NiS America has announced Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is headed to the Nintendo Switch in addition to the PS4 and PS Vita.
To accommodate for the Switch release, the title has been delayed from a July release to September 5, 2017 in North America and on September 8, 2017 in Europe.
Be sure to check some screenshots and the trailer below.
The new rhythm JRPG title, Project Rap Rabbit, which has recently hit Kickstarter has updated its stretch goals to prioritize a Switch version, and has added a new $25 digital copy backer tier.
The stretch goal was previously set for $4.95 million, and is no set to $1.5 million for the Switch port to be made.
Project Rap Rabbit, is a new “story-led, rhythm-action adventure” game from PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura and Gitaroo Man creator Keiichi Yano.
You can check out the Kickstarter, as well as read the details about the game at this link.
DOOD! Disgaea 5 is coming out on the Switch next week! May 23rd to be exact. Guess what? We have a review for you today! I have put 20 hours into it and I am only at the 4th Act and I have another 12 to go for the main story. I have dived into the item world and traveled far enough to see what’s new and I have also completed the side stories that unlock the protagonists from the previous games. Here are my thoughts….
Let me start out by saying, not all Disgaea game stories are super memorable. I can remember the 1st, 2nd, and 4th stories but not so much the 3rd (not sure why). Anyway, this isn’t a bad thing. The story is not really the point of these games.
Regardless, in this game the main characters are Killia, the wanderer, and Seraphina, the Overlord of Gorgeous (the richest netherworld). Side characters include: Red Magnus, the Scorching flame Overlord; Christo, the Overlord of a certain giant netherworld (hehehe); and that’s all I know, for now. I think I am about to meet another side character that involves a yellow Prinny but I have yet to learn if they join the group. There’s also an annoying kid named Zeroken, I don’t know if he joins either, but he has made several appearances fighting the same enemy as me.
The story revolves around the main group fighting against the army, The Lost, of the most powerful overlord, Void Dark, who is trying to take over all netherworlds. Killia and company want to: 1) Kill Void Dark for revenge 2) Kill Void Dark because he ruined their life style 3) Kill Void Dark to prove they are the strongest…You get the gist right? They want to kill Void Dark for various reasons. Long story short, the group creates the Rebel Army and recruit more overlords to fight against Void Dark. If you you feel that there are lots of overlords in this game, you’re right! But there is a reason for that which I will explain in the next part…
Disgaea 5 brings more of the same from previous games with some new additions (of course) some for the better and some for the meh. The reason there are so many Overlords is because in D5 we get a new mechanic called Overload, a unique move that only Overlords can use and is specialized to the overlord. For example, Seraphina’s Overload is called Balor Gaze which when used causes male demons to become infatuated with Sera and fight each other for a while. Overload can only be used after filling a new gauge introduced in D5, the revenge gauge. The revenge gauge is filled every time a team member is hit and or defeated. Once filled, all attacks will critical hit and you can use certain attacks like Overload. The one drawback to this is that enemies can also go into revenge mode which makes them more difficult to face but also makes them drop certain items if defeated which makes it worth it to have enemies go into revenge mode.
The training ground from D4/Clubs from D3 are back in the form of squads. Different squads do different things like share XP and Share Mana, these are still pretty useful to help level up characters you hardly use. The assembly is back, nothing much changed here as far as I can tell sbut one thing did change: you can no longer create characters using mana. There is now a recruiter for this and it uses money! This is good and bad in that some characters are more expensive than others to recruit. Making them strong is also more expensive but this makes sense. Before, it was a ton of mana needed. Now, it’s a ton of cash.
The item world of course is back with more of the same but with some additions. As you may or may not know, the item world is used to strengthen items by traveling through randomly generated dungeons and diving as deep as possible. Invaders still exist which, if memory serves, were first introduced in D2? Anyway, there are also now leveling fish which add an extra level to the item if you finish the map while you are lifting the fish. There are bottles that drop scrolls if you defeat them and then there’s these bunny creatures that give you random prizes for beating them, like extra XP. Finally, there’s this stork thingy that some times drops by and drops an egg that could have any of the things mentioned above OR a super strong baddie that enhances your item if you beat them. I ran away because I met a level 250 monster and I was only level 20, so yeah….
Too long? Didn’t read? D5 has lots of familiar elements with just enough new and enhanced ones to keep it fresh, at least in my mind.
D5 Complete doesn’t have any technically because it’s complete. Personally, I didn’t buy D5 for PS4 but I know what is DLC, so was it worth it at the time? Probably? I mean I’ll admit I am a super big Disgaea fan, I mean my nickname on here is DarkLaharl for goodness sake! I always love playing these games and I have dumped hours and hours into all them and I have bought pretty much every re-release that was on the PSP just to enjoy them again and on the go! So you can bet I love D5 for it being on the switch where I can take it anywhere or play on my TV…where was I….oh right, DLC. I probably would have bought it; I love all the previous protagonists so I would have gotten all those characters, Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Valvatorez, Rozlain, etc. The stories you play to unlock these guys are pretty fun too. The fact that it is complete in D5 makes it all the sweeter.
Overall, if you are a Disgaea fan, like myself, I know you will enjoy this game as well. Never played it before? You would definitely enjoy it if you like: Turn based games, super long games that can give you 100+ hours past the actual story, strategy games. The graphics are not super high quality but that doesn’t matter; the graphics have hardly changed from Hour of Darkness and that’s OK. Disgaea doesn’t need them. If you want crazy HD graphics in your turn based strategy then go play Final Fantasy.
If I had to give D5 a score, it would get an 9/10 from me. What about you? did you play this already on the PS4? Are you waiting for it on the Switch? Let us know in the comments Dood!
As a Banjo- Kazooie predecessor with successful Kickstarter backing, Playtonic and Team 17 has Yooka-Laylee bringing the Nintendo 64 platforming era back for the latest consoles. But does it bring back the problems from that era and can it offer more than just nostalgia for players to enjoy this title?
Yooka-Laylee approaches players with a simplistic and straight forward story made for all ages. The adventure begins with a corporate business called Hivory Towers, with a corporate president named Capital B and Dr. Quack, who start a scheme of absorbing all the world’s literature and converting it into pure profit. This is when Yooka and Laylee jump into the picture because Capital B and Dr. Quack so happened to absorb Yooka and Laylee’s golden pages from their book called “Pagies”. So Yooka and Laylee venture out from the safety of their home to explore deep inside the work halls of the corporation known as the Hivory Towers, to find the “Pagies” needed to explore the mysterious Grand Tomes.
The story works for Yooka-Laylee, mainly because of the game genre, and players will see that once exploring through the game and progressing through the main story. The simplicity of the story was one main part of the game that will have veteran platformer players going back to the golden ages of platforming. Although I enjoyed the story, I did feel like it lacked a lot of the character development for each main character, as it just sort of threw you out there with no history of each character. This would have been a great step away from the past era and bring something more to the reintroduction of this genre.
Visually, Yooka-Laylee looks magical, well developed and all around amazing with the Pixar looking models and spectacular animations for each character. The style of the game will truly bring you back to being a child. Even the environments looked outstanding. The development team behind Yooka-Laylee knew what they were doing and what they wanted to bring back from the 3D platforming era.
Players will be immersed as the explore the many different worlds in Yooka-Laylee. The only downside is that, there were some spots in the game that felt empty, or not finalized for enemies to be placed. Other than that, I can say the visuals of Yooka-Laylee would get a 10/10.
Music Plays a big role in any game, and Yooka-Laylee scores hit this right in the sweet spot for any game. The music of the game drew me in immediately as it is one of the main ways it helps to tell the story because the game takes the route of Banjo-Kazooie with no actual dubbing for voices. Players will feel each emotion the audio is placed in in section for, whether you’re out and exploring the joyful, energetic jungle themed parts of the game, or simply freezing in the snow zone. Players will appreciate what Playtonic has done with the audio.
As I said before, Yooka-Laylee takes on the route of Banjo-Kazooie with no actual dubbing of dialog, but rather the dubbed the dialog with specific sounds, grunts and other silly noises to portray each NPC or character you run into. This was a great way to have all the characters come to life and seem important to the worlds and, with their silly dialog along with the sounds, you will be enlightened while playing.
With the plan to bring back the 3D platform era with Yooka-Laylee, and making it the predecessor of Banjo-Kazooie, Playtonic had a lot to live up to, and succeeded. Yooka-Laylee is hands down, the new iteration of this genre.
As I made my way through the single player mode, I found myself going down memory lane with the item collection, puzzles, and ability unlocking Yooka-Laylee had to offer, along with seeing a few familiar faces from some recent indie games that recently came out.
The mechanics of the game work well with the many abilities you must use to solve puzzles, but there were times I got frustrated with the camera not cooperating the way I wanted it to, and some wall detections.
Single player is not the only mode Yooka-Laylee must offer. With a few extra multiplayer modes, you and your friends will find some of the multiplayer games enjoyable. The downside though is that you must unlock the multi-player mode though out the single player story. I would have liked being able to jump on immediately and play some mini games with a couple of buddies. The bright side though, this does give you a goal to look forward to while playing single player.
For a platformer that is out in 2017, I did wish it had more to offer. Yooka-Laylee brought back everything we love from the N64 platformers and nothing else new. This will be enjoyable to anyone who wants to step away from the everyday shooters, JRPGs that are on the rise, and average open world game that comes out every few months.
Verdict
With not many platformers out there and a few setbacks, Yooka-Laylee does a fantastic job bringing the 3D platformer genre back. This is definitely a game to pick up for anyone looking to step away from the usual titles that come out every month (I recommend picking it up for the Switch when the port is released). With hours of fun in the single player story, and some multiplayer action, Yooka-Laylee will have players wanting to see a sequel later down the line.
New Challenger Gaming 