Category: Nintendo

Knives out.

Regarding modern augmentations, SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound — released not even a month apart — have a lot of overlap. Yet, after 45 minutes of play, I was convinced that Art of Vengeance is one of the finest 2D Ninja action games ever made. Perhaps the finest; and such praise doesn’t come lightly.

After Ragebound’s dazzle, I was unsure if Shinobi could top it; yet it has. Visually beautiful, broadly artistic, and almost calligraphic in nature, the styling is well-married to its Japanese thematic. Natural elements of wood, cloth, and stone fuse with heavy machinery, concrete and military steel, the rural areas reflecting the painted landscapes of Hokusai and Taikan.

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Mecha for robot-fighting fans?

Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion arrives at an interesting time in these early months after the release of Switch 2. There haven’t been many AAA-styled heavy-hitters to push this system so far, certainly not in terms of action games, at least. And so, Titanic Scion feels like it should give us a reasonable idea of how the console is positioned to handle this type of experience.

And it’s a rough first pass. The console’s just out, and this is a big old game with a whole lot going on, so it follows, rather unsurprisingly, that some issues are present, and concessions have had to be made to get it running on Nintendo’s machine. It turns out the Switch 2 really isn’t a pocket PS5 after all! But we knew that, you and I. It just stings a little when your new console can’t play the new thing as nice as some other, not-quite-as-new consoles.

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Driving solo.

The Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Open Network Test wrapped up last weekend, but it looks like we won’t have to wait long before we get to go hands on with the blue blur’s upcoming racer again ahead of launch.

SEGA capped off the test period by sharing that a free demo will be heading our way at some point in mid-September, with “more info coming soon”.

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Available until the end of September.

If you want a little bit more from your next Switch Online subscription, Nintendo is currently offering a special deal in certain parts of the world.

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Switch Online icons also available.

Apart from a Switch and Switch 2 firmware update today, Nintendo has also released its weekly Nintendo Music update.

The latest update adds the soundtrack from the 2012 3DS tactical RPG, Fire Emblem: Awakening. You can get a quick sample of this album in the official Nintendo social post below:

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Available for Switch, too.

We’re now in September, and Nintendo has rolled out a new firmware update for the Switch 2 and original Switch.

It’s seemingly a small one, with the patch notes mentioning how it has improved the overall stability. Here are the full patch notes, courtesy of Nintendo’s official Japanese support page.

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Ludicrously long titles are so hot right now.

Kirby landed on Nintendo’s latest console last week, a few months ahead of his upcoming Switch 2 exclusive Kirby Air Riders in November.

The updated version of Kirby and the Forgotten Land followed on from the snazzy Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of a Switch 1 game released in July, the (similarly) laboriously titled Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, adding some bespoke new stuff into the brilliant base game along with the resolution and frame rate upgrades you’d expect.

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Games and gear for when you’re not playing Silksong.

Switch 2 is nearly three months old now, and we’re on the cusp of the mad Q3/4 rush as publishers gear up to extract your pennies over the holiday season, which is just a few months away.

Switch 2 is slowly, steadily building a library, and there’s still more Switch 1 games coming than we know what to do with. And with the launch Silksong — finally! — there’s loads to be playing even if you haven’t yet picked up Nintendo’s latest system.

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Ah, a blockade.

We are mere days away from the Switch 2’s next big port, with Star Wars Outlaws gearing up for a hyperspace exit on 4th September. Ubisoft has been pretty shy with Switch 2 footage so far (bar a sizzle reel appearance in the console’s reveal Direct, and another brief look back in July), and if initial impressions are to be believed, there might be a good reason for that.

Outlaws’ Switch 2 port has arrived at PAX West, giving all those in attendance the first chance to see how Kay Vess’ planet-hopping adventure fares on the new Nintendo hardware. One such person to go hands-on with the game was GVG‘s Steve Bowling, who, despite revealing that Ubisoft allowed no direct-feed capture or over-the-shoulder recording during the preview, assembled his thoughts into a YouTube video. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t sound great.

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Update: Team Cherry confirms.

After a long wait and multiple delays, Team Cherry’s anticipated release Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally releasing next month – and the cost of the eagerly awaited game appears to have been revealed (thanks, Eurogamer).

While it’s not an official confirmation, a now-deleted listing on Gamestop that marked the game’s price as $20 was spotted by fans of the series.

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