SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring ‘Castlevania Dominus Collection’, Plus Today’s Releases and Sales
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 3rd, 2024. In today’s article, I have a few more reviews for you. Some lengthy thoughts on Castlevania Dominus Collection, a look at Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn, and some quick critiques of a pair of Pinball FX tables that recently arrived as DLC. After that, we check out the new releases of the day including the quirky and cool Bakeru, then roll into the latest sales and expiring discounts for the day. Let’s get into it!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Castlevania Dominus Collection ($24.99)
Say what you will about Konami in the modern era, but it has been absolutely killing it with most of its classic collections. Castlevania in particular has been enjoying a great deal of love in this regard, with Castlevania Dominus Collection being its third on modern platforms. This time around, the focus is on the Nintendo DS trilogy of games in the franchise. The development chores have again been handled by M2, with the usual excellent results. But there’s more here than meets the eye, and with everything taken into account this may well be the most essential Castlevania collection yet.
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let’s talk about the main course first. The Nintendo DS era of Castlevania was a historical one in some ways for the franchise, and not all of them good. On the positive side, all three of the games had a unique identity and make for a surprisingly varied trio. Dawn of Sorrow is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow. It hit very early in the Nintendo DS’s life, and is thus cursed to some stupid touchscreen gimmicks that have thankfully been mitigated in this release. Portrait of Ruin shoves the touchscreen nonsense into a bonus mode, relying on an interesting dual-character gimmick to distinguish itself. Order of Ecclesia really mixes things up, with considerably higher difficulty than its predecessor and a design that calls back to Simon’s Quest of all games. All good games. Great even? Would recommend.
On the negative side, this was the last gasp of the run of exploratory Castlevania games created by Koji Igarashi, who gave the series a kick in the pants with Symphony of the Night when it needed it most. Returns were diminishing, and Konami thought it had a better play in MercurySteam’s Lords of Shadow. Well, hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. Were these games so distinct from each other because IGA wanted to stretch his creative legs, or was it a desperate attempt to find something that would stick with an increasingly disinterested audience? We’ll never know. I do remember at the time many people were feeling exhausted with this type of Castlevania, and I will shamefully admit that despite buying them on day one every time and playing the heck out of them, I was also feeling like the series was falling into a rut. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?
So, weird thing here is that these games don’t appear to be emulated, but are instead native ports. That allowed M2 to do neat things like replace the annoying touchscreen seals in Dawn with far more manageable button presses, and show you not only the main screen and the status screen at all times, but also the map as a third screen. What is this, a Nintendo TS? There are still some very DS-like aspects to these games, but they all had to work with a controller for docked mode, and so they all do. This actually makes Dawn of Sorrow a lot better, and I would now put it within my top five Castlevania games of all-time.
In terms of options and extras, there is plenty here. For general options, you get a choice of which region of each game you’d like to play, the ability to swap confirm/cancel button mapping, and the choice of whether you want the left stick to be mapped to character movement or the touch cursor. The latter is important for one of the bonus modes in Portrait of Ruin. There is also an incredibly adorable credits sequence where one of the unsung heroes of the series achieves his dreams. Make sure you watch them. There’s a nice gallery where you can view some art, manual scans, and box art for each of the three DS games. You can also listen to the music from all of the included games, and when the music is this good you know that’s a treat. You can even make your own custom playlist of tunes.
Once in-game, you can make use of save states and a rewind feature, remap the controls as you like, adjust how the three screens are laid out, choose from a handful of background colors, and adjust the levels on the different audio elements. There is also an exhaustive compendium for each game, with information on equipment, enemies, items, and other points of interest. Pretty much anything you would need to enjoy these games to the maximum. About all I could ask for is perhaps a few other screen arrangement options that allow me to make the play area bigger, but that’s a very minor nitpick. This is a great way to enjoy three very cool games, and for the price it’s an absurd value.
But wait! There’s more! The absolutely dreadful arcade Castlevania game, Haunted Castle, has been included here. I’m not sure why it was left off the first collection and shunted to the otherwise shooter-heavy Konami arcade collection, but here it is. Here too you get a variety of options, including the virtually necessary option for unlimited continues. Seriously, this game is brutally unfair. Good music, a terrific opening that sees Simon in a snazzy tux, but the game itself is horrible and completely irredeemable. Or… is it?
The last extra, and it feels ridiculous to call something so substantial an extra but it’s M2’s wording not mine, is a complete remake of Haunted Castle. Much like when it took on the task of remaking Castlevania: The Adventure with Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth on the Nintendo Wii (please reissue all of the Rebirth games), M2 basically took a look at the original game and decided to make a good one instead. Haunted Castle Revisited takes a lot of cues from the arcade original, but it really does its own thing virtually from top to bottom. Yes, we have a new Castlevania game! A very good one! It’s tucked away in the Extras tab of a Nintendo DS collection, but it’s here!
If you like Castlevania, you really should buy Castlevania Dominus Collection. There’s an entire new Castlevania game here and it kind of rules. You also get what you’re ostensibly buying the collection for with the three Nintendo DS IGAvanias, presented in as fine a form as you could hope for. The original Haunted Castle is also here. If, on the other hand, you don’t like Castlevania, we are not friends. And finally, if you don’t know Castlevania, you should pick up all three of the collections and get to the good times. Another absolutely stellar showing from Konami and M2.
SwitchArcade Score: 5/5
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn ($19.99)
I’ve been through a bit of a roller coaster with Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn. I’ve enjoyed all of Tengo Project’s releases so far, and I believe its versions of Wild Guns and The Ninja Warriors are definitive in every way. I had a few issues with Pocky & Rocky, but overall that was also a very enjoyable romp. Shadow of the Ninja seemed like a different kettle of fish in a lot of ways, however. The Tengo Project team members didn’t have much to do with the original game, and this was an 8-bit game being updated rather than a 16-bit one. I also personally don’t think the original game is as good as Wild Guns, The Ninja Warriors, and Pocky & Rocky were. As a result, when this remake was announced I was a little hesitant.
Then I had a chance to play the first little part of the game at the Tokyo Game Show last year, and I enjoyed that well enough to get excited again. Now that I’ve played through the game a few times, I’ve settled somewhere in the middle. I think relative to the other games from this developer, Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is a bit less well-rounded. The improvements from the original game are many, from the excellent presentation to a more refined weapon and item system. You don’t get any fun new characters in this one, but the two existing playable characters have been differentiated. It is, as one would expect, better than the original game while maintaining the important aspects of its spirit. If you loved Shadow of the Ninja, you’ll really love this.
If on the other hand you’re like me and only found the original to be a decent action-platformer, you probably won’t land much further from that mark with Reborn. Having access to both the chain and the sword at all times is a great improvement, and the sword on the whole is more useful than it was in the original game. The new inventory system is cool, adding a little spice to a game that needed something like that. The presentation is excellent, and you would never know it was based on an 8-bit game. There are a couple of rude difficulty spikes, and I think this is actually a more challenging game on the whole than the original. Perhaps that’s necessary, as it’s not a very lengthy affair overall. It’s the best Shadow of the Ninja you could play, but it is still Shadow of the Ninja.
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is another solid effort from Tengo Project, and in some ways is the most substantial improvement over its predecessor of any of their releases yet. Whether or not you should pick it up is really going to depend on how you feel about that original game, because the core is still very much in line with that NES title. Those without any prior experience will find an enjoyable but not essential action game here, one that very much subscribes to an 8-bit design sensibility.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
Pinball FX – The Princess Bride Pinball ($5.49)
Just a couple of quick Pinball FX DLC reviews, partly to celebrate the massive update Pinball FX has received that finally makes it properly playable on Switch. To go with that, two new tables were released as DLC: The Princess Bride Pinball, and Goat Simulator Pinball. The former is based on the cult classic movie, and it includes not only real voice clips but also video clips from the film. Now that’s the kind of thing I want to see in these licensed tables, Zen. Mechanically speaking, this table feels like something you could actually see a real physical version of. Relatively straightforward to learn, relatively authentic to the license, and satisfying to score attack on.
Zen Studios doesn’t always hit with its licensed tables, often missing things like music, real voices, and likenesses. The Princess Bride Pinball is one of the better ones in that regard, and I think any fan of the movie who isn’t allergic to pinball would do well to check it out. It’s not the most innovative of tables, relying on a lot of well-worn design choices, but I think that too fits. A good time for newcomers or veterans alike.
SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5
Pinball FX – Goat Simulator Pinball ($5.49)
Then we have Goat Simulator Pinball, and this one understands its license equally well. That means this is a very odd table in a lot of ways, and it certainly could only exist in video game form. You’ll get involved in a lot of silly goat-related incidents, adding effects to your ball to trigger various elements of the table. It’s a little bewildering at first, but stick with it and you’ll be rewarded. More of a table for the veteran players, I think. Goat Simulator fans with no pinball experience will probably have some difficulty getting a handle on it enough to see some of the funnier antics.
Goat Simulator Pinball is another solid piece of DLC from the folks at Zen Studios, who have made so many tables by now that they likely relish a chance to do something off-the-wall like this. It’s a tricky table to learn, but once you do you’ll get to see some truly wacky stuff. Fans of the Goat Simulator games who can stick with the game long enough to learn the ropes will be rewarded, but it’s going to take a bit more work to get there than with some other tables.
SwitchArcade Score: 4/5
Select New Releases
Bakeru ($39.99)
If you read my review yesterday, you’ll know I really enjoyed this breezy, charming 3D platformer from the fine folks at Good-Feel. Play as a tanuki named Bakeru who is on a mission to save Japan from an evil overlord who has trapped people in an eternal festival. Battle enemies, get interesting Japan trivia from hidden poo, collect souvenirs, and maybe even laugh here and there. The framerate in this Switch version is inconsistent, so tech heads may want to play it elsewhere. If you don’t mind that aspect, this is a nice game to play on your Switch.
Holyhunt ($4.99)
This is a top-down arena-based twin-stick shooter. It describes itself as a love letter to 8-bit games, but I don’t really remember seeing many games like this back then. At any rate, it looks amusing enough for what it is. Shoot, shoot, dash, dash, get new gun, repeat. Watch out for bosses. That kind of thing.
Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography ($20.00)
I don’t normally include these language-learning things since we’re more game-focused here, but this one at least seems to have some additional effort put into it. You go around, take pictures of things, and learn the Japanese names for them. Would I spend twenty on it? Probably not. But everyone learns in different ways, and this might be how you learn.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Some decent games in the inbox today, including OrangePixel’s selection of great pick-up-and-play titles. Alien Hominid is enjoying an extremely rare discount, and you can also scoop up Ufouria 2 at a nice price. Over in the outbox, titles from THQ and Team 17 are finishing up their latest discounts. Check out their publisher pages as I’ve only included a handful for each. Have a gander through both lists, as ever.
Select New Sales
Space Grunts ($8.39 from $13.99 until 9/7)
Meganoid ($5.39 from $8.99 until 9/7)
Stardash ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Gunslugs ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Gunslugs 2 ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Heroes of Loot ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Heroes of Loot 2 ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Warhammer 40k Dakka Squadron ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/9)
Castle Crashers Remastered ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/10)
Alien Hominid HD ($9.59 from $11.99 until 9/10)
Alien Hominid Invasion ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/10)
Conscript ($17.59 from $21.99 until 9/15)
Overdelivery ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/15)
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption ($2.99 from $19.99 until 9/16)
Agent Intercept ($7.99 form $19.99 until 9/16)
Secret Files Tunguska ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)
Secret Files Puritas Cordis ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)
Secret Files Sam Peters ($2.02 from $6.99 until 9/16)
Lost Horizon ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)
Lost Horizon 2 ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)
Zombo Buster Advance ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/16)
Skautfold Usurper ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/17)
Nuclear Blaze ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/17)
Helvetii ($5.09 from $16.99 until 9/17)
Heidelberg 1693 ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/17)
Sophstar ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/17)
Harmony’s Odyssey ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/17)
Ufouria 2: The Saga ($17.49 from $24.99 until 9/17)
Promenade ($12.49 from $24.99 until 9/17)
Shinorubi ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/17)
Last Night of Winter ($6.99 from $9.99 until 9/17)
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/18)
Nobody Saves The World ($9.99 from $24.99 until 9/23)
Summer in Mara ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/23)
Guacamelee 2 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/23)
Railbound ($2.59 from $12.99 until 9/23)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, September 4th
Capes ($29.99 from $39.99 until 9/4)
Fates of Ort ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/4)
Floogen ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/4)
Fluffy Horde ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/4)
Gum+ ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/4)
Hopping Girl Kohane EX ($16.74 from $24.99 until 9/4)
Kingdom Come Deliverance ($29.99 from $49.99 until 9/4)
Kona II: Brume ($11.99 from $29.99 until 9/4)
Metro 2033 Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
Metro Last Light Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
Outward Definitive ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/4)
Overcooked Special Edition ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
Rolling Car ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/4)
Stunt Paradise ($5.19 from $7.99 until 9/4)
Tiny Pixels Vol 1 Ninpo Blast ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/4)
Worms WMD ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9/4)
Yoku’s Island Express ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. Maybe a review? No promises. I think we’re officially in the season of TOO MANY GOOD GAMES, so hold on to your wallets and enjoy the fun. It’s probably the Switch’s last holiday ride, so let’s make it worth the while. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
