Nintendo has revealed the latest batch of games to come to Nintendo Switch Online, and to say they are a motley crew is an understatement.
Three of these games have never been localized to the West from their native Japan. This is the first time these games will be commercially available in the West, but strangely enough, Nintendo did not add localization to them. For what it’s worth, these games are somewhat straightforward so fans can find their way on their own. But it’s still a strange choice to be sure, as is their fourth game.
Let’s start with the most famous games of the bunch (and that is saying something). Joy Mech Fight released six years before Super Smash Bros, and two years after the breakout success of Street Fighter II, in 1993. You start out playing Sukapon, a domestic robot refitted to fight after a mad scientist declares his intent to conquer the world with his own fighter robots.
Because of the Famicom’s limitations, Nintendo had to design Sukapon and other robots as strange automatons with floating heads, arms, and legs. And it did this two years before Rayman first released on the Atari Jaguar. Joy Mech Fight is a considerably simpler fighting game than Street Fighter II, but having separate quest and vs modes, 28 unique robots, and others make it at least worth checking out.
The other Famicom game, Downtown Nekketsu March: Super-Awesome Field Day!, is a sports game set in a school athletic event. There’s a race course, an obstacle course, a battle royal, and a second combat themed game where you compete to destroy a ball on a pole. It’s all very weird, and it stars the cast of Tecmo’s Nekketsu / River City franchise, so you know it’ll be very good competitive gameplay.
While the Game Boy version of Kirby’s Star Stacker released worldwide, the SNES version of the game was only released in Japan. It’s one of many falling block games, where the pieces are combinations of Kirby’s three friends. When you pair two or more of the same friend together, you form stars, and when enough stars touch each other they are removed from the playfield. This puzzler is part Puyo Puyo and part Puzzle League, and worth giving a try. This version adds a versus and story modes and has those bright and attractive SNES colors.
Finally, and rather perplexingly, Nintendo released Quest for Camelot, originally on the Game Boy Color. This is based on the 1998 animated fantasy musical movie from Warner Bros. As Kayley, you have to save your mother and the legendary sword Excalibur from the evil knight Ruber.
Developed by Titus, Quest for Camelot copies the top down action gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but it doesn’t have that game’s aesthetics or positive critical reception. It’s honestly somewhat confusing why a poorly received game, which is an adaptation of a poorly received movie, was brought back for this collection. But I suppose if you have Nintendo Switch Online, you can decide on that for yourself.
All games are available for all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, via the respective Game Boy Color, NES, and Super NES apps.
