Including “Handheld Mode Boost” and a Switch update.
Nintendo has released a new update for the Switch 2 and Switch this week, bumping the system firmware up to Version 22.0.0.
On the Switch 2, this update comes loaded with new GameChat features, language and accessibility updates, and more. Most notably, it adds the new “Handheld Mode Boost”, which allows compatible Switch software to run “as if in TV Mode”.
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The Golden Upgrade Path.
Back in 2022, Tunic blew us away with its brutal battling, Zelda-inspired adventures, and deep secrets. Today, we’ve learnt that we’ll soon have the opportunity to do it all over again thanks to an upcoming Switch 2 update.
The game celebrated its fourth anniversary today, and to mark the occasion, publisher Finji announced that an update for the new Nintendo hardware is “on the way”. While there was no precise release date attached to the reveal, the team promised it was “working hard on it” and teased that we should all stay tuned for more info.
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Hey. Nice sneakers.
Back in 2023, Mimimi Games, the Munich-based indie studio that almost single-handedly reinvigorated the real-time tactical genre over the previous decade, released its very best game to date. And then it shut down for good.
Of all the indie studio closures we’d had up to that point, this one felt like it got to me the most upon hearing the news. I was a huge fan, and it was a proper shock that a studio which had given us the sublime Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Desperados 3 (genuinely two of my all-time favourite tactics games) could be in trouble or struggling at all. Surely these folks were living the high life, hoovering up the rewards for delivering two absolute stunners unto the world?
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And other legendary adventures.
In the days before Christmas ‘98, after much effort and many calls, my Mum managed to find the last copy of Ocarina of Time in the Birmingham Toys R Us. Condolences to those who missed out, but my Mum was always going to get it. When she really wants something, the world just bends to suit.
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What could have been…
The final design of the C Button
In the end, the ‘C’ button on Switch 2’s Joy-Con was revealed as a way of communicating and chatting with friends and family members.
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Seeing people have fun with DK again shows the “potential”.
After an incredibly long wait, Donkey Kong made his grand return to the 3D platforming space in Donkey Kong Bananza.
Making this particular IP one of the main titles for the Switch 2’s launch window was arguably a risk for Nintendo but it’s paid off, with the title shifting more than 4 million units worldwide and becoming the second best-selling Switch 2 title to date. It’s also received a bunch of awards since then.
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Following the release of Octopath Traveler 0.
Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler role-playing series, which originally started life as a Switch exclusive in 2018, has this week announced another massive sales milestone.
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Tsk, tsk, tusk.
We all had a great time with Donkey Kong Bananza last year, didn’t we? The 3D platformer marked a great return for Nintendo’s great ape, and the developers haven’t been shy about the work that went into it — we got a three-part Ask the Developer interview on it shortly after launch, let’s not forget — but that doesn’t mean that the Odyssey team doesn’t still have a story or two to tell.
In a new interview with Game Informer, producer Kenta Motokura and programmer Tatsuya Kurihara did just that. While the pair reiterated tales about the game’s Switch 1 origins and its fancy voxel tech, they also confessed that the destructive power of one Bananza transformation in particular is perhaps a little bit overpowered.
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To the gurney.
Following a handful of Star Trek games on Switch over the last few years, a couple of which have been rather good, Switch 2 now has its own entry in the Trek library courtesy of German devs GameXcite, and this is probably the best one yet – IF (big if) you’ve got the stones for a long, arduous journey.
It’s worth emphasising up front that Star Trek: Voyager – Across The Unknown is punishing. If you want to explore strange new worlds stress-free, best warp on by; expect compromises, tough decisions, and permanent losses if you’re to get Janeway and co. back to the Alpha Quadrant. Even on the lowest difficulty, you will have to restart a sector or two.
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Pending the results of another tariff case.
Nintendo of America is suing the U.S. government, including the Department of Treasury, Department of Homeland Security, and US Customs & Border Protection, over the tariffs implemented in 2025 via executive order from President Donald Trump.
As reported by Aftermath, the complaint concerns the “initiation and administration of unlawful trade measures that have, to date, resulted in the collection of more than $200 billion in tariffs on imports from nearly all countries”.
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