Switch Weekly - Bayonetta's low-ball row

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Issue #‍304 | October 16, 2022 · VA 4K Drama

Hello, Chris here with issue #304 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo update. Hope you've had a great week.

The big story for you today is of course Bayonetta 3 — but for all the wrong reasons. You may remember a few weeks ago I shared news that Jennifer Hale would be taking up the lead role in the upcoming game — and now we know why. In a series of frank and honest Twitter updates, the previous voice talent — Hellena Taylor — shared how she was offered a paltry $4,000 to reprise the role for the third entry, asking fans to boycott the game as a result. What followed was a somewhat tactless and obtuse denial of sorts from PlatinumGames studio founder Hideki Kamiya — someone who has a rather notorious relationship with Twitter. In the days that followed Kamiya's Twitter account was restricted (likely due to him blocking too many users) and then seemingly shuttered all together.

Regardless of what you think of the controversy here, I think it's fair to say that the situation overall should have been handled much better. For a game announced way back in 2017, that's due in only a few short weeks from now, this whole affair has soured things for its launch — instead this clash is happening out in the open, damaging all those involved, when it should have been resolved (by paying Taylor her dues) behind closed doors.

This all comes after plenty of fluster and reservations over Chris Pratt's voice acting efforts in the upcoming Mario movie. For all of the negativity surrounding these stories, it has shone a light on the wild differences and varying experiences folks in the voice acting profession face.

Anyway, on to next week — and it's a busy one as we've got nearly 40 games coming to the Switch, including the new Mario + Rabbids, and Persona 5 Royal. You can find the full list of all upcoming release below.

As ever, thank you for reading, and be sure to hit reply on this if you have any thoughts or comments on anything included.

Cheers,
Chris ✌️

Bayonetta's voice actor is telling fans to boycott Bayonetta 3 after 'insulting' offer — I've covered this in my intro above, but here's a news story bringing it all together.

Chris Scullion // VGC

▶ REVIEW No Man's Sky — A positive review and tech analysis of this Switch version. Here's another review from Adam Cook for God is a Geek.

John Rairdin // Nintendo World Report (YouTube)

REVIEW LEGO Bricktales — "the closest thing in years that a Lego video game has gotten to the actual feeling of playing with Lego".

Mitch Vogel // Nintendo Life

Former Nintendo worker wants company president to apologize after alleged firing

Sisi Jiang // Kotaku

Nintendo settles labor dispute with game tester over unions

Stephen Totilo // Axios

Nintendo has taken Switch Sports offline due to an update bug — It's still offline at time of sending this newsletter with no ETA on the fix.

Tom Ivan // VGC

INTERVIEW How PlatinumGames is betting on Nintendo expertise to shape its future — Note: This interview was published prior to the Bayonetta story.

Andy Robinson // VGC

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a genius JRPG vision that began 25 years ago — "With his latest JRPG epic, Tetsuya Takahashi has reached the culmination of a profound artistic quest".

Cole Kronman // Kotaku

Overwatch 2 is the latest in a long line of terrible game launches – and I’m not even talking about the queues

Dom Peppiatt // VG247

REVIEW Atari Mania — "best enjoyed by those with fond memories of playing all these games back in the day".

Kirk Hiner // Pure Nintendo

REVIEW Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova — "a straightforward, easy to understand adventure game that does its job of being approachable for a younger audience".

John Rairdin // Nintendo World Report

REVIEW Escape Goat — "it still feels like this precious hidden gem ".

Indie Gamer Chick

Voicing Mario in a movie is an impossible task

Oli Welsh // Polygon

NieR: Automata's performance on Nintendo Switch exceeded my expectations

Kelsey Raynor // VG247

Live A Live and its wordless prehistory — Examining the concept of "ludonarrative consonance" (not a term I was familiar with) in Live A Live.

Vitor M. Costa // Superjump

69% of all physical games sold in Japan last month were Splatoon 3 — Nice.

Chris Scullion // VGC

Why games criticism never went mainstream

Clive Thompson

🎮 Upcoming Releases

All releases are digital, Europe & U.S. unless otherwise stated.
Release data sourced in collaboration with Switch Scores.

⭐️ = Ones to Watch · 📦 = Physical release · 🎮 = Demo available

Tue

Sigma Theory — Turn-based strategy in a future global 'cold war'. (EU release date)
Them's Fightin' Herds — 2D fighter, with online, featuring a cast of adorable animals designed by cartoon producer Lauren Faust.

Wed

Pnevmo-Capsula — Mid 20th century budget puzzle adventure in which you "travel to an alternate utopian atompunk world as a small trolley delivering mail".

Thu

Aery - Last Day of Earth — Story-driven 3D flight exploration non-violent game. You control a little bird.
Apré Lapli (After the rain) — A short narrative experience for two players.
Backgammon: Board Game Puzzle — The title says it all.
Beholgar — A 'classically styled' 2D Metroidvania fantasy adventure. Explore caverns, ancient woods, and deadly castles.
CubicBan — Minimalistic Sokoban-based budget puzzler.
Dead Secret Circle — A horror mystery game set in 1971 Chicago. M for mature.
Doomed to Hell — Pixel art roguelike-like top-down shooter.
Flying Neko Delivery — Cat on a broomstick making deliveries. Nyan.
Forest Pop — Basic puzzler.
Gas Station Simulator — Yep, a sim game about renovating, expanding and running a gas station.
📦 Harmonia — Sci-fi visual novel about a robot boy and human girl. Physical release is Japan only.
Japanese Escape Games: The Forbidden Garden — Escape room puzzler..that's set in a garden.
Lost Grimoires 2: Shard of Mystery — Hidden object puzzler.
⭐️📦 Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope — Follow-up to the Mario meets Rabbids meets Xcom hit of 2017 that surprised us all. Physical version.
📦 Matchpoint: Tennis Championships — A "a true-to-life on-court" tennis game. Has online.
One More Island — A 2D sim about creating a 'colonial enterprise' under the Queen's watchful eye...
One True Hero — Fantasy 3D platform adventure with sword fights.
Runout — A 'dynamic' pixel art runner-platformer with a future/tech theme. (Oct 21 in U.S.)
Sea Horizon — Roguelike turn-based RPG presented in a 3D bird’s eye view of a hex grid map.
Seduced in the Sleepless City — Otome romance that will no dount appeal to the Carrie Bradshaw's of the world.
Shape of Happiness — Another visual novel bishoujo game.
🎮 Shutter Nyan! Enhanced Edition — 2d side-scrolling action featuring a cat and a camera.
Tempus — A short 3D time-travel indie puzzle adventure set on an island.
⭐️ The Jackbox Party Pack 9 — If you're after a new party game, these rarely miss the mark.
Touhou Gouyoku Ibun: Sunken Fossil World — Bullet hell action game.
📦 Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef — Hand-drawn 2D action adventure.

Fri

Crowalt: Traces of the Lost Colony — Point and click pirate adventure set in 1737.
Crystal Goddess — Fantasy-themed action platformer. M for mature.
Fantasy Blacksmith — Get smithing in this blacksmith/alchemy sim.
📦 JoJo Siwa: Worldwide Party — Platformer game featuring the American dancer/personality.
📦 New Tales from the Borderlands — Graphic narrative adventure set in the Borderlands universe with three playable characters. M for mature.
⭐️📦 Persona 5 Royal — Rejoice, a proper Persona on Switch! M for mature.
She Wants Me Dead — 2d platformer/rhythm game with a unique look/sound.
The Walking Zombie 2 — Survival RPG/first-person shooter. M for mature.
World Soccer Cup 2022 — An incredibly basic looking football game.

⚡️ Quick Links

Keegan-Michael Key 'improvised a song' as Toad in the 'Mario' movie.
New Pokemon Alert: An electric frog with fake eyes, which is a real thing.
Sonic Frontiers is getting in-game Monster Hunter items....for some reason.
SEGA was behind bringing Persona 5 Royal to Switch (it's out this week).
Here's an interesting bit of insight into how the eShop charts work.
Yes, it is time for a new F-Zero.
Here's how to unlock the chill Birdman mode in Pilotwings 64 + other secrets.
These custom Animal Crossing wedding figurines are cute.

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Curated by Chris Brandrick

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