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Fall Guys Will Delete Yellow Team If Tweet Gets One Million Retweets

Fall Guys

You have to commend the Fall Guys Community Manager Oliver. The guy has managed to propel the game to an insane level of popularity. While his methods might seem brash, he's driven the game's Twitter account to almost one million followers in just a few short weeks. He's taken charge of the charity campaign, in which the highest donor to SpecialEffect (which is currently at well over $300k) will get a costume in the game. He's successfully engineered a reverse review bombing after the game was hit on Steam following a shaky launch. And now, in his latest stroke of genius, he's threatening to permanently eliminate the Yellow Team from the game.

What initially started as a joke now seems to have turned into reality. In a tweet from the official Fall Guys Twitter account, Community Manager Oliver shared a conversation in which Alex, an engineer for developer Mediatonic, states he could "literally delete yellow team" for one million retweets.

This lead to the latest campaign, in which it seems they will actually remove the team, providing they get the proposed number of retweets. If he manages to pull it off, that tweet would break into the top 20 most retweeted of all time which is no small feat and a stroke of marketing nous.

The yellow team seem to have some weird stigma attached to them and have become a running joke and source of memes within the Fall Guys community.

https://twitter.com/FallGuysGame/status/1294627255898038272

While the game has no doubt had a surge in popularity due to its release as a free PS Plus title, the Fall Guys Twitter account has definitely played its part in the rise of the game in the gaming zeitgeist. The game has also had a major boost by the culture of fans and brands creating custom skins for the game.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is available now for both PC and PS4. If you've not played it yet, you should check out our review.

The post Fall Guys Will Delete Yellow Team If Tweet Gets One Million Retweets by Sam Woods appeared first on DualShockers.

Blue Protocol Character Creation Development Update: Customize Your Waifu's Eyes

Blue Protocol Character Creaion Feature

The official Twitter account for Blue Protocol shared a short development update on August 18, focusing on the character creation system.

Two short Blue Protocol gameplay excerpts featuring the character creation were published, showing some of the newly added options. We'll now be able to modify the angle of our characters' eyes and eyebrows.

The first tweet features a male character:

The tweet basically says you'll be able to make some unique looks for your characters with this small change. The size and shape of eyes and eyebrows is a pretty important thing in Japanese-stylized works after all.

The second tweet features a female character:

The tweet mentions the exact same eye and eyebrows part are used throughout the video. The only change are the angles. The same character can look quite different just with those small changes.

Being able to change the eyes and eyebrows angles is actually one of the character creation feature the Blue Protocol staff mentioned during one of the past streams we covered.

As a side note, they already promised we'll be able to customize our underwear too.

Blue Protocol (Official Site) is an online Action RPG by Bandai Namco Online. The game mixes time travel, lost technology and a bunch of other fantasy themes. There's a sword and shield tank-like class: the Aegis Fighter. A Spell Caster class. An axe dual wielding class for advanced players, the Twin Striker. And an archer class who's also the healer class, the Blast Archer. Just check out our past posts to learn more, with some gameplay.

Blue Protocol also supposedly features music by Hiroyuki Sawano. The trailers' BGM Sawanoes really hard, but his name wasn't officially confirmed yet.

Blue Protocol has no release date estimate yet. The game was only announced in Japan, and on PC, though the staff hinted it'll be coming to the west at some point. It might also come to PS5 and Xbox Series X seeing a certain job listing.

This is the first development update since we heard we'll get new ones via Twitter on an irregular schedule.

The staff mentioned after the first Closed Beta Test that there won't be an Open Beta or launch soon. Ton of other data from the test was shared, we translated everything back then.

The post Blue Protocol Character Creation Development Update: Customize Your Waifu's Eyes by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.

Torchlight 3 Announced for Nintendo Switch, Coming This Fall

Torchlight 3 Switch, Echtra, PC, Early Access

At today's Indie World Showcase, it was revealed that Echtra Games' dungeon RPG, Torchlight 3, will be coming to Nintendo Switch this fall!

The Torchlight series is action-looter RPGs in a similar vein as Diablo or Path of Exile. Set hundreds of years after the second game, Torchlight 3 is currently in early access on PC (Steam Page). In this brand new entry, players can choose between four different character classes: Dusk Mage, Forged, Railmaster, and Sharpshooter. Each class comes with unique sets of skills and abilities that will help you slay the hoards of enemies blocking your path in your quest for new and better loot. The class options are a nice mix of new and returning options for players to experiment with.

Having started its life as Torchlight Frontiers before being retooled into the series proper third entry, one of the defining features that set Torchlight 3 apart from the previous two games is the inclusion of a unique fort you can customize and upgrade. Finding monuments and various other objects during your adventures, you can tweak and personalize your fortress that you can then show off to your friends. It's here at your fort too that you will be able to upgrade the gear you will take out with you into your expeditions.

In the announcement trailer today, there wasn't any mention that this release on Switch would be an early access build of the game, so this Fall may see the full release version on PC as well. There is some swag that Nintendo Switch owners will net themselves if they pick up this version, a unique red fairy pet that they can have hang around!

Torchlight 3 is currently available on PC in early access, and Torchlight 2 is available right now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Torchlight 3 Announced for Nintendo Switch, Coming This Fall by Scott White appeared first on DualShockers.

Grindstone Gets Switch Announcement And New Trailer

Grindstone Switch Announcement

As part of Nintendo's Indie World Presentation, Capybara Games' Grindstone was revealed to be making its way to the Nintendo Switch. The game was, up until this announcement, exclusive to Apple's game subscription service Apple Arcade.

Despite only being shown fleetingly in a montage towards the end of the indie showcase, Capy Games has shown the game some more love and have given it a full reveal trailer as seen below.

Grindstone is a critically acclaimed block-matching puzzler with a twist. Players chain together enemies, bosses and loot, then slide around destroying them and removing them from the field of play. The game comes with over 200 levels, a variety of upgradeable items and leaderboards for the Daily Grind mode. While the game feels like it should be littered with the free-to-play costs we've become accustomed to these days, Grindstone negates them by releasing as a complete game and feels all the better for it.

As the game has only been available via a subscription service up until this point, there's no indication on how much it will cost when released. Capy are also yet to confirm the release date for the Switch port other than it's coming this fall.

Grindstone wasn't the only game to come out of a stacked Nintendo Indie World Presentation today. Highlights from the event include the announcement of Supergiant Games' Hades, complete with PC cross-save functionality, Subnautica and its Sequel getting Switch releases next year and A Short Hike and Spiritfarer, which both launch today. We were also treated to the news that everybody's favourite troublesome goose was getting a partner, as House House revealed a free Untitled Goose Game multiplayer update.

Grindstone was released to high praise as part of the launch line-up for Apple Arcade and it's great to see it getting a release on other platforms. It's a game that will feel right at home on the Nintendo Switch.

The post Grindstone Gets Switch Announcement And New Trailer by Sam Woods appeared first on DualShockers.

Oculus: Facebook Login Will Soon Be Mandatory For The VR Platform

Oculus Quest, Facebook, VR

Facebook has made strides to make themselves more prevalent in the gaming world — often to the chagrin of core gamers the world over. Facebook is known for their invasive policies and practices, even though they tend to avoid any real repercussions.

Since buying Oculus in 2014, Facebook's platform has consistently been one of the premier means of escaping reality. Recently, the tech giant has seen mass success with its VR platform, especially with the essentially cordless Oculus Quest. The official Oculus Twitter account announced today that Facebook would be requiring new players to sign in via a Facebook account in order to play games on the platform.

Seemingly a reaction to the platform's rapidly growing popularity, this move has, as expected, earned widespread backlash from the gaming community. In a follow-up Tweet found in the thread, Oculus made it clear that users who already have an Oculus account will be allowed to choose to merge their Oculus accounts with their Facebook accounts or use their accounts for two more years uninterrupted.

After that two-year grace period, Oculus has confirmed that they will end support for Oculus devices starting January 1, 2023. According to the thread, users will still be able to use their devices, but will not have access to full functionality unless they connect a Facebook account.

This is not only a bold move but a risky one on Facebook's part. Having made headlines largely from mishandling fake news to breaching personal privacy, the company is already on thin ice. Finding more ways to integrate and invade using their platform is alarming to say the least.

The post Oculus: Facebook Login Will Soon Be Mandatory For The VR Platform by Charlie Wacholz appeared first on DualShockers.

Xbox Game Pass Receives Resident Evil 7, Crusader Kings 3, and More in the Coming Weeks

Xbox Game Pass August 2020 Games

Xbox Game Pass subscribers on PC and Xbox One are going to have great times ahead with a bunch of anticipated titles hitting the service this month at their launch days, along with some older but fantastic games joining the roster soon.

First of all, PC subscribers of Game Pass can now jump into their account and start playing Microsoft Flight Simulator, which has been received epic reviews from media, including a 9 out of 10 from Rachael Fiddis at DualShockers. The game will require a massive amount of free space on your PC, but there's no complaint as it is the price you're going to pay for never-before-seen graphics.

Another title that you can start playing as of today is Spirit Farer, which will put you in the role of a boat manager who should explore the seas, upgrade his boat, and help the spirit friend to send them to the afterlife. The game has mostly received positive reviews so far, which might make it a must-play for you if you are a Game Pass subscriber.

Later on, four other games will be available on August 20th, including Battletoads, Crossing Souls (for PC), Darksiders Genesis (for PC), and Don't Starve: Giant Edition. Battletoads is a reboot of the franchise that is going to make a comeback over 20 years after its last entry. The game has been developed by Dlala Studios and Rare Ltd.

One day later, both PC and Console subscribers of Xbox Game Pass will be able to play New Super Lucky's Tale, and soon after that, on August 27th, Hypnosis Outlaw and Tell Me Why: Chapter 1 will be hitting the service. Tell Me Why is the latest narrative-driven experience from the developer behind the Life Is Strange franchise.

On August 28, InXile Entertainment's long-awaited Wasteland 3 will finally arrive on Xbox One and PC. We've already seen a lot of exciting gameplay footage from the game, and fans can't wait to jump into its huge world and start their own journey in the game. Besides, you can also play Double Kick Heroes on the same day.

Last but not least, Crusader Kings 3 (only on PC) and Resident Evil 7 are the final additions of the Xbox Game Pass service that will join the library on September 1st and September 3rd respectively. Crusader Kings 3 is definitely one of the most anticipated strategy games of this year that will hit the service at launch. On the other hand, Resident Evil 7 is the second best-selling game of Capcom, and the prequel to the upcoming entry of the series, so you can't miss it.

Aside from the new additions, there are some titles that will leave the service in the upcoming weeks, including Red Dead Redemption 2 and NBA 2K20. Here you can check out the full list of games leaving Game Pass soon:

Leaving August 31

  • Creature in the Well (Console & PC)
  • Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director's Cut (Console)
  • Metal Gears Solid 2 & 3 HD (Console)
  • Metro: Last Light Redux (Console)
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 3 (Console)

Leaving September 1

  • NBA 2K20 (Console)

Leaving September 7

  • Red Dead Redemption 2 (Console)

The post Xbox Game Pass Receives Resident Evil 7, Crusader Kings 3, and More in the Coming Weeks by Mehrdad Khayyat appeared first on DualShockers.

Pokemon Cafe Mix Hits Five Million Downloads In Less Than Two Months

Pokemon Cafe Mix

Pokemon Cafe Mix was originally announced back in June as part of the Pokemon Presents Showcase. Revealed alongside Pokemon Smile and the New Pokemon Snap, Cafe Mix is a free to play puzzle game for Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS. The game sees players matching various Pokemon icons in order to serve orders in their Pokemon Cafes. By successfully completing orders, players can build relationships with the Pokemon in order to hire them.

Ticking all the free-to-play boxes with its approachable yet addictive hooks, Pokemon Cafe Mix has already hit a massive milestone. Despite only being out for less than two months, the game has clocked up an incredibly impressive five million downloads. To celebrate hitting this landmark The Pokemon Company has confirmed they will be rewarding players with some freebies and adding new Pokemon to befriend into the game.

Players who log into Pokemon Cafe Mix between 11:00 p.m. PST on August 16, 2020, and 10:59 p.m. PST on August 29 will receive 5,000 golden acorns and three each of the Whistle ↔ and Whistle ↕ puzzle powers.

That's not all though, The Pokemon Company has also confirmed that "If you serve up orders for Grookey during the event and strengthen your friendship with it enough, it will join you as a staff Pokémon." Grookey will be appearing in the game between August 11 and to August 25. Alongside Grookey, Wobbuffet, Buizel, and Audino will also be entering the Cafe as customers and players will have the opportunity to convince them to join their Pokemon workforce.

The final announcement in the blog post states that "the Mythical Pokémon Celebi might looking to grab a snack at some point in the future." This will be the first time a Legendary or Mythical Pokemon will be seen in the game.

Pokemon Cafe Mix is available now and free to download on Android and iOS devices or on Nintendo Switch.

The post Pokemon Cafe Mix Hits Five Million Downloads In Less Than Two Months by Sam Woods appeared first on DualShockers.

The Sonic x Puma Collab Shoes Are Dangerously Cheap Right Now

sonic x puma

Originally released to commemorate the Sonic The Hedgehog movie, German sneaker company Puma collaborated with Paramount and Sega to license some Sonic-themed shoes. They're normally priced at $120, but they're currently up to 50% off on Puma's website.

Two colorways of Puma's RS-X3, Black and Black/High-Risk Red are both actually really nice looking shoes, featuring very subtle Sonic themed accents like rings and various HUD elements from previous Sonic games. Honestly, unless someone already knew what they were, they wouldn't be able to recognize them as Sonic shoes.

Sneakerheads would normally have to shell out $120 to secure a pair, but right now, they're on a pretty considerable sale on Puma's site right now. If you use the promo code 'B2S25' you'll be able to buy either pair for $59.99.

It's been a weird year for the Sonic franchise. Before the pandemic hit, they promised the blue blur's fans Sonic news every month, but now we've hardly heard a peep from Sega about their plans for Sonic in the coming years. In fact, the last Sonic game that was released came out over a year ago now.

Considering Sega clearly had a plan, or at least a content roadmap for their most popular character this year, it's surprising that Sega has followed their old rival's suit and remained almost totally radio silent. Outside a few releases like Sakura Wars, and some of their subsidiaries' works, like Atlus with their Shin Megami Tensei announcements, Sega has neither released nor revealed many games yet this year.

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most successful movies this year and released to a somewhat positive reception. The sneakers have been relatively well-received as well. Considering its sequel recently received a release date set in 2022 and the sneakers have been relatively well-received, we'll be sure to see more similar collaboration between Sega and Puma as well as other apparel brands as its release approaches.

The post The Sonic x Puma Collab Shoes Are Dangerously Cheap Right Now by Charlie Wacholz appeared first on DualShockers.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Lets Players Explore Strange New Worlds On Foot

Frontier Developments has revealed a new trailer for their galaxy-spanning first-person MMO's latest expansion, Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. Previously, players of Elite Dangerous were stuck viewing the galaxy from the cockpit of their ships but now, with Odyssey, they will finally be able to disembark and explore strange new worlds on their own two feet. Frontier's mission with this new expansion is to give every player a "Neil Armstrong" moment when stepping forth onto a brand new planet, and so far, Odyssey seems to deliver.

I had a chance to sit down and speak with Odyssey's Principle Designer Gareth Hughes and Art Director Jonathan Bottone about the upcoming expansion, and what you can expect from these explorable planets. Odyssey has been in development for a couple of years now, changing and evolving into what it is today. Adopting a mathematical and scientific recreation approach like the rest of Elite Dangerous, the thousands of planets that you will be able to explore on foot have all been created with the help of scientific measurements and data. The designers have taken into account aspects such as temperature and composition of the planet and its atmosphere, along with developing fauna that would be reasonable for those specific ecosystems.

You will encounter worlds of icy tundras, rocky and mountainous vistas, barren deserts, and more. Equipped with a multi-tool, you will be able to scan and sample the native plants of these undiscovered countries, adding them to your logbook and submitting them for different awards. During the reveal, the developers did tease there would be more in store for explorers to do on the planets but they are staying mum on those details for now, with more announcements and reveals coming soon.

One aspect that may be a bit disappointing to hear is that at this time, Odyssey will not include any sort of lifeforms to discover or large bodies of water. Since the worlds that can be explored will mostly have thin atmospheres, they don't have the minimum scientific requirements to sustain large oceans or lakes, the developers explained to me. While it's a bummer I won't be able to dive into alien seas to find crazy looking space-fish, it's understandable. Fingers crossed though that somewhere down the line we'll get that chance.

While I haven't personally played Elite Dangerous before, the idea of being able to fly around its to-scale version of the Milky Way, scientifically recreated in digital space, is enticing. Odyssey won't let you explore every planet on foot, but there will still be "thousands" that are explorable to players. If everything goes according to plan, Elite Dangerous players will be able to snag the Odyssey expansion early next year, launching simultaneously on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Until Odyssey's launch, be sure to check out the "Road to Odyssey" developer diary series, with the first installment "One Giant Leap" available today. This first entry dives in and sheds more light into the exploration aspects on these atmospheric planets and the brand new tech that is behind them.

Elite Dangerous is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The post Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Lets Players Explore Strange New Worlds On Foot by Scott White appeared first on DualShockers.

Nintendo: Five Dormant Franchises They Could Revive To Excite Fans in Holiday 2020

2020 has been a strange year for Nintendo. They've had some major success with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and we got the surprise announcement of a new Paper Mario game. Other than those two games though, there's not been a huge range of first-party titles to get excited about.

They also seem to have forgone the usual format for Nintendo Directs. We have had a couple of "Nintendo Direct Mini'" presentations and a handful of franchise-specific directs, including Pokemon and Animal Crossing, but other than a few shadow dropped videos like Paper Mario, nothing. That's left the second half of the year looking strangely bare for the company.

Now we do have a New Pokemon Snap that was announced last month and the rumoured Super Mario 35th anniversary collection, but neither of those are confirmed yet to be dropping in 2020. That leaves the holiday season completely empty.

What Nintendo does have however is a plethora of franchises in their back catalogue that lay completely dormant. With that being said, I'll take a look at five of these franchises that–should Nintendo choose to revive before the end of the year–would change their holiday landscape.

1) Pikmin

Now, don't get me wrong: a new Pikmin is very likely coming, it's just a case of "when." Back in 2015, in an interview with Eurogamer, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that not only was a new Pikmin game coming, but that it was also close to completion. While in that specific instance the game likely turned out to be Hey! Pikmin on the 3DS, Miyamoto has since confirmed that a new Pikmin game is "progressing."

Aside from the 3DS spinoff, the last mainline Pikmin game we got was Pikmin 3 for the Wii U back in 2013. While the franchise has never been one of Nintendo's best-selling, it offers something wholly unique from the company. Real-time strategy, or strategy as a whole, is something Nintendo rarely tackle, and the Pikmin series is known for doing it incredibly well, in a very unique style, all while loaded with that typical Nintendo charm.

The problem with Pikmin 3, like a lot of other of Nintendo's best games, is that it launched on the massively unsuccessful Wii U. This undoubtedly hurt its numbers, as estimates put worldwide sales of the game well below one million units and potentially raised questions in Camp Nintendo about the viability of the franchise.

The simple answer though is for Nintendo to do what they've done with many other games over the last few years; release a Pikmin 3 port to the Switch. It was rumoured only a couple of months ago and could easily solve a multitude of problems. It gets the game into the hands of those who didn't have a Wii U, scratches that Pikmin itch for the big fans of the franchise, fills a hole in Nintendo's holiday line up, and would allow Nintendo the opportunity to see just what the demand for a new Pikmin game is, which I'm willing to bet is pretty high.

2) Advance Wars

Speaking of Nintendo's limited foray into the strategy genre, a new Advance Wars title is near the top of many people's list, including mine. The handheld franchise has been absent for 12 years now since Days of Ruin on the Nintendo DS, and it's high time it makes a comeback.

Last year we were treated to Wargroove, Chucklefish's spiritual successor to Advance Wars. The game played incredibly similarly and looked just like what you'd expect from an Advance Wars game, however it just wasn't quite Advance Wars. The setting was slightly more fantastical when compared to the military theme of Advance Wars and it was thematically less dark. Now, this isn't trying to detract from Wargroove–in fact, it did some things better–but Nintendo struck gold with their strategy franchise and it would be incredibly hard for anybody to replicate just how good it really was.

Advance Wars was designed for handheld and the Switch's functionality makes it more suitable for a release now than on perhaps any of their other home consoles. There would no doubt be palpable hype around the announcement/release of a new Advance Wars title, and it's a franchise that would be right at home on the console.

3) F-Zero

Nintendo have a rich history of great racing games on their consoles. Mario Kart is the gold standard when it comes to kart racers, Diddy Kong Racing was fantastic, and Wave Race was another N64 classic. But a franchise that's been absent since the GameCube and simply needs to come back is F-Zero.

Starting out on the SNES, F-Zero is known for being a high-octane, futuristic racing series that offers something different from a typical racing game. The races contain up to 30 different competitors (including yourself) and are played at a blistering pace. The neon-futuristic aesthetic is full of well-designed courses that are accompanied by some of the coolest music in Nintendo's catalogue.

We've not had a brand new Nintendo racer since Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U, and while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has performed incredibly well on the Switch, ultimately it's a port of a now six-year-old game. Given the advancements in technology since the GameCube, the potential for online races (no matter how sketchy it might be given Nintendo's infrastructure) and the offer of something completely different, it's hard to imagine an F-Zero game that would be anything less than amazing.

4) Star Fox

While the Star Fox series may not have been away as long as the rest of the games on this list, it's certainly a series that would benefit from an overhaul and Switch release. The last Star Fox game, Star Fox Zero, was released back in 2016 towards the end of the Wii U's life cycle, and it's safe to say it was unsuccessful. The result of being released so close to the end of the Wii U's catastrophic life was some extremely subpar sales numbers (with estimates putting it at less than 500k units sold) despite the game reviewing pretty well.

Star Fox arguably peaked back in 1997 with Star Fox 64, with its on-rails sci-fi shooter gameplay exciting fans. However, since then Nintendo has pivoted backwards and forwards on what they want the franchise to be. The N64 game was followed by Star Fox Adventures on the GameCube, which was a complete departure from what the series had tried so far by turning to Zelda-style gameplay. Star Fox: Assault followed Adventures, trying a combination of spacecraft and on-foot elements. After that we got Star Fox Command on DS which mixed in some turn-based strategy elements, and then 10 years later saw Star Fox Zero. Every iteration of the Star Fox franchise has adapted the gameplay in some way by trying to carve out a niche, without ever really setting the world on fire.

Alongside Pikmin, Star Fox is a franchise that Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has always been fond of, saying back in 2016 that he "always wanted Fox McCloud to be a bit more popular than he was." So despite the failures of the series' recent entries, there's definitely hope for a reboot, and what better time to do it than when there's little else coming out on the Switch to compete with.

5) Nintendogs

While not a game for the "hardcore" audience out there – Nintendogs certainly shifted units. The game was released a few months after the original DS launched and was nothing short of a phenomenon. Across the lifecycle of the DS, the original Nintendogs fell only a few thousand units shy of selling 24 million. Despite only having two games (Nintendogs and Nintendogs + Cats) the series has outsold a string of other huge franchises including Metroid, Luigi's Mansion, and Fire Emblem.

Like many of the games on this list, Nintendogs did something different; Nintendo spotted a gap in the "pet simulation" market and they took it. The simple gameplay loop of caring for a dog, feeding it, walking it, and generally just looking after it resonated with the masses, and the release of multiple different versions with different breeds helped further the game's success.

Last year, developers Imagineer released Little Friends: Dogs & Cats as a spiritual successor to Nintendogs, however the game paled in comparison when contrasting the two. Several critics, including our own Cameron Hawkins, were quick to point out that "it is very limited on what you can do, especially for the game's asking price."

Like most of these dormant franchises, Nintendogs would benefit greatly from the advances in technology since we last saw it. A reboot of the franchise would be a great way for Nintendo to capitalize on the more casual market this holiday season, especially after the success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons earlier this year. While Animal Crossing certainly has more depth, the two games would likely have some overlapping appeal. Releasing a "New Nintendogs" would hit the nostalgic sweet spot for many, and would no doubt help sell both Switch hardware and software units.

Honorable Mentions –

Kid Icarus – Kid Icarus Uprising is the only non-Smash Bros. title from Masahiro Sakurai since 2005, and it was a very solid game; it offered a compelling gameplay loop and came out to some very strong reviews. While not having the pulling power of the other names on this list, a new Kid Icarus would be very much welcome, especially with Pit being a much more familiar character to Nintendo fans now.

Golden Sun – The Camelot-developed/Nintendo-published Golden Sun series was a stellar range of handheld JRPGs that ended most recently with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn on the DS. Octopath Traveler has shown that there's a demand for high-quality RPGs on the Nintendo Switch, and what better way to fill that demand than with a new entry in the beloved franchise.

Mario Sports titles – Mario Tennis Aces released on the Switch in 2018, but that's the only Mario Sports game on the system so far. Mario has dipped his toes into golf, football and basketball in the past, and any of these games (especially a new Mario Golf) would make an impact on the Switch.

WarioWare – WarioWare Gold was another relative commercial failure in 2018 with many asking the question–with the Switch being so well established by that point–why release a WarioWare game on the 3DS? This Christmas would be a perfect time for Nintendo to right those wrongs and release a new entry in the party-game series on the Switch. Another Wario Land game wouldn't go amiss, either.

Wave Race – Revered for its realistic water, Wave Race is a fantastic racing series set on, you guessed it, the waves. Like F-Zero, Wave Race offered something different in the racing genre and would be another popular pick to resurface this holiday season.

So while it's looking quiet for Nintendo towards the back end of this year, there's an undoubted amount of potential for something special. If they can drop a trailer for Paper Mario: The Origami King and have it release a month later, there's hope for all of the franchises on this list that (hopefully) some of them are already in the works. Which one of these games would top your Christmas List this year? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Nintendo: Five Dormant Franchises They Could Revive To Excite Fans in Holiday 2020 by Sam Woods appeared first on DualShockers.