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It’s a new year — and the beginning of our first full 12-month period with Nintendo Switch. Nintendo is kicking off 2018 with a very tiny set of new releases on eShop, however; the list is even smaller than last week’s.
Perhaps this isn’t the New Year’s present you were expecting, but let’s not assume the foursome that arrives on Switch this week is indicative of what the console will get going forward. This is traditionally a slow period for new releases across the board, after all; expect things to pick back up as 2018 rolls on.
Most exciting of the new games this week is like Pic-a-Pix Deluxe, which should speak directly to the Picross fans out there. It’s akin to the cult favorite puzzle game, albeit with colors thrown into what is traditionally a black-and-white series of blocks to make sense of. (I have yet to get a handle of Picross and its ilk, personally; maybe Pic-a-Pix could be an entry point?)
There’s also a dodgeball role-playing game, Stikbold!, which looks ... surprisingly cool. The various local multiplayer modes support up to six players, who choose from a cast of aspiring dodgeball champs looking to prove themselves on the court. The co-op story mode even has actual cutscenes and boss battles in between matches to fill out the plot, a fun inclusion.
If the Switch stuff doesn’t quite do it for you, then this is a good week to pull your Nintendo 3DS out. A demo for the upcoming Kirby game, Kirby Battle Royale, is now available on the 3DS eShop. Players compete against other Kirby heroes to duke it out with a number of different abilities. Think of it as Super Smash Kirby Melee, if you will. The full game launches Jan. 19.
The full list of Switch eShop games for the week of Jan. 4 is below. (And if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to keep playing quirky minigame collection Mom Hid My Game! for the third week in a row.)
- Grand Prix Rock ’N Racing ($7.99)
- Pic-a-Pix Deluxe ($7.99)
- ACA NEOGEO King of the Monsters ($7.99)
- Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure DELUXE ($15.99)
