SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Cat Quest III’, ‘SteamWorld Heist II’, Plus Today’s Other Releases and Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 8th, 2024. In today’s article, we begin things by going over the notable releases of the day. It’s a surprisingly big day for quality indies, and I could easily see spending more than fifty bucks without breaking a sweat. After that, it’s the usual lists of new and expiring sales, but with a special disclaimer that you only have a couple of days to buy Mushihimesama before it’s gone forever. Let’s get to work!

Select New Releases

Cat Quest III ($19.99)

Look, if you’re going to come back for a third scoop on a concept, you could do a lot worse than shifting to a swashbuckling pirate theme. The adorable and enjoyable action-RPG series returns with an adventure set in the Purribean. Sail the high seas, complete quests, and shiver whatever timbers need shivering. We’ll have a review soon, but suffice it to say that developers The Gentlebros have done it again.

SteamWorld Heist II ($29.99)

Phew, what a day. We’ve got a great sequel to Cat Quest, and now here’s the latest SteamWorld game. It’s a follow-up to SteamWorld Heist, a game I enjoyed very much. Amazingly, this game also takes on a sea-faring theme. I mean hey, the more the merrier. The gameplay looks to follow on nicely from the first game, but as is the norm with SteamWorld games, the ante has been suitably upped. I’ll be doing a review of this game rather soon as well.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles ($49.99)

The popular manga/anime comes to the Switch in the form of an action-RPG that adapts a couple arcs plus adds in a few extra bits. Play as multiple characters, build your city as you meet new allies, and complete dozens of subquests. Looks like an interesting one for fans of the story, but we’ll have to see if it has what it takes to appeal beyond that circle.

Arcade Archives Tecmo Stackers ($7.99)

Hey, a Tecmo game! It’s been a while since we saw one of these added to Arcade Archives. And it’s… Tecmo Stackers. Well, that’s okay. This game is very, very similar to Puyo Puyo, but it adds a few extra gimmicks to differentiate itself. If you enjoy your falling block puzzlers, this isn’t too bad even if it isn’t particularly inspired. The characters are very of their era, that’s for sure.

EGGCONSOLE Arguice no Tsubasa PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

The rule of EGGCONSOLE is that the games are delivered as they were language-wise, and some of them are more accessible than others because of that. Arguice no Tsubasa isn’t just an RPG, but an RPG that requires you to use its 100-page instruction manual (which is in Japanese, naturally) to solve the many included puzzles. If you can’t understand Japanese, don’t bother. There isn’t even a chapter select in this one, so you can’t skip around to tour the story.

Omochapon ($14.99)

This is a cute idea. You play as gachapon toys wandering around a shopping mall. As you play, you’ll unlock more toys to control. There are six unique ones in total with many variants of each, and they all control differently from each other. There are some hidden secrets to discover, so explore thoroughly. I like the concept, but I’ll have to play it to see how the execution worked out.

Gray Dawn ($19.99)

In a remote village in English around the year 1920, a priest has been accused of murdering an altar boy. He claims to be innocent; we all know how this is going to go. Nevertheless, you have to explore the village and try to prove that you didn’t do it. All the while, some seriously weird stuff is going down. Demonic stuff. Not my kind of thing, but it might be yours! The magic of choice.

Shikon-X Astro Defense Fortress ($9.99)

This game bills itself as a point-and-click adventure game without pointing or clicking, a task it accomplishes by boiling its inputs down to interacting and accessing your inventory. There are also a bunch of mini-games to play as you make your way through the game. You play as a space pilot who one day receives a mysterious message from the enemy of humanity. What’s up with that? You mean to find out, and that’s how things get going. It looks pretty promising to me, but I am little more than words in cyberspace.

Vividlope ($9.99)

At its heart this is a very classic arcade concept. You just have to paint a certain number of tiles on each stage to move on to the next. What turns it on its head is its use of bizarre stages that loop upon themselves, and your complete lack of regard for the laws of gravity. A few modes, a few playable characters, and unlockable hats. What more do you need?

Delirium ($12.99)

This looks to be an escape-style adventure, albeit with a very different theme from the norm. Lola and Danny need to escape Delirium, which is apparently the name for their house. The art pops, at least. What is with naming houses? Feels like a rich person thing, but can’t any of us just do it? Can I name my house Bob? I’m going to. If I ever get a house. Which I won’t, because freelance writer pay. Ha!

Love is all around ($12.99)

Basically a visual novel experience, but done up with FMV. You’ve got an assortment of ladies to woo, plus some extra problems to add some drama. Beyond the gimmick of using real actors I don’t think there’s anything particularly special to this one, but that might be enough for some.

Sushi Drop ($7.00)

At first, I thought this was going to be another Suika Game knock-off. But no, here you’re dropping sushi with an aim to building the highest tower you can. That means you’ll have to be careful about where you place things so the whole works won’t come crashing down. You can play with other players, too. Up to four locally or online. Like a lot of other SAT-BOX games, it’s an amusing thing to pull out for a gaming party or two.

Kanna Maze ($3.99)

A choice-based visual novel that isn’t about smooching? That’s rare on Switch. Anyway, this is a science-fiction story where the main character is drawn to an underground research facility where he runs into a friend he thought was dead. There’s a real classic Chunsoft vibe to this one, and that price is hard to argue with.

Demon Go! ($2.99)

It’s an auto-runner. Run, jump, grab the goobers, die, run again. A clean visual style and it’s cheap as chips. Maybe cheaper thanks to inflation.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Okay, this is not a drill. You see that sale on Mushihimesama, the excellent conversion of one of Cave’s great shoot ’em ups? Notice how its end date is earlier than the other games from its publisher? That date isn’t just the end of its discount. The game will be removed from sale on the eShop in a couple of days due to the license expiring. Buy it now if you think you will ever want it. Ten bucks is paltry for such an excellent title. The lists aren’t very big today, so take them all in. And buy Mushihimesama. The other two Cave games probably aren’t long for the world either, so make some tentative plans to grab them too.

Select New Sales

Mushihimesama ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/11)
Animal Well ($22.49 from $24.99 until 8/16)
Claire: Extended Cut ($2.99 from $14.99 until 8/21)
Whitestone ($3.99 from $19.99 until 8/21)
Trinity Fusion ($14.99 from $19.99 until 8/22)
Dead End City ($9.89 from $14.99 until 8/23)
Froggie ($2.99 from $4.99 until 8/23)
DRAINUS ($13.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Radiant Silvergun ($7.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Noel the Mortal Fate ($9.99 from $24.99 until 8/29)
DoDonPachi Resurrection ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Espgaluda II ($9.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
The Good Life ($15.99 from $39.99 until 8/29)
Mighty Goose ($7.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Gnosia ($17.49 from $24.99 until 8/29)
Astebreed ($3.99 from $19.99 until 8/29)
Kero Blaster ($2.99 from $9.99 until 8/29)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, August 9th

A Little to the Left ($8.99 from $14.99 until 8/9)
Beyond a Steel Sky ($9.99 from $39.99 until 8/9)
Doug’s Nightmare ($4.19 from $5.99 until 8/9)
Frogurai ($3.99 from $4.99 until 8/9)
Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator ($19.99 from $39.99 until 8/9)
Harvest Days ($14.99 from $19.99 until 8/9)
Lair of the Clockwork God ($3.99 from $19.99 until 8/9)
Murder on the Orient Express ($19.99 from $39.99 until 8/9)
Raiden IV x MIKADO remix ($11.99 from $29.99 until 8/9)
Raiden V: Director’s Cut ($8.99 from $29.99 until 8/9)
Xuan Yuan Sword: MBtM ($9.89 from $14.99 until 8/9)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow to mop up the remaining releases of the week, along with whatever sales and big news items roll in during the course of the day. Oddly, my enjoyment of Nintendo World Championships has driven me back to NES Remix on the 3DS, where I’m finally trying to rainbow star every challenge. Wish me luck with that! I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!