Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

We’ve got another awesome podcast in the books again this week, kicking off with followup on the conclusion (or so we hope?) on the Fortnite (Free) crossplay drama, some chat about CarPlay, and the other news of the week which includes a load of different games that got substantial updates. As far as games are concerned, we get pretty deep into talking about Dragalia Lost (Free) , Bacon the Game (Free) , and Hooky Crook (Free) . Don’t forget to shoot us emails with any questions, feedback, or anything else relevant or irrelevant to podcast@toucharcade.com . We read ’em all, and love decoding messages written entirely in emoji. As always, you can listen to us with the links below… And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and/or drop us a review in iTunes. Much appreciated! As a companion to this audio podcast, we also do a video version of the same show that is exclusive to Patreon which allows you to see us playing the games we’re talking about. Backers can view the mos...

The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one . These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why . Without further ado… Monster Hunter Stories Jeez, what a week for premium ports and big-name game releases, am I right? Amongst ...

Welcome to your SwitchArcade Roundup for September 28th, 2018. It’s your splatter in spirit Phil with a final roundup to end the week that features news, new releases, and a heck of a lot of discounts. Before we get into all of that, let’s delve into our Game of the Day! Game of the Day Splatoon 2 ($59.99) Since we have some Splatoon 2 -related news later on today, let’s take some time to give Nintendo’s ink-splosive game its much deserved title of Game of the Day to cap off the week! Splatoon 2 has been updated for more than a year now with both major and modest improvements in all of its functionality, balance, and modes–from a massive single-player update with the Octo Expansion , to the addition of a multitude of fresh maps, weapons, and gear. The core gameplay remains as clever and as enjoyable as ever, having players mark up walls and floors with their team’s own colored ink as not just a way to take control of as much of the map as possible (for the main mode of Splatoon...

With Y’bneth arriving on mobile last week, the final week of September has been all about Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition . The Nintendo Switch is still a platform we actively cover here at TouchArcade, so expect this week’s Arena of Valor roundup to focus on the good, bad, and the ugly sides of the newly released Nintendo Switch MOBA title. But not necessarily in that order! Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition Launches Arena of Valor Nintendo Switch Edition finally launched this week, on Tuesday to be exact, after just over a year since the game’s initial reveal. We can’t exactly pull up download numbers just yet, but through comments made to various official posts, announcements, and message boards, we’re expecting it to get off to a pretty good start on Nintendo’s hybrid console. With around 37-39 heroes to choose from on day one, there’s still a copious amount of other heroes yet to make it into the game. Whether or not we’ll see Tencent release a hero every other w...

Multi-ball brick breakers aren’t a new concept, but it wasn’t really until Ketchapp’s Ballz hit the top of the App Store charts in the spring of last year that the genre really exploded on the App Store. It’s not hard to see why. Whereas a traditional brick breaker like Breakout tested your reflexes, the multi-ball approach added a neat layer of strategy to the mix, and also made way for super satisfying combo possibilities. Now Crossy Road developer Hipster Whale is partnering up with Mighty Games once again to bring a new multi-ball brick breaker into the fold called Piffle . As we’ve come to expect from these developers, Piffle is charming as all heck as you can see in the following trailer. If the name Mighty Games sounds familiar to you, you might recall that this is not their first foray into the world of multi-ball brick breakers. Last year they released Charming Runes which was a brick breaker spinoff of their popular idle game Charming Keep , so they definitely have so...

Hello everyone! I’m RidiculousHat from the Coin Concede podcast and I’m here to give you this week’s Hearthstone Roundup. So what happened this week? Well, the community is still processing the “In The Works" article (as discussed last week) and it has led to quite a bit of feedback to the developers about the state of the game. There hasn’t been a lot of other news to speak of, so we’re going to take this time to connect you with some content creators in the space that have written, spoken, or recorded thoughts. It’s worth noting that in many cases this content seeks to provide constructive criticism to the current design team in charge of HS, so please enter with an open mind. Short-Form Video The State Of Hearthstone w/Zalae Long-Form Video Value Town #185 (Also available as a podcast) Omni/Slash ep. 64 Articles TheTavernBlawg – Very Much Still in the Works Podcasts The Angry Chicken #281 – “Dead on Arrival" Coin Concede #154 – “The Works" There are man...

If you’re the type who likes to stand your ground and fight off incoming threats, you’ll likely enjoy Pixel Envision’s latest project called Hordes of Enemies . The game has you taking on, yes, hordes of enemies as they approach from both sides of the screen and you’ll need to use your quick reflexes to fend them off from the left and the right. There have been a lot of games using this sort of setup, and I don’t know if it officially has a genre name already, but I’m going to call them “stationary brawlers." That has a nice ring to it I think. Check out the lovely visuals and gameplay of Hordes of Enemies in this trailer. What’s cool about Hordes of Enemies is it comes with three different themes. You can be a samurai fighting off a bunch of ninjas with your sword, a bad ass lady fighting off zombies during a zombie apocalypse, or a totally not Neo from The Matrix fighting off totally not a bunch of Agent Smiths. Actually Pixel Envision admits the entire game was inspired fr...

Camp managers, get your green thumbs ready, as Jack has appeared for a special Halloween gardening event in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Free) . It’s the perfect timing, as the Splatoon events just ended. Part one is on now, with part two coming early next month. There’s also been special spooky terrain added to add some extra creepiness to your camp while you decorate for the holiday. Jack with the jack-o’-lantern head has travelled to your campsite in search of special bats that can only be found via lollipoppy flowers. This first part of the event features apple and peach lollipoppy seeds and flowers, which attract spooky and eerie bats. Collecting bats will earn you clothing and furniture rewards, as will trading certain lollipoppy flowers with Lloyd. Trick-or-treating is an integral part of Halloween, and the one piece of clothing available during this event is made for it: the trick-or-treat dress. With a black and orange striped skirt and purple with orange flowered bodice...

Tree Men Games made my day when they brought their chaotically fun getaway simulator PAKO 2 ($1.99) to iOS earlier this year, and then just last week they made my day again by going back to the original PAKO – Car Chase Simulator and giving it a refresh with a new update that added in iPhone X support. And those guys are apparently not done making my day as this week they’ve bounced back to the sequel with a new update for PAKO 2 that adds in a whole new environment called Suburbia, three new cars, and a cool new chase camera view option. Check it all out in this slick new trailer. You might remember a few years back when the original PAKO received an update with that chase cam option, and like in that game the new view in PAKO 2 almost makes it feel like a completely different game. I can’t say enough good things about PAKO 2 , it’s just like a concentrated dose of fun every time I fire it up. That was true of the initial version that released back in January, when we picked...

We’ve had our eye on Hamsterdam from Muse Games since we first saw it during the summer of last year, and we really enjoyed their approach to creating a beat ’em up game with truly native touchscreen controls rather than just a bunch of virtual buttons. After that initial announcement though, Muse had to step away from Hamsterdam for a bit to work on other projects before refocusing their attention on it this past August when they launched a Kickstarter campaign and announced that the game would be heading to multiple platforms. Well they blew by their initial Kickstarter goal and as of this writing with just under two days remaining they’re about to actually double that initial goal . Good job! That also means development has been moving forward at a good clip and today Muse has unveiled a full 3-minute video showcasing the many types of gameplay in Hamsterdam , check it out. So as you can see, the meat and potatoes of Hamsterdam is its combat that sees you taking on a bunch ...

Some of my fondest mobile gaming memories are centered around Rocketcat’s Hook Champ . And its sequels Super Quickhook and Hook Worlds , but mostly Hook Champ . Essentially a speedrunning platformer where you used a grappling hook to get around, Hook Champ just felt fantastic when you were swinging through levels like a pro. I really haven’t come across any games since that have captured that same fantastic swinging gameplay, but I’m always on the lookout. Today a new game came to my attention called Hooky Crook and, while I’m not ready to say it’s quite up there with my beloved Hook Champ , it certainly scratches a similar itch and features some really great hooking mechanics. First off, Hooky Crook has you playing a cat burglar who is literally a cat. That earns it some points right there. It’s actually a level based game where you goal is to swing your kitty crook to a big shiny jewel at the end of each level, because burglars love stealing giant jewels, but should you fall on ...

We’re unbelievably stoked for Super Cat Tales 2 . How stoked? Well, this will be our seventh post on the game this year. We first caught wind of a sequel hitting back in April , with loads of videos being teased out since then- Most recently being two new ones that were released back on August 20th. If you’ve never played the original, you need to download Super Cat Tales (Free) immediately. It’s free, you won’t be disappointed.   Happy to announce Super Cat Tales 2 is coming to iOS and Android on October 4! Get ready for some platform goodness #indiedev #mobile https://t.co/kuaVkiR8Bn pic.twitter.com/cEeL5Y4d4r — Neutronized (@Neutronized) September 27, 2018 Anyway, the big news of the day is that Super Cat Tales 2 is hitting both iOS and Android on October 4th. Neutronized, the developer, makes dang awesome stuff, so it feels very safe to get excited for this one. The good news is, we’ve only got a week left of waiting (or maybe less, given the weirdness of App St...

Originally, I had no intentions of writing a review for this SEGA Forever release of Streets of Rage 2 (Free) . Not because the game isn’t worthy or its release on the platform is of little note, mind you. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. SEGA’s 16-bit console is a well-known quantity in the West, even nearly 30 years after its initial release, and thanks to the company keeping their Genesis library in fairly regular circulation, its biggest hits are so widely-played and famous that there’s practically no need for new reviews. You probably don’t need me to tell you about Streets of Rage 2 . It’s one of the best games on the Genesis, and arguably the best side-scrolling beat-em-up ever made. Outside of the Sonic the Hedgehog games and perhaps Aladdin , there aren’t many games that personify the Genesis better than Streets of Rage 2 . The wild card here is not the game. Of course Streets of Rage 2 is great. You can easily find gobs of people who will tell you at great length why. T...

After loads of teasing and piecemeal reveals, Fortnite (Free) Season 6 is finally here. Downtime is currently ongoing on all platforms but we have details for the new Battle Pass and the patch that will hit all platforms beginning now. The highlights of Season 6 and the update include Pets on an updated island and a new consummable that brings out the darkness. The new Battle Pass has 100 levels with over 100 rewards and can be bought for 950 V-Bucks once the servers are back up. The teasers so far have been going for a purple theme with darkness as the keyword and this leads to the new big addition of Shadow Stones. Shadow Stones are found in corruptes areas across the map and using one of these will apply a Shadow Form to you for a short amount of time. You won’t be able to use weapons while in Shadow Form but will be invisible when stationary. This temporary form also gives you a boost in speed and immunity towards fall damage. You can pass through objects as well in Shadow Fo...

After going up for pre-order a while ago and then releasing for everyone to download on the App Store and Google Play, Dragalia Lost (Free) service has finally begun with the servers now live. Dragalia Lost is a mobile exclusive action RPG from both Nintendo and Cygames. Hopefully this does well (it likely will) so Cygames sees some value in releasing the beyond popular Granblue Fantasty outside Japan on mobile platforms. Dragalia Lost is a swipe controlled RPG. There is dragon morphing and loads of hooks and social aspects for you to play with. 8-4 Play is also involved in the game localisation which is always a great sign. They do fantastic localisation work on Japanese games for release in the West. Get ready for the world of Alberia with the video below: For whatever reason, if you expected this to be a pay once to unlock game like Super Mario Run , think again. This is a free to play social RPG in its truest form going by the footage so far. I’m not surprised because w...

Each and every day new mobile games are hitting the App Store, and so each week we put together a big old list of all the best new releases of the past seven days. Back in the day the App Store would showcase the same games for a week, and then refresh those features each Thursday. Because of that developers got into the habit of releasing their games throughout Wednesday or very early Thursday in order to hopefully get one of those coveted features spots. Nowadays the App Store refreshes constantly, so the need for everyone to release all on the same day has diminished. Still, we’ve kept our weekly Wednesday night format as for years that’s the time people knew to check TouchArcade for the list of new games. And so without further ado please check out the full list of this week’s new games below, and let us know in the comments section which games you’ll be picking up!   Animus – Harbinger iTunes Description Harbinger takes you into the past, to the very days when Kerr the ...