Nintendo’s recent Metascores aren’t a big deal – here’s why
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Ethan Gnau in Features, Switch 2 | 0 comments
I’ve been having a very unproductive debate with myself lately: are video games getting worse, or are we all just getting older? When I was a kid, every video game was awesome. Super Mario Galaxy was awesome. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was awesome. Wipeout on the Wii was awesome too, even though objectively it’s not even in the same category of quality. Prior to Pokemon Pokopia’s strong reception, Nintendo has been met with some criticism on social media for releasing several games in a row that didn’t get an 80 or higher on Metacritic. It was 79 for Kirby Air Riders, 78 for Metroid Prime 4, 78 for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, 79 for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, and 77 for Mario Tennis Fever. Of course, though, Metascores aren’t everything – it’s actually pretty difficult to give a game an objective numbered ranking, and I’m saying that as someone who reviews a good number of games.
So today, we’re not only talking about the four games in question, but of review scores, Metascores, and opinions of video games in general. Are Nintendo’s newest four titles actually undercooked, or do we lose a sense of wonder, enjoyment, and appreciation as we get older? Probably mostly the latter, if we’re being honest, but let’s discuss anyway.
More: highlight, Metacritic, top
[Let’s Talk] March 2026 Indie World Showcase reactions
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Switch, Switch 2 | 0 comments
It’s been a few months since the last Indie World Showcase, but a new presentation just took place this week. Nintendo teamed up with a few smaller developers to show off some future games for Switch 2 and Switch.
Since there have been so many of them at this point, fans pretty much know what to expect from Indie Worlds. There are some cool announcements, but nothing earth shattering – they’re not intended to be Nintendo Directs. That said, we were treated to some noteworthy games on Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch.
The closer was Blue Prince, a game that’s very much welcome on Nintendo platforms after its strong debut last year. That was far from the only interesting title though – we also heard about Minishoot’ Adventures, Blighted, Denshattack, Heave Ho 2, The Midnight Walk, Toem 2, and more. Find the full recap here.
What were your favorite games from the March 2026 Indie World Showcase? Did you pick up any of the shadowdrops? Let us know in the comments.
The most surprising mispronounced Pokemon names
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Ethan Gnau in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
Today, we’re going over a list that includes more commonly-mispronounced Pokemon names. Some of them are particularly surprising!
During the 2025 Pokemon World Championships event, the official Pokemon Twitter account put out some commonly-mispronounced Pokemon names. And it makes sense why people pronounce some of them wrong: the games don’t have any voice acting, so for the most part players don’t hear the names of creatures spoken out loud unless someone brings them up in conversation. Even then, it’s very easy to accidentally pronounce them wrong or put emphasis on the wrong syllable.
Tales of Berseria Remastered review for Nintendo Switch
Posted on 4 weeks ago by Richard Ford in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: February 26, 2026
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
My experience with Bandai Namco’s storied Tales of franchise amounts ultimately to my time playing Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia, two games I loved playing dearly a few years back due to several of their characters appearing in the Nintendo 3DS Project X Zone series of games and piquing my interest in learning about their original stories. After Namco’s recent remasters of the above mentioned Tales titles, I was excited to branch out and play some titles in the series I had yet to experience; Tales of Berseria was one of them. The slightly different style of JRPG gameplay and more intense storytelling appealed to me, and having the main protagonist be a female character was a cool switch-up to what I’d experienced previously and was curious how that would impact the way the story was presented. While the storytelling of Tales of Berseria is unquestionably the highlight of the game, this specific version perhaps has not done enough to justify a brand-new release with a ‘remaster’ title.
March 2026 Indie World Showcase live stream
Posted on 1 month ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Switch 2, Videos | 0 comments
The March 2026 Indie World Showcase will be starting soon, and fans can tune in with the official live stream. It begins at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM in the UK / 3 PM in Europe.
Nintendo has only said that the new presentation will cover indie games for Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch. The video is keeping in line with past ones as it’ll be about 15 minutes long (though the Japanese one will be 25 minutes).
Best Pokemon games of all time, ranked from best to worst
Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan Gnau in 3DS, DS, Features, Switch, Switch 2 | 0 comments
Today, we’re going over the best Pokemon games of all time – more specifically, the top 10 main series Pokemon games. The list has been updated for March 2026 since its original publish date in 2024 in celebration of the series’ 30th anniversary. Spin-offs don’t count for this particular list, but there are definitely plenty of those that are more than worth playing in the modern day. New Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon are some commonly-acknowledged highlights.
The Pokemon series is, in a way, difficult to write about. At present, the series isn’t quite in a lull, per se, but it’s also most certainly not at its peak. Developing games is difficult, and for a never-ending media franchise like Pokemon, deadlines can be tough to meet. Over the past few years, titles like Sword and Shield and especially Scarlet and Violet have drawn criticism for several reasons. Though the design quality of individual Pokemon has remained strong, things like the graphics, performance, and postgame content have become somewhat inconsistent. This leads us to ask: what do you think are the best Pokemon games of all time? We’ve made our own list, so be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
More: Game Freak, highlight, Pokemon, top
Nintendo’s new approach to amiibo: expensive premium figurines
Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan Gnau in Features, General Nintendo, Switch 2 | 0 comments
On the surface, things haven’t been particularly easy for amiibo as of late. Last year, the line did celebrate its 10th anniversary, which is a pretty big milestone for toys-to-life: they’re usually long discontinued by the time by that point. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean amiibo are doing better than ever – it’s kind of the opposite, in fact. When they first launched in late 2014, each amiibo figure cost $12.99 each. They were marketed as affordable statues and add-ons to games – these bonuses were fairly inconsequential for the most part (but Super Smash Bros. amiibo training is still surprisingly deep), and if you didn’t want to spend the money on each figure you didn’t have to.
Recently, Nintendo upped the general price of new amiibo figures to $24.99 – $34.99 each. Of course, these are much more detailed than the original $12.99 amiibo that released in 2014, but it’s a steep bump nonetheless. Furthermore, the prices of all older amiibo were increased to $19.99 each. That means characters who were originally released for $12.99 now cost $19.99 without any significant increase in quality. Even if there were an increase in quality, this price bump puts amiibo out of range for most collectors. And yet, despite these price troubles, Nintendo announced a boatload of amiibo in the September 2025 Nintendo Direct. In my opinion, this marks kind of a doubling down of sorts – rather than going the amiibo card route like we previously suggested, Nintendo is doubling down on making amiibo into figurines of the highest possible quality.
[Let’s Talk] February 2026 Pokemon Presents reactions
Posted on 1 month ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Let's Talk, Switch, Switch 2 | 0 comments
The latest Pokemon Presents just aired yesterday for Pokemon Day, and it brought along the latest wave of news and announcements for the series.
As expected, the show ended with the reveal of Pokemon Winds and Waves. We got our first in-game look and the starters were shown off. Perhaps the biggest piece of news is that the titles are coming out in 2027 – not 2026 – and yes, they’ll only be on Nintendo Switch 2.
Of course, Pokemon Winds and Waves was only one segment of the show. Various updates were shared on Pokemon Champions, Legends-Z-A, and more. Find a recap of everything shown here.
What did you think of the latest Pokemon Presents presentation? How are you feeling about Pokemon Winds / Waves and the starters so far? Let us know in the comments.
Pokemon Presents live stream for Pokemon Day 2026
Posted on 1 month ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Switch, Switch 2 | 0 comments
It’s officially Pokemon Day 2026, and with the Pokemon Presents presentation happening in a few hours, we’ve got the live stream for you. The fun starts at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM in the UK / 3 PM in Europe.
It was already announced that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are returning on Nintendo Switch today in celebration of Pokemon’s 30th anniversary. However, this should be just the tip of the iceberg for news. We’ll likely get another update on Pokemon Champions, for one thing. And while no one can say for sure, some fans believe that Pokemon Gen 10 will be revealed – that’d certainly be a good way to end the presentation.
Below is where you can watch the Pokemon Day 2026 Pokemon Presents live stream:
These Nintendo franchises would make great Warriors-style games
Posted on 1 month ago by Ethan Gnau in Features, General Nintendo | 0 comments
Warriors-style games aren’t for everyone – but clearly, there is still plenty of enjoyment to be found because we’ve gotten a rather steady stream of them over the years. These titles were generally developed at least in part by Omega Force, which is a subsidiary of Koei Tecmo. Their first large-scale collaboration with Nintendo was Hyrule Warriors in 2014, and as you can guess, it went over well – so much so, that it spawned a 3DS port, an enhanced version for Nintendo Switch, and numerous sequels. Most recently, we received Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on Nintendo Switch 2.
But there have been a few other big Warriors-style games – Fire Emblem is the other big one, and it has received two unique games so far (not counting ports and such). There’s also Persona 5 Strikers, which doesn’t have much to do with Nintendo, but it’s another example of a major franchise that has its own Warriors “spin-off” (in quotations because Strikers isn’t really a spin-off). We now know that these games are very successful, which means we’ll be seeing more in the future. Zelda Warriors games are great, but how many of them can we get before we need a little break? Here are some Nintendo franchises we’d like to see turned into Warriors games.
