SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Shinorubi’, ‘Frogsong’, ‘Crystal Project’, Plus Today’s Other Releases and Sales
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 12th, 2024. It’s the end of the week, and we’re finally starting to see a pulse return to the eShop. We start things off with a bit of Nintendo Switch Online retro game news, then head into a fairly healthy crop of new releases to finish out the week with. We finish things out as we always do, with the lists of new sales and expiring discounts. Let’s get to work!
News
‘Golden Sun’ & ‘Golden Sun: The Lost Age’ Will Come to Nintendo Switch Online Next Week
Golden Sun was one of the games announced to be coming in 2023 for the Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance app. It didn’t quite make it, but it’s coming on January 17th and as a little make-good it will be joined by its follow-up. Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age are really two parts of one whole, and I certainly enjoyed both titles back in the day. You’ll have to be subscribed to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack tier to play these games, but if you are a subscriber all you’ll need to do is update the app next week when they arrive.
New Releases
Shinorubi ($19.99)
A vertical bullet hell shoot-em-up in widescreen, eh? Well, it’s not how we do things in my house but I am willing to give it a try. It features five different environments, multiple difficulty levels, and eight different ships to use. There are also a bunch of extra modes, so the developer has put in a lot of effort to give players a lot to do. I’ll give the game a good run-through and come back with a review early next week.
Frogsong ($14.99)
This is a cute little action-RPG about a little frog named Chorus who dreams of protecting the world. But the traditions of tree frogs say they should all live quiet lives of religious studies, and certainly shouldn’t become warriors. After all, tree frogs are very small. That’s not going to stop Chorus, though. They head off a village where prospective Defense Guild members train under a veteran fighter. Not the longest of games, but there’s a lot of heart to it. If you like adorable frogs or underdog stories, give this one a look.
Reigns: Three Kingdoms ($2.99)
It’s Reigns, but with a Three Kingdoms flavor. You probably know how this works, but to catch up anyone new, the Reigns games are choice-based adventures where you make your decisions by swiping left or right. It was born on mobile platforms where that was a very natural control method, and it’s not too bad when adapted to controllers. What with their left and right buttons and all. It might seem simple but it’s very entertaining and adds up to a fair bit of things to see if you mean to do it all. I’ll be doing a review of this one soon.
Crystal Project ($13.99)
This is a pretty nifty indie JRPG-style game. It has a job system! You know I like those. It also tries some new things with its battle system, and I always appreciate that. Then outside of battle it takes on the form of a Metroidvania-style game. If you like what it’s laying down, you’re going to have a great time with this. How do you know if you’re into it, though? Well, there’s a massive demo available for the game. Give it a download and see how you take to it. I liked it a fair bit more than I initially expected to, and perhaps you will too.
EGGCONSOLE Marchen Veil PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)
Well, here’s another EggConsole PC-8801 release. This one is System Sacom’s 1985 top-down action game Marchen Veil. Like the rest of the games in the line, this particular version was only released in Japan and had no official localization. That hasn’t been a huge problem so far, but this game leans heavily on its story content. If you can’t read Japanese, you’re not going to get much out of that end of things. And the action itself is very slow and choppy, so I’m not sure what joy is to be found there either. I will probably review this after I spend more time with it, since I’ve already reviewed the others.
Kitten Hero ($4.99)
Filling the role of the five-dollar Switch platformer for today is Kitten Hero, a challenging eighty-stage affair about a little cat who sometimes wears hats. You have to rescue your human friend, who has been captured by an evil AI. Naughty AIs, don’t be doing that stuff! Anyway. Jump, dash, climb, avoid spikes, and so on. We know how this kind of thing goes, so it’s only a matter of whether or not you’re hungry for that right now.
The Bin Bunch
HatLand – Pixel Impossible GAME OVER ($4.99)
Coin Rush ($4.99)
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Finally, some real sales. It’s been pretty dry of late. Look at 9th Dawn III there, enticing you. Witness a new low price on the delightful Tinykin. Maybe you want some Bandai Namco deals? Buddy, we have a few. Over in the weekend outbox, we have a short list without too much to get in a tizzy about. I’ll trust you to have a look through both lists and do the responsible thing, whatever that may entail.
Select New Sales
9th Dawn III ($7.99 from $15.99 until 1/21)
Flewfie’s Adventure ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
My Hero One’s Justice 2 ($9.99 from $39.99 until 1/22)
RAD ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Dragon Ball Z Kakarot ($14.99 from $59.99 until 1/22)
Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Doraemon Story of Seasons FotGK SE ($23.99 from $59.99 until 1/22)
Mr. Driller DrillLand ($4.79 from $29.99 until 1/22)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Little Nightmares II ($9.89 from $29.99 until 1/22)
Dead Station ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Feeble Light ($3.24 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Bombing Busters ($3.49 from $6.99 until 1/26)
Zombo Buster Rising ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Earth Marines ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Devoured by Darkness ($2.99 from $5.99 until 1/26)
The Red Exile: Survival Horror ($2.99 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Space Roguelike Adventure ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/26)
Chasing Light ($9.49 from $18.99 until 1/26)
Radioactive Dwarfs: Evil From the Sewers ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/26)
All of Us Are Dead ($15.99 from $19.99 until 1/26)
Demon Turf ($12.49 from $24.99 until 1/31)
Demon Turf: Neon Splash ($3.49 from $4.99 until 1/31)
If My Heart Had Wings ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Healing Harem ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Useless Goddess ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Divinity Stage ($8.24 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Beholgar ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Pinku Kult: Hex Mortis ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Super Trunko Go ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Low Story ($3.99 from $7.99 until 2/1)
SpiderHeck ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Hello Neighbor ($9.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
Hello Engineer ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Streets of Rogue ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Graveyard Keeper ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Trash Sailors ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Tinykin ($14.99 from $24.99 until 2/1)
Rhythm Sprout ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Black Skylands ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Despot’s Game CE ($11.49 from $22.99 until 2/1)
Cattails: Wildwood Story ($15.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Sales Ending This Weekend
ALTF4 ($3.89 from $5.99 until 1/13)
Dorfromantik ($13.49 from $14.99 until 1/13)
Earthshine ($3.49 from $4.99 until 1/13)
Fusion Paradox ($6.99 from $9.99 until 1/13)
Hero Survival ($3.49 from $4.99 until 1/13)
2021: Moon Escape ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/14)
BIT.TRIP Collection ($2.39 from $9.99 until 1/14)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new games, more sales, more reviews, and a bit of news. I’m actually off to the fancy hospital right now to get my organs checked with some kind of fancy imaging technique. Hopefully they’re all doing their jobs properly. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!
