by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
Good morning, Internet! Ragachak here, with this week’s news on the Nintendo Switch! This is a new column we’re producing, a little shorter than my average editorial. Any new/exciting Nintendo Switch stuff that we can find will be here! I’m going to focus if I can on games that dropped this week, and then anything else of note we can get our hands on. This week, as far as titles go, the big hits/successes will without a doubt be ports. I was curious at first, why Secret of Mana did not come to the Switch, but then all of a sudden it hit me! It’s not because it’s too powerful for the console, but Japan recently received a Seiken Densetsu collection title. The first three “Mana” games in one place, so having two remakes of Secret of Mana at one time would in all likelihood, become detrimental and one would certainly wind up suffering. There are two clear winners this week though:
Bayonetta 1+2: Let’s be 100% honest with ourselves here: The Wii-U was a flop. The Nintendo Switch has already sold more units than the entire lifetime of the Wii-U. That’s almost six years, versus about one year and that’s insanity. Quite a few amazing titles hit the Wii-U, that people did not play, simply because of what console it was on. It just … wasn’t worth buying to me, and I’m not the only one for sure. One of these is Bayonetta 2. Bayonetta is proof that Nintendo just isn’t a kid’s company. When I heard it was going to be a Wii-U exclusive I was horrified at first (because I’d never get to play it), and I couldn’t help but wonder if Nintendo would water it down. As it turns out, Nintendo doubled down and made crazy sexy costumes themed around popular Nintendo Princesses/characters. Good on them! So Bayonetta 1+2 was released for the Switch this week (February 16), with a collectible physical release to boot! If I had it on my Switch it would definitely be a review for the coming week.
Owlboy: What did the NES do better than any other console at the time? Platformers. Pixel platformers, glorious 2-D adventures. That’s what Owlboy is, a love letter to the days of old, but in a modern package. It could be considered a Metroidvania-lite (where you find new power-ups and explore a huge maze-like world), but this game is truly something special. It came out on February 13th, 2018 (as opposed to the original release date of Nov. 2016), and it’s another beautiful port to the Switch. The Switch has so many ports right now, but almost every one of them has been marvelous. There are some companies that fail hard, super hard at ports, but I’m not going to point fingers or name names. Tight, creative mechanics, gorgeous pixel art, and a game that was about ten years in the making, Owlboy does platforming right. The bosses require interesting tactics to do away with them, and it’s just such a lovely world to explore. In a week packed with awesome video game drops, don’t decide to ignore Owlboy if you haven’t tried it already.
There are also a few titles of note in the eshop this week, and they’re just as weird and lovely as they sound. One of note is Aqua Kitty UDX, where you and your mining-team of cats have to overcome a fear of water and mine for milk. Yeah, you heard me right. It’s a side-scrolling shooter, in the form of R-Type, features gigantic bosses, and kittens to save. This has been the big game news for the Nintendo Switch this week! I hope you stay tuned for more next week! Is there something I missed you loved this week, or something coming up we should look at? Let us know below!
