Hello Kitty And Friends Happiness Parade Gets A Last-Minute Delay On Switch

There's niche, and then there is NICHE

Hello Kitty on Switch again?
I want the game in physical release. 😀

I thought this was a Mario Party clone at first glance of the article title but it actually looks like a decent rhythm game, though I'm not that big of a Hello Kitty fan sooooo it'll be in the back of my brain for now I guess!

Joking aside Hello Kitty games have a history of being not that bad. Big city dreams, Kruisers and Block Frenzy, off the top of my head, are all decent kids games though not really engaging enough for most adults.

Edit: I should say, this game looks kind of awful and pointless though. Just play big city dreams.

Welp I was the 1 person picking this up so... that's pretty sad.
If it's a rhythm game I buy, simple as that, also I was fond of HK as a kid. But it's an absolute crime that Aggretsuko is not in the game, it would have made the game different shall we say, but infinitely better xD

Edit: @Liam_Doolan I Just checked the Eshop and it's there for me to buy and I've just bought it... That's weird.

The original tweet doesn't ouright say delay either:
https://twitter.com/Rogue_Co/status/1646257473269932032?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

I think it might be misinformation on GoNintendos part
https://gonintendo.com/contents/18905-hello-kitty-and-friends-happiness-parade-delayed-to-an-unspecified-date

Wow I care waaayy too much about this don't I xD

Might be fun if it has a good soundtrack.

Delayed in the last minute. Hm. Everything can happen even in the last minute.

@Barbiegurl777
Check the Eshop, it might be there, it was for me.
I think this article may be incorrect.

Edit seems to be out in Europe but not the US, weird.

This looks adorable! I love Hello Kitty and I love cute things but I was hoping for something food-themed again, like Apron of Magic.

@Nanami_Ataraxia I'd be interested to know your opinion on the game if you get a chance. I don't know how comfortable it'd be to play using the Pro Controller; I've only ever played rhythm action games with a stylus/touchscreen and the eShop doesn't mention any touchscreen support for this game.

@Barbiegurl777 It is already out in the UK, and I suppose everywhere else in Europe too (release date says 13 April 2023) but unfortunately it appears to be digital only, at least for now. Happy gaming to you too

@Barbiegurl777
Ahh sorry to get your hopes up like that. I'm in the EU and I downloaded it fine and am currently playing it, hope it gets to your region soon! What are the other games you have your eye on out of curiosity?

@KingofRedLions
I personally don't think it needs touch controls anyway, but I get what you mean, I usually play touch screen as well if it's an option.

You just move your character down, left and right in time to the beat, picking up coins and items along the way. You can bring 3 characters along at a time and you press L to swap between them. They each have a special ability that can be used on cooldown by pressing the R button.

Now here's the funny part would you believe me if I said it was a rouge-lite game?

You start from the first level and then 2 branching paths open up, one easier and one more difficult and it carries on like that, it even says there are multiple endings. You see how far you can get before the health runs out on all 3 characters (there are enemies on the map as well as obstacles you can bump into) After failing your points are accumulated as well as any collectables you got along the way and you can use those to make your characters stronger on the next run, you also unlock songs and can pick between them for levels, and you can unlock more characters as well.

As far as I can tell there is no way to try the same level over and over again to try and beat your score like normal rhythm games, although that might be available after you beat the game.

As for the music it's okay so far but bear in mind I haven't been playing very long. The tracks are very poppy but that's to be expected, but there are a lot of English tracks, but there are Japanese ones as well and I am much more partial to J-pop music myself, but I may be bias because most of my rhythm games have Japanese songs so it's what I'm used to.

It's a really weird game and not what I expected at all I'm sick currently and wanted a ridiculously easy rhythm game to play and make me feel better about my lack of skill. Honestly, I'm not sure if it's fun or not, but I will keep playing it and see if my opinion changes.

Update Okay yeah it's pretty lighthearted fun, and pompompurin is sooo cute waddling about, I guess it got its cute hooks in me after all xD

Hope this helps!

@Nanami_Ataraxia That was super helpful, thank you so much! I really appreciate all the detail you provided.

My only experience playing rhythm action with a controller was the (very fun) karaoke minigame in Sleeping Dogs on PC. I eventually did well enough at it to get high scores but stylus/touchscreen is still always my preference.

Whenever I see rogue-lite/like I immediately lose interest but the cuteness in this game still really calls to me. J-pop tracks are also another plus.

I may still give this one a go, likely on deep sale though. Thanks again for your help, most appreciated

@Barbiegurl777 Setting up accounts for different eShops seems like too much hassle to someone as lazy as I am, but I've noticed that some games only have demos for JP/Europe, so it may be worth your while making a new account for the European shop.

Kawaii/girly games that I have on Switch and recommend are:

Pretty Princess Party
Waku Waku Sweets
Stray Cat Doors 1 & 2
Tales of Djungarian Hamster + all DLC
Clouds & Sheep 2
Animal Crossing
Fledgling Heroes
Welcome to Primrose Lake
Pokémon Café ReMix
Puzzle Collection: Complete Edition
Puzzle Galaxy (base game is free, has really nice art, I got the Drawings Bundle DLC really cheap on sale, it contains DLC x 2: Space & Steam, and Cuteness Overload)

Others on Switch but I own on PC:
A Short Hike
Untitled Goose Game
Teacup

If you enjoy food-themed games, there's Julie's Sweets as well as many of the Cooking Tycoon series, e.g. Sushi Time, Sweet Bakery, Pizza, Burger, Food Truck Tycoon etc, although there are so many different editions with varying amounts of DLC included, so it can be confusing to keep track of which editions I already own. They go really cheap on sale though and are decent for what they are; I never encountered any bugs or other issues in any of them and the food looks delicious XD.

Kasiori I'll mention separately. It's a very cute but difficult sweets-matching game; the English text translation is hilarious, it's so bad it's good. The characters all wear sweets/dessert themed outfits and hair accessories and the presentation is super cute, but something I only discovered after buying was that the characters occasionally appear in swimwear. I mainly play as one character, Miru, because her voice acting (entirely in Japanese) is hilarious and expressive. However, her bikini is particularly skimpy and this depiction is clearly meant to be considered sexy, but it doesn't sit right with me because she looks like a little girl to me.

Re your wish list, Little Dragons Café is expensive (although currently on sale) and I've seen reviews mentioning technical issues with the game, so it's worth checking some reviews out first.

Cute, fluffy otomes which I don't own but played the demos of are:
Kitty Love -Way to look for love- (demo is Europe & JP only)
Diamond Girl ★An Earnest Education in Love★ (demo is Europe-only).
These were good fun but the English translation was atrocious in both cases.

Gothic Murder: Adventure That Changes Destiny is more light-hearted fun murder mystery otome than romance (I have it on PC though, not Switch) and wholeheartedly recommend.

If you like fashion games, then also worth mentioning are SELFY COLLECTION The dream fashion stylist! (it's only ever been on sale once, back in 2020, but I got it for less using gold points) and Fashion Dreamer (due out sometime 2023).

Sorry for the lengthy comment...I really should stop now XD.

@Barbiegurl777
You actually have really similar tastes to me, the only ones I haven't played on your list are Lover Pretend, Japanese Rail sim and the interactive books. But now I've added Lover Pretend to my wish list because I love visual novels, so thankyou! Have you played Disney Dreamlight Valley yet? I think you would love that game.

@KingofRedLions
No problem at all, happy to help! I tend to go a little overboard in details though xD

I can definitely understand why people don't like the genre, I personally enjoy rogue lites, but I really didn't expect it from this game so it was quite a shock, but it's quite fun so I doubt you will notice too much, and it is nice to progress your characters as well.

Yeah this game isn't too pricey to begin with so I reckon when it does go on sale it will be quite a steep discount, even on launch it had a slight discount.

Yeah I wasn't a fan of the English stuff, but that is honestly just me, it sounded like what you'd here on the radio nowadays and my tastes are a lot more niche.

Again no problem at all! :3

@Barbiegurl777 You're welcome I need to clear a bit of my backlog first but Kirby's on my list too.

Oh, that reminds me, I should've included Kirby's Dream Buffet in the list of kawaii games.

You probably already know of it but in case not, Deku Deals dot com is great for wish listing and tracking sale prices. Djungarian Hamster has been on sale four times so far and the game + all DLC would normally cost £16.35 in total but I got it all for £8.15! Going by past peformance, it'll likely go on sale again in summer, so I hope you can get it for a similar bargain price.

@Nanami_Ataraxia I tend to go overboard with details myself lol but no, what you wrote was perfect, like a mini review With all the spending I plan to do in the eShop, I'll probably be able to buy this Hello Kitty game with gold points AND on sale - bargain! I forgot to say this last time but I hope you're feeling much better now, and get well soon!

@Nanami_Ataraxia @Barbiegurl777 I also have Lover Pretend wish listed (I'm female, I just chose this username because he's one of my fave characters). Some other otomes which caught my interest are Bustafellows, Variable Barricade, Cupid Parasite, Olympia Soirée. Need to save up a bit more first though XD

@KingofRedLions
Haha I'm glad I'm not the only one!
I can never manage to save up enough gold points because there's always something on my wishlist on sale for like £3 that I end up using points for. I usually use it to buy music packs in my other rhythm games so I don't feel bad about it xD

Oh thankyou! It's just a cold, but it limits what you can play when you are just sneezing/coughing constantly, but I'm on the mend now, thanks for your concern!

I'm female too, I don't blame you for picking that username, he's definitely my favourite talking boat though I don't think that's saying much

Despite my love of all things cute I like my VN's on the horror side of things, but I'm always open to trying new ones, since there aren't too many scary ones available.

@Barbiegurl777
I know the Disney ones you mean, I've never played them myself though. I actually have Disney magical world 2 in my backlog but I haven't played it yet.

But Disney Dreamlight Valley isn't like those at all, it's like a mix between animal crossing and story of seasons, it's very addictive and a really cozy game.

Thanks for the recommendations I'll get them added!
Hehe I already do that, I've nearly hit the max count of games you can have in the Eshop wishlist, I check it in the morning and after 2pm daily (2pm is when it changes usually) So I'm very on top of it and buy quite a lot of games on sale. Only difference is I have my paypal linked to the Eshop instead of buying cards, it can be quite dangerous xD maybe I should do what you do to help with my self control a little bit!

@Barbiegurl777 Thanks so much for those recommendations! I had the first two on my wish list but hadn't heard of Dangerous Relationship before. It's currently half price and I'm downloading the demo right now (it seems to be one of those where the heroine has no eyes, lol). Re the hacking you mentioned, I'm sorry that happened to you and I hope the bank at least returned your money.

@Nanami_Ataraxia Hello Kitty is good medicine XD. I'm glad to hear you're on the mend now.

I agree, the King of Red Lions is the best talking boat ever! (Well, the only one I know of, but still...)

I earnt a lot of gold points from my recent pre-closure 3DS eShop purchases. If you can resist the temptation, what I do is buy the cheaper games instead of using points to get them; it all builds up over time and you could then use the gold points discount on the bigger purchases (easier said than done, I know XD).

I'm not aware of many horror VNs on Switch either but have Kurokami-sama's Feast and Alice's Warped Wonderland: REcollection wish listed. Not sure if even if TEMPEST, Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo and Hermitage: Strange Case Files count as horror or not but they seem to be on the darker side of things/contain supernatural elements if those are of interest.

Oh, and if PC is an option as well, there are several free otomes and/or horror VNs on Steam, the majority of which are still on my ever-increasing backlog though...

@Barbiegurl777 What a hassle, but I'm glad to hear it was resolved!

Hehe, I'm the same, I wait for a sale even for games which are already cheap. I use a combination of Deku Deals and checking the eShop directly because some developers give a further discount on top of the sale price if you already own any of their other games.

Something that surprised me was that it's possible to earn gold points even for activating a code bought from a different retailer. I bought Breath of the Wild DLC elsewhere for less than it cost in the eShop and still got 90 gold points simply for activating the code!