Gaming News

It’s time again for more Weekly Gaming News from Mega Cat Studios!

Now, if you're a huge anime fan or anything Japan, we have a couple of tidbits that might tickle your fancy. Also, since gamer fuel is kind of a big thing nowadays, one certain company decided to throw its hat in the ring! Let's go!

NINTENDOJI

Now, a lot of geeks and gamers alike have a lot of knowledge to drop, and of course, they'll let you know about it. But this time, we've come across a game that you might have never even heard of ever! We're talking about Nintendoji.  It's an exclusive digital reward for gold and platinum club Nintendo members. It's understandable that very few know about this game because it was only released in Japan. 

Developed by Grounding and released nine years ago in April of 2013, it's a turn-based battler where players explore dungeons and kick some bad guy’s ass to improve their skills and gather items. It's very simple yet enjoyable. The end goal is to find some sacred relics, which includes some nice crossover items from the Mario series and other Nintendo franchise. Your main guy Kageshina Kurabe may not be as popular as other Nintendo mainstays, but he's appeared on Super Smash Bros. as a trophy and spirit, so if you're still wondering who that handsome red-haired Onii-chan is, well, now you know. 

POCKY & ROCKY RESHRINED

Now, it's time to take a look at a cute classic that's making its way to the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, complete with a shiny coat of remastered paint. Sweet! Natsume Atari's collaboration with Tango Project is finally going to drop, and we can finally get a taste of the sweet nostalgia from 1990s. Now, this new entry in the Pocky & Rocky series is scheduled for release this summer,  so the short wait can definitely be sustained by the hype.

Now, if you haven't seen this shrine maiden and tanooki duo, this is a good chance to check them out. And if you want to know why people are so excited, Tango Project has a cool gameplay trailer on their Youtube channel right now.  So whether it's top-down or side-scrolling, the classic style of action is both cute and pretty challenging, to say the least. Pocky & Rocky Reshrined is available for pre-order right now and set for official release on April 21 in Japan and June 24 everywhere else.

COCA COLA BYTE

Last but not least, we're rehydrating, recharging, and realizing that one major soda brand just might have pulled an epic gamer move, and no, this is not an April fool's joke again. Coca-Cola has come up with a pixel-flavored drink called Coca-Cola Byte. It's part of their Creations project lineup and is clearly inspired by all things retro, given its sweet vaporwave aesthetic. Now, if only we could get the weekend to promote it, we could come full retro circle. 

This, of course, isn't the first time Coca-Cola brought us something out of this world. Coke Starlight was their first release in the Creations collection and gave us a taste of space. And I guess that's what people mean when they sort of kind of want to break up, but not really. But moving on, according to their website, Coca-Cola Byte’s bright, upfront taste is reminiscent of powering up a game. And its refreshing finish makes for a perfect gaming companion. Well, whatever that kind of flavor profile is, I‘m so intrigued.  The drink won't be available worldwide until early May, but you'll be seeing a lot of their promotional material in Fortnite. So, from a Coke Byte island to different mini-games and challenges, the hype is real, so we're hoping that the pixel flavor will pack a punch. 

Well, that's our news for the week, but we'll be back again from the archives to feed your retro cravings. This has been Weekly Gaming News, join our Discord and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more!

Here's your weekly trio of awesome indie games this January!

Before Your Eyes

I'm going to start you off on a tear-jerker game that's called Before your eyes and usually, the words “life flashes” are what you hear with those words. Well, this game is almost just about that. It is a first-person narrative adventure that tells the story of a soul's journey into the afterlife using a new and pretty innovative form of interaction: real-life blinks. Basically, you'll be navigating through the afterlife by blinking. It starts at the moment of your death. You find yourself aboard the ship of a mythical fairy man who in order to help you pass on needs to learn the story of your life. He does this by sending you back to relive your most important moments. The game uses your webcam to immerse you in the story which will take you through memories of family, first love, and artistic career, however as we all know there is always a deeper side of life; darker if you will, and this is where the reveal of a heartbreaking truth will be seen. Before your eyes is a game about death, grief, pain, and suffering. It's also a game about finding joy in the little things and what better way to start the year than to reflect on life through this game.  So go on start blinking. 

 Dodgeball Academia

In our next game, however, we dare you to blink and if you do you'll lose more than just a game. You lose the chance to be the hero of Dodgeball Academia.  Dodgeball Academia is a sports RPG game featuring rookie dodgeball student Otto and a cast of characters as they train and dominate on and off the courts of the school.  Some of these characters have balloons or blocks instead of heads which gives you a hint of just how much fun you're in for, as this really is just the best kind of physical education one could receive. With eight episodes, you'll form friendships and are almost sure to create rivals with one objective in mind: to develop the best dodgeball team there ever was.  You can level up auto, together with your team in a customizable party progression system while uncovering the hidden truths within the academia. This is a game even Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn would be excited to get their hands on. I must warn you, the set of dodgeball rules evolve almost constantly and what starts out with a throw and catch skillset quickly becomes a battle of tactics, passing, and super moves which in the end will result in a big old smile on anyone's face. 

Dragon Fist: VR Kung Fu

Wrapping up our list is an ode to anyone's Kung Fu. The question is, how strong is your Kung Fu? Check out Dragon Fist: VR Kung Fu.  Virtual reality is becoming more affordable which is extremely exciting when you want to play some of the coolest games. Dragon Fist is a first-person fighting game against a variety of opponents with different fighting styles, tactics, special moves, and backstories. Step into your own Kung Fu reality by choosing between characters inspired by Chinese and Hong Kong martial arts movies across the decades. It could be a female Kung Fu student,  a Shaolin monk, a samurai, an old wise master, or even a Bruce Lee-inspired character.  What's really so amazing is that the game combat is based on symmetric physics. Your attacks come in the form of punches, palm strikes, and finger jabs. Each of these has its own benefit and striking enemies in specific places can de-buff them. So if you finger-jab someone in the eyes, it'll impair their vision, and punching someone in the lower ribs will slow down their stamina region.  Well, it's time to go check out your Kung Fu and how strong it exactly is.  This is Alex for Weekly Gaming News from Mega Cat Studios.

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We're kicking off December with another trio of games to get on your radar.

Let's talk about friendship and trust and then go the complete opposite direction. Think along the lines of Among Us or the card game Killer at a Cabin and voila we have our first game Killer in the Cabin. This game foregoes the cute and colorful look and opts for something more relatable and realistic. You play as a group of survivors from a bus crash in some mountains and the objective is to survive all the days that you'll be waiting for help and rescue to arrive. Of course this would mean having to work together sourcing water, gathering food and finding shelter. This sounds all good and in the name of friendship right, wrong. It's good for those of you who aren't trying to kill everyone else unfortunately one of you definitely is. As a survivor your goal is to live on and also try to keep as many people alive as possible until help arrives. As the killer well the objective is pretty much given but you'll have a range of different options to terminate other Players these include the ability to poison, strangle a sleeping player, or the option to not help when gathering materials so yeah good luck making friends. 

I'm super charged up to tell you more about this next game. It'll bring you back to simpler times when you used to play with action figures, a whole battalion of soldiers fighting off a completely different set of toys like dinosaurs or elves or beyblades. This one is called Hypercharge: Unboxed. Here you'll be controlling a small soldier by the name of Sergeant Max Ammo. The mission is to prevent hypercore from being destroyed if it gets wiped out you will have to say goodbye to your human friends they won't remember you and it'll be as if you never existed. You'll need to protect different stations against a swarm of evil toys aiming to take them out and looking to destroy you as well. Hypercharge is a classic style third and first person shooter inspired by Toy Story and small soldiers focusing on wave-based shooting with defense building mechanics. Features include single-player, Co-op and plastic versus plastic progression, big weapons and wave-based hybrid. Every level that you complete unlocks new items to use. Available on Windows PC and Nintendo Switch. 

Completing our trio for today is a sandbox combat called Super Punchy Face. It's a roguelite beat'em up where literally everything is a weapon. Do whatever it takes to win against equally capable opponents in levels that are different every time. Between each fight you could choose from a random selection of techniques to perfect your style so kind of like the Matrix. You'll be breaking everything you touch either by hitting someone with it or by hitting it with someone. Again everything is a weapon: bean bag chairs, ping pong paddles, mop buckets, you name it. What's so special about this sandbox combat is, there's no magic, no guns, no swords and no killing. It's about taking advantage of everyday objects around you to survive. Well, try them out and tell us what you think. 

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Have you ever heard the quote “Life is like a puzzle, it all seems a mess but when it gets fixed it looks awesome” well if not maybe you'll understand when you try playing Where Cards Fall. In the game the unnamed protagonist traverses different landscapes from forests to cities to classrooms that represent their key memories as they reminisce the events that took place in their teenage years all the way through adulthood. Often the ultimate goal of an area is to get from point A to point B using card based structures to overcome obstacles. Now that's where the challenge of translating the physicality of 3D cards onto a 2D plane comes in. You would spread decks of cards to solve challenging spatial puzzles and progress through dream-like landscapes. It attempts to tell a story with minimalist details but you can only draw vague inferences to the pantomime that's taking place on screen. You'll need to make your way towards the end of the level which is represented by a solitary card to move on towards the next one. To do so you'll be constructing houses, platforms, and buildings of varying size and heights with stacks of cards. The basics of these puzzles would need a bit of getting used to particularly with its fiddly controls on the switch but they are largely compelling brain teasers that reward your hard work with the rush of dopamine and if all else fails you can count on the ever reliable hint system that will get you out of tight spots.

Our next game would give us the right amount of refreshment off the bat the release date is not yet known to us but the title itself just tells you that it's going to be a hit. For starters it's got Boba, enough said right? It also has really cute art and in the game, you have the ability to date demons. In Hell Boba Cafe you'll be working at a bubble tea store at the edge of hell. The thing is your customer is a local demon population. You're going to have mysterious and spooky ingredients at your disposal to make something tasty. Mind you most demons have never ordered Boba before so you'll need to figure out what they'd like. You'll have to cope with demons being tricky and very cryptic in their orders and you'll need to master conversations to do so. In summary, prepare mouth-watering Boba tea, make dialogue choices, and flirt with demon customers to build new relationships. There are over 1400 Boba combinations so get creative. 

Lastly is this upcoming voxel sandbox game Teravit it's from Cyberstep and they already have a demo for it if you want to check it out because who doesn't love a good sandbox game right. It's a world filled with various biomes, some planes with flowers so that sounds promising right. What's interesting is that the game seems to have a more direct story compared to most sandbox games - The demon king came along and ruined everything by getting his servants to destroy the world's villages then built a bunch of castles to live in which can only mean that darkness is probably going to spread around the World. However, you've just arrived and it's your job to try and stop that however you think is possible. There is of course single-player and multiplayer but you can also just play however you want because it is a sandbox. 

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