Category: Nintendo

Banjo-Too-Five-ie.

One of the reasons I adore N64-gen Rare so much is because they loved testing the boundaries. What could they get away with in a cheeky, charming 3D platformer? Banjo-Kazooie was already dipping its toe in the water in a few subtle (and less-subtle) ways. “How’s your nuts, bark breath?” is funny, but perhaps funnier with that adult context. And the 1998 platformer was more than ready to get a little bit scary – did anyone else freak out the first time they saw Clanker? No?

But Banjo-Tooie pushes things to a whole new level. It rips the band-aid off and tosses it off of a steep cliff into the volcano of Hailfire Peaks, almost with complete disregard for what came before it. Rare is unafraid to tell you that this is a very different game tonally from the first. In fact, growing up, it was one of the scariest games I’d played. I still feel that way 25 years later. And I love it, warts and all, for that reason.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Let’s get ready to (air) rumble.

Fellow air riders! It is time to…ride the air.

We’re big fans of Kirby Air Riders, as if you couldn’t tell from our 8/10 review.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

“this extra time will help us polish the game further”.

Those looking forward to OPUS: Prism Peak on the Switch and Switch 2 will need to wait just a little bit longer, as developer Sigono has announced a delay into 2026.

Speaking via social media, the team stated that the delay would “help us polish the game further and bring it closer to the vision we want to deliver”. Though a specific date has not been specified, we can currently expect to see it launch in March 2026.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Includes performance updates and mouse support.

Following the release of SHUTEN ORDER on the Switch in September, a Switch 2 Edition has now been officially announced.

It will arrive later this month on 27th November 2025 for the launch price of 6,579 yen. This 10% discount is available until 4th December 2025. Local pricing for the full game hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but there will be a paid Upgrade Pack for existing Switch owners. Thankfully, it’s only a small sum of 330 Yen (about $2).

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Following its recent Nintendo Direct reveal.

There were all sorts of announcements during Nintendo’s September Direct, but one you might have missed was for an upcoming eShop release known as Popucom by Gryphline.

It’s described as a multiplayer co-op platform adventure title, where you’ll need to master “techniques of colour switching and match-3 shooting” to overcome puzzles and defeat enemies. There’s also support for motion-assisted aiming with the Switch’s gyroscopic sensors.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

“Nintendo asked us to help”.

Video game studio Panic Button has revealed it was selected by Nintendo to help update “marquee” Switch titles for Switch 2.

The talented team confirmed this in an official announcement on social media. Nintendo asked the studio to “help demonstrate new capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2 system” while remaining faithful to the original versions of each title.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Tanks for the memories.

Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives series is back with another cabinet classic on Switch 2. I got to check out Jet Ski racer Aqua Jet back in August, which was a lovingly crafted port. This time I’m revisiting the destructive tank combat of Namco’s Tokyo Wars, which served as inspiration for The 3DO Company’s N64 classic Battle Tanx: Global Assault.

Aqua Jet was notable for having a cabinet containing a replica Jet Ski, something which can’t really be recreated on Switch (without some serious hardware modding). Tokyo Wars had a similar hardware quirk that provided a satisfying kickback to simulate your tank firing its payload. A feature that is, bafflingly, not emulated with the Switch 2 controllers’ haptics.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

One for the pre-loaders.

The full release of Kirby Air Riders is right around the corner, and to make sure that everything is in tip-top condition on launch day (tomorrow), Nintendo has released a day one patch to up the game to ver. 1.1.1.

The patch actually encompasses ver. 1.1.0 and 1.1.1, the former of which adds in the game’s online modes, and the latter sets about fixing any unwanted bugs that might pop up along the way. There are a bunch of features included in this one too, such as the addition of a Team Battle to City Trial, the ability to share replays, and amiibo support for the upcoming Air Riders figures.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

On Wednesdays we wear pink.

After 105+ minutes of gameplay and breakdowns, we have finally arrived at the launch week for Masahiro Sakurai’s latest joint, Kirby Air Riders.

The game is mere hours away from boosting onto Switch 2 on 20th November (that’s tomorrow!), and that means that it’s time to take a look at the reviews and give you a summary of all the different opinions out there.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Air force one.

Kirby Air Ride, I think it’s fair to say, didn’t receive all that warm a welcome when it launched back in 2003.

With lucky GameCubers already marinating in the delicious driving juices of Mario Kart: Double Dash and F-Zero GX, Kirby’s cute and chaotic style of racing just didn’t seem to stick with the mainstream, and, as a result, it’s become known as one of those Marmite efforts. You either gelled with its new approach to slinging yourself around tracks or you didn’t.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com