Nintendo Switch is getting another port next month in the form of Renegade Kid's Xeodrifter. You'll probably recognise the name as it's featured on both 3DS and Wii U already, and it left a strong impression on Nintendo Life in both of our reviews. If you've never heard of it before, you play an astronaut who hops between different planets, exploring them Metroidvania style for parts to repair his ship. It also borrows a few mechanics from Renegade Kid's own Mutant Mudds (another game that's claimed the holy trinity of 3DS, Wii U and Nintendo Switch).
Xeodrifter will he... ahem... drifting its way onto the Switch eShop on 15 February in both North America and the EU, so if you missed the first two times around, here's a cheeky third one for you. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the game, too!
Xeodrifter will cost for $9.99 / € 9.99 / £8.99.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 40
I played this already and it was fun but Nintendo needs a cross buy or a least a discount for people who already bought this.
I find it hard to care until treasurenaughts is released for both 3DS and Switch. I already own it on 3DS.
Not buying any Atooi games until treasurenaughts(which supposedly was being 100% focused on) is released.
It is a great, fun little game that I very much enjoyed on the 3ds.
@N8tiveT3ch That would be very neat, but even more so than with other basic features (like say cloud saving), I think cross-buy is never going to happen here, and frankly, if it does not happen soon, it might as well never happen.
It is kinda baffling though. I mean, Nintendo does not lack in ressources to build a proper online ecosystem, with all the bells and whistles people have (rightfully) come to expect. They also don't lack in inspirations. Sony and Microsoft have done a lot of things right over the last couple of years in that regard. I mean, just Sony's shareplay on it's own is a fantastic feature that elevates the entire console imho.
Taking all that into account, I imagine that they must be lacking in motivation. Which again, is really weird in a day and age when about every tech-adjacent company is trying to create their own ecosystem of one sort or another, and get people as thoroughly invested into that system as possible (and by no means just financially). I'll bet you dollars to donuts that outside of Nintendo, everyone has heard of the sunken-cost fallacy.
Also, Nintendo is missing out on a huge opportunity here to harvest a **** ton of user data, that ... could be rather valueable in the near future. Again, it's very weird not matter how you look at it.
@N8tiveT3ch Do you expect a discount when you buy the Blu-ray version of a show or movie you own on DVD?
@JimmySpades No, but when you buy a PS4 game on the PS Store which has a Vita version, you get both versions for the cost of one.
@JimmySpades no, but I sure would buy more Blu-rays!
Personally, glad to see. Always glad to see Watsham release more games on Switch.
It's a personal pass from me. I found xeodrifter to have a lot of nagging flaws. The controls felt kind of stiff and the combat/movement took far too many upgrades to start feeling actually good to play with. In addition despite being such a short game, the back tracking gets very tedious. Lastly I do not agree with the decision to only have 1 boss at all. I probably guess that it was assumed that adding different stages to the boss each time would make it feel different enough but it still ends up being a far too similar fight each time.
Atooi makes stuff that is never less than pretty good
I would buy this again if i was expanded into an actual game. The way it stands now, it's basically a fun demo.
"Xeodrifter will he... ahem... drifting its way onto the Switch eShop"
Edit: The article's been edited but this was missed again. NL staff don't bother reading the comments anymore it seems.
"3DS, Wii U and now Switch"
Still waiting for that Wii U release...
@JimmySpades Sony already offers this
Great another rerelease... that is over a year old... that will sell for max price as if its a new game. No buy from me.
If it's higher than a fiver, I'm not even interested.
@Deadstanley Cross buy is not supported by Nintendo on the Switch yet, if it was, I'd have it in place for Kid Tripp.
Well since I skipped it on the 3DS, I'll pick it up on the Switch. I enjoyed Mutant Mudds but I didn't re-buy on the Switch.
It’s currently $0.00 - %100 off on the 3DS eShop for anyone that didn’t grab it already
I bought this on 3DS, but I'll grab it for Switch. Might wait to see if Limited Run Games announced a physical version though, like they did for Vita.
@Deadstanley
That's up to the publisher of the game. I own a PS4 and Vita. Only a select handful of games have offered cross buy and that kind of fizzled out a while back anyways.
But the reason it was offered, was because they figure if someone owns both console and handheld, it's not very likely that they're going to want to buy it twice just to have it on the TV and on the go. So they figure they're not really losing anything.
Hence the entire concept of the Switch. We probably won't see crossbuy with any other system + Switch, but, all purchases made on Switch have crossbuy built right in. You get a home console version to play on the TV and you get a portable version to play on the go. So any purchases made before this system are pretty much irrelevant (unfortunately). But any purchases made on this system gets both handheld + console, which is the end result of a crossbuy purchase.
And that's why I'm making it a point to buy every game worth owning on Switch. Because you get the two versions in one, and you don't have to worry about having two separate platforms and two separate copies of the game with two separate save files. And it's for every single game, not just a select few.
@SuperCharlie78 Not true. Only some games support cross-buy.
I liked this game on the 3DS. Thought is was well-designed. I recall reading a Gamasutra article, explaining that is was developed rather quickly, during a period when Renegade Kid realize it wasn’t going to complete other projects fast enough to generate incremental revenue streams by year-end. So (IIRC) they decided to postpone Treasurenauts and get this into market.
While I understand the frustration with waiting for Treasurenauts (must be years by now), I think this game came out rather well for such a quick project. I enjoyed it, for what it is. The timeline also helps me understand why the game is on the short side. That didn’t bother me, but I do think the game lacks replay value. IIRC, the only motivation to return after completion is to max out skill points & thus try other abilities.
As far as the single boss - that didn’t bother me, because each instance of the boss had different attacks (at least somewhat). Granted, it might have been more satisfying if each boss battle had a different-looking enemy, or a dramatically different battle.
@NinNin Not a big point. On Nintendo platform almost no game has cross-buy. Nintendo will happily sell us Super Mario Bros for the fourth time soon. Once I got Vagrant Story for the PSP, then I had it on the PS3, then on the Vita at no extra cost. I speak as a Nintendo fanboy, in case you were wondering. They simply don't care giving the same services other company has offered for decades
I already have this game on my 3DS and Wii U......and i will gladly buy it on one of the best growing librarys!!!! Its such a great game!!!!!
@SuperCharlie78 I think it's a big point because you said it as if every PS4 game supported cross-buy with the PS Vita version, which isn't the case.
Nintendo gives a much superior service with the Switch, though. Every single game on the Switch virtually supports cross-buy and cross-save. By the way, did you know that Nintendo allows transferring Virtual Console games from a Wii to a Wii U at no charge?
@SuperCharlie78 Sony has been competing for gamer's time and attention since they came out with the PS1. Of course they are going to offer cross buy if it'll entice you to pick up a PSP/Vita. Plus, their hardware's firmware were practically identical, so porting took no time at all on the dev's side of things. This simply isn't the case for Nintendo hardware. Wii was vastly different from the 2ds and 3ds, the 3ds vastly different from the Wii U, and while Breath of the Wild and other games can be played on both Wii U and Switch, the ports are only possible because of Nintendo dev wizardry. This wizardry however still takes a lot of their time, as anything would for third party/indies going from 3ds/WiiU to switch, so I can completely understand why they would want to charge for all of that time.
Sure, it may seem unfair when the prices are lower on other systems or the games have been out longer, but you have a choice - either skip the game and don't buy, or reward the devs for their time spent, and in return you receive both a home console version plus a portable one, for the price of the game when it was originally released. Sometimes lower.
@NinNin Sony also does this with their classic line. Nintendo makes you pay for the upgrade Sony does not. I can tell you don’t have a PlayStation
@faint You missed the point. I meant that it's not necessarily true that Nintendo will charge for VC games on the Switch in case you own the Wii U versions. As I said, Nintendo allows transferring VC games from a Wii to a Wii U at no charge. You don't have to buy them again. As for classic games, Sony charges for PS2 games on the PS4 even if you own the PS3 versions.
By the way, you can't tell. I suggest that you shouldn't assume too much. I have a PS3, and I plan to buy a PS4 Pro this year.
@NinNin actually I can tell. Notice how you don’t have a ps4 or a secondary device such as the vita. Also yes they up charge you if you want to take vc game from the virtual wii in your wiiu to use them on your wiiu.
@faint If you say so. Anyway, yes, Nintendo gives you discounts if you want to buy the Wii U versions, but it isn't necessary. Sony charges full prices for PS2 games, though.
@faint That’s not really true. Sony’s classic line supports cross buy on very select PS1 titles between PS3 and Vita, and those games aren’t even available on PS4. And PS2 Classics have no cross buy whatsoever; you need to repurchase the game on PS4 (for more than the PS3 version costed).
@SuperCharlie78 @faint @Deadstanley None of you actually answered my question. So I'll let you have another shot at answering, and ask another as well: do you believe every video game company should have identical business practices? Because you all seem to be implying that Nintendo should do it because Sony does it, yet I've seen nothing that would support just a conclusion. (Also, Sony doesn't actually do it universally enough to make any argument, but what fun would it be if I expected you to confront that minor detail as well?)
You’re both right.
@NinNin
“By the way, did you know that Nintendo allows transferring Virtual Console games from a Wii to a Wii U at no charge?”
That is correct, although you have to play it from Wii U’s Wii menu.
@faint
“Also yes they up charge you if you want to take vc game from the virtual wii in your wiiu to use them on your wiiu.”
This is also correct. Transferring VC titles from the Wii U’s Wii to native Wii U and its new emulator, will cost you money. The fee is about 15-20% of the full price of each title, but I don’t remember the exact price.
@Deadstanley I wasn't being sarcastic with my original question, and at no point did I exhibit any sort of literalness. Once you show that you understand those two points, I'll respond to the entitlement your "yes" answer implies. Until then, I'm not wasting my time on ignorance of argumentation. Which is gracious to my time.
Got it for the 3ds bit have hardly played too be fair , will purchase for Switch as it's only 8.99
Sometimes I boot up my Gameboy Advance if I want some better graphics than on the Switch
@BornInNorway81 $1 for an NES game, and $1.5 for an SNES game.
@JimmySpades Some people want a company to do the same as some other companies when it benefits them. These people didn't demand Nintendo to provide a paid online service like what Microsoft and Sony have been providing. They don't demand Nintendo to charge full prices for VC games on the Switch for people who own them on their Wii U because Sony charges full prices for PS2 games for people who own them on their PS3 either.
@JimmySpades Yes, I do. And I always get a discount when I buy a Blu Ray/DVD/Digital Copy discount pack. It makes each copy of the movie cheaper.
@NTELLIGENTMAN That wasn't my question. I bought The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya on DVD about seven years ago. When FUNimation released it on Blu-ray last year, are you honestly saying that because I already owned it I deserved a lower price than the people who were buying it for the first time? That's the comparison I was suggesting, not some discount on a bundle all at once.
I know the pixel art, retro style is really popular for indie games, but it's really not special anymore. I feel like most games do it now. Every indie games doesn't need to look like it could run on the Super Nintendo.
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