Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

I’m sorry we didn’t record last week, I was sandwiched in between two different conferences in Europe and timing just really sucked. One thing I did experience on my trip was an absolute maniac on my plane who fast forwarded through all the musical numbers in Bohemian Rhapsody? Very odd . Anyway, as usual, we hit on all the big news stories of the week (and last week) which includes the new iPod touch, how Mario Kart monetizes, Pokemon Sleep , and a bunch more. 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 a...

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…   Death Hall I already knew I was interested in Tom Janson’s new game Death Hall ($2.99) when he formall...

If you’re gearing up to watch “the big match" tomorrow then you’re going to want to grab yourself a copy of Super Soccer Champs 2019 (Free) which just surprise-launched in the App Store. In case you’re unfamiliar, Super Soccer Champs is the footballing series from Uprising Games, aka developer Elton Bird. You may be familiar with Uprising by way of 2016’s Tennis Champs Returns (Free) , which is one of the best tennis games… no scratch that, one of the best all-around sports games… no scratch THAT too. Tennis Champs Returns is one of the BEST games around period, and Super Soccer Champs retains its light and breezy arcade exterior and its hidden levels of depth and strategy. Basically, if games like Sensible World of Soccer got your motor humming back in the day, or you just appreciate really approachable sports games that don’t require a 5 hour tutorial to come to grips with, then you’re gonna have a good time with Super Soccer Champs 2019 . We really enjoyed last year’...

It’s all kicking off in this week’s Arena of Valor news roundup. The game has been dealt another blow if a new report is to be believed, lending credence to the idea that Arena of Valor is about to be usurped by KoG , LoL Mobile, or just its own failure to grab the kind of audience Tencent wanted to replicate outside of China. What a way to spend our 52nd, an thus the 1st anniversary of the AoV roundup, huh? This could be the end of the road. Tencent Allegedly Disbands AOV’s Marketing Team With all this talk of KoG and/or League of Legends Mobile entering the scene, several media outlets have finally begun to look deeper into Arena of Valor . The resulting reporter focus has potentially unearthed Tencent’s recent decision to disband the game’s marketing/community team. What marketing team?" I hear you ask. Well, whatever was there no longer is. The report by Reuters suggests the game flopped in Tencent’s mind due in part to its more generic non-descript themes, lack of...

When a really old game is remade or ported to modern platforms, developers have to cater to two audiences usually. The first one is the fans who played the original and likely want to either experience a game the way it was or through their own rose tinted memories (I learned this when I bought a few NES games on 3DS a few years ago). The second group is newcomers who have either never heard of the game or have never experienced it in the past. Lizardcube’s take on Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap which originally released on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch as Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap ($5.99) nails everything for both audiences and it is finally on iOS as a premium release with nothing cut that costs almost a third of its console version price. I’m in the camp of people who never played the original and only experienced The Dragon’s Trap through Lizardcube and DotEmu’s remake on the Switch. It did a lot right with difficulty options but the new visuals and new music won me over...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 31st, 2019. Today we’ve got a bunch of awesome news items, a ton of somewhat mediocre new releases, and some genuinely great sales that are going to leave your wallet shedding green tears. In fact, there was so much of everything else today, I had to bump my intended reviews to avoid making this article too long for this dimension. Let’s have a look at all of it, shall we? News ‘Cadence of Hyrule’ Set for a June Release Recently, there’s been a lot of speculation about the potential release date of Cadence of Hyrule , the Zelda -flavored spin-off of Crypt of the Necrodancer . Up until now, all we’ve had to go on officially is a vague “Spring 2019" release schedule. Well, no matter how you measure it, in the Northern Hemisphere “Spring 2019" only has a few weeks left in it. So unless the game is getting booted to the Southern Hemisphere’s “Spring 2019", we know it has to be releasing pretty soon. ...

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story released in Japan a while ago. Aniplex USA announced a localisation recently for iOS and Android with a Summer release window. If you’ve not kept up with the game, it is based on the popular Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime series and it will finally arrive in North America next month. Watch the trailer for it below: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story is developed by f4samurai and it will be published by Aniplex USA in USA and Canada. Their aim with this release is to “immerse" players into the world of magical girls. It takes place in Kamihama city and will feature characters from the anime series as well. The pre-registration campaign has begun with reward tiers including Magia Stones and more. As of now, there is no information on availability outside North America. Considering Fate Grand Order is still not available in Europe, you may as well get this using an iTunes account in USA or sideload it on And...

Developer Nick Culbertson, aka Moby Pixel, has a thing for musically-focused mobile games, having previously released the rhythm game Epic Orchestra (Free) as well as the rhythm-based platformer Synthwave Escape (Free) . His latest project may not be a rhythm game per se, but it sure does have a kick ass soundtrack. It’s called Bumpin’ Dungeon and it’s a dungeon-themed puzzler where your goal is to get to the exit of each room. Obviously it’s never as straightforward as that in these types of games, and one of the unique mechanics in this game is needing to step on the squares in certain rooms to light them up before opening up the exit, making the path you take crucial to your success. Beyond that there’s the typical stuff you’d find in a dungeon like spike traps, false floors, and of course plenty of enemies. Check it out in the trailer for Bumpin’ Dungeon . If you want to learn more about Bumpin’ Dungeon , there’s another trailer with developer commentary that talks about th...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 30th, 2019. In today’s tasty feature we start things off with a look at some news nuggets before moving into a review of American Fugitive . After that, we’ve got summaries of all of today’s new releases, including such games as Gato Roboto and Super Cane Magic Zero . Then, as we always do, we finish things off by looking at the new sales of the day and the soon-to-be-ended ones. It’s a jam-packed edition today, friends, so let’s buckle up those seat belts and get on the road! News Exploratory Platformer ‘Timespinner’ Comes to Switch June 4th Gorgeous Metroidvania games are getting to be a dime a dozen on Switch these days, but if you’ve got room in your heart for another one, the rather awesome Timespinner will be coming to the system next week from Chucklefish. Travel between different time periods to try to get revenge on an evil empire, but don’t be surprised if history isn’t exactly what you’ve seen writ...

Not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but the idea that aliens really are among us popularized by the Men in Black movies is starting to look a little less ludicrous these days. So maybe when Men in Black: Global Invasion comes to mobile soon, it’ll be a way to test people to see if they’re ready to join the “best of the best of the best … sir!" But I kid Will Smith. Set to conveniently release around the same time as the upcoming Men in Black: International features Thor and Valkyrie … er, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson as the newest Agents keeping the interstellar peace, Global Invasion  is going to take the location-based AR craze and apply it to one of the more logical IPs out there to use it. For instance, I’d love it if I can point it at one of my in-laws and see if they’re actually an alien. What I know for sure, because it says so in the press release, is that the game will feature “a variety of missions, including capturing exotic aliens, gathering intel, and batt...

Rayark’s Cytus II ($1.99) is fantastic. The original game was already great but Cytus II is better in almost every way. Ever since launch, it has been updated consistently with new content and was even free earlier for a limited time. Today, the highly anticipated Hatsune Miku collaboration arrives bring in new songs and original story content. This is available through an in app purchase. Watch the trailer for the collaboration showcasing the new content below: The story content features Hatsune Miku that focusses on her singing as expected on stage. In terms of actual music, there are 14 new songs and you can buy her character in game until May 31st next year. If you buy the Miku pack, it will be permanently unlocked in game for you going by the DLC page. Cytus II has been discounted before but if you’ve been waiting on picking it up, you can get it for free right now for a limited time. The last time this happened, the game was free for under a week. There are loads of DLC ...