WonderCon 2024, the three-day March convention held in Anaheim, California’s convention center, always has some great cosplay. This year was no exception, with folks bringing the heat with Star Wars looks, X-Men fits, and gigantic power armor that looks ripped from the Fallout TV series.

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Almost a decade after the game’s Kickstarter campaign first launched, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is about to get its final update. The Castlevania: Symphony of the Night spiritual successor from former series producer Koji Igarashi released in 2019 and has been getting steady content updates ever since. These…

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I recently decided to play a phenomenal old game called Metal Gear Solid via the recently released Metal Gear Solid Master Collection, hoping to show my friends the scene where I could see a man’s bare ass after he gets his lights knocked out and his clothes stolen. But censorship has struck again as I came to find…

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Helldivers 2 is a game about endless war and now its fanbase finds itself in a similar situation as a civil war rages on between players following a change to how the super-popular online shooter will operate on PC.

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It’s been a terrible day for Helldivers 2 and the team behind it. Angry players swarmed the co-op shooter’s Steam page to review-bomb it like a giant hive of Terminids after a PlayStation Network login requirement was reinstituted on PC. “Ouch, right in the review score,” Arrowhead Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt tweeted…

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Metal Gear Solid’s Master Collection has been out since October 2023. And while it is very lacking in some key ways that we’d expect from a modern remaster in the 21st century, it still contains a hefty selection of some of the greatest games of the late ‘90s and 2000s.

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I ran into an unfortunate softlock during my review of Another Crab’s Treasure, an adorable but still intimidating Soulslike, that has so far barred me from completing the game. Near the end of the game, you’re prompted to activate an elevator by an NPC that takes players to the final major area and the last few…

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Earlier this week, Riot Games deployed a patch for League of Legends that introduced new anti-cheat software to curb “scripters, botters, and cheaters.” Unfortunately, players reported issues with the popular MOBA following the update, saying that the new anti-cheat program had bricked their PCs. Riot Games has…

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A large and popular open-source mapping database used by many companies, apps, and websites is currently dealing with a strange problem: Random, fake beaches are appearing in places like backyards, church parking lots, and golf courses. And the community knows who to blame: Pokémon Go players trying to catch a rare…

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While Metal Gear Solid’s 2023 Master Collection has more than its fair share of technical issues, it still packs a ton of solid Metal Gear action for you to play through. Like the full version of 1999’s Metal Gear Solid VR Missions (which do not require a VR headset, in case you were wondering), a spin-off to 1998’s Me…

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As revealed with the game’s announcement, the main characters featured in Songs of Travel and their backgrounds are below:

• Hasan, who came to Austria at the age of 1, when his mother moved there from Istanbul, Turkey.
• Light, a non-binary Syrian refugee who arrives in Vienna after years of hardship and war in Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
• Michele, the son of Francesco Cicora, an Italian coal miner who died in the great mining disaster of Marcinelle 1956 in Belgium.
• Olya, a Ukrainian lawyer and a refugee who has had to flee twice: first when she left her home of Donetsk in 2014 and fled to Kyiv, and then when she fled from Ukraine once war erupted in 2022.
• Vân, the daughter of a Vietnamese contract worker who grew up in East-Germany and who must deal with the duality of being Vietnamese-German.

While pre-orders are not live on the App Store for iOS yet, you can pre-register for Songs of Travel on Google Play for Android here. Songs of Travel launches for free on May 9th for iOS and Android. More platforms have not been revealed yet. I’m looking forward to playing it on when it launches. Check out the official Songs of Travel game website here. What do you think of Songs of Travel so far?

New Releases

SaGa Emerald Beyond ($49.99)

A new SaGa game is upon us! And it’s on pretty much every platform, too. There’s no guarantee any given SaGa game will be quite like the last, but for its part Emerald Beyond doesn’t seem like a wild departure from Scarlet Grace. That’s a good thing in my books, because that game was outstanding and I expect this will be in the same ballpark of quality. I’ll be reviewing this on one platform or another very soon, it’s just a matter of which. Look for it soon, but the short answer is that SaGa fans will be in heaven and those who don’t know or like SaGa might have a tough time with it.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin ($29.99)

Get your booming and shooting on in this first-person shooter that does that trendy thing of paying homage to the 1990s era of the genre. Three hubs, fifteen maps, fifteen different enemy types, a bunch of cool artifacts to collect, and a soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult of Dusk and Quake Champions fame. Our pal Mikhail will be doing a review of this game, since he’s been on a serious boomer shooter kick of late. If nothing else, it’s nice to see some Quake-inspired games now and then.

Another Crab’s Treasure ($29.99)

You know, I appreciate that someone is out there making Soulslikes that aren’t just Grimdark McShadow affairs. In this one, you’re a hermit crab that finds itself in need of battling creatures a lot bigger and stronger than it. Luckily you can find all kinds of things to use as shells, and each of them will offer their own specific benefits. Certainly an interesting approach to a well-worn genre, but we’ll have to see how it plays. I haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with it yet, so all I can say it that it looks good and I think the set-up is clever.

Arcade Archives Numan Athletics ($7.99)

Ah, now we’re getting to the choice cuts of the Bandai Namco catalog. This is 1993’s Numan Athletics, a track-and-field style multi-event sports games featuring superhuman athletes called Numans. As these button-slapping sports games go, this is a really fun one. It’s ridiculously over the top, and the gameplay is a lot of fun. Up to four people can play together, though since this is Arcade Archives it means you’re limited to local multiplayer. Still, a great game and I’m happy to see it in the Arcade Archives library.

The Epyx Collection: Handheld ($11.99)

Now here’s a deal of sorts. While the publisher can’t say the words, I can: Atari Lynx. These are Atari Lynx games, six of them in total, and they’re some of the games people most strongly associate with the hardware. The Lynx was a creation of Epyx before Atari bought it from them, and a large chunk of the launch line-up was developed by them before they went kaput. Well, this isn’t a history lesson. You get California Games, Todd’s Adventures in Slime World, Zarlor Mercenary, Electrocop, Blue Lightning, and Gates of Zendocon here, and while the wrapper itself is a bit lean on features, it gets the job done. This is a good value for an interesting assortment of games. Frankly, a better bunch of Lynx games than the ones we saw in Atari 50.

Library of Ruina ($39.99)

Arc System Works: it doesn’t just publish fighting games and riffs off of old Technos Japan releases. Sometimes it releases other things, like this Switch version of the well-regarded library battle simulation game by ProjectMoon. Follow the story but be ready to throw down library-style at any given moment, and by library-style I mean using a variety of pages to take down your foes. Can you complete the One Absolute Book that the mysterious librarian Angela has requested? And what will happen if you do? Our pal Mikhail will be doing a review of this one so stay tuned for that.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! ($59.99)

When you think of Demon Slayer, you naturally think of one kind of video game: a board game. What? I don’t know either, but here we go. This is pretty much Mario Party but with Demon Slayer characters, offering up some local multiplayer fun for up to four players. Roll the dice, traverse the board, play some minigames, and try to become the strongest Demon Slayer swordsman. I mean, in some sense, I get it. This brand managed to attract fans of all ages, and not all of them are going to be looking for standard action games. Maybe this one suits them better?

Adventure Bar Story ($19.99)

Now this is a bit of an oldie, isn’t it? The first time I saw this was via its mobile release, where it scratched the itch for an Atelier-style experience on a platform bereft of any official ones. Then it was on the Nintendo 3DS, where it also filled a particular niche. And now I guess it’s on everything. The price keeps going up with each release, too. That leaves us in a weird place. This is a charming little crafting RPG, but at twenty dollars this flip-phone era relic is creeping dangerously close to the price of far more fully-featured modern games. At any rate, here it is if you want it. Still just three bucks on mobile if you’re looking to save some money.

Whisker Waters ($24.99)

A fishing RPG starring your own custom cat character. I mean, it could work? This one is meant to be a lighter game, so expect a generally whimsical tone as you chill out and fish up a bunch of fish. You’ll have to make friends with the locals, and it would behoove you to assist them with their requests. It looks cute, but I haven’t had a chance to play it yet so I can’t speak to its quality. I will say that we can always use another fishing RPG, though. Where did River King go, Natsume? Get me another one of those sometime! For now, I’ll wade into the Whisker Waters and see what’s what.

S.O.L. Search of Light ($19.99)

That… that is quite the title, isn’t it? This is a narrative exploratory puzzle platformer with some base defense elements. Quite the word salad, but hopefully you can get the gist of it. The dining doesn’t look particularly fancy here, but looks have been known to deceive at times. This is yet another one I haven’t had the opportunity to play yet, so I can’t speak to the most important stuff. Yes, if you were looking for any experienced opinions on this game, I’m afraid you’re… S.O.L.. Ha! Nailed it.

Romance MD: Always On Call ($34.99)

It is 2024, and there is time for smooching! The latest visual novel dating sim release on Switch from Voltage follows the story of a young doctor who is starting work in the ICU at Seimei University Hospital. As if getting to grips with the job isn’t enough, she soon finds herself surrounded by a bunch of hunky doctor weirdos. Which one, if any, will she smooch? The power… is yours!

Our Field Trip Adventure ($14.50)

You know, I’ll at least grant that this is both a fun theme for a minigame collection and one that you don’t see often if at all. Up to four players can join in via local multiplayer, and there are ten different events to play. Pillow fights! Taking pictures! Hiding from the teacher! Gathering deer! Okay, that last one is pretty specific to Japanese field trips, but still… cute. If you’ve enjoyed SAT-BOX’s other releases or just want to try something a little different for your gaming nights, this might be worth looking into.

Doctor Cat ($4.99)

There’s an interesting framing device here about cats seeking therapy, but it’s all in service to a rather plain puzzler. You can probably gather from the above screenshot what the gameplay consists of, and it’s basically a very simple matter of arranging tiles to make the pictures. Perhaps that is what you want? I’m not the duke of your bank account.

Mine Sweeper Millon ($3.99)

Even the title screen says “Million“, but the shop entry says “Millon" so I am going with that. At any rate, this is Mine Sweeper. Exactly Mine Sweeper. But it has one extra gimmick up its sleeve, and that’s the alternate board you can play on. The basic 16 x 16 grid is available here, but you can also play on a 1000 x 1000 grid if you want. Yes, that is one million cells. No, you don’t have to do it all in one sitting. If you can finish the big board, you have my respect and concern.

Purple Slime Production Line ($1.99)

Your goal in this little game is to manipulate gravity to guide the slimes to their destination. Try not to get too many of them splattered in the process. Might be okay for two bucks.

Escape Game The Dr. Mouse’s Lab ($9.99)

Solve the puzzles and make your escape… from the lab of a mouse who graduated med school!

Cape’s Escape Game 8th Room ($9.80)

Solve the puzzles and make your escape… from gaming!

The Bin Bunch

Teared ($7.99)

World War: Battle of the Bulge ($14.99)

Hentai Girls: Steamy Maid ($5.99)

Timberdoku ($7.99)

Cats Hidden in Italy ($0.99)

The Eerie Surroundings ($3.99)

Hidden Cats in New York ($2.99)

Home Office Simulator – Ayame Life Sim ($9.99)

Five Nights of Nightmare: Escape Horror Story ($4.99)

Dash & Roll ($9.99)

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

As mentioned in the intro, Golden Week is about to start here in Japan. Not every sale from the Japanese eShop has activated in other regions, but enough of them have to give us a very large list of new sales indeed. I’ll leave it to you to comb through that list, along with the more svelte list of outgoing sales.

Select New Sales

Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game ($39.99 until $49.99 until 5/4)
GTA The Trilogy Definitive Edition ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/6)
Red Dead Redemption ($34.99 from $49.99 until 5/6)
LEGO 2K Drive Awesome Edition ($29.39 from $69.99 until 5/6)
Borderlands Legendary Collection ($9.99 from $49.99 until 5/6)
Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/6)
New Tales from the Borderlands ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/6)
BioShock: The Collection ($9.99 from $49.99 until 5/6)
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI ($4.49 from $29.99 until 5/6)
Dragon Marked for Death ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Blaster Master Zero ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/9)
Blaster Master Zero 2 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/9)
Blaster Master Zero 3 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)

Luminous Avenger iX ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Luminous Avenger iX 2 ($12.49 from $24.99 until 5/9)
Gunvolt Records: Cychronicle ($11.99 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Bloodstained Curse of the Moon ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/9)
Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 ($5.99 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Gal Guardians: Demon Purge ($14.99 from $24.99 until 5/9)
Yohane the Parhelion: BitD ($22.49 from $29.99 until 5/9)
GRIP Digital Deluxe ($6.44 from $42.99 until 5/9)
Capcom Arcade Stadium Bundle ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Bundle ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Capcom Fighting Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Capcom Fighting Bundle ($24.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection ($9.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Onimusha Warlords ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)

Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection ($9.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Monster Hunter Generations Ult. ($9.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Monster Hunter Rise ($9.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Phoenix Wright AA Trilogy ($9.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective ($19.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Okami HD ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man Legacy Collection ($7.99 from $14.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man X Legacy Collection ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection ($9.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man Battle Network Collection 1 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Mega Man Battle Network Collection 2 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Resident Evil ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)

Resident Evil Revelations ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Archives Pac-Man ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Archives Galaxian ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Archives Ordyne ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Archives Dig Dug ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Archives Rolling Thunder ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/9)
ACA NEOGEO Real Bout Fatal Fury Special ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/9)
ACA NEOGEO Puzzled ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/9)
ACA NEOGEO Prehistoric Isle 2 ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/9)
ACA NEOGEO Last Resort ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/9)
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/9)
Little Noah: Scion of Paradise ($4.49 from $14.99 until 5/9)
SETTRIS ($2.99 from $4.99 until 5/10)
Ikkarus & the Prince of Sin ($6.49 from $9.99 until 5/10)
Alpha Particle ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/10)

Shepherd’s Crossing ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/10)
Froggie: A Retro Platformer ($3.49 from $4.99 until 5/10)
The Red Exile Survival Horror ($2.49 from $4.99 until 5/10)
Kasiori ($3.50 from $7.00 until 5/10)
Groove Coaster Wai Wai Party ($35.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Aragami 2 ($9.99 from $39.99 until 5/15)
Garfield Kart Furious Racing ($1.99 from $29.99 until 5/15)
Cloudpunk ($3.74 from $24.99 until 5/15)
Operation Wolf Returns: 1st Mission ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/15)
Sparklite ($3.74 from $24.99 until 5/15)
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf ($9.99 from $39.99 until 5/15)
Hercule Poirot: The First Cases ($5.99 from $29.99 until 5/15)
Murder on the Orient Express ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/15)
My Universe Puppies & Kittens ($2.49 from $24.99 until 5/15)
My Universe My Baby Dragon ($10.49 from $29.99 until 5/15)
Warm Snow ($11.99 from $19.99 until 5/15)

Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! ($6.24 from $24.99 until 5/15)
Octahedron: Transfixed Edition ($1.99 from $12.99 until 5/15)
Scrap Riders ($6.99 from $19.99 until 5/15)
Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission ($17.99 from $29.99 until 5/15)
Inspector Gadget Mad Time Party ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/15)
Overrogue ($8.99 from $14.99 until 5/16)
Cross Tails ($20.99 from $29.99 until 5/16)
Raging Bytes ($9.74 from $14.99 until 5/16)
Marenian Tavern Story ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/16)
Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/16)
RPGolf Legends ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/16)
Lazriel The Demon’s Fall ($9.10 from $11.47 until 5/16)
Harpoon Shooter Nozomi ($6.98 from $9.98 until 5/16)
Metro Quester ($14.99 from $19.99 until 5/16)
Silver Nornir ($8.99 from $14.99 until 5/16)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, April 26th

Alive Paint ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/26)
Burning Secrets ($2.99 from $4.99 until 4/26)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/26)
Freak Crossing ($2.99 from $4.99 until 4/26)
Horatio Goes Snowboarding ($2.44 from $6.99 until 4/26)
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 4/26)
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Deluxe ($34.99 from $69.99 until 4/26)
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Legendary ($44.99 from $89.99 until 4/26)
Magic Exposure ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/26)
MotoGP 23 ($9.99 from $39.99 until 4/26)
Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire Plus ($4.19 from $5.99 until 4/26)
Ravva & the Phantom Library ($5.99 from $9.99 until 4/26)
Rick Henderson ($2.79 from $7.99 until 4/26)
Slime Girl Smoothies ($8.99 from $14.99 until 4/26)
Takotan ($2.37 from $6.99 until 4/26)
Thunder Ray: Origins ($11.98 from $19.98 until 4/26)
Tricky Thief ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/26)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, plus whatever sales and major news items roll in over the course of the next twenty-four hours or so. I started work early today so that I wouldn’t have to stay late, and I’m going to be staying late anyway. I guess that’s just how it is on Thursdays now that sales have started popping off a day earlier than usual. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Cooking Mama: Cuisine! is celebrating Mother’s Day with strawberries as a limited-time ingredient. Japanese Rural Life Adventure has added landscape mode support on iOS. It was portrait only before. This lets you manually force the orientation change in-game. Zookeeper World brings in 12 new stages with more coming May 5th. With the updates done, head over to our forum threads for What The Golf? here Stitch. here, Cooking Mama: Cuisine! here, Solitaire Stories here, Japanese Rural Life Adventure here, Crossy Road Castle here, Zookeeper World here, Bloons TD Battles 2+ here, Fruit Ninja Classic+ here, and LEGO Duplo World+ here. Head over to our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of the new updates so far this month?

It has to be said that the last few updates have really made a big difference in the game’s overall meta. We’re seeing deck types that couldn’t even hope to scratch their way to the top breaking through, and that’s without having to kill too many other decks in the process. At some point some of these now-competitive decks will have to be reeled in a bit, but for now it’s nice to see some variety up at the top. You can almost feel that relief coming off of this OTA update, as it comes off less as damage control and more as trying to boost some cards that could use a little help. That said, there is one big red elephant in the room, so let’s get to him first.

Red Hulk is a very new card to the game, and even before he launched I could tell he was going to be trouble. He arrived as a 6-Cost 11-Power card with an ability that gave him +4 Power in any turn where your opponent had unspent Energy so long as he was in play or in your hand. That’s a very useful ability paired with some already beefy stats, and it didn’t take long for people to figure out how to exploit him. To that end, he’s gotten a little Power carved off from his stats, now coming in at 6-Cost 9-Power. That’s probably going to do the trick as far as mellowing him a bit without ruining him. Not great to see changes to a new card so quickly, but I’m sure Red Hulk players will live.

Okay, it’s all buffs from here, and the first is to yet another new card. U.S. Agent’s ability is, true to his nature, something of an inverse to Captain America’s. Instead of boosting his buds, he brings everyone down with an Ongoing ability that afflicts all 4-/5-/6-Cost cards at the location with a hit to their Power. Before this update, that damage was -3 Power. Now, he hits them for -4 Power. That’s substantial, to say the least. Perhaps that will help him see more use, since he seems to have come and gone almost immediately.

Three of Marvel’s popular heroines are getting a little boost to their Power, and as usual the hope is that the bump will encourage people to give them a try and maybe like them enough to keep them in the rotation. Jean Grey goes from 3-Cost 3-Power to 3-Cost 4-Power, Stature goes from 5-Cost 6-Power to 5-Cost 7-Power, and Jane Foster Thor goes from 5-Cost 8-Power to 5-Cost 9-Power. The last tweak is to good ol’ Mantis, who had her ability changed in a recent update and saw her stats adjusted a bit to compensate. Apparently it was a little too much of an over-correction, so her 2-Cost 2-Power is now 1-Cost 2-Power. Her ability is probably best used on a later turn, but being 1-Cost makes her easier to fit into any given point in a game.

That does it for this round of balance changes in Marvel Snap. The Red Hulk nerf should take a little wind out of the sails of nuisance decks, but only time will tell if all of those other buffs will have the desired effect. We often see Second Dinner offer up a single point of power to try to boost cards, but it’s rare to see it work for cards that just get no play at all. Fingers crossed, though. As someone who enjoys a good hammer-slinging deck now and then, I’m at least hoping this makes a difference for Jane. How about you? Do you use any of these cards, or will you use them now that their stats have been adjusted? Let us know in the comments!

Alongside this update announcement, HoYoverse announced that the Honkai Star Rail Concert will be streamed on YouTube on May 1st. I’m definitely going to watch some of it depending on how long the concert is. If you’ve not gotten it yet, you can download Honkai Star Rail on the App Store for iOS here, on Google Play for Android here, and here on the Epic Games Store in addition to its regular PC version. Check it out here on PS5. Have you been playing Honkai Star Rail regularly since it launched on mobile, PC, and PS5 and what do you think of Honkai Star Rail 2.2 “Then Wake to Weep" so far from its trailer?

TouchArcade (TA): Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at Amanita Design.

Jakub Dvorský (JD): I’m director of Amanita Design, a studio based in Prague, Czech Republic, which I founded 20 years ago. I started as an artist and animator, nowadays I’m mostly a game designer and project lead.

TA: Before covering the games you worked on that most of our readers know and love, I wanted to go back a bit. Let’s talk about Dračí Historie and how you’ve changed as a designer over the years since then to now. What learnings have you taken from those older games and even early Amanita Design titles to your current work?

JD: Dračí historie (Dragon’s History) is a traditional point’n’click adventure and it’s the first game I worked on as an animator. It was released in 1996 I think so it really is history now. Since then I’m still learning, mostly how to make game design, how to create games more effectively and how to collaborate in a team. I’ve learnt a few tricks which seem absolutely obvious but everybody needs to go through some mistakes and find their own way. For example, now I know it’s really important to think everything through before you start producing all the art assets and building the game for real. I know prototyping and playtesting is important and inevitable. I had heard this wisdom before, but now I KNOW that it’s true. Personal experience helps a lot.

Image source.

TA: Have you ever revisited your older games like Asmodeus and Dračí Historie?

JD: No I haven’t, but I revisited early Samorosts and other things many times – these are more important for me. I’ve noticed a lot of things I would do better now but some aspects of these games still work well and it’s interesting to realize it and learn from it.

TA: Samorost was the first Amanita Design release, but almost everyone I know, and myself, discovered your work through Machinarium. Tell us a little bit about how you approached that project.

JD: While the first two Samorost games were small (primarily web-based) projects, Machinarium was intended as our first proper or full-length game for PC. The main game mechanic comes directly from Samorost but it’s a more traditional adventure game, with an inventory, menu and everything. Also the puzzles are harder and it’s aimed at gamers rather than the general public, even though it’s still quite accessible even for non-gamers if they are interested. Luckily this approach worked well, the game was a success so we ported it to many other platforms including mobile.

TA: I still adore Botanicula, the release that followed Machinarium, and loved playing it on iPad. How was it for Amanita Design to start working with Apple’s iPhone and iPad back then?

JD: Our games are and always were great for touch controls so it was natural and obvious we needed to bring our games on mobile platforms. When I first tried the iPad I fell in love, because it had a fantastic hi-res screen with beautiful colors, which wasn’t the case for most of the PC screens at that time. Also you could play our games on a couch or in a bed, which was fantastic.

TA: I think Machinarium is your most ported game ever with it even coming to PS Vita, Blackberry Playbook, and Xbox One. Aside from that, your games are usually on mobile and PC consistently with Switch sometimes. How has it been for the team working on so many platforms?

JD: Of course it’s a lot of additional work and hassle to get and maintain our games on so many platforms. However each platform has a slightly different audience and its own advantages and drawbacks so it’s interesting to get the games on as many of them as possible. Besides PC and mobile we are now also focused on consoles and game controller playing which is very satisfying when it’s made right.

TA: Can you tell us a little bit about the educational game you worked on for the BBC?

JD: The game was called Questionaut. It was a little Flash game built around quizzes from various school subjects such as physics, chemistry or mathematics. We created a tiny planet – a little puzzle for each theme – and the main character traveled from one to another with a blimp. It was fun to make it, but we did it just to make some money so we can finish our own work-in-progress project Machinarium.

TA: In recent years, it feels like Amanita Design has been pushing creative boundaries even more, and I love everything being shown. How involved are you in titles like Happy Game and the upcoming Phonopolis?

JD: Happy Game was created by Jara Plachy, author of Chuchel and Botanicula. It’s so weird and distinctive that it was almost impossible to help him with design decisions. Phonopolis is still in development by a new team in Amanita that hasn’t released a game yet. I’m helping mostly with game design ideas and currently also with the production pipeline as we are slowly getting closer to the finish line.

TA: Pilgrims on Apple Arcade was a lovely game, and it recently saw a standalone mobile release following it leaving the service. Is there any chance Amanita Design will do more short games like that?

JD: We don’t have anything like Pilgrims in the making right now, but it might change in the future. I enjoyed this little experiment a lot.

TA: Out of the many games you’ve worked on before and with Amanita Design, what is your favorite, and looking back is there any game you wish you had done more with?

JD: My favorite is by far the one I’m working on right now, which is unfortunately still unannounced so I can’t talk about it.

TA: Tell us a little bit about working with Apple on the Apple Arcade releases. Will there be more Apple Arcade games in the future?

JD: Apple Arcade started at the right time for us as we had 2 games nearing the release when Apple approached us. So we were able to release both of them (Creaks and Pilgrims) on Arcade quite soon. AA helped us to reach a new big audience and it was also beneficial financially. Apple had a clear vision of what kind of games they wanted to support on Apple Arcade and why. Unfortunately this vision changed since then so I’m not sure about the future of this service.

TA: I mentioned how I discovered Amanita Design through Machinarium, but the most impressive thing back then was seeing it have a vinyl soundtrack available. I missed the original pressings sadly, but this and Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery have amazing music with vinyl releases. Amanita Design has always been doing vinyl releases and I’m glad to see it. How has it been doing those releases over the years with how the vinyl industry has been growing?

JD: We’ve had an amazing partnership with Dan Dudarec from Minority Records – a Czech indie music label – ever since the first Machinarium vinyl pressing. He’s been doing all the production work, schedules reissues, deals with manufacturing plants, helps with distribution… And it’s very much thanks to him that all of our vinyl releases – except for the two limited editions – continue to be available. The Machinarium LP is without a doubt our most popular piece of merchandise – it received its 12th pressing last year!

In general we just love vinyl. It’s probably the prettiest, most tactile music format out there. There’s just something magical about a large spinning disk that has grooves in it that contain music… They come in all sorts of colors and transparencies these days, and with some art prints included, it’s a nice collectible even if you don’t own a turntable.

TA: In the latest issue of EDGE magazine, the feature on Phonopolis mentioned how it is Amanita Design’s first proper 3D world. I always thought it looked incredible, but this stood out to me. Has it been the largest project for the studio?

JD: It’s undoubtedly been our longest and most complicated project to date. The art and animation techniques, as well as the entire creation process, are incredibly challenging and time-consuming. Nevertheless, we remain committed to the original vision. No matter how long it takes, we’re a stubborn group of developers.

TA: Is there any chance we see Phonopolis on mobile soon after or at launch?

JD: Mobile is part of the plan, but I can’t say if it’s sooner or later after its PC launch.

TA: What’s next for Jakub Dvorský?

JD: A couple more games to make and that’s it. Life goes fast.

TA: What have you been playing lately and what was your favorite game of 2023?

JD: I played The Case of the Golden Idol, Viewfinder, Storyteller and The Invincible – all great games which I fully recommend. Currently I’m stuck with Balatro which is fantastic and unfortunately too addictive.

TA: How do you like your coffee?

JD: Black, Turkish coffee is preferred but I drink mostly green tea and Pu-erh anyway.

I’d like to thank Jakub Dvorský and Lukas Kunce for their time and help here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with Akitoshi Kawazu, Kenji Ito, and Tomokazu Shibata here, Dave Oshry of New Blood, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

The highlights of this week in this category are reviews for Sand Land and Bitwave Games’ new set of Toaplan shmups with a preview for Simogo and Annapurna Interactive’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Steam Deck Preview

Having played games on iOS since the App Store launched, I’ve been a huge fan of Simogo across the developer’s older and newer titles. The likes of Year Walk and Device 6 are all-time greats. After Simogo brought many games to iOS, the App Store slowly changed, and it felt like the boutique games Simogo was known for wouldn’t be economically feasible anymore. We started seeing ports and games announced for other platforms from the developer. Sayonara Wild Hearts did make it to iOS through Apple Arcade thankfully, but nothing has been announced for Lorelei and the Laser Eyes yet. I will basically play Simogo games on literally any platform they release on, and that’s where this preview comes into the picture. I had a chance to play Simogo’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes on Steam Deck early, and I’m blown away by it after just two hours with it.

If you are interested in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes and will be getting it at launch, stop reading this preview right now (but DO read the rest of this article) and go in with as little information as possible. I won’t spoil anything here, but I’m glad I got to experience Lorelei and the Laser Eyes without knowing much about it outside of two trailers. This preview is only going to cover the early parts and will not reveal anything about the puzzles or solutions.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes has you playing as a woman who has been summoned to an old hotel. Right from the get go, you will start to see Simogo’s genius with its game mechanics and visuals. It is a simple game to control with one main interaction button and a movement option, but the simplistic interaction will have you rotating through menus quite a bit as you go through your possessions, mental notes, and more in-game. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes feels like it brings the best of Simogo so far blended into something that feels equal parts fresh and familiar, but the latter is only a facade. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is full of surprises, and I cannot wait to play more. I recommend having a notebook or note taking app near you when you do play it.

We’ve seen Simogo post about it running well on Steam Deck and Switch, but I was curious how well it runs myself. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is gorgeous on the Steam Deck OLED, and it runs flawlessly out of the box with its 90fps target. I even played it docked on my 1440p display and it ran at 120fps or higher almost all the way in the time I’ve put into the game so far. I won’t be surprised to see it get Steam Deck Verified soon.

While the visuals are striking and I’m in love with everything on display, I want to highlight the great audio design in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes so far. This is one to play with a good set of headphones for sure, and it was actually the game that got me to grab one for my Steam Deck. I can’t wait for the full soundtrack.

I’ve only scratched the surface so far, but Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is shaping up to be spectacular, and it has the potential to be my favorite Simogo game yet alongside Device 6 and Sayonara Wild Hearts. I can’t wait to dig into the full game more and also check it out on Switch. Stay tuned for our full review closer to launch.

Sand Land Steam Deck Review

I approached Sand Land from ILCA and Bandai Namco Entertainment in two different ways. I hadn’t actually read the manga when the game was announced, and I decided to keep it that way until a bit later. I’m always curious to see how these adaptations work for newcomers and those who are familiar with the source material, and I think Sand Land does good on both fronts. I played Sand Land for a few days on Steam Deck after getting review code for the full version with no prior experience outside the demo. I then got the manga on Kindle to see how I felt about it. I’ve come away with a positive opinion of Sand Land on Steam Deck, and I’m going to be replaying it on PS5 in the future.

If you’re new to Sand Land, this game is based on the manga by the late Akira Toriyama that also has an anime going on. Sand Land, the game, is an action RPG with vehicular combat, excellent character designs, music, and has been a joy to play almost all the way with its customization, quests, and how it looks and feels on Steam Deck. It even has elements of base building and interesting interactions with a colorful cast of characters. There are open world-like zones to explore, but they aren’t anything to write home about. You’re here for the vehicular combat and story, and it delivers on those fronts. This isn’t just the usual anime or manga licensed game for sure, and I’m glad to see the developer continue to release great adaptations.

The Steam version of Sand Land lets you adjust window mode (fullscreen, borderless, windowed), resolution, v-sync, resolution scale, frame limit, anti-aliasing quality, shadow quality, toggle motion blur, toggle depth of field, texture quality, and post-processing quality. I used a combination of medium and high here as shown in the image to get it looking great while running stable on my Steam Deck OLED. There are parts that can run well above 60fps, but the open world can struggle so I opted to aim for a stable frame rate with good image quality.

On Steam Deck, after testing a few different presets, settings, and tweaking things, I settled on playing it at 30fps for a more stable experience rather than opting for 45fps or 40fps like I normally do on games that can’t hit 60 or 90fps on Deck. You can opt for a higher frame rate but will need to turn the resolution below 720p (or reduce the scaling) to aim for the likes of 40 with minor drops in the open world. Sand Land doesn’t have 16:10 support despite some screen mode options causing it to look like it does. It seems like this is bugged and I hope it gets fixed. One more setting I recommend changing is the camera sensitivity under control settings. The default is too sluggish. I turned it to above 75 for the best experience.

In its current state, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sand Land is marked as Steam Deck Playable because the only potential issue will be the font size that is on the smaller end for the Steam Deck’s screen. I hope 16:10 aspect ratio support is added soon as well.

Some of the quests and open world activities felt repetitive, but on the whole Sand Land is one of the better adaptations we’ve seen from the publisher. Whenever Bandai Namco Entertainment announces a new project like this, I never know whether it will be worth my time or not. Thankfully, Sand Land ended up delivering and is worth your time on Steam Deck. I definitely recommend trying out the free demo if you aren’t sure it is for you.

Sand Land Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

Toaplan Arcade Shoot’em Ups 4 Steam Deck Review

Bitwave Games is back with the newest and final set of Toaplan shoot ’em ups in Toaplan Arcade Shoot’em Ups 4 on PC platforms. The collection launched over a week ago as a bundle and individual releases, and there is even an ultimate bundle for those who own or want to own all 16 games at a discount. As with Volume 3, I’m going to cover the games themselves, but also the collection since I usually recommend getting the bundles for a better discount. Volume 4 includes Truxton 2, Twin Hawk, Grind Stormer, and Dogyuun.

When Bitwave launched the first three collections, there were issues that have slowly been addressed and I still consider the day one launch as an early access release for those titles. A similar thing has happened with Toaplan Arcade Shoot’em Ups 4, but the glaring issue with one specific game has been mostly addressed. I’ll get into the individual games in a bit. As with prior Bitwave releases, the games in Toaplan Arcade Shoot’em Ups 4 include the same options. These games are presented as their arcade versions with different regional editions (if applicable), save states, rewind options, a few visual options, sound options, assist options, and more. The games are very lightweight clocking in at a few MB each, and they boot up instantly on PC platforms.

I played the games on Steam Deck using the controls on the system itself and also with my Haute42 Board mini and 8BitDo Arcade Stick. There were no issues with any control option here as expected.

As usual, my main complaint for the overall package is the lack of any extras like interviews, and also the font used in the menus which makes it look very bad. Thankfully the games themselves look good, but I hope that the main wrapper font can be changed since all four collections are now available. Now, onto the games themselves.

Truxton 2 Steam Deck Review

Originally released back in 1992, Truxton 2 is a sequel to Truxton, and it has gorgeous visuals. It is also quite difficult, but really has been the game in this set I’ve revisited the most since getting access to it. As a vertical shmup, Truxton 2 has excellent gameplay, and I’m glad to see the audio issues get addressed quite a bit with updates following the launch. It isn’t perfect, but I’m pleased with the current state of Truxton 2, and it plays flawlessly on Steam Deck with Steam Remote Play Together support.

Truxton 2 Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

Twin Hawk Steam Deck Review

Twin Hawk is an 1989-released vertical scrolling shmup from Toaplan that has an alternate World War II setting. This one is a bit different to Toaplan’s usual shmup settings with its visuals and the real star is the music of the package aside from the gameplay of course. Overall, I did enjoy my time with Twin Hawk, but I hope the sound emulation can be improved a bit because having heard Twin Hawk’s music before playing it, the end result here is a bit lacking. Aside from that, I recommend this release, and love how well it plays on Steam Deck. It definitely made me interested in the Evercade version if I ever decide to get one of those.

Twin Hawk Steam Deck Review Score: 3.5/5

Grind Stormer Steam Deck Review

Toaplan’s 1993-released vertically scrolling shmup Grind Stormer, considered a successor to Slap Fight, has been one of the biggest surprises so far from Bitwave’s releases. I’ve enjoyed experiencing it for the first time, and the quality of life features helped make it easier to play through initially. While the visuals and music are excellent in Grind Stormer, the gameplay is the real star. Grind Stormer also includes the V・V regional version which is worth checking out. I just hope the few small audio issues get resolved in updates.

Grind Stormer Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

Dogyuun Steam Deck Review

1992-released vertical shmup Dogyuun is a stunner of a game with its environments and design. I hadn’t played it before this release in any form, and didn’t even bother checking out any footage of it barring that trailer. It floored me with its gorgeous visuals for the time and music. I think it is now one of my favorite Toaplan shmups with its setting and unique mechanics. Dogyuun makes me wish Bitwave did galleries and museum modes in these releases because I want to see more of this art. If you only want to grab one of the games from this bundle, Dogyuun is my favorite.

Dogyuun Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

As a newcomer to most of Toaplan’s games, I appreciate what Bitwave Games has done with low-cost and lightweight versions on PC, but the developer needs to be better about how it launches these games. I’m sure the games will improve more after a few weeks as prior releases did and they already have in ways. In its current state, I can recommend these games if you’re new to Toaplan and want to try out some interesting shmups on Steam Deck at a low cost of entry. If you’ve already played the originals and want a more detailed comparison with different versions, stay tuned for something Shaun is working on.

Toaplan Arcade Shoot’em Ups 4 Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

News and Trailers

Before game-specific news, Valve has some changes to how early access (time wise) unlocks work and refunds on Steam. This has now been called Advanced Access and will be indicated on the store page for the relevant editions as spotted by SteamDB. The time played during this will also count towards the refund period (via GamingOnLinux). Check out a screenshot from SteamDB for the new Advanced Access below:

Digital Eclipse just announced that its remaster of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord will be leaving Steam Early Access and hitting 1.0 on May 23rd. It will also be available on consoles the same day. This 3D remaster was excellent from the start, and I can’t wait to replay it with 1.0 on Steam Deck.

Capcom has started streaming the first two episodes of Monster Hunter Stories Ride On anime on YouTube until March 2025. Pre-orders are also now live for the remaster of the original Monster Hunter Stories for Steam and consoles for $29.99. There will be bundles with Monster Hunter Stories 2 on Steam at launch if you’d like to grab both games together. Watch the first episode of the anime below:

Patattie Games just announced Wax Heads, a puzzle narrative sim hybrid coming to Steam on Windows and Linux, and it is already one of my most anticipated games to play for whenever it releases. It already looked amazing before I saw the vinyl collection and mechanics. More information on this will be revealed soon, but you can watch the trailer for it below:

Wired Productions had its Wired Direct 24 showcase with new games, release dates, and updates showcased for many of its titles. The highlights include Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles’ free DLC, Hotel Architect coming to early access, Lumote getting a new co-op mode, and more. Watch the full showcase below (It starts after 55 minutes of the video):

Atlus finally announced the release date for Metaphor: ReFantazio, the developer’s new fantasy RPG. Metaphor: ReFantazio launches for Steam and consoles on October 11th worldwide, and it even has a collector’s edition for consoles that looks excellent with a SteelBook. Metaphor: ReFantazio pre-orders have started going up as well. Metaphor: ReFantazio got a new trailer which looks incredible. Watch it below:

Granblue Fantasy: Relink version 1.2.0 is now live on PS5, PS4, and Steam with new playable characters, quests, and additional content. This update also adds support for additional paid DLC including some more item and upgrade sets. The next major update for the game arrives in May. Watch the trailer for today’s update below:

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

A lot more notable Steam Deck Verified games this week and also some games I expected would be Verified much sooner like Botany Manor. SaGa Emerald Beyond should be Verified because the text size isn’t smaller than other games that Valve marks Verified anyway, and it is best on Steam Deck out of all platforms. Sea of Thieves moves from Verified to Playable, but hopefully Rare can fix that. Another Crab’s Treasure has also been great on Deck, so I’m not surprised to see it get rated already.

• Another Crab’s Treasure – Verified
• Backpack Battles – Verified
• Botany Manor – Verified
• Capes – Playable
• Centipede: Recharged – Playable
• Crow Country – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Death Come True – Verified
• Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Fallout 4 – Verified
• Gigantic: Rampage Edition – Playable
• Gravitar: Recharged – Playable
• GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle Steam Deck – Playable
• Holo X Break – Playable
• Heading Out – Playable

• Little Kitty, Big City – Verified
• Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place – Verified
• Paragon Pioneers 2 – Playable
• PONG Quest – Playable
• qomp – Verified
• Reigns Beyond – Verified
• SaGa Emerald Beyond – Playable
• Sea of Thieves – Playable
• SimCity 3000 – Playable
• Surmount – Verified
• Terra Memoria – Playable
• Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom – Verified

Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts

The main Steam Golden Week Sale hosted by Komodo is also now live with loads of discounts on the likes of Fire Pro Wrestling World, Trails of Cold Steel, Trials of Mana, Atelier, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Octopath Traveler, and more. The individual publisher Golden Week Sale pages are also live. Check out Tekken 8’s first discount and more from Bandai Namco here. Capcom’s Golden Week Sale is still on with good discounts on Monster Hunter World, Rise, Sunbreak, and more. From Square Enix’s Golden Week Sale, I recommend NieR Automata and STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN Sun, 28 Apr 2024 13:08:17 +0100 dorigames SwitchArcade, Round-Up:, ‘Class, Heroes’, ‘Toridama, 2’, Plus, Today’s, Other, New, Releases, and, the, Latest, Sales Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 26th, 2024. We’ve reached the end of another week, and that means we have to mop up the remaining releases before we put it in the books. There are a few interesting titles in the bunch, and we’ve got summaries of all the games worth summarizing. After that, we’ve got another hefty list of new sales to check out. Those Golden Week sales won’t stop popping! The weekend sales outbox is also here, but it’s a lot smaller. Well, let’s get to the getting on with it!

New Releases

Class of Heroes 1 & 2: Complete Edition ($34.99)

Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition ($19.99)

Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition ($19.99)

Once upon a time, there was a PlayStation that was also portable. It had its own games and everything, no streaming needed. This “PlayStation Portable" played host to quite a few cool RPGs, including a series called Class of Heroes that was kicked off by the developer behind a lot of the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs. These games are basically that developer’s style of Wizardry game but with a more colorful vibe. At any rate, here are the first two games in that series, fully playable on your Switch in remastered form. I’ll be doing a review of both of these soon, but if you like your dungeon crawlers and don’t mind them a bit hard to gnaw on, you’ll probably enjoy these.

Zombies, Aliens and Guns ($5.99)

This is one heck of an ugly aesthetic, but what can you do? Anyway, this is a top-down shooter featuring more than thirty stages of zombie- and alien-blasting action. You get the usual things, like different weapon and some big boss battles, and you can’t fault the variety in stage themes. There are worse ways to spend six bucks, especially if you have a friend in the vicinity to play it with you.

TORIDAMA2: Brave Challenge ($7.99)

Toridama was a fun little surprise when it came out a few years back, and it’s nice to see it get a follow-up. The idea behind the original game and its sequel is that you have to play a bunch of minigames that test your nerves. Hold out as long as you possibly can, push things to the absolute limit, and so on to maximize your score. This time around there are twenty-five minigames to play, and that bizarre sense of humor that made the first game such a kick is here in full effect. If you enjoy games like Wario Ware or Rhythm Heaven, give this a shot.

Horrific Xanatorium ($7.99)

Always interesting when KEMCO releases something that isn’t a generic turn-based RPG. This is a visual novel set in a world ravaged by a pandemic that causes all those infected with it to suffer from delusions and hallucinations. The protagonist has been infected and his sister has taken him to a sanitorium to recover. He soon starts to harbor suspicions about the hospital director, and sees monsters lurking around. Surely an effect of the virus… or is it?

Tell Me Your Story ($10.99)

Standard RedDeer Games warning: do not buy this game at full price. The publisher intentionally inflates the normal price to make it look more appealing when it does its regular deep discounts. One should be applied to this game by the time you read this, I suspect. That disclaimer aside, this is a cute story based game about a girl who is going through her grandmother’s things with her, listening to her stories about them. You’ll solve various little puzzles as you play, and none of it is very strenuous. Depending on your mood, this might be of interest to you.

Tales From The Under-Realm: Hazel ($11.99)

Another visual novel from Gamuzumi, which means it was probably very lewd in its original form and has to settle for being slightly lewd here on Switch. A witch named Hazel is thrown into a prison cell with an assassin named Sasha. The other main character in the plot is Tori, a paladin who is interrogating her. You’ll have to make some choices as you work your way through the story, and those choices will determine where the story ends up. Trust an assassin, or trust a holy cop? Your call.

The Bin Bunch

Dracula VS Monsters ($4.99)

Cyberpoly RPG – Dark City ($9.99)

Life Bubble ($7.99)

Finding America: The Pacific Northwest Collector’s Edition ($9.99)

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Let’s pick out a few interesting things from these sales, shall we? Axiom Verge 2 is cheaper than it’s ever been on the eShop, and so is Arcade Paradise. Solid good times with both of those. In the Square Enix end of things, the Voice of Cards games are at new low prices, and so are games like Dragon Quest Treasures and Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song. Do note that this list is curated; most of Square Enix’s library is on sale right now. Have a nice look through and see what grabs you.

Select New Sales

Axiom Verge 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/2)
Innocence Island ($1.99 from $19.99 until 5/2)
Super Mega Baseball 4 ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/7)
Burnout Paradise Remastered ($5.99 from $29.99 until 5/7)
Fe ($3.99 from $19.99 until 5/7)
Sentimental Death Loop ($11.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Arcade Paradise ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest ($40.19 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Harvestella ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Paranormasight ($11.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest Monsters: Dark Prince ($20.19 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Tactics Ogre: Reborn ($24.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line ($24.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song ($14.99 from $24.99 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest Treasures ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest Treasures Deluxe ($32.49 from $64.99 until 5/9)

Octopath Traveler ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Octopath Traveler II ($35.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII ($24.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Deluxe ($34.99 from $69.99 until 5/9)
NieR Automata ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
The DioField Chronicle ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
NEO: The World Ends With You ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Dungeon Encounters ($11.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TBoB ($11.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TBoB + DLC ($15.19 from $37.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TFM ($11.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TFM + DLC ($15.19 from $37.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TIDR ($11.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards TIDR + DLC ($15.19 from $37.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards Trilogy ($29.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Voice of Cards Trilogy + DLC ($38.99 from $64.99 until 5/9)

SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions ($8.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)
Collection of Mana ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest ($2.99 from $4.99 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest II ($3.89 from $6.49 until 5/9)
Dragon Quest III ($7.49 from $12.49 until 5/9)
Final Fantasy XII TZA ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Final Fantasy VII ($6.39 from $15.99 until 5/9)
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Rayman Legends DE ($7.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
OddBallers ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Livestream 2: EfTHP ($17.49 from $24.99 until 5/9)
Mechblaze ($7.99 from $9.99 until 5/9)
Maid of the Dead ($16.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Witch’s Rhythm Puzzle ($3.99 from $4.99 until 5/9)
Touhou Spell Bubble ($27.49 from $54.99 until 5/9)
Demon Sword: Incubus ($9.99 from $14.99 until 5/9)

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown ($29.99 from $49.99 until 5/9)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World DE ($4.89 from $14.99 until 5/9)
9th Dawn III ($7.99 from $15.99 until 5/10)
A-Train All Aboard Tourism ($41.99 from $59.99 until 5/10)
Neo ATLAS 1469 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 5/10)
Fate/Samurai Remnant ($40.19 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Atelier Ryza ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Atelier Ryza 2 ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Atelier Ryza 3 ($38.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Samurai Warriors 5 ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Touken Ranbu Warriors ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Blue Reflection Second Light ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/13)
Super Cyborg ($1.99 from $6.99 until 5/14)
Jumbo Airport Story ($7.00 from $14.00 until 5/15)
Mega Mall Story ($6.00 from $12.00 until 5/15)

Dead in Vinland: True Viking ($5.59 from $27.99 until 5/16)
Mechstermination Force ($1.99 from $11.99 until 5/16)
Retro City Rampage DX ($4.49 from $14.99 until 5/16)
Human: Fall Flat ($5.99 from $19.99 until 5/16)
Panzer Dragoon Remake ($2.49 from $24.99 until 5/16)
KnifeBoy Rebooted ($5.49 from $14.99 until 5/16)
Unables ($8.70 from $12.99 until 5/16)
The Jump Guys ($9.09 from $12.99 until 5/16)
Rising Dusk ($7.90 from $9.90 until 5/16)
Flooded ($6.49 from $12.99 until 5/16)
Retro Revengers ($7.90 from $9.90 until 5/16)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Fire Race ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Kao the Kangaroo ($10.49 from $29.99 until 4/27)
Mimi the Cat: Mimi’s Scratcher ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
PuzzlePet: Feed Your Cat ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Sokobalien ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Storyblocks: The King ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)
Wild Seas ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/27)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more reviews, more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. Technically I am heading into a week of holidays here, but I can’t afford that so I’ll be back here manning my post as usual. Fortunately, I enjoy my work for the most part. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

There’s not really much to say that you wouldn’t already know from playing previous Dadish games. Running, jumping, avoiding enemies, light puzzle solving, and rescuing an adorable but mischievous adolescent radish at the end of each level is the order of the day in basically all the Dadish games, and that’s true here as well. In fact, the simplicity and purity of Dadish 3D is what I like so much about it. There are lots of cleverly designed levels here, 50 all told, and for as cute and simple as things may seem on the surface this is a game that will really test your platforming abilities.

Thankfully it’s low-stakes enough to never be annoying if you have trouble nailing a particular section. You have unlimited lives and will merely need to start the level over again upon failure, and since the levels are nicely bite-sized without being overly tiny that’s not too much of a punishment. And the feeling of satisfaction from successfully making your way through a gauntlet of enemies and hazards and moving platforms makes all the retries worth it in the end.

Don’t just take my word for it though. ALL the Dadish games are completely free to play with ads, and all have a one-time IAP you can purchase to remove those ads and make it a full blown premium experience. It’s the best pay model in my opinion, and if you have yet to try a Dadish game then you need to remedy that as soon as humanly possible. There just aren’t that many 3D platformers on mobile, so Dadish 3D’s arrival is a welcome one, and it makes things all that much sweeter that it’s a fun and challenging game to boot.

Don’t forget to shoot us emails with any questions, feedback, or anything else relevant or irrelevant to podcast@toucharcade.com. We read ’em all, and love decoding messages written entirely in emoji. As always, you can listen to us with the links below… And if you like what you hear, please subscribe and/or drop us a review in iTunes. Much appreciated!

As a companion to this audio podcast, we also do a video version of the same show that is exclusive to Patreon which allows you to see us playing the games we’re talking about. Backers can view the most recent video episodes of the TouchArcade show by clicking here. Be sure you’re logged in to see the latest content. For everyone else who is curious, you can check out our public patreon posts to see older episodes of the video podcast. If you like what you see, consider becoming a TouchArcade Patreon backer.

Show Notes:

• Can the A30 beat the Miyoo Mini? [Retro Game Corp. on YouTube]
• Remastered ‘Advance Wars’-like Turn-Based Strategy Title ‘Warbits Plus’ is Launching on May 7th, Pre-Orders Live Now
• ‘Cassette Beasts’ Mobile Release Up for Pre-Order on the App Store, June 4th Release Date Listed
• ‘9th Dawn Remake’ Is a Complete Re-Imagining of the Original Game From Valorware, Hopefully Will Launch on Mobile As Well
• ‘Squad Busters’ Is a New Party Action Game From Supercell Featuring Characters From ‘Clash of Clans’, ‘Hay Day’, and More Coming May 29th Worldwide

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