Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 3rd, 2023. We’ve got an unusual case today, friends. There are absolutely no new releases whatsoever.
Not even anything for the bins! Worry not, however. I have found a way to give you something fun to read. Indeed, that will be the bulk of today’s article, though the outgoing list of sales is quite hefty due to the Holiday sale wrapping up.
Let’s get to the games! It’s a quiet day today, so I thought I would do something interesting. Recently, D4 Enterprise started releasing some vintage Japanese computer games on the Switch eShop. These titles are all quite famous in Japan, but most of them are either barely known in the West or not known at all.
I figured I’d throw a little life preserver out into the water for those who are curious but not quite convinced. All of the games have the same set of features. You can make use of save states, read a bit of a quick guide to how to play the game, remap the controls, peruse a gallery of art and other goodies, and in some titles start from one of several pre-set save states that will allow you to see the game without playing through it yourself.
There are also a couple of screen settings to choose from, plus rewind and speed up functions. Here are Mini-Views for all five of the current releases. Oh, and the letters and numbers after the title refer to the specific computer platform they were released on.
The first release in the series is something of a good luck charm for D4 Enterprise’s various retro game initiative. was originally published by Bothtec in 1986, and it’s a relatively awkward action-adventure game that I would perhaps compare to things like or in how it plays. There’s a whole back story here that is unfortunately only presented in Japanese, but once you’re in the game everything you need is in English.
There are multiple endings based on the actions you take while exploring the world, and if you want the true one you’ll have to figure out what walking the path of justice entails. Oh, and you’re a shade or ghost of some kind. You possess creatures you find along the way, giving you access to their abilities.
is a very clunky game by modern standards, but if you’re patient with it there’s definitely something here to enjoy. The combat is terrible but you should be trying to avoid getting in fights anyway. Exploring the game world and trying to solve the various mysteries you’ll come across are fairly compelling, and the visuals have a real vibe to them that I’m into.
I really appreciate the pre-set save states in this game, because it gives curious players a way to experience various parts of the game without having to deal with the cumbersome controls. Not bad on the whole. Depending on your age, you remember this one.
It got a release in the West by Sierra back in the day, and I think it was somewhat popular for the era. There was also a reboot of sorts on the PlayStation 3, but I think that one was somewhat less successful. I have a lot of nostalgia for this game, albeit not in this PC-8801 form.
I think it’s actually better here than it was in the version I played as a kid. Anyway, it was 1985 and robots that could transform into vehicles were about the coolest thing around. In comes Game Arts with , an action game about a robot that can transform into a spaceship.
It can also shoot these super-cool homing laser beams. You’ll have to use your various abilities to make your way through labyrinthine stages filled with dangerous traps and enemies. is certainly one of the easier games in the EGGCONSOLE line to pick up and play.
Learning how to handle the transformation and flying the ship takes some practice, but that’s really the only tricky part of the controls. With that said, the game is very hard. Enemies will glom on to you and chew through your energy at rapid speeds if you let them get close, and it can be hard to shake them off.
You’ll have to be very patient and make careful use of save states and rewind if you want to see the game through. If you’re okay with that, this is worth trying. is an extremely important game in the history of the medium.
This 1985 Nihon Falcom release is not only an ancestor to many of Falcom’s subsequent releases like , but also a major influence on the whole side-scrolling action-RPG genre. The exploration component of the game features side-scrolling gameplay, while battles take place on a separate top-down screen. There are a lot of systems in this game, and it’s difficult to learn how they all work.
Your goal is to explore a huge underground dungeon and defeat the evil that lays within. You’ll have to battle monsters, solve puzzles, avoid traps, and manage your food if you want to survive. This is a very primordial action-RPG, and it plays like it.
Is worth playing ? Only for a certain type of player. You’re going to have to do some research and spend a lot of time learning how things work before you can really enjoy yourself. The ability to make use of pre-set save states helps you see more of the game if you can’t wrap your head around it, but I think this particular release is only for students of gaming history and those who like to chew around complicated, merciless games.
It’s presented as well as it can be, but there’s only so much you can do to make a game like this appeal in the current year. This 1984 T&E Soft game is another one with a lot of historical importance, but it’s sadly likely best-known among Western players through the absolute evisceration of the NES port by the Angry Video Game Nerd. It’s unfortunate that the first chance Western players had to play this game was via the localized NES game in 1989, leading it to be compared to the games that wouldn’t have existed without it.
This was one of the first action-RPGs ever made, and it influenced all kinds of games, from to Your goal is to rescue a princess who has been transformed into three fairies by an evil wizard. You play as a knight named Jim, and he’ll have to bump, bump, bump his way to a high enough level to save the day. There are a few puzzles to solve, one of which is completely obscure nonsense, but you’ll mostly be exploring the world and grinding.
There’s a certain compelling quality to , but I think it comes down to whether or not you enjoy the grind. It’s kind of fun to wander around the world and see what there is to see, but you’ll find yourself in trouble very quickly if you aren’t adequately leveled. Still, I think this is a game that a person could jump into and have a decent enough time with.
It’s tedious and finishing it can feel like a chore, but there’s a lot of satisfaction in climbing the rungs of power and taking on stronger and tougher monsters. This one will also probably ring a bell for some of you. The series has popped up a few times over the years, but it got its start with this 1986 release.
I suspect most Western players know it from the SEGA-CD remake, but the DOS version and PlayStation 2 sequel are other ways you might know it. This Game Arts-developed shooter uses a lot of nifty tricks to make it seem advanced well beyond its years. There’s an almost 3D quality to the game, and it’s very cinematic considering the limitations of the hardware.
It’s funny, because at its core this is almost as basic as it gets. It’s a vertical shooter, complete with power-ups, enemy formations, and boss battles. Apart from the presentation, the main gimmick offers is the ability to equip different weapons to your ship between stages.
That familiar shooting gameplay and cool presentation make the perfect choice for those looking to dip their toes into the waters. Sure, it doesn’t hold a candle to a modern shooter, but it doesn’t look bad by any means and it plays quite well. The difficulty is smooth enough that you probably don’t even need to use save states and the rewind feature, but those are there if you want.
A very cool game for its era and I’m glad we’re able to play it on the Switch. As far as the inbox goes, the main item of note is the latest sale from Inti-Creates. I personally recommend the and games, but you won’t really go wrong with anything there.
As for the outbox… well, a lot of sales are ending. Gather the goodies while you can, because the holiday sale is just about done. ($1.
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20 from $12. 00 until 1/4) That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with an unsurprisingly quiet Thursday, but we’ll at least have some new releases to look at.
We’ll also have whatever sales and big news roll in, and if that’s not enough to make it all hang together, I’ll find another review in the couch cushions. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!.
From: toucharcade
URL: https://toucharcade.com/2024/01/03/eggconsole-relics-pc-8801-switch-review-english-eshop-xanadu-falcom-inti-creates-gunvolt-sale/