Category: IGN

Lost Origins saw reprints earlier this year, but now that they’ve dried up, we’re seeing the usual climbs in this Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield expansion. What I didn’t expect was to see so many Trainer Gallery cards drop in value, but I think this is more of a market correction.

It was only at the beginning of the year that Gengar and Pikachu were in the pocket money binder at your local TCG and collectables stores, but those days are still a distant memory.

Crashers and Climbers: Lost Origin

With Pokémon Mania 2025 still going crazy, everyone is trying to grab new release sealed product at retail, which means it’s a great time to snag some overlooked cards from older sets before they climb up.

For example, I got most of the cards in today’s crasher section for around $5 each 12 months ago, so although they’re currently lowering in price, they’re still a great buy. Let’s get straight into it.

Pokémon Card Crashers

Borderlands 4 is a looter shooter that revolves around… loot. But what happens when you can’t get your hard-earned Legendary drop because it got trapped out of bounds or behind an invisible wall? Desperate Borderlands 4 players are running into that exact problem and are now pleading with developer Gearbox for a fix.

If you’ve played Borderlands 4 you’ll probably know the feeling. It’s the europhoria that comes from a Legendary drop among the confetti-like explosion of loot that erupts from a downed boss. This is something the Borderlands series has always done well, perhaps better, even, than any other looter shooter. When Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford recently said if more developers better understood why gamers love loot, then Borderlands would have “good competitors,” most agreed with him.

But if that Legendary flies off and lands out of bounds, the frustration is just as intense as the euphoria that proceeded it. Double the intensity if the Legendary spirals away after a particularly difficult boss fight.

This has been a problem with Borderlands 4 since launch, but it was exacerbated this week with the weekly endgame content reset, which rotated The Oppressor into this week’s Big Encore boss fight. The problem here is The Oppressor is a flying enemy (flying enemies in shooters are almost always more annoying to fight than any other), which means it darts about the sky, sometimes over areas the player can’t reach. And what happens when you land the killing shot as it’s in the air? The loot flies sometimes lands on a roof, behind an invisible wall just out of reach, or off the map entirely.

Players are, understandably, infuriated. “Do not waste your Eridium on this week’s Big Encore Boss Opressor unless you want to lose loot,” declared redditor PuzzleheadedDust8094. “If you value your Eridium and dislike getting screwed out of your items because Gearbox can’t seem to prevent your loot from flying outside of the arena or through walls, you absolutely should avoid fighting this boss UNTIL THEY FIX THIS.

“I have lost so much loot to bosses dropping stuff in places you can’t get to because it’s a giant death pit or because of bogus invisible walls. This week’s Big Encore boss might just be the biggest offender yet. I’ve lost (and I wish I was joking) 7 OUT OF 10 Big Encores worth of loot. That’s 700 hard earned Eridium down the drain.”

Who’s your starter Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Z-A? Wait, wait, let me guess: is it Totodile?

Odds are, I was correct, at least based on a poll we’ve conducted surrounding the launch of Z-A yesterday. Our poll’s been up for 22 hours and has over 11,000 votes from IGN readers, and it reveals that of the three Z-A starter Pokémon, over half of IGN’s audience is picking Totodile over Tepig or Chikorita.

At the time this piece was written, water-type Totodile had 56% of the vote, with 24% choosing grass-type Chikorita, and only 20%, one-fifth of our readers, picking fire-type Tepig.

This might not be a shock to anyone, though, as Totodile has long been a fan-favorite. Just look at the bitey boy! Chikorita and Tepig have historically gone less-loved, and Tepig in particular is an outlier in this trio as both Totodile and Chikorita hail from Johto, while Tepig was a starter in Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2.

That said, while I personally went with Chikorita (having picked Totodile in Generation 2 every single time and wanting a change-up), I gotta say, Tepig by far has the best final Mega Evolution of the three. All members of this trio get new Mega Evolutions in Z-A, and while I won’t spoil them here, Meganium’s was rather disappointing and Feraligatr’s just looks weird. Emboar though? Looking awesome.

Don’t overthink it though. All three starters are perfectly viable for the entirety of Z-A’s campaign, and it’s very easy to catch all three Pokémon for your PokeDex once you hit the endgame, so you won’t be missing out.

You can learn more about the starter Pokémon and their evolutions in our Wiki guide if you’re still on the fence. Then check out our in-progress Pokémon Legends: Z-A Walkthrough, plus our Side Missions List to make sure you don’t miss anything. We’ve also got a Pokémon Legends: Z-A Pokedex, and most importantly, a guide to All Clothing Stores and Clothing in Pokémon Legends: Z-A so you can catch ’em all in style. And my review-in-progress of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now live, if you want to check out my impressions of the first 24 hours, with a full review coming next week.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

After a short hiatus, the Magic: The Gathering Crashers and Climbers are back – and there are some decent drops on Spider-Man cards that you may have on your radar.

There are some fun synergies popping off, too, leading to climbs for cards that came out when I was 8 years old – a poignant reminder that, like death and taxes, Magic is forever.

Let’s get into it.

MTG Crashers This Week

Now that the Spider-Man set is here, a lot of the pre-launch pricing has settled down and that means you can grab some fantastic cards on the (relative) cheap.

Gwenom, Remorseless is down to just $13 now, and is a 4/4 with deathtouch and lifelink who can play card from the top of your library. The fun thing is that you pay for those cards with life instead of mana, hence why that lifelink keyword is handy.

Next up in Spidey’s baddies, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin is a 1/1 that can’t be blocked, triggering Connive and giving him the potential to climb in power. Pay the mana cost, and he turns into Green Goblin, able to cheapen spells from the graveyard that you discarded through Connive. He’s $15 now.

Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer we’ve already touched on, and he’s now $12 or so. I’m personally planning to pick him up once we get to around the $10 mark I think.

Next up, the meme-worthy Imposter Syndrome has levelled out at around $10. It lets you create a non-legendary copy of a creature that attacked.

Finally, if you wanted to build a five-color Spider-Verse deck, Cosmic Spider-Man is just $10 now. He’s got a ton of keywords that he transfers to other Spider Hero characters, and makes an ideal Commander for anyone looking to drop a ton of them into the same deck

MTG Climbers This Week

Number one on our climbers this week is Mortuary, a card that’s 27 years old and basically bounces creatures from your graveyard straight to the top of your library.

It’s simple enough, and it’s been a few dollars at most. Now, TCGPlayer has it climbing to around $30 thanks to the emergence of Gwenom, Remorseless, which can pay life to cast cards from the top of your library.

Next up, when is a Turtle Ninja not a Ninja Turtle? When it’s Taeko, the Patient Avalanche, of course. Nothing to do with the upcoming TMNT set, this card enters tapped and powers up as cards leave the battlefield without dying. It’s reached $15, having been around $5 just a week or two ago. Turtle power, indeed.

Next up, Attunement came out in 1998 and works very nicely for turning Norman Osborn into Green Goblin and causing chaos. Did the designers in 1998 ever anticipate that sentence? It’s unlikely, but the card is up to $11 right now.

Goryo’s Vengeance is a nice bit of graveyard recursion that gets you flinging a big nasty from the graveyard back for one last hurrah, all for just two mana. It’s up to $15.

Entangler is a very fun one. It pairs with Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer (more from him shortly), allowing him to block multiple creatures at once. That’s particularly useful given he ends up negating that damage and powering up with counters in return. After being under a dollar, Entangler is now reaching closer to $10.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He’s a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife’s dismay.

Japanese fans playing Pokémon Legends Z-A have spotted a rare mention of Pikachu pooping. However, the game’s English-language translation adjusts the dialogue — and instead simply references Pikachu experiencing “tummy troubles.”

According to Automaton, “Pikachu’s Poop” briefly trended on X for some Japanese users after the discovery of a Lumiose City NPC who mentions that their Pokémon is unwell. “Pikachu’s pooping more than usual, I’m worried,” the character reportedly says.

There’s no follow-up dialogue, leaving players without any further detail on Pikachu’s bowel habits. Nevertheless, the mention is notable, based on how infrequently Pokémon actually references the creatures’ need to poop at all.

ピカチュウのうんち pic.twitter.com/rVetTHbftA

— てそ (@teso_026) October 15, 2025

The Pokémon series has occaisonally mentioned Pokémon droppings, suggesting that some species’ poop makes for good fertilizer (Diglett), while other species’ poop can be dangerously explosive (Turtonator). A particular favorite Pokédex of mine mentions the Fire-type creature Darumaka, whose “droppings are hot so people used to put them in their clothes to keep themselves warm.” Lovely.

Back to Pikachu, though, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s English translation of the above scene. As seen by IGN, the explicit mention of poop has been replaced with the following dialogue: “My Pikachu’s been having tummy troubles recently. I’m worried…”

Just when you thought Hallmark’s 2025 Christmas ornament lineup couldn’t get any better, it pulls this out of its festive stockings.

Halo 3’s 2025 ornament is certainly fantastic, and another immensely popular decoration from Hallmark.

But, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “Decayed Master Sword” ornament just might take its place as a frontrunner on many of our trees this year.

One of last year’s most highly anticipated action titles, Stellar Blade, has seen a price cut at Amazon.

The game has landed within 2 cents of its previous lowest price at the retailer, bringing the character action title from Shift Up down to $49.99 from its $69.99 MSRP – a drop of 28%.

Sony has asked the courts for a preliminary injunction against Light of Motiram maker Tencent to stop the Chinese megacorp from commencing pre-release promotion of the upcoming adventure game, filing its opposition to Tencent’s motion to dismiss the high-profile copyright lawsuit.

It comes after Sony accused Tencent of developing a “knock-off game [of Horizon Zero Dawn] so blatant that the public loudly decried the obvious and pervasive copying of Horizon’s protected elements,” claiming the release of Light of Motiram “jeopardizes Horizon’s continued success, including current expansion plans for the franchise.”

Sony claimed Tencent’s upcoming game Light of Motiram was nothing more than a “slavish clone” of Horizon Zero Dawn, and filed a copyright lawsuit in a California court at the end of July, outlining numerous similarities and comparing various marketing screenshots from both games, as well as their descriptions. As we explained at the time, just like Horizon, Light of Motiram takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by giant robot dinosaurs who roam large, natural environments such as tropical forests, deserts, and snowy mountains. Both games even feature red-haired women protagonists that wear very similar outfits and styles, and devices similar to Aloy’s “Focus” earpiece.

Just days after Sony filed its lawsuit alleging the upcoming game was a “slavish clone” of Horizon, Tencent quietly updated its Light of Motiram Steam page and swapped out a number of screenshots, including its cover image, before responding to Sony’s lawsuit by claiming it was only making use of “well-trodden” tropes and suggesting the PlayStation maker’s own game was too similar to Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Tencent then hit back by describing Sony’s lawsuit an overreach, highlighting other game franchises with similar elements to Horizon Zero Dawn such as The Legend of Zelda and Far Cry. It was “startling,” Tencent said, that Sony was now attempting to claim Horizon’s concept was original, rather than an idea based on “ubiquitous genre ingredients.”

Now, as reported by The Game Post, Sony has dismissed Tencent’s response as “nonsense,” insisting “the damage is done – and it continues” and accusing the Chinese company of trying to minimize its involvement by using “shell” entities even though the Chinese firm remains “at the helm.”

“The copying was so egregious that numerous journalists and Horizon fans called Light of Motiram ‘a major Horizon rip off,’ ‘an obvious knock off,’ a ‘copycat’ with a main character that ‘resembles Aloy to a tee,’ and ‘extremely similar to Horizon Zero Dawn’,” Sony wrote.

That’s not all, though. As spotted by Games Fray, Sony has also filed for a preliminary injunction in a bid to prevent Tencent from using a red-haired character in Light of Motiram, as well as other visuals or storyline elements close to that of the Horizon franchise. It hopes for the injunction to be enacted by the end of the year.

Tencent, however, maintains that with a scheduled release date on Q4 2027, Sony “cannot possibly hope to demonstrate the ‘immediate threatened injury’ that is the prerequisite of a preliminary injunction” given the game is so far from release. It attached declarations from a number of key stakeholders, including Guerrilla’s head of music, Lucas van Tol, and artist Jan-Bart Van Beet who both claim they were “shocked” when they saw Light of Motiram, with Van Beet writing: “Tencent’s promotional material presents a visual setting almost identical to SIE’s Horizon promotional material.”

“After spending over a decade creating and developing the Horizon franchise, it was disappointing to see our work copied to such a significant extent,” he wrote. “Instead of spending the years and money that we invested into creating the Horizon world, Light of Motiram simply copied it, sidestepping the investment we made — and significant risk we took — in developing Horizon.”

He continued: “There is an even greater risk of harm to the Horizon franchise if Light of Motiram, once released, does not have the same high quality as the Horizon games. The confusion caused by Light of Motiram promotions has already interfered with our existing Horizon development strategy, as there is a risk that future expansion could be incorrectly interpreted as copying Light of Motiram.”

Van Tol wrote: “I have reviewed the music and sounds in Light of Motiram’s promotional materials. I found striking similarities between their promotional trailer and the Horizon music. Light of Motiram’s promotional materials contain the same core features of the Horizon sound, including the pillars, instrumentation, intimacy of the lead female voice, melodic composition, and rhythm, creating a similar overall feel.”

The case continues.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

The owner of a high-profile social media account dedicated to sharing Pokémon leaks has boasted of having numerous images removed by The Pokémon Company today in response to copyright claims — something they say only proves the leaked details are legitimate.

Copyright removals have now hit a long list of posts by CentroLeaks, an X account that this week shared dozens of images said to originate from the infamous Pokémon “Teraleak” of data, originally hacked from the servers of developer Game Freak last year.

While not the source of the Teraleak itself, CentroLeaks has played a pivotal role in publicising its contents, sharing images from beta builds of this week’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A, to eye-opening details of unannounced games allegedly set to launch over the rest of the decade. Neither Nintendo nor The Pokémon Company have responded to IGN’s request for comment.

“Funnily enough they took the bait,” CentroLeaks posted this morning, stating that The Pokémon Company was behind the removal of numerous images that appeared to detail upcoming projects, including next year’s unannounced but highly-anticipated “Gen 10” Switch 2 games.

“Mr. Takato Utsunomiya, the Chief Operating Officer of The Pokémon Company, has personally sent an email to Centro Leaks / X to take down the Pokémon leak images,” another post by the account stated, later sharing what appeared to be a formal demand for a long list of posts to be removed as they contained “copyrighted works (illustrations) of the characters from the Pokémon video game series… reproduced and distributed to the public without our permission.”

Details of a further set of Mega Pokémon coming in Legends Z-A’s $20 DLC are among the images that have been removed, the account noted. “I guess Game Freak also confirmed the returning Pokémon list in the Legends: Z-A DLC is real,” CentroLeaks said.

Other removed images included concept art and early screenshots purported to show various upcoming Pokémon projects, including the Gen 10 games, a third Pokémon Legends title, and an ambitious sounding concept for a Pokémon game spanning multiple regions.

Attention to CentroLeaks’ account has been so widespread that fan art has already started to spring up of Pokémon species shown in the leaked art, likely years before any official reveal.

However, as IGN has stated previously, it is worth treating all of the details leaked online this week with a measure of caution, amid claims that some logos were in fact fan-made, and a general acknowledgement that all of the information is now a year out of date at the very least. Game Freak’s servers were breached in August 2024, and The Pokémon Company’s plans may have since changed, with specific concepts or indeed entire projects potentially scrapped altogether.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have previously attempted to track down the culprit behind the original Teraleak, though seemingly have not had much success, judging by the huge spread of further details online this week. As for CentroLeaks, the account’s owner does not seem particularly concerned by either company, despite their infamously litgious nature.

At the time of writing, the most recent update on the CentroLeaks account is a retweet of a previous post from 2024, which simply states: “if only he knew that laws don’t exist in Peru.”

IGN’s review-in-progress of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now live, if you want to check out our impressions of the first 24 hours, with a full review coming next week. If you’re jumping into Pokémon Legends Z-A, choose your Starter Pokémon, then check out our in-progress Pokémon Legends: Z-A Walkthrough, plus our Side Missions List to make sure you don’t miss anything. We’ve also got a Pokémon Legends: Z-A Pokedex, and most importantly, a guide to All Clothing Stores and Clothing in Pokémon Legends: Z-A so you can catch ’em all in style.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The fear that Stranger Things might tank its reputation with a dodgy finale was a concern for the show’s cast, star Finn Wolfhard has admitted, after seeing Game of Thrones’ final season brutally “torn to shreds.”

Speaking to Time, Wolfhard mentioned the widespread reaction to Game of Thrones’ final episodes as an example of how a long-running big-budget TV series can build up enormous expectations for its hotly anticipated climax — then spark enormous backlash after failing to deliver.

Negative reaction to Game of Thrones’ final season still dominates discussion around the show, following widespread criticism of its plot, pacing and sudden character developments. Many fans blamed the uneven final season on the series’ creators running out of book material to adapt, while others have suggested the series simply tried to do too much in too few episodes. Regardless, it has become a model that other series, clearly, do not want to follow.

“I think everyone was pretty worried, honestly,” Wolfhard said. “The way that Game of Thrones got torn to shreds in that final season, we’re all walking into this going, ‘We hope to not have that kind of thing happen.'”

Not that Wolfhard is suggesting Stranger Things will wrap up its own run with a similarly polarizing finale — far from it.

“Then we read the scripts,” Wolfhard continued, saying that the show’s cast now felt reassured. “We knew that it was something special.”

Stranger Things’ fifth and final season will launch on Netflix with four episodes on November 26, before a further three episodes arrive on Christmas Day, December 25. The series’ feature-length finale will then release on New Year’s Eve, December 31, wrapping up the show’s supernatural saga after almost a decade. No pressure.

After all that, will this really be the end of Stranger Things? Of course not. Netflix already has plans for animated series and at least one spinoff.

This week, fans learned that Stranger Things’ final episodes will wrap up one long-standing mystery around the series — what the Upside Down actually is. So that’s something.

Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social