the Next ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ Event
A little later than usual, but the announcement for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate weekend event has arrived. This time around, it’s a Spirit Board event that focuses on Spirits who are showing off their teeth. Yes, if they’re flashing their chompers, they’re good to go. Beat them up to earn more snacks than usual. The event kicks off on Friday and runs for the usual three days through the weekend.
Reviews & Mini-Views
Where Cards Fall ($19.99)
When Apple Arcade officially launched back in 2019, Where Cards Fall from Snowman and The Game Band was easily one of the highlights of the launch lineup. It had the polish you’d expect from a Snowman release, and had a lovely control scheme for touchscreens. As with many Apple Arcade releases, a Nintendo Switch (and in this case PC) release was on the cards (pun intended) and it has finally arrived today on Nintendo’s hybrid system with all the fixes the game has received since launch on Apple Arcade.
Where Cards Fall has you managing decks of cards to create paths to get the character from one part of a level to another. Each of the 50 or so levels is split up by short interactive cut-scenes that feel a bit too slow (movement wise). As you complete more levels, new mechanics and more card decks are introduced making the actual puzzles always feel fresh. There’s also an in-built hint system in place here if you ever get stuck.
Considering Where Cards Fall was an Apple Arcade game, I was hoping the Nintendo Switch version would support not only touch controls from the iOS version, but also traditional controls. As of the current version, touchscreen support is nowhere to be found. Thankfully, the button controls are very well done with the use of both analog sticks and shoulder buttons. After two stages, the controls felt perfect. I still hope the touch control option will be added in a future update.
Visually, Where Cards Fall is gorgeous. The animations are slick and the cut-scenes have a lot of lovely details when you look closely. This definitely feels worthy of the Snowman name. Performance is a bit rocky. It wasn’t the best on some older iOS devices, and it isn’t amazing on Nintendo Switch. Expect some hitching and long loads in areas here. Barring that, it feels good for the most part.
If you skipped Where Cards Fall on Apple Arcade, it is a fine experience on Nintendo Switch. While the lack of touchscreen support is very disappointing, I like the controller scheme in place, and the rumble feedback is also appreciated. Where Cards Fall is a lovely puzzle game that could’ve been better without some of the slow cut-scenes. I get that they are part of the intended experience, but I feel like they’d have been better without any interaction as just movies in between the levels. -Mikhail Madnani
SwitchArcade Score: 4/5
New Releases
A Boy and His Blob ($14.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
WayForward’s lovely puzzle-platformer revival of David Crane’s classic adventure makes its way to the Switch thanks to the good folks at Ziggurat. Help the Blob get back to his home planet of Blobolonia and overthrow the tyrannical Emperor. The Boy isn’t a powerful warrior or anything, but he does have a bag of jellybeans. When he feeds them to the Blob, it will turn into various shapes and forms. You have to make use of the Blob’s abilities to solve puzzles and move forward. It has an ever-so-slight vintage feeling to it, which makes sense as the game originally came out in 2009. Still a lot of heartwarming fun, though. You can hug the Blob. What more do you need?
Just Dance 2022 ($49.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
I could probably use the same screen shot every year for this series, and most people wouldn’t know. Well, it’s not about the visuals, is it? It’s about the music, and this one features hits like Believer by Imagine Dragons and Level Up by Ciara among its forty tracks. Otherwise, I expect you know what you’re getting with this series by now.
Where Cards Fall ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
You don’t need me to tell you about this latest release from Snowman and The Game Band, because Mikhail’s review is already up there somewhere. Read that!
Demon Turf ($24.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
If you’re looking for a new 3D platformer that doesn’t come from one of the usual places and yet still is of good quality, you’ll want to check out Demon Turf. It has a stylish look to it, the controls are solid, and the levels are fairly imaginative. There are some action bits that don’t work quite as well as the platforming, but overall this is a a strong game that practically came out of nowhere for me. Fans of the genre would do well to give it a look.
Arcade Archives Black Heart ($7.99)
After a few weeks of Namco hits, Hamster is getting back to the bread and butter of the Arcade Archives: weird obscure games that maybe seventy people in the world remember. This time, it’s UPL’s Black Heart, a 1991 horizontal shoot-em-up that is frankly kind of poor. You ride on a dragon thing and battle through some very unique stages, taking down enemies like giant bugs, demons, and more. While I’m not much of a fan of this game, those who do have fond memories of it will be happy to know that Hamster has put in its usual strong effort in recreating it with lots of bells and whistles.
One Last Memory ($9.99)
An old man takes a final journey through his memories in this narrative adventure. Explore the world and see what secrets you can uncover in what the game description calls a “heart-breaking story”. If you feel like exploring a 3D world and probably ending up a mess of tears at the end or something, here you go.
Pretty Girls Panic! PLUS ($5.99)
Yes, it’s another QIX-style game with frisky pictures from the folks at eastasiasoft. Carve off parts of the screen to ultimately reveal 75% or more of the field, but be careful you don’t run into any enemies. If you manage to pull it off, you’ll be rewarded with increasingly lewd pictures of the women in various outfits. Once you unlock an image, you’ll be able to view it later in the gallery. Well, that’s what it is. I leave it in your hands.
Bloody Rally Show ($19.99)
This top-down racing game presents a violent reality TV show where racers battle against each other in no-holds-barred competitions to the bloody finish. Do whatever you can to win, but don’t forget to put on a good show for the audience and the sponsors. Race well and you may even earn your freedom. There are a lot of modes to play, and you can even choose to play as a pedestrian trying to get pictures of the action. Just be careful you don’t get too close. Up to four players can join in on the fun via local multiplayer.
Magic Potion Millionaire ($14.99)
You play as a young apothecary named Pastel as you head into dungeons to gather materials to make your wares. The dungeon sections play out like an action game where you can gather materials from defeated enemies and other points. Once you’ve brought the materials back, you can use them to make a variety of potions to fulfill customer requests. That will earn you money, which you can use to buy gear, recipes, and other things to help you dive into tougher dungeons with even better materials. Not bad at all.
Popeye ($12.99)
Aw heck, it’s Sabec. Everyone had so much fun doing the meme thing with Calculator. It clearly sold a lot more than it normally would have, and Sabec seems to have put that windfall to good use to license Popeye. It’s loosely based on the original arcade game in the sense that you need to collect the items Olive tosses while avoiding Brutus, the Sea Hag, and a vulture. But instead of being a fun single-screen arcade game, it’s an absolutely horrid 3D game. Just dreadful. You might want to buy it out of love for the old game, or because you are a fan of Popeye, or just for laughs. I assure you, that would be a mistake.
Skeletal Avenger ($16.99)
This is a hack-and-slash roguelite that I was initially tempted to write off, but then I saw that 10tons is behind it. I typically enjoy the games that developer puts out, so I will be giving this one a closer look. You play as a skeleton warrior who can slice, dice, and toss its head at his foes. Grab loot, earn perks, and do all the usual stuff you do in a game like this. Just, you know, with the head-tossing and skeleton re-animating elements tossed in.
Lone McLonegan: A Western Adventure ($9.99)
This is a fair bit better than I was expecting, to be honest. It’s a point-and-click style adventure game that was obviously put together by fans of both the game genre and Westerns. You play as a washed-up former Most Wanted outlaw who has seen his star fade against that of his old rival, Bragg Badass. Okay, subtlety is not a strong point here. Anyway, Lone decides he’s going to pull off a massive heist to reclaim his top spot, and things unsurprisingly go ca-ca. Good puzzles, solid writing, a nice sense of humor, and hand-drawn visuals make this a decent choice for adventure game fans.
Super Sami Roll ($14.99)
Something of a hybrid of 3D platformer and a ball-rolling race against time (think Marble Madness), Super Sami Roll is colorful and certainly novel in some ways. There are just a few problems with it, but they are big ones given the kind of game it is. The biggest is in terms of technical performance, with framerates all over the map. Given how precise and challenging the game is, that’s not good. The soup is also a bit thin in that the game seems to run out of ideas well before it runs out of game. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game, but it’s not something I would firmly recommend.
Captain Backwater ($9.99)
This is an interesting puzzle game where you play through one hundred levels that will test your wits. You have to slide the treasures around to make pairs, which would be a simple matter were it not for the bevy of traps and gimmicks loaded into each level. There are special items you can use in a pinch, too. It’s a little hard to describe, but if you want to try it out yourself you can head over to the App Store and search for Captain Backwater’s Adventure. It’s free to play, likely with some strings attached, but there is at least enough there to give you the basic idea of how this works.
Instant Sports Winter Games ($24.99)
We are, somehow, only a few months away from the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Probably, anyway. You know how things go these days. Anyway, such an impending event clearly calls for video games, and the Instant Sports brand appears to be the first to answer the call. It includes seven winter sports: snowboarding, ice skating, bobsled, skiing, curling, and a couple of others. There’s a snowball fight, which I don’t think is going to be part of the Olympics, but is certainly a winter sport where I’m from. Up to four players can join in via local multiplayer. I’m not the biggest fan of the previous games in this line, but they clearly have an audience, and those folks will likely be happy to see this release.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
So far, the list of new sales isn’t massive. It probably will be by the time you’re reading this, though. I think SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off is having its first post-launch sale, and I believe Luckslinger is at its lowest price yet. The outbox is hefty again today, so make sure to grab rarer discounts like Empire of Angels IV, Gleylancer, and SmileBASIC 4 if you’ve had your eye on them. And do take a look through the lists yourselves, as always.
Select New Games on Sale
SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off ($7.49 from $14.99 until 11/12)
FishWitch Halloween ($14.99 from $19.99 until 11/13)
Bloodshore ($13.49 from $14.99 until 11/17)
Dimension Drive ($1.99 from $12.99 until 11/17)
Die for Valhalla! ($2.39 from $11.99 until 11/17)
The Bug Butcher ($1.99 from $7.99 until 11/17)
Steamburg ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
Thea: The Awakening ($7.19 from $17.99 until 11/17)
Back to Bed ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
Inferno 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
Luckslinger ($6.49 from $9.99 until 11/17)
Immortal Planet ($5.99 from $14.99 until 11/17)
Lumini ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/17)
STAB STAB STAB! ($3.99 from $9.99 until 11/17)
Tetsumo Party ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
BFF or Die ($3.99 from $7.99 until 11/17)
Castle of Pixel Skulls ($3.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
Batu Ta Batu ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/17)
Wingspan ($13.39 from $19.99 until 11/17)
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption ($9.99 from $19.99 until 11/17)
Rainswept ($2.49 from $9.99 until 11/17)
Lost Wing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 11/17)
Moorhuhn Wanted ($5.59 from $6.99 until 11/22)
Jessika ($7.49 from $14.99 until 11/24)
Shakes on a Plane ($3.99 from $19.99 until 11/24)
Power Racing Bundle 2 ($5.09 from $16.99 until 11/24)
The Innsmouth Case ($2.99 from $14.99 until 11/24)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ($17.99 from $29.99 until 11/24)
Deadly Days ($3.79 from $18.99 until 11/24)
Yoga Master ($17.49 from $24.99 until 11/24)
The Forbidden Arts ($3.74 from $14.99 until 11/24)
Leisure Suit Larry: WDDD ($5.99 from $39.99 until 11/24)
Leisure Suit Larry: WDDT ($15.99 from $39.99 until 11/24)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, November 5th
112 Operator ($9.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
80’s Overdrive ($2.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
911 Operator ($1.99 from $14.99 until 11/5)
911 Operator Deluxe ($5.49 from $21.99 until 11/5)
99Vidas: Definitive Edition ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Ailment ($2.39 from $7.99 until 11/5)
Aloof ($4.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Alpaca Ball: All-Stars ($15.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Animal Pairs: Kids & Toddlers ($1.99 from $7.99 until 11/5)
Arcade Space Shooter 2 in 1 ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Asobu Tights ($18.69 from $21.00 until 11/5)
Astro Bears ($1.99 from $6.99 until 11/5)
Battle Axe ($20.09 from $29.99 until 11/5)
Battleship ($9.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
BE-A Walker ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Blair Witch ($10.19 from $29.99 until 11/5)
Boreal Blade ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Brawl Chess ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Cake Bash ($14.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Calculator ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Cargo Crew Driver ($5.99 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Chess ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Chess Knights: Viking Lands ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
City Bus Driving Simulator ($4.79 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Clue: The Classic Mystery Game ($14.99 from $29.99 until 11/5)
Coast Guard: Beach Rescue Team ($4.79 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Crimson Spires ($13.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Destruction ($7.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Destructivator SE ($2.49 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Detective Driver: Miami Files ($4.79 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Dogurai ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Doubles Hard ($2.39 from $5.99 until 11/5)
Dracula Frames ($2.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Dungeon Escape ($2.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Dungeon Solver ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Dungeon Warfare ($2.49 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Dungeonoid ($2.02 from $6.99 until 11/5)
Dynamite Fishing: World Games ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Earthworms ($1.99 from $7.99 until 11/5)
Empire of Angels IV ($13.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Enter Digiton: Heart of Corruption ($5.59 from $7.99 until 11/5)
Extreme Car Driver ($7.79 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Five Dates ($11.04 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Flatland Vol.1 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Flatland Vol.2 ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Gas Station: Highway Services ($4.79 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Gemini ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Gleylancer ($5.59 from $6.99 until 11/5)
Hamster Bob ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Hardcore Maze Cube ($1.99 from $2.49 until 11/5)
Haustoria ($7.79 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Horror Tales: The Wine ($9.74 from $14.99 until 11/5)
House Flipper ($9.99 from $24.99 until 11/5)
Hunt ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Hypnospace Outlaw ($7.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
I Saw Black Clouds ($11.04 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Knight’s Retreat ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Koral ($2.99 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Late Shift ($7.14 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Layers of Fear 2 ($22.49 from $29.99 until 11/5)
Leisure Suit Larry Wet Dreams Saga ($19.49 from $64.99 until 11/5)
Lost Artifacts ($3.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Mars Power Industries ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
MIND: Path to Thalamus ($2.99 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Monkey Business ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Moonfall Ultimate ($6.49 from $12.99 until 11/5)
MotoGP18 ($2.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Multilevel Parking Driver ($5.99 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Mundaun ($13.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Night Vision ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Nine Parchments ($4.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Not Tonight: Take Back Control ($2.49 from $24.99 until 11/5)
Nowhere Prophet ($9.99 from $24.99 until 11/5)
Observer ($7.49 from $29.99 until 11/5)
Paint ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Pippu: Bauble Quest ($2.67 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire ($4.19 from $5.99 until 11/5)
Sea King Hunter ($7.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
SmileBASIC 4 ($16.74 from $24.99 until 11/5)
Sniper ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Soul Axiom Rebooted ($9.09 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Space Elite Force 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Sports Pinball Bundle ($4.49 from $8.99 until 11/5)
Squeakers II ($1.99 from $2.99 until 11/5)
Strange Brigade ($13.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Super Hiking League DX ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
SuperEpic: The Entertainment War ($2.15 from $17.99 until 11/5)
Teddy Gangs ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
The Bunker ($6.49 from $12.99 until 11/5)
The Gardener & the Wild Vines ($8.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
The Infectious Madness of Dr Dekker ($6.49 from $12.99 until 11/5)
The Mims Beginning ($2.69 from $8.99 until 11/5)
Trine 2 Complete Story ($4.24 from $16.99 until 11/5)
Trine 3: Artifacts of Power ($4.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Trine Enchanted Edition ($3.74 from $14.99 until 11/5)
Truck Simulator 2 ($7.19 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Typoman ($5.19 from $12.99 until 11/5)
UBERMOSH:OMEGA ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Unhatched ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
Unspottable ($8.39 from $11.99 until 11/5)
Vampire: The Masquerade CoNY ($5.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Vampire: The Masquerade SoNY ($6.49 from $12.99 until 11/5)
Void Gore ($2.49 from $4.99 until 11/5)
VSR: Void Space Racing ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
War Dogs: Red’s Return ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Wild & Horror Pinball ($9.99 from $14.99 until 11/5)
Wildbus ($11.04 from $12.99 until 11/5)
WildTrax Racing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 11/5)
Without Escape ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/5)
WoM: Planar Conquest ($6.79 from $16.99 until 11/5)
Yes, Your Grace ($7.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Zen Chess Collection ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/5)
Zero Strain ($2.99 from $9.99 until 11/5)
Zombie Army Trilogy ($13.99 from $19.99 until 11/5)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors/Ghoul Patrol ($10.04 from $14.99 until 11/5)
That’s all for today, friends. I’m sure tomorrow will have a ton of new sales to go through, at the bare minimum. There are almost as many new releases on the schedule as we saw release today, so we’ll have plenty of summaries for you to enjoy as well. I hope you all have an excellent Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
