Author: sick skills

Well folks, it was one of the worst-kept secrets of 2026, and now it’s official: Sonic Frontiers – Definitive Edition is out now on Switch 2.

The new version boasts improved visuals along with a host of additional content previously offered separately as DLC. This includes ‘The Final Horizon’ story campaign, ‘Sonic’s Birthday Bash’ content update, digital art book and soundtrack, and more.

A retail edition is also available, but those keen to collect proper cartridges should know that this is another Game-Key Card release, so all of the data will need to be downloaded. To our knowledge, there is also no upgrade path available for current Switch owners.

“Sonic Frontiers – Definitive Edition is out now on Nintendo Switch 2! Journey across the Starfall Islands, now with improved graphics and performance, as you uncover the islands’ secrets and save Sonic’s friends. Enjoy all previously released content all in one place!”

We gave the Switch release of Sonic Frontiers a score of 4/10, stating “Traversal and combat annoyances plague the experience from start to finish, while structurally the game offers up very little variety, instead leaning on repetitive fetch quests that get exasperating after the first island”.

We also criticised the presentation on Switch, so hopefully this new release on Switch 2 will at least fix this specific issue. We’ll provide our full thoughts as soon as we can.

Will you be picking up the new Definitive Edition of Sonic Frontiers on Switch 2? Let us know with a comment in the usual place.

The arrival of lightweight, high-resolution monitors has led to a high volume of ‘AR’ glasses designed to give users a big-screen experience without, well, the big screen.

We’ve already sampled the likes of the Viture XR glasses and Viture Beast XR glasses, with the latter costing more than a Switch 2 console. At the lower end of the scale, you’ll find the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, a pair of AR glasses which do the same job but are less likely to break the bank.

Boasting dual 1080p screens with 120Hz refresh rates as well as four (count ’em) Bang & Olufsen speakers embedded in the arms, the RayNeo Air 4 Pro look like a pair of oversized sunglasses until you put them on – at which point your view is filled by what appears to be a large-format screen, but, in reality, is two displays being reflected off panels.

You connect the glasses via a USB-C cable and can use them with any device that supports video over USB-C. For the purpose of this hands-on feature, however, I’m looking to test the suitability of these glasses when it comes to Switch 2 gaming – and, like the aforementioned Viture Beast XR glasses, there’s a special dock you have to purchase to unlock this aspect.

The RayNeo JoyDock is sleeker and more attractive than the dock sold alongside the Viture Beast XR glasses, but there’s a catch – the included attachment I got only works on the original Switch and not the Switch 2, so I had to simply connect the JoyDock to my console and leave both of them lying flat on the sofa next to me. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s certainly less convenient than the Viture Beast XR offering (RayNeo does offer a Switch 2 bracket, but I wasn’t able to test it).

While the picture quality is excellent, I also missed the deep customisation available with the Viture Beast XR glasses. With the RayNeo Air 4 Pro, the image is fixed, whereas with the Viture Beast XR glasses, you can choose between a ‘floating’ display and a fixed one.

I also found that the field of vision is more limited with the RayNeo glasses (47 degrees compared to 58 degrees on the Viture glasses) and the audio is slightly weaker (although the bundled ‘Air Tunnel’ silicone attachments allow you to direct the audio directly into your ear holes, which improves things – even if it’s a little bit fiddly).

I also couldn’t really make out much of a difference with the HDR10 setting enabled, a feature which the Switch 2 naturally supports. Having said that, even without HDR turned on, the image is bright and punchy. Given that these glasses cost about half as much as the Viture ones, it’s pretty impressive. The image is sharp and detailed, too, making Switch 2 games look fantastic.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the one ace the RayNeo Air 4 Pro has when compared to its rivals – it allows you to ‘be’ Batman.

You see, RayNeo is selling these glasses in special ‘Justice’ and ‘Chaos’ SKUs for a little extra cash. These come in special Batman-themed packaging and even have the logo on the arms, but the real selling point is the plastic eye shade that ships with the glasses. There’s a Batman and Joker option, and even a stand in the box for displaying them when they’re not affixed to the glasses.

If I’m honest, once the novelty value has vanished, I’m not sure I would use the RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses with the Batman mask attached – but I can certainly see why it would appeal to some users.

Just as I said about the Viture Beast XR Glasses, there’s a solid use case scenario for this kind of product; I don’t always have access to a big-screen TV, and the RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses offer that in any environment. They’re not as impressive or feature-rich as Viture’s offering, but they cost around half the price – and that could make them a far more attractive prospect for many buyers.

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Thanks to RayNeo for supplying the RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses used in this hands-on.

Sega’s been making the headlines today thanks to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance both failing to meet expectations. Shock.

There are, however, some more games worth highlighting when it comes to overall sales. First up, Sonic Frontiers – which seems to be getting a Definitive Edition release any day now – has sold just shy of 5 million copies with a running total of 4.94 million.

It’s going to surpass 5 million whether it gets a Definitive Edition or not (it has), but the new release will almost certainly add another couple hundred thousand to the total.

Elsewhere, Sonic Superstars has sold a total of 2.88 million, Sonic X Shadow Generations 3.07 million, and Team Sonic Racing (yes, the older Sonic racing game) 3.5 million. The below chart from Sega indicates that Persona 5 Royal is easily the best-selling game of the bunch at 8.66 million, with Sonic Frontiers bagging the silver medal.

So what can we learn from this? Well, we’d honestly be surprised if Sega makes any more 2D Sonic titles for a little while – they just don’t sell as well as their 3D counterparts. What’s clear is that we can probably expect the next mainline Sonic game to be an evolution of Frontiers, since this is what players seem to be responding to the most. Hopefully Sega will have more to share in the months ahead.

We’ll have more information on Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition as soon as Sega decides to finally make it official.

Did you pick up Sonic Frontiers? How about Sonic Superstars? Let us know your thoughts on these latest sales figures with a comment down below.

The N64 is 30 years old! This week, we’re running a series of articles celebrating the 64-bit machine, its industry-shaping software, and its effect on a generation of gamers.

Today, Omar remembers the wonders of carting around consoles before Nintendo added a carry handle…

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Do you remember blowing the dust from a cart to try to clear the copper pins? Mistakenly thinking a translucent third-party pad that looked like a shark must be better, but then always dodging it for multiplayer GoldenEye? Re-reading game manuals in your bedroom as if they were novellas? Sort-of-fancying Linda from Snowboard Kids? Feeling betrayed when Andrew’s house got a PlayStation with Spyro and said the graphics were “better”? (With their paltry 32 bits, are you actually kidding me?)

But most of all, do you remember lending your N64 to a friend? Or carting it around to a classmate’s birthday party so everyone could laugh in hysterics at the No Mercy dick-hit ding?

This was the sharing economy of the 1990s-2000s, before consoles were as household as fridges (and Fortnite) and also because the N64 was almost exactly half as prevalent as PlayStations, at least in the UK.

Even in my family, there were two PlayStation destinations: at my Uncle Brian’s (not his real name) and my cousin Hashim had one, too (I once used my Older Cousin privilege to somehow blame him when I accidentally overwrote his FFVII save). But we had the only N64.

The N64 felt so robustly plastic, droppable, rucksack-able, portable. There wasn’t the fragility of a disc cover hinge or the worrying Posh Tech weight of a modern console. And without a CD involved, it feels happily upside-down-able, agnostic of polarity. You didn’t mind it tumbling and rotating, and even without trying I’m pretty sure it’d work even upside down. But also needs must, and I was evangelical about people playing Ocarina of Time.

Maybe I’m one of Those Guys? As in, sometimes my excitement for things so overflows that I feel the need to recount, discuss, and share very intensely. But also sincerely!

We had Sky TV (or maybe Telewest), and so I used to tape VHSes of Dragonball Z off Cartoon Network to dish out to my mate Yass periodically, a happy missionary spreading Good News. And it was Yass I also force-lent my N64 to, like a (Deku) dealer, so buoyed on the life-changing possibilities of Ocarina of Time that he just had to play it. And, soon after, get stuck on the Deku Tree web break and have to call my other mate Hass to explain it.

My friend Manish and I had many involved debates about… well, everything, I suppose. Such is the work of teens making very important and deep new intellectual discoveries. But frequently we also discussed the relative merits of bona fide Zelda vs Hype: The Time Quest, which he played on his PC.

This comparison took place only in the common ground realm of school chat, as neither of us had actually played the other game. But I’ve messaged him on Facebook to check, and he now ranks OoT as better after I (or was it Hass?) lent him the console to play it on; turns out he’s gone on to play loads of Zeldas since!

Whereas my cousin Hashim (distinct from Hass, hope that’s clear) completed OoT piecemeal when visiting ours. I say visiting, but we all readily flowed between houses, such was the way. I’m not 100% sure I knew he was playing — like a secret squatter! — and was surprised a few years ago when he said his two favourite games ever were OoT and FFVII, which feels like some kind of karmic harmony.

I don’t want to sound too nostalgic because, really, I suspect gaming may be better than ever. I love my Switch and its actual portability (it’s the TV and the console in one!) and GameChat catch-ups and digital downloads. And I still get enough rucksack action from taking my laptop to coffee shops with the heft of the power adapter.

But there was something too about consoles and games as very physical artefacts, scarce and shared, their memories entwined with the world around them. The community of physical trade and telling and You Gotta See This before there were phones to see everything on, or perhaps just before we could buy stuff ourselves.

Yass now has a four-child tribe and a very important job. And the other day he sent me a WhatsApp:

(P.S. I was playing Ocarina the other day, was in the Deku tree, and was thinking about you!)

That N64! Sometimes a digital hearth you’d crowd round, to play multiplayer Snowboard Kids or Fighters Destiny or shout at Oddjob. But also a portable portal, to a magical adventure about a child who later grows up, played at a time when we were all doing the same. And now I’m excited for the remake.

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