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It's that time again, dear readers, for the North American Nintendo Download update. This week is a bit of a beauty for Switch owners with a whopping 21 new download titles, many of which look rather tempting. There's a lot to get through, so that's enough pre-amble...

Switch eShop

Yooka-Laylee (Playtonic Games, $39.99USD) - A title that set Kickstarter alight before enduring a mixed reception on other systems, it's taken a little while to make it to Nintendo hardware. Thankfully the Switch gets a well optimised version of the 3D platformer that also addresses issues from the initial launch; we were very impressed with it in our Yooka-Laylee review.

Poly Bridge (Dry Cactus Limited, $14.99USD) - An intriguing engineering / puzzle game already out on PC and smart devices, it t has a campaign of 105 levels in which you need to construct increasingly extravagant - and solid - bridges within a budget. Beyond that there's a Sandbox mode where you can do, well, pretty much anything you want. We liked this a lot in our Poly Bridge review.

Brawlout (Angry Mob Games, $19.99USD)  A game that isn't hesitant to affirm itself as an Indie take on the Smash Bros. style of brawling. Similar techniques are cited as key to gameplay, and you use assorted - in some cases familiar - indie characters to bash others off the screen. We'll fight it out in a review. Available from 19th December.

Romancing SaGa 2 (Square Enix, $19.99USD) - The game was previously a Japanese Super Famicom exclusive, having originally seen release in Japan in 1993. Recently, Square Enix localised the game for smartphones and the Switch version is presumably based upon the same code. A fan-made translation also appeared recently. Available from 15th December.

Mutant Mudds Collection (Atooi, $14.99USD) - This combines the excellent Mutant Mudds Deluxe and Mutant Mudds Super Challenge with the new block-matching game Mudd Blocks. That's a lot of fun platforming (and matching), and we gave this a lot of praise in our Mutant Mudds Collection review.

Enter the Gungeon (Devolver Digital, $14.99USD) - A smartly designed roguelike in which you go into a run with the hope that a mix of skill, luck and perfect drops will see you make it all the way through. It has some smart twists to keep you going, too, as explained by our chums at Push Square. We'll get cracking on a Switch review.

Pinball FX3 (Zen Studios, free to start) - An exciting arrival for pinball fans, it's a platform / community with a whole lot of tables and packs to buy. Aside from that it's all about the infrastructure to add a competitive element to the play, with various online options, multiplayer and challenge modes. You can get three tables for free (though two are only free for a limited time, so be sure to grab the Carnivals and Legends pack right away from the eShop), with many more available to buy, while the TATE vertical layout will be worth trying out.

Stern Pinball Arcade (FarSight Studios, free to start) - Yep, it's a battle of pinball games. In this case the focus is realism and accuracy, with this game seeking to digitally recreate classic real-life tables. As with Pinball FX3 there are lots of options to buy individually, with two distinct price brackets of premium and slightly less expensive tables. You get Mary Shelley's Frankenstein included with the free download.

Mecho Tales (Arcade Distillery, $9.99USD) - Another Luc Bernard-directed title on the Switch, in this case a colourful action platformer with a distinct visual style. It supports co-op for up to four players and was only a recent arrival on the PS4; we'll check it out for a review.

Gorogoa (Annapurna Interactive, $14.99USD) - An intriguing title in that it utilises hand-drawn story panels for its core mechanic, as you aim to solve puzzles by arranging them "in imaginative ways". We'll sketch out a review and let you know what we think.

Bleed (Digerati, $14.99USD) - This is a fast paced 2D action-platformer with "acrobatic dodging and fluid, challenging gameplay". There are various weapons and three characters to try out, along with four difficulty settings and support for local co-op. It looks rather fun in footage, and we'll see how well it stacks up in a review.

Crawl (Powerhoof, $14.99USD) - This dungeon-based game lends an awesome visual style with a clever local multiplayer concept - one player is the main protagonist, but up to three friends possess traps and monsters to try and kill them. The multiplayer hook could make it perfect for the Switch; we'll find out in a review.

Hammerwatch (Blitworks, $9.99USD) - This pixel-rich fantasy action title sees you taking down hundreds of enemies as you attempt to storm the castle of Hammerwatch. 7 character classes are available while local multiplayer for up to four players is supported; online multiplayer is coming in the future.

One More Dungeon (Ratalaika Games, $7.99USD) - This ticks a number of boxes: first-person dungeon crawling, roguelike gameplay with procedurally generated stages, retro-styled graphics. It could be a lot of fun; we'll find out in our review.

Black The Fall (Sand Sailor Studio, $14.99USD) - A story-driven puzzle adventure game, this takes place in a "dark world inspired by Romanian Communism and '90s Sci-fi. It certainly looks moody and intriguing, so we'll try it out for a review.

Never Stop Sneakin' (Humble Hearts, $14.99USD) - With a quirky concept of rescuing every President in US history, this focuses on stealth mechanics across a range of tricky stages; with progress you unlock new characters and abilities. We'll sneak a review out with our thoughts.

Unepic (unepic fran, $9.99USD) - The work of Barcelona-based Francisco Téllez de Meneses, this is a dungeon-filled 2D RPG that delivers a great deal of depth with a high number of rooms, potions, weapons and more to explore; we'll check it out on Switch, but in the meantime you can check out our original Wii U eShop Unepic review. Available from 15th December.

Unholy Heights (Mebius, $4.99USD) - A rather quirky title with a mix of tower defence and 'apartment management'; monsters are moving into your building so you set rent and make sure they're happy. You then try to repel heroes when they come to slay the monsters. This was previously released on the 3DS eShop, and we quite liked it.

DragonFangZ - The Rose & Dungeon of Time (toydea, $24.99USD) - This is a turn-based dungeon-crawling roguelike, that's eager to tap into nostalgia with its marketing. A neat twist is that you can 'wear fangs of monsters and gain that ability, with 'more than 200' monster types promised. We'll see whether this is worth an adventure in a review. Available from 19th December.

Hiragana Pixel Party (Springloaded, $8.99USD) - In what could be one of the first edutainment releases on Switch, this is a 'rhythm-action platforming Japanese-learning chiptune adventure'. Available from 16th December.

The Last Blade (HAMSTER, $7.99USD) - The much-loved ACA series continues with another Neo Geo fighter, with this one taking part in the "Bakumatsu” period of Japanese history; that means sword slashing action. Despite there being such a wealth of fighting games from the system on the Switch, check out our The Last Blade review from the Wii days to understand why this is one of the very best.

Switch eShop Demo

Embers of Mirrim (Creative Bytes, free)

New Nintendo 3DS

BLOK DROP CHAOS (RCMADIAX, $1.49USD) - In this one you control a paddle to collect the 'correct shape' as it falls, avoiding others.

3DS HOME Theme

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Four Champions


As always Nintendo of America wants you to browse the eShop and check out the official sales and deals website for discount details.

That's a lot of options for this week - let us know what you'll be downloading in the poll and comments below.

What will you be downloading this week?

(You can select up to 24 answers)