Category: Nintendo

So. Many. Games.

As we hurtle towards Holiday season, we can all agree that 2023 has been an incredibly strong year in terms of the number of quality games hitting the Switch eShop on a weekly basis. Last month alone, we published 34 reviews in 30 days, and we could have easily doubled that number based on the sheer amount of interesting-looking Switch software.

But, alas, resources are finite and inevitably we aren’t able to play and review everything we’d like to here at Nintendo Life. So, every six months or so we put out a call to our lovely community of readers to highlight gems that passed us by. Back in April, in Part 6 of our Reader Recommendations series, you highlighted 22 eShop gems, including Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon’s Fist, Floppy Knights, and Terror of Hemasaurus.

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Brick by brick.

After last week’s reveal, LEGO and Nintendo have unveiled all five sets coming in the Animal Cross X LEGO collaboration, which we now know launches in March 2024. At least that saves the bank balance during the holidays!

All five sets are available to wishlist now on LEGO’s website, and we’ve even got a cute little trailer showcasing all of them. The pages list each set as launching specifically on 1st March next year, so we’ll have to wait and see if that’s just a placeholder date.

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Firm seeking new permanent replacement.

In the wake of Unity’s highly controversial policy regarding runtime fees, which it has now altered based on community backlash, its CEO and President John Riccitiello has now stepped down. In addition, he has also stepped down from his position on the board of directors as chairman.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the change is effective immediately with James M. Whitehurst stepping up as the interim CEO and President while the firm seeks out a permanent replacement. Roelof Botha, the lead independent Unity board director, has also been appointed chairman.

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Here’s what the critics think.

Ahead of the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder next week, the final round of previews have now gone live.

This new entry in Nintendo’s 2D series has already been widely praised by critics during hands on sessions, so what are the final impressions before the reviews drop? We’ve put together another round up.

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“We apologize for any negative experience”.

Mineko’s Night Market finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch last month and while we enjoyed what this cosy game had to offer there were some bugs and glitches.

The good news is the developer has a few patches on the way, with the team issuing an update via social media apologising for any issues and outlining what exactly players can expect:

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The Mothership awaits…

Alien Hominid‘s return date has been confirmed! Developer The Behemoth has shared on Twitter that Alien Hominid HD — an HD remaster of the Newgrounds run-and-gun title that also came to GameCube in 2004 — and a sequel titled Alien Hominid Invasion are both launching on Switch on 1st November 2023.

The sequel to the 2000s cult hit has been a long time in the making. Alien Hominid Invasion was announced way back in 2020, while the HD remaster of the original was just revealed earlier this year. The Behemoth has been sharing regular updates and gameplay videos of Invasion over the past year; now fans won’t have to wait long to play it themselves, and they’ll be able to pick up both titles on the same day on the console of their choice.

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Why do you have to be a cartbreaker?

Choo choo! It’s the Switch 2 rumour train, back on the track and calling at Hushed Whispers and Vague Suggestion, with a brief stop to collect several fistfuls of sodium from Expectation Management. The latest rumours come from SoldierDelta on Discord via wcftech and suggest that Nintendo may have two models of its next console planned — with a digital-only version accompanying a standard model that would accept physical media.

The rumour comes from a user who previously posted information on Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin several months ago, so while a healthy dose of scepticism is undoubtedly called for, this leaker does have some form, at least. The suggestion is that Nintendo is currently eyeing a $400 price point for the digital-only SKU of ‘NG’ (apparently a developer codename), with the regular model costing $50 more. September 2024 is apparently the launch date being eyed, with a fallback to November if there are any unforeseen production hiccups — again, this is all unconfirmed rumours at this point, though.

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Make way for his Badgesty.

There are less than two weeks to go until we finally get our hands on the first original 2D Mario adventure in 11 years. It’s an exciting time, especially for those who weren’t fully sold on the presentation style of the New Super Mario Bros. series when it launched on DS way back in 2006. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, as you’ll have no doubt gathered from our earlier hands-on impressions and videos, strikes out from the somewhat…well…overfamiliar gameplay mechanics of New Super Mario Bros. U and its Deluxe Switch revamp, in favour of a fantastical mashing together of lots of all-new ingredients.

This game feels much more in line with the breathless invention of Super Mario Galaxy or Odyssey; full of big ideas, bold art direction and, from our time spent with it so far, we’re fairly confident that 20th October will see the launch of one of the very best 2D Mario games we’ve ever played. Mamma Mia, indeed.

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Who could it be?

Legendary game designer Masahiro Sakurai has teased an upcoming “special crossover” with an apparently well-known YouTube channel.

In a post on Twitter, Sakurai confirmed that he will soon be playing “other” games via the planned collaboration (thanks, VGC), though details are scarce at the time of writing. Presumably, the word “other” probably means titles that Sakurai has not personally worked on during his career, though this is merely speculation on our part.

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You can purchase “Suika Game” from Japan’s eShop.

A Japanese Switch eShop exclusive known as Suika Game (Watermelon Game) has recently gone viral thanks to its popularity among streamers and VTubers. Earlier this year it started gaining traction with Japanese influencers, and now it’s caught on here in the West.

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