Nvidia have released the latest in an unusually frequent series of GeForce driver hotfixes, with the vast majority of identified issues affecting the newest RTX 50 graphics cards specifically. GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 576.26 targets various crashing and flickering problems with, among others, Black Myth: Wukong, Forza Horizon 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2 – though it’s the growing regularity of these patch jobs that’s more disquieting than any particular instance of game breakage.
Marinara sauce, that is.
Brace Yourself Games’ long-awaited follow-up to Crypt of the NecroDancer, Rift of the NecroDancer, was every bit as cheesy as you would hope to see from a Guitar Hero-style rhythm puzzle adventure game (rolls off the tongue, eh?), and its upcoming DLC is going to get things even cheesier.
The beloved Wario Land-inspired indie Pizza Tower will soon be bringing the sauce to Rift of the Necrodancer, with an upcoming DLC pack containing a handful of tracks from Peppino’s high-octane platforming perils. This one arrives on Switch on 21st May (5th May on Steam), so make sure that you work up an appetite in the next few weeks.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero has been rated for Nintendo Switch 2 ahead of any official announcement that the fighting game is coming to the new console.
We still don’t have confirmation that the game based on Akira Toriyama’s fan-favorite anime and manga series is coming to Switch 2, but a now-deleted tweet from the Saudi General Authority of Media Regulation, spotted by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit, proves otherwise.
“Experience the fighting action in the latest game Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. Available on Nintendo Switch 2, featuring 3D battles and storylines that change based on your choices,” the tweet said before it was taken down, confirming it had secured a 12+ rating.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero takes the legendary gameplay of the Budokai Tenkaichi series and raises it to whole new levels, boasting “an incredible number “of playable characters, each with signature abilities, transformations, and techniques.
We gave it 7/10 in the IGN Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero review, saying: “Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a final flash from the past, sometimes to a fault, but the feeling of traveling back to a simpler time when games didn’t have to be balanced or competitive to be fun is still a good one.”
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders went live on April 24, with the price still fixed at $449.99 — and they went about as well as you’d expect. On the same day, Nintendo issued a warning to U.S. customers who applied for a Switch 2 pre-order from the My Nintendo Store, saying release date delivery was not guaranteed due to very high demand.
Check out IGN’s Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide for more.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky
A few years ago I found an old hardback tome of Solitaire rulesets on a garden wall. It was a bright, unambiguously pleasant day and I remember thinking ‘oh, that’s the wotsit that inspired those regency thingamajigs‘. So I took it home and tried my hand at a few variations, then forgot about the book entirely. After reading about Occlude, I can only wish my discovery had been more ominous, more foreboding. Why couldn’t I have found the book in a secret cellar, its hastily painted-over entrance given away by the motion of air through a dream-catcher? Why couldn’t it have been thrust upon me by a desperate man with hypnotic tattoos, pushed into my hands with a precautionary mutter to ‘Ware The Onyx Triangle?’
This is the ambience cultivated by Occlude, a “single-player cosmic horror card game for the terminally curious”, in which Solitaire is the basis for seven rituals involving Tarot cards, which steadily unlock access to an archive of fragmentary lore. Here’s a trailer.
No, not that one.
Donkey Kong Bananza looks as if it could be filled with all sorts of DK (and Mario) lore from across the decades, and now a new video on the Nintendo Today! mobile app may have teased another detail.
New footage showing off DK’s various facial animations is backed by what appears to be the Rambi theme music, which dates back to the N64 outing Donkey Kong 64. There’s been no official announcement about DK’s buddy returning in his new outing just yet, but there’s mounting evidence.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
No docking.
The Switch 2 is getting a new dock and if you have been wondering whether you’ll be able to use your original Switch with it, apparently not.
According to a listing on Nintendo’s Japanese website (via Nintendo Everything), the original Switch systems seemingly can’t be used with the Switch 2 docking station. This includes the Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED devices.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The Legend of Zelda may be one of Nintendo’s most storied and popular video game franchises, but did you also know there’s a vast library of books you can check out? From a wide variety of manga to lore encyclopedias, these books make the perfect gift for the Zelda fanatic in your life. Or if you just wanted to spruce up your own bookshelf, we got you covered.
Amazon’s April book sale might be over, but many of these are still available at a discount for the foreseeable future and make for great gifts.
Penned by Akira Himekawa, the Legend of Zelda manga span almost the entire history of the games, with major manga series based on many of the mainline titles like Ocarina of Time and the Minish Cap. These are great for people new to manga wanting to dip their toes in, or die-hard fans of the games looking for deeper world building. All of these stories are available individually, but if you’re a collector, you can get some of them in various collected box sets.
The 11 volume Twilight Princess Manga has its own boxed set, which includes the complete story and a poster. Additionally, the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past manga by Shotaro Ishinomori is a great quick read that’s also available.
If you’re in the mood for something a little more educational, the Legend of Zelda encyclopedias are the perfect place to get a deep dive into Hyrule’s lore, culture, and different races. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia originally released in 2013 and gave fans the first officially established timeline. If you’re unfamiliar, for years fans have meticulously speculated about a branching timeline that began in Ocarina of Time — one branch where adult Link defeats Ganondorf and one where he doesn’t. It’s a pretty interesting bit of lore that explains some of the settings in later and past games.
The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia and Art & Artifacts offer even deeper looks at the universe, and include detailed breakdowns of the different items, characters, and enemies, as well as exclusive interviews with developers.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion is an over 400 page companion to the 2017 game. It contains countless design artwork and concept art, a look at the history of Hyrule, and interviewers with key developers.
Thanks in part to the internet, they just don’t quite make video game strategy guides like they used to. These days, older guides from publishers like Prima Games and Brady Games have become steeply priced collector’s items. There is, however, one massive hardcover official guide for 2023’s Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that is currently available on the Nintendo Switch. This almost 500 page guide covers everything you need to know in the game, from every Korok location and cooking recipes, to dungeon solutions and boss fight strategies.
Of course, you can also find all of that information in IGN’s guide to the game, but this physical copy is a great addition to your shelf.
Myles Obenza is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Bluesky @mylesobenza.bsky.social.
“I’m sure eBay will be very happy hearing about this”.
The Nintendo Switch 2 may be on the horizon, but millions of original Switch consoles remain in active use—and that means there’s still demand for accessories such as the Joy-Con Charging Grip.
Sadly, picking up one of these accessories comes with some serious risks; examples of counterfeit grips have been reported online. Along with the obvious potential dangers that fake and unregulated electronics bring with them, it would seem that these products often arrive in a completely non-functional state.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
When it comes to licensed movie franchises entering the world of video games, very few have as storied a history as Star Wars. From hopping into an X-Wing cockpit in Rogue Squadron to making decisions that affect the fate of the galaxy in Knights of the Old Republic, George Lucas’ expansive sci-fi universe has become a creative playground for a range of talented developers over the years, and with it paved the way for some truly iconic Star Wars games.
For those looking to dive into some of these games on their Nintendo Switch, we’ve got you covered. Below, we’ve compiled every single Star Wars game available on Nintendo’s flagship console, ranging from immersive RPGs to classic first-person shooters.
In total, there are 10 Star Wars games available on Nintendo Switch. The list below won’t include game bundles like the Heritage Collection or the Knights of the Old Republic bundle, although it’s worth noting that you can find most of the games below packaged together.
These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
The latest Star Wars game to be remastered for Switch, Dark Forces is the first official entry in what would eventually become known as the Jedi Knight series. Assuming the role of a reformed Imperial Officer named Kyle Katarn, players embark on a covert mission for the Rebel Alliance. They’ll get the chance to explore the galaxy across several missions, taking part in frantic first-person shootouts and uncovering a story set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
An arcade racer based around The Phantom Menace’s podracing sequence, Star Wars Episode 1 Racer straps players into their very own podracer and enters them into various tournaments across the galaxy. There, they’ll battle against the likes of Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba, souping up their craft with additional upgrades in an attempt to stomp out the competition and become a legend on the streets of Tatooine.
A continuation of the Star Wars Jedi Knight series, Jedi Outcast follows series’ protagonist Kyle Katarn as he re-embraces the Force and heads out on a quest for revenge. Alongside the first-person shootouts that acted as the centerpiece of earlier entries in the series, Jedi Outcast hones in on technical lightsaber dueling, with players facing off against Sith lords and their friends online in physics-based lightsaber battles.
Another classic Star Wars game repackaged and re-released for the Nintendo Switch, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a prequel to Attack of the Clones that follows notorious bounty hunter, Jango Fett. The game tracks Fett’s attempts to take down a dark Jedi known as Komari Vosa, forcing him to traverse the galaxy’s criminal underworld and battle his way through gangsters, Republic forces and other bounty hunters in an attempt to find and capture his target.
To defend against these threats, players will need to take full advantage of Fett’s powerful arsenal of weapons, using his jet pack and guns to rain down fire on enemies and capture targets. Alongside getting to control one of the prequel trilogy’s most enigmatic villains, Bounty Hunter also tells a full story that directly leads into the events of Attack of the Clones, featuring iconic characters like Jabba the Hutt, Count Dooku and Darth Sidious.
Often heralded as one of the most iconic RPGs ever made, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic tells a new Star Wars story set 4,000 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. Players take on the role of a Galactic Republic soldier who crash lands on the planet of Taris after their ship is attacked.
Left stranded, they undertake a daring adventure and learn the ways of the Force, rallying against the armies of the Sith and their fearsome leader, Darth Malak. Knights of the Old Republic envisions the Star Wars universe during the height of the Jedi Civil War, allowing players to choose whether to follow the path of the light or be tempted by the corrupt allure of the dark side.
Switching out long-running Star Wars Jedi Knight protagonist Kyle Katarn for a new, fully customisable lead, Jedi Academy casts you as Jayden Korr: a Padawan studying under Katarn at the Jedi Temple. Taught in the ways of the force and provided with your very own lightsaber, you explore the galaxy, undertaking new missions and battling back against Sith forces. Jedi Academy introduced several features to the Jedi Knight series, including new fighting styles and the ability to customize lightsabers.
A remaster of both the original Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront 2, the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection allows you to suit up as clones, stormtroopers, droids and more while taking the fight to your enemies on large scale battlefields. With maps spread across both the classic and prequel trilogies, Battlefront gives you the opportunity to relive some of the saga’s most iconic moments, including defending Hoth from Vader and the Imperial Army, taking down Separatist droids on the surface of Geonosis and the climactic battle between the Rebels and the Stormtroopers in the forests of Endor.
The re-release also includes fully functioning online multiplayer, which supports up to 64 players, and an expanded take on Hero Assault: the fan-favourite mode which allows all players to spawn in as hero characters.
An official follow-up to Bioware’s landmark RPG, Obsidian took the reins for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords. Set five years after the events of the original game, the player takes on the role of an exiled Jedi tasked with finding the remnants of the order and uniting them against the growing Sith army.
The ensuing journey takes players across a series of iconic Star Wars planets, where they recruit a party of allies and make choices that shape their relationship with the Jedi Order, the Sith and the Force.
Moving away from lightsaber duels and tales of Jedi venturing across the galaxy, Star Wars: Republic Commando enlists players as a clone trooper, sending them to join Delta Squad as its leader: Boss. Set during the Clone Wars, players guide their unit through three first-person shooter campaigns, gunning down battle droids and other Separatist forces across iconic prequel era Star Wars locales, including Geonosis and Kashyyyk.
Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and a New Hope, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed tells the tale of Starkiller: an apprentice under the tutelage of Darth Vader. Initially sent to hunt and kill the Jedi that survived Order 66, Star Killer’s story quickly spins out into a galaxy-wide adventure, as players build their Force abilities, engage in action-packed lightsaber combat and experience the power fantasy of being a Jedi Knight at the height of their powers.
A pinball game themed around the Star Wars saga, Star Wars Pinball is exactly what it says on the tin. It offers nineteen pinball tables with designs inspired by a spectrum of Star Wars media, ranging from The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens to Rogue One and Rebels.
Traveller’s Tales latest LEGO game for Switch, The Skywalker Saga transports all nine of the mainline Star Wars movies to the world of LEGO. From Obi-Wan and Anakin’s tragic battle above the fires of Mustafar to Luke and Vader’s legendary showdown in Bespin, The Skywalker Saga aims to be an all-encompassing recreation of the series, just with a lot more plastic bricks and minifigures.
Alongside being the biggest LEGO game to date, it also builds significantly on its predecessors, with several open-world areas to explore, more involved boss battles and new third-person shooting mechanics. It also features a stacked roster of playable Star Wars characters, with the cast including everyone from Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader to Babu Frik and Jabba the Hutt.
For more like this, check out our list of every LEGO game on the Switch.
Making its debut on the Switch in 2024, Star Wars: Hunters is a free-to-play multiplayer arena shooter where players can pick from a range of heroes, form a team and take down opponents online.
The range of heroes on offer allow you to take charge of a host of different Star Wars units, including everything from battle droids and storm troopers to Jedis and even Jawas, each coming with their own set of unique abilities you can utilise to support your team and bring down your enemies.
There are five known Star Wars games in development: Star Wars Eclipse, a Knights of the Old Republic Remake, Amy Hennig’s Star Wars project, Bit Reactor’s Star Wars strategy game, and Star Wars Jedi 3. However, none of these games have been confirmed for Switch. That said, we are approaching the launch of the Switch 2, which, with more advanced specs, may be able to support some of the larger Star Wars game releases going forward.
Callum Williams is a freelance media writer with years of experience as a game critic, news reporter, guides writer and features writer.
In Saudi Arabia.
Colour us a little bit surprised that a Dragon Ball game hasn’t been announced for the Switch 2 yet. The legendary anime and manga series from the late Akira Toriyama has proven hugely popular on the current Switch, with both Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot both getting ports to the console.
Well, it seems like we will be getting Goku and friends on the Switch 2, namely in the form of the latest fighting game featuring the Saiyans — Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. A Switch 2 version has been rated by the Saudi General Authority of Media Regulation, as spotted by the GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
