There’s a lot of fun to be had in smashing the place to tiny little voxel pieces in Donkey Kong Bananza, it’s easily its biggest draw. People have been into the sweet catharsis of wanton destruction since way back before there were even people. Probably.
However, the one thing that’s caught my attention most whilst playing thus far – and I must admit, I’m only around about halfway through the campaign at this point – is the game’s absolutely beautiful world map design. I love it.
Pokémon is one of those franchises that has infiltrated pretty much every medium. Whether you’re a fan of the Pokémon games, anime, or the trading card game, there is a seemingly endless amount of new content for you to peruse at any given time. There’s so much, in fact, that it can almost be hard to find the perfect Pokémon gift for yourself or the fan in your life without trudging through piles of search results.
Thankfully, if you’re specifically looking for a really cool Pokémon jigsaw puzzle, I have scouted out this specific topic for you. Below I’ve listed out some of the very best options currently available on Amazon for both adults and kids of varying ages. Some of these puzzles are a lot more challenging than others, so just make sure you check the piece count before you bite off more than you can chew.
Ravensburger Pokémon Challenge Jigsaw Puzzle
A good challenge for adults
The first Pokémon puzzle I’d recommend is for more advanced puzzlers. It’s 1,000 pieces and is stamped with the Ravensburger “Challenge” title, meaning it’s not going to be a quick one. Featuring all of the original 150 Pokémon all in one picture, it’s a nostalgic blast from the past and fun to put together. It also comes from Ravensburger, which is one of the most-trusted jigsaw puzzle brands out there.
Buffalo Games Retro Pixel Pokémon Chart Puzzle
For fans of the video games
If you’re anything like me, you likely have fond memories of playing Pokémon on your Game Boy for hours on end and this puzzle hits a similar nostalgic vein. This glorious 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle from Buffalo Games showcases the original 150 Pokémon once again, but this time they are pixelated and perfectly organized. With the higher piece count and nice blue border around the edges, this Pokémon puzzle is a great option for anyone looking to proudly frame and display their completed work.
If you like the piece count on this puzzle, you should also check out our list of the largest puzzles available now. They scale up beyond 40,000 pieces.
Buffalo Games Pokémon Fan Favorites Puzzle
For younger kids
The first two puzzles on this list are targeted more toward adults, but if you’re looking for a good option for younger kids, this 100 piece puzzle is my top pick. It features a ton of fan favorite Pokémon, primarily from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation. You can see Rayquaza right in the middle there and Pikachu all the way at the bottom. At 100 pieces it’s fairly easy for younger kids to piece together while still providing a really cool image for fans of the franchise.
Buffalo Games Four Pokémon Puzzle Boards
Starter option for preschoolers
If you’re looking for a good puzzle gift for kids just getting into puzzles, this four pack is an excellent option. It says it’s made for ages 4+, but I got this same pack for my niece and nephew when they were around three years old and they had no problem putting it together. Each puzzle depicts a different set of Pokémon and features between 12 and 48 pieces so kids can scale up the difficulty if they are really into it.
3D Master Ball Puzzle
The best Pokemon puzzle gift
Some of the absolute best Pokémon toys on the market are Poké Balls. So naturally, there is a 3D puzzle version available. At only 54 pieces, it’s fairly easy to put together and even easier to display. It comes with a stand that will hold your completed puzzle up on a shelf or a desk. This is one of the best puzzle gifts currently available for Pokémon fans right now.
Tips for Buying Pokémon Puzzles
As someone who has done quite a bit of puzzle research (and quite a bit of puzzling), I have a few suggestions to help you narrow down your search for the perfect fit. Here are a couple of key things to look out for when buying a Pokémon puzzle:
Make sure it’s a trusted brand
The first thing you’ll want to do before you buy any jigsaw puzzle online is check what brand it’s from. There are some puzzle brands that are more trusted than others, many of which I’ve featured on this list already. A good brand tends to have higher quality puzzles, which means higher quality materials. And for Pokémon puzzles specifically, they will likely be selling the puzzles in an official capacity via licensing the IP.
When in doubt, I’d suggest reading through Amazon reviews to see what people thought. Things to watch out for are missing pieces, thin cardboard, and obvious AI usage.
Get the right piece count for the occasion
Another important thing to think about is who you’re buying the puzzle for. If it’s a gift for an experienced puzzler, 1,000 pieces and above is probably ideal. But if it’s for a novice or a younger audience, then 500 or below is probably your best bet. Larger puzzles tend to take a lot longer and if you don’t have a dedicated space set up for puzzling you’ll likely never finish. This is where a decent puzzle table really comes in handy.
Our picks for the best eShop games on Switch and Switch 2 in July!
Another month down, another eShop Selects to welcome in the new one.
Yes, hello folks, it’s your regularly scheduled eShop Selects, this time for July 2025. As always, we’re looking at the best of the rest — the best eShop exclusives you may have missed on Switch 1 and Switch 2. Yes, other games besides Donkey Kong Bananzadid come out, you know?
Antonblast arrived on the Switch late last year and it’s received some updates since then including a performance boost.
Now, in another update, the developer has announced it’s released a new patch for the Switch version, which brings it up to date with the PC release. You can see these previous patch updates for PC via the game’s Steam Page.
Two of my favourite games growing up were The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Secret of Mana. Lush green worlds, curious — and sometimes cute — enemies, and fluid action combat for the time; as someone who had largely only played turn-based RPGs for the first eight years of their life, the SNES era of action RPGs showed me a glimpse of what video games were capable of. These games in particular made me feel bold and adventurous, and whenever I revisit them as an adult, they fill me with a childlike sense of wonder.
It’s not that often that a perfectly good and functional air hockey video game drops. In fact, considering that the grotty arcade staple translates so readily to the sphere, very few air hockey games release in general. One of life’s persisting mysteries, right there.
However, fear not Switch 2-owning air hockey fans (which I’m sure is a large demographic), as Handy Hockey is now here, it costs a fiver and, to borrow an old proverb, ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin.’ This re-release/remaster of 2010’s Japan-only DSI title from ITL is the epitome of laser-focused game design. There is one thing to do here, and it’s play air hockey. Go *insert air hockey team name*!
I love it when passions of mind mix together into something awesome. So as someone who loves board games and books from epic fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson (specifically the Cosmere series), Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game really hits that sweet spot. With Era 1 characters Marsh, Shan, Vin, and Kelsier, each depicted with beautiful art alongside more than 100 cards showcasing people, places, and events from the books, Mistborn is a treat for fans like myself. And thankfully, it has some solid gameplay backing it up.
Designed by John D. Clair and published by Brotherwise Games, Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game, as its name suggests, is a deckbuilding board game and features many of the staple mechanics of the genre. Players begin the game with a weaker small deck of cards, which they will slowly add to throughout the course of the game by purchasing new cards from a shared shop that strengthens their deck with new abilities and better resources. Just because it adopts many of the traditional systems of a deck builder doesn’t mean Mistborn doesn’t offer up anything new, though!
Pulling from the source material, the big additional element here is the idea of burning and flaring metal—the signature trait of the Allomancers from the world of Scadriel. On your turn, the cards you can play require you to burn one of eight possible metals in order to use the card. As the game progresses you become a better-trained Allomancer. You are able to burn more metals per turn, but at the start, you can only do this once, which is where flaring a metal and playing cards as a resource comes into play.
Flaring lets you use one of your metals, not counting towards your turn burn limit; however, you will not regain this metal until you take a special “refresh” action on a future turn, discarding a card from your hand that matches that metal. Additionally, you can spend a card from your hand as another required metal cost that matches the type as shown in a small vial at the bottom of the cards, making every card you put into your deck not only a potential action but also a resource. I am a big fan of board games that incorporate risk-versus-reward into the gameplay and the fact that played cards have multiple use cases adds that extra little dash of a strategic element to the economy that I just devoured.
Before each game starts, three missions are selected that players will be able to progress on, earning them bonuses and, once completed, permanent buffs. These can allow you to draw extra cards during your turn, provide a static attack bonus each turn, or even a one-time-use heal among other possibilities. With eight possible mission cards to pick from, this helps keep games feeling a bit fresh after multiple playthroughs, and I’ve never been one to shy away from games with more replayability options.
In my experience, games that try to allow their game to be played both competitively and cooperatively tend to end up being more skewed towards one or the other, with the one option coming off feeling like an afterthought add-on and doesn’t provide the same level of depth or enjoyment in its gameplay. Thankfully Mistborn manages to avoid this by offering strong options for both audiences that want to wail on one another and those that want to team-up, in this case against the immortal Lord Ruler himself.
Competitive play is pretty straightforward with everyone trying to be the last person standing as they beat up on each other with one small change—only one person, the target, can be attacked at any given time. Once that person is attacked, they are able to pass on the target token to anyone of their choice or keep holding onto it if they so choose, allowing them to attack anyone they wish. I thought this was a really interesting idea, and at first thought would be incredibly unfair to the person that is targeted. But the fact that once they get attacked, are able to make someone else the target has led to some really interesting negotiations during my games where people try to wheel-and-deal so that they won’t become the target. I sort of dig it.
As fun as the competitive ruleset was, I found myself enjoying the cooperative one even more. Teaming up against the Lord Ruler felt more on-brand with the books than everyone fighting one another, and it actually was pretty challenging too! The Lord Ruler comes with his own deck of cards full of minions and edicts, special cards that have nasty effects like dishing out tons of damage, killing your allies (persistent cards that are out in front of players that trigger various effects when certain metals are burned) or fully healing the Lord Ruler. While this is my preferred way to play Mistborn, I do find that it is more engaging of an experience at lower player counts. With four players, I felt the Lord Ruler couldn’t quite provide the same challenge, so I would advise maybe opting for cooperative at lower player counts. Playing solo, the Lord Ruler is SCARY, and as someone who historically isn’t much for solo board games, I think Mistborn is a great solo game.
My issues with Mistborn have less to do with the mechanics of the game and more with the fact that I wish that the game went a bit further with what it includes. The four characters are nice, but I would have loved a couple more options so when playing four players, the roster wasn’t always the same. While Allomancy is represented well, the more I played, the more I kept wishing that there was some sort of representation of Feruchemy and Hemalurgy, and why aren’t there rules to allow someone to actually play as the Lord Ruler? The more I have played Mistborn the more my mind wandered and brainstormed how all of those things would work in the system that Brotherwise has built. I can only hope that Mistborn did well enough that we will get an expansion at some point, maybe roping in crew from Wax and Wayne’s Era 2, that will introduce some of those features, or better yet, the idea of Twinborns that can do both Allomancy AND Feruchemy. Oh man, my brain is already thinking up ideas.
It’s become the new normal, unfortunately, to wait years for a follow-up to our favorite games. While the realities of modern game development mean studios are working harder than ever to meet ever-higher standards, that hasn’t stopped projects like Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6, Valve’s Half-Life 3, and especially Team Cherry’s Silksong from becoming the unwitting faces of the industry’s lengthening timelines. That last one is surprising because when it was first announced, it didn’t seem like the sequel to Hollow Knight was all that far away.
Months turned into years, and until very recently, it felt like we were no closer to Silksong than we were in 2019, back when we played a hands-on demo of the mystical sequel. In the years since, Silksong has achieved meme status, where fans don clown makeup and wigs after each new Nintendo Direct or Xbox Developer Showcase fails to bring them closer to the promised sequel. How did we get here? And just how much closer are we to the fabled Silksong release?
Silksong Was Originally Supposed to Be DLC
Australian-based studio Team Cherry first launched Hollow Knight on Kickstarter back in 2014, hoping to secure enough funding to turn its 2D Soulslike+Metroidvania fusion game jam prototype into a full-fledged game. After meeting its initial funding target, Team Cherry revealed additional stretch goals that promised new quests, bosses, and, eventually, a second playable character named Hornet. Those funding targets were met, and so development began on expanding Hollow Knight.
As promised, Hollow Knight’s 2017 launch was followed by a series of DLC drops. The Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, and Gods and Glory added new boss fights, quest lines, fast travel mechanics, and more to the base game. But what about the second playable character? Where was Hornet?
Then, on February 14, 2019, Hollow Knight: Silksong was officially announced. In a blog post and developer diary, Team Cherry explained how plans for Hornet had quickly evolved. Initially, the developers debated whether to add her as a second protagonist that players could switch to during the main campaign or to make her the star of a standalone chapter. Eventually, the ideas for Hornet grew so big that Team Cherry decided to spin the DLC off into a full sequel.
The plan was now to tell a brand new Hornet-focused story in an entirely new kingdom. She would have a very different playstyle – much more nimble and acrobatic than The Knight, who is slower and heavier in comparison. She would need all her speed and dexterity when going up against Silksong’s over 150 new enemies and bosses.
Fans of Hollow Knight rejoiced, and Team Cherry capitalized on the excitement for Silksong quickly…
We Even Played It
Even though Team Cherry never announced a release date, none of us expected Silksong’s unveiling would be the start of a six-year-plus wait to get to the sequel. The same year as the announcement, Team Cherry was all-in on promoting Silksong, revealing a cast of NPC characters via an anniversary blog post in March 2019, before showcasing a playable demo at E3 2019.
Not only did we at IGN see the demo ourselves at E3 that year, but our very own Tom Marks played it. In his preview, he wrote, “Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games ever, but I think Silksong has the potential to be even better.”
The demo was roughly 20 minutes long and took place in a new, fiery area filled with several new enemies and two boss fights. I caught up with Marks for this story to ask him if, at the time, the Silksong demo seemed like a game that would be ready in a few years, or if it felt far from finished.
“It didn’t feel six years away,” Marks tells me. “You [could] tell it wasn’t the final version, but based on the vertical slice I played, it felt really polished.”
This demo would later be taken to PAX Australia 2019 and shared with attendees there as well. Generally when a game shows up with a playable build at multiple events, things are closing in on the finish line, and so we were all completely unaware of the reality that awaited.
As the publicity campaign progressed into 2020, Team Cherry marketing and publishing lead Matthew “Leth” Griffin began revealing new NPCs on the official Hollow Knight Discord server as a reward for fans solving a variety of riddles. And in that December, there was a full-on cover story in Edge Magazine issue #354 with new details, screenshots, and an enlightening interview with Team Cherry co-directors Ari Gibson and William Pellen that discussed deeper, more intricate levels and offered a glimpse into Hornet’s mysterious story.
Silksong Goes Into Hiding
The frenzy of Silksong news in the immediate aftermath of the sequel’s announcement would soon give way to a long winter. Team Cherry went radio silent throughout 2021, and fans spent the year waiting for any sign of a release date. A 2020-2021 release window was anticipated, thanks to a few accidental messaging blips that sent the rumor mill turning.
In September 2019, for instance, the official Silksong Steam page was suddenly updated with a June 12, 2020, release date. Later, Team Cherry would confirm it was just an accidental placeholder date. Just a couple of months later, on August 20, the Silksong logo appeared in an official Nintendo UK tweet that read, “Take a look at some upcoming games headed to Nintendo Switch this year and beyond.” It wasn’t immediately clear that Silksong belonged firmly in the “beyond” category – we’d yet to learn that expecting it anytime soon was folly.
“Will there be Silksong at the new Nintendo Partner Direct?” fans dare to ask.
“Absolutely not, you clown,” the universe responds.
“Everything Shown Today Will Be Playable in the Next 12 Months”
It wouldn’t be until almost another two years had passed that we would see Silksong again. On June 12, 2022, Xbox aired its annual summer Games Showcase, which premiered, among other things, a brand new, minute-long trailer for Silksong. But while it revealed new gameplay, areas, and bosses, the trailer didn’t include a release date. It did, however, announce that Silksong will be playable day one on Xbox Game Pass.
This might have been enough for fans if it weren’t for an unfortunate follow-up message from Xbox.
After the showcase, the official Xbox Twitter account posted, “Everything you’re seeing today is playable over the next 12 months.” Given Silksong was one of the games present in the showcase, this was rightfully taken as a release window for the game.
Silksong Gets an Official Delay, Without Ever Getting a Release Date
To be fair, it did seem like Team Cherry’s plan was to release Silksong within 12 months of the Xbox Games Showcase. This much was confirmed by Team Cherry’s Matthew Griffin, who shared on Twitter in May 2023 that Silksong was planned to be released in the “1st half of 2023.”
However, Griffin added that unfortunately, “development is still continuing. We’re excited by how the game is shaping up, and it’s gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can. Expect more details from us once we get closer to release.”
So, without ever announcing a release date, Silksong received an official delay from Team Cherry.
Hey gang, just a quick update about Silksong.
We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. We’re excited by how the game is shaping up, and it’s gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can.
In the years since Silksong was first announced, a lot has changed in the games industry. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that in-person events were temporarily paused, with some events like E3 now seemingly gone for good. In place of those traditional events, various digital showcases from the likes of Geoff Keighley, Xbox, PlayStation, and even yours truly here at IGN, as well as countless others, were created to fill the void of E3.
This meant there were now dozens of potential new showcases where Team Cherry could share more information about Silksong. Every new indie game showcase, Nintendo Direct, or any number of other shows had the potential to reveal a new Silksong trailer, preferably one with a release date. And with each new showcase that failed to deliver the goods, fans began to treat Silksong’s absence as a running joke.
Anyone who follows the games industry on social media will likely recognize the most popular Silksong meme: Anytime a company posts about an upcoming game showcase, there will be at least one picture of the Knight from Hollow Knight or Hornet from Silksong in a clown wig and make-up, indicating that the poster is ready to feel like a fool when Silksong inevitably fails to appear.
Fan art of the Knight or Hornet in clown regalia is now ubiquitous. It signifies the folly of wanting to learn more about Silksong. The rainbow-colored wig and clown nose have become the unofficial uniform for Silksong fans after years of suffering. “Will there be Silksong at the new Nintendo Partner Direct?” fans dare to ask. “Absolutely not, you clown,” the universe responds.
And just to prove the universe is also in on the joke, the first time Silksong received an official listing on the Xbox store was on April 1, 2024. April Fool’s Day.
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Team Cherry confirmed multiple times throughout 2024 that Silksong would not be appearing at any of that year’s biggest shows. It was not present in any of 2024’s E3-replacement Summer Showcases, and Geoff Keighley confirmed that Silksong would not appear as part of Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2024. Team Cherry also skipped back-to-back Nintendo Directs that year, both the August 2024 Indie Direct and the Third-Party Partner Direct.
However, 2025 has been a different story. The year began with a fan posting on the official Hollow Knight subreddit that they ran into Silksong co-director Ari Gibson. According to the fan, Gibson joked about there not being a sequel yet, but that there would be more to share “soon.”
That was no bluff. On March 19, 2025, Xbox published a new ID@Xbox blog highlighting its ongoing commitments to release great indie games, including Silksong. And a few weeks later, during the April 2 Nintendo Direct, Silksong re-emerged in the show’s sizzle reel with a 2025 release window.
Silksong made another appearance during the announcement for the upcoming ROG Ally X handheld, where the game was seen briefly running on the Xbox-branded device. Team Cherry’s Matthew Griffin later confirmed in the official Hollow Knight Discord server that Silksong’s release is not tied to any particular console and the sequel is still slated to be released “before holiday [2025].” And now we know that Silksong will be playable at the Xbox booth at Gamescom. This will be the first playable demo for the game since 2019.
While Silksong was a no-show at the most recent Nintendo Partner Direct — cue the clown memes — it does feel like we’re finally going to get the elusive Silksong, six long, painful years after it was announced that the DLC character, Hornet, will be starring in her own game. Maybe we can start removing the clown makeup from our faces once and for all.
Developed by Bushiroad Games and Eighting, this one has got some pedigree in that Eighting has given us some well-known fighters in the past, including Naruto: Clash of the Ninja. With Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact, you get down and dirty in 3v3 tag-team-styled action, which is detailed in the official press release thusly:
