Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

Two weeks ago, WayForward announced a huge update for the excellent Shantae and the Seven Sirens () on Apple Arcade, consoles, and PC. Shantae and the Seven Sirens originally released on Apple Arcade and has since made its way to just about every console and also PC. Read Shaun’s review of the Switch version here . Following Shantae and the Seven Sirens updates to improve controls and eventually bring in the conclusion to the story with many gameplay additions and even cut-scenes, the first big update in about a year has gone live right now on Apple Arcade in the form of the Spectacular Superstar update. This update adds four new modes, a legacy mode, and more. The new modes are Full Deck, Beginner, Rule Breaker, and Definitive. As revealed before, Definitive Mode is a new challenging director’s cut mode with classic Shantae difficulty while Full Deck Mode is Definitive Mode with all 50 Monster Cards available from the start. Rule Breaker Mode is Definitive Mode without limits l...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for November 30th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got a full review of Live Wire’s superb port of DoDonPachi Resurrection . We’ve also got two new releases to look at, and we’ve got summaries of both of them. There are also some new sales to check out, as well as a list of some of the many, many expiring sales. Seriously, those Cyber Deals are going, going, gone soon. Let’s get down to brass tacks! Reviews & Mini-Views DoDonPachi Resurrection ($19.99) This is the third rerelease of a Cave shoot-em-up by Live Wire in the last few months. It’s safe to say that there are no longer any surprises about these ports, and that’s not a bad thing at all in this case. In most ways that matter, Live Wire’s work in bringing these legendary classics of the genre to the Switch are absolutely top-notch. DoDonPachi Resurrection continues that streak. You get every variant of the game you could ask for, an incredible amount of fide...

Camel Games is joining in on the holiday festivities this season with a limited-time event for War and Order . The medieval-themed SLG mobile game lets players build their armies and expand their territories as King, all while completing quests, joining Alliances, and fighting to become the Strongest Lord in all the land. This season, War and Order is thanking fans for their loyal support and encouraging everyone to do the same for each other on the game’s official Facebook page . Players simply have to comment about the person they want to thank, and twenty winners will score Gems x 1000, Beast XP Pill(1000) x10, Beast Skill XP Scroll(50) x20, Resource Chest (Lv.4) x5, and Legend of Excalibur (1Day) as a reward. In the same vein, the Christmas Prelude event will celebrate the holidays early on December 1st, where players can spread a little cheer by completing special quests to get awesome in-game goodies. Items can also be exchanged for more rewards at the exchange shop, so the ...

Think of it as an early Christmas present – NCSOFT is letting you pre-download Lineage2M on your PC and mobile device two days ahead of its release. This is to make sure that you have a smoother experience when the game launches on December 2nd – and while you’re at it, you can download PURPLE, the game’s cross-play service, to stay connected with your friends. Lineage2M is a jaw-dropping new entry into the hit Lineage2 franchise, featuring 4K ultra-HD 3D environments that are sure to be a visual treat. You can expect large-scale 10,000-player battles and formidable world bosses while traveling across the two continents of Aden. You can also enjoy playing different character classes and marveling at each hero’s meticulously created expressions, armor patterns, and combat animations. If you just can’t wait to engage in solo or clan quests, or simply explore the world of Aden, you can download Lineage2M on the official website for PC, iOS App Store or on the Google Play Store ...

Earlier this month, Mojang announced that the long awaited Minecraft ($6.99) Caves & Cliffs Update Part II would release on November 30th. It has just started rolling out now worldwide on all platforms. If you’ve not kept up with Minecraft , the first part of the big update released on all platforms including iOS and Android back in June. The second part with new cave generation, new cave and mountain biomes, and a lot more is out now. Caves & Cliffs Update Part II has the actual big mountains and cave changes. Today’s Minecraft 1.18 update also brings in drastically updated and improved biome, cave, and ore generation. Watch the new Minecraft Caves & Cliffs Update Part II trailer below: If you’ve not played Minecraft for a while, this update isn’t the only thing everyone was looking forward to. There’s a big Wild Update coming in 2022 as well. Following today’s update, Minecraft will likely get a few fixes before the holidays to address any potential issues i...

The Hamster-produced excellent ACA NeoGeo series of releases on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox platforms has been bringing many classics to modern platforms with a few conveniences for a while now. Today, SNK announced (via @gosokkyu ) that the ACA NeoGeo series has made its mobile debut with three releases. Unlike some other retro releases that bring home console versions of games, this series aims to be faithful to the arcade versions of games. SNK also confirmed that more games will be added to the lineup in the futurw. The three titles out now are Samurai Shodown IV ($3.99) , Alpha Mission II , and Metal Slug 5 . All three are available without any in app purchases and hopefully Hamster and SNK can update some other releases to fit with the ACA NeoGeo lineup in terms of emulation and features. Another thing to note, at least going by other platforms, is that the games in this series rarely go on sale and some have only been discounted a single time before remaining at full pri...

Just about one year ago developer Illusion Labs announced Touchgrind Scooter , a new entry in their popular Touchgrind series that had already featured skateboarding and BMX biking. This new game would follow a similar formula featuring large levels filled with objects to trick off of, only this time you’d be on a scooter. I guess you could say it was kind of a hybrid between Touchgrind Skate and Touchgrind BMX , since scooters are essentially a hybrid of those two vehicles. Fast forward to June of this year and Touchgrind Scooter launched in the iOS App Store, with an Android launch planned for down the road. Well Android-toting scooter lovers, your time is finally coming as Illusion Labs has announced a December 8th release date for Touchgrind Scooter on Android. As you can see in that trailer, Touchgrind Scooter has more of an outrageous vibe than the previous Skate and BMX games. This is a loud game, with bright colors and really incredulous course designs. It also feat...

After many years of players hoping that developer Psyonix would bring Rocket League to mobile, and MANY knock-offs and clones released on mobile since, they finally announced the official mobile entry in the series this past March with a spin-off titled Rocket League Sideswipe . It essentially took everything you knew and loved from Rocket League proper on other platforms but streamlined it for mobile, with play locked to a 2D field and matches being more bite-sized and mobile friendly. Then just a couple of weeks ago Rocket League Sideswipe soft-launched in select regions. I was able to nab it from one of those regions and give it a go for myself, and all I can say is that they absolutely nailed it . The plan was to continue adding new regions to the soft launch in the coming weeks, with a worldwide rollout hopefully happening before the end of the year. I kind of figured it would slip into next year just given the state of the world in general, so I was pretty surprised to se...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for November 29th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got a trio of reviews for you to check out. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl leads the pack, with Date Night Bowling and Death’s Door bringing up the rear. There are a few new releases to look at, but most of them aren’t too exciting. We summarize them anyway, because that is what we do. We round things out with the sales that popped up over the weekend. Some really good stuff in there, actually. We also have the list of expiring sales so that you can make some last-minute financial decisions. Let’s go! Reviews & Mini-Views Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl ($59.99, Double Pack $119.99) Not that this is a particularly rare phenomenon, but I feel like a lot of people made up their minds about this release way too early. As soon as the game was revealed to be developed by ILCA and its chibi art style was demonstrated, many wrote Pokemon Brilli...

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. With December just around the corner, we’re starting to see more winter updates roll in. There aren’t a whole ton of them yet, but I expect the pipes to really open from next week. For now, we’ve got a blend of interesting updates for you to dig into. 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! FINAL FANTASY V , $17.99 Final Fantasy V is a great game and in general this is an amazing version of it. That said, it also a game with a lot more moving parts than its predecessors, and we’ve seen that reflected in some odd bugs. This update fixes a whole bunch of them while also making some useful adjustments to things like NPC walking speed to make them a little easier to catch. I’m sure we’ll be seei...

I love games that don’t mess around. No frills or fluff, just “Here’s what I am and here’s what you get." That’s the vibe I get from Jump Jerboa from self-described “mostly solo" developer Chinykian. This is a minimalist one-button platformer that features a Jerboa, which is a creature I wasn’t previously aware of. What’s a Jerboa then? Part rabbit, part kangaroo, and part rat, it’s an animal that gets around by jumping and it’s both cute and horrifying at the same time. At least the pixel art version in Jump Jerboa is more adorable than the real thing, and the perfect pick to star in a platforming game that’s all about jumping. That’s another thing about Jump Jerboa : It strives to be minimalist and easy to play with just one-button controls, but when you strip a genre down to its most bare essentials, you have to absolutely nail the feel of every square inch of the game. Thankfully Chinykian does just that. The jumping physics are perfect and precise, with granularity i...

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for November 26th, 2021. In today’s article, we look at the rest of the releases for the week. There are a couple of good games in today’s batch, and we’ve got summaries of the whole lot. We also have the new sales of the day, and the list of discounts that will finish up over the weekend. And that will pretty much do it, but that’s probably enough for what is a holiday for most of you. Let’s get to it! New Releases Date Night Bowling ($9.99) SwitchArcade Highlight! Well, this is an unusual one. It’s first and foremost a bowling game, and a rather good one if you can appreciate arcade-style takes on the sport. But it’s also a romance game. Pick your character and your date, then try to impress them with your bowling moves. Each pair has different chemistry, with successful dates harder to pull off with some than others. It’s not just about the bowling, as you need to keep your date happy in various other ways. If you j...