SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘APICO’, ‘Formula Bit Racing DX’, Plus Today’s Other News, Sales, and Releases

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for July 8th, 2022. There’s an awful lot going on today, so I’ll keep this introduction somewhat brief. We have a little news to look at, several new releases to summarize, and an assortment of sales for you to have a good gander at. Let’s get to it!

News

‘Pokemon Puzzle League’ Hits the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Next Weekend

By and large, it seems that Panel de Pon simply can not be itself in the West. Despite the fact that the basic gameplay is brilliant, it has had to have all manner of themes and licenses applied to it to help sell it, from Yoshi and Tetris to Pokemon and Animal Crossing. The Pokemon variants seem to have been the most successful, and the Nintendo 64 installment will be coming to the Nintendo 64 app for Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers next week on July 15th. This coincides with the Japanese app getting both Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2, two somewhat text-heavy releases that were never localized. Wins all around, I’d say.

New Releases

APICO ($19.99)

This is a beekeeping simulation of sorts, which is certainly an interesting idea for a game. You have to gather resources, play minigames, and breed a variety of types of bees. If you’re here for the bees, you’ll enjoy the ride. It’s a little light on other things to do once you’ve finished the story, but the combination of its novelty and its charming manner may be enough to satisfy you.

Formula Bit Racing DX ($4.99)

Just a simple little low-poly arcade-style racing game. There are ten different cars to use and twenty different circuits to race on. It seems like the action happens from both a top-down and more angled perspective, and one can certainly see some elements of games like Micro Machines in it if one squints a little. It looks well-made enough, and the price is definitely low enough to punt on if you’re so inclined.

Our Summer Sports ($10.89)

Another one of SAT-BOX’s multiplayer minigame compilations, this time with a summer sports theme. There are ten events to play with up to four players in local multiplayer. The included sports are: surfing, jet skiing, golf, scuba diving, road racers, beach volleyball, water slider, canoeing, and beach soccer. Some of these are fairly close to events seen in previous games, of course. Well, if you’ve enjoyed any of those earlier entries, you might be game for another.

The Galactic Junkers ($16.99)

Kind of a lighter, more comedic take on things like FTL and Bomber Crew. You’re the captain of a ramshackle spaceship on the run. You need to keep things running however you can, hiring crew and keeping them happy, upgrading and repairing your ship whenever possible, and exploring the solar system to figure out why you’re being hunted to begin with. I’ve seen some positive impressions of this one already, so if you like the sound of it, you may want to investigate further.

– Doki Doki Family – ($19.90)

This visual novel has quite the premise to excuse its lewdness. So you’re a young male student who was adopted after his parents died in an accident. His new family consists of a sexy big-chested mother, a sexy big-chested older sister, and a sexy big-chested younger sister. All is well until one day our protagonist develops a rare disease that requires him to keep his heart rate up consistently lest he die. His family is going to do whatever it takes to keep his heart pounding, and… look, you know what this is about. You know where this is going. You don’t need me to make this decision for you.

Super Rebellion ($7.00)

The worst sin a shoot-em-up can commit is being boring, and I must regretfully state that Super Rebellion is one of the most boring games of this genre I’ve ever played. Everything is basically functional. You’ve got your enemies, your power-ups, your boss battles, and so on. But there’s nothing exciting about it at all. Considering how many A+ shooters you can grab on Switch at or around this price, I just don’t see any room for something of Super Rebellion‘s grade.

Retro Pocket Rocket ($2.99)

And now we venture into the part of the new releases summaries that fall below what I’ve taken to calling the Brown Line. This is apparently where Cooking and Publishing likes to live, so let’s see what they’ve got for us this time. It seems like a pretty basic shooter with a few gimmicks that keep you from just blasting away with wild abandon. as you can probably tell from the screen layout, this is a port of a mobile game. Specifically, an Android game. Frankly this doesn’t look terrible by the standards of this publisher, but I still wouldn’t buy it myself.

Elves Fantasy Hentai Puzzle ($2.99)

Yes, it’s another one of these. Rearrange the tiles to complete the pictures of sexy elf ladies in various states of disrobe. People are clearly buying them, so I very much doubt this will be the last of them.

JDM Drag Racing Car Driving Simulator 2022 Games ($4.99)

Get in the trash bin where you belong, trash game.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

As expected, there isn’t a massive list of new sales up today. A lot of games just went off sale, after all. Still, there are a few nice titles in there to think about. Rush Rally 3 is a lot of fun. If you like to buy Capcom Arcade Stadium games a la carte, they’re all half off. Xeno Crisis is having another of its rather rare sales. Not too much in the outbox, apart from perhaps Andro Dunos II. You should have a look through the games yourself, mind you. It’s the only way to be sure.

Select New Games on Sale

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 CE ($10.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Far: Changing Tides ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Jurassic World Evolution CE ($20.99 from $59.99 until 7/11)
Rush Rally 3 ($9.99 from $14.99 until 7/15)
The House of Da Vinci 2 ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
amazin’ Lumo ($3.59 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Vaporum: Lockdown ($10.99 from $21.99 until 7/15)
Graceful Explosion Machine ($4.50 from $12.99 until 7/15)
Call of Cthulhu ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Vampyr ($14.79 from $39.99 until 7/18)
Masters of Anima ($2.44 from $6.99 until 7/18)
3000th Duel ($5.24 from $14.99 until 7/21)
Sunless Sea: Zubmariner Edition ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/21)
Bleed ($1.99 from $11.99 until 7/21)
Bleed 2 ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/21)

The Procession to Calvary ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/21)
Into the Dead 2 ($13.99 from $34.99 until 7/22)
Sockventure ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Cardpocalypse ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/22)
What the Dub?! ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/22)
Capcom Arcade Stadium, Assorted Games ($0.99 from $1.99 until 7/22)
Zenge ($2.00 from $4.00 until 7/22)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/22)
Sine Mora EX ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/22)
Pillars of Eternity: Complete ($12.49 from $49.99 until 7/22)
UnMetal ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Hitchhiker: A Mystery Game ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Xeno Crisis ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
At Sundown: Shots in the Dark ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Wintermoor Tactics Club ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)

Clan O’Conall & Crown of the Stag ($5.24 from $7.49 until 7/22)
Masagoro ($9.09 from $12.99 until 7/22)
The Fox Awaits Me ($22.49 from $44.99 until 7/22)
Speed Dating for Ghosts ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/22)
Yaga ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/22)
Faeria ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
MotoGP 20 ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/22)
Flaskoman ($2.24 from $4.99 until 7/22)
BeatTalk ($11.69 from $17.99 until 7/25)
Upaon: A Snake’s Journey ($1.99 from $2.99 until 7/25)
Super Toy Cars ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/26)
Super Toy Cars 2 ($1.99 from $11.99 until 7/26)
Yuoni: Rises ($5.19 from $12.99 until 7/28)
Goblin Sword ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/28)
Sherlock Holmes: C&P ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/28)

Gibbon: Beyond the Trees ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Kid Tripp ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/28)
Dragon Caffi ($8.70 from $29.00 until 7/28)
Welcome to Hanwell ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Sword of the Necromancer ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Baby Storm ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/28)
Dino Galaxy Tennis ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/28)
sCATch: The Painter Cat ($2.50 from $5.00 until 7/28)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Andro Dunos II ($15.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Fantasy Friends: Under the Sea ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Food Delivery Battle ($3.59 from $3.99 until 7/9)
Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro ($15.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Lost Bubbles: Sweet Mates ($2.69 from $2.99 until 7/9)
Lost Egg 2: Be Together ($2.69 from $2.99 until 7/9)
Old Coin Pusher Friends ($3.59 from $3.99 until 7/9)
Super Kickers League ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Heart Chain Kitty ($4.95 from $9.90 until 7/10)
Mudness Offroad Car Simulator ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/10)
Shooting Star Island ($2.45 from $4.99 until 7/10)
Starlight Alliance ($4.95 from $9.90 until 7/10)
Unstrong: Space Calamity ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/10)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new releases, more sales, some reviews, and whatever news comes our way. I hope you all have a great weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!