SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring ‘Rider’s Spirits’, Plus the Latest Releases and Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for June 10th, 2024. As Mondays go, this is a light one. Lots of that news going around, but it’s really too much to even begin to cover in an article of our scope. That leaves us with a review, the usual new release section, and the lists of new and expiring sales for the day. But hey, that’s how it goes some weeks. Let’s slide on in and check out what we’ve got to get the week going!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Rider’s Spirits ($5.99)

I find it interesting that we’ve hit the point where companies are digging around the large pile of previously unlocalized classic games to see what can be released. Sometimes it’s a big win, like finally getting Famicom Detective Club and Live A Live outside of Japan. Sometimes, however, it’s Rider’s Spirits. This is a Super Famicom game that is clearly inspired by Super Mario Kart, and suffice it to say it falls a bit short of its ambitions in that regard. This isn’t to say it’s a bad game, mind you. It’s serviceable. There would have been worse things you could have brought home from the rental shop back in the day. But it’s not very good, either. If I had to pick a word to describe it, I suppose I would go with “forgettable”. Not hard to see why it didn’t get a global release at the time, to be sure.

Anyway, this is a Mode 7 bike racing game that aims for a cute style with its presentation. You can play alone or with one other player via local multiplayer, but no matter which way you play you’ll be doing so on a split screen. Single player offers three modes: GP, Time Trial, and Endurance. The first is the main mode of the game, where you compete against other racers in one of the game’s cups. Each consists of five tracks, and your performance will determine your overall standings at the end. The Time Trial mode allows you to race on a single course to try to set your best time. The Endurance mode allows you to pick how many minutes you’d like to race on a single course, with the aim to clear as many laps as possible.

The two-player mode also offers GP and Endurance modes, and they work the same way. Apart from those, you also get a Battle Race mode where you race against the other player on a single track, and a Chicken Race mode where you engage in one of those “who will blink first” runs. In terms of modes and tracks, Rider’s Spirits does what it needs to. Oh, and regardless of mode there are eight different characters to choose from, so it has done its homework in that regard as well. None of them have the personality that Mario, Crash, or Sonic do, but it’s hard to blame the game for that.

What you can blame the game for is its uninspired track design and rather dull racing action. The manic energy of Super Mario Kart is nowhere to be found here, with weapons in particular having a reduced role in the game. There aren’t as many fun gimmicks in the courses, and it’s a very slow game overall. If you really love Mode 7 racers, you’ll probably enjoy it well enough to play through the GP mode once and poke around the other modes, but that’s about it. Ratalaika has thrown the game in the usual wrapper with the usual options, with scans of the original box and manual serving as the main extras. You can also play the game in its original Japanese version or in a newly localized version.

Rider’s Spirits is one of those retro re-releases that feels like filler. It’s not very good, it’s not very bad, and there isn’t much of interest to it beyond the fact that we haven’t seen it localized before. If you’ve got a special hankering for a 16-bit racer that you haven’t played before, then you might enjoy this well enough to make it worth the pick-up. Most people will be better served running through Super Mario Kart one more time, however.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Select New Releases

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge ($19.99)

Similar to the likes of Neko Atsume or Usagi Shima, Kamaeru sees you building a refuge in an effort to attract new and interesting frogs. You can take pictures of them once they arrive, and you can even breed them to create new kinds of frogs. The art is cute, and that’s half the job for a game like this. There are also some NPCs to interact with, which is something you don’t typically see in games like this. Given we don’t have either of the aforementioned games on Switch, this might scratch the itch for you.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A few stragglers for the big sale rolled in after we last checked in. The excellent Paranormasight, the intriguing Promenade, and the enjoyable Citizen Sleeper have some good deals to consider among others. Over in the outbox, not much going on. Do you have No Man’s Sky yet? If not, here’s your last chance until the next sale.

Select New Sales

Paranormasight ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/13)
BroodStar ($3.30 from $11.00 until 6/14)
Penny’s Big Breakaway ($19.79 from $29.99 until 6/18)
Mystery Lover ($7.49 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Promenade ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/22)
Citizen Sleeper ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/23)
Aery: Cyber City ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Paper Dash: City Hustle ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Whisker Waters ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Ginnung ($2.24 from $5.00 until 6/28)
Freak Crossing ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/28)
Inertia 2 ($2.85 from $4.39 until 6/28)
Cozy Hamlets ($4.23 from $5.29 until 6/28)
Empires Shall Fall ($9.74 from $12.99 until 6/28)
Make It! Ikayaki ($1.99 from $3.00 until 6/28)
Euphoria ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Rider’s Spirits ($4.79 from $5.99 until 6/28)
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Railbound ($2.59 from $12.99 until 6/30)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 11th

Adventures of Chris ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Another Sight ($3.99 from $39.99 until 6/11)
Barn Finders ($5.49 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Blue Fire ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Celeste ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier ($4.07 from $11.99 until 6/11)
Lila’s Sky Ark ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Monster Truck Championship RH Edition ($4.99 from $49.99 until 6/11)
Nira ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/11)
No Man’s Sky ($29.99 from $59.99 until 6/11)
REZ PLZ ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
RiMS Racing ($9.99 from $49.99 until 6/11)
Rogue Lords ($2.49 from $24.99 until 6/11)
The Last Campfire ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
TowerFall ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/11)
V-Rally 4 Ultimate Edition ($6.99 from $69.99 until 6/11)
WRC Collection (8, 9, & 10) ($9.99 from $99.99 until 6/11)
Zorro: The Chronicles ($3.49 from $34.99 until 6/11)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, at least one review, and if anything special happens, perhaps some news. I’ve got a lot of medical issues to tend to this week, but I’m hoping to hold the schedule anyway. Wish me luck with all of that, especially the medical stuff. I hope you all have a magnificent Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!