“Once upon a time” is an almost universally recognised phrase, beginning tales that many of us will have heard before, and will almost certainly follow a familiar pattern. There will be a hero, a villain, and in the end the former will defeat the latter, and the tale will have a happy ending. In modern interpretations of these classic tales at least, it’s rare that you’ll find one that doesn’t have a happy ending, unless it has been deliberately contrived for the sake of provoking shock in the audience, which it typically fails to do, being so exaggerated as to feel more cliche than original. Ravenswatch, the second game to be developed by Passtech Games, is an extremely rare example of this inversion of fairy tales done right, with some solid roguelike gameplay to back it up.

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Hello Kitty Island Adventure review for Nintendo Switch

Posted on 1 month ago by Dawn in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments

System: Switch
Release date: January 30, 2025
Developer: Sunblink
Publisher: Sunblink

What exactly makes a “cozy game” these days? In many cases it seems to be a bit of a misnomer: for every one that transports you into a relaxed world with a gameplay loop that you can take at your own pace, you’ll find two more that will thrust you into a hellscape of seasonal crops, timed events, and needy NPCs that all require more time management and organizational skills than your actual life does. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is thankfully not one of these latter titles, but it hasn’t quite escaped unscathed from its time trapped on Apple Arcade, and this holds it back from being the experience that it feels like it should be on Nintendo Switch.

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Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos review for Nintendo Switch

Posted on 1 month ago by Dawn in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments

System: Switch
Release date: January 28, 2025
Developer: Compile Heart
Publisher: Idea Factory

Pick up any JRPG and the chances are good that one of the first enemies you’ll encounter on your adventure will be some kind of slime. The gelatinous mass of vaguely sentient ooze has been an unspoken staple of the genre since its foundation, but it is still often little more than a stepping stone on our heroes’ journey to greatness. The Neptunia series variation of this creature is the Dogoo, and it has usually served much the same role as an early game encounter that you quickly forget about. Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos puts the questionably adorable canine-based blobs in a more active role, and unfortunately the result is about what you would expect if you ran over a small blob with a motorcycle.

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How rumored mouse support could change Nintendo Switch 2

Posted on 2 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch 2 | 0 comments

Though not yet officially confirmed, one heavily-rumored feature of the Nintendo Switch 2 involves its supposed ability to use the Joy-Con’s infrared sensor as a mouse. We’ll absolutely find out if this is true when the upcoming Nintendo Direct airs on April 2, but in the meantime, all we can do is speculate. And speculate we shall, because Switch 2’s rumored mouse support could be a game-changer for some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises. Today, we’re looking into games that would benefit most from this feature – both existing titles as well as potential new ones.

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What to expect from Mario’s 40th anniversary

Posted on 2 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch | 0 comments

2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the Super Mario series – which is crazy, because it feels like only yesterday that we celebrated its 35th anniversary with Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Bros. 35. This year, however, is different. Though it still hasn’t been announced at the time of writing, Nintendo has new hardware releasing this year, which makes speculation a bit complicated. Will the company release a new 3D Mario game and tie it to the anniversary? Will Nintendo just release more remakes on the existing Switch? Who knows, but today we’re looking at all of the Super Mario anniversary celebrations throughout the years and what we might expect later this year.

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[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – February 2025

Posted on 2 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk | 0 comments

A new month just started up today. Now that we’re in February, we want to know what you’ve been playing.

Following the holiday season, things are starting to pick up with new releases. We’ve seen a variety of games launch including Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, and more. Have you been playing through any of these? No matter the case, let us know in the comments.

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Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles review for Nintendo Switch

Posted on 2 months ago by Dawn in Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments

System: Switch
Release date: January 23, 2025
Developer: Aspyr
Publisher: Aspyr

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, many of the long-standing franchises that now dominate the industry were either still in their infancy, or hadn’t even been conceived yet. Consequently, there was significantly less choice for the young gamer when compared to modern times. But one thing we did not suffer from a lack of, and which filled that empty void, was movie tie-ins. With the release of The Phantom Menace, there were few franchises as ripe for exploitation on this front as Star Wars, and over the course of the mid-to-late-2000s we were bombarded with video game adaptations and spin-offs of the still highly divisive prequel trilogy. Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is an unfortunate example of the less civilized part of that age.

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These games are most likely to appear in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct

Posted on 2 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch 2 | 0 comments

Now that Nintendo has finally announced its next big console, the Switch 2, we’ve finally got a specific date to look forward to: April 2, 2025. On that day, we’ll be getting a special Direct that will no doubt reveal some heavy hitters for the console’s first year on the market. At the time of writing, April 2 is about two months away That leaves plenty of time to speculate, so today, we’re looking at some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises and which ones are most likely to appear at the Switch 2 presentation in a couple of months.

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What we could see in a potential February 2025 Nintendo Direct

Posted on 2 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch | 0 comments

Today, we’re looking at the potential announcements we could see if we were to get a final Switch-centered Nintendo Direct in February 2025.

At the time of writing, we don’t currently have any sort of confirmation that we’re actually getting a presentation next month. That said, we’re arguably due for one. Other than Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, we don’t have any concrete release dates for remaining Nintendo Switch titles. We do know that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond launches sometime this year, but we’re still missing a defined release window. Additionally, if you remember the transition from the 3DS to the Switch, Nintendo continued to publish a number of ports on the dedicated handheld during Switch’s early years. We wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a similar approach here, and if it winds up being true, it means we might still have a remake or two bound for the original Nintendo Switch sometime this year.

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[Let’s Talk] Nintendo Switch games you want to play on Switch 2

Posted on 2 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Switch 2 | 0 comments

Nintendo made its first announcement regarding Switch 2 last week, but there’s still a lot to learn about the system. However, there is one concrete detail we know: it’ll be full backwards compatible with the current Nintendo Switch. There’ll be some exceptions – probably things like Nintendo Labo – but on the whole there’ll probably be just a handful of titles that aren’t compatible.

With that said, which Switch games are you looking forward to playing on Nintendo Switch 2? Are there certain titles you’re holding off on trying until the new console launches? Let us know in the comments.