Switch Weekly - Taking a Tour of Mario's new tracks

Hey, here's issue #274 of Switch Weekly with your update on the week in Nintendo.

This week saw the first wave of new Mario Kart 8 tracks drop, and it's been a blast to revisit the game and be reminded of just how darn great it is. For a game that debuted originally back in 2014, it still feels super fresh. I get why some may want to nitpick over the visuals, but honestly — to see one of the best racers of all time updated with new content years after release is just great. Whatever you think of the graphics, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains endlessly silly fun, and I'm all for another slice of that right now.

What's ahead? Well, there's just under 25 games coming to the Switch next week — the highlight of course is the new Kirby game. The full list is below for you as ever.

I'd hoped to be sharing the State of Switch survey results with you today, but sadly, after two plus years of doing our very best to avoid it, COVID finally caught up with the Brandrick household. I've somehow personally managed to avoid it, but caring for others has taken priority of course.

I'll hopefully be sharing the results with you next week. Catch you then.

Cheers,  
Chris ✌️

🎮 Currently Playing — Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Tunic (Xbox)

Tuesday, March 22

• A Place for the Unwilling — Dickensian/Lovecraft branching narative adventure. M for mature.
• 🎮 Kraken Academy — High-school pixel adventure.

Wednesday, March 23

• Bunny Memory — Budget card-matching puzzle.
• Chippy — Arcade-style action shooter with co-op. Reminds me of Graceful Explosion Machine.
• Sky Gamblers - Air Supremacy 2 — Jet fighter aerial combat. 
• Tempest 4000 — Arcade tube shooter with 100 levels, designed by Jeff Minter.
• The Pizza Delivery Boy who Saved the World — Pictorial visual novel with crude humour.
• Thunder Kid: Hunt for the Robot Emperor — Low-poly 3D run ‘n’ gun action.

Thursday, March 24

• Aery - Calm Mind 2 — A relaxing 'interactive game experience' in which you fly around as a bird.
• Andro Dunos 2 — Sequel to 1992 side scrolling arcade SHMUP.
• Broken Pipe — Manage gates and bridges in this puzzler. 
• Disco Cannon Airlines — Weird sim where you try to score points firing things from a cannon.
• Super Nanaru — Casual arcade jump game.
• Valis II — Side-scrolling bishojo action.
• Valis III — As above, as below. More from the Valis series.
• Valis: The Fantasm Soldier — Port of this 1992 PC-Engine side-scroller.
• World Soccer Kid — Budget footy with a hand-drawn style.

Friday, March 25

• BouncyBoi in Puzzle Land — Tile-based puzzle game.
• ⭐️ Devastator — Twin-stick arcade shooter — totally has a Geometry Wars vibe, which I dig.
• ⭐️📦🎮 Kirby and the Forgotten Land — Kirby goes 3D. Has co-op, and a decent demo too.
• Niko and the Cubic Curse — Lift the curse in this 2D platformer.
• ⭐️📦 Rune Factory 5 — Fantasy RPG meets farming sim.
• Taqoban — 3D panda-puzzle game for two.