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Here we are, the halfway point of the year. It’s been a right old slog, hasn’t it! I’ve reached new levels of tiredness that I didn’t think was possible. My eyes work at roughly 15fps and the less said about my brain the better. But it’s not all bad, the country came together in June to celebrate the Queen (the old woman) who has successfully sat on a chair made of gold for 70 years. And I finally got to see Queen (the band) perform, it only took two years for the world to chill out and stuff to stop being delayed but it was awesome. Seeing Brian May on stage left me starstruck, something that hasn’t happened since meeting Jet from Gladiators as a young ‘un.
Anyway, my brain is seriously struggling to make sense of things, so let’s crack on with the game stuff!
I’m currently playing: The Quarry on PlayStation 4 has been helping me through the early starts. While on the Switch my eldest once us to go back through Super Mario 3D World as it’s “the best game I’ve ever played”.
I’m currently hyped for: The Callisto Protocol on PlayStation and Pokemon Scarlet on Switch. No wait, Pokemon Violet... Scarlet... Violet... Argh, I’ll decide on the day.
New Games
June hit us with The Wonder Boy Collection for PlayStation4 and Switch. The Quarry (which is excellent) and Mario Strikers: Battle League on the same day. This was followed up with Demon Slayer - Kimetsu No Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles and Final Vendetta on Switch. The month was rounded off with the release of Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes and Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak all on Switch.
July is sticking with June’s trend of showering Switch owners with games. But first F1 22 races onto PlayStation4, PlayStation5 and Xbox. On the 8th the Switch gets hit with AI The Somnium FIles: nirvanA Initiative (it also releases on PlayStation4), Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series and an entire bunch of Lego games - Worlds, Jurassic World, City Undercover, Ninjago The Movie and Marvel Superheroes. And, if you haven’t got a Switch yet, then there are a couple of Switch Console Lego Bundles releasing the same day. The 12th gives PlayStation owners The Quest for Excalibur. While the 19th and 22nd get back to Switch users with Zorro: The Chronicles and the highly-anticipated Live A Live. Finally on the 29th PlayStation owners can get their hands on Puzzle Bobble 3D while the Switch gets another long-awaited title - Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge.
Announcements
June gave us a couple of standout showcases. Capcom showed off, among other things, their Resident Evil 4. Square Enix celebrated Final Fantasy VII turning 25 with a trailer for the second game in the remake trilogy - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Nintendo gave us a bunch of third-party titles to look forward to. But each of those has been covered independently, so I won’t be mentioning them in the news this month.
Nintendo Switch Sales Pass 3DS
The Switch is coming up trumps for Nintendo. In Japan, it has now outsold the Nintendo 3DS and is now the country’s third best-selling console of all time!
Industry insider Daniel Ahmad, also noted that the Switch is “on track to reach the highs of the Game Boy (32.4m) and DS (32.9m)”.
The best-selling game in Japan for Nintendo’s handheld hybrid is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has moved 7.26m units in the country. While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with 4.89m units sold, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 4.66m units.
No Open World for Final Fantasy 16
After Final Fantasy 15 was criticised for its bland open world, it seems that Final Fantasy 16 is moving in a different direction. Producer Naoki Yoshida said in a recent interview:
“We’ve found in our extensive user research that many of the younger generation of gamers have never played a Final Fantasy or don’t have any interest in the series. To create a game that might excite and resonate not only with our core fans, but also with that new generation, we played a lot of games ourselves, and so yes, in [Final Fantasy 16] you’ll find inspiration from recent triple-A open-world RPGs”.
“However, to bring a story that feels like it spans an entire globe and beyond, we decided to avoid an open world design that limits us to a single open world space, and instead focus on an independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly ‘global’ scale.”
Final Fantasy 16 is set in Valisthea, a new world that comprises six regions, each with a Dominant imbued with the power of an Eikon (16’s name for summons).
Smash Bros-like Lego Brawls is Coming to Consoles
Previously launched on Apple Arcade - Lego Brawls will now be hitting consoles on 2nd September 2022. Published by Bandai Namco, it’ll arrive on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
You’ll battle solo or with up to eight network players collecting Minifigures, which you can then customise to create your own hero of choice. You can then use this hero to tackle the game’s global leaderboards.
The description teases: “From the swashbuckling shores of Barracuda Bay, to the waterlogged caverns of Ninjago Seabound, to a dusty wild west saloon and the mythical Monkie Kid jungle, all of your favourite Lego themes are brawlable! Collect unlockable Minifigures, power-ups, and emotes along the way.” There will also be a battle-royale style mode, because that’s a thing and has to be everywhere..
In other news, Lego has chosen to end its console game exclusivity agreement with developer TT Games - which recently launched the hugely-successful Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Some Lego sports games from publisher 2K are rumoured to be in the pipeline.
And That’s That
It’s not an easy choice on what to buy this month for Switch owners. What will you be picking up? What game releases are you most looking forward to over the next six months? Let us know on the Zatu socials!