Thoughts on Fury, and Balan's world ain't so wonderful

PREVIEW Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury: The final preview — Joe explains that Bowser’s Fury isn’t just an expansion, "it’s a fundamentally separate game, picked from a title screen and booted into without ever having to touch 3D World", adding that he "simply wasn’t expecting to be this surprised by what promised to be a simple add-on to a much bigger existing game". Here's another hands-on take from Andy at VGC.

Joe Skrebels // IGN

REVIEW Cyber Shadow — "an astonishing, action-packed ninja adventure that should not be missed out on".

Greysun Morales // Game Rant

Ninja guidin' with Cyber Shadow — More thoughts on last week's release from Yacht Club Games. Stuart calls is a "thoroughly polished, exceptionally playable side-scroller that manages to stand out". Here's more glowing impressions from Ethan Gach at Kotaku.

Stuart Gipp // Retronauts

Reggie admits Switch was a "make or break product" for Nintendo after poor performance of Wii U 

Liam Doolan // Nintendo Life

Here's the Monster Hunter Rise Nintendo Switch console 

Tom Phillips // Eurogamer

Animal Crossing New Horizons update is bringing back Festivale 

Rebecca Stone // Twinfinite

REVIEW SOLAS 128 — My thoughts on this recently released 'beam deflection' puzzle game from developers Amicable Animal.

Chris Brandrick // Switch Weekly

REVIEW Heaven's Vault — "one of those extraordinary adventure games that will likely become more legendary in time".

Jahanzeb Khan // Noisy Pixel

REVIEW Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & The Secret Fairy — "a relatively small-scale, old-fashioned JRPG experience, but it's one that's full of heart, great characters, slick combat and some excellent new ruin-based dungeons".

PJ O'Reilly // Nintendo Life

REVIEW ▶ Spinny's Journey — This spinning stick puzzler is very much Kuru Kuru Kurukin (which I loved), with a dash of Pikmin-style story. I like the look of this.

Star or Shovelware // YouTube

REVIEW Olija is a dark, haunting action game without all the stress

Andrew Webster // The Verge

EU group calls for Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift investigation — This isn't going to go away, and I feel not only is this really hurting consumer confidence, the longer Nintendo doesn't address it in a more concrete way the more likely it is they're heading for a huge bill just like Microsoft did during the days of the Xbox 360.

Tom Warren // The Verge

Astral Chain is now fully owned by Nintendo, says PlatinumGames — This is curious, but aligns somewhat with Platinum's future goals to self-publish. Unsure what Nintendo's play would be here though, as this thing (police action adventure hack and slash) isn't particularly in their typical wheelhouse is it?

Ryan Craddock // Nintendo Life

Can the games industry keep its COVID customers? — The pandemic has seen a slew of new players take up gaming, but here Christopher asks if they'll stick around once things return to something resembling normality (whenever that will be).

Christopher Dring // gamesindustry

It’s time to announce the Nintendo Switch Pro 

Thomas Hughes // TSA

Game ownership in the digital age: Who owns your games? — Subscriptions, streaming, and what they mean for your money

Nathaniel Ansari // Super Jump

A beginner’s guide to Nintendo Switch collecting: What should I collect? 

Mattias Diesel // Nintendo Ninjas

What is it with Nintendo's love of FOMO? 

Gareth Tucker // Big Daddy Gaming

Monday, February 1

• Cultist Simulator: Initiate Edition — Roguelike lovecraft narrative card-sim. (Feb 2 in U.S.)

Wednesday, February 3

• Blue Fire — 3D platformer set in a dark, desolate world. (Feb 4 in U.S.)
• Byakko-tai Samurai Boys — A story of young samurais. (Feb 4 in U.S.)
• Habroxia 2 — 2D shoot'em up with all the retro stylings.

Thursday, February 4

• Digerati Best Sellers — A bundle of three indie games.
• Flying Hero X — 3D open world superhero game in which you save kittens.
• Football Cup 2021 — 3D football on the world stage.
• Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story — Stealth single player based on the H.G. Wells story.
• Haven — Two lovers explore a new planet in this narrative RPG.
• ⭐️ Nuts — Spy on squirrels in this single-player surveillance mystery set in a forest.
• Odysseus Kosmos and his Robot Quest — 1 robot, 1 person in a 90s style point and click.
• Skyforge — Free to play online sci-fi fantasy action game. 21GB to download.
• Station Manager — Cute Kairosoft train station management sim.

Friday, February 5

• Glittering Sword — Budget top-down fantasy adventure with puzzles to solve.
• How to take off your Mask Remastered — Visual novel.
• 📦 Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- The Prophecy of the Throne — Tactical adventure based on the novel/anime.  (Already available in U.S.)