Switch

Nintendo just shadow-dropped a hilarious new game on the eShop

That came out of nowhere

Update: The Stretchers — co-developed by Little Nightmares studio Tarsier Studios and published by Nintendo — has now released on both the European and the Australia/New Zealand eShop, a few hours after it became available on the Japanese eShop. In Australia, it’ll set you back $30 AUD, and you can find it by searching on the eShop, or clicking here to buy it in your browser. Original story follows.

For the most part, Nintendo games tend to release worldwide these days — we’ve come a long way since the days of waiting months or even years for new Nintendo games. This time seems to be a little different, but then, so is releasing a game without any fanfare or prior warning.

Earlier today, Nintendo released an all-new game on the Japanese Switch eShop: The Stretchers. A hilarious-looking co-op adventure, The Stretchers has you and a friend (with one Joy-Con each) control two paramedics as they go about their day, responding to rescue calls, and saving lives by attempting not to toss patients off their stretcher. You can also play it solo, if that’s your thing.

It looks amazing.

Unfortunately, it’s only available on the Japanese eShop right now, and there’s no telling when or if it will become available in other regions. However, it does reportedly support English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Chinese, so if you’re not willing to wait, you can always drop the 2,000 yen (about $25 AUD) on it on the Japanese eShop.

Having said that, support for those languages also suggests we might see The Stretchers release elsewhere in the world sooner rather than later. So who knows?

Oliver Brandt

Deputy Editor, sometimes-reviewer, and Oxford comma advocate. If something's published on Vooks, there's a good chance I looked over it first. I spend way too much on games and use way too many em dashes.