Curiously timed, the Switch gains two retro light-gun revivals this week. If that wasn’t enough, a couple of very eccentric sounding Japanese horror games are also due.
Forever are behind SEGA’s zombie slaying sequel THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2: Remake, priced £22.49 and featuring modern visuals, a choice of classic or remastered music, a boss mode, and a training mode. It’s also out on Steam this week, whereas the PS4/Xbox One versions are trailing behind.
We’ve always had a soft spot for HotD2, with the Wii version barely leaving the console. As long as you aren’t expecting a long-lasting experience (or decent voice acting) it shouldn’t disappoint.
The M2 developed Operation Night Strikers is yet to appear on the eShop but has been scheduled for a 7th Aug release for a while. It brings together four Taito light-gun shooters – Operation Wolf, Operation Thunderbolt, Night Striker, and Space Gun – with save states, the ability to download player data, and a variety of screen filters. Multiple arcade versions of each title are promised, and it seems that home console versions will be available as DLC. This collection is also out on Steam today with a Switch physical release planned for a later date.
[EDIT] DLC costs £13.49 and features Operation Wolf (FC/NES/SEGA Master System version), Operation Thunderbolt (SNES version), Night Striker (Mega CD version), and Space Gun (SEGA Master System version).
Also on the retro side of things there’s Konami’s Gradius ORIGINS – which includes new release Salamander III, amongst 16 others – an EGGCONSOLE release of the 1991 top down RPG Xak: The Tower of Gazzel, the purposely linear faux Saturn 3D platformer Toree Saturn, and a new Jaleco collection containing Saiyuuki World II – The Demon God of Heaven and its westernised counterpart WHOMP’EM.
As for those horror games, there’s MOTTAINAI GHOST – based around the guilt of wasting leftover food and featuring a battle to escape from an apartment – along with the more comedic horror Debug Deadline, which sees a Japanese development studio quite literally riddled with bugs. If these two sound too outlandish, then there’s CASE RECORDS: Fear of Abduction – which entails a 17 year old female out to solve missing person mysteries.
Critics seem to be enjoying SEGA’s anime tie-in Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2, which currently has a 76% Metacritic. “We won’t see this fighter on the competitive scene, but for an anime-based game it can be pretty great. It’s clearly designed to be welcoming to newcomers who love the series and want to play through major moments, but people looking for a bit of a challenge might find it in isolated bouts, Hashira Training Paths, or fights with other players,” said Siliconera.
Another high scorer hitting the Switch is the ‘80s set BMX-based Metroidvania Turbo Kid, which garnered an 80% Metacritic on PC. “Turbo Kid is an awesome bike-based Metroidvania, with fun combat, great locomotion, and loads of hidden treasures to find. Using your bike to get around and launch yourself to secret passages never gets old, and the gory apocalyptic setting is a joy to explore. If you’re looking for an interesting twist on a genre we all know and love, then pedal on over to Turbo Kid as fast as possible,” was God is a Geek’s verdict.
Other releases for this week include Team17’s cosy story-based herb garden farming sim Ritual of Raven, the cute culinary adventure Fruitbus, and the cartoony snowboard racer Slopecrashers – which boasts a cast of ‘wild’ animals.
[UPDATE] A handful of games launched during today’s Indie Spotlight, including the viral hit UFO 50 – from the creators of Spelunky – co-op puzzler BOKURA: planet for both Switch and Switch 2, management sim Tiny Bookshop, and the organisational puzzler Is This Seat Taken?
New Switch eShop releases
This collection features 18 versions across all 7 arcade titles in the series, including the first-ever appearance of Gradius III AM Show Version on home consoles.
A variety of helpful new features have been added to the games, including save states, a rewind feature, and Invincible Mode. The new Training Mode lets you adjust settings like restart points, loop counts, and power-up statuses to help hone your skills to perfection. There’s also a gallery feature that includes music from the game, a variety of images from each title, and much, much more!
Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 – £54.99
Play as Tanjiro and relive the Entertainment District Arc, the Swordsmith Village Arc, and the Hashira Training Arc from the TV anime, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba!
THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2: Remake – £22.49
Take on the lone role of a secret agent as James or Gary, or team up in co-op mode to neutralize the dangerous undead monsters standing in your way.
Various Game Modes:
Classic Campaign: Almost two years after the events of the first installment, AMS agents James Taylor and Gary Stewart are deployed to investigate a city seized by undead creatures.
Boss Mode: Take on the challenge of defeating the game’s bosses as fast as you can.
Training Mode: Polish your skills in several available training scenarios to improve your abilities before deploying on a mission.
Operation Night Strikers – £18.89
Four milestones of the 80s arcade movement in one action-packed compilation! Relieve all the high-speed arcade thrills and explosive spills!
Window seat or aisle? Booth or table? Lone wolf or life of the party? In Is This Seat Taken?, your mission is to organize groups of people according to their preferences. It’s a cozy, no-pressure logic puzzle game where you’re in charge of who sits where.
BOKURA: planet – £4.64 (Switch 2)
Players must communicate with each other to play this game. If you are not playing in the same location, you will need another communication method, such as voice chat. Before buying the game, please keep in mind that the game itself does not provide a separate communication method.
BOKURA: planet is a puzzle adventure game that must be played with two players, who communicate and work together to solve puzzles. It takes place in a different setting than BOKURA and has a whole new story, with different actions and gimmicks.
Explore a collection of 50 single and multiplayer games that span a variety of genres, from platformers and shoot ’em ups to puzzle games, roguelites, and RPGs! As you journey through the library, make connections and learn more about UFO Soft, the fictional 80s company behind the games, as well as their expansive shared universe that includes sequels and recurring characters.
Stock your Tiny Bookshop with different books and items, set up shop in scenic locations, and run your cosy second-hand bookshop while getting to know the locals.
Decorate your Tiny Bookshop with the items you collect. Are you into absolutely plastering it with plants? Maybe a spooky candle-lit atmosphere is more your style? Every item also has an effect on your customers and can introduce new mechanics.
Ritual of Raven is a cozy, story-based farming sim – but you don’t do the farming yourself! Instead you collect and enchant Arcana Constructs to grow your magical herb garden.
In a world where different traditions of magic live side by side, ambitious plans were made to open portals between worlds, but the ritual went terribly wrong. Those involved each lost something most precious to them and the portals became unstable, randomly spitting out new arrivals into the world.
Let your Construct extract and fuse lots of different crystals, fill the library and throw your fishing claw into the portals to pull out artifacts from different worlds!
You play as a lone warrior on a quest to cross a Wasteland riddled with scoundrels and creeps who you’ll have to go through – literally – in order to survive.
Run, crawl, jump, hang, and, for the very first time in a Metroidvania (don’t research this), bike your way through the world! Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the height of human-powered transport technology: the all-terrain Bike!
Your trusty BMX is one touch of a button away at any time. Move around the map faster, access new areas, launch it at enemies, and perform sick bike tricks to gain bonuses.
Hack and slash your enemies with the obligatory machete or shoot them with the Kid’s choc-full-of-mayhem Turbo Glove™. Turbo Blast, Electric Shocks, circular saws… use the array of weapons at your disposal to slash, rip apart, or explode enemies into hysterical and over-the-top splashes of gore!
Cozy Cooking: Tiny Tastes – £7.19
Handling a restaurant has never been easier. In Cozy Cooking: Tiny Tastes you can welcome customers and cook them the most delicious dishes they have ever tasted without breaking a sweat!
It’s high time you showed your culinary skills and prepared amazing meals for your guests who came to finally eat something tasty.
EGGCONSOLE Xak Precious Package: The Tower of Gazzel PC-8801mkIISR – £5.39
“Xak: The Tower of Gazzel,” released by MicroCabin in 1991 in Japan, is a top-view action RPG. As indicated by the lack of a numbered title, it is officially considered a side story. However, it still features Latok as the protagonist, along with familiar characters like Frey and Pixie, and is set one year after “II.” In that sense, playing the first game beforehand might enhance the experience.
As an heroic agent, you’ve been assigned to investigate the toxic sewers below the city, and to cleanse the environment of strange, dangerous chemicals.
Armed with only your wits and a flashlight, outmanoeuvre and outsmart grotesque mutated creatures lurking around every turn. As you progress deeper into the darkness, uncover the chilling truth behind the chemical spill and the horrifying experiments conducted in the shadows.
Beware, for the more you learn, the more sinister the truth becomes.
Standing in your way as you attempt to escape the apartment building is none other than “leftover food.”
By eating leftovers, your stomach level increases, allowing you to consume even larger portions.
Efficiently raising your stomach level is the key to escape.
Can you escape this harsh apartment building alone?
Forge your deck with Whimsical Monster Tiles and duel eclectic foes across realms! Dominate the board, shatter enemy tiles, unleash slick combos, and claim every inch to crush resistance. Welcome to Tileborne Realms!
This is a first-person horror comedy game set in a Japanese debugging company.
The player takes on the role of a part-time worker at a debugging company, tasked with testing a horror game brimming with terrifying elements.
When you encounter suspicious objects or systems that don’t seem to belong in a horror game, report them as bugs immediately!
CASE RECORDS: Fear of Abduction – £9.99
CASE RECORDS is a psychological horror game that is part of the universe of the games CASE: Animatronics and CASE 2: Animatronics Survival..
The player has to play as a 17 year old female student and solve missing person mysteries by volunteering at the police station of Crowvale, a suburb of Aurora.
Patrol and explore the dark corners of the city to solve its terrifying mysteries.
But the most important thing during your time volunteering is not to go missing yourself…
Step into the shoes of a brave ant in a unique sandbox-style adventure, where nature becomes your battlefield and rebuilding your colony is the ultimate goal. After a devastating enemy attack, the anthill lies in ruins—and you are its only hope for restoration.
Welcome to Cats on Duty, the purr-fectly hilarious and action-packed ultimate mix of real-time strategy, tower defense, and match-3 genres. It’s an addictive game where heavily armed battle-hardened cat veterans of rodent skirmishes and yarn tangles defend their homeland (and litter boxes) against the forces of great evil! Choose your heroes from a range of cat warriors and participate in combat against 50 types of devilish creatures. Unleash the power of fluffiness and drive those zombies back to the depths of the underworld!
Step into the green-skinned role of an extraterrestrial as he attempts to escape from a human lab! Alien Breakout is a side-scrolling precision platformer presented in retro pixel art style. Run, leap and wall jump through 100 puzzling stages of increased complexity as you try to reach the door at the far end of each level.
Grab a ray gun to blast enemy guards and ricochet shots into switches! Avoid spikes, spinning saws, fan blades and other traps. Wall slide using ooze pads to slow your descent and do whatever it takes to avoid being killed or recaptured!
JALECOlle Famicom Ver. Saiyuuki World II – The Demon God of Heaven – & WHOMP’EM – £7.19
Packed with many more enjoyable features and options!
– Now includes new achievements to challenge various in-game objectives.
– Explore the gallery page to view package designs, manuals, flyers and more from the original releases.
Fate/hollow ataraxia REMASTERED – £24.99
Set half a year after the end of the Fifth Holy Grail War, the classic visual novel Fate/hollow ataraxia comes remastered to Nintendo Switch™. Building on the 2014 release, this remaster features English and Simplified Chinese localizations for the first time, in addition to full HD visuals.
Choose your own adventure in colorful scenarios unfolding day and night in the city of Fuyuki as you delve into hidden truths behind the Holy Grail War. You will also unlock a collection of feature-packed minigames as you progress through the story.
Spend your days with familiar characters and explore the world of Fate, all while fighting to survive a new Holy Grail War.
Calling all freeriders, powder fanatics, and party-game lovers! Whether you’re chasing nostalgic snowboarding vibes or the thrill of epic races with friends, Slopecrashers has got you covered.
Jump into easy-to-play, exhilarating-to-master snowboarding mayhem with a chaotic cast of customizable animal riders. Inspired by arcade racing classics but powered by a next-gen physics engine, Slopecrashers takes racing, stunts, and combos to the extreme. Grab your board—or maybe a frying pan—and carve through 20 diverse tracks in snow, sand, or cyberpunk skylines!
Discover fresh fruits and vegetables on each island of the Gustum archipelago, learn their customs and cook meals that will make someone’s day.
Medieval storages weren’t always known for their proper organization, and this is about to change. While embracing the Medieval era, a challenge is always welcomed in the world of Pimp Up Dungeon. Arrange your weapons, potions and gold to fit everything and find their righteous space!
Dungeons can be dangerous so watch out for traps and other inconveniences. Don’t threaten, if you make a mistake, just try again!
Find the best recruits, discover powerful item combinations and come up with clever tactics on the battlefield. The tournament awaits those who desire MORTAL GLORY!
Toree Saturn is a speed-based 3D platformer featuring a round bird with sunglasses and a backpack!
Run through linear levels from point A to B with a double jumping bird while avoiding enemies, collecting stars (if desired), and getting all kinds of little speed boosts along the way.
Next week: Drag x Drive, Toaplan Arcade Collection Vol.1 & 2, EA SPORTS Madden NFL 26, Iwakura Aria, Bendy: Lone Wolf, Faye Falling, Kimono Cats, and Mind Over Magnet.