A lot of fighting from Japan and visual novels in Japan this week.

The big ones for this week are Fairy Tail, the RPG from Atelier developers Gust that has had about five different release dates, and the Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection coming to the eShop on Tuesday. So there's plenty of violence this week coming from Nintendo's developer partners.

Smaller digital... Read more...

And then you too can ask the simple question: "Why is Fight Crab?"

The Switch version of the crazy crustacean fighter Fight Crab will be out just before summer's end.

Mastiff have confirmed September 15 as the eShop release date for the multiplayer claw-based fighter. Pricing for the game has not been disclosed.

The seafood strikers will be able to face off in local and online play for up to 4 players in a 2v2.

A 3D platformer from Square Enix with some big names behind it.

A new Square Enix studio is bringing a new 3D platformer to Switch next year.

Balan Wonderworld is a new project from Square's Balan Company studio, headed up by veteran platformer developers Yuji Naka (Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights Into Dreams) and Naoto Ohshima (Sonic character designer). Shown off at today's Xbox Series X game unveiling, the 3D platform adventure was later confirmed for Switch release by Square Enix.

Bow before the might of the killer chandelier.

Switch Online subscribers will get a free trial of an early Switch fighting game starting next week.

Pokken Tournament DX, the 2017 Switch version of the previously arcade and Wii U fighting game, is now downloadable for Switch Online subscribers for a trial. The trial version will be active starting July 29 and will be open until 2:59 a.m. ET on August 5 (11:59 p.m. PT on August 4). The download is 3.9 GB.

All by the end of March.

The Ketchup v Mayo re-run in Splatoon 2 was popular enough that the repeats will continue.

Nintendo have announced three more Splatfest reruns will occur in Splatoon 2 between now and the end of March 2021. The first, a rerun of the "Chicken v Egg" fest from March 2018, will run from 6 p.m. ET on August 21 to the same time on August 23.

And you can finally bring your supersonic acrobatic rocket-powered battle cars from other platforms to Switch.

Rocket League will be the next game to go from premium to free on Switch.

The vehicular soccer game, which launched five years ago this month on PC and PlayStation 4 and came to Switch in 2017, will be moving to a free download "later this summer" according to a post on the game's official website.... Read more...

The serious fighter has a serious discount.

The Switch's attempt to make the hardcore fighting game accessible has gone free to play today.

Fantasy Strike, which released last year as a paid product, has switched to a free model effective today. All of the previously released characters, along with two new ones, will be available to try. Offline and online battles (using the GGPO rollback netcode) are also available.

It plays Crysis, plays Doom (1993), plays Doom (2016), AND blends.

This week's big release and next candidate for "wait, they ported WHAT???" to the Switch is Crysis Remastered, which was still laughing at gaming PCs after the *Wii U* launched and somehow has been crammed into the Switch. If you prefer a little bit more strategy, you could also rock and/or roll with Rock of Ages III: Make or Break, or perhaps the newest ultra-gory piece from Nina Struthers and the nuts at Devolver with Carrion.

The goose will be loose in a few more ways this fall.

Indie darling Untitled Goose Game will be receiving a physical version on September 29, courtesy of iam8bit, Panic Inc., House House, and Skybound Games. The standard version will retail for $34.99 (all prices USD) and include a game cartridge, a plaza catalogue of items that a goose might enjoy... Read more...

A light show but pretty packed with content.

Other announcements from today's Partner Showcase:

Link... open your ears.

Cadence of Hyrule is about to get a whole lot bigger.

DLC for the musical roguelike was announced in today's partner showcase, which will start launching today and be out by the end of October. The first pack, out today along with a season pass, will add five characters: Impa, Shadow versions of... Read more...

Signs of life for the series of death.

After three and a half years of silence, the Shin Megami Tensei series is coming back in a huge way on Switch.

Shin Megami Tensei V, the last game from the January 2017 Switch reveal event to release, was shown in the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase. The footage includes a 2021 release date, and a simultaneous worldwide release.

A wider view of the track makes sense when you're probably not commuting.

An oft-requested feature is coming to Mario Kart Tour tomorrow.

The next update for the mobile racer will add support for landscape mode play, giving a wider view of the tracks. Landscape play will also feature different controls.

A trailer showing off the feature was released overnight:

Try out the battle system for the time-spanning November release.

It might be launching in November, but players will be able to go hands on with Cris Tales later today.

A demo for the upcoming RPG will be available today in the North American eShop, or from tomorrow in the European shop. There will be two portions of the demo: an exploration portion to try out the time manipulation central to the game, and a portion of the "Colosseum" to try out the battle system.

Only focusing on previously-announced titles.

The next Nintendo Direct Mini has been announced via Twitter, with the focus being a "Partner Showcase" on previously announced titles. It debuts at 7:00 am PT / 10:00 am EST tomorrow. The Japanese Twitter account has announced it being roughly 10 minutes in length.

An old friend makes the comeback of the century to return to the top 10 in software.

June game sales in the United States saw some big restocks resulting in epic comebacks to the sales chart.

All data based on dollar sales from May 31 - July 4 (five weeks) unless otherwise indicated.

The Switch was the top-selling hardware platform again in June, for both unit and dollar sales. Hardware sales were down 17% compared to May, despite the extra week of tracking, but no numbers were given to determine June Switch sales.

Somehow, this can all be blamed on this alleged character named "Waluigi".

The producer of the Paper Mario series has outlined some of the restrictions placed on the series in a new interview, including how existing Mario characters can be used.

Speaking to Video Games Chronicle, Kensuke Tanabe confirmed that the Paper Mario games require new villains because existing... Read more...

We hate to be the crystal bearers of bad news here.

A new trailer for the upcoming remaster of one of the most infamous offline-only games has confirmed there will be no offline multiplayer this time.

The Japanese-language trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered was posted on the game's Japanese language Twitter account, along with an announcement that due to "development reasons" the production prioritized online play over offline play in an attempt to get more players.

We'll see Hero's true form... and it looks a lot like Soren.

The next two Smash DLC Amiibo have a release date.

The figures for Joker and Hero, shown off in the June 22 Smash Bros presentation where MinMin debuted, will be available in North America on October 2. They will launch a week earlier (September 25) in Japan.

Super #SmashBrosUltimate #amiibo for DLC fighters Joker and Hero will be available starting Oct. 2nd! pic.twitter.com/gQE1zJBZot

Imagine a version with Kirby's Adventure.

The Nintendo and LEGO partnership is getting even bigger.

A LEGO set featuring a replica NES and a small CRT TV will be available on August 1 for US$229.99. The set will create a brick version of a level of the original Super Mario Bros., with a crank included on the TV to advance the scene.