Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 3rd, 2024. In today\u2019s article, I have a few more reviews for you. Some lengthy thoughts on Castlevania Dominus Collection<\/em>, a look at Shadow of the Ninja \u2013 Reborn<\/em>, and some quick critiques of a pair of Pinball FX<\/em> tables that recently arrived as DLC. After that, we check out the new releases of the day including the quirky and cool Bakeru<\/em>, then roll into the latest sales and expiring discounts for the day. Let\u2019s get into it!<\/p>\n Say what you will about Konami in the modern era, but it has been absolutely killing it with most of its classic collections. Castlevania<\/em> in particular has been enjoying a great deal of love in this regard, with Castlevania Dominus Collection<\/em> being its third on modern platforms. This time around, the focus is on the Nintendo DS trilogy of games in the franchise. The development chores have again been handled by M2, with the usual excellent results. But there\u2019s more here than meets the eye, and with everything taken into account this may well be the most essential Castlevania<\/em> collection yet.<\/p>\n I\u2019m getting ahead of myself, though. Let\u2019s talk about the main course first. The Nintendo DS era of Castlevania<\/em> was a historical one in some ways for the franchise, and not all of them good. On the positive side, all three of the games had a unique identity and make for a surprisingly varied trio. Dawn of Sorrow<\/em> is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow<\/em>. It hit very early in the Nintendo DS\u2019s life, and is thus cursed to some stupid touchscreen gimmicks that have thankfully been mitigated in this release. Portrait of Ruin<\/em> shoves the touchscreen nonsense into a bonus mode, relying on an interesting dual-character gimmick to distinguish itself. Order of Ecclesia<\/em> really mixes things up, with considerably higher difficulty than its predecessor and a design that calls back to Simon\u2019s Quest<\/em> of all games. All good games. Great even? Would recommend.<\/p>\n On the negative side, this was the last gasp of the run of exploratory Castlevania<\/em> games created by Koji Igarashi, who gave the series a kick in the pants with Symphony of the Night<\/em> when it needed it most. Returns were diminishing, and Konami thought it had a better play in MercurySteam\u2019s Lords of Shadow<\/em>. Well, hindsight is 20\/20 I suppose. Were these games so distinct from each other because IGA wanted to stretch his creative legs, or was it a desperate attempt to find something that would stick with an increasingly disinterested audience? We\u2019ll never know. I do remember at the time many people were feeling exhausted with this type of Castlevania<\/em>, and I will shamefully admit that despite buying them on day one every time and playing the heck out of them, I was also feeling like the series was falling into a rut. Don\u2019t it always seem to go that you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve got \u2019til it\u2019s gone?<\/p>\n So, weird thing here is that these games don\u2019t appear to be emulated, but are instead native ports. That allowed M2 to do neat things like replace the annoying touchscreen seals in Dawn with far more manageable button presses, and show you not only the main screen and the status screen at all times, but also the map as a third screen. What is this, a Nintendo TS? There are still some very DS-like aspects to these games, but they all had to work with a controller for docked mode, and so they all do. This actually makes Dawn of Sorrow<\/em> a lot better, and I would now put it within my top five Castlevania<\/em> games of all-time.<\/p>\n In terms of options and extras, there is plenty here. For general options, you get a choice of which region of each game you\u2019d like to play, the ability to swap confirm\/cancel button mapping, and the choice of whether you want the left stick to be mapped to character movement or the touch cursor. The latter is important for one of the bonus modes in Portrait of Ruin<\/em>. There is also an incredibly adorable credits sequence where one of the unsung heroes of the series achieves his dreams. Make sure you watch them. There\u2019s a nice gallery where you can view some art, manual scans, and box art for each of the three DS games. You can also listen to the music from all of the included games, and when the music is this good you know that\u2019s a treat. You can even make your own custom playlist of tunes.<\/p>\n Once in-game, you can make use of save states and a rewind feature, remap the controls as you like, adjust how the three screens are laid out, choose from a handful of background colors, and adjust the levels on the different audio elements. There is also an exhaustive compendium for each game, with information on equipment, enemies, items, and other points of interest. Pretty much anything you would need to enjoy these games to the maximum. About all I could ask for is perhaps a few other screen arrangement options that allow me to make the play area bigger, but that\u2019s a very minor nitpick. This is a great way to enjoy three very cool games, and for the price it\u2019s an absurd value.<\/p>\n But wait! There\u2019s more! The absolutely dreadful arcade Castlevania<\/em> game, Haunted Castle<\/em>, has been included here. I\u2019m not sure why it was left off the first collection and shunted to the otherwise shooter-heavy Konami arcade collection, but here it is. Here too you get a variety of options, including the virtually necessary option for unlimited continues. Seriously, this game is brutally unfair. Good music, a terrific opening that sees Simon in a snazzy tux, but the game itself is horrible and completely irredeemable. Or\u2026 is it<\/em>?<\/p>\n The last extra, and it feels ridiculous to call something so substantial an extra but it\u2019s M2\u2019s wording not mine, is a complete remake of Haunted Castle<\/em>. Much like when it took on the task of remaking Castlevania: The Adventure<\/em> with Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth<\/em> on the Nintendo Wii (please reissue all of the Rebirth<\/em> games), M2 basically took a look at the original game and decided to make a good one instead. Haunted Castle Revisited<\/em> takes a lot of cues from the arcade original, but it really does its own thing virtually from top to bottom. Yes, we have a new Castlevania<\/em> game! A very good one! It\u2019s tucked away in the Extras tab of a Nintendo DS collection, but it\u2019s here!<\/p>\n If you like Castlevania<\/em>, you really should buy Castlevania Dominus Collection<\/em>. There\u2019s an entire new Castlevania<\/em> game here and it kind of rules. You also get what you\u2019re ostensibly buying the collection for with the three Nintendo DS IGAvanias, presented in as fine a form as you could hope for. The original Haunted Castle<\/em> is also here. If, on the other hand, you don\u2019t like Castlevania<\/em>, we are not friends<\/em>. And finally, if you don\u2019t know Castlevania<\/em>, you should pick up all three of the collections and get to the good times. Another absolutely stellar showing from Konami and M2.<\/p>\n SwitchArcade Score: 5\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been through a bit of a roller coaster with Shadow of the Ninja \u2013 Reborn<\/em>. I\u2019ve enjoyed all of Tengo Project\u2019s releases so far, and I believe its versions of Wild Guns<\/em> and The Ninja Warriors<\/em> are definitive in every way. I had a few issues with Pocky & Rocky<\/em>, but overall that was also a very enjoyable romp. Shadow of the Ninja<\/em> seemed like a different kettle of fish in a lot of ways, however. The Tengo Project team members didn\u2019t have much to do with the original game, and this was an 8-bit game being updated rather than a 16-bit one. I also personally don\u2019t think the original game is as good as Wild Guns<\/em>, The Ninja Warriors<\/em>, and Pocky & Rocky<\/em> were. As a result, when this remake was announced I was a little hesitant.<\/p>\n Then I had a chance to play the first little part of the game at the Tokyo Game Show last year, and I enjoyed that well enough to get excited again. Now that I\u2019ve played through the game a few times, I\u2019ve settled somewhere in the middle. I think relative to the other games from this developer, Shadow of the Ninja \u2013 Reborn<\/em> is a bit less well-rounded. The improvements from the original game are many, from the excellent presentation to a more refined weapon and item system. You don\u2019t get any fun new characters in this one, but the two existing playable characters have been differentiated. It is, as one would expect, better than the original game while maintaining the important aspects of its spirit. If you loved Shadow of the Ninja<\/em>, you\u2019ll really love this.<\/p>\n If on the other hand you\u2019re like me and only found the original to be a decent action-platformer, you probably won\u2019t land much further from that mark with Reborn<\/em>. Having access to both the chain and the sword at all times is a great improvement, and the sword on the whole is more useful than it was in the original game. The new inventory system is cool, adding a little spice to a game that needed something like that. The presentation is excellent, and you would never know it was based on an 8-bit game. There are a couple of rude difficulty spikes, and I think this is actually a more challenging game on the whole than the original. Perhaps that\u2019s necessary, as it\u2019s not a very lengthy affair overall. It\u2019s the best Shadow of the Ninja<\/em> you could play, but it is still Shadow of the Ninja<\/em>.<\/p>\n Shadow of the Ninja \u2013 Reborn<\/em> is another solid effort from Tengo Project, and in some ways is the most substantial improvement over its predecessor of any of their releases yet. Whether or not you should pick it up is really going to depend on how you feel about that original game, because the core is still very much in line with that NES title. Those without any prior experience will find an enjoyable but not essential action game here, one that very much subscribes to an 8-bit design sensibility.<\/p>\n SwitchArcade Score: 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Just a couple of quick Pinball FX<\/em> DLC reviews, partly to celebrate the massive update Pinball FX<\/em> has received that finally makes it properly playable on Switch. To go with that, two new tables were released as DLC: The Princess Bride Pinball<\/em>, and Goat Simulator Pinball<\/em>. The former is based on the cult classic movie, and it includes not only real voice clips but also video clips from the film. Now that\u2019s the kind of thing I want to see in these licensed tables, Zen. Mechanically speaking, this table feels like something you could actually see a real physical version of. Relatively straightforward to learn, relatively authentic to the license, and satisfying to score attack on.<\/p>\n Zen Studios doesn\u2019t always hit with its licensed tables, often missing things like music, real voices, and likenesses. The Princess Bride Pinball<\/em> is one of the better ones in that regard, and I think any fan of the movie who isn\u2019t allergic to pinball would do well to check it out. It\u2019s not the most innovative of tables, relying on a lot of well-worn design choices, but I think that too fits. A good time for newcomers or veterans alike.<\/p>\n SwitchArcade Score: 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n Then we have Goat Simulator Pinball<\/em>, and this one understands its license equally well. That means this is a very odd table in a lot of ways, and it certainly could only exist in video game form. You\u2019ll get involved in a lot of silly goat-related incidents, adding effects to your ball to trigger various elements of the table. It\u2019s a little bewildering at first, but stick with it and you\u2019ll be rewarded. More of a table for the veteran players, I think. Goat Simulator<\/em> fans with no pinball experience will probably have some difficulty getting a handle on it enough to see some of the funnier antics.<\/p>\n Goat Simulator Pinball<\/em> is another solid piece of DLC from the folks at Zen Studios, who have made so many tables by now that they likely relish a chance to do something off-the-wall like this. It\u2019s a tricky table to learn, but once you do you\u2019ll get to see some truly wacky stuff. Fans of the Goat Simulator<\/em> games who can stick with the game long enough to learn the ropes will be rewarded, but it\u2019s going to take a bit more work to get there than with some other tables.<\/p>\n SwitchArcade Score: 4\/5<\/strong><\/p>\n If you read my review yesterday, you\u2019ll know I really enjoyed this breezy, charming 3D platformer from the fine folks at Good-Feel. Play as a tanuki named Bakeru<\/em> who is on a mission to save Japan from an evil overlord who has trapped people in an eternal festival. Battle enemies, get interesting Japan trivia from hidden poo, collect souvenirs, and maybe even laugh here and there. The framerate in this Switch version is inconsistent, so tech heads may want to play it elsewhere. If you don\u2019t mind that aspect, this is a nice game to play on your Switch.<\/p>\n This is a top-down arena-based twin-stick shooter. It describes itself as a love letter to 8-bit games, but I don\u2019t really remember seeing many games like this back then. At any rate, it looks amusing enough for what it is. Shoot, shoot, dash, dash, get new gun, repeat. Watch out for bosses. That kind of thing.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t normally include these language-learning things since we\u2019re more game-focused here, but this one at least seems to have some additional effort put into it. You go around, take pictures of things, and learn the Japanese names for them. Would I spend twenty on it? Probably not. But everyone learns in different ways, and this might be how you learn.<\/p>\n (North American eShop, US Prices)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Some decent games in the inbox today, including OrangePixel\u2019s selection of great pick-up-and-play titles. Alien Hominid<\/em> is enjoying an extremely rare discount, and you can also scoop up Ufouria 2<\/em> at a nice price. Over in the outbox, titles from THQ and Team 17 are finishing up their latest discounts. Check out their publisher pages as I\u2019ve only included a handful for each. Have a gander through both lists, as ever.<\/p>\n Select New Sales<\/strong><\/p>\n Space Grunts<\/strong><\/em> ($8.39 from $13.99 until 9\/7) Sales Ending Tomorrow, September 4th<\/strong><\/p>\n Capes<\/strong> <\/em>($29.99 from $39.99 until 9\/4) That\u2019s all for today, friends. We\u2019ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. Maybe a review? No promises. I think we\u2019re officially in the season of TOO MANY GOOD GAMES, so hold on to your wallets and enjoy the fun. It\u2019s probably the Switch\u2019s last holiday ride, so let\u2019s make it worth the while. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 3rd, 2024. In today\u2019s article, I have a few more reviews for you. Some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/castlevaniadominusheader.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[528,2458,531,527,533],"class_list":["post-6174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rj","tag-featured","tag-games","tag-news","tag-review","tag-switcharcade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjbarrett.redirectme.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Reviews & Mini-Views<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Castlevania Dominus Collection ($24.99)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/castlevaniadominusheader.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/castlevaniadominuscollection.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/castlevaniadominus2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/castlevaniadominus3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/castlevaniadominus4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShadow of the Ninja \u2013 Reborn ($19.99)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/shadowoftheninjareborn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/shadowoftheninjareborn2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPinball FX \u2013 The Princess Bride Pinball ($5.49)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pinballfxtheprincessbride.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPinball FX \u2013 Goat Simulator Pinball ($5.49)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/pinballfxgoatsimulatorpinball.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSelect New Releases<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Bakeru ($39.99)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bakeru.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHolyhunt ($4.99)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/holyhunt.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography ($20.00)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/shashingolearnjapanese.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSales<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/spacegrunts.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Meganoid<\/strong> <\/em>($5.39 from $8.99 until 9\/7)
Stardash<\/strong><\/em> ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9\/7)
Gunslugs<\/strong> <\/em>($4.79 from $7.99 until 9\/7)
Gunslugs 2<\/strong> <\/em>($4.79 from $7.99 until 9\/7)
Heroes of Loot<\/strong><\/em> ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9\/7)
Heroes of Loot 2<\/strong> <\/em>($5.99 from $9.99 until 9\/7)
Warhammer 40k Dakka Squadron<\/strong><\/em> ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9\/9)
Castle Crashers Remastered<\/strong><\/em> ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9\/10)
Alien Hominid HD<\/strong><\/em> ($9.59 from $11.99 until 9\/10)
Alien Hominid Invasion<\/strong><\/em> ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9\/10)
Conscript<\/strong> <\/em>($17.59 from $21.99 until 9\/15)
Overdelivery<\/strong> <\/em>($1.99 from $7.99 until 9\/15)
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption<\/strong><\/em> ($2.99 from $19.99 until 9\/16)
Agent Intercept<\/strong> <\/em>($7.99 form $19.99 until 9\/16)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/secretfiles2puritascordis.jpg\")
Secret Files Tunguska<\/strong> <\/em>($2.09 from $14.99 until 9\/16)
Secret Files Puritas Cordis<\/strong><\/em> ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9\/16)
Secret Files Sam Peters<\/strong> <\/em>($2.02 from $6.99 until 9\/16)
Lost Horizon<\/strong><\/em> ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9\/16)
Lost Horizon 2<\/strong> <\/em>($2.09 from $14.99 until 9\/16)
Zombo Buster Advance<\/strong><\/em> ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9\/16)
Skautfold Usurper<\/strong><\/em> ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9\/17)
Nuclear Blaze<\/strong> <\/em>($4.99 from $9.99 until 9\/17)
Helvetii<\/strong> <\/em>($5.09 from $16.99 until 9\/17)
Heidelberg 1693<\/strong> <\/em>($4.49 from $14.99 until 9\/17)
Sophstar<\/strong> <\/em>($6.49 from $12.99 until 9\/17)
Harmony\u2019s Odyssey<\/strong><\/em> ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9\/17)
Ufouria 2: The Saga<\/strong><\/em> ($17.49 from $24.99 until 9\/17)
Promenade<\/strong> <\/em>($12.49 from $24.99 until 9\/17)
Shinorubi<\/strong> <\/em>($9.99 from $19.99 until 9\/17)
Last Night of Winter<\/strong><\/em> ($6.99 from $9.99 until 9\/17)
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge<\/strong><\/em> ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9\/18)
Nobody Saves The World<\/strong><\/em> ($9.99 from $24.99 until 9\/23)
Summer in Mara<\/strong><\/em> ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9\/23)
Guacamelee 2<\/strong><\/em> ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9\/23)
Railbound<\/strong> <\/em>($2.59 from $12.99 until 9\/23)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.toucharcade.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/capes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Fates of Ort<\/strong> <\/em>($4.49 from $14.99 until 9\/4)
Floogen<\/strong> <\/em>($1.99 from $3.99 until 9\/4)
Fluffy Horde<\/strong><\/em> ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9\/4)
Gum+<\/strong><\/em> ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9\/4)
Hopping Girl Kohane EX<\/strong><\/em> ($16.74 from $24.99 until 9\/4)
Kingdom Come Deliverance<\/strong> <\/em>($29.99 from $49.99 until 9\/4)
Kona II: Brume<\/strong> <\/em>($11.99 from $29.99 until 9\/4)
Metro 2033 Redux<\/strong><\/em> ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9\/4)
Metro Last Light Redux<\/strong><\/em> ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9\/4)
Outward Definitive<\/strong><\/em> ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9\/4)
Overcooked Special Edition<\/strong><\/em> ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9\/4)
Rolling Ca<\/strong><\/em>r ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9\/4)
Stunt Paradise<\/strong><\/em> ($5.19 from $7.99 until 9\/4)
Tiny Pixels Vol 1 Ninpo Blast<\/strong><\/em> ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9\/4)
Worms WMD<\/strong><\/em> ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9\/4)
Yoku\u2019s Island Express<\/strong><\/em> ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9\/4)<\/p>\n