Since his outstanding work on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, director and producer Eiji Aonuma has cemented himself as the driving force behind one of Nintendo’s most celebrated, enduring, and lucrative franchises. For many Zelda fans, he holds just about as much prestige in the ranks of Nintendo as Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, and the late, great Satoru Iwata.
Yet for as vital as Aonuma has proven himself to be for the growth of The Legend of Zelda, there’s another creator who has arguably taken even more of a crucial role in the franchise’s development in recent years: Hidemaro Fujibayashi. In fact, as of 2023, Fujibayashi holds the most directorial credits for the Zelda franchise, helming Oracle of Ages and Seasons, Four Swords, The Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. He also served as story writer and sub-director on Phantom Hourglass.
And just like that, we’re one week into 2024 — well, near enough — and it’s time for the first What Are You Playing of the year!
Before we dive into a weekend of gaming plans, remaining Quality Street and questionable leftover Christmas cheese, however, let’s take a look at what happened in the world of Nintendo this week. We laid out our gaming predictions for the year ahead, ran through some of the discounted delights in yet another eShop sale (will it ever end?) and restarted the ‘Switch 2’ chatter with the predictions of an industry analyst.
The “sneak peek” of the Splatoon 3 FrostyFest is now officially underway. The theme, as previously revealed, is “Who do you spend holidays with?” and the choices are friends, family or “solo”.
Listen, there are some weird Pokemon evolutions out there, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have them in spades. Sometimes the cute little guy you first caught will evolve into an absolute monstrosity, or just something a little bit… off. But who doesn’t love a good motley crew?
The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Teal Mask DLC introduced some new and classic Pokemon to the game, but evolving them isn’t always a straightforward process. Here are some of the most sought-after Pokemon evolution methods in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC and the Pokemon Indigo Disk DLC.
How to Evolve Nosepass in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
This adorable little Moai (or Easter Island head) of a Pokemon makes a return in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, but evolving Nosepass is different this time around.
Once you’ve found Nosepass in the northwestern corner of Kitakami (we recommend looking in Paradise Barrens) you will need to expose Nosepass to a Thunder Stone in order to evolve it into its next strange form, Probopass. Alternatively, if you don’t want to evolve Nosepass, you can sometimes find and defeat Probopass in either a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid.
How to Evolve Aipom in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Teach Aipom the Double Hit move
Defeat in Tera Raid Battle
It’s always been just a little disconcerting that Aipom evolves from a cute little monkey with a hand on its tail to a cute little monkey with… they kind of look like udders, okay? If you want Aipom’s evolution, Ambipom, however, you can evolve your Aipom using this trick.
First, you will want to teach your Aipom the move Double Hit. Aipom should learn the Double Hit move naturally at Level 32. Once Aipom knows Double Hit, you only need to level it up once more and it evolves into Ambipom!
How to Evolve Lampent in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Yep, a chandelier Pokemon. Starting out as the precious candle Pokemon, Litwick, you can take its second evolution Lampent another level and get yourself your very own Chandelure.
To evolve Lampent into Chandelure, you will need to expose your Lampent to Dusk Stone. There is a guaranteed drop of Dusk Stone behind the Montenevera Gym, if you’re having trouble finding some. Otherwise, you can skip evolving Lampent altogether and capture a Chandelure after defeating one in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battle.
How to Evolve Weepinbell in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Expose to Leaf Stone
Defeat in high-level Tera Raid Battle
It has to be said. Weepinbell goes from looking very much like a mouth to evolving into a mouth with sharp teeth. If this cursed creature is your cup of tea though, you can catch Weepinbell and evolve it into your very own Victreebel!
To evolve Weepinbell, you’ll need to expose your Weepinbell to a Leaf Stone. We recommend looking for Leaf Stone in Tagtree Thicket, or you can just buy one. You can also just capture a Victreebel by defeating it in a higher-level Tera Raid Battle.
How to Evolve Dusclops in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Trade while holding Reaper Cloth
Defeat in high-level Tera Raid Battle
This strange Ghost-type Pokemon Dusclops can only be evolved into a Dusknoir by trading it at Level 37. However, there’s a catch! The Dusclops must be holding a Reaper Cloth when traded. To find one, head to the Timeless Woods in Kitakami, and look around the ground in the center of it, to the south, for a Poke Ball on the ground containing one. Dusclops is one of several Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that can only evolve when traded.
The only other way to snag yourself the sinister Dusknoir Pokemon is to defeat one in a high-level Tera Raid in Kitakami.
How to Evolve Poliwhirl in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Okay, so Poliwhirl really isn’t that “weird” for a Pokemon, at least when you compare it to others. What’s strange about Poliwhirl is that it’s one of the few Pokemon that has a “branching” evolution. Not only that, but its Politoed evolution circumvents the usual standard in which an adorable Pokemon evolves into a “tougher” looking Pokemon.
If you want to evolve your Poliwhirl into a cute Politoed instead of Poliwrath, you will need to trade it while it’s holding a King’s Rock at Level 25. You can get King’s Rock from Delibird Presents. The only other way you’ll encounter a Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is in a high-level Tera Raid Battle in Kitakami.
How to Evolve Feebas in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Trade while holding a Prism Scale
Defeat Milotic in 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles
This very decased-looking fish Pokemon, Feebas, is tough to locate in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. If you need help tracking Feebas down, try using our Where to Find Feebas in The Teal Mask DLC guide.
Originally, Feebas would only evolve into Milotic once it was as beautiful as it could be, but since that old Pokemon Contest mechanic is missing from Scarlet and Violet, you’ll have to follow a different method. Once you’ve caught Feebas, the next step is to give it a Prism Scale and trade it. Once traded, it will evolve into a Milotic! If you’re up for the challenge, alternatively you can defeat Milotic in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battle found in the Kitakami region.
How to Evolve Applin in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Dipplin is a new, strange candied apple Pokemon introduced in The Teal Mask DLC. To get it, you’ll first need to find an Applin. These are easier to find in Kitakami, specifically the Apple Hills. Applin already had two different evolutions depending on the type of apple you expose it to, and Dipplin is now the third. Once you have acquired an Applin, simply expose it to the new Syrupy Apple! You can also find Dipplin in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium.
How to Evolve Dipplin in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Teach it Dragon Cheer and level it up once
Hydrapple is really just a collection of six “syrpents” who live in an apple made of syrup. Really. It’s the new second stage evolution of the Applin line introduced in The Indigo Disk DLC, and to get it, you’ll need to evolve the more subdued Dipplin. Dipplin will need to learn Dragon Cheer via TM before it can level up and evolve. To get the Dragon Cheer TM, defeat a certain BB League Elite Four member in the Polar Biome.
How to Evolve Hisuian Qwilfish in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Teach it Barb Barrage and level it up
Defeat Overqwil in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium
Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil aren’t too strange, considering they’re kind of inspired by real-life sea creatures, but the method to evolve Hisuian Qwilfish is a fairly unique one. It needs to know Barb Barrage first and then level up to evolve into Overqwil. You can also encounter the angry Overqwil in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium.
How to Evolve Inkay in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Level up Inkay to Lv. 30 or up while the Switch is upside down
Defeat Malamar in 5- or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium
Inkay is a cute ‘lil squid friend that evolves into Malamar, a curious Dark- and Psychic type Pokemon that can hypnotize its victim. The evolution method for Inkay has been stumping players since its inception, and the method hasn’t changed for its reintroduction in The Indigo Disk DLC. Level Inkay up to at least Level 30 while the console – yes, the entire Nintendo Switch – is upside down.
How to Evolve Milcery in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Give Milcery a Sweet to hold and spin
Defeat Malamar in 5- or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles
Milcery’s a cute cream Pokemon first introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield with a completely unique method of evolution that is… quite specific and strange. First, you must let it hold a Sweet. Then, exit the menu and twirl the control stick so your trainer spins–Milcery should evolve into Alcremie! A pile of whipped cream and strawberries. Well, its adornments will change based on the Sweet you gave it! Yum.
Traide while it’s holding a King’s Rock (for Politoed)
How to Evolve Gurdurr
Trade
How to Evolve Seadra
Trade while it’s holding a Dragon Scale
How to Evolve Dusclops
Trade while it’s holding a Reaper Cloth
How to Evolve Feebas
Trade while it’s holding a Prism Scale
How to Evolve Porygon
Trade while it’s holding an Upgrade
How to Evolve Porygon 2
Trade while it’s holding a Dubious Disk
How to Evolve Phantump
Trade
All of these evolutions can also be caught after defeating them in Tera Raid Battles if you’ve got what it takes, too.
Are there some Pokemon who you are hoping to evolve that weren’t on this list? You can find every Pokemon and their evolution items over on our How to Evolve Every Pokemon guide for Scarlet and Violet! On the flip side, if you are looking for more Teal Mask DLC help, check out our walkthrough or How to Catch the Loyal Three guides!
Shailyn Cotten is a Freelance Writer for IGN. When she’s not writing guides, you can find her gobbling up Legend of Zelda lore, writing cozy fantasy novels, or live-streaming on Twitch. You can find her on Twitter at @ShaiCotten.
It’s a new year and that means Nintendo has a whole bunch of new games to release. One of these happens to be Princess Peach: Showtime! for the Switch.
This title was originally confirmed to be arriving on 22nd March 2024 during last year’s September Direct and in the latest update, an ESRB rating for the game has now been spotted online. This seemingly confirms its release is still on track.
VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 is dropping January 10th and brings, for the first time since launch, a new gun. The Outlaw is the new weapon in the latest season that brings a new sniper rifle into play. Here’s everything you need to know about the Outlaw and the newest season of VALORANT.
OUTLAW
The Outlaw is a brand new double-barreled sniper rifle made to fit somewhere between the Marshal and Operator sniper rifles in the roster. The Outlaw can fire two shots in succession very quickly without zooming out. Depending on how many shots you’ve fired, one shot or two, the reload times will vary and are overall a bit longer than the other sniper rifles to compensate for the fire rate.
Nick Smith, Game Designer II and Sal Garozzo, Game Designer Architect, stated, “The Shorty (the sawed off shotgun sidearm in Valorant) served as a bit of an inspiration in that regard, allowing us to reimagine that paradigm in a new context with a Sniper rifle.”
The Outlaw will be especially formidable against players wearing Light Armor due to its high damage and two-shot mechanics. The Outlaw costs 2,400 credits in matches so it’s right between its competitors the Marshal and Operator.
OUTLAW BUNDLE
The Outlaw also drops with a new Throwback Bundle in the VALORANT SHOP that costs 2,320 VP and includes two skins for the Outlaw with 3 variants each. The Prism/Reloaded Outlaw skin and the Ego Outlaw skin. There are no unique custom animations and VFX for these skins but the Prism and Ego skins returning from 2020 have new color variants to make up for that and the price point.
VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 will be available to everyone January 10th with a new battle pass.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
Nearly 13 years after the debut of Portal 2, fans of the beloved first-person puzzle game were supposed to be rewarded with the Jan. 5 release of a prequel campaign from Second Face Software. The fan-made mod, dubbed Portal: Revolution, will add over eight hours of gameplay and 40 new test chambers to the sequel game.
“Right off the bat, I want to say that the game is done,” the message reads. “We could ship at any moment, but Valve has yet to review and accept the game for release.”
The note continues on to explain how all games on Steam are beholden to a review process by Valve before developers can even have the option to punch the release button. The Portal: Revolution developers first submitted their build for review Dec. 20 but had yet to hear back from Valve before the mod’s intended Jan. 5 release date.
“Even though we’re done on our part, we can’t ship,” the developers wrote. “In hindsight, we should have seen this coming and we definitely learned [our] lesson to not ship during holidays again.”
The developers acknowledged that they were, indeed, warned in advance by Steam Support that reduced staffing during the holiday season leads to much longer review times. Any other time of year, this process normally takes between 2-3 business days, according to the Portal: Revolution developers, though it’s advised games be submitted at least two weeks before their shipping date.
“Even though we’re done on our part, we can’t ship. In hindsight, we should have seen this coming.”
As the announcement was being posted to the Steam storefront, the Portal: Revolution team heard back from Valve that the build is now under review. Once accepted, the game devs said they would update fans with a revised release date.
We’re not sure what’s worse: having to stay patient for the mod’s inevitable debut or the fact it’s ready and simply not available. Either way, it’s a sad day for Portal fans.
The good news? This campaign is going to be well worth the wait. Eight hours of additional gameplay nearly qualifies this community-built mod as a full-length game in its own right. Plus, the new puzzles will force players to think outside the box (or rather, Companion Cube) by utilizing existing mechanics in a unique way.
Set between the events of Portal and Portal 2, the new content will send players back to the tattered ruins of Aperture laboratories. At the game’s onset, you awake as a test subject whose mission is to find a device that can restore the facility.
“Portal: Revolutions puzzle difficulty starts where Portal 2 stops,” according to the game’s developers, though challenging new mechanics will be taught to players as they go along, similar to the original games.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is crammed full of memorable, moving stories. At least one of those stories extends far beyond the Forgotten Realms into the real world too, as a fan has revealed the heartfelt tribute that developers Larian included to their father – a long-time CRPG player – diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Games with miniatures and games with the Marvel licence are ten a penny, but back in 2019 the bright sparks at Atomic Mass Games had the idea to put them together. The result was Marvel Crisis Protocol, a skirmish game where teams of super-powered characters duke it out over tactical objectives. It proved a smash hit, and now it’s back in an updated edition, Earth’s Mightiest Core Set (see it at Amazon), with cool new characters and more dynamic figures. Owners of the original can still use their figures, however, as they’re different versions of the same characters, with slightly different stats and powers.
What’s in the Box
Like a lot of miniature game starter boxes, the contents of Marvel: Crisis Protocol – Earth’s Mightiest Core Set isn’t much to look at when you draw the lid off for the first time. It’s mostly a lot of gray plastic sprues. There are no assembly instruction in the game — instead they have to be downloaded from the website of the publisher, Atomic Mass Games. You’ll also need a craft knife, some polystyrene cement and a lot of time and patience to assemble the contents, although the figure poses are clean and obvious. No guessing games are required over whether you’ve got an arm or a leg at the correct angle.
Once you’ve put the time in, the results are spectacular. The 10 figures in this updated box are much more detailed and dynamic than their original counterparts. Doc Ock drips liquid from tentacle to test-tube, while Black Widow is captured in the act of tearing an Ultrabot in two.
In addition to the characters, there’s also a ton of scenery included, mimicking everyday street objects like lamps and cars. Some of the more spectacular pieces are wrecks and damaged buildings, enlivened by bits of crushed Ultrabots crawling out of the debris. Between them, there’s more than enough to start playing.
A pack of custom dice, character and crisis cards, a rules booklet and some sheets of cardboard sprues containing counters round out the box contents. As you can probably imagine given the wealth of comic art at the game’s disposal, everything looks bright and colorful with plenty of pictures to enliven the tiresome task of rules referencing.
Rules and How It Plays
For the most part, Marvel Crisis Protocol plays like a standard modern miniatures game. Characters get two actions which they can use to do things like move, attack or activate particular hero powers. Movement and range are measure with included custom tools to keep things fast and simple. Attacks are resolved by each player rolling a pool of dice and looking for hit or block symbols to attack or defend, with “wild” icons adding additional effects depending on the attack used.
With each character representing a superhero, you can probably imagine that these additional effects, along with their unique attacks and powers, encompass a wild range of wacky results. Spider-Man, for example, can slam enemy characters into the scenery, while Red Skull can warp both himself and other characters around the map. Most of the more powerful abilities require you to pay a resource called power which is in short supply at the beginning of the game.
However, in a twist of considerable genius, characters get extra power when they’re wounded and when they use particular attacks. This is a useful feedback loop that boosts a player taking hits due to unlucky dice, but it also results in an escalating feedback loop whereby the more everyone is punching and throwing each other around, the more options they have to punch and throw each other even harder. Characters also get dazed after accumulating enough wounds, which flips their character cards over and sometimes reveals even more powerful effects to bring into play.
The result is an ever-escalating fist-fight that feels like flipping the panels on your favorite comic. It won’t be long before characters are chaining attacks into other attacks, throwing the scenery around, throwing each other around — sometimes into the paths of incoming attacks — and criss-crossing the battlefield with energy beams or freeze rays and generally doing what superheroes do best: escalating craziness with every punch until someone finally gets hit for six at the climax.
Not only is this the thematic core of Marvel Crisis Protocol, it’s also where a lot of the tactical decisions lie. It all comes down to assessing the situation and trying to choose which heroes and powers will work best together to counter the enemy. While this is always an interesting challenge, the sheer number of different options at your disposal can also be overwhelming, even for experienced players. Most characters have two to three attack options and a further three or four passive powers. When you’re fielding a team of five or so operatives, it quickly gets hard to handle. As does the sheer number of tokens and tracking many powers require.
The remainder of the strategy comes from the game’s objective system. This is a clever concept that removes a lot of the rock-paper-scissors faction match-up issues that plague a lot of other miniatures games. You build a team of 10 models, and support that team with a choice of crisis cards, which determine the scenario, and team tactics cards, one-shot special powers. Each player draws a crisis card at random from their roster, and those two become the scenario objectives — one detailing objectives to hold and one with items or civilians to get off the battlefield. They also mandate a points cap, and players can choose which of their 10 models to use up to that points value.
This is essentially a kind of sideboard system which allows you to strategically prepare sets of cards and figures that work well together and then finalize them when the exact parameters of the mission become clear. In turn, it offers tons of variety and means you can be much more flexible in how you approach your goals each and every game. So you’re reacting to a new tactical challenge each time by making informed decisions rather than just showing up with a list and hoping your picks will be up to doing whatever job turns out to be asked of them, as a lot of these kinds of games do.
While Marvel Crisis Protocol does give you plenty of tactical tools to work with, it’s also a dice-heavy game. The custom dice icons take some getting used to, but they’re fun to use, especially when a power gives you lots of re-rolls or exclamation results give you extra dice for explosively powerful attacks. At the same time, that does make the game very swingy and prone to fate. This seems well-suited to the theme of the game, with fights often taking wildly unexpected turns just as one side thinks they have it in the bag, but those looking for a more in-depth strategic challenge probably won’t be considering a game about comic-book characters having fist-fights in the first place.
Some 22 years after it first released, the cast of Max Payne recently reunited for a strange but brilliant Alan Wake 2 moment, absent one key member.
Remedy co-founder Sam Lake captured the moment in a photo posted to X/Twitter, referring to the cast as “family and friends.” The group included Jani Niipola (Alex Balder), Carol Kiriakos (Mona Sax), Lake’s mother and father (Nicole Horne and Alfred Woden respectively), Aki Järvilehto (BB), and of course Lake himself, who was the original face of Max Payne.
Absent from the gathering was James McCaffrey, the voice of Max Payne, who died in December. His final role was Alan Wake 2, where he played Alex Casey. Lake paid tribute to McCaffrey at the time, calling him a “lovely man and a dear friend.”
Spoilers for Alan Wake 2
The Max Payne cast was on hand for a 15-minute Finnish short film contained within Alan Wake 2 called Yötön Yö (Nightless Night). The optional sequence features a ballroom dance scene that includes the original cast of Alan Wake.
The original Max Payne was praised for its innovative implementation of bullet time mechanics, then a relatively new film device, and helped introduced Remedy to mainstream audiences. Actors like McCaffrey who featured in Max Payne would go on to appear in many more Remedy games, including Alan Wake 2.