Have you picked this one up? What are your thoughts on physical only games? Let us know in the comments section! Looking for eshop credit? Get OFFICIAL Nintendo Eshop Cards and other bits and bobs, at our new website and online store here - switchup.gg/ - Save 10% using code 'SWITCHUP' until the end of October 2022 If you are a physical collector you can use code "SwitchQ4" to save 5% at PlayAsia www.play-asia.com Happy gaming! Glen
Picked this one up as soon as it was announced, and was very impressed. I can't really agree with the value score here though. A solid, well designed shmup (or derivative of) is always going to have a short runtime, the key to them is always mastering them, and improving upon your previous performance - that's where the true length comes in and the game is well suited, and appropriately balanced for that. If a shmup is too long it actually detracts from the experience in my opinion, it's very much a genre that's about depth of mechanics, intensity and finding that perfect difficulty curve over length. I'll still be playing this one long after many of the 40+ hour long story based titles that are great while they last, but offer little replayability. Shmups are also a genre that typically fetch much higher prices (to the point several games in the genre are essentially already unobtanium if you want the physical copies) and relatively this one is fairly cheap. I only buy physical games anyway (not even interested in buying DLC etc.) so this being physical only really made no difference to me. As a concept, I think it's nice to encourage people to actually own things from time to time, it's not a side of things we want to lose.
I can’t speak to this game but I did want to give a shout out to your website. I’m a little standoffish when it comes to buying things online but when I heard you guys offered a 10% discount on gift cards for the E shop I was intrigued. Im thrilled to say that your website worked flawlessly! Thanks to you guys Im able to pick up no man’s sky with a 10% discount! $54 is much better than $60! Greatly appreciated!
We are moving to digital only and it's not the gaming I once knew. It's heading towards the subscription model and worse, getting games released that are not ready for release and need patches bad. If physical only games fixes this I'm for it, but the concept is going to flop since people like convenience.
I find it ridiculous that manuals are now a limited edition perk for games instead of standard practice. Especially on switch where the box size dwarfs the actual cartridge with tons of empty space.
Another thing that always gets advertised in the Limited Editions now and I don't think it was always like that, is the box the edition comes in. If it's a nice metal box ok, but why is it special that your products come packaged 😅
I got this game recently physically for $20 new, for that price I can understand why they cut corners. If the game is $40-$60 I say yeah it should be mandatory to include manual plus goodies If you think about it, the manual includes a bunch of extra steps which could potentially delay a game. It’s another aspect to production some companies may be willing to sacrifice to pump out physicals for cheap
Played almost 10 hours with a friend and it is amazing how they keep adding twists to gameplay the more you play. Not sure if you encountered level modifiers, they do add a spice when the game was starting to feel stale.
They possibly saw that these kind of games don't sell well enough digitally. They most appeal to nostalgic gamers which will probably go for the physical anyway. But this way they are also creating an artificially scarcity of the product and inflating its collector value, so those few collectors will scramble to get their hands on the physical version. It's probably just a marketing trick.
I only buy these types of games digitally lol. They tend to be impulse buys-as is the case with most Switch games. Switch is my experimental console. It’s where I play games that I’ve never been into like Rogue-lik(t)es and Metroidvanias. Platformers and the like.
@@HeavyMetalCowboy90 Exactly this. The digital market is huge for the Genre. I think it was just one of those bizarre but genious ideas by the publisher to release such a game. It sure gained attention.
I'm the opposite. I only buy big games physical. Indies and old-school I want digital. Its a PITA to switch out carts and find their box any time to play a game. So I want those carts in my system until I beat the game
More reviews should have an unboxing in them. To some of us, that is a big part of getting a new game, and a big disappointment when it's just white inside and no manual vs. inner art and some manual or art book.
This game certainly looks good! Might have to pick this one up. I'm not against the idea of physical only releases, so long as they aren't produced in limited numbers.
I have found a lot more play time than quoted, as there is a true ending and secret boss fought and a monster-collecting portion. The physical only was a Devolver Digital commentary on the trends of the modern game industry (see their E3 video the year before this release)
Remember I said that the game can be beaten in an hour (that's no deaths at all) but the vast majority of people will spend many hours trying to achieve that one run. Plus going for the true ending as I mentioned too. Glen
The physical only just make it impossible for me to get it in my third world country due to shipping, taxes, currency conversion. People forget there’s a whole world out there that plays games too
I think a lot of old school games benefit from a good CRT filter. As a matter of fact, a lot of older games were made with the blurriness of CRTs in mind to create smoother edges and sometimes even make transparent like effects. I do appreciate a lot of newer pixel style games as they come but when it comes to older games brought to new consoles they look a lot better with that filter. Imo
I saw this in game and hoped you'd review it yay!! I wish every game was physical release, I hate the rise and takeover of digital, its soulless I think lol
I generally prefer physical over digital. But arbitrarily not having a digital option makes me less likely to get the game at all. I'm much more comfortable with digital only new releases and even cloud versions than I am with physical only releases. That's much more arbitrary and I don't think it is really defensible. Would love to hear a valid reason for making a game physical only when it would work fine as a digital release (for example, Ring Fit Adventure and Labo make sense as physical only releases).
It was intentionally bad practice by Devolver Digital and was a statement they were making at an E3 2021. In that same one, they also announced a ton of other bad practices as features. More of a commentary on the current industry.
good game. the physical part is fine i only buy games if they are physical editions. love the old school feel my switch library is like 3/4ths retro style games. golden age of retro style.
Making it a limited physical release and not releasing digitally is kind of like cutting off a massive chunk of potential sales. Kind of a ballsy and a bit pretentious move.
All these "neo retro" games, for a lack of a propper word, are such a great time, because they literally only exist because of the joy the people had playing old games like it and wanting to see the same kind of game again with today's technology.
@@SwitchUpYt yeah I like physical products, but digital sales only helps make more money. Like it looks interesting but I'm not sure I want to pay full price for it. If I buy it used that won't make money from the sale. If I buy it on sale on the e-shop they will still make money.
Looks like it would be an absolute blast in co-op with anyone other than my wife. I already know she’d be sitting around for the majority of the time waiting for me to join her among the dead. 😂
Wow! You have a local GAME still 😁💜 They killed ours a few months ago, I still miss it. I always popped in for a browse when I was in town, almost always ended up buying something, sad times. I picked up a copy of Demon Throttle when it came out, I need to jump back in and give it a bash again, seemed like a lot of fun!
It's essentially a vertical scroll shooting game sort of like space invaders but your actually on the ground running with logs of enemies blasting at u
I think i get why they went physical only. Someone decided to make a NES game and not just in terms of gsme play. No digital option seems crazy but if the goal was the most authentic classic gaming experience possible then paying too much for a short, overly difficult game on cartridge is about as real as it gets.
I may have to grab this. It doesn’t look like it is available until November for me anyhow. So, I may pre-order it. Thanks for the review! I never even heard of it!
I did end up ordering the Special Reserve copy, waited for a year for it to come out and as bad as I want to play it, it's staying sealed in its collectors box. I'll just get a regular copy to play.
I ended up here by coincidence, since I happened to see the news of Gunbrella and it's demo, and they mentioned the developer had made this game too. I buy lots of games, so I tend to buy them when the price goes down a lot, but since this is a physical-only game, I can't really wait for a sale so I guess I'll have to buy it now or at least soon-ish (maybe there will be a sale around Black Friday, who knows). However, since it's only physical I think many collectors might start hunting this game and it might increase in price once it's sold-out in the regular stores, so maybe buying it while it's available is a good idea, rather than waiting too long and then having to pay an inflated price at Ebay or whatever. Since it's physical only, the developer can force us to pay more instead of waiting for a sale, but I really think all games should come in both versions, so people can choose how they want to collect the games, and a digital release would surele increase the total sales. But now that they have clearly stated it will never be digital, they can't really break that promise without getting a big load of critique, should they ever release a digital version.
I think it was released this way as a a gesture against digital only releases. Moreover now some editors are selling empty boxes with a dl code likely in order to enjoy more exposure as the game can be display in shops. So I have nothing against physical only releases. Hi from France. Thank for the video.
People will have added interest in this game as it is now being bundled with Gsto Roboto and Gunbrella on a physical coming out in August 2024. Got mine preordered. Excited to finally play this.
I added it to my wish list. Personally, I only prefer physical copies of games. Today, with a world of digital titles where you pay good money and only have the rights to the game if the game is still in business and if their servers are online, I have went back to the need to make sure I have the game in my hand. Plus, if there is a time I want to give my game collection to my kids, or to sell at a resale shop, at least if I have it physically, this would be an option. Like I said, if the company goes under and is no longer out there, I’ll have a better chance of still being able to play the physcal game 20-30 years later unlike the digital one, where my license just evaporates and I have nothing to show for my payment except less money in my pocket.
Hopefully you got to enjoy the games though. I have a bunch of physical games from my childhood, but I no longer have the systems for them. I doubt my kids or grandkids will ever play these copies. They're likely going to go to some collector at some point. But I definitely got my money's worth out of them even if I or my offspring never plays them again. It probably won't be that different for most of my digital collection. Once everything is in the cloud those games just won't see nearly as much playtime, if any at all. From a game preservation standpoint, physical is probably ideal, but there are ways to preserve digital games too.
I hope you know that just because you download a game digitally, doesn’t mean you’ll magically stop owning the game if the company goes out of business. What you’re talking about is *online* games with in-app purchases. Usually once their servers have fewer to 0 players, they make no income because there are no in-app purchases being made. Thus they shut down their games. However, games that aren’t online-based specifically on switch, you own that game in your Nintendo account thus you’ll always have access to it even if they remove it from the eshop.
@@eyyyy3265 you're right that there is a difference. As long as you still have access to it some way offline you'll probably still be able to play it. But you don't own most digital games. You just buy a license to play them. By playing them you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of the publisher and in most cases they retain the access rights to the game and they could choose to restrict you from playing it.
@@DizzyDiddy ahhh ok I understand. I personally dislike making in-app purchases for online game, especially mobile games because those are the ones that easily tend to die out leading to devs removing their games from the AppStore and then you just feel like “why did I waste my money on in-app purchases if they planned on revoking the game?”
@@eyyyy3265 yeah, I don't really do mobile gaming, but it is no fun to lose access to games you've invested time and money into. On the other hand, at least you got some enjoyment out of it, while it was around. Killer Queen Black is losing its online by the end of this month, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of it during the pandemic. I'm not upset about the money or time I've invested in it and would happily have paid for cosmetics, but that's not the business model they went with. I'm not sure they ever had a big enough user base to support it anyway. It has been a blast while it lasted though, and at least local play will still be available.
Just bought this from gamestop.. they had Demon Throttle for 15$ and it said on the box its physical only so i found that to be really cool, ive been playing alot of retro games lately, but next to it was a devolver bundler that not only had deomon throttlw but 2 other games by the same company
I have a couple of Super Rare Games releases for Switch so this will sit nicely on the shelf with those. I don’t collect physical games normally but if they’re special or whatever, I will. This being physical only made me auto buy it.
Retail Pre-orders for this came with a digital code for Gato Roboto as well, not sure if buying now you were eligible, check your receipt if you didn't chuck it out already! That's Doinksofts metroidvania about a cat in a mech suit, it's fun! I pre ordered from Special Reserve games so I got shafted on the Gato code lol, but I already owned that anyway. Haven't played it yet though as in the process of moving house but looking forward to it.
Great review, but did you decrease the overall score because of the physical only release? I would rather the score be based on the quality of the game itself, just my opinion. Otherwise awesome review. Glad to see this title getting the attention it deserves.
I think it is a factor worthy of consideration in this review tbh. It being physical only pushes the price up and so arguably it's not as good value for money
I ordered this late one night and completely forgot about it until it arrived and then I said huh what is this? It was really lame of them to limit distribution for a game that would sell loads at $10 with occasional sales.
Great review. For me, while I like physical games, I don't want to get physical copies of every game. The ones I do get physical are usually big / special titles like DOOM, Splatoon, Fire Emblem, Ni No Kuni, NieR: Automata. I'd even go physical for Cult of the Lamb. But Demon Throttle isn't a game that sets itself apart by being brilliant or unique in it's gameplay or graphics - the Switch isn't short on top-down shooters - so it is the type of game I'd only be looking at getting digitally.
I'll admit that I bought it pretty much entirely because I saw that it was physical only, although it being a Devolver Digital game I'd never heard of when I saw it on the shelf also definitely helped. All that and the relatively lower price made me want to go in blind since completely blind experiences are rare nowadays. Guess the marketing gimmick worked.
I may get some hate for saying this, but I hope they eventually make a sequel that DOES get a digital release. I don't think it would devalue the original; I think it would elevate its mythic status actually.
So I got the limited edition pre-order. The fact that it's physical only will probably help it to get more sales than if it was physical and digital. All the people waiting for a sale have to get off the fence. More publicity for a good physical only game than if it was just digital or digital and physical. That marketing shouldn't be held against it, especially when it worked on you... Just like it worked on me
Releasing this physical only is just a good marketing trick. Would you even be talking about this game otherwise? Also, it's not the first. Nintendo themselves released a physical only game-Ring Fit Adventure. Also the Labo Kits had physical only games included. Oddly, Mario Kart Home Circuit, a game that can only be played in the physical world, had a digital ONLY game, no cartridge ever made.
Dumbest decision ever to make this physical only. For people that will argue that physical is good for game preservation i will call that absolute BS. Yes a physical edition does mean the game is available always in theory. However it does not mean you will be able to play it yourself. I dare you to try and play panzer dragoon saga for example. The game is over 300 bucks now and that's not something most gamers are willing to spend. Let alone that some games are just hard to find. I grew up with the Magnavox Oddessy, which is a pre Nintendo system. You go try and find a working one and find games like Terrahawks or pickaxe Pete. This will just create scarcity of this game and drive up the price to insane levels. Not many will be able to play this game a few years from now. It's stupid.
I completely agree mate. Despite being an avid physical collector, I don't think digital games should be seen as the enemy as long as physical editions are coming too then it's all good. This isn't about game preservation. Glen
If the Saturn had digital games, and you'd downloaded Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the mid 90s to the console, with all the DRM and license authentication requirements etc. you almost certainly wouldn't be able to play the Digital copy you bought back then now either, so you'd be looking for a physical anyway. Distribution/Authentication servers are never going to be online forever. There's still content from the old 'Sega Channel' service on the Megadrive / Genesis that is presumed to be lost entirely today. At least with physical you can still buy a copy of the game. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of PS3/PS4 generation games that you simply cannot purchase for any amount of money today because they were digital only and have since been delisted. Digital may not be the enemy, but should always be viewed as a long-term rental, rather than a purchase. People charging over the odds for 2nd hand physicals is a separate problem. Really these companies could do with realising that there's a market for reprinting their old games for the legacy systems/platforms in order to prevent the ridiculous prices we see, although they could start by reprinting some of the games for the current systems, because even some of those are ridiculously expensive because not enough were produced.
@@mamehaze I'm sorry i totally disagree. In theory you are right but saying that a game which costs 300 bucks on ebay is still accessable is just not true. Most people that see that price will not buy it. That's really just for collectors only not for people that just want to play that game. I specifically chose panzer dragoon saga since the source code has been lost. That game would have been easier to remaster if there was a digital version. But since the code is lost they can only remake it from the ground up and that's very unlikely. Personally i think going forward most digital games will return in some form on next gen systems. Either through a remaster or through backwards compatibility.
My real-life job is remastering games. Having physical versions makes that easier, not harder as it's always possible to source them. Remastering / reissuing digital-only games is a problem because we're often faced with a problem where nobody has a backup, or if they do, they're unsure if it's the version that was released or an earlier beta, and with the original servers long gone that can't be verified. With a physical release, we can always buy exactly what was sold, so we know we're working with the correct base. This is why I'd encourage any dev / publisher to put out a final, complete version of their game (with the DLC etc.) on physical media once it's all done; it will make life much easier some years down the road, especially if the IP changes hands multiple times. My point is that the digital version wouldn't be around now, even if you'd purchased it on the system at the time. The physical version is always going to be around even if it is expensive.
So gameplay-wise it looks like Pocky & Rocky. I prefer Pocky & Rocky Re-Shrined's aesthetics though. Physical only is a nice idea but will probably lead to incredible prices on ebay. When it comes to physical indies, I played with the idea of buying the collector's editions of A short Hike and Potion Permit. But I just couldn't get myself to spend that much. Buuuut I pre-ordered the Evercade Exp. So yeah, I am going physical. 😉
I don't agree with how the value was scored but can't argue against your perspective. I think given that it was a physical only game like back in the old NES days which they were aiming for it would've been better to score on box art, manual, etc. I feel the scoring method used artificially deflates the overall game score based not on true value but rather the idea of what could've been IF there was a digital release. Good overall review however.
Thanks. Yeah I see your point although it's hard not to take into effect that whilst practically every other Switch game we review will probably go on an eshop sale at some point, this never will which does affect the score for me. As always though, the words are more important than the scores in a review and this is a great game for sure. Glen
I must admit, that's exactly how I felt when I saw it. I loved walking into a game shop and seeing a game I'd never heard of and blind buying it even if I think it should have been released digitally too. Glen
It looks fun, but I don't think I'll ever play it due to it being physical only Not that I'm against it, far from that, but the sad reality is that physical copies alienate those who live in third world countries, such as myself, as in most of these we either have a legit market with scalper-like prices that rarely, if ever, stocks up on these more niche rarer titles and pretty much never goes on sale and/or a gray scalper market with prices usually lower than the official ones but still absurd and, again, never on discounted prices That is, if we get either of these options at all as some countries just never see physical releases period and potential gamers need to import their stuff which is often also prohibitive for one reason or another (which usually is not the original price believe it or not)
Ah well, not really something i would get physically. It's one of these games you play for a few minutes, would be a pain to constantly switch cartridges.
Honestly a physical only release makes no sense in this day and age. Personally I feel like all games should be both but I understand it's not that "easy" nowadays for that.
Aren't Devolver Digital one of the best publishers? All their games are Stellar but don't understand the decision to release it as a physical only. Frankly it's bizarre
I guess the developers hate money. I love these sort of games. And I know a physical version will never be available. And if it is will sell stupid expensive.
Have you picked this one up? What are your thoughts on physical only games? Let us know in the comments section!
Looking for eshop credit? Get OFFICIAL Nintendo Eshop Cards and other bits and bobs, at our new website and online store here - switchup.gg/ - Save 10% using code 'SWITCHUP' until the end of October 2022
If you are a physical collector you can use code "SwitchQ4" to save 5% at PlayAsia www.play-asia.com
Happy gaming! Glen
Devolver Digital know how to make kick butt games!
I think they shoot themselves in the foot by releasing it only physical.
Picked this one up as soon as it was announced, and was very impressed.
I can't really agree with the value score here though. A solid, well designed shmup (or derivative of) is always going to have a short runtime, the key to them is always mastering them, and improving upon your previous performance - that's where the true length comes in and the game is well suited, and appropriately balanced for that. If a shmup is too long it actually detracts from the experience in my opinion, it's very much a genre that's about depth of mechanics, intensity and finding that perfect difficulty curve over length. I'll still be playing this one long after many of the 40+ hour long story based titles that are great while they last, but offer little replayability.
Shmups are also a genre that typically fetch much higher prices (to the point several games in the genre are essentially already unobtanium if you want the physical copies) and relatively this one is fairly cheap.
I only buy physical games anyway (not even interested in buying DLC etc.) so this being physical only really made no difference to me. As a concept, I think it's nice to encourage people to actually own things from time to time, it's not a side of things we want to lose.
I can’t speak to this game but I did want to give a shout out to your website. I’m a little standoffish when it comes to buying things online but when I heard you guys offered a 10% discount on gift cards for the E shop I was intrigued. Im thrilled to say that your website worked flawlessly! Thanks to you guys Im able to pick up no man’s sky with a 10% discount! $54 is much better than $60! Greatly appreciated!
We are moving to digital only and it's not the gaming I once knew. It's heading towards the subscription model and worse, getting games released that are not ready for release and need patches bad.
If physical only games fixes this I'm for it, but the concept is going to flop since people like convenience.
I find it ridiculous that manuals are now a limited edition perk for games instead of standard practice. Especially on switch where the box size dwarfs the actual cartridge with tons of empty space.
Another thing that always gets advertised in the Limited Editions now and I don't think it was always like that, is the box the edition comes in. If it's a nice metal box ok, but why is it special that your products come packaged 😅
@@1230i0 because production of those tiny cartridges is expensive and thus more “special” than just a digital edition.
I know its because money but think of the paper we're saving
I got this game recently physically for $20 new, for that price I can understand why they cut corners. If the game is $40-$60 I say yeah it should be mandatory to include manual plus goodies
If you think about it, the manual includes a bunch of extra steps which could potentially delay a game. It’s another aspect to production some companies may be willing to sacrifice to pump out physicals for cheap
Played almost 10 hours with a friend and it is amazing how they keep adding twists to gameplay the more you play. Not sure if you encountered level modifiers, they do add a spice when the game was starting to feel stale.
They possibly saw that these kind of games don't sell well enough digitally. They most appeal to nostalgic gamers which will probably go for the physical anyway. But this way they are also creating an artificially scarcity of the product and inflating its collector value, so those few collectors will scramble to get their hands on the physical version. It's probably just a marketing trick.
Good point, you may well be right mate! Glen
This bokoblin might be onto something
I only buy these types of games digitally lol. They tend to be impulse buys-as is the case with most Switch games. Switch is my experimental console. It’s where I play games that I’ve never been into like Rogue-lik(t)es and Metroidvanias. Platformers and the like.
@@HeavyMetalCowboy90 Exactly this. The digital market is huge for the Genre. I think it was just one of those bizarre but genious ideas by the publisher to release such a game. It sure gained attention.
I'm the opposite. I only buy big games physical. Indies and old-school I want digital. Its a PITA to switch out carts and find their box any time to play a game. So I want those carts in my system until I beat the game
More reviews should have an unboxing in them. To some of us, that is a big part of getting a new game, and a big disappointment when it's just white inside and no manual vs. inner art and some manual or art book.
This game certainly looks good! Might have to pick this one up. I'm not against the idea of physical only releases, so long as they aren't produced in limited numbers.
As an old fossil, I welcome such nostalgic gems with open arms. Simple and no time consuming, a perfect combination for me.
I have found a lot more play time than quoted, as there is a true ending and secret boss fought and a monster-collecting portion. The physical only was a Devolver Digital commentary on the trends of the modern game industry (see their E3 video the year before this release)
Remember I said that the game can be beaten in an hour (that's no deaths at all) but the vast majority of people will spend many hours trying to achieve that one run. Plus going for the true ending as I mentioned too. Glen
The physical only just make it impossible for me to get it in my third world country due to shipping, taxes, currency conversion. People forget there’s a whole world out there that plays games too
I think a lot of old school games benefit from a good CRT filter. As a matter of fact, a lot of older games were made with the blurriness of CRTs in mind to create smoother edges and sometimes even make transparent like effects. I do appreciate a lot of newer pixel style games as they come but when it comes to older games brought to new consoles they look a lot better with that filter. Imo
Fell in love with this when announced and got the special reserves edition. Glad to see you guys hyping this up.
I saw this in game and hoped you'd review it yay!! I wish every game was physical release, I hate the rise and takeover of digital, its soulless I think lol
I went in to buy the new Pokemon game and saw this on the shelf. Bought it on a whim and have no regrets.
The link to the joy cons you guys use isnt working. Id like to pick some up but i cant remember the brand name.
I generally prefer physical over digital. But arbitrarily not having a digital option makes me less likely to get the game at all. I'm much more comfortable with digital only new releases and even cloud versions than I am with physical only releases. That's much more arbitrary and I don't think it is really defensible. Would love to hear a valid reason for making a game physical only when it would work fine as a digital release (for example, Ring Fit Adventure and Labo make sense as physical only releases).
Yeah, I don't think it's good practice these days. Glen
It was intentionally bad practice by Devolver Digital and was a statement they were making at an E3 2021. In that same one, they also announced a ton of other bad practices as features. More of a commentary on the current industry.
Reminds me of Guerilla War from the NES days. I may have to try this, Devolver hasn't done us wrong yet.
good game. the physical part is fine i only buy games if they are physical editions. love the old school feel my switch library is like 3/4ths retro style games. golden age of retro style.
Making it a limited physical release and not releasing digitally is kind of like cutting off a massive chunk of potential sales. Kind of a ballsy and a bit pretentious move.
All these "neo retro" games, for a lack of a propper word, are such a great time, because they literally only exist because of the joy the people had playing old games like it and wanting to see the same kind of game again with today's technology.
Retro is the actual term. It means new with vintage aesthetic.
Can you SAVE? If so, how?
For some strange reason my copy didn't include the instruction manual.
I don't understand the only physical, never digital. Very strange marketing. 🤷♂️
Yeah, even as an avid physical collector, it's a strange choice! Glen
@@SwitchUpYt yeah I like physical products, but digital sales only helps make more money. Like it looks interesting but I'm not sure I want to pay full price for it. If I buy it used that won't make money from the sale. If I buy it on sale on the e-shop they will still make money.
Same. Skip for me.
Does anyone know if there will be a physical release from Portal Companion Collection for Switch ?
I, for one, find it interesting that Devolver Digital is selling a game where you can’t get a digital copy
Looks like it would be an absolute blast in co-op with anyone other than my wife. I already know she’d be sitting around for the majority of the time waiting for me to join her among the dead. 😂
Haha, yeah it's one of those where you need to be of a similar skill level to get the most out of co-op! Glen
Wow! You have a local GAME still 😁💜
They killed ours a few months ago, I still miss it. I always popped in for a browse when I was in town, almost always ended up buying something, sad times.
I picked up a copy of Demon Throttle when it came out, I need to jump back in and give it a bash again, seemed like a lot of fun!
My Lord I remember playing a fire fighting game just like this. Brings me back..
It's essentially a vertical scroll shooting game sort of like space invaders but your actually on the ground running with logs of enemies blasting at u
I think i get why they went physical only. Someone decided to make a NES game and not just in terms of gsme play. No digital option seems crazy but if the goal was the most authentic classic gaming experience possible then paying too much for a short, overly difficult game on cartridge is about as real as it gets.
I may have to grab this. It doesn’t look like it is available until November for me anyhow. So, I may pre-order it. Thanks for the review! I never even heard of it!
I did end up ordering the Special Reserve copy, waited for a year for it to come out and as bad as I want to play it, it's staying sealed in its collectors box. I'll just get a regular copy to play.
Haha, yeah that's the other thing about the collector's box. Most people will buy the game again in standard form too! I've done it myself! Glen
I ended up here by coincidence, since I happened to see the news of Gunbrella and it's demo, and they mentioned the developer had made this game too. I buy lots of games, so I tend to buy them when the price goes down a lot, but since this is a physical-only game, I can't really wait for a sale so I guess I'll have to buy it now or at least soon-ish (maybe there will be a sale around Black Friday, who knows). However, since it's only physical I think many collectors might start hunting this game and it might increase in price once it's sold-out in the regular stores, so maybe buying it while it's available is a good idea, rather than waiting too long and then having to pay an inflated price at Ebay or whatever. Since it's physical only, the developer can force us to pay more instead of waiting for a sale, but I really think all games should come in both versions, so people can choose how they want to collect the games, and a digital release would surele increase the total sales. But now that they have clearly stated it will never be digital, they can't really break that promise without getting a big load of critique, should they ever release a digital version.
Bring this to the evercade!
I think it was released this way as a a gesture against digital only releases. Moreover now some editors are selling empty boxes with a dl code likely in order to enjoy more exposure as the game can be display in shops. So I have nothing against physical only releases. Hi from France. Thank for the video.
A good perspective mate. Thanks. Glen
People will have added interest in this game as it is now being bundled with Gsto Roboto and Gunbrella on a physical coming out in August 2024. Got mine preordered. Excited to finally play this.
Saw it at GameStop new for 19.99 here in the US, picked it up second hand from Mercari for 9.99
To the OP. Are you the same Glenn that did the N64 videos? Watched a ton of those.
I added it to my wish list. Personally, I only prefer physical copies of games. Today, with a world of digital titles where you pay good money and only have the rights to the game if the game is still in business and if their servers are online, I have went back to the need to make sure I have the game in my hand. Plus, if there is a time I want to give my game collection to my kids, or to sell at a resale shop, at least if I have it physically, this would be an option. Like I said, if the company goes under and is no longer out there, I’ll have a better chance of still being able to play the physcal game 20-30 years later unlike the digital one, where my license just evaporates and I have nothing to show for my payment except less money in my pocket.
Hopefully you got to enjoy the games though. I have a bunch of physical games from my childhood, but I no longer have the systems for them. I doubt my kids or grandkids will ever play these copies. They're likely going to go to some collector at some point. But I definitely got my money's worth out of them even if I or my offspring never plays them again. It probably won't be that different for most of my digital collection. Once everything is in the cloud those games just won't see nearly as much playtime, if any at all. From a game preservation standpoint, physical is probably ideal, but there are ways to preserve digital games too.
I hope you know that just because you download a game digitally, doesn’t mean you’ll magically stop owning the game if the company goes out of business. What you’re talking about is *online* games with in-app purchases. Usually once their servers have fewer to 0 players, they make no income because there are no in-app purchases being made. Thus they shut down their games. However, games that aren’t online-based specifically on switch, you own that game in your Nintendo account thus you’ll always have access to it even if they remove it from the eshop.
@@eyyyy3265 you're right that there is a difference. As long as you still have access to it some way offline you'll probably still be able to play it. But you don't own most digital games. You just buy a license to play them. By playing them you are agreeing to the terms and conditions of the publisher and in most cases they retain the access rights to the game and they could choose to restrict you from playing it.
@@DizzyDiddy ahhh ok I understand. I personally dislike making in-app purchases for online game, especially mobile games because those are the ones that easily tend to die out leading to devs removing their games from the AppStore and then you just feel like “why did I waste my money on in-app purchases if they planned on revoking the game?”
@@eyyyy3265 yeah, I don't really do mobile gaming, but it is no fun to lose access to games you've invested time and money into. On the other hand, at least you got some enjoyment out of it, while it was around.
Killer Queen Black is losing its online by the end of this month, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of it during the pandemic. I'm not upset about the money or time I've invested in it and would happily have paid for cosmetics, but that's not the business model they went with. I'm not sure they ever had a big enough user base to support it anyway. It has been a blast while it lasted though, and at least local play will still be available.
Great review as always
Just found it on amazon...2 left...purchased..coming tommorow, Cheers pal.
No probs mate. Enjoy! Glen
As a child of the 8/16-bit eras this is very much up-my-street. I’ll prob pick up a copy, thanks for the review 👍
Just bought this from gamestop.. they had Demon Throttle for 15$ and it said on the box its physical only so i found that to be really cool, ive been playing alot of retro games lately, but next to it was a devolver bundler that not only had deomon throttlw but 2 other games by the same company
Was lucky enough to find a copy for $15 at GameStop. I’m glad to hear it’s not just a novelty either lol
My friend and I made it to the last boss and I just gotta say we about died laughing when we saw the blur. 😂😂
I have a couple of Super Rare Games releases for Switch so this will sit nicely on the shelf with those. I don’t collect physical games normally but if they’re special or whatever, I will. This being physical only made me auto buy it.
Retail Pre-orders for this came with a digital code for Gato Roboto as well, not sure if buying now you were eligible, check your receipt if you didn't chuck it out already! That's Doinksofts metroidvania about a cat in a mech suit, it's fun! I pre ordered from Special Reserve games so I got shafted on the Gato code lol, but I already owned that anyway. Haven't played it yet though as in the process of moving house but looking forward to it.
Finally, a reason to vertical mount my ultrawide.
I think they said somewhere that it might get a digital release on other platforms later on.
Great review, but did you decrease the overall score because of the physical only release?
I would rather the score be based on the quality of the game itself, just my opinion. Otherwise awesome review. Glad to see this title getting the attention it deserves.
I think it is a factor worthy of consideration in this review tbh. It being physical only pushes the price up and so arguably it's not as good value for money
When is "Wizard With a Gun" going to launch?!
This looks right up your street mind Glen I bet you loved this.
Deliberatly makes this a rare in few years time
Wow it looks amazing! It’s a shame it’s not on the eshop cause I would have gotten it.
Buy the physical version.
I ordered this late one night and completely forgot about it until it arrived and then I said huh what is this? It was really lame of them to limit distribution for a game that would sell loads at $10 with occasional sales.
Great review.
For me, while I like physical games, I don't want to get physical copies of every game. The ones I do get physical are usually big / special titles like DOOM, Splatoon, Fire Emblem, Ni No Kuni, NieR: Automata.
I'd even go physical for Cult of the Lamb.
But Demon Throttle isn't a game that sets itself apart by being brilliant or unique in it's gameplay or graphics - the Switch isn't short on top-down shooters - so it is the type of game I'd only be looking at getting digitally.
Yeah, very fair point. Glen
Please I need it in digital format in the eshop I was looking for it and didn't know that it was only in cartridge form
“Think you might be in denial there mate” 😂😂😂
I ordered this with Broforce from Special Reserve. I am looking forward to playing it someday....
4 levels. 1 life. Too short. Skip!
Man, I would pay $10 for a digital copy... $30 is a bit rich for my blood
Devolver are always on the money. Thanks for another great review 👍
Cheers Siobhan! Glen
Preordered. Thanks, Glenjamin.
Haha, no worries mate. Glen
I guess they don't like my money. Oh well. :) Looks cool, but I have zero room for physical games. That ship sailed like 5 years ago for me.
I'll admit that I bought it pretty much entirely because I saw that it was physical only, although it being a Devolver Digital game I'd never heard of when I saw it on the shelf also definitely helped. All that and the relatively lower price made me want to go in blind since completely blind experiences are rare nowadays. Guess the marketing gimmick worked.
Think I'll skip out on this one. Still having a blast with P5R. But, are you guys planning to cover a review of Tactics Ogre by chance?
I wonder if i can get this game in Canada
This is what devs should do when their games gets taken down or not approved to be on the eshop.
This game looks that old nes square game (it was knight something I don't remember)
King's Knight, yeah absolutely! Glen
I may get some hate for saying this, but I hope they eventually make a sequel that DOES get a digital release. I don't think it would devalue the original; I think it would elevate its mythic status actually.
Got the collectors edition. It might be the next game I play, It looks fantastic.
It's amazing!
Yeah, gameplay wise it's great fun. Glen
So I got the limited edition pre-order. The fact that it's physical only will probably help it to get more sales than if it was physical and digital. All the people waiting for a sale have to get off the fence. More publicity for a good physical only game than if it was just digital or digital and physical. That marketing shouldn't be held against it, especially when it worked on you... Just like it worked on me
Love and prefer physical copies, digital is an absolute last resort for me.
Completely agree although I don think both should be available.
I may have to pick this one up
I'm all in for physical since I was never fine with digital only. But physical only sounds worse. It's lesser access.
Releasing this physical only is just a good marketing trick. Would you even be talking about this game otherwise? Also, it's not the first. Nintendo themselves released a physical only game-Ring Fit Adventure. Also the Labo Kits had physical only games included. Oddly, Mario Kart Home Circuit, a game that can only be played in the physical world, had a digital ONLY game, no cartridge ever made.
Would've picked this up for 5-10 bucks on a sale but 30 bucks, no sir-ee
Wish there was more to it for a physical
Stubborn and dumb choice. Oh well. Too bad for them, losing potential sales for no reason.
It is odd! Glen
Dumbest decision ever to make this physical only.
For people that will argue that physical is good for game preservation i will call that absolute BS.
Yes a physical edition does mean the game is available always in theory. However it does not mean you will be able to play it yourself.
I dare you to try and play panzer dragoon saga for example. The game is over 300 bucks now and that's not something most gamers are willing to spend.
Let alone that some games are just hard to find. I grew up with the Magnavox Oddessy, which is a pre Nintendo system.
You go try and find a working one and find games like Terrahawks or pickaxe Pete.
This will just create scarcity of this game and drive up the price to insane levels. Not many will be able to play this game a few years from now. It's stupid.
I completely agree mate. Despite being an avid physical collector, I don't think digital games should be seen as the enemy as long as physical editions are coming too then it's all good. This isn't about game preservation. Glen
@@SwitchUpYt absolutely 👍
If the Saturn had digital games, and you'd downloaded Panzer Dragoon Saga back in the mid 90s to the console, with all the DRM and license authentication requirements etc. you almost certainly wouldn't be able to play the Digital copy you bought back then now either, so you'd be looking for a physical anyway. Distribution/Authentication servers are never going to be online forever. There's still content from the old 'Sega Channel' service on the Megadrive / Genesis that is presumed to be lost entirely today.
At least with physical you can still buy a copy of the game. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of PS3/PS4 generation games that you simply cannot purchase for any amount of money today because they were digital only and have since been delisted. Digital may not be the enemy, but should always be viewed as a long-term rental, rather than a purchase.
People charging over the odds for 2nd hand physicals is a separate problem. Really these companies could do with realising that there's a market for reprinting their old games for the legacy systems/platforms in order to prevent the ridiculous prices we see, although they could start by reprinting some of the games for the current systems, because even some of those are ridiculously expensive because not enough were produced.
@@mamehaze I'm sorry i totally disagree.
In theory you are right but saying that a game which costs 300 bucks on ebay is still accessable is just not true.
Most people that see that price will not buy it. That's really just for collectors only not for people that just want to play that game.
I specifically chose panzer dragoon saga since the source code has been lost.
That game would have been easier to remaster if there was a digital version.
But since the code is lost they can only remake it from the ground up and that's very unlikely.
Personally i think going forward most digital games will return in some form on next gen systems. Either through a remaster or through backwards compatibility.
My real-life job is remastering games.
Having physical versions makes that easier, not harder as it's always possible to source them. Remastering / reissuing digital-only games is a problem because we're often faced with a problem where nobody has a backup, or if they do, they're unsure if it's the version that was released or an earlier beta, and with the original servers long gone that can't be verified. With a physical release, we can always buy exactly what was sold, so we know we're working with the correct base.
This is why I'd encourage any dev / publisher to put out a final, complete version of their game (with the DLC etc.) on physical media once it's all done; it will make life much easier some years down the road, especially if the IP changes hands multiple times.
My point is that the digital version wouldn't be around now, even if you'd purchased it on the system at the time. The physical version is always going to be around even if it is expensive.
Buying it! keeping it Switch up!
So gameplay-wise it looks like Pocky & Rocky. I prefer Pocky & Rocky Re-Shrined's aesthetics though. Physical only is a nice idea but will probably lead to incredible prices on ebay. When it comes to physical indies, I played with the idea of buying the collector's editions of A short Hike and Potion Permit. But I just couldn't get myself to spend that much. Buuuut I pre-ordered the Evercade Exp. So yeah, I am going physical. 😉
Pocky and rocky is great
It’ll be digital eventually lol but looks cool I’ll try to check it out
I don't agree with how the value was scored but can't argue against your perspective. I think given that it was a physical only game like back in the old NES days which they were aiming for it would've been better to score on box art, manual, etc. I feel the scoring method used artificially deflates the overall game score based not on true value but rather the idea of what could've been IF there was a digital release. Good overall review however.
Thanks. Yeah I see your point although it's hard not to take into effect that whilst practically every other Switch game we review will probably go on an eshop sale at some point, this never will which does affect the score for me. As always though, the words are more important than the scores in a review and this is a great game for sure. Glen
A throttle back to the past
The old punk in me kind of likes the fact it's physical only...
It's like something Factory Records would do
I must admit, that's exactly how I felt when I saw it. I loved walking into a game shop and seeing a game I'd never heard of and blind buying it even if I think it should have been released digitally too. Glen
What about BROFORCE??
Another Devolver Digital game. Is that out for the Switch?
I want this game. Looking forward to getting this.
Seems like a weird flex to not put it on the eshop but who am I to judge. Game looks fun enough, wish there was a bit more value though
It looks fun, but I don't think I'll ever play it due to it being physical only
Not that I'm against it, far from that, but the sad reality is that physical copies alienate those who live in third world countries, such as myself, as in most of these we either have a legit market with scalper-like prices that rarely, if ever, stocks up on these more niche rarer titles and pretty much never goes on sale and/or a gray scalper market with prices usually lower than the official ones but still absurd and, again, never on discounted prices
That is, if we get either of these options at all as some countries just never see physical releases period and potential gamers need to import their stuff which is often also prohibitive for one reason or another (which usually is not the original price believe it or not)
Ah well, not really something i would get physically. It's one of these games you play for a few minutes, would be a pain to constantly switch cartridges.
Honestly a physical only release makes no sense in this day and age. Personally I feel like all games should be both but I understand it's not that "easy" nowadays for that.
Music reminds me of Shovel Knight.
Aren't Devolver Digital one of the best publishers? All their games are Stellar but don't understand the decision to release it as a physical only. Frankly it's bizarre
It is the 21-st centry, for all good's sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)
I guess the developers hate money. I love these sort of games. And I know a physical version will never be available. And if it is will sell stupid expensive.
Looks addictive.
Physical only? How rare!
Sure it's gimmicky, but I have feeling they will move considerable units (relatively speaking)
Quite possibly!
I love this game!
Since I've gone all digital, this is a nono from me. Ah well, backlog says no anyway.
This is NO Ikari Warriors. At least not the arcade version. Which is S tier.
No, this is more like a better version of the NES Ikari Warriors. Glen
@@SwitchUpYt ok I can see that. -Hugh