‘Nintendo Music’ Smartphone App Surpasses One Million Downloads

It got a surprise release last week.

The new smartphone app ‘Nintendo Music’ has been available for almost a week now and it appears we’ve already got the first update about how it’s performing.

According to Sensor Tower, this new app for “active” Switch Online subscribers is estimated to have been downloaded by 265,000 smartphone users within the first day and went on to surpass 1.2 million downloads in just four days. Around 40 percent of these app downloads were in the US and about 15 percent of the downloads were in Japan.

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Arcade Shoot ‘Em Up ‘Under Defeat’ Blasts Onto Switch Next Month

With a physical release arriving too.

Publisher Clear River Games and developer City Connection have today announced that the arcade shoot ’em up Under Defeat will be flying onto Switch on 5th December.

Originally released in arcades in 2005 by G.rev, this shmup will see you taking to the skies to defend a world in all-out war. You’ll take command of a heavily armoured ‘copter and shoot down any foes unlucky enough to stumble into your path with Under Defeat’s unique shot-tilting mechanic — a way to take on enemies from all angles.

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Mini Review: STALKER: Shadow Of Chornobyl (Switch) – Legendary Series Stalks Switch With A Solid Port

In the Zone.

Lauded on its original 2007 release, S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow Of Chornobyl dropped players into a stark world, filled with effective horror and precision combat. It spawned two sequels, both of which refined and improved on the model of their predecessor. Ukraine-based GSC Game World’s Legends Of The Zone bundle squeezes all three expansive adventures onto Switch with modern optimisations and stable visual performance, although each title is also available as a standalone purchase. It’s worth noting that this is the series’ first time on consoles (with the PlayStation versions released back in March), which makes the competency of these ports all the more impressive.

Taking inspiration from the 1971 Russian novel Roadside Picnic, Shadows Of Chornobyl is set in the irradiated wilderness of the Zone. Decades after repopulation efforts, a second Chornobyl disaster occurs, turning residents into mutated creatures and littering the countryside with deadly elemental anomalies. The haunting and oppressive atmosphere of Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film adaptation Stalker, is prevalent throughout. The Zone always feels like an alien landscape, or a bad dream.

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Random: Stolen Pokémon Card Worth £30,000 Is Returned To Its Trainer

“Your Pokémon is fighting fit!”.

A stolen Pokémon card supposedly worth up to £30,000 has been safely returned to its rightful owner/trainer.

As reported by the BBC, police have stated that the theft of a Charizard card took place in Heathfield in East Sussex between 2nd and 5th September 2024. The same card was then found to have been listed for sale on Facebook, leading to a search order being completed on an address in Polegate, roughly 11-12 miles away from the original location.

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Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project

And hopes ‘The Lost Crown’ team can reform for a sequel.

After Ubisoft confirmed Michel Ancel would be a consultant on its new Rayman project last month, the creator of the series has now acknowledged this in a post on Instagram.

He mentioned how he’s “very happy to have been consulted” and confirmed it’s a “real pleasure” to know Rayman and his pals will be returning. Ancel also took this opportunity to speak a little about the recently disbanded development team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – calling for a “well-deserved sequel”:

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Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Update 4 Now Available, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

Fixes, changes, improvements and much more.

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered has done a great job reviving Lara Croft’s original trilogy of games, and months after its release, Aspyr is still rolling out new updates for this collection.

The latest one (Patch 4) is now available for all platforms and includes a bunch of fixes, changes and improvements for Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider 3. Here’s the full rundown, courtesy of the official Aspyr support page:

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Mini Review: Vampire Survivors: Ode To Castlevania (Switch) – Divine DLC Is Absolutely Essential

Finally, some vampire killers.

Ode to Castlevania is a full-circle moment for Vampire Survivors. Heavily inspired by the franchise, and originally built with assets influenced by Konami’s whip-cracking series, Luca Galante and Poncle have blown all of their other excellent DLC out of the water. If your jaw isn’t on the floor by the time you roll credits, we’ll get back in our coffin.

This is Vampire Survivors’ second collaboration with Konami following the Contra-themed Operation Guns DLC. This time it’s the same great, roguelike, auto-shooting, time-sucking Vampire Survivors gameplay, but now with a distinct twist to delight Castlevania fans. And while those fans will get the most out of the DLC, it doesn’t really matter whether you’ve played a Castlevania game before — this DLC is a must-play, in our book.

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Stardew Valley Version 1.6 Is Finally Out Now On Switch

Back to the farm we go.

Stardew Valley‘s long-awaited 1.6 update has landed on Switch, bringing with it a whole new crop of features. Developer ConcernedApe shared the news on Twitter (now known as X) earlier today.

First landing on PC back in March, this has been the longest fans have had to wait for a big update to make the jump from PCs to consoles. But it sounds like the wait has been worth it.

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Review: Clock Tower: Rewind (Switch) – Pre-RE Survival Horror That’s Elevated By Extras

Snip, snip.

Video game preservation still has a long way to go, but it’s difficult to imagine a re-release of Human Entertainment’s Clock Tower ten, or even five years ago. Yet thanks to rapidly growing interest in retro gaming and the resulting explosion of compilations and re-releases over the last few years, this curious SNES survival horror is now available worldwide in all its glory.

Originally exclusive to Japan, Clock Tower: Rewind presents the original 1995 game along with an enhanced version of the 1997 ‘First Fear’ PS1 port, adding in new scenarios and minor improvements such as the ability to run upstairs (both versions also include a rewind feature). On top of that, you’ve got a bunch of extras to peruse, including interviews with creator Hifumi Kono, motion comics, scans of the Japanese manual and strategy guide, and more. It’s a generous package that goes a long way to compensating for the game’s relatively short two-to-three-hour runtime (multiple endings included).

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Pokémon TCG Pocket Is Reportedly Already Bringing In The Big Bucks

Earning 3x more per day than Pokémon GO, apparently.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket arrived on mobile last week, and, after racking up an impressive 10 million downloads in its first 48 hours, it has reportedly been pulling in some beefy revenue numbers over the weekend (thanks, VGC).

As reported by MobileGamer.biz, the mobile market research firm AppMagic estimates that TCG Pocket has been bringing in a sweet $3 million per day since launch, racking up $12 million in its first four days on the market.

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