Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 6th, 2024. Well, this is the last one. You’ll see one more special from me next week with a few reviews that have specific embargo dates, but this is the final regular SwitchArcade Round-Up for TouchArcade by yours truly. We’ve been at this for several years and I wish I could have seen the Switch through to its end with these articles, but circumstances dictate another course. We’re going out with another chunky one, with a pair of reviews from our pal Mikhail, a pair of Shaun reviews, a handful of new release summaries, and the usual lists of new and expiring sales. Let’s ride one last time!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU ($49.99)

After Imagineer’s success with the Fitness Boxing games that led to the hilarious but good Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star, I didn’t know what IP the team would work with for a new fitness game. When Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU was announced, I thought it was a smart collaboration, but was curious to see how the game felt after Fist of the North Star. I’ve been playing it over the last few weeks alongside Ring Fit Adventure and I’m impressed with Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU in many ways.

If you’re new to the Fitness Boxing series, these games, as the name suggests, use boxing and rhythm game movements to get you into shape through daily exercises, mini-games that also get you sweating, and more. With Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU, everyone’s favorite vocaloid gets in on the action and there’s even a separate dedicated mode for her songs in addition to the normal songs included in this release. Keep in mind that this is a Joy-Con only game so you can’t play it with a Pro Controller or any third party accessories as far as I’m aware.

As with other games in the series, there are difficulty options, a free training mode to do as you please, warmups, and tracking with reminders and the systemwide alarm that can remind you even if your Switch is in sleep mode. There are cosmetics you can unlock through the points you earn by playing as well. I can’t comment on the DLC yet, but as for the base release, I liked Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU more than Fist of the North Star aside from one issue.

The audio in Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU is great, but the main instructor’s voice isn’t great. I ended up turning this voice down because it felt out of place with the rest of the game, and just sounded a bit weirdly directed.

Just like the Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star release from Imagineer, Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU is a solid fitness-focused game that does a great job of bringing Miku to the world of Fitness Boxing to try and appeal to her fans. While it is a competent fitness game with its daily workout, customization, and tracking, I feel like it would be better as a complement to something like Ring Fit Adventure or your own other exercise routine rather than being the sole exercise you do during the week. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Magical Delicacy ($24.99)

Magical Delicacy from sKaule and Whitethorn Games is one I hadn’t paid much attention to until a friend of mine linked me to an Xbox Game Pass announcement for it. Since then, I’ve played it on Switch as well, but feel like it needs a bit more time in the oven. I adore Metroidvania-style platformers and cooking games, but it feels like Magical Delicacy takes the good bits of both genres while not putting them together in the best way possible. This results in a game I adore in parts, but one where the flaws hurt a bit more.

You play as Flora who is a young witch in a story that’s equal parts mysterious, magical, and wholesome. Your aim is to cook meals and craft for various folks, and I was surprised at how well the exploration was implemented aside from the backtracking that annoyed me sometimes. I expected it to be lacking compared to the cooking and crafting, but the team nailed the Metroidvania elements. There are some issues with ingredients in the crafting and in how inventory is managed. This is made a bit worse by the UI that I took a while to get used to with interaction.

Magical Delicacy makes a great first impression with its gorgeous pixel art visuals, lovely music, and tons of settings. The latter includes UI scale and text options that are both very useful when playing on Switch in handheld mode. I feel like Magical Delicacy would have benefited a lot from an early access release or will from potential updates.

When it comes to the Switch version, it plays very well aside from some seemingly frame pacing-related hiccups. It has good rumble as well. Having played it on Xbox Series X, this is definitely a game I’d play more on a portable so a Switch or Steam Deck version would be best. I just play the genre more on handhelds.

Magical Delicacy is a game I should’ve loved given it is basically a blend of a Metroidvania and a crooking/crafting game, but it feels a little undercooked (I couldn’t resist) in parts thanks to some inventory and backtracking issues. While it is a very good game right now that feels at home on Switch, a few quality of life updates and polishing will make it an essential. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Aero The Acro-Bat 2 ($5.99)

A lot of companies tried their hand at the whole mascot platformer thing in the 16-bit era in the wake of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s explosive success. Like, the sheer number of them is just baffling. Even more than I remembered. Not many of them managed to see sequels, but Aero The Acro-Bat is part of that elite few. How each member of that club got there is its own story, but in Aero’s case it seems to have been a combination of the first game going over well enough, and sheer force of will to try and make fetch happen. Sadly, fetch did not happen. Aero spin-off Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel launched several months after Aero 2, but outside of that Aero was never seen in another original title again.

Does that make Aero The Acro-Bat 2 a bad game? I don’t think so. It doesn’t seem like it was a big enough success to merit another follow-up, at the very least. But then again, Sunsoft’s parent company had recently lost a ton of money on a bad investment involving golf courses, and that certainly put it in a fiscally conservative mood for a while. Either way, I don’t think the fault can be placed on the quality of the game. It’s as good as the first game was, with all that implies. A more polished experience that in shedding some of those rough edges loses some of its character, but a decent enough platforming romp.

I was fully expecting this release to be in Ratalaika’s usual emulation wrapper, but much to my surprise there’s been an upgrade in the presentation. This feels a lot more tailor-made for the game, and in terms of both options and extras I think this is a far better experience overall. Box and manual scans, achievements, a gallery of sprite sheets, a jukebox, a bunch of cheats, and more. I frankly have no complaints at all about how the game plays and the suite of features here. The only nit I will pick is that you only get the Super NES version of the game here. I feel like the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version should have been included too, just to keep everyone happy.

Those who enjoyed Aero The Acro-Bat should naturally give Aero The Acro-Bat 2 a shot. I even think those who were slightly put off by the first game’s quirks might have a better time here. I really have to commend Ratalaika for stepping up its game with the emulation wrapper for this release. Perhaps I’m being greedy, but I’d love to see the first game updated with a similar interface just for consistency. A fine release for Aero fans and those on the look out for 16-bit platformers to play, and one that makes me optimistic for the remaining reissues of this series.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Metro Quester | Osaka ($19.99)

I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of the original Metro Quester when it released a while back. It’s a bit of a bear to get into, but once you understand its rules and what you have to do, it’s an immensely satisfying dungeon-crawling turn-based RPG. Experimenting with party builds to try to find the optimal team was a task I truly enjoyed taking on. With that in mind, I was very happy to see that there was another game in the series coming. Metro Quester | Osaka feels a little more like an expansion pack than a proper sequel, but I’m more than happy with that given how much I got out of the original.

The story here is a prequel to the original game, and we’ve moved to Osaka as a setting. You get a whole new dungeon to explore, and some new character types to do that exploring with. Osaka is a much wetter location, so you’ll need to use your canoe to travel over the water in places. With the new dungeon comes new weapons, skills, and enemies to deal with. Definitely more to chew on here for those who have wrung out the original game, and if you had a good time there then you will enjoy this one, too.

That said, this game shares much of its broader mechanics with the original Metro Quester. If you need an explanation, please check out my review of that game for more details. Short version: turn-based combat, top-down dungeon exploration, and a whole lot of inching your way outward a little further each time before having to head back to camp. You know, the good stuff. Those who are careless will find themselves in hot water very quickly, as planning and cautious play is practically a necessity in this game.

Those who found themselves fully absorbed in Metro Quester will find plenty to enjoy in Metro Quester | Osaka, and new players should probably just skip right to this game. It’s more of an expansion pack than a sequel, but that in no way should be taken as a bad thing. Rather, it just seems like the designer wanted to send players on another adventure that pushes out the existing systems in some fascinating ways. It’s certainly a game you’ll have to be patient with to get the most out of, but those willing to invest the time will enjoy the dividends.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

NBA 2K25 ($59.99)

NBA 2K is back… in 25 form! You know, I find myself wondering something. What happens to the name of this series when we hit the year 2100? NBA 2K100? Just feels weird. We’ll have to talk about that when the situation arises, I suppose. Apparently this year’s version has improved gameplay, a new feature called Neighborhood, and some nonsense about MyTEAM. I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on here, so instead I will just toss out the amount of space you’ll need on your memory card for this game and then move on. Here we go. 53.3 GB!

Shogun Showdown ($14.99)

Got room in your heart for another riff on Darkest Dungeon? This one has a Japanese-inspired setting, and there are a few bits in here that change things up a little. Setting all of that aside, this is very much a familiar style of game and I think it’s a decent enough example of such to be of interest to those on the hunt for another one.

Aero The Acro-Bat 2 ($5.99)

Well, there’s a review up above this section, but in case you’re in the habit of skipping down the page, let me fill you in. This is the somewhat more polished sequel to the successful Aero The Acro-Bat, all done up in Ratalaika’s emulator wrapper. Said wrapper was given additional effort for this release, and it looks good! The version of the game included is the Super NES one, and you can play the North American release or the Japanese one. I wish the Genesis/Mega Drive version was in here, but I can’t imagine Aero fans being unhappy with this overall outside of that.

Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection ($9.99)

Sunsoft is back! Okay, Sunsoft has been back for a while now, and you probably don’t need a trio of heretofore non-localized Famicom games to sell you on that. So instead let the games sell you on themselves, as you get a trio of unique and varied titles in this bunch. A side-scrolling action platformer, an adventure game, and an action-RPG of sorts. I reviewed this set a couple of days ago, so I advise checking that out if you need more details. Short version: if you like weird old games, this is a good pick-up.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some fun stuff in the inbox today, including a really good price on the Cosmic Fantasy Collection. A little dear at its normal price, but at 40% off I think it is worth considering for retro RPG fans. I’ll also call out the enjoyable platformer Tinykin, which is at its lowest price yet. Have a good look through those lists and see what catches your eye.

Select New Sales

Zombie Army Trilogy ($8.74 from $34.99 until 9/12)
Zombie Army 4: Dead War ($14.99 from $49.99 until 9/12)
Wild Seas ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/12)
Chants of Sennaar ($14.99 from $19.99 until 9/13)
The House of Da Vinci 3 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/13)
Warhammer 40k: Boltgun ($15.39 from $21.99 until 9/13)
Toziuha Night: Dracula’s Revenge ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/16)
Monkey Barrels ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/19)
Banchou Tactics ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/19)
Transiruby ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/19)
Picontier ($19.99 from $24.99 until 9/19)
Kamiko ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/19)
Fairune Collection ($3.99 from $9.99 until 9/19)
Alchemic Dungeons DX ($3.19 from $7.99 until 9/19)
Ninja Smasher! ($6.39 from $7.99 until 9/19)
Ninja Striker! ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/19)

Great Ambition of the Slimes ($9.59 from $11.99 until 9/19)
Shinobi Non Grata ($11.99 from $14.99 until 9/19)
Let’s Build a Zoo ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/20)
Owlboy ($8.74 from $24.99 until 9/20)
Hakuoki: Wind & Blossom ($44.99 from $49.99 until 9/20)
Omen of Sorrow ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/20)
Dungeonoid 2 Awakening ($4.49 from $8.99 until 9/20)
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt CE ($23.99 from $59.99 until 9/22)
Knights of Grayfang ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Gale of Windoria ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Justice Chronicles ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Armed Emeth ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Jinshin ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Alphadia Genesis ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Grace of Letoile ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/26)

Tinykin ($6.24 from $24.99 until 9/26)
Despot’s Game ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Cosmic Fantasy Collection ($29.99 from $49.99 until 9/26)
Cosmic Fantasy ($15.90 from $26.50 until 9/26)
Cosmic Fantasy 2 ($15.90 from $26.50 until 9/26)
Spirittea ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Railway Empire 2 ($37.49 from $49.99 until 9/26)
Lil’ Guardsman ($11.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Potion Craft Alchemist Simulator ($11.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Euphoria ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Of The Red, the Light, & Ayakashi ($25.06 from $50.13 until 9/26)
Modern Combat Blackout ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/26)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Arrest of a Stone Buddha ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Fading Afternoon ($16.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Astor: Blade of the Monolith ($14.99 from $24.99 until 9/26)
Tamarak Trail ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/26)
Rigid Force Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)
Yaga ($6.24 from $24.99 until 9/26)
Rabi-Ribi ($13.99 from $19.99 until 9/26)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Dead in Vinland: True Viking ($2.79 from $27.99 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)
Meganoid ($5.39 from $8.99 until 9/7)
NOISZ re:||COLLECTION G ($19.99 from $24.99 until 9/7)
Phoenotopia: Awakening ($6.99 from $19.99 until 9/7)
Space Grunts ($8.39 from $13.99 until 9/7)
Stardash ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Superhot ($9.99 from $24.99 until 9/7)
Dormitory Love ($24.49 from $34.99 until 9/8)
Dying Light: Definitive Edition ($9.99 from $49.99 until 9/8)
Fur Squadron ($2.79 from $6.99 until 9/8)
Tchia: Oleti Edition ($23.44 from $34.99 until 9/8)

That’s all for today, this week, this month, this year, and forever, friends. I haven’t been very loud about this, but this is not only the end of the SwitchArcade Round-Up, but also of my eleven and a half years at TouchArcade. I’ll still be writing here and there at my blog at Post Game Content as well as putting up exclusive articles on my Patreon, but other than that I think I’m hanging up the ol’ webs on this specific kind of work. Twenty-six years in this end of the business is a good run, and I’m ready for new challenges. Do look for me at one of the aforementioned places, hit me up on BlueSky and say hi, and if you’re a fancy executive looking to hire a very seasoned writer, I’m your guy.

With that said, I will extend the highest possible gratitude to all of TouchArcade’s readers for being with me on this leg of my life’s journey. I treasure all of you more than you can know. I wish you all the sincerest happiness in your lives, and forever and always – thanks for reading.

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 5th, 2024. Thursday already, eh? Where does the time go? We’re going in hard on the reviews again today. I have two for you, covering Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. Our pal Mikhail chimes in today too, with his looks at Nour: Play With Your Food, Fate/stay night REMASTERED, and TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK. We then move into the finest new releases of the day, then sweep up with the lists of new and expiring sales. Ah, Thursday. I shall miss you when it is Friday. Let’s go!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club ($49.99)

It seems like the latest trend is making sequels to decades-dormant franchises. Video games, always trying to be like Hollywood. Nintendo has rather unpredictably decided to resurrect Famicom Detective Club, a series mainly known in the West through the “blink and you’ll miss it” remake of the first two games that came out on Switch a couple of years back. I feel like there may be a connection here. At any rate, for the first time this millennium we have a brand new Famicom Detective Club adventure! That’s nifty.

The challenge with bringing back an old brand is in deciding how faithful to the original the new game should be. The risk of being too faithful is that the game could be seen as old-fashioned or out of date, but change too much and there’s a chance fans could be completely turned off. Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club leans more toward maintaining the style of the recent remakes, themselves hewing quite closely to the originals. It’s an odd blend, to be sure. The visuals are as good as anything you would see in similar games from modern times, and the story certainly pushes a little further than what the Nintendo of the 90s would have done even in Japan. But the gameplay feels very old-school, and I think that is a determining factor in whether or not you enjoy this game.

A student is found dead with a paper bag over his head that has a smiling face on it. This digs up some old unsolved murders from eighteen years ago that featured a similar calling card, which raises all manner of questions. Then there is the urban legend about Emio, a killer who promises to give his victims an eternal smile. Has a previous killer resurfaced after all this time? Is it a copycat? Is there really any such thing as Emio? The cops are stumped, so it’s time to call in the Utsugi Detective Agency! Using the powers of going around to places and badgering people, you’ll do what the law enforcement was powerless to: find the truth!

Basically, you’re searching around every scene for clues, talking to all of the people you meet (sometimes you need to press the issue and ask multiple times to get what you want), and trying to find the connections you’ll need to solve the case. Think of the sections of Ace Attorney outside of court and you’re not too far off the mark. Depending on how well you take to this kind of gameplay, you mind find parts of the game to be annoying or a slog. There are certainly bits I feel could have been handled more smoothly, and it feels like specific chains of logic needed just a little more signposting. Well, this is a Cat Hair Mustache genre, and I suppose by that standards Emio isn’t doing anything particularly egregious.

And you know what? That’s where I’m going to leave it. I have some criticisms of the story, but I enjoyed it on the whole. It was engaging, twisty, and well-written. Some of the plot beats didn’t hit me the way it seems they hit others, but I can’t really talk about that in detail without ruining the story. And I really don’t want to do that, because this is a tale that is best experienced fresh. I liked more than I didn’t, and when it picks up it really picks up.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is not the sort of thing we typically see from Nintendo, but if there was any rust on the team it assuredly doesn’t show. It’s perhaps a little too adherent to the original games in its mechanics, and while the plot is mostly excellent there are some times where the pace falls off or things resolve in ways I didn’t find as satisfying as I would have ideally hoped for. Still, these are minor complaints for what is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable mystery adventure. Welcome back, Detective Club. Don’t stay away so long this time.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate ($29.99)

We’re starting to get a nice little set of TMNT games on the Switch, aren’t we? You can enjoy the Konami classics in the Cowabunga Collection, get an incredible modern take on the arcade beat ’em up formula with Shredder’s Revenge, bring the modern arcade home in Wrath of the Mutants, and now satisfy your urge for something with a little more home console flavoring in Splintered Fate. There are a couple more on the way, too. We’re swimming in Turtles! With Turtles? Turtles, they’re everywhere. So how is this one?

Not too shabby, actually. I mean, if you’ve played this on Apple Arcade then you know the deal, and if you’re reading this site then the odds are somewhat decent you have. But just in case, let’s go over the broad pitch. Basically, imagine taking a TMNT-style beat ’em up and blending it with Hades. Alright, that pretty much does it. You can go it alone in the usual roguelite style, or play with up to four players via local or online multiplayer. Mikhail and I did the online multiplayer thing together and it worked rather well, so that’s a good way to go. The game is fine when you’re on your own, but adding more people predictably improves the experience. That’s TMNT for you.

Anyway, some kind of shenanigans occur with Shredder and a mysterious power. Splinter is in trouble, and the Turtles have to try to figure out how to save him. When all you have is a katana, every problem looks like a Foot Soldier. Slice, dice, and/or bludgeon whatever enemies come in front of you, dash tactically to avoid attacks, pick up some perks that you can enjoy in your current run, and collect another currency to score some permanent upgrades. If you die, it’s back to the lair to try again. Roguelite beat ’em up. But with the Turtles, so it’s automatically better than it would be without them. It isn’t particularly inspired, but it does its job well enough.

I wouldn’t call Splintered Fate a must-have in general, but TMNT fans will probably enjoy this twist on the usual fare. The multiplayer is well-implemented, and it’s good to see that important TMNT element wasn’t passed over despite this being the kind of game that is usually played solo. Those without an affinity for the Turtles can find better roguelite games to play on the Switch, but with this being such an intensely competitive genre on the platform it’s to the credit of Splintered Fate that it can manage to keep pace at all. Not bad.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Nour: Play With Your Food ($9.99)

When Nour: Play With Your Food originally released on PC and PS5, I was a bit surprised to see it not also released on Switch and mobile. It felt like a perfect fit for touchscreens as an experimental food art experience. I played it on PC and liked it quite a bit, but this isn’t a traditional game for everyone. If you enjoy playful sandbox-like experiences and love food, you will likely find a lot to love in Nour: Play With Your Food, but the Switch version is a bit lacking.

If you’re new to Nour: Play With Your Food, it has you playing with specific food types across different stages with interesting music and a lot of over the top nonsense (compliment). It feels like a combination of an interactive app made for those who love food and art equally. Initially, you only get access to the basics, but I found myself surprised at how much the developers added to let you literally play with your food as the name suggests. This is when I realized why it might not be as easy to play on a touchscreen.

I am disappointed in the lack of touchscreen support on Switch though. Aside from that, Nour: Play With Your Food was a bit of a heavy game on Steam Deck as well, and you can see the cutbacks on Switch to have it run decently. The biggest issue is the load times being long both docked and handheld on Switch.

Nour: Play With Your Food is worth experiencing if you love food, art, and interactive apps. While the Switch version isn’t the best way to experience it, Nour still feels best on a portable, and I hope it does well enough to get more DLC or even a physical release. We don’t see many releases like this in gaming, but games like Nour and Townscaper are the perfect compliment to more-involved RPGs and story-driven games. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Fate/stay night REMASTERED ($29.99)

Fate/stay night REMASTERED launched about a month ago on Nintendo Switch and Steam worldwide. I was hoping to have it covered sooner, but the month has been really busy and Fate/stay night itself is very long. Before covering the game itself, I want to take you on a bit of a journey. Many years ago, a close friend convinced me to watch Fate/Zero as one of the first few anime I watched from start to finish. Back then, I wanted to experience more from the universe, but there wasn’t really something interesting I could officially play in English. I ended up importing the PS Vita version of Fate/stay night Realta Nua just to own it, and since then have basically been playing whatever Fate-related release or Type Moon property we see in the West. This includes Fate/EXTELLA, Fate/Samurai Remnant, watching Fate/stay night, and even trying out Fate/Grand Order for a bit.

All of that led to me being very glad that Aniplex brought over Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime‘s remake recently, but there was the one game I was hoping we’d see released in English somehow. I didn’t bother with fan translations, and kept hoping we’d see Fate/stay night in English. Here we are. It still feels unreal that this is in English and on Switch. But is it worth your time and money? Well I can save you some time and say absolutely on both fronts with a few caveats.

Fate/stay night REMASTERED is a remaster of the 2004-released Type Moon visual novel covering the story of Emiya Shirou, the Holy Grail war, and more. This is basically the best entry point into the Fate universe, and I know there are many who have only experienced it through anime and other games so far, so this is now a chance to see the origin of the series as it was meant to be. Fate/stay night REMASTERED even with its few quality of life features is still a 55+ hour experience at least, and that makes the low asking price shocking. I get that this is a remaster of an older game, but the volume of text and work done really makes it one of the best value releases on the eShop this year.

If you already played the original versions of Fate/stay night in Japanese, Fate/stay night REMASTERED does a lot to improve the experience. Obviously it adds English, but the 16:9 support is welcome. It also feels like a lot more work went into this than I initially expected. I’ve been playing a bit of the PS Vita release to compare, and the developers of this remaster have done a great job at making Fate/stay night look good on modern displays, but don’t expect the gorgeousness of Tsukihime‘s recent remake.

While I love Fate/stay night itself, I’m glad that the developers actually put in touchscreen support on Nintendo Switch. I played most of Fate/stay night REMASTERED on my Switch Lite (which is sadly busted now) and then synced it to my Switch OLED to play at home and also docked. It feels perfect on Nintendo’s hybrid system. Hopefully it gets more platform releases in the future like iOS and PS5 so more can experience it.

Speaking of more platforms, I also played a good amount of Fate/stay night REMASTERED on Steam Deck. It works perfectly out of the box. If you were wondering where to play Fate/stay night REMASTERED assuming you owned a Steam Deck or Switch, get it wherever you want but make sure you play it. It is that good.

There’s nothing really holding Fate/stay night REMASTERED back right now aside from no physical release on Switch, and I hope it does well enough to get one in the future to go on my shelf with Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime.

Fate/stay night REMASTERED is basically an essential for visual novel fans and I still can’t believe it is not only available in English, but also on both Switch and Steam. The low asking price makes it an even easier recommendation. While it may not look as good as Tsukihime‘s recent remake, Fate/stay night REMASTERED is still worth your time, and I’m glad I finally got to play it in English after all these years of owning the Japanese PS Vita release. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 5/5

TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK ($49.99)

As someone who didn’t bother with VR outside of borrowing a PS VR headset on PS4 Pro years ago, I know I’ve ended up missing out on some great games. When looking at what my friends who own current VR headsets talk about, in addition to games like Thumper or Beat Saber, I used to see rumblings of TOKYO CHRONOS and ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos mentioned. Both were praised for their stories and also for being full experiences in VR. I never got to experience the stories until TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK hit Switch through Izanagi Games just over a month ago.

When you first boot up TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK on Switch, you get to choose which game you want to play. The first game has you experiencing the story of high school friends in an alternate version of Shibuya, lost memories, killers, and more. If you’ve played many visual novels or adventure games, the narrative here will feel very predictable in parts, but it isn’t bad. It has good visuals and I feel like trying it out in VR after seeing how it feels on Switch just for the novelty of a full visual novel in VR.

ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos on the other hand is a lot better with its production, music, writing, voice acting, and characters in general. It also goes beyond being a pure visual novel in parts, and I love when developers do this. Punching above your weight in a visual novel usually makes for a more memorable experience when coupled with important story beats. ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos is the standout of the two, but I think the pack is definitely worth buying if you’re ok with the controls and movement in the demo.

Aside from some aspects of the stories not hitting as hard, the Switch version has some performance issues when it comes to camera movement. These aren’t a dealbreaker, but it is distracting having that happen during first person and other encounters. The rest of the Switch features more than make up for it though with touchscreen support (my favorite feature in adventure games) and good rumble.

TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK is a great experience on Nintendo Switch with its touch controls and rumble support added to make it even more immersive. I’m glad I got to finally experience these stories since I never owned a VR headset, and I hope to see more from this team in the future. If you enjoy sci-fi stories, I urge you to download the demo at least to see how this one feels on Switch. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Select New Releases

Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku ($49.99)

This might be the winner for the title that does the most clear and concise work in explaining a game’s content. At least for 2024, anyway. So yes, this is Fitness Boxing. Featuring Hatsune Miku. It has 24 songs from Miku and friends, plus 30 more from the Fitness Boxing series. Plenty of tunes to punch it out to, in other words. Mechanically, it looks like the other games in the series. No surprise there. Pick it up if you want a Fitness Boxing game featuring Hatsune Miku.

Gimmick! 2 ($24.99)

I reviewed this yesterday, but in case you missed that, allow me to bring you up to speed. This is a very faithful follow-up to the original cult favorite, building on its foundations a bit, bringing in a slick new presentation, and still as hard as that piece of a Subway pizza sub you lost under the sofa back in the 90s. If you don’t mind a challenge and enjoy clever platformers, you’ll want to check this one out.

Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost ($29.99)

Are you tired of switching between games based on whether you feel like playing a rhythm game or a bullet hell shoot ’em up? Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost is here to save you from the inconvenience! There are two modes in this game, and it kind of feels like peanut butter and chalk in some sense. But the Touhou theme ties them together, and for fans of the property I’m sure it will pass muster. At least you know the music will be good?

EGGCONSOLE Hydlide MSX ($6.49)

We’ve already seen one version of Hydlide release in EGGCONSOLE, but here’s another one for good measure. It came after the one we have, but before the NES one. It falls somewhere in between them as a result, and I suppose if you are a Hydlide super-fan then you’ll want to grab as many versions as they release. For everyone else, I’m not sure how much more you’ll get out of this MSX version if you already played the PC-8801 release.

Arcade Archives Lead Angle ($7.99)

Well, at least Hamster’s mixing it up a little. This is a 1988 Seibu Kaihatsu release, a follow-up to Empire City 1931. It’s one of those gallery shooters that were all the rage at the time, though I can say with some confidence that Lead Angle was not all the rage at the time. It’s a decent enough example of the genre though, so if you enjoy this sort of game you probably shouldn’t be too quick to push the plate away. Shooting gangsters! You don’t see that kind of theme all that often anymore either, come to think of it.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Not much excitement going on today, but No Man’s Sky is never a bad choice. The rest of the good games in the inbox are frequently on sale, so do what you will with them. Oddly, one could say the same about the outbox. I’ll leave all of that business to you today, as I don’t have any strong feelings on the matter.

Select New Sales

No Man’s Sky ($23.99 from $59.99 until 9/17)
The Last Campfire ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/17)
XALADIA: Rise of the Space Pirates X2 ($8.09 from $17.99 until 9/18)
Scars of Mars ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/18)
Die for Valhalla ($3.59 from $11.99 until 9/25)
Moonlighter ($3.74 from $24.99 until 9/25)
Thea: The Awakening ($5.39 from $17.99 until 9/25)
Children of Morta ($5.49 from $21.99 until 9/25)
Dungeon of the Endless ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Yes, Your Grace ($2.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Hypnospace Outlaw ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Nowhere Prophet ($2.49 from $24.99 until 9/25)
Soccer Story ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Family Man ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
South of the Circle ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/25)
Wingspan ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, September 6th

Ambition: A Minuet in Power ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/6)
Dance of Death: Du Lac & Fey ($2.39 from $15.99 until 9/6)
Fear Effect Sedna ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/6)
Galak-Z The Void Deluxe ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/6)
Kingdom Rush ($5.49 from $9.99 until 9/6)
Kingdom Rush Frontiers ($5.49 from $9.99 until 9/6)
Kingdom Rush Origins ($8.24 from $14.99 until 9/6)
My Time at Portia ($4.49 from $29.99 until 9/6)
PowerWash Simulator ($17.49 from $24.99 until 9/6)
Skulls of the Shogun ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/6)
Suhoshin ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/6)
The House of Da Vinci 2 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/6)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/6)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger HD ($10.49 from $29.99 until 9/6)
Violet Wisteria ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/6)
What the Fork ($4.49 from $17.99 until 9/6)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow to finish things up, with more reviews, new releases, and sales to look at. Hey, did you know? I have an at-the-moment dormant blog that is going to get active again soon. You can find it at Post Game Content. If you like reading Shaun’s thoughts on games, you’ll certainly find some there. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!