January 9 to 15 Indie News Roundup

Koi

Circle Entertainment has now released Koi on the Wii U eShop. It’s being sold for $3.99.

You can take a look at an introduction trailer below.

Punch Club

tinyBuild has now released Punch Club in the North American 3DS eShop for $9.99.

Punch Club is a fighter management sim mixed with RPG and tycoon elements. It places an emphasis on the story, which has “multiple different narrative branches and game endings to discover”.

Here’s a brief overview of the game:

“Train hard, find love, deliver pizza, punch crocodiles, fight and rank up in the leagues.

Welcome to Punch Club, the Boxing Management Tycoon where you choose your own path, and find out who murdered your father.”

Toby: The Secret Mine

Headup Games has now released Toby: The Secret Mine in both Europe and North America.

The puzzle-platformer costs $9.99 / €9.99 / £7.99.

Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers

Circle Entertainment has announced it will be localizing Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers, created by Arc System Works, and releasing it in the west sometime during Q1 2017.

You can take a look at the official tweet below.

Has-Been Heroes

Frozenbyte Games has announced it will be releasing Has-Been Heroes in March on the Nintendo Switch.

You can find more details about the game and a trailer below.

Has-Been Heroes is a game of strategy and action with a roguelike twist coming in March 2017!

Embark on an epic journey with the Has-Been Heroes, a group of legendary champions once celebrated throughout the kingdom for their heroic deeds – they have killed rats, rescued a prince, fought wars, slain a dragon… The kingdom prospered and peace prevailed. Legends grew old, and stories faded. The heroes weren’t needed.

But then, after years of peace, the King has one more quest, a quest so important he can only trust to his epic band of heroes, the toughest and bravest in all the kingdom. A quest of epic proportions… TO TAKE THE TWIN PRINCESSES TO SCHOOL!

Developed by Frozenbyte in partnership with GameTrust, coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC in March 2017.

Fast RMX

Shin’en is bringing the final version of Fast Racing Neo to the Switch. Fast RMX is scheduled for release in March 2017.

You can find a facts sheet, some screenshots, and gameplay videos below.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment

Yacht Club Games has announced Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove and Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment are coming to Switch.

Shovel Knight will from now on be known as Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, since Yacht Club Games will be making a change so players are able to purchase each campaign as standalone titles on Switch and other platforms outside of Wii U and 3DS.

The campaigns will be sold as follows:

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope – Shovel of Hope is our new name for the original Shovel Knight game, since it needed a title like the others. What do you think!? Rewatch the adventure here.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows – Plague Knight’s Campaign emerges from the Shadows to hopefully get some recognition this time! Watch it all here.

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment – Specter of Torment is our most expansive campaign yet. We’re so excited for you to become the reaper! See Specter Knight in action here.

Later in 2017 the following will release (names TBD):

Shovel Knight: King Knight’s Campaign – A crazy campaign with the gilded goob himself!

Shovel Knight: Battle Mode – Duel with up to 4 players as your favorite heroic or villainous knight! (3DS/Vita not included)

Why is this happening? Well, we hope providing less expensive standalone versions will provide better entry points for different types of players! Also, players can more easily grab an adventure (or Battle Mode) on another platform!

Yacht Club Games will also be raising the price of Shovel Knight sometime during the Spring. Body Swap Mode is also finished, and will be included for Shovel Knight’s campaign. Moreover, local two-player co-op is heading to new platforms, but not 3DS.

Finally, Yacht Club Games has shared that it hopes “to start work on a new project in 2017” besides the continued work or Shovel Knight, so you might want to look forward to that.

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, Redout

Nicalis has announced it will be bringing The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ and Redout to the Switch.

You can find more information about that in the official announcement and trailer below.

SANTA ANA, Calif., January 13, 2017—Continuing to expand the audience for its runaway hit, Nicalis Inc. today announces that The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is coming to the Nintendo Switch in Spring 2017 at retail and digitally via the Nintendo eShop. It’s the definitive edition of one of the most popular video games of the 21st century.

For the uninitiated, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is a top-view multiplayer twin-stick shoot-’em-up bloodbath. The most celebrated creation of internationally acclaimed game designer Edmund McMillen. The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ features randomly generated dungeons, ensuring an infinitely replayable adventure in which every new gameplay session is different from the last. With the Nintendo Switch version, players can venture into Isaac’s basement on the big screen or the game on the road for portable play.

“The Nintendo Switch launch line-up isn’t complete without Isaac,” says Nicalis founder and president Tyrone Rodriguez. “The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is the definitive ‘day one’ purchase for any players who want a Nintendo Switch.”

Contributing to the deep, dark and frequently disturbing insanity of the complete Isaac experience, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ includes over 500 different items and weapons—many of which grant special powers and synergized attack combinations—scattered throughout more than 6,000 terrifying rooms. You’ll need as many as you can find if you expect to conquer the game’s 50+ unique bosses, complete more than 30 challenge modes and see all of the 20 different endings that equal over 4 billion possible gameplay combinations.

Developed and published by Nicalis, Inc., The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ will release on Nintendo Switch in Spring 2017 at retail and digitally via the Nintendo eShop. Pricing info and release date to be announced at a later time. Additionally, Nicalis, Inc. is also publishing the hyperspeed racing game Redout on Nintendo Switch in Spring 2017 at retail and digitally via the Nintendo eShop.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap

Lizardcube and DotEmu are bringing Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap to Nintendo Switch.

Learn more about it in the official announcement below.

It was hard to keep the secret, but finally we can spill those edamame beans…
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is coming to the Nintendo Switch™ in 2017!

A few months ago Nintendo contacted us. A reunion was held in mushroom kingdom under a veil of absolute secrecy, where they suggested we could bring the game over to their upcoming platform. Needless to say it was a unique opportunity and as soon as we saw the system we knew we wanted to get the game on it. We started working on it and well, HERE WE ARE!

The game plays fantastic on the Nintendo Switch! It runs at a smooth 60 FPS, the screen and colors in handheld mode are amazing, and it plays just as well in full HD when docked. We can’t wait to show you more!

In the meanwhile, you can check out the official console page if you would like to know more about the Switch (available worldwide in March 2017!).

If you don’t plan to dock yourself on the Switch bandwagon just yet, rest assured, the game will also be coming to other platforms! We will announce them as well as the game release date as soon as we are ready… and we’ve got a bunch of other cool news coming.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

FDG Entertainment has now confirmed that Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom will be coming to the Switch.

You can take a look at the confirmation on Twitter below.

GoNNER, Kingdom

Raw Fury is promising to bring at least two games to Nintendo’s Switch console. GoNNER and Kingdom are now lined up for it, with more titles being teased for the future.

You can take a look at an overview and trailer for each game below.

GoNNER is a tough as hell score-based procedurally-generated platformer with roguelike elements. GoNNER is also a story about friendship between Ikk, Death, and a space whale named Sally.

You will die. A lot. This is by design, but it’s not made to feel unfair. You’ll eventually get the hang of GoNNER, so don’t lose your head. But even if you do it’s okay cause we have a lot of replacement heads you can use.

GoNNER features:

– UNLOCKS! You’ll be able to choose from a variety of passive and active abilities at the beginning of each run so be sure to experiment with all of them and find the play style that best suits you.

– SECRETS! Secret areas exist in the world of GoNNER, and these areas will get you different items that you can then always use from the beginning of each run. We’re not going to tell you how you get to these areas or what the criteria is for even finding them because secrets, duh.

– SOUNDS! It has them!

– LEADERBOARDS! Kill creatures, get combos, score points, and brag to your friends how much better you are than them.

– MUSIC! It’s really freaking good.

Wise Rulers know their kingdom will fall,
Brave Rulers do not despair.
Great Rulers know their riches can rule,
And spend every coin with great care.

In Kingdom, each coin spent can tip the balance between prosperity and decay. Attend to your domain, border to border, or venture into the wild to discover its wonders and its threats. Master the land, build your defenses, and when the darkness comes, stand with your people, crown on your head, until the very end.

Gameplay
Kingdom is a 2D sidescrolling strategy/resource management hybrid with a minimalist feel wrapped in a beautiful, modern pixel art aesthetic. Play the role of a king or queen atop their horse and enter a procedurally generated realm primed to sustain a kingdom, then toss gold to peasants and turn them into your loyal subjects in order to make your kingdom flourish. Protect your domain at night from the greedy creatures looking to steal your coins and crown, and explore the nearby, mysterious forests to discover curious and cryptic artifacts to aid your kingdom.

The Next Penelope

The Next Penelope originally came out in 2015, but a Wii U version was also planned and never released. Creator Aurélien Regard has now confirmed that The Next Penelope has been cancelled on the console. However, Regard is still looking into whether a port on Switch might be possible. It also sounds like he’s hoping to bring his next game to the Switch since Unity is supported and the project is built on it.

Below you can read up on Regard’s full comments on the situation.

(I’ll be the most transparent I can, please read until the end if you have a bit of time. Also, please excuse my experimental English, I wish I could be more subtle with words now)

Is Penelope cancelled on WiiU?

Sadly yes (not my decision, coming from the company who proposed to port the game and invested months and money in it).

Even if the game is a very small one, being made using html5 and pushing it hard definitely makes it nearly impossible to port on consoles without recoding everything from scratch (= more expensive than the money a niche game like mine could ever bring back).

That’s the 3rd very capable company to throw in the towel after investing in this project (“3.5th” if you count my own attempt during the first year using the official Nintendo html5 framework).

These news made me super s(/m)ad, but I know they’re very good people and sincerely tried their best.

From here, I since have done everything I could to find other solutions, even with the WiiU now being discontinued ( < hint: this doesn’t help to find new partners). In my mind, the game was made for a Nintendo console from the beginning, so… well, you get the idea. It’s not pleasant. I also would like to add how people at Nintendo Europe have been supportive and helpful with me. It sounds like PR bs? It’s not. Having the feeling you’re talking to (good) humans is very much appreciated, rare, and they rock at this. (Guys, if you’re reading this at some point, me and my clunky English are very grateful for your time!) Now, some other brave/cuckoo/masochists friends of mine are trying to port Penelope to the Switch, but nothing sure yet. It could be as technically difficult and never happen, so please don’t hold your breath on this (I hold mine but shhh). This is absolutely *not* an announcement or something. I so learned my lesson here, let’s not announce anything until it’s 100% finished now. Speaking of lessons, the new game I’m working on for more than one year now is made using Unity, so this situation never happens again. (http://wccftech.com/unity-nintendo-switch-support-super-mario-run/) I can’t wait to show some fresh stuff in the coming months so we can share some more joyful news : ) Cheers, and thanks a lot for caring! Aurelien.

Runner3

The Runner3 blog has now been updated with a short post on Sadbot, which was previously covered on Nintendo Force magazine.

Nothing that wasn’t covered in the magazine reveal was shown off, but developer Choice Provisions provided a short tease at the end about future characters and familiar faces:

In the meantime, I would like to reiterate that Runner3 will feature faces both old and new. If you fear change, stay tuned! We’ll be talking more about some familiar faces in the near future…

You can read up on the full post over here if you so desire.

The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup

Gory Detail has recently been releasing even more new screenshots from The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup on Twitter.

You can find some of the latest images below, and check out a couple of animated GIFs on the official account over here.

Nefarious

A new trailer for Nefarious is now online showing off how the game reverses roles allowing you to become the boss fight. Just in case you need a reminder, the game makes it your goal to kidnap the princess and thwart the hero. Check out the trailer below.

Hex Heroes

Hex Heroes has been in development for Wii U, and while the developers have noted that they have had trouble developing both the combat and the Wii U version, they have now released some footage showing off both running pretty well. In the associated post, they also note that they will discuss more about a potential Switch version soon.

Rime

IGN has released a couple of videos featuring Rime.

The first video covers the game’s first 27 minutes, while the second video contains commentary from Tequila Works CEO Raúl Rubio and sheds some light on the game’s hidden secrets.

Check out both videos below.

Shift DX

Below you can find some gameplay footage of the english version of Shift DX which recently released on the 3DS eShop.

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