Tag: Nintendo

What we learned from the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement: Release date, size and more

The Nintendo Switch 2 is coming!

It happened! If you’ve been waiting patiently for the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement on Thursday, January 16 2025, the gaming company delivered with a teaser trailer for the sequel to its other handheld device.

THE BEST GAMES FOR THE SWITCH: What are the best titles?

That’s right, the Switch 2 is coming soon, and per the trailer, there are changes coming to the device that I think make it better than the original (and you’d hope that was the case if you want people to buy it).

So what’s the deal? When are we getting it? Here’s what we know from the trailer, which you can watch below:

What’s different about the Switch 2 from the Switch?

Good question! It seems like the screen is bigger, the controllers are bigger, and you can lean the screen with a kickstand of sorts if you don’t feel like holding it in your hands.

The controllers snap in instead of slide in. So there’s that.

When is the release date for the Switch 2 in 2025?

That we don’t know. What we do know is they teased a Nintendo Direct, where hopefully we’ll learn about the release date and what games are coming. That would be April 2, 2025.

What games will be available for the Switch 2?

Again, no word. But we did see a glimpse of a Mario Kart game. I can’t tell if that’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or not.

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Is the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement coming today? What we know.

Are we getting the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement today?

It’s January 16, 2025, which would seem like not a huge date or anything … except it MIGHT BE for gamers.

Why? Because there are rumors flying everywhere that Nintendo is going to reveal the Switch 2 on Thursday, with the games and release date and improvements on the Switch.

THE BEST GAMES FOR THE SWITCH: What are the best titles?

Walmart Canada Gaming might have tipped that this was happening with a two-word post on X (formerly Twitter): “Hey, Mario” and a photo of Mario peering around a curtain.

That’s got to mean something, right? Because that was the same image Nintendo showed before revealing the Switch back in 2016.

So: hmm. We’ll see!

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Biggest reveals from February’s Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase

Nintendo of America held their Partner Showcase Direct on Wednesday and these were the biggest reveals and a look at some upcoming releases.

Nintendo of America held its annual February Direct on Wednesday, this time in the form of a Partner Showcase.

Instead of their usual live stream, Nintendo opted for a pre-recorded 23-minute montage featuring several upcoming releases, remakes, and additions to the Nintendo Switch Online service.

Here are some of the biggest reveals from the Partner Showcase, coming to Switch in the next few months.

Eiji Aonuma says it’s game over for linear Zelda games

If you’re hoping the next Zelda game is a return to the old days of eight dungeons and a linear path, well, you probably shouldn’t

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If you’re hoping the next Zelda game is a return to the old days of eight dungeons and a linear path through them, well, you probably shouldn’t. IGN spoke with series producer Eiji Aonuma during The Game Awards 2023, after Tears of the Kingdom won best action game, and he suggested there’s an element of “the grass is greener” when people look back fondly on older Zelda games.

“I do think we as people have a tendency to want the thing that we don’t currently have, and there’s a bit of a grass is greener mentality,” Aonuma said. “But I also think that with the freedom players have in the more recent games in the series…there still is a set path, it just happens to be the path that they chose. So I think that that is one thing I kind of like to remind myself about the current games that we’re making.”

“But also, it’s interesting when I hear people say those things because I am wondering, “Why do you want to go back to a type of game where you’re more limited or more restricted in the types of things or ways you can play?” But I do understand that desire that we have for nostalgia, and so I can also understand it from that aspect.”

Which doesn’t sound too promising for fans of traditional Zelda style. Aonuma said his goal is creating more ways for players to chart their own path, so it seems pretty likely the next Zelda – whatever it might be – will follow the same open-world style as Tears of the Kingdom.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Aonuma and his team grew quite a bit between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, as the sequel’s open world felt more alive, with new people, more secrets, and a more complex series of dungeons that took advantage of the open-world, non-linear design in ways that Breath of the Wild couldn’t.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Zelda movie director envisions it as a ‘live-action Miyazaki’ film

The Zelda movie director Wes Ball wants to make Nintendo’s next movie like a “live-action Miyazaki” movie

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The Zelda movie director Wes Ball wants to make Nintendo’s next movie like a “live-action Miyazaki” movie. That’s a pretty broad statement, as the Studio Ghibli founder’s works run the gamut from cozy comedy to wartime tragedy, but Ball narrowed down what he meant a little in an interview with EW.

What Ball has in mind is “this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing,” he said. “I’ve always said, I would love to see a live-action Miyazaki. That wonder and whimsy that he brings to things, I would love to see something like that.”

That vision is just a vision for now, though. Ball is finishing post-production on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and plans on taking a rest before diving into the Zelda movie script. 

“It’s going to be awesome,” Ball said. “My whole life has led up to this moment. I grew up on Zelda and it is the most important property, I think, that’s untapped IP, if you will. So we very much are working hard to do something. We’re not just trying to do it because we can. We want to make something really special.”

Zelda and Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is co-producing the film with Avi Arad (Into the Spiderverse) and Arad’s production company Arad Productions. Nintendo will finance more than half of the film, while Sony Pictures Entertainment will also finance the film and distribute it film theatrically worldwide. 

“By producing visual contents of Nintendo IP by itself, Nintendo is creating new opportunities to have people from around the world to access the world of entertainment which Nintendo has built, through different means apart from its dedicated game consoles,” Nintendo said in the original press release. “By getting deeply involved in production with the aim to put smiles on everyone’s faces through entertainment, Nintendo will continue its efforts to produce unique entertainment and deliver it to as many people as possible.”

Written by Josh BRoadwell on behalf of GLHF

The best Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals on Amazon so far

We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals on Amazon so far, including Persona, Mario, Digimon, and more

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Deals season is here, and Amazon is celebrating early with some Black Friday Nintendo Switch deals on a broad variety of games. While Nintendo itself isn’t getting in on the action yet, we’ve got deals from Square Enix, Bandai, Ubisoft, and Sega on everything from Persona and Digimon to Mario + Rabbids, musical Final Fantasy, and more. All of these are physical copies, so if you’re looking for digital deals, you’ll have to wait a little while longer.

We’ll update this piece as more Black Friday deals roll out.

Every November Nintendo Indie World announcement

The November Nintendo Indie World showcase has come and gone, announcing plenty of promising indie games to the Switch

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The November Nintendo Indie World showcase has come and gone, and while there’s still no news of Hollow Knight Silksong, Nintendo and its publishing partners highlighted plenty of promising indie games to the Switch. Wayforward is bringing back a long-lost Game Boy Advance game, there’s a circus murder mystery, a life-sim with furry characters, hiking games, geckoes, and a whole lot more. Most of the games shown are coming to Switch in the next six months, with a few demos available now, so you won’t have to wait long if you see something you like.

Nintendo is making a live Zelda movie with the Spider-Verse, Morbius producer

Nintendo is making a live-action Legend of Zelda film with Into the Spider-Verse producer Avi Arad and Maze Runner director Wes Ball

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Nintendo announced out of the blue that it’s making a live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Zelda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto will co-produce with Into the Spider-Verse producer Avi Arad, and Wes Ball will direct.

The Big N made the announcement in a surprise press release following its quarterly earnings and said that while Nintendo and Arad have worked on the film behind the scenes for years to get the vision for it right, the Zelda movie is finally entering production now.

Arad has an extensive – and checkered – resume. He produced the hit Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the 2000 X-Men movie, but though he was also responsible for Morbius, the film so bad that it became an internet meme.

Ball is known for the Maze Runner film trilogy, and he’s directing 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Miyamoto is co-producing the film with Avi Arad and Arad’s production company Arad Productions. Nintendo will finance more than half of the film, while Sony Pictures Entertainment will also finance the film and distribute it film theatrically worldwide. 

“By producing visual contents of Nintendo IP by itself, Nintendo is creating new opportunities to have people from around the world to access the world of entertainment which Nintendo has built, through different means apart from its dedicated game consoles,” Nintendo said in the press release. “By getting deeply involved in the movie production with the aim to put smiles on everyone’s faces through entertainment, Nintendo will continue its efforts to produce unique entertainment and deliver it to as many people as possible.”

The live-action Zelda movie comes after Nintendo broke its own sales records with 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom and broke box office records around the world with the Super Mario Bros. movie. The latter released in April 2023 and has grossed over $1 billion as of November 2023.

Miyamoto said on Twitter that since production has only just begun, it will be a while before the film is ready for release. Nintendo didn’t say if the Zelda movie will follow a new storyline or adapt one of the series’ many games.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

The best Super Mario power ups ranked from weak to wowie zowie

Our Super Mario power ups ranked list holds the Nintendo mascot’s abilities to the light to see which ones are worth their salt

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Putting the best Super Mario power ups in ranked order is a trip through the long-running franchise’s history, a tale of failed experiments and surprisingly creative endeavors. Any series that’s been knocking around for over 30 years inevitably puts out some duds, and Mario is no different. Tempting as it may be to lay the blame on the (rightly) maligned New Super series, some of the classic Super Mario games have their fair share of stinkers. 

We put our favorite Mario power ups in order here, though since Super Mario Wonder wasn’t available at the time of publication, we didn’t include those yet.

If you’re after more Mario fun, check out our 2D Mario cover art ranking and the best Charles Martinet voice lines.

Ranking the best 2D Super Mario Bros. box art from mid to inspired

The 2D Super Mario Bros. box art quality has had its fair share of ups and downs over the decades, and we’ve sorted out the best of the best

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The 2D Super Mario Bros. box art quality has had its fair share of ups and downs over the decades since the first NES game launched, much like the games themselves. The olden days of pared down, brutally minimalistic art for international releases thankfully gave way to something more colorful and fun, though even some of the more recent Mario art leaves something to be desired. There’s only so many times you can create something cover art for Super Mario Bros. U before it gets a little stale, after all.

We’ve sifted through and put them all in order in our 2D Super Mario Bros. box art list, but if you’re looking for something more game-flavored, check out our Super Mario game rankings as well.