News:: Five Nintendo Switch bundles available once again at GameStop

Remember those Nintendo Switch bundles we mentioned last month that was available at GameStop? The Switch consoles offerings are back again at the nation-wide retailer, available for pre-purchase with five bundles priced from $399.99 to $445.99.

Are there bundles with ridiculous overpriced toys and gears? You betcha. But are they also bundles with items you'd probably get anyways? Ditto on that too. But considering that scalpers are still selling the Switch for over its list price online, this is one of the few ways to purchase online without paying the ridiculous marked up price (some are priced as high as $380 without a game included).

The top bundle, of course, is the Zelda Starter bundle which comes in at $399.99 and gets you a Neon Joy-Con Switch with a physical copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a digital copy of the expansion pass, and a power adapter with USB Type-C cable (which is relatively helpful since that's not bundled within a Switch). This particular configuration should be the one that sells out the fastest. Check below for other bundles available.

GameStop August Nintendo Switch Bundles

• Nintendo Switch Neon Joy-Con Zelda Starter Bundle — $399.99
• Nintendo Switch Neon Joy-Con Splatoon Fan Bundle — $404.99
• Nintendo Switch Neon Joy-Con Minecraft Fan Bundle — $399.99
• Nintendo Switch Neon Joy-Con Minecraft Charge Bundle — $429.99
• Nintendo Switch Neon Joy-Con Adventure Bundle — $445.99

Interestingly enough, all the bundles available are Neon Joy-Con models, unlike last time which only the Gray Joy-Con models are available. (Why did we go with the Gray Joy-Con headline image? Pfft, robots are color blind. Duh.).

Of all the bundles GameStop is offering up for tap, the one we'd heavily suggest you avoid is the Minecraft Fan bundle which comes with three items that you can honestly do without: a Minecraft potion bottle toy, a Minecraft wall charger, and those annoying Minecraft foam pickaxe you see all around during Halloween.

While the Minecraft Charge Bundle comes with the silly wall charger as well, it does come with the sexy (if not pricey) Nintendo Switch Pro controller, hence the $430 price tag.

At the end of the day, the next for-sure bundle is the Splatoon Fan bundle which comes with Splatoon 2, a Splatoon themed Deluxe Travel case, and the Splatoon themed comfort grip - much more practical in our opinion.

These are promised to be shipped by August 18 and if they follow suit like last time, will most likely sell out within 3 days.

Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

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News:: Make grinding more convenient with the Trails in the Sky trilogy's new updates

To this day, I'm impressed with the way how XSEED treats Falcom's titles. One good example is the effort they put into The Legend of Heroes Trails series since they continue to improve it, such as the Trails in the Sky games getting patched to look better in 4K.

As players get a taste of Durante's features in Trails of Cold Steel, they can look forward to using the PC version's Turbo Mode in the Trails in the Sky titles. From the looks of it, XSEED's Sara Leen, the programmer for the Trails in the Sky trilogy, chose to implement this option so players can speed up battles in the entire series.

Other than that, she's making the original trilogy work better with DirectX9 and players can access Trails in the Sky the 3rd's beta for both updates on Steam right now. On top of that, they can test these features in the previous two games as well. Of course, the completed version of these patches will apply to the non-Steam PC releases as well.

Once again, Leen's dedication to improving the classic Trails titles is another example of XSEED doing a phenomenal job with the series. One thing for sure, their commitment to their stuff is one of the reasons why they're my favorite video game localization company.

Sara Leen [Twitter]

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News:: TumbleSeed 50% of on Switch, adds a whole game's worth of free DLC

TumbleSeed is a passion project that Ridiculous Fishing artist Greg Wohlwend spent years of his life developing. He was surprised, and sad, to see how players reacted to it after it was released. Despite getting plenty of good reviews, the near-unanimous response was that the game was too hard to fully enjoy. In this Post-Spelunky, Post-Dark Souls world, Greg probably thought we were ready for a game as tough TumbleSeed. As it turns out, maybe we're not. 

Then, in a move that rivals the complete overhaul of Slain received after negatively responses by press and players alike, Greg and his team went back to work on TumbleSeed, adding what amounts to an entire new game's worth of content.

New items and powers, along with tweaks to the enemy A.I. and ability system, make the central campaign easier. On top of that, not one, not two, but four new areas have been added to give players more opportunities to build their skills. While the main game is still procedurally generated, these four new mountains have consistent level designs each time you play, so after learning their layouts, you can focus just on mastering player movement and problem solving. On Switch, there is also a new, exclusive 2-player Battle mode, which is great for practicing the basics in a party environment.

It's really bananas to see how much work went into this free update. I just hope that it's enough to inspire people to give TumbleSeed another look, because the game more than deserves one. You only get one chance to make a first impression, but for me, its even more impressive when a developer goes through these kinds of lengths to respond to player feedback than it is when they "get it right" from the start.

TumbleSeed _ Version 2.0.1 now available [Go Nintendo]

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News:: Review: Immortal Planet

It has become something of a joke online to compare things to Dark Souls. When writing a review, most writers will opt to reference something popular to cut down on the length of a piece. This is supposed to work in that readers will be familiar and can draw parallels without explicitly being told how something is similar.

What has happened, though, is that reviewers have gotten lazy and started referring to anything “hard” as Dark Souls. This came to a head when a review for the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy claimed the game turned into Dark Souls due to its difficulty. What does one say, though, when a game directly bills itself as riff on Dark Souls? Immortal Planet is one such game and I’m kind of at a loss for comparisons.

Would it be tacky to say Immortal Planet is the Dark Souls of isometric RPGs?

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News:: Ye old video game oddities - issue #2

Back in the original issue we looked at EGM letters, old Usenet posts, and bold 4chan predictions for Nintendo's Wii U. In this month's issue (that's right folks, it's going monthly!) we're gonna take a look at how Christmas was ruined for one particular Wii U owner, entertaining '90s PC Gamer letters, as well as an odd Nintendo Power letter from an individual some might have heard of.

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News:: AM2R developer gets hired at Moon Studios

The saga of Nintendo versus various fan games has been a hot topic for a lot of people. While Nintendo may hold all the legal rights to own and distribute their IPs, what is the harm in a free fan game floating around? If anything, it builds up interest in the particular series to then have Nintendo go and make an official version, much like what sort of happened with Metroid: Samus Returns and AM2R.

Obviously that story is far more complicated than my condensed version, but its hard to deny that the existence of AM2R got people anxious to see what Nintendo would be doing with Metroid next. It could have also forced Nintendo's hand in starting development on Metroid Prime 4 to satiate fan desires, since Samus Returns has a secret project for a few years.

Sadly, AM2R got wiped out of existence due to a DMCA take down from Nintendo last year. While you can still find it online, if you look in shady places, the question of what that developer was going to do now that his magnum opus was unceremoniously put out to pasture was on a bunch of people's minds. It looks like Moon Studios, the developers behind Ori and the Blind Forest, have brought on the dev to work on Ori's sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

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News:: Gundam Versus open beta begins the fight on September 2 in Southeast Asia

While the rest of the world patiently waits, and while Japan plays with the actual game, Bandai Namco has announced the date for the open beta for Gundam Versus in Southeast Asia. The beta will be running from September 2 at 15:00 (GMT +8) to September 4 at 15:00 (GMT +8), and the pre-load will start on August 29. Namco confirmed that having a PlayStation Plus membership is not required in order to join in on the fun.

They also covered what modes will be in the beta, and oh boy what a selection.

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News:: What original Xbox game are you most excited to play again?

When coming up with this week's question, I had a thought. Looking back over the past Destructoid Discusses, I never centered one around the Xbox. Now, part of that reason is I've never owned an Xbox. I have been able to play all three generations of the brand, however, because most of my roommates over the years have been hardcore fans of the brand. So I've played Halo, Halo 2, Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive 3, Fable and more. And I've enjoyed those games immensely.

So when it was announced the Xbox One family of consoles would be getting backward compatibility at E3, a moment I hope didn't discourage indie developers for the console when it received a more thunderous applause than any of their games did, I immediately thought about what game from the 128-bit era I wanted to play the most. It took me a while to find my answer because most of the games I played have much better sequels more readily available.

That's why I settled on Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee. I love Godzilla. I love Shin Godzilla. Everything I have seen of City Shrouded in Shadow makes me think it's the Godzilla game I've always wanted. Because, let's be frank, Godzilla games have been on a steady downward trend. Melee was such dumb fun when it came out I played it for a month straight *cough* on the GameCube *cough*. Save the Earth didn't have the same impact on me and Unleashed is genuinely bad. Then came 2014's Godzilla, a title Destructoid staff members talked me out of buying when it went on sale.

So yeah, I want to play Destroy All Monsters Melee because if we're not going to be given good, new games starring the world's baddest bitch, then at least let me play the last great game she starred in.

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News:: Free Slime-San DLC coming to Switch, includes FPS mode

Slime-San gets compared to Super Meat Boy a lot, but that's a little like comparing Earthbound to Undertale. They're in the same genre, and the feel is similar, but beyond that, they're pretty darn different. Slime-San's central gameplay hook comes from the ability to pass through certain objects, walls and floors. Your phasing powers also slow down time, allowing you to alter the kinetic properties of your jump. It's a more methodical game than Super Meat Boy, and far less slippery.

It also has a huge cast of NPCs that do a lot to add an air of wacky levity to the experience. One of the first things you can do in the game is talk to a fat blob about how he's too thicc to make it outside of the house. 

Slime-San was just released on the Switch a few days ago, on the eve of Splatoon 2's first Splatfest. That's a tough time to try to get attention from Nintendo fans. The good news is, it looks like the game will get at least one piece of DLC down the line to help it stay in the public eye. Blackbird's Kraken takes the whole Slime family out on to the high seas, where they are once again swallowed up by a large invertebrate. It's not just more of the same though. There are new mechanics and hazards, and whole new, all green FPS mode that doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, but that's just how Slime-San rolls. 

Slime-San - Blackbird's Kraken DLC coming to Switch for free [Gonintendo]

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News:: Lycanroc gets new form in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

Following news the Nintendo Switch will be getting a mainline entry in the Pokémon series either in 2018 or sometime after, I have to remind myself the 3DS is also getting two new games in the franchise this fall. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon will be bringing trainers back to Alola for one last adventure November 17 and on that adventure, players can expect to see new forms of Pokémon, such as the new Dusk Lycanroc revealed yesterday.

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News:: Blackhole: Complete Edition comes to PS4 & Xbox One

Blackhole is making its way over to consoles in the form of a Complete Edition, which gathers all of the game’s available DLC, this week. If you consider yourself a fan of indie games, this should definitely be on your radar.

I’ve been waiting for the console release since all the way back when Destructoid’s Conrad Zimmerman gave the PC version a whopping 9/10 in his review of the game over two years ago. This Tuesday, I’m finally going to get my grubby little mitts on the damn thing. It reminds me of the game Braid in all of the right ways. Plus, I’m a total sucker for cheeky sci-fi stories. For all practical purposes, this is my wheelhouse.

Blackhole: Complete Edition launches August 8^th for $14.99 on PS4/Xbox One and $13.99 on Steam. 

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News:: First three Dragon Quest games hit PS4 and 3DS this month in Japan

During last night's live stream of everything Dragon Quest, we got some good snippets of info on the series. Dragon Quest XI, released just over a week ago, has already hit 3 million copies sold across the PS4 and 3DS. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is in development for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, proving that not all Japanese developers are taking a wait-and-see approach with the system. Plus, it was revealed the first three games in the series will be getting a re-release this month.

Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest II, and Dragon Quest III will hit the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo 3DS starting August 10. With these games, every entry in the core franchise will be playable on the 3DS.

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News:: Mayo wins first U.S. Splatfest in surprise upset

[Art by 3DROD]

First their was Brexit. Then there was Trump. Now there is... Mayo.

Despite being saddled to the less popular of Splatoon 2's leading ladies, Mayonnaise, the substance best known for inspiring rock songs, semen pranks, and rock songs about semen pranks, has managed to win the game's first official Splatfest. How did this happen? What went wrong? It's hard to say, but personally, I blame society.

Former Dtoid editor Topher Cantler and I played a few matches on Team Ketchup last night, so we can both attest to the fact that our teams had some of the worst players in the history of the game. I had several matches where one or more of my team mates simply ran in circles, or proceeded to move directly to the center of the stage without shooting any ink along the way. They were trying to play the Splatoon 2 like a traditional shooter, which is clearly the fault of bad parenting and a culture that values Call of Duty and Halo over superior games like De Blob and Jet Grind Radio. 

Still, I have to hand it to Team Mayo. Despite losing the popular vote by 73%, they played their hearts out and never gave up. Stand outs on Team Mayo include WayForward game director James Montanga and artist Linzb0t, who were rallying their team to stay in the game for much of the night. It it weren't for them, their team very well may have failed to squeak by with a victory of 52% of the wins in Solo matches, and 51% of the wins in Team games. 

So great job Team Mayo! Just don't be surprised if Jill Stein demands a recount. 

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News:: Last call: Atari made a baseball cap with speakers, and we're giving 10 away

Here's a wild one: Atari has also partnered with Audiowear to create a baseball-styled cap with built-in speakers, which will also have a limited-edition release with BladeRunner 2049. You read that right! The 1970's old gal even opened an Instagram account. They're getting into the wearables business, I swear this is a real thing that is happening. According to their COO, this might not be the last spinoff Atari lifestyle gadget we'll see, either. They're looking for beta testers to check this out.

We don't know much about the device other than what you see in the gallery below: It's a dark cap, there's a button and a blue light on it for sync, it's rechargeable (we're not sure via what port), there's dual speakers on the flap, it has a microphone, and it connects via bluetooth. You can't really see the speakers unless you're right up in someone's grill. I'm dying to try this thing out in church. In all seriousness, Venturebeat tried one out and noted that the downward-facing speakers aren't easy to eavesdrop on at lower volume levels. Huh.

Honestly, I was full-on ready to hate on this because it's so random and kitsch, but my fat head can't stand jogging with headphones/earbuds or a ghettoblaster over my shoulders. I've got a soft spot for Atari; the 2600 was my first console ever. I'm picking up their new console and following them in awe and confusion. I'm totally gonna review this if I can get my hands on one.

Want one for free? Enthusiast Gaming (our parent company) has ten Atari Speakerhat bundles to give away (10!) which also includes an Atari T-shirt, and the Atari Flashback game collection for PS4 or Xbox One. To enter, just do the social media thing below. Good luck!

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News:: Review: Turtle Beach Recon 150

Y'all like to hate on Destiny, but it has given me something no other game has: a weekly ritual of six-player cooperative first-person shooter raids that require not only skill and focus, but more importantly communication and coordination among team members. While generally not required for the rest of the game, a headset is a crucial tool for that stuff.

For most of my time with the PlayStation 4, I've been running with a Turtle Beach Ear Force P4C, which can be lovingly described as "fine for how little it costs." The recently released Recon 150 (and its Xbox sister XO Three) are a step up in price, but this is definitely a case of "you get what you pay for."

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News:: North Korea has a new video game, 'Soccer Fierce Battle'

That's right, North Korea is getting another video game in the form of Soccer Fierce Battle. Developer Sujeongcheon Tech claim that Soccer Fierce Battle "reflects modern-day soccer and trends" and will utilize characters based on real-life players from major tournaments within the sport.

The game will be compatible with PC, mobile Android devices, and Microsoft Kinect devices.

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News:: The Japanese version of the Nintendo Classic Mini is in stock

There's nothing like rolling out of bed and playing Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, amirite? That roughly translates to Hot-Blooded Downtown Story or Downtown Fever, which was later localized as River City Ransom: One of the best NES games ever. Unlike the American game you know, here's a chance to flee from the original high-school-uniformed sprites and into the most terrifying Tokyo situation possible: A Japanese restaurant that doesn't have an English menu.  

If you missed your chance to grab an NES Mini and don't want to pay an Ebay scalper four times its value? Want to brush up on your Japanese? The Nintendo Classic Famicom Mini is in stock at Play-Asia for $110 at the time of this writing. You won't need a foreign voltage converter, but it doesn't come with a power brick. Instead, it comes with a puzzling USB-B to USB-A plug (like most Android phones).  Maybe you'll want to "splurge" on a surge protector. Actually, you're a goddamned monster if you don't already have an uninterruptible power supply behind your television. Speaking of pain, the controllers were also shrunken and hard-wired with comically short cords like the original, as shown in the photo above. This is strictly for nostalgic Japanese denizens, collectors, and my kind of fetishists. On the bright side, the emulation blows away the Wii U virtual console by a landslide.

Here's the full list of games included, with Youtube links to the import oddities:

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