Switch Weekly - We're six years in

Web version · Unsubscribe

Issue #‍322 | March 5, 2023 · with no sign of switching...

Hello, Chris here with a issue #322 and your round-up on all things Nintendo. I hope you're doing well, and managed to get some gaming in this weekend.

Six years! Yep, just a few short days ago (March 3) the Nintendo Switch celebrated its sixth birthday. Of course the platform has been such a huge success, and unlike prior generations, Nintendo do not seem at all ready to talk about what's next just yet. There's obviously some appetite to look ahead to what may be around the corner, but for now, I'd say Nintendo has a bit more gas in the old Switch tank. I gotta say, despite its age (and six years is an eternity in tech), the thing keeps on surprising me — I've been sat here playing the Metroid Prime remaster — it looks great and runs super well, and the dumb GameCube Joy-Con I have on it really make me smile. I love this little console.

Cheers,
Chris ✌️

🎮 Currently Playing: Metroid Prime Remastered

▶ Pokemon Presents - February 2023 — To me this was a pretty dull 25 minutes. The highlights however were DLC for last year's mainline games, and Pokemon Sleep actually being a thing again (some four years after its initial reveal!). Oh, and the Pikachu animatronic here is totally creepy right?

The Pokemon Company // YouTube

ICYMI The State of Switch Survey 2023 — Have you filled out this year's survey yet? Consider this your reminder if not! 😊 Big thanks to all of you who have so far. Please do share, tweet and toot it with your peeps to spread the word.

Chris Brandrick // Switch Weekly

REVIEW Octopath Traveler II — Mitch Vogel for Nintendo Life calls this "a triumphant and confident follow-up to its predecessor, building on the established foundation with welcome new ideas and tweaks that make for an overall excellent experience". Whereas Neal Ronaghan for Nintendo World Report notes that although an "improvement on the original, [..] it’s been quite a long time since that first game and the impact of the visuals and ideas aren’t as fresh as they once were".

Mitch Vogel // Nintendo Life

Octopath Traveler 2 makes the case for more ‘short story’ games

Mike Mahardy // Polygon

REVIEW Metroid Prime is still essential 20 years later — "With stunning upgraded visuals and smart quality-of-life tweaks, Metroid Prime is a game that feels just as special today as it did 20 years ago.".

Andy Robinson // VGC

▶ You control this game with toilet paper — Ok, I kinda love this dumb, creative little thing. It's a cheap Japan-only eShop game where you stick a Joy-Con in a toilet roll and move it around to navigate levels. 😅 I need to try it.

All N // YouTube

INTERVIEW Nintendo's Miyamoto says inspiration comes from his childhood experiences in nature — A chat with Miyamoto talking about Mario's evolution, the Mickey Mouse comparison, the multi-generational staying power of Nintendo's games, and what Nintendo may look like once he's gone.

A Martínez // NPR

Metroid Fusion will be the next GBA game on Switch Online — The addition of Fusion (great game btw) to the NSO means you can now play all of the 2D Metroid games on one console...which is nice. The game will be added to the GBA collection on March 9.

Oli Welsh // Polygon

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s fourth wave of DLC tracks adds Birdo March 9th

Jon Porter // The Verge

REVIEW Blanc is a charming but uninventive co-op adventure — "has the essence of a fun cooperative adventure [..] Yet the most upsetting thing about Blanc is that it feels unoriginal.".

Willa Rowe // Inverse

REVIEW Hokko Life

Drakara O // Nintenpedia

REVIEW Dust and Neon

Jemma Casson // Pure Nintendo

REVIEW Void Scrappers

The Elite Institute

Rough edges aside, Clive 'N' Wrench offers a glimpse into the developer's favourite gaming memories

Christian Donlan // Eurogamer

3DS' boundless creativity got me, and Nintendo, through some tough times

Andy McDonald // Nintendo Life

ADHD and Open World video games

Jonathan Thornburg // Superjump

The Legend of Zelda timeline, explained

Jeffrey Parkin // Polygon

The best Nintendo Switch controllers to buy right now

Cameron Faulkner // The Verge

💌 Switch Weekly remains both accessible and sustainable thanks to the ongoing support of my amazing patrons, including:

PC, CapnGoat, SB, FrozenTrout, JR, MindFad, Greg, Michael Fairley, Andrew E, Pobble, TomNinetyTwo, and others — why not join them?

🎮 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

Mon

Puss in Boots: Interactive Book — Yep, a story book on the Switch (..and nothing to do with the recent movie FWIW).

Tue

📦 Little Witch Nobeta — A soulslike, 3D action shooter set in a castle.
Pronty — A deep-sea Metroidvania where you face off against underwater mutants.

Thu

A passive boy at the huntress clinic — Visual novel Bishojo game set in a hospital. M for mature.
Antigravity Racing — A 3D F-Zero/Wipeout-like with a very literal name.
Caverns of Mars: Recharged — A reimagining of the 1981 arcade shooter.
Colossal Cave — Another reimagining, this time of the 1976 text adventure 'Colossal Cave Adventure' by Will Crowther and Don Woods.
Draw a Stickman Epic 3 — Popular adventure puzzle game returns. (EU release date)
Escaping a Fireworks Factory — Budget 'escape' game.
EvilUP — A procedurally generated fantasy RPG/roguelike.
Fragment's Note+ AfterStory — Romance visual novel. (EU release date)
📦 Ib — 2D exploration adventure set in a creepy, mysterious art gallery. (Physical is Japan only, but has English support)
Island Cities — A diorama 3D plaything in which you build little cities.
Know by heart... — A ~5 hour post-Soviet adventure about accepting loss.
Mari and Bayu: The Road Home — A 2D co-op puzzle platformer featuring an ant and a firefly.
Mystic Gate — Roguelike dungeon exploration bullet hell.
Mythology Waifus Mahjong — It's Mahjong.
📦 Oni: Road to be the Mightiest Oni — A 'small-world' 3D action adventure.
⭐️ Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo — A "haunting, supernatural" mystery-adventure set in Tokyo. M for mature.
⭐️📦 Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse — Also known as Fatal Frame. Creepy camera obscura adventure first released in 2008. (Physical release is Asia only, but has English support)
Super Ninja Miner — Arcade puzzle action game.
⭐️ The Last Spell — A ratehr detailed looking tactical RPG with roguelite elements in which you have to defend a city against hordes of deadly enemies. M for mature.
📦 Tiny Troopers: Global Ops — Arcade twin-stick shooter with cross-platform multiplayer.
📦 Train Life: A Railway Simulator — See Europe as driver and company manager in this sim.
Why I was born — A third-person action-adventure about a ball..and the meaning of life.
⭐️ Zapling Bygone — A "twisted metroidvania starring a tentacular alien" — complete with a sprawling map, comic book memoeries, and plenty to collect.

Fri

📦 DC's Justice League: Cosmic Chaos — Kid-friendly comic book action.
Felix the Toy DX — Budget 3D platformer.
Hike Trip — Relaxing open world walking simulator.
📦 Mato Anomalies — A turn-based RPG with dual protagonists set in a fantasized 'neo-futuristic' version of the Old City of Shanghai.
Package Rush — Now you too can experience the stress of being a delivery driver in this logicistics puzzler.
Ski Resort Driver — A rather niche driving sim.

Sat

⭐️ Titanium Hound — A honestly kinda cool looking 2D cyberpunk action platformer where you pilot a huge and agile exoskeleton to crush hordes of enemies.

⚡️ Quick Links

Nintendo has taken the Wii U versions of Mario Kart 8 & Splatoon offline for security reasons.
Tales of Symphonia Remastered devs apologise for game’s quality.
Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel is in negotiations to direct the Detective Pikachu sequel.
There's now a demo available for that cool looking mysterious fishing game Dredge that's out later this month.
Want a manual for Metroid Prime Remastered? Rowan is working on it, so be sure to give them a follow.
You can get all three Metroid Prime games for £18...on the Wii U.
Fortnite may well be getting a first-person mode.
Nathaniel Bandy shares some New Super Mario Bros. facts.
The Retro Future takes a look at a rare GBA internal testing catridge.
A 4-disc original soundtrack for Splatoon 3 is due for release in May. (Yes, physical CDs 💿)

Curated by Chris Brandrick

Support Switch Weekly on Patreon

Switch Weekly is sent once weekly. Unsubscribe if you're no longer interested.

This newsletter may contain affiliate links, which help keep the newsletter sustainable.

🌳 In an effort to offset the carbon of sending this newsletter a tree is planted for every issue sent.

Key phrases

cheap Japanonly eShop game dumb creative little thing Mickey Mouse comparison multigenerational staying power The Elite Institute dumb GameCube JoyCon fun cooperative adventure old Switch tank The Pokemon Company stunning upgraded visuals REVIEW Hokko Life Nintendo World Report REVIEW Octopath Traveler Metroid Prime remaster next GBA game

Older messages

The State of Switch Survey 2023

Monday, February 27, 2023

Web version · Unsubscribe Switch Weekly Issue #‍321 | February 26, 2023 · Kirby's Fresh Coat of Paint Hey, Chris here with a issue #321 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo round-up. Last week saw the

Your Nintendo briefing

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Web version · Unsubscribe Switch Weekly Issue #‍320 | February 19, 2023 · Does Mario like Pizza? Hello, Chris here with a few Nintendo reads for you to check out. A much smaller than usual issue today

That Direct was GREAT

Monday, February 13, 2023

Web version · Unsubscribe Switch Weekly Issue #‍319 | February 12, 2023 · More Zelda Tears Hey, Chris here with issue #319 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo update. I'm sure you've already seen

Your Nintendo Update

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Web version · Unsubscribe Switch Weekly Issue #‍318 | February 5, 2023 · Poster One-Up Boy Hello, Chris here with issue #318 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo update. I'm a bit short on time today,

Rogen Kong and Brosnan Mouth

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Web version · Unsubscribe Switch Weekly Issue #‍316 | January 29, 2023 · Advance Wars Advancing? Hey, here's issue #317 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo update. As I was writing up today's

Piers Morgan Says UK Television's Strict Impartiality Rules Are "Anachronistic"