Category: Nintendo

Excelsior!

The freakin’ weekend is finally upon us, and we’ve got games to play! Before we get into our plans, though, let’s recap the week.

It was a pretty quiet one in Nintendo Land, with not so much as a whiff of a Direct — which is weird, after the last three weeks of showcases. Nintendo revealed an all-new Mario Kart World event in Japan, announced that Chibi-Robo would soon be arriving on the GameCube NSO library and just maybe set up the social media account for Mario’s upcoming 40th anniversary. Oh yes, and we went hands-on with a little-known curio called Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

“The game that never was”.

Sonic Mania is one of the best Sonic games ever, and while there were hopes it would get a sequel, a few years ago, it was revealed how Sega was eager to move beyond pixel art and ultimately it didn’t go ahead.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Playable at the World Championships.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A isn’t out until October, but this weekend there’s a Switch 2 demo at the 2025 Pokémon World Championships.

The first impressions are now rolling in, and we’ve put together some thoughts so far – starting with a ‘hands on’ from our senior video producer Zion Grassl. Although it might not be for everyone, we’re thinking the hardcore fans will be pleased with how it’s shaping up.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

I ain’t afraid of no Geist.

Everyone, we like to believe, has a made a secret list for every single console they’ve ever owned, of weird and/or experimental stuff they either want to, or wished they had, played. Sometimes you get round to them, sometimes you don’t. You know the sort of thing. For me, on GameCube specifically, things like Cubivore come to mind, and to a lesser extent Eternal Darkness and Geist. Yes, Geist! Which means “ghost” in German. Did you know that? Of course you did. Every Geisterjäger or Paranormal-Forscher worth their salz knows this stuff.

Now, Geist didn’t exactly set the world on fire when it came out, but to skip over it for its shortcomings — of which it has its fair share — is to do yourself out of a genuinely odd, unsettling and actually quite good game. And, you know what, 20 years down the line from when it originally released, it’s perhaps more intriguing than ever thanks to how differently it plays compared to many of its peers.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Your ultimate Donkey Kong Bananza resource.

Donkey Kong Bananza is absolutely packed with things to do and see. Fortunately, we here are Nintendo Life are on hand to help with our ultimate Donkey Kong Bananza Guide.

In this guide, we’ll be running through everything you need to know about DKB and where to find every collectible, including All Banandium Gems and Discs, and every Outfit. We’ll also cover where to spend your Skill Points, and much more.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Smooth sailing on Switch 2.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus isn’t a perfect game by any means, but that didn’t stop it from syphoning all of my free time when it launched back in 2022. This was the first time in a while where I truly felt the desire to “catch ’em all”. While Arceus still borrowed a lot from the mainline games, it did enough to make the world of Pokémon feel fresh and alive in ways the franchise previously hadn’t for many players, including myself.

Legends: Arceus isn’t an open-world game, though the zones it offered still did a solid job of making me feel immersed in the environment. Not only would you find Pokémon walking around all over the place, you could sneak up on them and toss a ball without the need for a battle. This could backfire as a Pokémon might be alerted to your presence and lay the smackdown on you. Yeah, you – the trainer. There was a sense of danger and mystery that really couldn’t be found in any previous Pokémon games.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Three Who’sthis?

Cast your mind back to 2022 and you might remember Dark Deity, the fantasy turn-based RPG that took more than a little inspiration from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Fast forward to the present day and we have Dark Deity 2, the second entry in the series which looks just as tied to the Nintendo touchstone.

This one launched on PC earlier this year, but developer Sword and Axe and publisher Indie.io have announced that it will also be making its way to Switch on 4th September, and we can’t help but feel that it’s a good fit.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

But it will have “full crossplay”.

Since the announcement of Borderlands 4 for the Switch 2, we’ve had a number of updates from Randy Pitchford and the team at Gearbox Software about what exactly fans can expect.

Following the news last month the game would run at “mostly” 30fps (instead of 60fps) on Nintendo’s new hybrid hardware, we’ve now got another Switch 2-related update. This was spotted in the game’s official FAQ, which was updated earlier this month.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

He’s aware fans haven’t even seen gameplay yet.

One of the many surprises during the Switch 2 reveal in April was the new game Kirby Air Riders, a sequel to the GameCube outing.

It’s scheduled to arrive later this year, so what’s the latest? Game director Masahiro Sakurai has issued another small update via social media today, mentioning how he thinks the team should be able to share some information about this game soon.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Taking place in Anaheim, California this weekend.

If you happen to be heading to the 2025 Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, California this weekend, you can receive a special Pokémon Scarlet and Violet distribution.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com