Streaming video games is an expensive hobby – or career! As someone who’s very experienced in not being a streamer, the Genki Shadowcast 2 is very appealing. As you can imagine, it’s an improved version of the Genki Shadowcast, a budget capture card that was first released a few years ago. It normally goes for around $50 USD, which is already much cheaper than other options – but it goes on sale for $30 every so often, which makes it a particularly enticing pickup. The Genki Shadowcast 2 hooks up to your gaming console’s HDMI port and essentially beams over the footage to your computer right away. Other capture cards have a delay, which often necessitates a dual-monitor setup so that you can play on one monitor and use your computer on the other. The Genki Shadowcast 2 aims to fix this with near-instant passthrough.

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Kirby Star-Crossed World’s new lore explained

Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan in Features, Switch, Switch 2 | 0 comments

The Kirby series is well-known for being easy to pick up and play, but it’s also well-known for having tons of “implied lore” that actually gets pretty deep when you dive in and look for story tidbits. The new Star-Crossed World DLC is no exception – even though it’s only a few hours long, it contains many new lore additions that tack on to everything that the base game already introduced back in 2022. Today, we’re covering all of the new story details Star-Crossed World adds to the franchise – so come back later if you haven’t finished the main story just yet.

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Donkey Kong Bananza Emerald Rush strategy guide – best perks, tips, more

Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan in Guides | 0 comments

Emerald Rush is Donkey Kong Bananza’s new DLC mode, and it’s extremely difficult. The first few difficulties are no problem at all – but play the highest difficulty, and you’ll see that the emerald quotas Void Kong is looking for quickly become absolutely insane. They also last 15 rounds, which means a run of Emerald Rush’s toughest challenge will often take over 30 minutes. And you’re not even guaranteed to win! If you’ve been struggling to tackle those higher difficulties, you’re in luck – I’ve been playing this mode for between 15 and 20 hours and have gathered a whole bunch of helpful tips. To start, here’s a very important tidbit: this mode is almost completely dependent on RNG. That is to say, even if you do everything right, you can still lose just because the game decides it so. So even with these tips, you may still have a bit of trouble – but they’ll definitely make you a much better player.

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Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots review for Nintendo Switch

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

System: Switch
Release date: September 4, 2025
Developer: Hyde
Publisher: Bandai Namco

Whoever originally coined the phrase “comparison is the thief of joy” must have had access to a time machine solely built to show them 2025’s Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots. The latest in a string of first-party Sony franchises shorn of their exclusivity, Bandai Namco and development studio Hyde have created a game that seems overtly reliant on players having no prior experience with the series. Seeing as it’s been eight years since the last Everybody’s Golf, perhaps there are players out there who won’t have had the pleasure of hitting these hallowed links – but fair warning: this review is going to read more like a PSA than an objective deconstruction of Hyde/Bamco’s work.

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Star Wars Outlaws review for Nintendo Switch 2

Posted on 1 month ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch 2 | 0 comments

System: Switch 2
Release date: September 4, 2025
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Publisher: Ubisoft

Star Wars Outlaws may not have met Ubisoft’s sales expectations when it first released on other platforms last year, but for many fans of the franchise, it’s a dream game all the same. There are plenty of titles based on the IP where you can play as a lightsaber-wielding hero, but Outlaws pursues a different goal: making the player feel like a bounty hunter in a seedy, unsafe part of the Galaxy where trust comes at a premium and everyone wants to kill you. It’s also a very ambitious game for a device like Switch 2, so I was excited to see how the game would play on Nintendo’s new console after a year’s worth of updates and new content.

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Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC review

Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan in Reviews, Switch 2 | 0 comments

System: Switch 2
Release date: September 12, 2025
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

All things considered, it seems safe to say that fans don’t appreciate Nintendo’s price antics lately. The recent Nintendo Direct confirmed the most expensive amiibo of all time, a $70 Super Mario Galaxy collection, and now a $20 Donkey Kong Bananza DLC two months after launch. That’s not inherently a problem – Bananza was in development for quite some time, given that it started out as a Switch 1 game. That said, the Nintendo Direct doesn’t do a very good job of telling you what the DLC actually is. From the previews, you would think DK Island is Donkey Kong Bananza’s version of the Mushroom Kingdom. And in many ways, it is – but it doesn’t have any Banandium Gems or fossils, nor any collectibles other than new outfits tied to the titular Emerald Rush mode. In other words, DK Island is essentially a big, pretty set piece – it’s nice to look at and fun to explore for a few minutes, but there’s not really anything of substance within.

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Chibi-Robo is one of Nintendo’s most charming classics, and here’s why

Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan in Features, GameCube, Switch 2 | 0 comments

At the time of writing, Chibi-Robo is Nintendo’s latest offering in the GameCube division of Nintendo Switch Online’s emulators. Notably, this is the first time Nintendo has given any significant attention to Chibi-Robo since Zip Lash on 3DS. If you don’t know this already, Zip Lash is commonly attributed to the downfall of the entire series – it was a mediocre 2D platformer on a system with a ton of great 2D platformers, so it didn’t stand out and sold poorly as a result. Skip Ltd., the developers of the Chibi-Robo games, shut their doors soon after.

That’s why it feels important to look at the original Chibi-Robo now more than ever. It’s a very unique and charming little game, and it’s very much unlike most classic Nintendo franchises – it’s probably most similar to Pikmin, if I had to make a comparison. Regardless, today we’re talking all about the original Chibi-Robo, which you can now play via Nintendo Switch Online – but only if you have a Switch 2 and the Expansion Pack membership.

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Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection review for Nintendo Switch

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

System: Switch
Release date: September 9, 2025
Developer: Limited Run
Publisher: Atari

There’s something about that bobcat, isn’t there? Since making his debut in 1993, Bubsy has lived in gaming infamy for his in-your-face attitude, and also for the reputation of his games not being the best the platforming genre has to offer. Even still, the character has had an unmistakable impact on the industry, and whether ironic or sincere, he has garnered a following and earned himself a cult status amongst platforming mascots. This led to a revival of the series in the late 2010s with a nineteen year gap between the releases of Bubsy 3D in 1996 and Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back in 2017. Now, in 2025, we have a brand new collection of Bubsy’s original run of games before his near two-decade long catnap.

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Cronos: The New Dawn review for Nintendo Switch 2

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

System: Switch 2
Release date: September 5, 2025
Developer: Bloober Team
Publisher: Bloober Team

It’s always nice to play games that feel like a product of the people that made them, and to see complex cultural values and historical experiences reflected within the games we play. It’s even nicer to see these topics handled in a way that feels earnest, heartfelt, and naturally rooted in the onscreen fiction. The risk-averse confines of the AA and AAA ecosystem make it difficult for modern developers to sing from the heart in this regard, which is what makes Cronos: The New Dawn such an enticing prospect. Fresh off of their mainstream mega-success with a solid remake of Konami’s Silent Hill 2, Polish developer Bloober Team has bucked the idea of banking on the safety of sequels and remakes. Instead, they’ve opted to hard-launch an entirely new action-horror franchise. Not just any new franchise, mind – but one that’s so deeply rooted in modern Polish history that I came out the other end of my time with it wearing a zupan.

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A closer look at the Switch 2 Pro Controller and why it’s one of Nintendo’s best

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

I’m maybe a little bit late here – when I play my Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, I do so almost entirely in handheld mode. Portability and versatility are very important in my opinion, but there’s one aspect of the Nintendo 2 that ensures I play it docked at least every once in a while: the Pro Controller. Big price tag aside, it’s a big upgrade over the original Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and an infinitely better option for playing in docked mode than the standard Joy-Con 2 option.