#314 — Your Nintendo Update

Hello, Chris here with issue #314 of Switch Weekly — your Nintendo update. Hope you had a great weekend.

It feels like a somewhat slow start to the year — so what do we all do when things get quiet? Speculate on when the next Direct will be of course!

One thing that stuck out to me this week was the (unofficial) suggestion that the Switch has now outsold the lifetime sales of the Game Boy. Growing up, the Game Boy felt like a cultural mammoth, especially when the first Pokemon games hit — so it feels like a big, notable milestone for Nintendo's hybrid.

In other news, I've started to plan for this year's State of Switch survey — and I'd love to know if you have any thoughts on questions you'd like to see asked. Just hit reply to this email if so.

Anyway, it's another relatively quiet week on the eShop with around 20 games coming out. I liked the look of a handful of them — look out for the star. ⭐️

Finally, don't tell Nintendo, but I got a Steam Deck — after handling a Switch for the past 5+ years the Deck feels like a beefy bit of hardware. It's nowhere near as portable as the Switch, but it does offer an interesting glimpse as to what can be done with such a mobile form factor now, and gets me thinking on to what Nintendo may do next...

Thanks so much for reading.

Cheers,
Chris ✌️

🎮 Currently Playing: Horace, Dorfromantik

PREVIEW Fire Emblem engage rejects Three Houses' biggest lessons — This article suggests that this upcoming Fire Emblem game seems to take more inspiration from the gacha-filled mobile title Heroes than from Switch-hit Three Houses, resulting in something that's more fast paced and "an interesting, if divisive, experiment". The full game is out Jan 20. Polygon's early impressions (from Mike Mahardy) call Engage a "wild left turn from Three Houses" — kinda nice to see new things being tried out I say.

Robin Bea // Inverse

▶ Fire Emblem Engage: Big Tech Upgrades vs Three Houses — John Linneman digs into the improvements and changes you can expect in the latest Fire Emblem game from Intelligent Systems.

Digital Foundry // YouTube

Analyst doesn’t expect next-gen Nintendo console in 2023

Jordan Middler // VGC

▶ 23 predictions for 2023 — Former Nintendo staffers Kit and Krysta run down their expectations for the year ahead.

Kit & Krysta // YouTube

Don't worry about Nintendo's 2023 (for now)

Neal Ronaghan // Nintendo World Report

REVIEW AlphaLink features frantic, futuristic fun

Alice 'Alioop' // GoNintendo

Pokémon has a world-building problem

Brandon Johnson // Superjump

It’s too late for a Nintendo Switch Pro — bring on the Switch 2

Marshall Honorof // Tom's Guide

Fails of 2022: the Nintendo Switch really showed its age — Can't say I wholly agree with the way in which the Switch is characterised here... but the calls for fresh hardware is only getting stronger.

Cameron Faulkner // The Verge

Why can't Nintendo offer both Virtual Console and Switch Online?

Thomas Whitehead // Nintendo Life

What the next 35 years of Final Fantasy could look like

Alex Anyfantis // Superjump

🎮 Upcoming Releases

All releases are digital, Europe & U.S. unless otherwise stated.
Release data sourced in collaboration with Switch Scores.

⭐️ = Ones to Watch · 📦 = Physical release · 🎮 = Demo available

Mon

Flipped On — Budget-friendly car obstacle course physics sim.
⭐️ Scrap Riders — A futuristic cyberpunk pixel art adventure / beat-em up.
Warp 7 — Arcade 'Asteroids-esque' space game with a warping mechanic.

Tue

Lost Dream Stars — A subdued 3D adventure game featuring a fox.

Wed

Children of Silentown — Point and click adventure set near a creepy, mysterious forest.
Suhoshin — Korean adventure game with an investigation to solve. (Jan 12 in U.S.)

Thu

Back to Brother — 3D adventure game in which you must reunite with your brother.
Breakers Collection — A bundle of Breakers and Breakers Revenge - the late 90s NeoGeo fighters.
Burrow of the Fallen Bear — A gay, furry-themed visual novel. M for mature.
Chasing Static — An 80s style lo-fi horror experience set in North Wales. M for mature.
Drago Noka — A sim featuring giant beasts and destructive vermin.
Fight of Steel: Infinity Warrior — A 3D arcade fighting game featuring 'steel' brawlers.
Japanese Escape Games: The Abandoned Schoolhouse — It's an escape room in an old school.
Kids Party Checkers — Checkers, for kids.
⭐️ Lone Ruin — A spell-based roguelike twin-stick shooter with a neat look.
⭐️ Terror of Hemasaurus — 2D Kaiju rampage arcade action. M for mature.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider — 2D side-scrolling action platformer that channels the "golden age" of classic 16-bit games.

Fri

Go Rally — A 3D top-down racer.
⭐️ Memorrha — Open-world puzzler with The Witness vibes.
⭐️ NEScape! — A race against time in this NES style escape room.

⚡️ Quick Links

VGChatz estimates that the Switch has outsold the total sales of the Game Boy.
If you're looking for some bangers to add to your backlog here are the best Metacritic scoring Switch games of 2022.
Start speaking a new language in just three weeks with Babbel. #Ad
If you want even more Nintendo predictions for 2023 the Nintendo Watcher folks have some to share.
Bandai Namco has shared why Tales of Symphonia was chosen for a remaster.
The very chill, and oddly therapeutic, PowerWash Simulator is coming to Switch later this month.

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