Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

Following its debut on iOS, Android, PC, and PS4 with a PS5 release arriving recently, Genshin Impact (Free) version 2.1 with the game’s first collaboration and a lot more is now live on all platforms. The collaboration is with Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn bringing Aloy into the world of Genshin Impact . Details for the collaboration are here . Aloy will initially be obtainable only on PS4 and PS5 but will roll out for all platforms in Genshin Impact 2.2. If you do get Aloy on PS4 or PS5, you can access her on any other platform before 2.2 arrives. The highlights of today’s big update are Raiden Shogun, Sangonomiya Kokomi, and Kujou Sara joining as new characters. A fishing system has been added letting you fish across Teyvat to produce fish meat, earn rewards, and more at the fishing Association. Signora, Hydro Hypostasis, Thunder Manifestation, and Specters join as new monsters in 2.1. Watch the Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun trailer below: Seirai Island and Watatsumi Island are t...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 31st, 2021. Today’s article is mostly dedicated to summarizing the new releases of the day. There are a larger number than usual for a Tuesday, and at least a few of them are worth thinking about. Besides that, we’ve got the lists of incoming and expiring sales for you to mull over. That’s about it. I meant to have another review ready today, but I feel asleep a little early last night so it will have to wait. Anyway, let’s get to what we’ve got! New Releases Monster Harvest ($19.99) It feels like this game has been on the cusp of release for a long time now, but it’s finally here. The idea here is to take a heaping tablespoon of Stardew Valley and mix in a little Pokemon -style monster collecting. There is a season-change system, a town with people and creatures to build relationships with, a crafting system with lots of items to make, and some dungeons to explore. I’ll have a review of this one soon if you...

In the middle of last month, Kakao Games and Cygames confirmed a global release date for World Flipper following the original global release announcement . World Flipper () is a pinball RPG that debuted in Japan in November 2019 from Cygames ( Granblue Fantasy , Dragalia Lost ). July’s announcement had World Flipper set for August 11th but the App Store listing was changed to September 10th which is what it is still currently listed as. Kakao Games and Cygames have confirmed that World Flipper releases globally on September 8th. Watch the new introduction trailer for World Flipper below: World Flipper includes original characters and those from Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy . It is free to play with in app purchases and you level up characters through skill trees to take on more difficult battles in a blend of pinball and RPG gameplay. World Flipper is available to pre-order on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register on Google Play for Android here . As revealed before, t...

Hearthstone (Free) patch 21.2 will begin rolling out later today or early tomorrow across all platforms with Hearthstone Mercenaries pre-purchase, the huge Battlegrounds revamp, and more. Hearthstone Mercenaries will be available with a few purchase options detailed here . This mode lets you collect Mercenaries and assemble parties to take on proceduarally generated bounties. It blends RPG and roguelike elements alongside Hearthstone characters. Barring Hearthstone Mercenaries, Duels get a big update as well. The Book of Mercenaries Tamsin begins on September 7th letting you unlock 1 Warlock Pack. Watch the Hearthstone Mercenaries mode trailer below: The Hearthstone Battlegrounds Revamp introduces the Avenge keyboard that has an effect after X friendly minions die. 37 minions will be replaced with new ones alongside 2 new heroes joining the mode. Battlegrounds also sees a damage cap of 15 until the first player dies, increased timers, and more. Ratings will be reset for thi...

The Assetto Corsa driving simulation games are very popular in simulation racing communities and the recent game Assetto Corsa Competezione is even getting an enhanced release for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S next year. 505 Games has just published Assetto Corsa Mobile ($4.99) developed by Digital Tales on iOS as a premium racing game. Assetto Corsa Mobile supports multiple langauges and it includes 59 officially licensed cars including Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, and more with 9 recreated official circuits. For game modes, it has classic race, time attack, practice, overtake, and speed camera available right now. Watch the Assetto Corsa Mobile launch trailer below: Assetto Corsa Mobile supports touch steering, tilt steering, or limited controller support. While the App Store description mentions “external controller" as a driving option, the official account confirms that support is limited right now so your mileage may vary. If you’ve been wanting to samp...

Sega just announced a global release of Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage for iOS and Android. Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage is a rhythm game meets visual novel experience featuring Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, Kaito, and Meiko. It released in Japan as Project Sekai Colorful Stage featuring Hatsune Miku and it will finally be released globally as Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage . Songs will feature five difficulty modes with support for solo or play with friends. The progression system has you unlocking character cards in the gacha system through levelling up. Watch the Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage English trailer below: Back when the Japanese version released, I was optimistic about a localization considering Sega even released the Fist of the North Star mobile game globally. I didn’t think it would take this long though, but more Miku is always welcome. While a release date hasn’t been announced for Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage globally, it will be out thi...

Playdigious previously announced that it is bringing Red Blue Games’ roguelike adventure game Sparklite to iOS and Android this year. Sparklite originally released in 2019 and is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms. It even got a nifty physical release thanks to Merge Games. The roguelike adventure set in the ever-changing land of Geodia is coming to iOS and Android on November 9th globally. In Sparklite , you craft gear and take on various enemies in top-down action with a lovely aesthetic. In addition to announcing the Sparklite release date for iOS and Android, Playdigious revealed that current pre-orders and pre-registrations are discounted by 30%. Watch the new Sparklite mobile release date trailer below: Sparklite can be pre-ordered for $4.99 on the App Store for iOS right now. It will go up to $6.99 when the launch discount ends. If you pre-register for it on Android, you will be able to buy it at the same 30% discount on Google Play. On Andr...

Back in 2019, LEGO Star Wars Battles () was announced for iOS and Android as a game developed by TT Games Brighton that would cover all nine movies and more from the Star Wars universe. It was revealed to be built for iOS and Android from the start but we didn’t have any real gameplay details with the original announcement. LEGO Star Wars Battles eventually soft launched and was only shut down last month . It was just announced to be coming soon to Apple Arcade. This will be another game, following the notable World of Demons and Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls , that Apple has brought to Apple Arcade following closures during soft launch. Check out a screenshot of LEGO Star Wars Battles below: While it is just confirmed to be “coming soon", the App Store data for LEGO Star Wars Battles reveals a September 24th date. This is just the date currently listed and it can change. If you’d like to play LEGO Star Wars Battles on Apple Arcade, you can sign up here to be notifie...

Back in March this year, Square Enix finally brought Final Fantasy VIII Remastered ($20.99) to iOS and Android in its remastered incarnation. This allowed myself and others who had all been waiting to complete the 1-9 Final Fantasy collection finally do it. Read Shaun’s review of the iOS version here . At the time, controller support and cloud saves were announced to come in a future update. We didn’t know how long that would take and I had given up on it ever happening considering Final Fantasy IX is still broken on new iOS versions. Square Enix surprised me right now by pushing out Final Fantasy VIII Remastered version 1.01 on iOS and Android bringing in controller support, cloud saves, UI help, UI layout customization, and more. This update also lets you tap the screen for Limit Breaks and has “minor fixes". For controller support, I had no issues playing right now with my PS5 DualSense controller. You can even switch between button and touch controls. When you go back...

Fantasian has proven to be a tremendously challenging game to review. It’s an Apple Arcade game, so you don’t exactly need advice on whether or not you should buy it if you already subscribe to the service. When it first launched, it was only the first part of the game and I didn’t think it was necessarily fair or a good idea to judge an RPG on its first half. And I’m glad I waited, because the second part really did change my opinion on Fantasian as a whole. There are still bits coming in future updates, but the main game is here and I suppose I have to do this now. The big claim to fame for Fantasian is that it’s the latest and possibly last full-on RPG from the man widely recognized as the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi. It is also the latest and possibly last complete game soundtrack from Nobuo Uematsu, the composer behind the first nine Final Fantasy games and many other titles. There are other Final Fantasy veterans on the team, including one who seems to hav...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 30th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got four reviews of recently-released games. The excellent No More Heroes III , the impressive Rush Rally Origins , the somewhat disappointing King’s Bounty II , and a jigsaw puzzle game. That’s the curve ball. Do you like it? We’ve also got a summary of the sole new release of the day, plus the latest lists of new and expiring sales. It’s a lot for a Monday, so let’s dig in! Reviews & Mini-Views No More Heroes III ($59.99) This is one of those games that makes me wish we had a few more notches in our review scale. If we had the means, I’d give this a little more than a four, but it’s not quite up that step to the next level. This is in a lot of ways the best game in the No More Heroes series, even as it takes a step back in a couple of other facets. Travis Touchdown is facing off a galactic threat this time around, and the story kicks into high gear almost immediate...

Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. Uh oh, I finished this and realized I forgot to include the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update. Hm, just imagine I wrote about Toon Blast ‘s fifty new levels or something. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s go for it! Jetpack Joyride , Free Ah, let’s start things off on a less-than-thrilling note. A rerun of a previous event in Jetpack Joyride should fit the bill for that purpose. Hey, it’s the Star Trek event again! Another chance to get all those Trek-related goodies like the Starfleet Mech, the Starship jetpack, a whole bunch of guest characters, and much more. It’s a limited event, but it’s very likely to come back around again in the future. Still, get what you want to while...

Genshin Impact (Free) is set for a great rest of the year with the upcoming online concert in October and the first collaboration update coming this week. Genshin Impact 2.1 follows the big 2.0 update that brought in a new region , PS4/PS5 cross save with other platforms , and more. This week, miHoYo will bring Aloy from Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn to the game on PlayStation platforms with a roll out for every platform coming in 2.2. If you do get Aloy on PS4 or PS5, you can access her on any other platform. Raiden Shogun, Sangonomiya Kokomi, and Kujou Sara also join in with Genshin Impact 2.1. You will also be able to fish across Teyvat to produce fish meat, earn rewards, and more at the fishing Association. Genshin Impact version 2.1 launches on all platforms beginning September 1st. To pre-download this update on iOS and Android, you can either tap the pre-install icon on the bottom left of the login screen or from the other settings screen in the Paimon menu in-game. The do...

Following its announcement last week , Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend from Square Enix that brings the three Final Fantasy Legend Game Boy games to mobile and PC, has gone up for pre-order on the App Store alongside pre-registrations going live on Android. These Game Boy games were actually SaGa games despite the naming and the Nintendo Switch release included all three with a few options as Shaun mentioned. The iOS, Android, and PC (Steam) releases will have added features over the Nintendo Switch version when they arrive. These include the ability to play the English and Japanese versions, a high speed mode, and more. The iOS and Android versions also let you customize control placement to play one handed or just tweak the positions to your liking. Watch the new mobile and Steam trailer below: Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend will release on September 22nd for iOS and Android and in October 21st for Steam. It is priced at $19.99. The screenshots on iOS and And...

Behind the Frame is a new narrative game from developer Silver Lining Studio and publisher Akupara Games that is one of the shortest and sweetest little experiences I’ve had in quite some time. Emphasis on “short" as it’s important to know that this likely won’t take you more than an hour or two at most to play through. Some folks look for more “bang for their buck" in their games, and some are content with a shorter experience as long as it’s one that can really affect you and stick with you long after the game is over. Behind the Frame is definitely for folks in that latter camp. The story follows a young aspiring artist as she sits in her apartment painting and pondering the life stories of the elderly man and his cat who lives in the apartment just adjacent to her. The old man also happens to be a painter, but no matter how loudly the young woman yells over at him he just pays her absolutely no mind. She doesn’t let that deter her curiosity, however, and it isn’t long ...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 27th, 2021. I’m mostly back to normal today, but I’ve decided I like the way I handled the summaries yesterday so I’m going to do things that way as my feeling dictates from now on. Anyway, we’ve got several new games to look at today, with the biggest of the bunch being Suda51’s No More Heroes 3 . We’ve also got a decent-sized list of new sales to check out, as well as the list of discounts that are ending over the weekend. Let’s get to it! New Releases No More Heroes 3 ($59.99) SwitchArcade Highlight! Travis Touchdown is back again, and this time he’s going galactic. It’s not enough to be the best on Earth this time around. You need to fight to the top of the Galactic Superhero rankings to put an end to an alien invasion that threatens all of humanity. I’ll have a review soon, but what I can say for now is that this is very much No More Heroes , except 3 . You can suplex an alligator. One-Eyed Lee and the...