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Llamasoft The Jeff Minter Story review

System: Switch
Release date: March 13, 2024
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Digital Eclipse


There have been some outstanding documentaries about video games released over the past few years, chronicling the development of major games like Psychonauts 2 and The Last of Us at a level of transparency that is quite rare in the secretive modern industry landscape. And while I adore these types of projects, what better way is there to experience a slice of gaming history than by playing through it? Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the latest attempt at an interactive history lesson from developer Digital Eclipse, and this project focuses on telling the story of the rise of the studio behind classic score-chasers like Gridrunner and Tempest 2000. This package compiles over 40 of Jeff Minter’s programs – not all of them are games, interestingly – alongside a swath of video interviews and documents to pore over. While I didn’t find every piece of the package inherently interesting, overall this a great glimpse into the mind of one of gaming’s earliest avant-garde developers, and there’s plenty of fun to be had along the way.

Death of a Wish

System: Switch
Release date: March 11, 2024
Developer: melessthanthree
Publisher: melessthanthree


As I journeyed across the nightmarish, apocalyptic world of Death of a Wish, slaughtering through the countless waves of monstrosities that crossed protagonist Christian’s path, my journey to help him hunt down the forces that had decimated this place became a substantially more mysterious one than I had expected initially. This may be a combat-action game through and through, but beyond its narrow and polished gameplay focus lies a narrative web of opposing forces that’s just as compelling to untangle, even when the power of its relentlessly brooding atmosphere begins to fade. Death of a Wish is tightly-designed, fiendish action experience that rewards players who fully engage with its mechanics and world building, and despite some missed opportunities here and there, I enjoyed the time I spent with it.

Switch demos

Thousands of games are currently available on Switch, and there are a ton of demos out there for many of them. Not just Nintendo, but also third-parties are offering demos. We’ve now put together a comprehensive list of what’s out there.

Since our reader base is English-speaking, that’s what we’re focusing on here. In other words, we’re highlighting Switch demos that you can find in North America and Europe. Japan has a few extra demos on its end, but a majority of them are for titles that are not currently being sold in the west and are only playable in Japanese.

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About a week ago, Nintendo announced the release dates for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD. They’ll be launching in May and June respectively. Some had thought that they could be coming in the latter half of the year, but it turns out they’re dropping fairly soon.

The second part of 2024 is now wide open for Nintendo. As things stand now, the company has no announced titles for the rest of the year. Some banked on a new Pokemon game coming out this holiday given how it seems Switch 2 won’t be arriving until 2025 (at least based on rumors), but even that isn’t happening with Pokemon Legends: Z-A confirmed for next year.

Obviously Nintendo won’t go the whole second half of 2024 without a new Switch game. What do you think the company could have in store? Do you think Metroid Prime 4 will finally arrive this year? Let us know in the comments.

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Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley review

System: Switch
Release date: March 7, 2024
Developer: Hyper Games
Publisher: Raw Fury


Finding out that The Moomins is not only still an active franchise but is in fact still doing quite well for itself is one of the more surprising things that has happened to me this year thus far. As a child of the 90s I have fond memories of The Moomins (both the novels and the 1990s TV series) and I was eager to revisit that world in Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, which appeared to capture the essence of Tove Jansson’s original works perfectly through its beautiful hand-drawn art style and relaxed, adventure-focused gameplay with a melodic twist that complemented the titular Snufkin. The “cozy gaming” space is packed with top quality titles at this point, and although I couldn’t necessarily recommend Snufkin over some others to those without that sense of nostalgia that drew me to it on the basis of its gameplay, it is nonetheless a title I find difficult to fault and would urge people to pick up as few are as immersive or charming as this one.

Will there ever be a Mother 3 localization

The past couple of months have been both great and terrible for EarthBound fans. On one hand, we’ve received so much — a huge wave of Porky merchandise and plushes, a bunch of EarthBound icons for Nintendo Switch Online profiles, and even a release of Mother 3 on the Switch’s Game Boy Advance lineup. The problem is that Mother 3 release was only in Japan.

There’s a lot of discussion surrounding a potential Mother 3 localization – it seems to become a talking point every few years, mainly around the game’s anniversary in April. Though there are far more reasons why Nintendo wouldn’t want to release Mother 3 in the west, there are a couple of (admittedly quite hopeful) reasons that a localization is still possible. Today, we’re breaking down all of the reasons why. We’ll be discussing some light spoilers here, so if for some reason you’re avoiding them, please keep that in mind before you continue reading.

Unicorn Overlord

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Famitsu are as follows:

Star Wars Battlefront: Classic Collection

It’s time for the newest North American Nintendo Download report for the week of March 14, 2024. The latest releases include Kingdom Come: Deliverance, MLB The Show 24, Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, and more.

Here’s the full roundup:

LEGO 2K Drive March 2024 update

LEGO 2K Drive started distribution of its latest update for March 2024.

Highlights include the Stargaze Summit Expansion, Special Flairs feature, Goal-Karts: Hockey, Time Trial Mode. There are also some improvements and bug fixes.

Below is the full rundown of today’s update:

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown post-launch roadmap

More content is in store for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown with a few free updates and even a bigger piece of DLC.

The first update, “Warrior’s Path”, is planned for this month. It’ll include a Speedrun Mode, Permadeath Mode, and new Sargon outfits.


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