The Switch Effect

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Showing posts with label Nintendo Switch. Show all posts

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Today on Gabbin’ with Gamers, we have a VERY special guest. You might know him as the Sega guy from the hit YouTube channel, Console Wars, but to others he is simply known as Dan. Console Wars is the highly popular and extremely entertaining YouTube Channel that compares games that came out for both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. In fact, before you even get to this review, go watch Console Wars! Then come back…please.

So let’s begin. Dan, thank you so much for speaking with us. Even though The Switch Effect is slightly biased toward Nintendo, we know you represent Sega and let’s be honest, Sega is as much of our childhood as Nintendo. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m one of the co-stars of the Console Wars series on YouTube. It’s a series where my buddy Greg and I play rivals who compare Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games. Greg plays the Nintendo guy and I play the Sega guy. We compare games and throw in some humor too. I also do the writing, editing, and make the music as well.

Can you tell us about how you got into gaming and what the first console/game you ever owned was?

My first console was an NES. It came with the Super Mario/Duck Hunt combo. I still remember putting the game in backwards the first time. I also used to move the controller up whenever I jumped in the game. Eventually, I got both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. There was no war for me since I had everything. Perks of being an only child, lol.

So, Console Wars. We at The Switch Effect are huge fans and I was even lucky enough to meet you at A Video Game Con this past September in NJ. Could you share with us how Console Wars came to be?

I was a big AVGN fan (still am). I thought it would be cool to do something like that. I think the exact moment I came up with the idea was when I was looking up music for Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. I played the SNES version growing up and when I looked up the music I came across the Genesis soundtrack. I couldn’t believe how different it sounded. I thought that someone has to make a comparison video about this. Then I thought I should just do it.

I eventually asked Greg to help, but just to capture game footage. I was going to do the show solo, like the Nerd. But after I left his house I realized a 2-person show would be more interesting. It could reignite the rivalry of the 90’s. People could pick sides. So after I left Greg’s house, I e-mailed him my idea for a 2-man show and Console Wars was born.

With your first comparison video being Aladdin over five years ago, did you ever expect to be the sensation you are today?

I wouldn’t call us a sensation, lol. I just hoped people would like it. It took us a year and a half to get 50 subscribers so it was a slow burn for us. I’m happy to see the channel grow as much as it has.

Where do you see the channel growing into and what can fans look forward to in the future?

I’d like to branch out more. We want to start comparing Nintendo and Sega Master System games soon. I also want to do a smaller series where we compare Genesis vs Sega Cd, Retro game vs Remakes, and Gameboy vs Game Gear. Just need to find the time.

These last few questions are to dive a little deeper into your own personal thoughts. As you're aware, technology continues to advance the gaming industry. Have you been a fan of these changes?

I have some gripes with these some things. One thing I don’t like is DLC. Once you buy a game you don’t own everything anymore. There’s always more stuff to buy. I get if you like a game and want more, but they should just make another game. I also don’t like everything going digital. I like my physical copies of my games. I get digital is that future like it was for music and movies. That’s just me being a grumpy old man.

We feel you!

I do like VR. I tried it a few times and think it’s headed in the right direction. It’ll be cool to see how immersive it becomes over the next 10 years.

Where do you think technology will bring us in the future?

Everything will be drilled into our brains. No more physical media. It’s all downloaded to a chip to our brains. That’s what I get for listening to too much Joe Rogan, lol.

What are your impressions of the Switch?

It seems cool. I don’t own one, but I’ve briefly played it. Having that much power on the go or at home is def a step in the right direction. Greg has one and likes it, but his is starting to curve. So I’m a little hesitant to get one. Maybe once the curving stops happening.

Which new games are you looking forward to the most?

I’m really behind on new games. I want to play the new South Park game. I also haven’t play Ys VIII yet and Dynasty Warriors 9. I’ve been a fan of the Chinese Han Dynasty history since I was first introduced to it on the NES in Destiny of an Emperor.

What is the best way for our readers/followers to keep up with you?

Following us on YouTube. We also have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

I can see I’ve run you through the gauntlet so I’ll end with this last question: Is there anything else you'd like to share?

If anyone else out there wants to start a YouTube channel, but isn’t sure, just do it. You really have nothing to lose. I had no experience with video, editing, script writing, “acting,” game capturing…anything. I just made it up as I went along and somehow people liked it. If I can do it, anyone can. And don’t let negative feedback get you down. It’s the internet, you can’t avoid that.

Dan, thank you again for taking the time to speak with us and we look forward to more installments of Console Wars as well as what is to come in 2018. THIS IS CONSOLE WARS!!!

To follow Console Wars, click the links below:

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Thank you Christophe for speaking with us today. With your upcoming game, Save me Mr. Tako, coming soon to the Nintendo Switch, we thought it would be a good opportunity for our readers to learn more about you and this blast from the past inspired game. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your involvement in the gaming industry?

I’m a 23 year old French indie game developer. I started making games when I was 12 with RPG Maker and started pixel art at this time. When I was 18 I went to Isart Digital, a Game Design & Programming school in Paris. I got my degree in 2015 and then worked in the game industry for 2 years to repay my student loan, while doing many game jams. I started to work on Tako-San in 2014 in my free time. Thanks to it, I had the chance to travel the world the past 3 years and go to many indie game events like Tokyo Game Show and PAX West. That gave me the confidence to leave my job and start working full time on Tako.

We wanted to congratulate you on the announcement that your upcoming game, Save me Mr. Tako, will be published by Nicalis, Inc. on the Nintendo Switch. From watching the official trailer and other videos, this game feels like it came right out of the Nintendo Game Boy era. Could you share some details and background about this game and what gamers can expect in terms of gameplay?

Thanks! I can’t wait for everybody to finally play the game! The trailer was focused on the “Game Boy” aspect of the game and shows the basics of the gameplay: the fact that you can turn your enemy into platforms, fight bosses, find many power-ups, and so on. My next goal is to show that the game is a full adventure, with a lot of levels and dungeons, a deep story with many characters and hidden flashback sequences. With this game I wanted to tell a story with a meaning and I hope you will all like it.

What was your reasoning for making such a nostalgia looking game?

I started the game as a homage for Game Boy’s 25th Anniversary. I always loved the Game Boy aesthetic, at this time I was learning Unity, and I had a pretty depressing job, so working on my own game during the night was like a reward for me. I ate Takoyaki for the first time and got the vision of an Octopus character. After that, everything fit together in my mind and 3 years later here is Tako.

This game has all the charm of the 90s Game Boy era!

Could you share some details behind the process of making a video game?

I don’t know if I’m the right person to give advice as most of the choices I made during the development were very risky. However, it worked mostly because I did the game alone and had a great composer who accepted to work with me for free since almost the beginning (the super talented Marc-Antoine Archier). What I can say is that you have to commit to your creative vision and believe in what you do because you are your own worst enemy. Make people play your game and see how they react and get their feedbacks. Always try to go out of your comfort zone by twisting every mechanics to a lot of uses. Also, never forget to communicate and to make your game appealing and very polished because making a good game is not enough to succeed. I had the chance that it pays off for me and to get a nice publisher to help me polishing and porting it.

How did you and Nicalis, Inc. find each other?

I sent them the first demo of Tako back in September 2014, through the form on their website. I wasn’t expecting anything as I only wanted their feedback because I love their games. I was so surprised when they answered me, saying that they love Tako, and to keep them in touch with the progress. That’s what I did, sending them gif once in awhile. Then in 2016, I was selected for the Tokyo Game Show and we finally met there. Then we negotiated a contract and signed in May 2017. We are working on the Switch version since then.

Tako-San!

Has a release date been set and can we expect to see a physical edition of this game or will it be available on the eShop only?

No release date yet as the game debugging phase is coming to an end, so now we have to submit it to Nintendo and this process can take a while. As it’s a new game, I don’t think there will be a physical edition for the release, but if the game sells well it’s clearly something that can happen later!

Where can our readers learn more about your work, Save me Mr. Tako, or any future announcements?

I communicate about the game mostly through my Twitter, @ChrisDeneos (https://twitter.com/ChrisDeneos) . If you want to see the evolution of the game through the year, you can check my IndieDB page where I used to post news of the progress: http://www.indiedb.com/games/tasukete-tako-san-save-me-mr-tako

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Thank you for the interview and thanks to all the people that support me. It really helps to not getting depressed, haha. Stay tuned! A lot of things are coming!

As a final bonus question, what system and game introduced you to gaming?

Hard to remember with which game I started. I had the chance to have a big brother who is a game collector, so I was able to play games that were not from my generation (like the NES or the first Game Boy). It made me grew up as a retro gamer and I’m very grateful for that. But the games that leave an impact on me where mostly Nintendo Games and JRPG, like Zelda, Final Fantasy VI, Kirby Dream Land and Metroid.

Thank you again Christophe for taking the time to let us learn more about you, your passion for gaming, and your upcoming release of Save me Mr. Tako. Make sure to follow Christophe to be kept up-to-date on all the latest news and we at The Switch Effect cannot wait to play this game!

Christophe Galati can be followed here:

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Moon Hunters Review

Monday, October 30, 2017

Ricky J Hamilton

KEMCO has been around since the early days of the NES, and for the last couple of years, we've mainly associated them with streamlined, 16 bit style RPGs. Now, they're offering up their first game to Nintendo Switch, and they've chosen the intriguing Revenant Saga to be their standard bearer.

This was a wise choice. Of the half dozen role playing games that I've played from KEMCO, this entry has the earliest “gotcha” moment yet, and that is a very important factor to have in a nostalgiac style of role playing game. What is a “gotcha” moment? It's the precise moment at which the game plants it's hooks firmly inside your brain and refuses to let go.

We start off with a fairly standard trope- an antagonist orphaned by the deadly war/disease that has been spreading amongst the villages and leaving destruction in it's wake. In this case, we have a deadly plague. One that is so virulent, that those whom came in contact with the afflicted are asked to leave in hopes of preserving the town.

Our hero’s (Albert) best friend/possible love interest’s (Anna) parents are afflicted with this plague, and while they are being tended to, a mysterious stranger walks into town to assess the situation. He tells Albert that he may have a solution, but that he will have to come talk to the doctor alone, in the Inn.

After talking to Anna, Albert leaves and goes to discuss this cure with the doctor. He is told that the doctor is working on a cure, and that he needs human volunteers to test the drug on. Those test subjects are not to tell anyone. Albert reluctantly agrees in an attempt to save Anna, and so departs for the doctor's lab. Albert shows up, and is escorted to a room that he is locked into, and he becomes concerned.

After Albert is in the test chamber, it is revealed that this was a trick, and that the doctor is going to be turning Albert and the others into revenants- a type of demon.

The doctor is interrupted by what is essentially a paladin sent by the religious order in the game. The ensuing conflict results in Albert being only half transformed, and the paladin missing(or dead?), and Albert discussing his current fate with the demon inside himself.

Albert can now transform to utilize the power of the demon, and he vows to use his powers for good, instead of evil, until he can claim vengeance upon the doctor that did this to him, and possibly killed his friend, Anna.

Fast forward two years, and we find ourselves in a world with increased patrols from the religious order, and a need to find an inn to help satiate the hunger of the demon (Magnus) within our protagonist. While at the inn Albert will use to calm down his literal inner demon, he encounters a revenant, and is soon joined in battle by a Valkyrie in training. From there, we begin our main quest to avenge Anna and Albert’s loss of self.

This is, for all accounts, very standard RPG fare. It borrows elements from various series throughout the years, and puts it's own spin on them. This game is not genre defining, but the story and characters are gripping, even if delivered in more cliches than we would like at times. It has a very streamlined and familiar structure- go to town for story beat, halfway there you pause for a rest, which allows for some more character development. Then, we arrive at the dungeon, fight our way through it while navigating labyrinthine treasure cubbies, and then occasionally running into a boss and more story. Walk back to the last village to report to the religious order, then find out where the next dungeon will be, and repeat.

Thankfully, the characters are interesting, and the story is solid enough. The best part of the characters is how they spend so long keeping secrets from each other, and performing sitcom like levels of backtracking to try to justify their lying existence.

Advantages to this game that older RPGs do not have are the ability to save anywhere in the game, a streamlined customization system, an L shoulder button away from rereading the last little bit of conversation if you accidentally skipped it (or did so on purpose to read it all more quickly to move on), and two different auto battle features. I'm not sure what exactly the semi auto fight feature does, but if you press “X” at the beginning of a fight, your characters will all just attack using normal commands. This last bit is the best way to deal with most of your random encounters.

Even the bosses are somewhat easy, but that's okay, because we're not exactly playing this game just for the strategy of combat.

There is, however, a lot that can be done with combat, if you so choose. Most of that revolves around transforming your characters and then utilizing their special skills to give you the upper hand. The drawback to transforming is that you can't heal, and if your character dies, you have to wait for the end of the battle to be revived.

There are plenty of collectibles to be found, many of which can be used in customizing your weapons by adding attack power, status effects, skills, or stat boosts. There is even a pseudo achievement system that allows you to receive rewards from “record keepers” located around the world, each of whom will give you a prize every time you reach specific milestones.

There is also a modified version of a micro transaction system from the mobile version of the game where you can earn a special kind of currency that allows you to buy “cheater" items like high powered HP restoratives and items that increase party stats like luck and drop rate of rare items. Instead of buying the points with real money, you earn those points by defeating enemies.

Overall, the game is a solid entry in the RPG pantheon, and it felt like exactly what I needed for my Switch. While I didn't really ever need to grind to progress through the game, as you will be well paced by just exploring your dungeons for treasure, I did find myself doing it out of habit every so often, just because I could mindlessly cut through a horde of monsters with my overly powerful sword, a certain accessory that you get early on, and the X button to auto fight. This isn't the epic tale to dethrone the classics, but it is a really good homage to them.

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I also have my own video game blog, which you can find below

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Thursday, October 26, 2017

Developer: Kitfox Games

Release Date: 10.26.2017

"We remember something new with each telling.

Together, let's tell the story again and again,

of those five fateful days, when the Sun Cult rose against us.

The heroes are different, every time.

The world changes, every time.

Journey's end, but stories live on.

How will you be remembered?

What happens when the moon does not rise for your village's First Moon Feast? The world erupts in to chaos and only you, our new hero (or 4) can save the world and find out what happened to the moon. This is where we begin our story in Moon Hunters.

Moon Hunters is a 1-4 player co-op game. Boasting as a personality test, it is different from any game I have played (except for maybe The Walking Dead on Steam). The choices you make throughout the game determine what kind of hero you will be. The game is vast, yet feels so short at the same time. Play as your hero over the course of 5 days, build your legend and find out what happened to the Moon Goddess. Show your personality and "create a reputation that becomes your legend"

At first glance, the game seemed almost too retro looking for me...that is until I really got in to the game play. Aiming to be a game where you are playing out a legend, I became very attached to the art style both in the graphics and in the character art. As I explored the world, I appreciated all the small intricacies and detail put in to each and every aspect of the scenery, terrain, characters, and battle graphics.

I appreciate that this game veered away from the typical anime-style characters and really added a unique spin on the artwork. It was beautiful and I found myself stopping during dialogue's to appreciate the characters and the beautiful skill it took to create them. Adding to that, the music was equally beautiful; between the artwork and the music, I found myself feeling very connected to this world and wanting to help figure out what happened to the Moon Goddess.

You begin the game by choosing your hero; who will you be? Will it be

A Spellblade (like a warrior) - type: quick

A Ritualist (like a mage) - type: ranged

A Druid (like...a Druid) - type: wild

A With (like...a witch) - type: strong

There are also 3 unlockable characters. I have yet to unlock them, but when I do I will update this article and let you know what goodies I find (unless you want me to keep it a secret? Let me know in the comments below). You can name and change your hero's colors in the options.

From there, you decide where you are from:

Dustfolk: Desert tribe that relies on the Seeker of Waters to survive the harsh summers.

Wold Clan: Secretive tribe in the heart of the cedar forest, hiding in the shade of the great trees.

High Tribe: A proud people of the mountaintops, boasting of their closeness to the Moon in the night sky.

Celestin: Nomadic tribe that follows the Holy Ufratu River annually from source to mouth and back again.

There is also an unlockable tribe name One Voice. I have yet to unlock this, but will be happy to provide details once I do.

Once you have chosen your hero and where they are from, so begins the game. This is where one of my major criticisms for the games comes in; there is a lack of tutorial or 'beginners stage' per se. You are thrown in to the action with monsters quickly attacking you. I died a decent handful of times while I figured out what my hero could do and what the controls were. It was very confusing in the beginning and I became frustrated as I tried to figure out what each of my heroes could do. The controls are, however, fairly easy to figure out so it wasn't a long lasting frustration. It just would have been nice to have even a short tutorial to teach you what the abilities are and how to use them.

I can say, and this isn't a criticism, that this game is quite challenging. Playing as a single player was very challenging and I saw the benefit of playing as a co-op. I will definitely be utilizing at least the online play to have more players while I explore the story. The game is very engaging from the get-go; you are thrown in to the action and tested as a legendary hero from the beginning. Will you survive, or will you be eaten alive by the world's many beasts and monsters?

I found it unique that, in this ancient Mesopotamian-inspired world, it changes every time you start a new game. The game is different every time you play it; each time there is a randomly generated world and adventure levels and different upgrades at each vendor. There is so much to discover that you will not quickly become tired of the game.

As you traverse through the world and try to figure out what the hell you are doing, you will more than likely die at some point. When you do, you will wake up to set up camp and be faced with 5 options, all of which offer some benefit:

Rest will raise your charm (leadership) and endurance (max health)

Stargazing will raise your intellect (magical damage) and faith (max energy)

Hunting will raise your strength (physical damage) and spirit (energy regeneration)

Keeping Watch will raise your endurance (max health) and faith (max energy)

Cooking, well it depends on what you create. There are 104 recipes to discover. My first attempt I created a Moon Cake which gave everyone (in this case, just me) +3 faith ax energy) and blessed.

I do have to say, though, that the game does seem overly difficult from the get-go. It doesn't give you a chance to get used to the game play and mechanics before you'd been devoured by wolves or wild boars; maybe with more than one player it wouldn't seem as difficult at the beginning. I'm sure that 4 of us would just be running around trying to figure out what we are doing with our lives. One other criticism is that there is no way to target the monsters you are trying to attack, so with ranged attacks you end up wasting energy by shooting spells in random directions. Maybe I've been playing too much Breath of the Wild, but I found myself pressing the ZL button all too frequently.

I would be lying, though, if I said I didn't enjoy this game. I've quite enjoyed it and have invited friends to play along with me...and I'm a hermit so this must mean that I truly enjoyed the game. It is engaging and the difficulty just fuels my drive to try again and again until I beat it. So, this is definitely a game that I would recommend to all of my readers. It is another fantastic game to add to your party nights.

Moon Hunters was first announced via the Square Enix Collective in January 2014. In August 2014, Kitfox launched a $45,000 Moon Hunters Kickstarter that would go on to earn $178,000, enabling them to grow the game to include online multiplayer and PlayStation platforms. They have also received help from the Canadian Media Fund's experimental stream.

Awards & Recognition

PAX 10 2016 Selection

Most Promising Game in Development - Indie Prize 2016

Narrative Design Award - Montreal Independent Games Festival

Best Co-op Experience - Curse Awards, PAX East 2015

Pick up your copy of Moon Hunters in the eShop today! Only $14.99

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October 2017

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Welcome to the first installment of Gabbin' with Gamers where we speak directly with the fans that we've met online or elsewhere. Today, we speak with Digz, an Instagrammer touting over 1,000 followers as well as an up and coming YouTube page.

So without further ado, let's learn about Digz!

Jon: Thank you for letting us interview you! I came upon your Instagram page and I see that you're a big collector, like to post short reviews and play-through videos. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Digz: I'm from Sydney Australia, 32, and I play music for a living in two bands: (1) Furnace & The Fundamentals (Sax and Guitar) and (2) Big Red Fire Truck (lead vocals and guitar). I am also an avid sports fan.

Jon: Can you tell us a little bit about how you got in to gaming and collecting?

Digz: I got my first console for Christmas when I was five and I've been playing ever since. Since then, I've been playing the NES, N64, PS2, PS3, and PS4. I recently added the SNES mini to the collection and I have quite a big collection of NES and N64 games.

Jon: That's pretty exciting! What was the first console and game that you owned?

Digz: NES - parents got it from Hong Kong and it came with SMB and Zippy Race (MotoRace USA).

Jon: What's a fond childhood memory based around gaming?

Digz: Hours and hours, haha. I grew up in a neighborhood of guys the same age. We played many hours of multiplayer games that really seem to hog the game time, such as: Mario Kart 64, Mega Man, WWF No Mercy, Smash Bros, Guitar Hero, Super Soccer, NBA Jam TE, Halo 2 and, of course, GoldenEye.

Jon: Were any of your family members enthusiastic about gaming?

Digz: My brother was when we were younger and only recently started back in to it.

Jon: Let's jump forward a bit. Here's one to get you thinking. If you weren't collecting games, what would be your hobby?

Digz: I play guitar for a living so I spend a lot of time playing and writing songs mostly in the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre. Also, I love playing rugby union and basketball.

Jon: As you're aware, technology continues to advance in the gaming industry. Have you been a fan of these changes?

Digz: I'm always a fan of changes in the industry as long as they're well thought through and actually advance the gaming experience. I think a lot of time gets spent on trying to release technology that isn't ready yet. Two examples that come to mind are the Power Glove and Virtual Boy from back in the day.

Jon: Where do you think technology will bring us in the future?

Digz: I really don't know and kinda gave up trying to predict because my imagination always left me disappointed with the end product. I really love the online community these days, but there's nothing like an old school room of people gaming together, whether it be at an arcade or a room with a few TVs playing eight player Halo.

Jon: We at The Switch Effect are obviously big fans of Nintendo's new console. What are your impressions of the Switch?

Digz: I think it was an amazing innovation. I haven't had a chance to get my hands on it yet, but so far the release games look great and I love the idea of taking my console with me as a portable device without losing any of the game quality.

Jon: Which new games are you looking forward to the most?

Digz: Red Dead Redemption 2 hands down. I don't get all that excited about releases lately because there seems to be a real formula for releases every year which is starting to get tiresome. However, RDR is gonna be amazing if GTA V was anything to go by. They have an amazing team over there right now and continue to do great things. Head back to the late 90s and early 2000s and there was such a variety of ideas, including some shockers, but plenty more hits because of it.

Jon: We came across your Instagram account and loved seeing your collections. What interested you in starting social media accounts?

Digz: I moved in to an apartment with a spare room and turned it into my gaming room for my old consoles because I wasn't using them enough. I really wanted to share my collection with anyone who was interested. There are some timeless games from yesteryear that I feel are better than a lot of the stuff out right now. I love the challenge of the old stuff. Just look at how successful Cuphead was, that was no coincidence. They took all the great elements of the retro genre, but had the capabilities to make it look so amazing.

Jon: What is the best way for our readers to keep up with you and is there anything else you'd like to share?

Digz: I'm always open to suggestions for my pages as I'm only in the early stages and I'd like people to see something they can't get somewhere else in retro gaming. You can check us out at:

Latest Post

Thursday, November 9, 2017

[Gabbin' with Gamers] Console Wars

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

[Industry Interviews] Christophe Galati

Monday, October 30, 2017

[Review] Revenant Saga

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Thursday, October 26, 2017

[Review] Moon Hunters

Awards & Recognition

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Tuesday, October 24, 2017

[Gabbin' with Gamers] - Digz

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