SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring ‘Bakeru’ & ‘Peglin’, Plus Highlights From Nintendo’s Blockbuster Sale | Virexa
SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring ‘Bakeru’ & ‘Peglin’, Plus Highlights From Nintendo’s Blockbuster Sale
TouchArcade•September 3, 2024•13 min read
Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 2nd, 2024. I think it’s a holiday today in the United States, but here in Japan it’s Monday as usual. That means I’ve got some goodies for you, and in our typical week-starting fashion that means a bunch of reviews.
Three written by yours truly, and one from our pal Mikhail. I take a look at Bakeru , Star Wars: Bounty Hunter , and Mika and the Witch’s Mountain . Mikhail dives once more into Peglin , a game he can speak to better than anyone else at TouchArcade Towers.
Beyond that, we’ve got a bit of news from Mikhail, and a massive list of deals from Nintendo’s Blockbuster Sale. Let’s get to it! News Guilty Gear Strive Nintendo Switch Edition Coming January 2025 Arc System Works has done it.
They’re bringing Guilty Gear Strive to Nintendo Switch on January 23rd with 28 characters included and rollback netcode for online battles. It won’t be crossplay sadly, but should be good for playing offline and with other Switch owners. I adore the game on Steam Deck and PS5, and will definitely try this one out.
Check out the official website here . 99) Bakeru is not Goemon/Mystical Ninja . It is made by some of the people who worked on that series.
There are some superficial similarities. But it is not Goemon , and coming into it expecting Goemon is both a disservice to Bakeru and yourself. Bakeru is Bakeru .
Goemon is still on the milk carton, to the upper-left of the Sunset Riders . Expectations set, let’s talk about this game instead. Bakeru comes to us by way of Good-Feel, a studio that has frequently worked with Nintendo on games in the Wario , Yoshi , and Kirby franchises.
Most recently, it developed Princess Peach: Showtime! Its specialty appears to be in cute, low-friction, well-polished platformers. Guess what Bakeru is?
Bad things are going down in Japan, and a little goober named Issun stumbles on some assistance in the unlikely form of a tanuki named Bakeru. With his mighty abilities to change forms and wield a taiko drum and drumsticks, Bakeru might just be the guy for the job. You’ll tour Japan prefecture by prefecture, whacking baddies, grabbing cash, talking to poop, and looking for secrets.
You’ve got more than sixty levels to play here, and while I wouldn’t say they’re all super-memorable, it’s an easy-going experience that remains rather engaging throughout. I genuinely enjoyed the collectibles in this game more than those in most platformers I’ve played, just because they usually reflect the location you’re in. Lots of little nuggets about Japan, and some things that even a long-time resident like me didn’t know.
Boss fights! Okay, this is one part where I’ll allow comparisons to Goemon . Or any other Good-Feel game, I suppose.
This is a development team that understands the value of a good boss battle, and gosh are they fun here. Creative spectacles that nicely reward the player for winning. Indeed, Bakeru takes a lot of creative swings for what is essentially a straight-up 3D platformer, and I will admit some work out better than others.
Well, that’s how this kind of thing goes. I genuinely appreciated the ones that worked out well, and I can forgive the ones that didn’t. I kind of fell in love with this game despite seeing all of its flaws as I went along.
It’s that sort of game. Intensely likeable. The only real fly in the ointment here is the performance on Switch, something I believe Mikhail talked about in his look at the Steam version of the game.
The framerate is quite variable here, at times climbing up to 60 fps but frequently dipping considerably when things get busy. With the full admission that I am not a person that tends to be bothered by inconsistent framerates, I will say that it wasn’t enough of an issue to dampen my enjoyment of the game. But if you are more sensitive to that than I am, I want to make it very clear that there are still problems here despite the improvements since the Japanese launch last year.
Bakeru is a highly endearing little 3D platformer, one with a well-polished design and lots of fun ideas to spice things up during its relatively lengthy adventure. It really commits to its bit, and that part of it is almost infectious. Some framerate issues keep this from being all it could be on Switch, and I think people who come into this expecting Goemon are going to be disappointed by the fact that it’s not even trying to be that, but otherwise this is a highly-recommended title to close out your summer with.
99) There was a lot of merch put out around the releases of the films in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Video games were a big part of that, and it’s kind of impressive how many Star Wars games we saw put out in that era after going entire generations of consoles with only a handful. And while the movies weren’t exactly critical darlings, it’s inarguable that they opened up a lot of new story-telling avenues.
Remember Boba Fett? The guy with the cool armor who got knocked into a living pit by a guy who couldn’t even see? Well, here’s his dad!
He also has cool armor, and is also defeated in a very undignified way. But maybe you’re wondering about how his life was before we met him in Attack of the Clones ? Star Wars: Bounty Hunter fills in that story, whether you asked for it or not.
This is the tale of Jango Fett, a bounty hunter so cool and awesome that an entire army ended up being cloned from him. The finest in the galaxy! Don’t ask what happened ten seconds after he had to face off against a Jedi Master.
Cool armor! Besides being the number one manhunter in the business, what else made him fit to be the model for the clone army? That’s what this game is about, actually.
Jango’s try-out for the job, if you will. He is sent to hunt a Dark Jedi by the totally innocent Count Dooku, and if he picks up a few extra bounties on the way, more’s the better. That’s pretty much how this one goes.
You take on each level with a particular target in mind, but there are optional targets you can find, mark, and bring in dead or alive. You get access to a wide array of weapons and other toys, including the iconic jetpack. It’s pretty interesting at first, but the gameplay doesn’t really change things up enough as it goes on so it’s quite repetitive over the long haul.
It has a lot of problems you would expect from a 2002 video game, an era where some of this stuff was still being figured out. Targeting is an absolute mess. Cover doesn’t work as well as you might hope.
Level designs are often trying to be open but somehow end up feeling cramped and badly sign-posted. Even in its time, this was an average game at best, tied to the worst Star Wars movie. Well, at least that’s not the worst Star Wars movie anymore.
In some ways age has not been kind to Bounty Hunter , but Aspyr has done what it could to improve it without changing too much. The game looks and runs better than it ever did, and the new default control scheme is a lot better. Nothing was changed in how it saves your progress mind you, so be prepared for the very real possibility of having to start the lengthy stages over if you mess up too much.
Oh, but you can unlock a Boba Fett skin, so that’s neat. If you were ever going to play this game, this new version is the way to do it. There’s a certain nostalgic charm to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter .
There is a particular flavor to games from the PlayStation 2/GameCube/Xbox generation of consoles, and this game is absolutely steeped in it despite the nips and tucks made by Aspyr in the porting process. And it’s really in that capacity that I can most confidently recommend it, when I think about it. Are you in the mood to time travel back to 2002 and play a thoroughly rough-edged yet genuinely earnest action game?
Here you go. If on the other hand you lack that proclivity, this might be a bit too much Jank-o Fett for you. 99) After some horrible video games based on Nausicaa , Hayao Miyazaki put his foot down in a very Miyazaki way and essentially forbade any further games based on his work.
Did that extend to all of Ghibli? I’m not sure, the story isn’t clear on that. It seems likely, since we have not seen even one video game based on a Ghibli movie since then.
I respect that, but it does mean I will never have my epic Porco Rosso open world flying game. It happens. Game studios Chibig and Nukefist clearly had another Ghibli movie in mind when they made Mika and the Witch’s Mountain , and I’ll trust your reasoning skills enough to sort out witch on your own.
You’re a rookie witch, ready to get going on witchy things. The teacher you were sent to see decides to chuck you off the mountain top, breaking your flying broom. Get back up and she might help you out, but your broom isn’t going to bring you there in its current condition.
The good news is that there is a town nearby with someone who can fix brooms and even make new ones. The bad news is nothing is free in this world, so you’ll have to take up a job delivering packages to earn some scratch. Zipping around on your broom makes that kind of a job a bit easier and a lot more fun, and the town in question has a lot of things that need delivering.
That’s pretty much how it goes. There are some side jobs you can do, but most of the time you’ll be going back and forth in the world trying to get things where they need to go, when they need to go, and hopefully with a minimum of damage done in the process. It works well enough, and the vibrant world and interesting cast of characters contribute greatly to the experience.
The Switch is clearly struggling with all of this at times, and the resolution and framerate both take regular hits depending on what part of the world you’re in and what’s going. I would imagine this would play better on more powerful hardware, so if you have that option you might want to take it. Otherwise, people who can forgive some technical flaws (and we’re Switch owners, I imagine most of us are getting good at that) will probably be able to roll with the punches here.
Mika and the Witch’s Mountain wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and it is so dedicated to its core gameplay mechanic that it can wear a little thin before the game is up. It also suffers from some performance issues on the Switch. With all that said, I can’t say I didn’t have some fun zipping around on my broom, delivering packages to a bunch of quirky characters.
This is one of those games where if you think the concept sounds good, you’ll probably like what you get well enough. 99) About a year ago, I reviewed the early access version of Peglin on iOS. We also featured it as our Game of the Week when it hit mobile.
Peglin , a pachinko roguelike, has always had a lot of promise, and things have only gotten before for it through major updates over time. Last week during Nintendo’s Indie World and Partner Direct combo, Peglin was announced and released for Switch. 0 until a few hours later when I got the game.
0 last week on Steam and mobile as well alongside the Switch debut, and it definitely is a more complete experience now, but Peglin is a great game for a very specific kind of person. Your aim is to, well aim, your orb to target specific pegs on the board. This lets you damage enemies (above the board) and you make your way towards the end of each zone map like you would in Slay the Spire .
There are events, bosses, shops, tons of battles, and more in Peglin , and it is very difficult early on. As you make your way through the zone, you can upgrade or unlock new orbs, heal, and collect relics. You don’t just need to get your orb to a specific portion of the board at the bottom though.
Peglin’ s strategy is aiming so you correctly use critical or bomb pegs depending on the situation with enemies. You can also refresh the board by hitting a specific peg. There’s a lot to take in at the start, but it all clicks soon and you will be humming the songs even when you aren’t playing Peglin .
Having played Peglin on Steam and mobile, I was curious to see how the Switch port would feel. It is mostly great when it comes to performance. The aiming isn’t as smooth as on other platforms, but I got around this by using touch controls.
Aside from that, the load times are longer than mobile and Switch. These aren’t huge issues given how some recent Switch ports ship in a miserable state, but it is worth keeping in mind if you own multiple platforms and are curious where to buy Peglin . I’d say Peglin is best on Steam Deck, but the second place is close between mobile and Switch.
While the Switch has no achievements, there’s a system in place inside Peglin to track those. I like it when developers do their own achievements since the Switch lacks them on a systemwide level. You can ignore these as usual, but I liked the addition here.
0 was cross save across platforms. This likely isn’t feasible for a small developer, but some way to carry over or unlock things on Switch from mobile/PC would’ve been nice. Other than that, my only issues with Peglin on Switch have to do with the load times and aiming not being smooth.
Hopefully these can be improved over updates because more free updates are coming as confirmed by the developers at Red Nexus Games. I already thought Peglin was fantastic even in its early access state. While some balance issues hold it back a bit, it is an essential on Switch if “pachinko x roguelike" sounds good to you.
I also love that the developers made full use of the Switch hardware features by adding good rumble, full touchscreen support, and button controls making it so that you can play however you want. Now we just need a physical release. 5/5 Sales (North American eShop, US Prices) Okay, wow.
A lot of stuff on sale, and while I’ve got a lot of it here this is only scratching the surface. I’ve put together another article with what I think are the best picks from the sale, so keep your eyes open for that as well. Anyway, good luck with all of that.
I’ll meet you at the bottom. 99 until 9/10) Mr. 99 until 9/12) Shockman Collection Vol.
99 until 9/14) Cardfight! 99 until 9/3) That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more reviews, some new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news.
The typhoon has fizzled out, giving way to hot temperatures and sunny skies. I suppose I’ll take it for a day or two. I hope you all have a magnificent Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!
TouchArcadeSeptember 3, 202413 min read