Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Wii U
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will be released for the PC on April 5
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment was one of the best games released for the Nintendo Switch during its launch weekend, but we have good news if you’ve been waiting for it to make its way to other platforms.
Late last night, Yacht Club Games announced (via their official website) that Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment will be available to download for the PC on April 5. The game is also in development for more than a half-dozen other platforms (3DS, Fire TV, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One), and each one is currently scheduled to be released by the end of April.
Players who previously purchased Shovel Knight (which is now known as Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove) will receive the campaign as a free expansion. But PC, PS4, and Xbox One players who have never played Shovel Knight before will also have the option to purchase Specter of Torment as a standalone download.
Two additional expansions (King Knight’s Campaign and Battle Mode) are also in the works at Yacht Club Games. They’re expected to launch before the end of the year.
Nintendo Download: Mario Sports Superstars, Has-Been Heroes, New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers, more
Between the Final Four, the Masters, the NFL Draft, and Opening Day, sports fans are always busy busy busy during March and April. And it’s no different in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Beginning tomorrow, 3DS owners will be able to download Mario Sports Superstars from the Nintendo eShop. The package includes all your favorite outdoor activities including baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, and horse racing. And a new series of Amiibo Cards will give players the chance to bulk up their team without resorting to illegal steroids.
The Switch is also in line to receive several new games this week, including the action/strategy roguelike Has-Been Heroes. Published by GameStop’s GameTrust label, Has-Been Heroes follows a group of knights who have to escort a pair of princesses to a far off academy. It’ll be available to download on Tuesday, March 28.
Switch owners won’t have to wait that long to download New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers… it was added to the Nintendo eShop earlier today. The town-building sim will take players back to frontier times, tasking them with building a bustling metropolis on an empty piece of land.
You can more more about this week’s new additions to the Nintendo eShop (including even more games for the 3DS, Switch, and Wii U) after the break. (more…)
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is officially coming to the Nintendo Switch
We’ve expected this announcement for quite some time, but Koji “Iga” Igarashi confirmed today that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is coming to the Nintendo Switch.
This also means that Kickstarter backers hoping to play Bloodstained on the Wii U are out of luck, as Iga and his team had to cancel development of the project for Nintendo’s former console. Backers interested in switching their pre-order to the Switch can do so though the same survey link they received previously, though Wii U backers can also opt to receive the game on the PC, PS4, Vita, or Xbox One. And if you were only interested in playing Bloodstained on the Wii U, you can request a full refund from now until April 20, 2017.
Iga further explained the situation to fans in a new Kickstarter update:
Hello, this is IGA.
Thank you for always supporting us. I would like to give a message to the backers who pledged for the Wii U version of Bloodstained.
During our Kickstarter campaign, the Wii U was at the height of its popularity, but the situation has drastically changed after the release of Nintendo Switch.
This change made it difficult to receive the necessary support from the hardware maker, which has led us to drop the Wii U development and shift the development to Nintendo Switch.
We are very sorry that it has come to this after all your support, but we hope you will understand. We would like to respond by preparing options for our backers, such as moving your pledge to another version or requesting a refund if you don’t want any other version.
We hope you will continue to support us.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is currently on track to be released sometime in 2018.
Posted in News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Battle Princess Madelyn smashes its Kickstarter goal in two days
Casual Bit Games’s latest crowdfunding project, Battle Princess Madelyn, has managed to hit its target of $60,000 CAD on Kickstarter in less than two days. Not only that, but the project has also burned through nine of its stretch goals with more than 24 days remaining on their Kickstarter clock.
And if backers help Casual Bit reach their last goal of $150,000 CAD, they have promised to port the game to the PS Vita. Though it is already heading for the Nintendo Switch, so backers will have at least option for a portable version of the game.
Battle Princess Madelyn takes its licks from Super NES classic Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, and the titular trainee knight and her ghost dog Fritzy will embark on a similar journey to save the kingdom from an evil wizard. The spectral canine can be used to solve puzzles and deployed to tackle end level bosses.
The team at Casual Bit Games is now adding more features to the game as a result of the enthusiasm and support shown during the crowdfunding campaign, including an “Insanity’s Blade King Mode,” which ups the difficulty of the classic Arcade Mode. The developer expects to release the game for the PC, PS4, Wii U, Xbox One, and Switch in February 2018.
With fast-paced 2D action, silky smooth animation, and a retro soundtrack set against an epic fantasy story, Battle Princess Madelyn might just be the next Shovel Knight.
Nintendo Download: Binding of Isaac Aftermath+, World of Goo, Picross 3D, more
The Switch’s lineup of games continues to grow with five new releases as part of today’s Nintendo Download.
First up, we’ve got Binding of Isaac Aftermath+, an action-packed dungeon-crawler from Nicalis and Edmund McMillen. The procedurally-generated roguelike includes “more than 11,000 unique room configurations” and “a nearly endless variety of enemies, items, challenges, and secrets.”
Also available to download this week is a trio of Wii and Wii U re-releases from Tomorrow Corporation. Switch owners will be able to pick up physics-based puzzler World of Goo, fireplace adventure Little Inferno, or “puzzle game for nerds” Human Resource Machine. And speaking of re-releases, SNK and Hamster Corporation will bring The King of Fighters ’94, the first game in the King of Fighters franchise, to the Switch.
Nintendo will also add Picross 3D, which was originally released for the DS in 2010, to the Wii U eShop.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment Review: Death Takes Over in a Perfect Prequel
Yacht Club Games has built a strong reputation over the years for their ability to deconstruct, modernize, and regenerate the side-scrolling platformer. Using Ducktales and Mega Man as a template, the original Shovel Knight was a game that honored the past, while only being able to exist in the present. Meanwhile, its first expansion, Plague of Shadows, brought back the gadget platformer in a unique adventure that felt more like a true sequel than an add-on.
The developer must have had the same thought, as Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment is the first game in the franchise’s rapidly-growing expanded universe to be available as a standalone game as well as a free expansion. Widening their playing field has also lead Yacht Club to tackle the cinematic storytelling and swordplay found in the NES era’s ninja platformers, best exemplified by Ninja Gaiden. (more…)
Learn how The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came to be in a “Making of” Documentary and “Breaking Conventions” GDC Session
Nintendo is giving fans an unprecedented look at how they designed and built The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in a new documentary series.
The Making of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a three-part documentary that focuses on all aspects of Breath of the Wild including the initial work done in “The Beginning,” the seamless exploration provided by the game’s “Open-Air Concept,” and the epic saga of the “Story and Characters.”
This documentary sets nicely alongside “Breaking Conventions,” a Game Developers Conference session hosted by Game Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Art Director Satoru Takizawa, and Technical Director Takuhiro Dohta. The three developers dive deep into the development process for Breath of the Wild, and provide plenty of new insight into the notoriously secretive inner workings at Nintendo.
I understand that not everyone has two hours to devote to behind-the-scenes stories from Breath of the Wild’s development (that’s time you could be playing the game, after all). But if nothing else, stick around long enough to see the 8-bit prototype the team created, as well as footage of an early game concept that included an alien invasion of Hyrule straight out of Independence Day.
All four videos can be found after the break. (more…)
Nintendo Download: Blaster Master Zero, NeoGeo Games on Switch, Voez, more
Week Two of the Switch era begins for Nintendo, and the consolemaker is kicking it off with the launch of eight new games for the console as part of this week’s Nintendo Download.
Inti Creates leads the way with Blaster Master Zero, their retro-styled reboot of the popular NES action game. The side-scroller/overhead hybrid is also available to download for the 3DS.
Also available to download for the Switch today is Voez, a rhythm game that is only playable through the console’s Handheld Mode. But those who decide to tap on the notes in the correct sequence will help six high school students achieve international fame with their band.
Finally, Hamster Corporation will re-release six NeoGeo classics on the Switch this week as part of their Arcade Archives series. Each game is priced at $7.99, and the list of available titles includes The King of Fighters ’98, Metal Slug 3, World Heroes Perfect, Nam-1975, Shock Troopers, and Waku Waku 7.
And don’t think Nintendo forgot about the Wii U. Bomberman 64, which was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997, was added to the Wii U’s Virtual Console service today.
You can learn more about all of these games (and a few other new releases) after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, Switch, Wii U
Tagged Blaster Master Zero