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NFL Retro Bowl 25, Monster Train+, and Puzzle Sculpt Release Today on Apple Arcade Alongside Major Game Updates This Week – TouchArcade

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NFL Retro Bowl 25, Monster Train+, and Puzzle Sculpt Release Today on Apple Arcade Alongside Major Game Updates This Week – TouchArcade


Beginning today, Apple will have released one new Apple Vision Pro game, one App Store Great, and upgrading an App Store Great to an Apple Arcade Original (as a standalone release) alongside some notable udpates. NFL Retro Bowl 25 () (Edit: No longer an update) will let players create their own dynasty using official NFL teams and players featuring official retro art, attributes, stats, and contracts. Since this was announced, I was surprised at how much interest I saw for it online. I don’t follow the NFL much, but I didn’t expect as much of a positive reaction to the NFL Retro Bowl 25 announcement. Hopefully it ends up well when it goes live as an update later today. Alongside NFL Retro Bowl 25, App Store Great Monster Train+ has launched on Apple Arcade including The Last Divinity DLC from the get go. Check out a screenshot from NFL Retro Bowl 25 below:

Puzzle Sculpt is a Vision Pro-only set to launch today on Apple Arcade letting players solve puzzles in their own living room by removing blocks to reveal a cute collectible in a cube. As for this week’s notable updates, Hello Kitty Island Adventure has the Jam Jamboree on with Petunias appearing in the Merry Meadow as a festive flower. Rabbids Multiverse has new cards, outfits, seasonal events, and quality of life improvements with this week’s update. Wylde Flowers has its Magical Creatures update now live with jewelry crafting, secrets in the lighthouse, and more. Disney Spellstruck adds Hercules with a limited time event, a high contrast event, and more. What the Car brings in yet another update with a “Meet the Developers” special, scissors, bear improvements (yes), and more. What do you think of this month’s new Apple Arcade additions?

Update: It looks like they launched NFL Retro Bowl 25 as a new app and not an update.



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The Best Switch Visual Novels and Adventure Games in 2024 – From Fata Morgana and VA-11 Hall-A to Famicom Detective Club and Gnosia – TouchArcade

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The Best Switch Visual Novels and Adventure Games in 2024 – From Fata Morgana and VA-11 Hall-A to Famicom Detective Club and Gnosia – TouchArcade


After tackling the best party games on Switch in 2024, the recent release of Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club being as amazing as it is pushed me to write about what I consider the best visual novels and adventure games on Switch to play right now. I’ve included both because some games are pure visual novels while some are adventure games (and not visual novels). This list has quite a few games from across regions and release years, and I hope you find something you end up loving here. As usual, this list is in no particular order.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club ($49.99) + Famicom Detective Club: The Two-Case Collection

When Nintendo not only remade both Famicom Detective Club games back in 2021, I couldn’t believe it. They were amazing adventure games, and my only complaint really was the lack of a physical release back then. Fast forward to 2024 and Nintendo has released Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club physically and digitally as a brand-new entry in the series, and I’ve been floored playing it. Not only does it feel like a true series entry which might be a negative to some, but this might be one of the most lavish productions I’ve seen in a game like this ever. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but the ending is shockingly good and it really justifies its M rating. I definitely didn’t expect to have a new Famicom Detective Club game in 2024 on my top games of the year list, but Nintendo managed to do that with Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. Download the demo now.

If you’d rather play the first two games before Emio, grab the Famicom Detective Club: The Two-Case Collection. If you are ok with some old school design and gameplay for adventure games, you will adore these.

VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action ($14.99)

If you’ve been reading the few “best Switch games” lists I’ve been doing this year, you’ve seen me feature VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action twice before already, but as you know, I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to write about one of my favorite games of all time. VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is notable for its story, music, aesthetic, and most-importantly the characters. Having played it multiple times over the years on every system, it also feels right at home on Switch, and is a game I recommend to everyone literally. I don’t care if you like point and click adventure games or not. Go ahead and mix drinks and then change some lives.

The House in Fata Morgana: Dreams of the Revenants Edition ($39.99)

The House in Fata Morgana: Dreams of the Revenants Edition is the definitive edition of one of my favorite stories in any medium. It includes the original game and much more to deliver a stunning version of a masterpiece in storytelling. This one is a pure visual novel, and I’m glad that after its many releases, it found a lot of success on Switch, where it plays best. If you want to play something that will stay with you for a long time, this gothic horror experience will do much more. It also happens to have some of the most incredible music ever.

Coffee Talk Episode 1+2 ($12.99 + $14.99)

Ok this one is cheating since the games are sold separately on the eShop and the physical releases I imported from Japan are also separate, but since there’s a bundle of both games sold in North America on Switch, I’ve included both Coffee Talk games as one entry here. I love them both, and while they didn’t hit the same highs as VA-11 Hall-A, Coffee Talk perfectly satiated what I wanted from a game set in a coffee shop, and delivered a very relaxing experience with a great story. If you enjoy coffee and listening to interesting people with great pixel art and music, this is for you.

Type Moon’s visual novels: Tsukihime, Fate/stay night, and Mahoyo (Variable)

This is another entry where I’m cheating. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include just Tsukihime or Witch on the Holy Night (Mahoyo), but then the recent release of Fate/stay night Remastered made things even harder. Instead of worrying too much, I’ve included all three as essential visual novels in this article on Switch. They are all very long but very good. If you’ve wanted to sample a classic visual novel, go with Fate/stay night, but I recommend Tsukihime’s remake on Switch to everyone. Witch on the Holy Night is probably the game to play after these two in terms of quality.

PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo ($19.99)

Square Enix’s PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo reminds me of Nintendo’s Emio in a way that I’m surprised it even exists, let alone turned out this good. I went into it with no expectations, but was blown away by the narrative, its delivery, and even some wall breaking that I enjoyed quite a bit early on. Square Enix released one of the best mystery adventure games I’ve played with amazing characters, great art, and interesting mechanics here, and it is worth your time if you want a fantastic new horror adventure game.

Gnosia ($24.99)

People call Gnosia a sci-fi social deduction RPG, but it is more of an adventure and visual novel hybrid for me. Your aim here is identifying the Gnosia among a group using information you gather and then vote to put the Gnosia into cold sleep. You and your crew both improve over time, and aside from some RNG issues to get two specific outcomes, Gnosia was a fantastic experience. I liked it so much on Switch that I bought the physical release on both Switch and PS5 in addition to getting it on Steam. This one might not be for everyone, but it remains one of the nicest surprises in the genre.

Steins;Gate Series (Variable)

Spike Chunsoft’s Switch releases of the Steins;Gate series, especially Steins;Gate Elite, are as important as Fate/stay night when it comes to introducing newcomers to visual novels to the genre. While I still hope the publisher brings over the original version of Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate Elite is an easy recommendation for those who watch anime and want to get into a great visual novel. The Steins;Gate games are must plays only after you experience the original story in Steins;Gate Elite. I’ve cheated here as well by including multiple games, but my list my rules.

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES and nirvanA Initiative (Variable)

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES and nirvanA Initiative from Spike Chunsoft brought Zero Escape creator Kotaro Uchikoshi and No More Heroes character designer Yusuke Kozaki together for an incredible set of two adventure games that honestly feel too good to be true when it comes to the budget behind them with the quality they delivered on story, music, and characters. While a lot of folks lament the lack of Zero Escape on Switch, I think the two AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES games are absolutely worth experiencing at full price, and gems of the Switch library. Don’t make us wait too long for a new game in the series please.

NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD ($19.99)

When it comes to adventure games or visual novels, I’m often recommended games where a friend will say “trust me and just play it but don’t look up anything about it”. One such game was NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD when I first played it on PC. It is an adventure game with multiple endings that can flip flop between disturbing horror and wholesome moments. It revolves around the daily life of a young girl trying to be the best streamer. I liked this one enough to pre-order the Switch limited edition from Japan, and I’m glad I did so. It is unforgettable.

Ace Attorney Series (Variable)

Capcom has now brought the entire Ace Attorney series to Switch with the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy (1,2,3), Apollo Justice Trilogy (4,5,6), The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (1+2 of those), and the two Ace Attorney Investigations games in this week’s Ace Attorney Investigations Collection release. I would say there are no excuses now, but this adventure game series is beloved for a reason and it has spawned a fanbase that has lasted for years since the DS debut in the West. If you are new to the series, I recommend The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles as the best entry point even above the original trilogy which feels dated in ways. Either way, you can now play the entire series on one handheld, and I love that.

Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, NG, and Death Mark II (Variable)

Another series rather than a single game? Yes. Aksys Games and Experience Inc’s Spirit Hunter trilogy is now fully available on Switch, and it manages to blend horror adventure and visual novel elements with one of the most striking art styles I’ve ever seen. It is a bit harder to recommend this series given how grotesque some of the designs are, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget some of the images I’ve seen while playing the Spirit Hunter games with their excellent localizations and stories. I hope we see a new entry in the next few years.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim ($59.99)

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim isn’t a pure adventure game, but one that has real-time strategy battles. I usually try and include a fantastic game at the end and the double whammy of not being a full adventure game and also being one of the best games I’ve played in a decade has me ending this feature on Vanillaware and Atlus’ sci-fi masterpiece 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. I first played this on PS4 and enjoyed replaying it from start to finish on Switch thanks to the OLED screen in handheld mode. Regardless of where you play it, you need to experience 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.

If you made it this far, you’ve realized that this isn’t a top 10 but more, and the games are ones I recommend playing at full price. I didn’t want to cut out something I like a lot to hit an arbitrary number of games featured and that’s why I even included some full series here instead of just individual games. That’s my list of the best visual novels and adventure games on Switch to play in 2024. If you have a game you think I should’ve included, please let me know in the comments below. I’m always on the lookout for more amazing stories in two of my favorite genres that feel perfect on Switch. As always, thanks for reading!

Note: I’m working on a separate list of otome games since there are too many good ones in that subgenre.



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Reviews Featuring ‘Ace Attorney Investigations Collection’, Plus New Releases and Sales – TouchArcade

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Reviews Featuring ‘Ace Attorney Investigations Collection’, Plus New Releases and Sales – TouchArcade


Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 4th, 2024. The long summer has more or less come to an end. It was sometimes hot and uncomfortable, but we had some good times that are worth remembering. I’m a little older and a little wiser than I was at the start, and I’m grateful I got to make that journey with all of you. As we head into another new season in our lives, I just want to say that no matter what happens from here you were all the best summer pals a person could ask for. In today’s article? Tons of reviews! A few new releases! Some sales! Let’s get this done!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection ($39.99)

One thing I will say about the Nintendo Switch generation of gaming: it’s given us second chances at a lot of fish that got away from us in the past. Trials of Mana! Live A Live! The original Fire Emblem! And now, the one and only Ace Attorney game that remained unlocalized comes to us by way of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, a set including Miles Edgeworth’s two post-Trials & Tribulations adventures. One thing this series has proven good at is building on plot threads established in previous titles, and the second Ace Attorney Investigations title does this quite well. It’s one of those sequels that makes the original better in hindsight, and it’s amazing to finally have it officially in English.

The Ace Attorney Investigations games, in focusing on Miles Edgeworth, show us how things look from the prosecution’s side of things. Outside of a couple of new gimmicks, things aren’t all that different mechanically. Search for clues, question witnesses, and try to crack each case. Still, the very different and rather cool presentation helps liven things up, and Edgeworth as a protagonist certainly lends the narration a particular feel. The pacing has less structure to it than the usual Ace Attorney games, and that can sometimes make some cases feel exhausting, but by and large I think anyone who enjoys the main games in the series will be happy with this sub-series. If you find the first game to be a bit of a drag, stick it through to the second. It’s a lot better, and as mentioned it makes some of the things you suffer through in the first game make more sense.

In terms of bonuses, this feels more like the Apollo Justice set than it does the others. A gallery mode is on offer with art and music to enjoy, a story mode lets you chill out and let the game beat itself, and you have the option to switch between the original graphics/soundtrack and the fancy new stuff. There’s a dialog history you can access if you miss something that was said, which is something that should be a stock feature in games like this. I’m glad to see it.

The two games in Ace Attorney Investigations Collection offer an interesting contrast, and taken as one whole I think it’s a great experience overall. Getting the second game localized officially is amazing, and the suite of options and extras make for an excellent package. With this, every Ace Attorney game outside of the weird crossover with Professor Layton is now available on the Switch. If you like the series enough to have picked those up, you’ll definitely want to grab this as well.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Gimmick! 2 ($24.99)

It is enormously odd to see a sequel to Gimmick!. I just want to say that before moving on. One of Sunsoft’s later games for the NES, Gimmick! didn’t even manage to get a release in the West outside of Scandinavia. Here we are thirty years later, and not only is the original game more widely available than ever, we now have a follow-up. This game was developed by Bitwave Games with no involvement from the original creator, but it’s incredibly faithful to the original anyway. Maybe too faithful in ways for some tastes, but there’s nothing wrong with a first sequel hewing closer to the line than farther.

Six very lengthy levels of challenging physics-based platforming await you here, and as with the original you’re going to be up against the wall pretty quickly. There’s an easier mode this time, however, so those who want a slightly less bumpy ride can opt for it. Indeed, if you want to play the normal (Gimmick) difficulty, you’ll have to pass a little test right off the hop. The way protagonist Yumetaro’s star attack works is quite familiar also, with it serving as weapon, vehicle, and all-purpose puzzle solver all at once. One new element comes in the form of collectibles, often serving as rewards for completing more difficult sections that aren’t necessary for progression. These take the form of new customization options, but simply completing the more demanding tasks feels good in and of itself.

It’s not a terribly long game if you just try to bolt through the whole thing, but it’s going to be a tough one either way. In that respect, it’s also quite similar to the original. You’ll die a lot here, often in spectacularly stupid ways, but generous checkpointing keeps the aggravation from boiling over. Well, most of the time. The adorable look and lively music also try to keep the fire from burning too hot, but don’t for one second underestimate Gimmick! 2. For all of its small concessions, this game understands that part of what made the original game so memorable came from its challenge. Platforming mastery is a must, and you’ll need to make clever usage of Yumetaro’s star and the enemies to make it much farther than the first level.

Gimmick! 2 defies the odds by being a very good follow-up to a decades-old game made by another team entirely. It builds on the original game in some smart ways, but it never feels like it’s paying too much homage to be its own thing. If you enjoyed the first game, you’ll be thrilled with this. Platformer fans who aren’t put off by a high level of challenge will also want to check it out. That said, if you’re looking for something easy-going, don’t be fooled by the look of Gimmick! 2. It’s just as tough of a nut to crack as its predecessor, even with an easier difficulty setting.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Valfaris: Mecha Therion ($19.99)

Valfaris: Mecha Therion takes a real risk with its game design, dropping the action-platformer set-up of the original game in favor of shoot ’em up action along the lines of Lords of Thunder. The most surprising thing is that it kind of works. Indeed, the biggest problem is that it’s sometimes a bit too much for the Switch’s aging hardware to do proper justice to. I don’t think anyone can really be blamed here. This is just where we’re at in the console’s lifespan now, I think. It’s not terrible, mind you. If this is the only option you have, you’ll still get a kick out of Mecha Therion‘s intense action, rocking soundtrack, and creepy visuals.

There’s a fun juggling act going on in Mecha Therion thanks to how the weapons are set up. You’ve got your usual gun, but when it runs out of energy it weakens significantly. You’ve got a melee weapon that you can use to slice bullets and enemies, which recharges your gun energy. Finally, there’s a rotating third weapon or item. You start off with a lock-on missile attack, but you’ll have access to others. You can also dash, an offensive and defensive maneuver depending on the situation, and it has its own cooldown. With how many enemies and obstacles the game throws at you, mastering the rhythm of keeping your weapons ready and fending off shots is essential and satisfying.

Don’t come into Valfaris: Mecha Therion expecting a similar kind of game as the first, but you can look forward to a similar vibe. It’s a heavy metal shoot ’em up with a style all its own, and it thankfully avoids many of the traps that so many games that try something different in this genre end up falling into. You’ll get better performance on other platforms, and in this genre that’s important, but this Switch conversion will absolutely do the job should it be your console of choice.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash ($44.99)

Saying a licensed game is for the fans feels like a truism. Of course it’s for the fans. Some do a better job of pleasing that bunch than others, but typically speaking fans of the property used in a licensed game will get more out of it than non-fans. Which boils all of this down to two main questions. First, just how much fan service is baked in? In Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash, I can say that there is enough to please those who enjoy the exploits of these horse-girls. Indeed, I think that is the one thing the game does best. The writing is good and fits the property, and there are lots of meta-systems built in that reward you with things for the fans.

The second question pertains to whether or not there is anything here for non-fans. Regrettably, I can’t be as positive here. You get a small number of half-baked mini-games to play, and while the presentation is solid there just isn’t much to do here if you aren’t really into Umamusume. You just play the same four mini-games again and again, watching a story unfold that only fans are going to properly enjoy. One of those mini-games offers so little interaction that I hesitate to even count it. The other three are better, but they just don’t have the staying power that a party game needs. The best part of all of this is an unlockable mini-game, and even that is a meager meal.

Even for fans of the property, Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash feels like it emphasizes the wrong things at great expense. I think a great job has been done here in terms of serving the look, sound, and world of Umamusume, and the wide array of unlockables might be enough to keep those dedicated to the horse-girls interested for a while. But it fades far too fast, and if you’re lacking that attachment to start with, you’re probably going get tired of this well before the final furlong.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection ($9.99)

I think when Western game enthusiasts think of Sunsoft, if they think of Sunsoft at all, they probably think of games like Blaster Master, Batman, or Fester’s Quest. Recently some of the publisher’s rarer treasures have gotten a new shot at fame, bringing Ufouria, Gimmick!, and Trip World into the light. Even short-term mascot Aero the Acro-Bat and his buddies are getting play again. But there is a whole other side to Sunsoft that is less well-known in the West, and what makes it amusing is that it is what the company is mainly known for in its home country of Japan: charmingly rough-around-the-edges 8-bit games. Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection aims to change that, offering up three such games in one very reasonably priced package.

In this collection, you get the straightforward side-scrolling platforming of Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido (just rolls off the tongue, don’t it?), the adventure game Ripple Island, and the slightly hard to categorize action game The Wing of Madoola. All three games are delivered in a wrapper with most of the basic features you would want. That includes save states, rewind, some display options, manual scans, and a little art gallery for each game. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that all three games have been fully localized, all the way down to their title screens. For Ripple Island, that was no small task! This is the first time we’ve seen these games get an official release in English, and that’s worth celebrating on its own.

So how are the games? A real mix, friends. 53 Stations is a frustrating game due to how your weapon is awkward to use against the swarms of enemies that appear, but there is a real charm to it thanks to how hard it leans into its theme. Ripple Island is a good adventure game, and I would lightly recommend it to anyone who enjoys that genre. The Wing of Madoola is the most ambitious game of the three, and it sometimes feels like it misses as often as it hits, but it’s worth putting some time into. None of these will make the list of top NES games by any means, but I wouldn’t call any of them bad either. Vexing, perhaps.

Sunsoft fans and those who like digging into the margins of console libraries will get a real kick out of Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection‘s offerings. Each game has been handled with care, and it’s great to see some games that missed their shot at localization back in the day finally get a chance. Hopefully this is just the first of a series of such collections, but even if this is all we get, it’s nice to see another side of this once-mighty publisher’s library of classics.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

Cyborg Force ($9.95)

If you like run, but also gun while running, you might want to give Cyborg Force a look. It’s a very tough action game in the vein of things like Metal Slug and Contra, and you can play alone or bring a buddy along for some local multiplayer fun. This has been out for at least a few months on a number of other platforms, including the NEOGEO, so you can probably find some feedback out there if you’re in need of it. I think fans of this genre will be into it, at the very least.

Billy’s Game Show ($7.99)

I know, this looks like a Five Nights rip-off at a glance. Thematically, it kind of is. But this is actually more one of those games where you’re moving around trying to find stuff while a weird creep stalks you. You have to hide or run away when he shows up, because you have no way to stop him. You’ll also need to watch out for traps and keep the three generators running, because you do not want the power to go out. Not my kind of thing, but it might be yours.

Mining Mechs ($4.99)

A very descriptive title that doesn’t leave me with much to add. Use mechs to do some mining. Collect ores and treasures, sell them, buy upgrades or better mechs that allow you to make even further progress underground. The deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets. As you reach certain profit levels, the story will progress. Not the fanciest of dining, but for a fiver I imagine you’ll get a fair amount of enjoyment from it.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A tiny inbox, with very little worth getting fussed about. I know, I know. I don’t get to decide that. The outbox has some treats worth mulling over, however. I’ll let you comb through those lists. It is important to learn to find things on one’s own sometimes, I think.

Select New Sales

Nora: The Wannabe Alchemist ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/10)Deflector ($1.99 from $22.99 until 9/10)Sky Caravan ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/10)The Blind Prophet ($1.99 from $24.99 until 9/10)They Know ($1.99 from $6.99 until 9/10)Conjured Through Death ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/15)Dark Days ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/24)Another Bar Game ($3.89 from $5.99 until 9/24)Cook Serve Delicious ($4.41 from $12.99 until 9/24)Blood Will Be Spilled ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/24)Feudal Alloy ($3.39 from $16.99 until 9/24)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, September 5th

Adventure Bar Story ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed ($14.99 from $29.99 until 9/5)Anomaly Agent ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/5)Avenging Spirit ($2.99 from $5.99 until 9/5)Bug & Seek ($11.24 from $14.99 until 9/5)Burst Hero ($5.99 from $11.99 until 9/5)Cat Quest II ($3.74 from $14.99 until 9/5)Corpse Party ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)Deadcraft ($5.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)Dice Make 10! ($3.59 from $3.99 until 9/5)Eldgear ($12.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)Evil God Korone ($3.35 from $3.95 until 9/5)F1 Manager 2024 ($27.99 from $34.99 until 9/5)Fairy Elements ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/5)

Freedom Planet 2 ($18.74 from $24.99 until 9/5)Genso Chronicles ($9.74 from $14.99 until 9/5)Gibbon: Beyond the Trees ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/5)Hide & Dance! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/5)Magical Drop VI ($14.99 from $29.99 until 9/5)Marchen Forest ($6.99 from $34.99 until 9/5)Mom Hid My Game! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/5)Mom Hid My Game! 2 ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/5)My Brother Ate My Pudding! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/5)Port Royale 4 ($17.49 from $49.99 until 9/5)SCHiM ($17.49 from $24.99 until 9/5)Silent Hope ($13.99 from $39.99 until 9/5)Super Toy Cars Offroad ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)The Sinking City ($5.99 from $49.99 until 9/5)Untitled Goose Game ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/5)Wing of Darkness ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9/5)WitchSpring R ($35.99 from $39.99 until 9/5)Yggdra Union: WNFA ($19.99 from $24.99 until 9/5)

That’s all for today, friends. There are still more reviews coming this week, so do look forward to those. Plenty of new releases coming to the eShop in the next couple of days, which is about what you would expect from September. Let’s try to reconvene tomorrow, but if we get separated somehow and are trying to find me, you can always head on over to my personal blog Post Game Content. It’s rarely updated, but something tells me I’ll be back into the swing of it soon. I hope you all have an amazing Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!



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The Best ‘Marvel Snap’ Meta Decks – September 2024 Edition – TouchArcade

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The Best ‘Marvel Snap’ Meta Decks – September 2024 Edition – TouchArcade


Let’s dive in earlier this month to make up for last month’s slightly late edition. A new month and season is upon us, and I’m ready to help you out with some deck-building advice to keep you competitive in Marvel Snap (Free). Truth be told, I feel like the game got into a decently balanced zone over the course of the last month. A new season means new cards though, so it’s all about to go topsy-turvy again. Let’s do our best to figure out where things are going, shall we? Remember as ever: today’s winning deck could be tomorrow’s crunchy brown leaves. These guides are one way to keep your finger on the pulse of the scene, but they aren’t the only method you should be using.

Note that most of these decks are the best of the best at this point in time. They assume you have access to a full range of cards. I’ll once again be including the five strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need things that are too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

I would go as far as to say that most of the Young Avengers cards didn’t really make a big splash. Kate Bishop hit her mark, as she is wont to, and Marvel Boy definitely made a difference for fans of 1-Cost Kazoo decks, but the rest were kind of all over the place. You’ll see them here and there, but they haven’t shaken things up yet. I can’t say the same for the freshly launched Amazing Spider-Season, as it looks like it and the new Activate ability are coming in like a wrecking ball. Next month is going to look very, very different, I’m certain.

Kazar and Gilgamesh

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Nebula, Squirrel Girl, Dazzler, Kate Bishop, Marvel Boy, Caeira, Shanna, Kazar, Blue Marvel, Gilgamesh, Mockingbird

So it has come to this, eh? Never thought I would see the day when Kazoo was among the top decks, but the Young Avengers have made it happen. At its heart, this is a very familiar deck. Get a bunch of low cost cards out there and then buff them with Kazar and Blue Marvel. The new tricks here are Marvel Boy adding more buffs and Gilgamesh benefiting big-time from all of that. Kate Bishop and her arrows can help fill spaces for Dazzler if needed, and her arrows will help bring down the cost of your other heavy hitter, Mockingbird. A very nice deck with strong performance. We’ll see if it can hang in there.

Silver Surfer Still Never Dies, Part II

Included Cards: Nova, Forge, Cassandra Nova, Brood, Silver Surfer, Killmonger, Hope Summers, Nocturne, Sebastian Shaw, Copycat, Absorbing Man, Gwenpool

Silver Surfer is still flying high, with a few tweaks to react to balance changes and new cards. If you’ve been playing a while, you know how this goes. You’ve got the classic Nova/Killmonger pair for boosting your cards a bit once you have some out there. Forge ideally boosts Brood so that its clones will be stronger. Gwenpool boosts cards in your hand, Shaw gets beefier as he gets buffed, Hope lets you get more Energy, Cassandra Nova grabs power from your opponent, and the Surfer/Absorbing Man combo is there finish things off in style. Copycat steals Red Guardian’s spot, as she has proven an extremely useful general-purpose tool.

Spectrum and Man-Thing Ongoing

Included Cards: Wasp, Ant-Man, Howard the Duck, Armor, US Agent, Lizard, Captain America, Cosmo, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Man-Thing, Spectrum

Even the Ongoing archetype is up here at the top, which is another interesting outcome. You’ve got some generally useful cards here, all with Ongoing abilities. That means Spectrum will give them a nice final turn buff. The Luke Cage/Man-Thing combo is also a very nice one, and Luke will even protect your cards from US Agent’s powerful effect. The other good point of this deck is that it’s pretty easy to play, and I have a feeling Cosmo is going to become even more useful than he already was with things going the way they are.

Discard Dracula

Included Cards: Blade, Morbius, The Collector, Swarm, Colleen Wing, Moon Knight, Corvus Glaive, Lady Sif, Dracula, Proxima Midnight, MODOK, Apocalypse

The classics are the order of the day right now, is the theme. Here’s the very reliable Apocalypse-flavor Discard deck, with the only real change from the standard being the presence of Moon Knight. He got better after his buff. Anyway, your big cards here are Morbius and Dracula, and if everything goes well you’ll end up with nothing more in your hand than Apocalypse on that last round. Dracula will eat him, you’ll get a Mega-Drac, and Morbius should be morbing all over the place with all that discarding you’ve been doing. Collector might even be a bit cheeky if you go to town on Swarms enough.

Destroy

Included Cards: Deadpool, Niko Minoru, X-23, Carnage, Wolverine, Killmonger, Deathlok, Attuma, Nimrod, Knull, Death

Yes, it’s the Destroy deck. Very, very close to the traditional one even. Attuma has grabbed a spot here thanks to his recent change. A very successful buff, that one. Destroy Deadpool and Wolverine as much as possible, get extra energy with X-23, finish up with a nice Nimrod swarm or drop Knull if you’re feeling cute. Weird to see this kind of deck without Arnim Zola, but counter-measures are getting too common these days I suppose.

And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.

Darkhawk Is Back (Did He Ever Leave?)

Included Cards: The Hood, Spider-Ham, Korg, Niko Minoru, Cassandra Nova, Moon Knight, Rockslide, Viper, Proxima Midnight, Darkhawk, Blackbolt, Stature

I have always liked Darkhawk, despite him being unspeakably goofy from virtually his first appearance. So I’m glad he’s a competitive card in Marvel Snap, to the point that I like to tinker around with decks using him. This one has the classic combos, with Korg and Rockslide adding cards to your opponent’s deck. It also has some spoiler cards like Spider-Ham and Cassandra Nova, plus a couple of cards that will cause your opponent to discard and make Stature cheap to play. Yay, Dorkhawk!

Budget Kazar

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Ice Man, Nightcrawler, Armor, Mister Fantastic, Cosmo, Kazar, Namor, Blue Marvel, Klaw, Onslaught

If that Kazar deck up there looks nice but you’re just starting out, you might as well practice with this beginner-friendly variant. No, it probably won’t win as reliably as the fancy version. But it will teach you how this kind of combo works, and that’s valuable experience. You still get that nice Kazar and Blue Marvel mix, with a flavorful Onslaught on top to spike the football.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. With the latest season and whatever balance changes Second Dinner opts to make during the course of the month, I’m sure things will look quite different come October. That Activate ability really changes up the flow of games, and Symbiote Spider-Man is looking to be a complete beast. As ever, it’s also going to be interesting to see what cards and decks Second Dinner feels like addressing with balance changes. It’s interesting to see the classics on top again, but I can’t imagine it will stay that way. For now… happy snapping!



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‘Foxy’s Football Islands’ Offers Up Something Very Different on Mobile – TouchArcade

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‘Foxy’s Football Islands’ Offers Up Something Very Different on Mobile – TouchArcade


Mobile games don’t have to make sense, as evidenced by the enduring popularity of a franchise that sees players catapulting birds (which can fly) at pigs (green).

But even in the topsy-turvy world of mobile game concepts, Foxy’s Football Islands is gloriously out on a limb.

The hypercasual gameplay spans a number of different genres, including football, building, collection, and multiplayer tit-for-tat. These genres aren’t natural bedfellows, any more than a fox is an obvious choice for a football game, but it all works like a dream.

Here’s how it all works.

Your first port of call is an island called Aztlan, a lush green habitat dotted with palm trees and building sites.

Tap on one of these sites and you’ll begin construction on a building. Once that building is finished, you can tap again to upgrade it, and again, and again, all over the island, until every building has reached its final form.

Then you move to the next island, earning stars that determine your place on the leaderboards.

But hold up. It’s not that simple. Construction is an expensive business, and you’ll need to keep filling your coffers with gold coins to finance the work. And what’s the easiest way to earn coins fast? That’s right: by playing football.

The soccer part of Foxy’s Football Islands sees you taking shots at a goal – or, more specifically, at targets nested within a goal.

To take a shot, you slide your finger up the screen in the direction of the target. Unless, that is, there’s wind over the pitch, in which case you have to adjust for the gusts. Some targets move, too, requiring you to lead your shots.

Hitting a target can have a number of different results, the most common of which is a great cascade of coins.

The size of this cascade depends on the amount you stake. While a basic shot uses up one unit of energy (more on that later) it’s possible to double or treble the ante in exchange for proportionately greater rewards – as long as you don’t miss.

You’ll also get to attack another player’s island, either at random or in a targeted fashion, destroying one of their buildings and setting them back in their quest to overtake you on the leaderboards.

Sometimes you’ll bring up a moving target, opening the way for a major payday, and on other occasions you’ll obtain a special glove that lets you block a single attack on your own island.

There are familiar elements in Foxy’s Football Islands, including an energy system that limits the number of shots you can take (unless you pay for more), gems for buying coins, a tiered upgrade system, and so on.

But it’s the way the game manages to bring together a vast range of different genres that really helps Foxy’s Football Islands really stand out.

One minute you’re enjoying a physics-based football game, and then next you’re expanding your territory by ploughing coins into the construction of an Aztec pyramid or an Ancient Egyptian monument.

The multiplayer is equally varied, combining the extremely devious with the extremely wholesome.

For instance, when you’re not taking revenge on players who have aggrieved you or targeting your friends for lols you’re trading the adorable relics that you obtain throughout the campaign.

We’re not sure whether Foxy’s Football Islands is a nasty game with a nice streak or a nice game with a nasty streak.

Either way, there’s nothing else quite like it.

To play the game for yourself, head to the Google Play Store or the App Store and download Foxy’s Football Islands for free right now.

 

Sponsored Content

This article is sponsored content written by TouchArcade and published on behalf of Frank’s Football Studios to promote Foxy’s Football Islands. For questions or comments, please email [email protected]

 



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Space Marine 2 Steam Deck Review (in Progress) – GOTY Contender, but Play It Elsewhere for Now – TouchArcade

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Space Marine 2 Steam Deck Review (in Progress) – GOTY Contender, but Play It Elsewhere for Now – TouchArcade


While most fans have been looking forward to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 or basically a sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine for many years, I wasn’t really aware of the first game until I played Total War: Warhammer and was looking into other Warhammer 40,000 games. Since then, I’ve played many of them, with my favorites being Boltgun and Rogue Trader. I did end up playing some of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine on Steam Deck many months ago to see how it felt. Having played many of the Warhammer 40,000 games on PC and even console more recently, I was excited to see how Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 felt after that amazing reveal it had.

Over the last eight days, I’ve put in about 22 hours into Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 across my Steam Deck and PS5 making use of cross progression and also testing out the online. This Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck review is an in progress one for two reasons. The first is I cannot score a game like this without testing out cross platform multiplayer and also the online in general with public servers. The second is because Focus and Saber have confirmed that they are working on official Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck support and aiming to have it out by the end of the year.

Having seen how amazing Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine looks and plays on Steam Deck, and because Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has cross progression, I was very curious to see how it plays on Steam Deck if at all. There’s good news and bad news right now, and I’m going to cover all of that in this Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck review in progress with the gameplay, online co-op, visuals, PC port features, PS5 features, and more included. Note that the screenshots in the article with the performance overlay or fps displayed are from my Steam Deck OLED while the 16:9 screenshots are from my PS5 playthrough. My testing has also been done on Proton GE 9-9 and Proton Experimental (bleeding edge).

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a third person action shooter that is equal parts brutal, gorgeous, and fun, and this also applies to newcomers to the world of Warhammer 40,000. After a brief but well thought out tutorial-like intro segment that introduces you to the basics of combat and movement, you arrive at your main hub, the Battle Barge. This is where you choose your missions, game mode, adjust cosmetics, and much more.

The moment to moment gameplay is superb with the controls and weapons all feeling perfect. I’m sure some will gravitate to using ranged more, but I adore the melee weapons and how visceral the combat feels up close. I never got tired of the executions and just plowing through tons of fodder enemies before the more powerful foes appear. The campaign is super fun solo and with a friend (or two) in co-op, but I hate any sort of defense missions. Thankfully I wasn’t too bothered by the implementation here.

When playing with a friend of mine who lives in another country, I kept thinking how Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 felt like a big budget take on a co-op shooter from the Xbox 360 era that we don’t really see much of these days. It managed to get its hooks in me just like Earth Defense Force or the recent Gundam Breaker 4 have done, and I really hope Saber and Focus can somehow work with SEGA to give the original game’s campaign a modern facelift.

Before going further, my knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 is through the Total War Warhammer, Dawn of War, Boltgun, and Rogue Trader more or less. With that said, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has been refreshing to play and is one of my favorite co-op experiences in years. It is too soon to say if this is my favorite Warhammer 40,000 game, but I just want to save this review draft and get back to playing right now. I’m addicted to playing with a friend in Operations mode while trying out the different classes and slowly progressing through the missions and unlocks.

I don’t want to definitively say this since I’ve not played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 once the full game launches with randoms, but what I’ve experienced in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 co-op so far is superb. I cannot wait to properly try out the online this week once the game launches with cross progression and cross platform online.

Visually, I can only comment on how Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is on PS5 and Steam Deck, and it is definitely a looker in the 4K mode on PS5 when played on my 1440p monitor. While it has always looked good in trailers, I’m floored at how good the environments look and also how much work has clearly gone into making everything feel alive not only with the massive number of enemies in the swarms, but also the texture work and lighting. This is all complemented by stunning direction for the main character voice acting and all the gear and customization options included. You can tell a lot of care went into making it so that you can show off your creativity with the customization options and more.

There’s also a photo mode you can access during singleplayer letting you adjust frames, expressions, characters visible, FOV, and much more. One thing to note is that if you do this on Steam Deck right now, some of the frames or effects don’t look too good when using FSR 2 and a lower resolution. On PS5 though, the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 photo mode is amazing.

On the audio side, I didn’t know what to expect from the music. Ideally, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 would have shipped with Bolt Thrower’s Realm of Chaos, but that likely wasn’t an option. I know bringing this up is like when I wished God of War (2018) had some Amon Amarth music. That tangent aside, the real star of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s audio is the voice acting and general sound design. This is top tier stuff. The music is very good so far, but I’ve not heard anything (so far) that I would want to listen to a lot outside the game. It works perfectly in-game though.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 PC graphics options

So how is the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 PC port? I’ve only played it on Steam Deck of course, but I can still cover what features it includes. When you boot up Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, it installs Epic Online Services, but there is no need to link your Epic account. I have one, but didn’t bother linking it.

As for the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 PC graphics options, you can adjust display, display mode (windowed, borderless, and fullscreen), resolution (800×600 and above), render resolution (native, dynamic to hit the fps target), quality, balanced, performance, and ultra performance), resolution upscaling type (TAA or FSR 2 on Steam Deck), dynamic resolution target, toggle v-sync, adjust brightness, motion blur intensity, fps limit (30, 60, 90, 120, unlimited), and then change many quality-related settings.

The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 visual quality settings include four presets that adjust the following: texture filtering, texture resolution, shadows, screen space ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, volumetrics, effects, details, and cloth simulation.

As mentioned in the blog post linked above, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PC ships with DLSS and FSR 2 support. FSR 3 is planned for post-launch. I imagine the game will benefit from this on Steam Deck whenever it ships. I also hope the team adds full 16:10 support when the ultrawide update ships because the game is 16:9 only now.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 PC control options

On the control side, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has keyboard and mouse controls in addition to full controller support. Initially, I wasn’t able to get it to display PlayStation button prompts on Steam Deck by default, but turning off Steam Input fixed this. I noticed an adaptive trigger option under control settings, and this made me try disabling Steam Input. This menu also lets you remap keyboard and mouse bindings. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 displays PlayStation button prompts when I use my DualSense controller over Bluetooth, and it even supports Adaptive Triggers wirelessly on PC. This isn’t too common so I thought it was worth highlighting.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck performance

Before getting to the visuals and performance, I want to note that I had some freezing (only while booting up the game) on the default Proton or Experimental (bleeding edge), but I did not have any freezing when using Proton GE 9-9. Aside from that, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is playable (technically) on Steam Deck with no config change needed. The bad news is that it is a bit too much for Valve’s handheld right now.

When playing at 1280×800 (it still is 16:9) and using the low preset with FSR 2.0 at Ultra Performance, it still cannot hold a locked 30fps. There are regular dips to the mid 20s in tense combat, and it can even go lower. Even when playing at a lower resolution, it drops below 30fps. For a game like this, that isn’t close to ideal. I hope it can eventually reach a stage where it can run at 30fps, but it isn’t possible right now as far as I can tell across the 10 hours I played on my Steam Deck OLED.

When using the dynamic upscaling for a 30fps target and the low preset, it can hit the 30s, but it drops to the low 20s often. This mode does still look very good on the Deck’s own screen, but as you can tell, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is too much for Steam Deck right now. It also sometimes doesn’t exit out correctly requiring you to manually force close the game when you hit quit.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck multiplayer impressions

With all that aside, I wanted to make sure Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is playable online on Steam Deck. We sometimes have games where the developers add some anti cheat that blocks online play on Proton or Linux. Thankfully, I can report that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 works perfectly online. I tested with a friend in Canada and we had a blast for a few hours playing in co-op. The only issue I had was some internet related disconnection, but since these are pre-release servers, I will be waiting to test out the game in a more public environment with randoms and friends once the game launches.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 PS5 features – DualSense, Activity Cards, and Performance Mode

Since I also played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PS5, I wanted to cover how it feels on a current console for those who play on Steam Deck and consoles like I do. I’ve only tried the performance mode so far, and it feels mostly great. Don’t expect a locked 60fps though, and there seems to be some dynamic resolution or upscaling happening because I noticed it got very blurry in two big fights in the operations mode with a friend. Aside from that, I have no qualms in recommending Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PS5 right now based on the time I’ve put into it, but I want to make sure the online works cross platform before giving it a definite recommendation.

The load times are fast and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 also has PS5 Activity Card support for different modes and getting back into your save file saving time from the PS5 dashboard. As of this writing, there is no gyro support on PS5. If this changes, I will update this section, but sadly I didn’t see anything hinting at it in the build I’ve played pre-release.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 cross save progression explained

While this may change with the full launch, I’ve been able to take my Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 progress across Steam and PS5. There is some sort of two day cooldown period before you can sync it back or to another platform. I reached out to Focus to check if the final build will let you do it again immediately or still have the cool down.

Is Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 worth it for solo play only?

This is a question I cannot fully answer yet because the servers are not as populated as they will be at launch. I will be updating this once I’ve played with randoms and seen how the matchmaking works in the Operations (PvE) and Eternal War (PvP) modes. Speaking of Eternal War, I’ve not been able to test that yet. I will be doing so to update this review in the near future.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 features I want to see in updates and patches

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is clearly going to get a ton of post-launch support through updates and DLC, and the main thing I want to see aside from improvements to Steam Deck performance is proper HDR support. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is gorgeous and the texture work, materials, and lighting would pop even more with HDR. Aside from that, I’m pleased with the DualSense implementation of triggers and vibration, but haptic feedback would be great. The blog post mentions haptics won’t be in “at launch” and I hope that means it is planned for later.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is an easy game of the year contender so far. While I still need a bit of time to test the online when cross play is available from launch day, the gameplay is sublime and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 looks and sounds superb across the board. Having played it on PS5 and Steam Deck with cross progression, I don’t recommend playing it on Valve’s handheld right now. It gets an easy recommendation on PS5 though. I will be updating this with a full score once I’ve gotten enough time with the multiplayer and some patches.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck Review Score: TBA



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Swing Into ‘Marvel Snap’ With The Amazing Spider-Season – TouchArcade

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The Best ‘Marvel Snap’ Meta Decks – September 2024 Edition – TouchArcade


With August in the rear-view mirror, taking the Young Avengers with it, we’re about due for another season in Marvel Snap (Free). And indeed, a new one has kicked off today! What is the theme, you might be wondering? Why it’s the best kind of Marvel theme! The deadly… the terrifying… the Amazing Spider-Season!  BONESAW IS READY! Sorry, Bonesaw isn’t in this season. Maybe someday. But there are some cool new cards and locations, so let’s check them out!

This season is a bit of a doozy as it is introducing a new type of card ability: Activate. With Activate, you choose when to fire off the card’s ability. It’s like an On Reveal that you can trigger at any time, while also dodging things that affect On Reveal abilities. The Season Pass card naturally takes advantage of this new feature, and so far he is looking like a real doozy. If you want to see the folks at Second Dinner introduce the new season, I’ve linked the video below. Read on for my summary.

Symbiote Spider-Man is the new Season Pass card. He’s 4-Cost 6-Power, and he has an Activate ability that absorbs the lowest cost card at the location and copies the text of that card. If that includes an On Reveal ability, it will fire off again as though the card was just played. Combine with Galactus for HIJINKS. I’ll be really surprised if this card survives the season without being nerfed, but he sure is a whole lot of fun already.

Now for the rest of the lot. Silver Sable is 1-Cost 1-Power, but she has an On Reveal ability that steals two power from card at the top of your opponent’s deck. Decent as a standalone, really useful in combinations with certain locations and other cards. Next, the star of the hit film Madame Web. She has an Ongoing ability that allows you to move one of the other cards at her location elsewhere once per turn.

Next, Arana. Another 1-Cost 1-Power card, and she’s our next Activate ability user. Activate her to move the next card you play to the right and give it +2 Power. She’s going to be a staple of move decks, I’m sure. Rounding out our Spider-Friends is Scarlet Spider, the Ben Reilly variety. He’s a 4-Cost 5-Power card, and he has an Activate ability too! Use it to spawn an exact clone to another location. Power him up, then multiply him! Clones don’t have feelings!

As for the new locations, there are two. The Brooklyn Bridge is a big part of Spider-Man lore, and it’s certainly due for an appearance in Marvel Snap. The gimmick with this location is that you can’t place cards there two turns in a row. You’re going to have to get creative to dominate this spot! The other location is Otto’s Lab, and it works a lot like Otto himself. The next card you play there will pull a card from the enemy’s hand to the location. Ooh, surprises! THE DIE IS CAST!

And that’s the lot for the new season! Some very interesting cards this time around, and that new Activate ability is sure to create some fascinating possibilities. We’ll have our September deck guide up very soon, as we could all use a little help in handling this wall-crawling menace and his friends. What do you think of this season? Any cards you’ll be playing? Are you buying that Season Pass? Let us know in the comments!



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Reviews Featuring ‘Castlevania Dominus Collection’, Plus Today’s Releases and Sales – TouchArcade

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Reviews Featuring ‘Castlevania Dominus Collection’, Plus Today’s Releases and Sales – TouchArcade


Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 3rd, 2024. In today’s article, I have a few more reviews for you. Some lengthy thoughts on Castlevania Dominus Collection, a look at Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn, and some quick critiques of a pair of Pinball FX tables that recently arrived as DLC. After that, we check out the new releases of the day including the quirky and cool Bakeru, then roll into the latest sales and expiring discounts for the day. Let’s get into it!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Castlevania Dominus Collection ($24.99)

Say what you will about Konami in the modern era, but it has been absolutely killing it with most of its classic collections. Castlevania in particular has been enjoying a great deal of love in this regard, with Castlevania Dominus Collection 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’s more here than meets the eye, and with everything taken into account this may well be the most essential Castlevania collection yet.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let’s talk about the main course first. The Nintendo DS era of Castlevania 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 is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow. It hit very early in the Nintendo DS’s life, and is thus cursed to some stupid touchscreen gimmicks that have thankfully been mitigated in this release. Portrait of Ruin shoves the touchscreen nonsense into a bonus mode, relying on an interesting dual-character gimmick to distinguish itself. Order of Ecclesia really mixes things up, with considerably higher difficulty than its predecessor and a design that calls back to Simon’s Quest of all games. All good games. Great even? Would recommend.

On the negative side, this was the last gasp of the run of exploratory Castlevania games created by Koji Igarashi, who gave the series a kick in the pants with Symphony of the Night when it needed it most. Returns were diminishing, and Konami thought it had a better play in MercurySteam’s Lords of Shadow. 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’ll never know. I do remember at the time many people were feeling exhausted with this type of Castlevania, 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’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?

So, weird thing here is that these games don’t 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 a lot better, and I would now put it within my top five Castlevania games of all-time.

In terms of options and extras, there is plenty here. For general options, you get a choice of which region of each game you’d 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. 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’s 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’s a treat. You can even make your own custom playlist of tunes.

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’s a very minor nitpick. This is a great way to enjoy three very cool games, and for the price it’s an absurd value.

But wait! There’s more! The absolutely dreadful arcade Castlevania game, Haunted Castle, has been included here. I’m 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… is it?

The last extra, and it feels ridiculous to call something so substantial an extra but it’s M2’s wording not mine, is a complete remake of Haunted Castle. Much like when it took on the task of remaking Castlevania: The Adventure with Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth on the Nintendo Wii (please reissue all of the Rebirth games), M2 basically took a look at the original game and decided to make a good one instead. Haunted Castle Revisited 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 game! A very good one! It’s tucked away in the Extras tab of a Nintendo DS collection, but it’s here!

If you like Castlevania, you really should buy Castlevania Dominus Collection. There’s an entire new Castlevania game here and it kind of rules. You also get what you’re 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 is also here. If, on the other hand, you don’t like Castlevania, we are not friends. And finally, if you don’t know Castlevania, you should pick up all three of the collections and get to the good times. Another absolutely stellar showing from Konami and M2.

SwitchArcade Score: 5/5

Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn ($19.99)

I’ve been through a bit of a roller coaster with Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn. I’ve enjoyed all of Tengo Project’s releases so far, and I believe its versions of Wild Guns and The Ninja Warriors are definitive in every way. I had a few issues with Pocky & Rocky, but overall that was also a very enjoyable romp. Shadow of the Ninja seemed like a different kettle of fish in a lot of ways, however. The Tengo Project team members didn’t 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’t think the original game is as good as Wild Guns, The Ninja Warriors, and Pocky & Rocky were. As a result, when this remake was announced I was a little hesitant.

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’ve played through the game a few times, I’ve settled somewhere in the middle. I think relative to the other games from this developer, Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn 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’t 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, you’ll really love this.

If on the other hand you’re like me and only found the original to be a decent action-platformer, you probably won’t land much further from that mark with Reborn. 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’s necessary, as it’s not a very lengthy affair overall. It’s the best Shadow of the Ninja you could play, but it is still Shadow of the Ninja.

Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn 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.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Pinball FX – The Princess Bride Pinball ($5.49)

Just a couple of quick Pinball FX DLC reviews, partly to celebrate the massive update Pinball FX 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, and Goat Simulator Pinball. 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’s 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.

Zen Studios doesn’t always hit with its licensed tables, often missing things like music, real voices, and likenesses. The Princess Bride Pinball is one of the better ones in that regard, and I think any fan of the movie who isn’t allergic to pinball would do well to check it out. It’s 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.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Pinball FX – Goat Simulator Pinball ($5.49)

Then we have Goat Simulator Pinball, 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’ll get involved in a lot of silly goat-related incidents, adding effects to your ball to trigger various elements of the table. It’s a little bewildering at first, but stick with it and you’ll be rewarded. More of a table for the veteran players, I think. Goat Simulator fans with no pinball experience will probably have some difficulty getting a handle on it enough to see some of the funnier antics.

Goat Simulator Pinball 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’s a tricky table to learn, but once you do you’ll get to see some truly wacky stuff. Fans of the Goat Simulator games who can stick with the game long enough to learn the ropes will be rewarded, but it’s going to take a bit more work to get there than with some other tables.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

Bakeru ($39.99)

If you read my review yesterday, you’ll know I really enjoyed this breezy, charming 3D platformer from the fine folks at Good-Feel. Play as a tanuki named Bakeru 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’t mind that aspect, this is a nice game to play on your Switch.

Holyhunt ($4.99)

This is a top-down arena-based twin-stick shooter. It describes itself as a love letter to 8-bit games, but I don’t 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.

Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography ($20.00)

I don’t normally include these language-learning things since we’re 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.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some decent games in the inbox today, including OrangePixel’s selection of great pick-up-and-play titles. Alien Hominid is enjoying an extremely rare discount, and you can also scoop up Ufouria 2 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’ve only included a handful for each. Have a gander through both lists, as ever.

Select New Sales

Space Grunts ($8.39 from $13.99 until 9/7)Meganoid ($5.39 from $8.99 until 9/7)Stardash ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)Gunslugs ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)Gunslugs 2 ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)Heroes of Loot ($4.79 from $7.99 until 9/7)Heroes of Loot 2 ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)Warhammer 40k Dakka Squadron ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/9)Castle Crashers Remastered ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/10)Alien Hominid HD ($9.59 from $11.99 until 9/10)Alien Hominid Invasion ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/10)Conscript ($17.59 from $21.99 until 9/15)Overdelivery ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/15)Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption ($2.99 from $19.99 until 9/16)Agent Intercept ($7.99 form $19.99 until 9/16)

Secret Files Tunguska ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)Secret Files Puritas Cordis ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)Secret Files Sam Peters ($2.02 from $6.99 until 9/16)Lost Horizon ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)Lost Horizon 2 ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/16)Zombo Buster Advance ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/16)Skautfold Usurper ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/17)Nuclear Blaze ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/17)Helvetii ($5.09 from $16.99 until 9/17)Heidelberg 1693 ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/17)Sophstar ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/17)Harmony’s Odyssey ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/17)Ufouria 2: The Saga ($17.49 from $24.99 until 9/17)Promenade ($12.49 from $24.99 until 9/17)Shinorubi ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/17)Last Night of Winter ($6.99 from $9.99 until 9/17)Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/18)Nobody Saves The World ($9.99 from $24.99 until 9/23)Summer in Mara ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/23)Guacamelee 2 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/23)Railbound ($2.59 from $12.99 until 9/23)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, September 4th

Capes ($29.99 from $39.99 until 9/4)Fates of Ort ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/4)Floogen ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/4)Fluffy Horde ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/4)Gum+ ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/4)Hopping Girl Kohane EX ($16.74 from $24.99 until 9/4)Kingdom Come Deliverance ($29.99 from $49.99 until 9/4)Kona II: Brume ($11.99 from $29.99 until 9/4)Metro 2033 Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)Metro Last Light Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)Outward Definitive ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/4)Overcooked Special Edition ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)Rolling Car ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/4)Stunt Paradise ($5.19 from $7.99 until 9/4)Tiny Pixels Vol 1 Ninpo Blast ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/4)Worms WMD ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9/4)Yoku’s Island Express ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/4)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. Maybe a review? No promises. I think we’re officially in the season of TOO MANY GOOD GAMES, so hold on to your wallets and enjoy the fun. It’s probably the Switch’s last holiday ride, so let’s make it worth the while. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!



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Home Sweet Home’ iOS Review – A Great Start, but Needs More Work – TouchArcade

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Home Sweet Home’ iOS Review – A Great Start, but Needs More Work – TouchArcade


Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home has been a very interesting game to follow pre-release. I say this not only because it is a premium mobile-first Harvest Moon game, but also because the reactions from my friends who are longtime fans of the series have gone from apathy to interest with every bit of gameplay shown. Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home launched recently on iOS and Android as a mobile-exclusive entry in Natsume’s Harvest Moon series, and I’ve been playing it for about a week and a half now on iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Pro for review. Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is a very good farming simulation game, but one that is held back by a few issues right now.

A lot of fans of the Harvest Moon series of games from Marvelous have been around since the SNES or N64 days, but I only got into it on 3DS with Story of Season. Back then, I had no idea about the name change and that Marvelous’ releases would be called Story of Seasons while Harvest Moon would be the name used by Natsume going forward. I’m making that clear now because I don’t want people confused about what Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is and also to give you my history with the series before getting into how I feel about Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home ($17.99).

If you’re new to farming and life simulation games, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home takes you back from the city to a calming village where you fish, farm, interact with many NPCs, partake in festivals (that need to be unlocked), and even find a companion. The village of Alba, your new home, is dense and cozy (sorry but I had to), and I’m glad it isn’t a big open location because those usually result in a lot of empty spaces when it comes to life simulation games. If you’ve played many in the genre, think of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home as one that focuses more on the characters with a bit less depth when it comes to farming.

After a short tutorial explaining the basics of movement and a bit of farming, you unlock the map and main menu letting you save just about anywhere (this is very important for a mobile game), and this is where you get into the flow of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home where you try and finish quests for NPCs, upgrade your tools, gather, mine (this unlocks a bit later), and of course farm through the game’s main chapters.

The more I played Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home, the more I realized that the developers understood what makes life and farming simulation games great, but fell short in some ways. These may or may not affect newcomers to the genre, but those who have played many recent games will find them lacking. The potential partners are likely the weakest aspect of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home. They just aren’t as interesting as other games in the genre. If you don’t care about that aspect, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is quite a polished entry in the genre.

Approaching Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home from a general life simulation game enthusiast’s perspective feels different though. While other platforms are spoiled for choice with tons of games from big and small developers, we don’t really see much like that on mobile, but that doesn’t make up for some of the flaws here, especially at a much higher price point. I think this is a very solid base that the developers can build on to the point where it would even be a great fit for PC and consoles. The only “mobile” aspect of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home right now is the touch control option.

Visually, aside from the performance and load times that I will cover below, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home looks very good. Some characters look generic, but the interface, farm, building layout, and everything looks good. I also appreciate that Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home supports fullscreen on iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Pro. It really feels like a game properly tailored to mobile with its visuals and controls.

While Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home does look nice visually for the most part, it is lacking when it comes to the character designs. This applies to your own character with customization options that should’ve been more detailed and also the main NPCs in the town. A lot of them feel lifeless even during cut-scenes. Barring that, I like the aesthetic a lot, and Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home looks excellent on my iPhone and iPad. The one disappointment is in performance. Right now, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is capped at 30fps on my iPhone 15 Pro and iPad Pro. I was expecting above 60fps let alone 60fps, but it isn’t possible to play at a higher frame rate now. The load times are also not as fast as they should be.

On the audio side, I was pleased with the music and sounds in Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home. Nothing stood out to the point where I’d listen to it outside the game, but it sounded good and the music changes were appropriate to the gameplay.

When Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home was announced as a mobile-exclusive game, I was curious how it would control. The developers have done a fantastic job with the touch controls here letting you play by tapping to move, dragging to move, and more. Interacting with objects or characters, farming, and navigating menus all feel good. Some text and touch targets feel a bit too small on iPhone, but they are fine on iPad. I would’ve loved some haptic feedback on iPhone though for using tools and even fishing. Maybe this can be added in a future update.

If you’ve played the two best life simulation games on mobile: Stardew Valley and My Time at Portia, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home feels closer to the former, but it isn’t as polished. I dislike bringing up other games in the same genre to compare, but I’m doing it here specifically for the mobile port. Those two games were built for PC/console and brought over to mobile while Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home was built for mobile and yet it doesn’t feel as tailored to the platform in its features.

Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is a mobile-exclusive game, and while I appreciate the touch control scheme, it has a few issues right now when it comes to features. The lack of cloud saves is beyond disappointing. When I first downloaded Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home on my iPhone, I played it for about three hours before picking up my iPad to see how it feels there. I found no way to get the save across, and still haven’t been able to move saves across devices. The lack of controller support is also disappointing for a game like this. The developers did a great job with touch controls, but it would be nice to have controller support for when I play on iPad. I would also like some quality of life features for movement, like we’ve seen in recent games in the genre.

As a newcomer to Natsume’s new Harvest Moon games but a fan of all the recent Story of Seasons and other life simulation games, Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home ended up being worth playing, but it needs a few updates and features to be truly essential at full price. I have no issues with developers wanting to charge premium prices on mobile, but Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home lacking basic features like cloud saves and controller support definitely makes it harder to recommend alongside a few other design issues. If the developers continue working on this, it will be one of the best in the genre on mobile, and I’m glad to see them take a chance on a premium mobile life simulation game because that is very rare.



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Total Warfare’ Launches Massive Sky Ace Update – TouchArcade

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Total Warfare’ Launches Massive Sky Ace Update – TouchArcade


Summer holidays might be over, but fans of Gunship Battle: Total Warfare are still in for a treat as Joycity released one of the game’s most impressive updates that introduces Sky Ace alongside numerous QOL enhancements and a special event to keep things as exciting as possible this fall.

Sky Ace is a classic 2D puzzle shooter that pays homage to the legendary shooters of console gaming with an unquestionably high level of polish and prestige. It also has its own storyline. With the help of a famous cast of fighter jets, players will be able to engage in aerial battle against enemy troops in Sky Ace and retrieve lost allies and locations. Players control their fighter jets left and right against a barrage of guided missiles and fast-moving enemy incursions as they shoot and strafe their way through simple calculation-based tasks. This vibrant, engaging feature combines the thrill of solving puzzles with traditional shooter action.

But Sky Ace is not the only thing to look forward to and we are sure that players will enjoy the enhanced unit, the inventory navigations, rings that provide fast access to more easily control essential features at log in. Additionally, a new statistics tool has been implemented to let players confirm, use, and increase things more quickly. Together with input from both new and experienced players, these improvements significantly improve player convenience on all fronts.

And to mark this special occasion, Joycity also decided to treat the GBTW with a special event that awards all players with an exclusive Jet, the ‘F-35 Sky Pro’ when they successfully complete specific Sky Ace stages.

You can find out more about this major update on the official website or on the game’s Facebook page for the latest developments.

Gunship Battle: Total Warfare is available for free on the Google Play Store or App Store.

 

Sponsored Content

This article is sponsored content written by TouchArcade and published on behalf of Joycity to promote the new Sky Ace update for Gunship Battle: Total Warfare. For questions or comments, please email [email protected]

 



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