I rarely expect big Pokémon news during Nintendo Directs. Maybe an NSO drop (pffft), perhaps some details on the already-announced game coming out. I certainly did not anticipate my dream of becoming a Ditto who can transform into a human being to come true during the latest showcase.

Okay, that’s obviously not what I’ve spent my many years growing up with Pokémon thinking about, but it is the spark that sets in motion my actual, long-desired Pokémon spin-off, Pokémon Pokopia: a life sim.

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Since its launch in 2018, the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) has been a lightning rod for debate among players. Fans have argued over whether its two-tier price structure constitutes good value, questioned the quality of emulation — sometimes patchy at first with certain N64 games but steadily improved — and grumbled about the erratic release schedule for retro titles.

Game drops often feel random, and major titles, particularly from third parties, are still missing in action, which has fueled frustration with Nintendo’s approach. The deal has been sweetened over time, with a handful of paid DLCs bundled in and retro libraries gradually expanded. Today, I reckon many would concede that, overall, there’s a fair amount of bang for buck on offer.

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I’m starting to feel nervous about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Let me explain. During the most recent Nintendo Direct, the long-gestating game finally received a release date for 4th December 2025 on Switch and Switch 2. That’s not all, though; the accompanying trailer also revealed that Samus would now be rocking her very own Akira-inspired motorbike called Vi-O-La.

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If you managed to check out our review of Genki’s Attack Vector Case for the Switch 2, then JSAUX’s Split Protection Case will look pretty familiar.

It adopts the same modular approach, with a main case clipping onto the back of the device, and two grips encompassing the Joy-Con 2 controllers. The difference here, however, is that JSAUX’s product comes with a fourth additional case that clips onto the front of the Switch 2, enclosing the entire device and thus theoretically providing decent protection while traveling.

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It's hard to believe that Undertale is 10 years old, innit. A game that released just a year after the birth of my eldest son, and two before my youngest arrived on the scene. What is time? It's all going so quickly.

I bring my kids up here, not to be one of those tiresome people, but because Toby Fox's masterpiece (and you better believe that's exactly what it is) is a game that has the honour of being the first I was introduced to and drawn into entirely by the efforts of my terrible offspring.

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With the Switch 2 now in full swing, accessory manufacturers have unleashed a bevvy of additional bits and bobs for players to enhance their experience with Nintendo’s new console.

JSAUX is one such company, and has released a rather lovely-looking charging dock for those who happen to own more than one set of Joy-Con 2 controllers. With an RRP of £19.99 / $25.99, is this something you should consider for your own setup? Let’s take a closer look.

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Well howdy y'all, and welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Last week, we looked at Forsaken for the N64, which yes, we'll admit wasn't the most inspiring duo of box art designs. Nevertheless, North America managed to seal the deal with 59% of the vote. Well done!

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Super Mario Bros. is now 40 years old. To celebrate this big anniversary, Omar looks back over four decades of gaming's greatest verb and/or noun...

When's the last time you jumped?

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Please, angry mob, wait! It's true, I had never finished Super Mario Bros. before this week, but that's not to say that I hadn't played it before. If you'll put your pitchforks and burning torches down for a moment, I promise, I can explain.

It was 2004 when I first came into contact with Super Mario Bros. I remember that because I had just received a Game Boy Advance for my birthday, and in a vague attempt to put me onto a "proper" game and dissuade me from my copy of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie tie-in platformer, my dad bought me the SMB GBA re-release.

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Good Mario, morning fans!

It's that time of the week once again, and now that the Super Mario 40th anniversary plans have been fully unveiled via the latest Direct...well...we're maybe not gonna be diving into quite as much Mario as we had sorta hoped this weekend, as the likes of Mario Galaxy 1 and 2's re-release and Mario Tennis Fever are a little ways off yet. But hey, we got more Hades 2 deets (and that's all this guy cares about right now)!

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Of course, it's not in any way whatsoever radical to have your players follow along a tightly-scripted path in a video game. It's nothing new, it's nothing that hasn't been a constant (in platformers especially) since...well...forever. So why is it, some five or six hours into my time with Hollow Knight: Silksong, that it's the locked-down and relatively linear nature of proceedings that's got me most excited thus far? Why's it that bit that's got me all worked up to keep playing?

Perhaps it's over-exposure to big noisy AAA monstrosities that's done me in. Reviewing new games these days invariably leads to a whole lot of wandering around huge open worlds, you see. And whether they be set in the past or future, from medieval all the way through to post-apocalyptic wasteland 3000, there's usually a recognisable flow, a loop to even the biggest of worlds encountered, that gives you a lot of room to breathe, and purposefully lets you take your foot off the gas.

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Boy, Square-Enix really wants us to party on our Switches like it’s… 1997.

Because over the last few years, they’ve made three separate titles in a newly minted, old-school RPG franchise Octopath Traveler, and then there’s the upcoming Switch 2 release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, the defacto RPG game that caused a brand distinction between Nintendo and Sony nearly three decades ago.

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Nintendo's marketing for the Switch and Switch 2 is going absolutely nuts in 2025. We had a Partner Showcase in July, an Indie World and a Kirby blowout in August, and now we're getting a full-fat, juicy Direct in September. Crikey!

Naturally, questions linger regarding the likes of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, but the nature of this Direct means that we could be getting a whole bunch of new surprises for the remainder of 2025 and the start of 2026. At least we won't be seeing any Silksong, though, eh? Well, probably not.

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The original Hollow Knight was no pushover, but it's safe to say that its sequel is hitting a whole new level of difficulty.

You only need look on social media to see that some folks have been struggling with their journey through Pharloom. A few are even going so far as to say that Silksong is "way too difficult to be enjoyable" or "harder for the sake of being harder". Team Cherry is well aware of players' struggles, with an upcoming patch looking to fine-tune the difficulty in key areas.

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Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Last time, we checked out the original Harvest Moon for the SNES, and would you believe it, it was actually the more realistic European design that won the day with 46% of the vote. North America was the runner-up with 34%, while Japan only managed 20%.

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Aloha, amigos, and welcome shorts fans, to another weekend. It's been a very, very quiet one this week, with no games of note to menti...oh, hold on. Wait. We've actually been inundated with bangers. I'm terribly sorry.

Yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong has finally materialised. It's a real game that you can play right now! In fact, it's so real that it crashed a bunch of online stores when it dropped, causing both the eShop and Steam to struggle for a prolonged period.

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It's that time of year again folks. We would love to ask you some questions and would greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to respond to our anonymous survey.

Why is this important to us? Our websites survive mainly due to those who choose to advertise their games on our websites. Advertisers typically (and understandably) want to know who they are advertising to, therefore, our survey gives us a snapshot view of our audience in 2025.

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Last weekend, the intrepid Alan Lopez hit Seattle to see what PAX West had to offer this year.

He went hands-on with a bunch of titles, large and small, coming to Switch 1 and/or 2, plus a handful more games from devs who would love to bring their work to a Switch near you...but have nothing to announce at the time of writing.

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No, you're not hallucinating — that is Hollow Knight: Silksong live on the Switch eShop. After years of waiting, Team Cherry has delivered its Hollow Knight follow-up today (4th September 2025), with Hornet taking centre stage this time around.

Now, as you're no doubt are aware at this point, review codes for Silksong were not available prior to the game's launch, so we're currently playing it right alongside you lot. We'll have our full review out as soon as we've trudged the breadth and depth (heights?) of Pharloom, but in the meantime, we wanted the team to get together and share their early thoughts on the games.

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In case you somehow missed it, today is Hollow Knight: Silksong Eve Eve. Yes, it's a term that I've just made up, but I've been waiting for this one for the past seven years, so you'll have to forgive me for counting down the days as if I'm on the run up to Christmas.

Team Cherry's surprise announcement two weeks ago might have been too short notice to break out the advent calendar for the countdown to 4th September, but it was plenty long enough for me to start reminiscing over the last seven years of waiting. Because, when I really thought about it, it might be one of the most hilarious-looking development timelines that any studio has managed to muster.

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