Switch Weekly - #196: Your Nintendo digest

▶ Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase — Yup, another mini direct with a focus on third party titles just dropped earlier this week. No huge surprises in this one. It seemed to have a strong musical focus to start with, featuring games such as Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, Just Dance, Fuser and more. A later look at both Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and the Collection of Saga Final Fantasy Legend proved to be highlights for many. It's around 12-minutes long if you fancy catching up. 

Nintendo // YouTube

A new Nintendo Switch model will launch next year, a new report claims — This week a few reports popped up suggesting a new Switch model is on the cards for early 2021. Of course, there has been plenty of chatter about a potential Pro model, and that possibility also resurfaced this week, with talks of a could-be 4K model (this detail seems a tad dubious to me, upscaling maybe, but no way would Nintendo chase native 4K). Either way, no matter what ends up being reality the timing makes sense here, with both Sony and Microsoft about to launch their next generation of systems.

Andy Robinson // VGC

Maybe just delay next-gen already — Ok, sure this editorial is talking about Sony and Microsoft here, but with the Switch Pro rumour circulating again, I feel it's good to occasionally share stuff around the industry at large.

Ethan Gach // Kotaku

REVIEW Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition — This review opens up with a fairly damming assesment that this is a failed attempt at reviving a classic, a shame really as I enjoyed the GameCube version. "Whereas the original rewarded players for bringing friends, this version is frustrating and downright inconvenient if you want to enjoy it with others". This related Reddit rant echoes a similar sentiment. A shame.

Dominick Ashtear // Nintendo Enthusiast

REVIEW Windbound — "a winning, endearing experience that makes Windbound a special game on the Switch, especially if you’re looking for a survival game with a little bit of Zelda.".

Neal Ronaghan // Nintendo World Report

REVIEW Hypnospace Outlaw — As a late 90s internet user, this one is very much on my watch list now. "really is like nothing else out there; [...] meticulously crafted slice of early-internet nostalgia that you can spend hours absolutely lost in".

PJ O'Reilly // Nintendo Life

REVIEW No Straight Roads – a musical journey riddled with potholes — This one came out last week, and the reviews seemed fairly mixed from what I can gather. Rick Lane writing for The Guardian said: "With genre music battles and stylish design, this game should be great – but it can’t decide whether it’s a third-person fighter or a rhythm-action game", adding that despite some "impressive sights and sounds, in the end [it] has too many potholes to make its musical journey worth recommending". Chris Scullion, writing for VGC, had a brighter outlook on it however, saying despite it being a bit short, it's a "beautifully made adventure with a fantastic soundtrack and some phenomenal art design".

Rick Lane // The Guardian

Paper Mario dev unsure if the series will continue to move away from RPG roots — Nintendo Everything translated this interview from Eurogamer Germany. This line from Kensuke Tanabe stood out to me: I’m not opposed to the fans’ opinions. However, I view my game development philosophy as separate from that. — makes sense to me, by all means hear out what fans have to say, but chart your own path. People rarely know what they want.

Nintendo Everything

▶ Crafting a tiny open world: A Short Hike postmortem— This lovely little game landed on the eShop last week. I've played through it, and found it to be very charming, and equally well realised. Thanks to J.Ober for sharing this GDC talk on how the fleeting game came to be.

Adam Robinson-Yu // GDC (YouTube)

The Last Campfire is a totally chill puzzle adventure

Mike Fahey // Kotaku

INTERVIEW Chasing the dream of four people in a room— "Hello Games' Sean Murray and Steven Burgess on The Last Campfire, No Man's Sky, and coming full circle.".

Chris Tapsell // Eurogamer

Monday, August 31

• Pocket Circuit — Budget priced low poly arcade car racer. 

Tuesday, September 1

• 📦 Ary and the Secret of Seasons — 3D award-winning adventure game in which you can 'manipulate the seasons' around you.
• 📦 MX vs ATV All Out — 3D all terrain vehicular racing, with online.

Wednesday, September 2

• Mask of Mists — First-person action-adventure in a world of magic and secrets.
• Piffle — Cutesy arcade puzzle adventure with cats.
• Here Be Dragons — A satirical turn-based strategy game with an alternate take on 'discovering America'. (Sep 3 in U.S)

Thursday, September 3

• Under the Jolly Roger — Ohh er. An open world pirate action RPG.
• Niche — Evolve your own species in this genetics survival game.
• Good Pizza, Great Pizza — Make pizza in this restaurant sim. My advice: Use good 00 flour.
• ⭐️ Spinch — A very trippy looking side-scrolling psychedlic platformer.
• Jelly Champs — A silly physics-based ragdoll fighting game.
• Connection Haunted — Promises 'classic FPS gameplay'.
• Lucah: Born of a Dream — Hack, slash and ascend in this 'harrowing' action RPG. (Already available in U.S)
• Secret Files 3 — Point and click puzzle adventure.
• Perfect Traffic Simulator —Take control of the traffic in this 3D sim.

Friday, September 4

• ⭐️ Lair of the Clockword God — Stop the apocalypses (plural) in this well-received platformer meets point-and-click adventure. 
• Paradise Killer — A first-person open world murder mystery.
• Batu Ta Batu — Budget tile puzzler.
• Dirt Trackin 2 — 3D racing, not to be confused with the actual DiRT series.
• Solitaire Spider Minimal — Another clean, straightforward looking card puzzler.
• Roommates — College dating sim.
• Fantasy Tower Defense — Basic 2D strategy.

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