Category: Nintendo

Remappy days.

The long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally released in December, and well, not everyone is happy with it.

The game’s focus on NPCs and a literal desert of an open world did not resonate with gamers as well as Retro Studios had hoped. I hate to admit it, but I agree with the loud people on the internet. None of the people complaining about the dialogue better be Xenoblade fans, though. I’d rather listen to Myles MacKenzie’s unprompted advice than the childish blathering of the Nopon or inane technobabble that makes Star Trek’s sound like Shakespeare.

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Serve’s up.

January persists, but so do we! Welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl.

Last week, we matched up three different covers for Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, and the results weren’t even close. The moody European variant walked away with a dominant 69% of the vote, leaving North America in second with 28%, and the Japanese design picking up the crumbs with the remaining 4%.

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Return to island life.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition officially launches next week, and ahead of this, Nintendo’s Switch Online battle royale game Tetris 99 has announced it will be hosting a Maximus Cup to celebrate.

This is the 51st Maximus Cup (also known as a Grand Prix) and will take place between 8th January 2026 and 12th January 2026. As usual, when you earn a total of 100 event points, you’ll unlock a new theme featuring unique art, music and Tetrimino designs. This is all “inspired by the updated content in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons game”. You can see it in motion in the gameplay trailer above.

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The crimson comeback.

As someone who witnessed its initial release, I’m delightfully baffled that Nintendo is resurrecting the Virtual Boy. We aren’t just getting a passing mention or a trophy in a Smash Bros. game; we’re getting a full-blown revival, including a dedicated NSO app, a $100 authentic replica peripheral, and a $25 cardboard cutout for the Labo diehards.

All this for the console that married Game Boy visuals with Vectrex-style wireframes, stuffed them into a View-Master shell, and doused the whole package in a colour palette straight out of a 19th-century darkroom.

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The path to a radiant dawn awaits.

Did you know that the Japanese version of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has a ‘Maniac’ difficulty mode? You did? And did you know that this mode sort of fixes my biggest problem with the game? You did? Can I do the review anyway? Thanks.

Jumping back into Path of Radiance, the first home console FE, for the first time since all the way back at Christmas 2005 (I got Goblet of Fire underwear, thanks for asking), my one complaint from 20 years ago remains an issue: it’s all a little bit too easy, most especially if you’re a big fan who’s been hoovering up the newer stuff and becoming a strategy master in the meantime. Veterans may find even the toughest of the three available difficulty options — appropriately titled ‘Difficult’ — too sedate for their tastes.

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Geralt might be returning sooner than you think.

There are currently multiple Witcher projects in development and it seems one of them might be new content for Geralt’s third outing.

Over the past week, a rumour about The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt getting a “surprise” DLC expansion popped up online after Polish Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski mentioned how he was expecting a “paid add-on” for the game to be released as early as March 2026.

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“Look forward to it!”.

As the new year gets underway, Level-5’s CEO Akihiro Hino has teased some of the company’s plans for the earlier months of 2026.

Fans of both Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road and Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time can apparently look forward to “free major updates” this month and next. There are no specific release dates just yet, but here’s a rough translation (via RPG Site):

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Get ’em while you can.

Last July, Nintendo announced it would be ending the sale of Switch Game Vouchers. It’s now apparently sent out another reminder (and potentially the last major one) before the big date.

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Xbox’s upcoming showcase will visit the “legendary” team.

The Pokémon developer Game Freak recently released the DLC Mega Dimension, so what’s it up to beyond this? In case you missed it when it was revealed last year, the studio has a new action RPG Beast of Reincarnation in the pipeline.

In an update this week, it’s now been revealed we’ll be hearing more about it at Xbox’s upcoming Developer Direct showcase, taking place later this month on 22nd January 2026. This latest broadcast from Xbox promises to give fans an “inside look at not just the games” but also “the studios working to bring them to life”.

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Update: Nintendo responds after fans accuse company.

Yesterday, Nintendo announced that it would be bringing its ‘My Mario’ collection to the West next month. It launched a cute new marketing campaign showing happy parents and young children putting the products to the test, but the images quickly set AI alarm bells ringing for many on social media (thanks for the heads up, The Gamer).

You see, in a lot of the promotional images, commenters online thought that the fingers just don’t add up. One model’s thumb appears bent back to an impossible angle, while another hand holding up a toddler has been criticised for its finger length and placement.

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