All Articles: Switch

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Review – The Perfect Game for Fire Emblem (and Persona) Super Fans

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Nicole Kline

I spent a lot of time in the world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses this Summer. Like, a lot.

I’m a big fan of the Fire Emblem series, and I also love the Persona series, and Three Houses seemed like a perfect marriage of those two game types. Add to that recipe a game that is played on the Switch, and my ability to play anywhere while also enjoying a big screen experience when I wanted it was satisfied.

I want to say it wasn’t perfect, but I’d be lying to you, to myself, and worst of all, to my house leader, Claude von Riegan. (more…)

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Batman Day comes to Fortnite for the next two weeks

Posted on September 21, 2019 by John Scalzo

Today is Batman Day, DC’s annual celebration of the Caped Crusader and everything that makes him one of the great comics characters of all time. So naturally, they decided to team up with Fortnite for a special “Fortnite X Batman” crossover.

Beginning today an running through Sunday, October 6, the event will give players access to some of Batman’s most famous gadgets (the Batman Grapnel Gun and an Explosive Batarang), as well as a pair of costumes (the Batman Comic Book Outfit and The Dark Knight Movie Outfit). A Catwoman costume will also be available.

According to Epic’s official website, part of Gotham City will also be recreated on the map:

A Rift Zone has brought Gotham City to Fortnite. Of course, it wouldn’t be Gotham City if villainy didn’t come along with it. This POI lets you be the hero the citizens of Gotham City need by giving you your own Batman cape and the power of Glider Redeploy!

More details about the Fortnite X Batman crossover can be found on the Patch Notes page.

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Shovel Knight: King of Cards will be released in December

Posted on August 28, 2019 by John Scalzo

Yacht Club Games delivered Shovel Knight to fans all the way back in 2014, and they’ve spent the rest of the decade fulfilling a Kickstarter campaign promise to produce additional campaigns starring three of the game’s villains. Those expansions did a lot to fill out the world of Shovel Knight and they’ve helped make the main character something of an international superstar.

But now the developers are ready to close the book on Shovel Knight’s first adventure this December with the release of Shovel Knight: King of Cards.

A fittingly jampacked new trailer for King of Cards has been embedded above, as the developer said (on their official website) that the expansion will be the biggest Shovel Knight adventure yet:

King of Cards marks our grandest adventure yet, and we hope the trailer whets your appetite for the banquet of adventure which awaits! It has more levels, mechanics, secrets, and content than any Shovel Knight game to come before it. It’s a spectacle, crammed to the coffers with ideas- it’s the biggest game we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally, finally play it. We’ve used everything we’ve learned in the past to make this game shine. We hope that you’ll find it both a delightful return and a fitting sendoff to Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.

Shovel Knight owners will be able to download the King of Cards expansion for free for the 3DS, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One, though it’ll also be released as a standalone game for the PC, PS4, and Switch.

And if you haven’t dug into the Shovel Knight series yet, Yacht Club will package the original game and all four expansions together into a special retail edition, known as the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

In the meantime, fans will be able to test out a demo of Shovel Knight: King of Cards at this weekend’s PAX West convention.

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Yacht Club Games is bringing Shovel Knight, Cyber Shadow, and an all new game to PAX West 2019

Posted on August 23, 2019 by John Scalzo

The good folks at Yacht Club Games have been very busy over the last two years. The developer is currently hard at work putting the finishing touches on Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown, and earlier this year, Yacht Club signed on to published Mekaskull’s Cyber Shadow.

All three of these retro-styled titles will be playable at the developer’s booth at this year’s PAX West convention, which will be held next week in Seattle (August 30th through September 2nd). But Yacht Club has also promised that a surprise will be waiting for fans who visit their booth… demo stations for a brand new never-before-seen game.

As of now, all we know about this unannounced game is that it’s currently in development for the Nintendo Switch. But even if you’re not attending PAX West this year, you’ll be able to learn more about it during the first ever Yacht Club Presents livestream on Wednesday, August 28, at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time). The livestream will be broadcast on YouTube and Twitch, and will also include “tons” of new information about Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight Showdown.

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Blazing Chrome Review – An Excellent Homage to Contra III and an Even Better Side-Scrolling Shooter

Posted on July 29, 2019 by John Scalzo

During this year’s E3 Expo, Konami shared the good news that they plan to resurrect the Contra franchise this Fall with Contra: Rogue Corps. But after eight long years in limbo, the publisher has decided to once again ditch the franchise’s traditional side-scrolling action for an overhead viewpoint and a wildly over-the-top art style. Sometimes, this has worked out well for Contra (2004’s Neo Contra instantly springs to mind), but other times… not so much.

There’s still a few months to go before we get a chance to test out Rogue Corps’s final form, but JoyMasher wants to fill the gap with a game that should please everyone looking for another dose of Contra-fueled nostalgia. The Brazilian developer recently delivered Blazing Chrome on all your favorite digital storefronts, and it’s a side-scrolling shooter that faithfully recreates the grungy post-apocalyptic vibe found in a lot of early 90s shooters (with most of its inspiration coming directly from Contra III: The Alien Wars).

While Blazing Chrome might not be an official new entry in the Contra canon, as an homage it gets almost everything right. (more…)

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New Retail Releases: Persona Q2, Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, MotoGP 19, More

Posted on June 3, 2019 by John Scalzo

The 3DS (sort of) rides off into the sunset this week with the launch of Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, a brand new crossover RPG from Atlus. That’s because, barring an E3 surprise from Nintendo, Persona Q2 is currently the last major release planned for the venerable handheld. Players who decide to take the plunge will get to interact with characters from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5 as they explore a series of labyrinths parodying popular film genres.

RPG fans will also be able to revisit Falcom’s Legend of Heroes franchise this week, as XSEED will re-release the second game in the series for the PS4 as The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II – Relentless Edition. The Relentless Edition will include a visual upgrade, a Turbo Mode to explore the map at high speed, a Japanese dual-audio option, expanded English voiceovers, and all previously-released downloadable content.

Elsewhere on store shelves this week, a trio of new games will fill out the lower tier of titles that typically launch ahead of the E3 Expo (which, remember, is happening next week).

Milestone will rev their motorcycle simulation engine one more time with the launch of MotoGP 19 for the PS4 and Xbox One (and on the PC as a digital download). Bigben’s Warhammer: Chaosbane, the first hack and slash based on Game Workshop’s fantasy universe, will also appear on all three platforms this week. And PQube returns with a new visual novel, Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa, for the PS4 and Switch (and on the PC as a digital download).

Finally, after a slight delay, Bethesda will release The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr expansion for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

That’s it for this week’s retail releases, but you’ll find plenty of other new games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop later this week.

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New Retail Releases: Devil May Cry 5, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, Left Alive, More

Posted on March 4, 2019 by John Scalzo

After veering away from the franchise’s established continuity in DMC: Devil May Cry, Capcom has promised fans they’ll get reacquainted with “The Devil You Know” in Devil May Cry 5, which will be available this week for the PS4 and Xbox One (and as a digital download for the PC). Dante and Nero will both return for the “most insane” and “technically advanced” entry in the series, and they’ll be joined by a “weapons artist” named Nico.

If you’d prefer not to spend your days battling demons, Nintendo will launch a family-friendly alternative, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, for the 3DS. Originally released for the Wii, this expanded re-release includes new new Ravel Abilities that mimic the pink puffball’s famous copy power and a harder Devilish Mode (wait a minute…). It’s also the last Nintendo-published 3DS game on the 2019 calendar, so we might be looking at the end of an era here.

Also set to launch this week is Left Alive, a new “survival-action shooter” from Square Enix that’ set in the Front Mission universe. The futuristic game will be available for the PS4 and as a digital download for the PC.

Finally this week, gamers will be able to scoop up MLB Advanced Media’s RBI Baseball 19 (PS4 and Xbox One), White Paper Games’s The Occupation (PS4 and Xbox One), and Bigben’s My Little Riding Champion (Switch) from their local retail establishment. And Switch owners looking to purchase a copy of The Lego Movie 2 will finally get their chance.

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Tetris 99 Review – Nintendo Transforms the King of Puzzle Games Into Battle Royale-ity

Posted on February 20, 2019 by John Scalzo

How do you talk about video games in 2019 without mentioning the “Battle Royale” genre? While players have been fighting to be the last one standing since the early 90s, it’s obvious that games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite have transformed how people play multiplayer games.

But it was only a matter of time until Nintendo entered the fray and shook up the “Battle Royale” genre with their own take. The consolemaker has never been quick to react to gaming’s biggest trends, but their unique style has been moving the conversation around games in wildly divergent directions for decades. They zig where others zag, and we’re all better off for it.

Which brings us to Tetris 99, a 99-player variant of the popular puzzle game that’s now available to download through the Nintendo eShop. (more…)

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