Which Pokemon games were the most challenging to make? When Game Informer posed that question to Game Freak co-founder and Pokemon director / producer Junichi Masuda, he referred to Ruby and Sapphire.

Masuda first told the magazine:

“With Ruby and Sapphire, the screen got a little longer and it was a different aspect ratio, a lot more colors and sound channels so the tech was improved dramatically. It allowed us to do a lot more and gave us more freedom, but at the same time it made it take a lot longer to do things and was more resource-intensive.”

“After Gold and Silver came out, it was a huge hit around the world, but shortly after everyone was saying, ‘That’s it. The Pokémon fad is over! It’s dead!’ It was a very stressful project, for sure. When we were first developing it, I had the idea in mind that it would be Ruby and Sapphire, and then the next games, including the titles, would be Diamond and Pearl, and in between we would do the remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, so we could create this structure where you could take the Pokémon from the Kanto region to the Diamond and Pearl games.”

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Several new Sonic Mania videos are in showing some rather interesting things. Below you’ll find gameplay of a boss fight, an Easter egg involving the SEGA Genesis, and a special secret mode.

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More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, reviews roundup, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Nintendo is celebrating Kirby’s 25th anniversary with a new video highlighting the series’ various games – including what’s to come next year on Switch. Check it out below.

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SEGA has published the official launch trailer for Sonic Mania, arriving tomorrow on Switch. Watch the video below.

More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, reviews roundup, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

With just a day remaining until the official launch, SEGA has lifted the review embargo for Sonic Mania. We’ve rounded up some of the early verdicts below.

IGN – 8.7 / 10
GameSpot – 9 / 10
Game Informer – 8.5 / 10
Kotaku – N/A
Eurogamer – Essential
Polygon – 7 / 10
Destructoid – 8 / 10
Videogamer – 7 / 10
GamesBeat – 93 / 100
USgamer – 4 / 5

We’ll have our own review of Sonic Mania ready to go later this week.

More: Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, reviews roundup, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Tantalus

Boiling Bolt was thought to be coming to Switch after it was discovered that Playdius included the system’s logo on an official page. However, the developer has stated outright that there are no plans currently to put the game on Nintendo’s console.

For what it’s worth, Switch is now gone from Playdius’ page for Boiling Bolt. The mixup likely came about due to an unfortunate error. 

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More: Boiling Bolt, Persistant Studios, Playdius

Amazon Japan has posted the boxart for Atelier Lydie & Soeur: Alchemists of the Mysterious Painting. View it above.

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More: Atelier Lydie & Soeur: Alchemists of the Mysterious Painting, boxart, Gust Corporation, Koei Tecmo

The Pokemon Company and Snap Inc. have partnered on a custom Pikachu Snapchat Lens. Those who use the app as of today can use the Lens to see Pikachu’s ears, nose, and bright-red cheeks appear over their face. Users can then open their mouth to hear Pikachu’s iconic voice as it jumps onto the screen and strikes a pose.

The Snapchat Lens will only be available for a limited time. The Pokemon Company did not provide a specific end date, however.

Source: Pokemon PR

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Following up on the news that Mewtwo began to appear for Pokemon GO players in Japan a few hours ago, Niantic has shared some news about how the Legendary Pokemon will be distributed in other regions.

Mewtwo will be appearing in a new Exclusive Raid Battle feature. It’s similar to regular Raid Battles, but players are invited to join these events. Invitations can be received by recently completing a raid and defeating the Raid Boss at the Gym where the Exclusive Raid Battle will be taking place. These invitations include advance warning of when the Exclusive Raid will take place.

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Amazon UK is again accepting orders for the Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition. If you’re interested, you can place an order here. Sonic Mania officially launches worldwide tomorrow.

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