New Releases: May 2nd-8th, 2019

This week’s new releases are poised to take you places. From Shakedown Hawaii’s pixelated paradise, a seedy dystopian bar in VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action or back into the twentieth century for the Xbox One port of SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, settings are remarkably varied. There are also the more ambiguous locales like the subaquatic spaces navigated by James Pond or the headspace of former Compile employee and Sting Entertainment founder Kazunari Yonemitsu, where Puyo Puyo was presumably conceived.

Header image: SNK 40^th Anniversary Collection, Xbox One

PlayStation 4
Brief Battles (digital, $14.99)
Puyo Puyo Champions (digital, $9.99)
Reverse Crawl (digital, $12.99)
Shakedown Hawaii (physical & digital, $19.99)

Switch
Arcade Archives Psycho Soldier (digital, $9.99)
Bird Game + (digital, $4.99)
Black Paradox (digital, $14.99)
Car Mechanic Simulator (digital, $14.99)
Defend Your Castle (digital, $4.24)
Duck Game (digital, $12.99)
European Conqueror X (digital, $7.99)
Giga Wrecker Alt (physical & digital, $24.99)
Gyro Boss DX (digital, $4.99)
Hellmut: The Badass from Hell (digital, $29.99)
HexaGravity (digital, $1.99)
Impossible Mission (digital, $14.99)
Isoland (digital, $2.17)
Isoland 2 – Ashes of Time (digital, $3.62)
James Pond Codename Robocod (digital, $14.99)
Meow Motors (digital, $13.49)
Panty Party (digital, $14.99)
Preventive Strike (digital, $1.99)
Puyo Puyo Champions (digital, $9.99)
Rollin’ Eggz (digital, $2.99)
Shadows of Adam (digital, $13.49)
Shakedown Hawaii (physical & digital, $19.99)
Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut (digital, $19.99)
Super Star Blast (digital, $4.99)
The Little Acre (digital, $12.99)
The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse (digital, $11.99)
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (digital, $14.99)
Venture Kid (digital, $10.00)
World End Syndrome (digital, $TBA)
Xtreme Club Racing ($6.92)

Xbox One
Bit Dungeon IIII (digital, $TBA)
Brief Battles (digital, $14.99)
For the King (digital, $9.99)
Puyo Puyo Champions (digital, $9.99)
SNK 40^th Anniversary Collection (digital, $9.99)

PC
Brief Battles ($14.99)
Close to the Sun ($29.99)
Puyo Puyo Champions (digital, $9.99)
Supernatural Super Squad Fight! ($TBA)

Robert’s Pick: In a perfect world, more games would be set in the 50^th US State. But besides Test Drive Unlimited, a few older golf games, and some problematic Pearl Harbor-based spectacle, the awesome archipelago doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. This week that might change with the release of Shakedown Hawaii, V-Blank’s take on open-world, simulated sixteen-bit action.

Ok, so the trailer doesn’t show any of the things I love about the islands. But sandwiched in with wild car chases, shootouts, and screen shaking expositions, the one-man dev team might have concealed Diamondhead, loco mocos, or at least a jab at the people who flock to the tourist beaches. But even if there’s not a single reference about the ubiquity of ABC Stores, I’m sure the plotline which focuses on an ethically-absent corporation taking over the island with force and firearm is sure to be absorbing. I’ll just pretend it’s a satirical take on Disney’s Aulani resort.

Matt’s Pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I know it has been kicking around for a while now, but I had never played VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action before. What an absolutely amazing game it has turned out to be, now that I have it on my Nintendo Switch. With some of the best character writing that I’ve ever come across, coupled with true and genuine cyberpunk (one of my biggest issues with video games is that too often cyberpunk is an aesthetic that forgets what “punk” should mean), VA-11 Hall-A rightfully deserves its place among the finest of the visual novel genre.

I’m also looking forward to checking out European Conqueror X. I’m a bit of a sucker for Napoleonic military history, and I quite enjoyed the previous WW2-based World Conqueror X. As strategy games, these aren’t up to the standard of something that a Slitherine or Paradox Interactive would put out, but they’re decent, clean, and very playable.

Ryan’s Pick: Retro City Rampage DX had me hooked when it came out. Even from the start of the tutorial, the game’s pace was incredibly fast, with little to no time to really figure out exactly what was happening. This was what made the game extremely fun, and different, which was really what made the game stand out as one of the hit titles during the genesis of the indie scene. It has been quite some time since VBlank Entertainment, Inc. has released a new game, so I definitely will be picking up this 16-bit open-world action adventure Shakedown Hawaii.

An important thing to note about Shakedown Hawaii is that it’s going to be available on PC, PS4, Switch as well as PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS. This is pretty big as most releases now typically stick to only current gen systems. I think it’s a great move by the developer, as there are still plenty of gamers that utilize those two portable consoles and love any and all new software that hits. With over 200 enterable buildings that you can rough up and or shop in while causing mayhem, count me in for this hostile take-over. Really quickly, I do have to give a quick nod towards Puyu Puyo Champions as well. For best results Puyo Puyo should be played in a poorly-lit game center with the scent of a smoldering Mevius in a white plastic ashtray next to the control stick slowly seeping into your clothing, but I’ll play it on Switch at home all the same. This game always triggers strange shareware Snood nostalgia in my brain, so for $9.99 I will be picking this one up as well.

Jay’s Pick: Puyo Puyo feels a little bit like a lot of things; it’s a little bit Bejewled, a little bit Dr. Mario, and a little bit Puzzle Bobble but it’s mostly just Tetris’ cute cousin.

Don’t let those cute bean creatures fool you though, Puyo Puyo Champions is as competitive as they come. Matching little bean babies of the same colour as they fall from the top of the screen isn’t your only objective, you also have to do it better than your opponents. Big combo chains get the satisfaction endorphins flowing right before schadenfreude kicks in as you watch your opponent’s screen get filled with not-so-cute bean creatures.

Tetris 99 has shown us that competitive puzzle games are still fun, and I’d argue there isn’t a series that epitomises this more than Puyo Puyo.