Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 15th, 2024. In today’s article, we’re taking a look at the Thursday line-up of new releases. Perhaps owing to the holidays in Japan, it’s a bit thinner than you might expect for this time of the week. Still, there are a few games worth investigating, depending on one’s tastes. After that, we have the new and expiring sales for you to check out. And that will do it, as I also have holiday things to attend to. Let’s dig into those games!

Select New Releases

Magical Delicacy ($24.99)

Phew, this game’s description is hitting a lot of buzz words. Well, what can you do? It’s a Metroidvania-style game with cooking elements, and it is indeed trying to be fluffy and chill. An ambitious game in some ways, so we’ll have to see if all of those elements come together well. Our pal Mikhail is taking a look at this one in anticipation of a full review, so we’ll know soon enough if it’s worth taking a punt on.

Phantom Spark ($19.99)

It’s been a bit since the last high-speed futuristic racer, so I suppose we were about due for another. This one features more than thirty tracks plus support for up to four players via local or online multiplayer. There are online leaderboards, too. I haven’t had a chance to play this one yet, but everything I have seen makes it seem like it will be another decent entry in this genre.

Arco ($19.99)

Okay, this is good. It’s a turn-based game of sorts, but not the traditional style. More like real-time with pause? But not quite that either. Well, play it and see. It’s a story of revenge, where your main character is joined by various other people with vendettas to settle. You’ll have to manage your guilt as you go, because if you allow it to build up you’ll have even more problems on your hands. Your bow-like Arco versus a variety of guns, what could go wrong? Mikhail’s going to review this one, and I recommend having your eye on it.

Squiggle Drop ($4.99)

A fun and affordable puzzle game from the nice folks at Noodlecake. Each of the more than two hundred and fifty stages will give you a mission of some kind that you’ll need to accomplish by drawing a shape or squiggle. It gets pretty creative with some of the objectives, which helps keep each quick-bite stage fresh and enjoyable. A fine way to spend a fiver today.

Overboss ($14.99)

Here’s a digital version of the popular board game, playable alone against CPU opponents or with up to five human players. Your goal as a boss is to build the most dangerous, deadly kingdom you can in order to score more points than your opponents. Place your tiles, arrange your minions appropriately, and see if you have what it takes to be the biggest, meanest boss of them all. An affordable alternative to the real thing that will probably go over well with fans who want to save on set-up and clean-up.

Minami Lane ($4.99)

Another buzz word heavy description. Build a cute little street with cute little houses and cute little characters and try to make everyone cute little happy by being a nosy yet cute little HOA-ish overlord. No real stress here, just puttering around and enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. It’s only a few hours long, but it’s only a few bucks. You could do worse.

Just Crow Things ($19.99)

We’ve got a few games now where the premise is being a mischievous animal doing whatever in human spaces, and it was frankly only a matter of time before one of them hit on nature’s trickster god, the crow. Be a crow, mess around, poop on things, be clever, and so on. Just do those crow things. Collect shiny stuff, that’s important. This looks cute, and I’m sure if you’ve enjoyed any similar games in the past then you’ll be alright with this one too.

The Godfeather: A Mafia Pigeon Saga ($8.99)

I find it enormously odd that we have two games hitting the eShop today where you play as a pooping bird. This one looks pretty different from the other one, though. It’s more of a roguelite affair, and the pooping is a central mechanic. Travel through various neighborhoods, poop on your targets, and avoid the many parties who are hostile towards a wildly defecating pigeon for some reason. Well, pick one or both. Or neither. Many options on the table today.

Arcade Archives Knuckle Heads ($7.99)

Namco is pretty much synonymous with fighting games now thanks to Tekken‘s long and powerful run, but Tekken wasn’t the company’s first swing at the genre. Knuckle Heads is a 2D fighter, and its main gimmick is that it allows four players to fight at the same time. It’s a very unusual game in its mechanics, but I suppose in that sense it at least keeps itself from being yet another Street Fighter II also-ran wannabe. I wouldn’t call it a very high quality game, yet I suspect some may find charm in its quirks.

Space Raft ($9.99)

I think it’s an amazing era we live in where an indie developer can make a retro-style game about the Milwaukee indie music scene and get it published on a Nintendo console. Like, that is an incredibly location-specific theme. But hey, cool. Use your favorite Space Raft band member and go on an adventure that will take you through a bunch of stages packed with references most of us will not understand. But maybe through this game, you might start on the steps of understanding.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A small list of new sales today, and nothing that immediately catches my eye. I suppose there’s no wrong day to add a nice compilation like Double Dragon & Kunio-kun to your collection. The outbox has a bunch of nice games in it, but again nothing that is really jumping out at me. Have a look at both lists and see if anything is worthy of your gaming cash today, though.

Select New Sales

Football Manager 2024 Touch ($19.99 from $49.99 until 8/22)
Alan Wake Remastered ($14.99 from $29.99 until 8/29)
River City Saga: Three Kingdoms ($20.99 from $29.99 until 8/29)
Kowloon High-School Chronicle ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Bundle ($19.99 from $39.99 until 8/29)
UNO Ultimate Edition ($7.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Capes ($29.99 from $39.99 until 9/4)
Yoku’s Island Express ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
Overcooked Special Edition ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)
Worms WMD ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9/4)
Fates of Ort ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/4)
Tiny Pixels Vol 1 Ninpo Blast ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/4)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, August 16th

10 Seconds to Win! ($2.99 from $4.99 until 8/16)
Animal Well ($22.49 from $24.99 until 8/16)
Betomis ($2.49 from $4.99 until 8/16)
Borderlands 3 Ultimate ($23.99 from $59.99 until 8/16)
Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box ($37.49 from $149.99 until 8/16)
Clunky Hero ($2.24 from $14.99 until 8/16)
Crisis Wing ($3.59 from $7.99 until 8/16)
Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX ($3.49 from $4.99 until 8/16)
Gekisou!Benza Race Toilet ($7.80 from $13.00 until 8/16)
Hyper Meteor ($2.39 from $7.99 until 8/16)
Mediterranea Inferno ($5.49 from $9.99 until 8/16)
Outer Terror ($6.99 from $9.99 until 8/16)
Railbreak ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/16)
Sifu ($15.99 from $39.99 until 8/16)
Siralim 3 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 8/16)
Siralim Ultimate ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/16)
Super Impossible Road ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/16)
Super Mega Zero ($4.99 from $9.99 until 8/16)
Sword & Fairy Inn 2 ($11.99 from $19.99 until 8/16)
Teratopia ($2.49 from $9.99 until 8/16)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, plus whatever sales and big news items hit during the course of the day. I’m already tired of summer. The cooling off season can’t come soon enough for my liking. But since I live in Japan, I must first get through typhoon season. Moist and hot, everyone’s favorite weather. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!