BitSummit 2024 has been and gone, and we've got the details on all of the best games we saw at the sure.
If you’re unfamiliar with BitSummit, it’s a gaming convention dedicated to indie developers from around the globe. Taking place in the heart of Kyoto every July, there’s no better place to get a look at the up-and-coming indie darlings developed from both within Japan and elsewhere in the world. This year was branded BitSummit Drift and featured just as many great games as the previous years. Last year, for example, featured Animal Well, which we scored a 10, and a year before that, the stellar Meg’s Monster from Odencat got some BitSummit love.
Finding unreleased Switch games at BitSummit is harder than you might think; hundreds of great games are being shown, but most haven’t confirmed whether or not they’re coming to Nintendo's handheld hybrid. A constant refrain we heard was that Switch versions were planned, yet not confirmed until the PC version gets out the door.
However, we did our due diligence and tracked down 10 great titles you can for sure play on your Nintendo Switch at some point soon!
Cassette Boy
Cassette Boy looks like a 2D action-adventure akin to The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening but features some mind-bending perspective puzzles that make it stand out as one of the most creative games we saw at BitSummit.
During our time with the game, we could rotate the camera, and when the camera was rotated, whatever was hidden behind other objects no longer existed. For example, if you placed a block up above an impassable gate and shifted the camera so that the block obscured it, you could pass through as if the gate wasn’t ever there. The developers call this ‘The Schrödinger System.’
We played both the story and challenge mode; the story mode had us chasing down a black cat called Luna, whacking slimes with a sword, and firing a bow to hit switches, all while solving puzzle after puzzle while rotating the camera around so much we got a little dizzy.
Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game
Somehow, we missed spotting this hand-drawn EarthBound-inspired adventure until the final day of BitSummit. And we're glad we found it, as it would’ve been a travesty if we hadn’t got to play it.
Cricket: Jae’s Really Peculiar Game stars, as you’d expect, a young boy named Jae on a quest to rescue his mother from the moon after she passed away – a hook that promises a poignant narrative.
Jae teams up with a handful of friends to fight massive dandelions and other imaginative foes in a hand-drawn art style that brings to mind the fluidity of other cartoon-inspired games like Cuphead. The delightful writing, however, was what had us most excited to play Cricket when it releases next month on 15th August.
Demonschool
We’ve talked about Demonschool before but that does not mean it didn’t arrest the attention of everyone who walked by with its vibrant pixel art and awesome premise. Inspired by Italian horror cinema and manga, we couldn’t help but make comparisons to Persona 3, or more accurately Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, as we sat down to play this tactics-based strategy game starring students battling demons.
We found the battles themselves set Demonschool apart from its clear inspirations, as they play less like a chess match of individual turns and more like a puzzle as you arrange your characters around the field before seeing all their actions happen at once, complete with some anime-style splash screens when characters team up. You won't have long to try this one out, as Demonschool launches on 13th September
Everdeep Aurora
This adorable little game grabbed our attention with its vivid color palette and cute protagonist, Shell. On a quest to find her mother after the world’s population fled underground, Shell receives a drill from a little froggy dude named Ribbert, allowing her to dig deep much the same way you would in a faster-paced game like Shovel Knight Dig. Everdeep Aurora, on the other hand, is a chill exploratory adventure, with the staff on hand emphasizing that it's entirely nonviolent.
We had a great time because the cute characters we ran into had some pretty witty dialogue, and the relaxing soundtrack helped soothe our otherwise overwhelmed senses on a chaotic showfloor.
Forestrike
While most games had modest booths with a single monitor and a Nintendo Switch or two, Forestrike dominated a major thoroughfare with two massive televisions, drawing curious crowds. Forestriker is a kung-fu roguelite where you can use foresight to practice your attacks against drunken foes as they try to overwhelm you. We could use foresight as many times as we liked before playing out the stage for real, leading to some truly epic kung-fu moments.
The lengthy tutorial showed us that Forestriker is more-or-less a puzzle game, as we learned how to dodge enemies so they’d slam into one another or equip weapons to block their attacks. Then we learned that modifiers make each run unique. You’d think using foresight for each encounter would make the game easy, but we didn’t even reach the boss of the first area before our kung-fu hero met his end.
Mousebusters
Mousebusters is the follow-up title to Odencat's Meg’s Monster, which we absolutely loved for having a narrative that was as funny as it was heartbreakingly endearing. Mousebusters looks like more of the same, starring a little mouse trying to save the residents of a house from the growing darkness inside their hearts by battling some ghastly demons. Yes, you read that right.
The game is available on mobile devices now, but during a short meeting with developer Daigo Sato, we learned that he’s remaking the game to better fit on consoles, expanding the map and scale of the world while adding a new battle system. Given how much we loved Sato’s last game, we’re excited for what he claims is an “emotional story that will make you cry.”
Rainbow Sea
It wouldn’t be a BitSummit list without a truly Japanese game. Made by solo indie developer Hinuko Shima, Rainbow Sea is inspired by a Japanese myth of the Seven Lucky Gods. Taking control of a young girl who mysteriously appears on the treasure ship of these gods, you spend your days getting to know them while cooking food and fishing.
What hooked us initially was the gorgeous pixel art style and a hint that – if we weren’t careful and lied to these gods – we’d end up trapped inside a mirror. If we were successful, we’d become a god ourselves. Shima told us there are twenty-two true endings to reach as well.
Rhythm Rabbit
Rhythm Rabbit is an unassuming game that stars a cute little fluffy rabbit as it hops its way to nabbing a carrot at the end of each short stage. Musical notes denote the number of hops it’ll take, and unless you’re hopping into an obstacle, there’s no way to avoid taking the leap. However, what makes Rhythm Rabbit much more difficult than it appears is all of the variables in the gameplay. For example, jumping into a mole hole will send you back to the beginning, and going anywhere near bats will completely reverse the direction the rabbit hops in.
Developer Mark Walters said people either love it or hate it as it ramps up to a steep challenge quickly. We were definitely in the former camp, playing for quite a long time until we reached a stage that combined all the different variables we experienced thus far. A small crowd actually formed, watching us fall into rivers and holes until we finally reached the coveted carrot and received a nice round of cheers.
Robo Frenzy
We sat down with Spencer Yip of YummyYummyTummy to check out his team's boss-rush sandbox game Robo Frenzy, which stars a pink-haired girl and a blue-haired boy as they fight against and collect hilariously named robots like Sir Codesalot.
The coolest feature Yip showed us was how you can create your own robot boss and generate a good ol’ password to share with other players. These bosses have several stats to manipulate, such as their power and creativity levels. More importantly, you can outfit them with tons of different weapons and special moves, which can then also be modified. They have a Super Mario Maker-like system where you have to beat the boss before you upload it, thankfully. We loved the creativity on display with these silly robots and look forward to making our own typewriter-based boss that drops exploding chilies.
Tako no Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets
We've saved the best one for last! We’ve talked about Tako no Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets before – how could we not when it’s a Game Boy Advance-inspired adventure that takes notes from Golden Sun and Terranigma? You can choose to play with a GBA frame bordering the screen, after all. Developed by Christophe Galati, Tako no Himitsu is quite different mechanically from his previous title Save Me, Mr. Tako! though it’s set in the same universe.
It was definitely one of the most charming and nostalgia-driven games we played on the show floor. We chose between two of the six available characters that will eventually form a party to get a quick slice of this action RPG. We played as Mylene, a singer infiltrating a temple with her guardian Buuto, swapping between them as we slayed cultists and spirits all while solving puzzles and getting hit hard with nostalgia.