[Preview] Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble
Posted on 7 hours ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble has a relatively complicated road ahead of it. It is the first brand new game in the series in nearly twelve years, and trying to balance its new content on top of reconnecting the series to its roots. Based on my recent one-hour preview, it seems to be living up to the task.
More: highlight, SEGA, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble, top
[Preview] Roman Sands RE:Build
Posted on 1 month ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Roman Sands RE:Build is one of the strangest games I’ve played in a while, and that’s saying something, because I’ve played a lot of weird games lately. On a surface level, this first-person adventure appears to be an eccentric experience about performing menial tasks for the entitled guests of a strange luxury resort. It quickly becomes apparent that there’s much more going on behind the scenes: time seems to be looping, and also, the apocalypse might be nigh – or did it already happen? Despite having demoed this game twice now, I’m still not entirely sure what it’s about, but I can confidently say I’ve never played anything quite like it.
[Preview] Two Strikes brutal ballet of bloody combat is a blast to play
Posted on 1 month ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Typically when I’m playing a fighting game, it doesn’t take much to recover from a sloppy combo or a mild beating from an opponent; there are usually plenty of chances to get my fighter back on their feet when my skills inevitably lapse. Two Strikes, on the other hand, isn’t quite so merciful. This upcoming fighting game from Retro Reactor promises exactly what it says on the tin: take damage twice, and you’re dead, often in gloriously gory fashion. I had the chance to demo the game briefly at Day of the Devs in San Francisco, and while I didn’t have enough time to get wholly acquainted with the nuances of battle, I enjoyed familiarizing myself with the tense, careful dance of Two Strikes’ vicious combat.
[Preview] Dome-King Cabbage
Posted on 3 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
“My first memory is of a toy… at least, I think it is.” Those are among the first words uttered in Dome-King Cabbage, a surreal visual novel that has a wholly unique sense of style unlike anything else in the genre. Created by solo developer Joe Buchholz (also known as Cobysoft Joe), Dome-King Cabbage feels like the type of strange, psychedelic project that could only come from the indie scene, and has quickly become one of my most anticipated indies.
More: Cobysoft, Dome-King Cabbage, Hyper Real
[Preview] Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
Posted on 4 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
The historical preservation of video games has increasingly become a widespread concern in recent years, due in no small part to the closure of legacy digital storefronts, the frequent delisting of digital games and server shutdowns galore. But beyond that, there’s a real risk that decades of game history from the 20th century will eventually be lost or widely inaccessible – not every game is going to end up preserved via a retro-focused service like Nintendo Switch Online or Antstream Arcade. But developer Digital Eclipse – now a subsidiary of Atari – is experimenting with preservation in a unique way with its Gold Master Series. These interactive documentaries combine games, video clips, scans of game design documents and more into a package that’s not merely a compilation of old games, but also a historical archive of specific chunks of the industry’s history. Following this year’s The Making of Karateka, the studio’s next title focuses on game developer Jeff Minter and his studio Llamasoft, and it’s poised to be a fascinating memoir of a bygone era of game development.
[Preview] 6 compelling indies we played at Day of the Devs 2023
Posted on 4 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
Earlier this month, Nintendo Everything dropped by the Day of The Devs indie showcase event in Los Angeles to demo some upcoming Switch games from small teams all over the globe. We played a staggering variety of games and had a chance to chat with some of the developers behind unique titles like Dome-King Cabbage and Resistor, and will be publishing dedicated previews for some of these games over the coming week; Still, with more games present on the show-floor than we could dream of covering individually, we thought we’d compile a list of some smaller titles that might not be on your radar yet. Here are six Switch-bound indies we played at Day of the Devs 2023 to keep an eye on!
[Preview] Hands-on with Resistor, an ambitious racing RPG
Posted on 4 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
It feels like racing games are often excused from needing to tell stories; even as players, we’ve been trained to expect little more from the genre than schlocky tales of midnight street racing, if there’s even any context to the action at all. That can be just fine as many players only care about the feel of the driving, but there’s so much potential for fresh ideas. That’s why I’m curious about Resistor, an upcoming racing RPG whose lead developer, Violet McVinnie, previously worked on cinematics and narrative for titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. There’s a lot of potential for Resistor to be something unique, and while my brief demo only let me preview a small slice of the game, I’m hopeful it will prove that racing games can indeed tell deeper stories than they typically do.
More: highlight, Long Way Home, PQube, Resistor, top
[Preview] Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Posted on 4 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
It always seems to happen the same way: just when I think I’m ready to take a break from playing big, sprawling JRPGs that threatens to suck up every ounce of my free time, along comes a game like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes that immediately makes me reconsider. After spending the past few years deep in development following an immensely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020, the turn-based RPG will finally land on Switch next spring and will hopefully help scratch the Suikoden itch that Konami has ignored for over a decade. I was fortunate to have a chance to demo the game in Los Angeles recently, and while I only got to experience a small sliver of the opening chunk of the game, I really enjoyed what bits of the story, combat, and exploration I played.
[Preview] Little Goody Two Shoes – PAX West 2023
Posted on 7 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
If you’ve never heard of the classic fairytale “The History of Little Goody Two Shoes,” don’t worry, you’re not alone. This over 250-year-old story may have been one of the first children’s books to reach a widespread English audience, but its tale of a poor orphan’s journey journey to a life of riches hasn’t prevailed in the cultural zeitgeist in the way other classics from that era have. That hasn’t stopped Square Enix Collective – the indie publishing division of the JRPG giant – from greenlighting an experimental new release called Little Goody Two Shoes, which they bill as a “mysterious new fairytale anime adventure with a dark twist.” I had the chance to demo this off-the-wall title at PAX West recently, and while I had no idea what to expect going in, what I played was unsettling, beautiful, and immediately absorbing.
More: AstralShift, highlight, Little Goody Two Shoes, Square Enix, top
[Preview] Rift of the Necrodancer – PAX West 2023
Posted on 7 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
It was all the way back at PAX Prime 2013 that Crypt of the Necrodancer – a very successful dungeon crawler rougelite with rhythm-based combat – first started getting widespread love. Upon its full release, the game became so highly acclaimed that the team behind it was eventually able to work with Nintendo on a Legend of Zelda-themed spinoff called Cadence of Hyrule. Back for another victory lap, developer Brace Yourself Games attended PAX West 2023 to show off their latest project, Rift of the Necrodancer. While it’s a much more traditional rhythm game than the developer’s previous experiments, my demo with Rift highlighted some interesting twists on the genre that I think will surprise even seasoned fans of the genre.
