Skulls of the Shogun is as charming and brisk as ever on the Nintendo Switch Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Skulls of the Shogun is as charming and brisk as ever on the Nintendo Switch And Skulls on the Couch has never been better. Feature by Christian Donlan Features Editor Updated on 12 Jul 2019 6 comments Skulls of the Shogun has arrived on Nintendo Switch via the Bone-A-Fide edition. This is a tactics battler that has always reminded me of Advance Wars, despite the fact that it deals with circles rather than squares, radial movement boundaries rather than grids. Still, it's all about getting a handful of different units spread across a compact battlefield, getting the resources flowing and then sticking it to your enemy. Focusing on a group of undead Samurai, the whole thing is astonishingly pretty too: resource tiles are rice fields, cavalry units ride skeleton horses and the world is stylised with thick black lines and lovely grainy, spotty sixties-cartoon textures. What makes it particularly exciting on the Switch, though, is the multiplayer. (You can play online or offline, incidentally.) Skulls has a great single-player campaign, but Skulls on the Couch is where the game really lives. With up to four people clutching Joy-Cons this is the kind of snappy tactical delight that can eat a whole evening. The reason why it works so well, I think, is the same reason the campaign is such a treat. Skulls is made to be played at speed. You generally have only a handful of units to control, and even when you're dealing with a large-ish handful, you're limited to five units to move per turn. Rice fields, meanwhile, contain finite resources, so the meat-grinder stalemates of Advance Wars, where cities keep paying out forever, are not a problem. Every encounter is hastened towards its resolution. In multiplayer, if anything, the game actually gets even faster. I've been playing this morning on a small map with one other player, and the most fun has come from the fact that you can set turn times to just 20 seconds. That means this taut, finely balanced tactical game can often play out in a series of thrilling panic moves. You realise it's your turn, you dither over your units, you just about work out what you want to do and you squeak it through. Skulls, in other words, is a banger. And it's entirely at home on the Switch. Lovely! Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. 15 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 34 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Sennheiser's legendary HD 599 open-back headphones are just £70 at Amazon in the Prime Early Access Sale Comfortable with neutral sound and a wide sound stage. Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. 1 Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 61 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store