Author: sick skills

Capcom is gearing up for the release of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection on the Switch 2 next month, and today, it has released a brand new trailer.

It’s officially titled “Go Forth” and gives hunters another look at what’s on the way when the game arrives on 13th March 2026.

“There’s something out there beyond anything we can imagine, and that something is the source of the Encroachment. As calamity closes in from all angles, it’s your duty to pick up the torch and see it through.”

Alongside this, Capcom has also shared a developer walkthrough with the game’s lead gameplay designer Wakahara, which runs for 13 minutes. It covers all parts of the gameplay including battles, the areas you’ll explore, and the Rangers in the game.

“Discover more about Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection in this developer walkthrough with Lead Gameplay Designer Wakahara! From the story and your role within it, to creating your character, advanced battle tactics, egg hunting, Habitat Restoration and more, you’ll be ready to ride on when the game launches on March 13!”

And if this isn’t already enough, there’s also the free trial version of the game you can download from the Switch eShop right now. Save data will also carry over to the full game.

Will you be checking out Monster Hunter Stories 3 when it launches on Switch 2 next month? Let us know in the comments.

It’s a new year, and following new releases in January 2026, Circana’s Mat Piscatella has now shared chart data for the “Top 10 Best-Selling Premium Games” on Nintendo platforms in the US for this same month.

As you can see, Square Enix’s latest Switch 2 release Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade has debuted in second place, below Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and ahead of Donkey Kong Bananza. Keep in mind Nintendo’s first-party titles here do not factor in the digital sales, and these charts do not include specific sales data.

Final Fantasy VII Remake also went from 225th place in December to 9th place in January – cracking the “Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games” in the US for January 2026. This was thanks to the combined efforts of the Switch 2 and Xbox releases. Pokémon Legends: Z-A has dropped from sixth place to 16th place in the “Top 20” this month.

Piscatella has provided some additional information about hardware performance, revealing Switch 2 spending was able to offset year-on-year declines across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. In saying this, PlayStation 5 still led the market.

“Hardware spending increased 16% when compared to a year ago, reaching $248M. Nintendo Switch 2 spending was able to offset year-on-year declines seen across PlayStation 5 (-17%), Xbox Series (-27%) and Switch (-79%).

“Despite sales falling compared to a year ago, PlayStation 5 led the hardware market in both unit and dollar sales during January 2026. Nintendo Switch 2 ranked 2nd across both measures.”

In case you missed it, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth recently got a release date for the Switch 2. There’s also a demo you can check out for the first game via the Switch eShop, and if you want to know even more about it, be sure to read (or watch) our review here on Nintendo Life.

Did you pick up Final Fantasy or any other Switch 2 or Switch games last month? Let us know in the comments.

In the lead up to Pokémon’s 30th anniversary celebration, Nintendo officially lifted the lid on the return of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

They’re arriving on the Switch eShop on 27th February 2026, and ahead of this release, Nintendo has shared not only an official trailer but also some direct screenshots, showing off how both games will look on its hybrid system.

As we previously mentioned, Nintendo has also confirmed these Switch releases contain the same content as the original releases, with some modern solutions to the connectivity features. You can also play these titles while using the GameChat feature.

If you somehow haven’t played these monster-catching RPG before, as you can see below, it’s a mix of adventure, exploration and battling wrapped up in some lovely pixel artwork! So, without further ado, here’s a look:

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen preorders and now live, and you can also preload these games on your Switch, if you’ve already purchased them. If you haven’t already bought them, they’ll set you back £16.99 / $19.99 each (or your regional equivalent).

You can check out the trailer and a side-by-side opening video in our previous coverage here on Nintendo Life.

Are you looking forward to the return of these games? Have you already purchased them? Let us know in the comments.

Update [Sun 22nd Feb 2026, 1:30am]: First 4 Figures has now shared its first proper look at the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “Exclusive Edition” Link statue. As you can see in the video above, it’s got LED light-up functions for the right arm and base.

Once again, pre-orders will open on 26th February 2026 and the price for this statue will be revealed on the same day.

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Original Story: Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and it appears First 4 Figures will be joining in on the fun.

In a new announcement this week, the statue maker has given its followers on social media and YouTube a “sneak peek” of a new Tears of the Kingdom – Link statue. If it looks familiar, it’s because the standard edition is already available at “GameStop and other major retailers”.

This particular statue, which is limited to the First 4 Figures website, is an “exclusive edition” – so expect it to be a little fancier than the rest and possibly have additional features such as LED functionality. The full reveal of the 9″ painted PVC statue will take place “soon”, and pre-orders are set to open online on 26th February 2025.

If you sign up to the First 4 Figures newsletter, you’ll also get $10 off the full price when pre-orders go live. Pricing and other details will be revealed on launch day, so when we hear more, we’ll let you know.

Would you be interested in a statue like this? Tell us in the comments.

Pokémon turns 30 on 27th February, and in honour of this momentous anniversary, we’re running a series of polls leading up to the big day, asking you to vote for your favourite Pokémon from each generation. The nine winners will then go head-to-head in a final poll at the end of the month.

We’re covering a generation a day until we’ve ticked off all nine, leading up to the ultimate showdown. Each poll will be open for five days.

It’s the penultimate Gen before we’re up to date (at least at the time of writing), with Sword and Shield and Legends: Arceus‘ selection to peruse at your leisure. Before we dive in, let’s catch up with Team NL for their hot underdog picks.

Moving right along, we’ve got 96 Pocket Monsters this time, listed in National Dex order (use the search bar to quickly find a specific Pokémon). As ever, you can only choose one!

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Thanks for voting! Keep an eye out for the final generation tomorrow as we cruise towards Pokémon’s 30th anniversary.

And if you missed Gens 4, 5, 6, or 7, those polls are still live:

We all pulled a ‘Wait, Mario is how old??‘ last year as the prized plumber and the NES celebrated their 40th anniversaries, and what do you know, we’re about to do it all over again for little old Link.

Yes, The Legend of Zelda is 40 years old today (in Japan, at least). On 21st February 1986, Nintendo introduced the world to the fantasy land of Hyrule, complete with legendary princesses, magical triangles, evil pig men, and a little boy in a green nightcap. It was the first time anyone had heard Koji Kondo’s iconic title theme — apparently substituted in at the eleventh hour after Nintendo discovered Maurice Ravel’s ‘Boléro’ wasn’t up for grabs — or read the words “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this”. Without it, many of our favourite games of all time simply would not exist. So yes, we think this is a birthday worth acknowledging.

We’ve all heard the stories about Shigeru Miyamoto’s inspirations for the game, as he set out to replicate the feeling of exploring the woods and caves outside of his childhood home as a boy. And that’s exactly what he did.

Nintendo’s big player from the year before, Super Mario Bros., was all about moving from left to right, something that vaguely resembled the ‘quick fix’ arcade experience for a new home console generation, the culmination of everything Nintendo had learned to that point.

Zelda was different. Launching with the Famicom Disk System (also 40 today), there was an open world at your disposal, items waiting in every dungeon, and rarely any set instruction to ‘go here next”. It’s easy to overlook just how revolutionary and fresh the format was.

The story, by comparison, was something a little more familiar. Drawing inspiration from classic fairytales and high fantasy worlds established by the likes of Tolkien, Takashi Tezuka’s story of good overcoming evil is a timeless one. An elf-like boy embarks on a quest to collect some magic rocks, overthrows a power-hungry prince, rescues the princess and restores peace to the land. We’ve all heard it before, but you can’t knock its simplicity. And hey, did Tolkien ever write anything with a follow-up ‘Second Quest’ for those who have finished the first one? Oh wait…

Remarkably, it still feels good today. We’re not going to sit here and say that the original TLoZ packs quite the same open-world magic as a Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring, or Red Dead in 2026, but play any of them after experiencing this first slice of Hyrule, and you’ll spot Nintendo’s fingerprints everywhere.

Fortunately, it’s always been pretty easy to get your hands on the original game in the four decades since its launch. Be it through re-released GBA or GameCube packages, Virtual Consoles, Nintendo Switch Online, special edition Game & Watches or Animal Crossing retro systems, we’ve never been too far away from a way to dive into The Legend of Zelda, and every format will be someone’s first.

And so, as we inflate our big ‘4’ and ‘0’ balloons, hang a banner, and let out a celebratory “HYYYYAAA”, we thought we’d throw the reminiscing to you lovely lot. The Legend of Zelda has been playable in so many different forms, but which was your first experience with it?

We’ve listed each and every platform variant in the poll below, from the Famicom Disk System all the way up to NSO. Let’s see where it started for everyone!

On which system was your first encounter with The Legend of Zelda? Share your first playthrough memories with us in the comments below.

I’m still neck deep into NiOh 3, working my way to the platinum trophy. It’s been such a tantalizing experience, and scratches that Elden Ring itch. By that, I mean its open world design. I prefer this approach to the genre because the difficulty of formidable bosses can be overwhelming. Being able to go somewhere else, explore, and level up gives you the feeling of always making strides to improvement.

That said, the final boss for the first region, Takeda Shingen was the bane of my existence. There were moments I contemplated whether or not victory was even fractionally possible. My death count was approximately 25 times, and my head hanged low before I had to go to work for the day. Prior to him, the (boss) fights had been challenging, but my confidence grew with each attempt. Nine hours later, I arrive home from work, and tell myself that I can beat him. Once again numerous deaths. And then I learned a pattern. Though I still died I was consistently getting him to the halfway mark. And then I learned another pattern. And another. Two attempts later, I beat him.

Sometimes, you just need to take a step back for a while. You have to realize that this is just a video game, and it can be beaten. Once I didn’t let the enemy frustrate me, toy with my emotions, and make me play defense, reacting for sheer survival rather than be offensive minded and focus on positioning, I knew I could do it. There is no other feeling like adrenaline. Subsequently, the next main boss I encountered I was victorious on the first attempt.

Meanwhile, during my lunch break at work, I read the news that Xenoblade Chronicles X got a Switch 2 upgrade; I downloaded it as soon as I could. It’s nearly been a year since I’ve last played — I have forgotten the controls and sole core mechanics. I’m debating whether I want to start a fresh playthrough, or boot up my save file that has 120-hours logged, and get accustomed to the systems again. I will probably choose the latter, knowing I more than likely won’t finish it if I start anew.

It’s all happening so fast with the upcoming Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Switch eShop releases!

If you’ve already preordered these games for £16.99 / $19.99 each, here’s your reminder that the preloads for the game have now officially gone live in select regions around the globe. So, you’ll have an entire week to look at the icons on your home screen.

Here’s a look at these icons, courtesy of Serebii.net:

Of course, the big date for the return of these Game Boy Advance classics is 27th February 2026. Nintendo has also confirmed these Switch releases contain the same content as the original releases, with some modern solutions to the connectivity features.

This release lines up with Pokémon Day and the upcoming Pokémon Presents, where fans can expect even more Pokémon announcements timed with the 30th anniversary celebrations.

So, have you got these games preloaded on your Switch home menu yet? Let us know in the comments.

It’s all happening so fast with the upcoming Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Switch eShop releases!

If you’ve already preordered these games for £16.99 / $19.99 each, here’s your reminder that the preloads for the game have now officially gone live in select regions around the globe. So, you’ll have an entire week to look at the icons on your home screen.

Here’s a look at these icons, courtesy of Serebii.net:

Of course, the big date for the return of these Game Boy Advance classics is 27th February 2026. Nintendo has also confirmed these Switch releases contain the same content as the original releases, with some modern solutions to the connectivity features.

This release lines up with Pokémon Day and the upcoming Pokémon Presents, where fans can expect even more Pokémon announcements timed with the 30th anniversary celebrations.

So, have you got these games preloaded on your Switch home menu yet? Let us know in the comments.

Nintendo has already ruled out the Game Boy Advance titles Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen coming to the Switch Online ‘Nintendo Classics’ service, so how about the possibility of more Game Boy purchases via the eShop, similar to the Virtual Console releases during the 3DS and Wii U generations.

Well, in case you missed it, this release for Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, which is taking place next week on 27th February 2026, is a special occasion. In other words, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee more standalone purchases from this era (or from other generations of “classic” Nintendo hardware) going forward, as there are seemingly no plans for “Virtual Console types of offerings”.

Although it’s not an outright “no”, according to Nintendo’s official FAQ for the upcoming Pokémon releases, the company insists it remains focused on offering its classic titles through the paid Switch Online + Expansion service.

What about other classic games beyond Pokémon titles? Is this the return of standalone Virtual Console types of offerings?

Nintendo: “We remain focused on offering classic games through Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.”

The reason behind these particular classic game releases being handled “differently” is because the company apparently thought it would be “fun” to celebrate 30 years of Pokémon like this. To join in on the fun, you’ll be required to pay £16.99 / $19.99 for each title.

Even if Nintendo’s comment here was to rule out the return of “Virtual Console types of offerings”, other companies such as Hamster Corporation has recently upped retro support with the announcement of its Console Archives collection. This new library from Hamster revives select titles from multiple console generations, and some titles are already available on the eShop.

Nintendo’s most recent update to the Switch Online service is the launch of the Virtual Boy library earlier this week. To access this particular library of games, you’ll need to have an active Expansion Pack membership and one of the new accessories (or try one of the workarounds).

What are your thoughts about this? Is Pokémon just an exception here? Would you like to see more classic games (or at least retro Pokémon titles) follow this model? Could you see Virtual Console-style offerings returning in some way or form one day? Let us know in the comments.