Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 27th, 2023. Wednesdays are usually quiet, but today is the quietest in some time. I have a little news for you, one review covering the recently-released Koumajou Remilia II: Stranger’s Requiem remaster, a single new release, and the usual lists of new and expiring sales. Hopefully the lighter-than-usual content is being off-set by our many year-end specials. Let’s get into the mix!
News
‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection’ Will Be Delisted on January 1st 2024
Well, it’s a slow news day, so let’s talk about this. The big cheese of Limited Run Games, Josh Fairhurst, mentioned on Twitter/X today that due to the expiration of the license, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection will be removed from digital marketplaces on January 1st, 2024. If you’ve purchased it by then it will continue to be available to redownload, but it will no longer be sold. For those who haven’t had their finger on the pulse of the hottest Bill & Ted news, the collection contains the absolutely dreadful NES game and surprisingly decent Game Boy game. It came out on the eShop in February of this year, and was also available as a physical set. Is it the greatest set of games? No. No it is not. But if you want it, you should grab it very soon.
Reviews & Mini-Views
Koumajou Remilia II: Stranger’s Requiem ($29.99)
Following in the footsteps of the first game’s remaster, here’s a spiffed-up take on the 2010 sequel. Like the first game, it’s a fangame based on the Touhou Project universe that is heavily inspired by the classic Castlevania games. You’ve got a new playable character this time whose moveset is more inspired by Alucard than the Belmonts, eight new stages to play through, and plenty of challenging bullet hell boss battles. It’s as tough as old boot leather, but you can adjust the difficulty setting if you want a slightly easier ride. While the game itself isn’t terribly long, there are a number of unlockable bonuses including an additional playable character that add a bit of value to the package.
Despite this game having a handful of improvements over the first game, I ended up enjoying it less. The novelty of having a game like this fifteen years ago probably helped give this whole trilogy of games an extra push, but the indie boom means we’re hardly thirsting for decent action games nowadays. While the visuals were admirable enough for their era, the inconsistency between the quality of assets in this remaster creates a rather unpleasant whole. The music is still straight fire, though. I genuinely bumped the score up a little because of it. Great music, decent but extremely difficult gameplay, and patchwork graphics. Hm.
If you enjoyed the first Koumajou Remilia game and want another serving of the same, here you go. If you’re a big Touhou fan, this is above average in terms of the spread available on Switch. Perhaps you have happy memories of the original release from back in the day? Well, you might appreciate the few extras that have been added here. For everyone else, this is a very average side-scrolling action game with a very good soundtrack. There are better ways to spend your time and money.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
New Releases
The Bin Bunch
Starship Showdown: Galactic Grand Prix ($9.90)
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Slim pickings indeed. Full Quiet seems like an ambitious and creative NES game that might have been a hard one to punt on at ten bucks but perhaps easier to give a shot to at five. The various Telenet collections are wrapping up their latest sales, and so is that incredibly sweet deal on Monster Hunter Rise. Perhaps we’ll see more sales as the week comes to a close, but given how much is already on sale I wouldn’t count on too much.
Select New Sales
Full Quiet ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/2)
Nora: The Wannabe Alchemist ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/2)
BroodStar ($4.40 from $11.00 until 1/2)
Deathtrap Dungeon Trilogy ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/5)
Finally, in Love Again ($20.99 from $29.99 until 1/8)
Danmaku Unlimited 3 ($6.99 from $9.99 until 1/10)
Cat Simulator ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/16)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, December 28th
A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism ($41.99 from $59.99 until 12/28)
Cat Quest ($3.89 from $12.99 until 12/28)
Dinobreak ($11.99 from $19.99 until 12/28)
Monster Hunter Rise ($15.99 from $39.99 until 12/28)
Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak DLC ($23.99 from $39.99 until 12/28)
Syd of Valis ($10.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Telenet Shooting Collection ($40.49 from $44.99 until 12/28)
Valis II ($7.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Valis III ($7.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Valis IV ($10.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier ($7.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 12/28)
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection II ($31.49 from $44.99 until 12/28)
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Megadrive ($10.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier MSX ($10.50 from $15.00 until 12/28)
Volley Pals ($3.24 from $6.49 until 12/28)
That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday and that usually means a lot of new releases, but with it being December 28th I don’t think we’ll be seeing a whole ton. We’ll summarize whatever comes, plus rope in whatever news and sales roll in over the next day. And of course, we’ll also have a number of year-end SwitchArcade Specials for you to enjoy. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!