Author: sick skills

Nintendo’s latest surprise app, Pictonico!, is now live on iOS and Android, and we’d wager that a few of you have already dived in to see what this silly little picture game is all about.

There’s a vague WarioWare energy to Pictonico, which sees you putting your photos through a series of surreal minigames as quickly as you can. These minigames might task you with making a face eat a kebab, lick a lolly pop, or get its hair nice and lathered up, and you’ve got to do it all before the timer runs out.

If you’re only playing the free demo, that’s as far as the minigame selection goes (yep, just the three), but there are an additional 80 challenges split between two ‘Volume Packs’ for those who want to pay extra.

It all seems like a harmless bit of fun so far, even if the free stuff is a little more restrictive than we had initially expected. We’ll be sharing our full thoughts on the game once we’ve spent a little more time with it, but until then, we’re keen to find out what everyone makes of it so far.

You can share your first impressions of Pictonico in the following poll, but be sure to take to the comments afterwards to add a little more detail.

Brace for impact, punctuation fans, because after being announced for Japan earlier this month, Spike Chunsoft has today opened pre-orders for the Western edition of STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, confirming that it’ll be coming to Europe and North America on 29th October.

For those who missed the initial 2024 announcement, Re:Boot follows Elite as the second remake of the acclaimed Xbox 360 visual novel. This one boasts remapped visuals and new narrative content (hello, new ending scenario!), with an entirely remade score by composer Tsuyoshi Abo.

Here’s a brief rundown of the new features and a handful of screens from Spike Chunsoft:

An Easier-to-Read Scenario
Based on the scenario from STEINS;GATE ELITE, the story has been refined to be more evenly paced, with an overall smoother reading experience. Additionally, along with new dialogue and narrative text, a brand-new worldline and ending scenario have been added, bringing players a story never before seen. The game features a substantially expanded volume of text, delivering a richer story experience.
All voices and music are newly recorded!
All in-game voices have been re-recorded. Furthermore, all in-game background music has been remade by composer Takeshi Abo.
Refined Graphics
All characters, backgrounds, and event still images have been redrawn from scratch, resulting in a major visual revamp. Compared to the original Xbox 360 version, the number of event still images has approximately doubled, while the number of background visuals has increased by roughly 20%! A vast amount of visuals delivers an even more immersive experience.
Dynamic Character Expression with E-mote
By utilizing the next-generation animation tool “E-mote”, characters are brought to life with vivid realism. From subtle changes in facial expressions to natural breathing, these nuances take immersion in the story to new heights.

The game is now available to pre-order in both a Standard and Steelbook Edition on Switch 1 & 2, both of which come with a sticker bundled in — because the backs of our laptops aren’t full enough already. Hey, looking at the box art, it seems to be a full on-cart release, too.

Re:Boot launches in Japan at the end of August, so it’s nice to hear that we won’t have much longer to wait before it heads West.

Will you be checking out this one on Switch (2) later this year? Let us know in the comments.

Depending on what kind of hybrid gaming system you’re in the market for, the Steam Deck might not be quite as appealing after a significant price increase this week.

Following in the footsteps of Nintendo and Sony recently, Valve has announced its 512GB OLED system has jumped from $549 to $789 ($240 extra), and the 1TB OLED model has increased from $649 to $949 ($300 more). It’s not all doom and gloom, as the price of the existing LCD model (which is still sold in select markets) remains unchanged. Refurbished models also offer more affordable options.

Here are Valve’s new regional prices for its Steam Deck OLED models. Keep in mind it hasn’t even released the Steam Frame or Steam Machine yet, which will function as both a console-style experience and PC.

• Steam Deck 512GB: $789/£649/€779
• Steam Deck 1TB: $949/£779/€919

While no hardware manufacturer seems to be safe from price increases or shortages on key components at the moment, as our colleagues at Push Square note, the big three console makers are arguably better equipped to deal with this kind of situation.

Fortunately, for the Switch 2, it’s already got some momentum as it nears 20 million sales and its first anniversary next month. Nintendo’s own $50 increase raises the price of its new hybrid unit (featuring an LCD panel) from $449.99 to $499.99. These price revisions are already in effect in Japan, and will take place this September in Western markets.

In saying this, the Japanese firm isn’t willing to rule out further Switch 2 price increases – with Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stating earlier this month how the company could still be impacted by the “uncertainties” of component prices not only in 2026, but also next year.

What do you make of Valve’s decision to up the price of its portable system? Do you think it could clear up some space in Nintendo’s segment of the market? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

After a rating was spotted earlier this year, Square Enix yesterday confirmed DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition would be getting a Switch 2 release this September.

If you’ve been wondering about an upgrade, according to the official Nintendo store description for the Switch version, there are “no plans to sell an upgrade pack to upgrade the Nintendo Switch version to the Nintendo Switch 2 version”. This is reiterated in fine print at the bottom of the same game page.

*This is the Nintendo Switch™ version.
There is also a Nintendo Switch™ 2 version of this game. Please select the version you require carefully.
*There are no plans to sell an upgrade pack to upgrade the Nintendo Switch™ version to the Nintendo Switch™ 2 version.
*Save data is incompatible between the Nintendo Switch™ and Nintendo Switch™ 2 versions.

As also noted, save data is not compatible between the Switch and Switch 2 versions, so if you are planning on picking up one or the other any time soon, you’ll need to “carefully” select the version that is right for you. Square Enix’s Japanese Dragon Quest website reconfirms data from the Switch version cannot be transferred to the Switch 2 version.

So, it seems there won’t be a paid upgrade path for existing owners of this Dragon Quest entry on Switch. If you do decide to get Dragon Quest XI S on the Switch 2, you can expect new optimisation modes, allowing you to prioritise graphics or performance. It’s also been confirmed the physical release of the Switch 2 version is a Game-Key Card.

If we hear any updates or developments, we’ll let you know.

It’s hard to stand out at BitSummit, Kyoto’s yearly indie games festival, especially on the third floor where the Nintendo Indie World and Sony booths dominate much of the real estate. But despite taking up a tiny slice of space and running on a single monitor with little adornment, Petal Runner stood out more than most with its vibrant pastel pixel graphics.

At a glance, the quaint little towns and character sprites look like they were pulled straight out of EarthBound or Pokémon Red & Blue. It’s clear to see where developer Nano Park Studios drew inspiration from. As such, the gameplay looks like it might lean into creature-collecting or turn-based combat as you go about cataloguing little critters called HanaPets; however, this isn’t the case.

The core gameplay is to clean up and deliver HanaPets to homes and businesses rather than battle with them, as lead writer Lauren Crown explained as I sat down to play through the demo. They’re for companionship the same way pets are in real life, and it’s your job to install them into people’s homes.

“This is a world where there are no natural animals,” Crown said. “All of the animals you see are these digital pets.”

From what I saw in the demo, there are two kinds of HanaPets: Gen 1, which are all but extinct aside from Kira, the little white fox pal of the main character Cali. The first generation mirrors real-life Tamagochi, as seen when you check up on Kira’s status in the menu. On the other hand, Gen 2 HanaPets reside in Leap Cells which are a bit more biologically based, as these contain flowers that provide the HanaPet with power.

There’s plenty of HanaPets to find. In the demo’s opening moments, I came across a little mouse called Checkers that was looking for ‘snax’ and a snake-like dragon creature called Root Zero that helped me escape from a lab after I cleaned up its Leap Cell. More common HanaPets like Checkers have several different variations while Root Zero is a bit more ‘legendary,’ if you will, and therefore unique.

Again, I battled against none of these critters. Nano Park Studios leans into this, including funny but meaningless little stats like their levels of cuteness and fluff in each HanaPet’s description and — Crown assured me — included a few tongue-in-cheek jokes about the absurdity of battling pets throughout the adventure.

You still do collect them and add them to an encyclopedia, and this isn’t a game without strife. The opening moments see you and your pink-haired friend Dahlia stealing an android sensor to help out her robotic friend. When you manage to nab said part, a ‘corrupted’ HanaPet makes an appearance, which triggers several minigames to clear in order to cleanse it.

These minigames take a page out of Undertale’s graphically simple battle screens and consist of quick, five-or-so-second challenges that wouldn’t be out of place in a WarioWare title, though they’re much less bizarre.

Here, you’re cleaning a little dog by moving the left joystick up and down as fast as possible, mashing ‘A’ for a chubby cat to eat its bowl of food, and — my least favourite, because I messed it up so many times — playing ping pong as a little mouse, strafing to the left and right.

Crown confirmed that there are seven total minigames in the demo, but couldn’t tell me how many there were in the full game. “As for the whole list, we’re working on making it as long as we can before launch. So I don’t know exactly how many, but we’re doing our best.”

When I cleared all of the corrupted HanaPet’s minigames without failing too many times, it was then cleansed, revealing the aforementioned Root Zero critter that then helped us escape from the lab with the android sensor in hand. From there, I separated from Dahlia and received a nasty phone call about late deliveries, so it was back to work with Kira the HanaPet in tow.

Hopping on a little motorcycle, I drove around a gorgeous town called North Valley looking for a nearby mall with the HanaPet shop inside, talking to and registering a few different HanaPets along the way. Here, where the main story progresses, so too does a sidequest that Crown pointed out. A boy named Percy stormed off to chase down a strange HanaPet, and Kira and I decided to help him out.

“I’m particularly fond of this sidequest because the pet you’re chasing started as a weird joke when we were trying to adjust the sprite of another HanaPet and it went all wonky,” Crown said. “I was shocked when our artist created a real sprite for it.”

Crown and the team then turned this messed-up HanaPet — called The Boy — into a sidequest that ties into the narrative’s themes. As Percy, Kira, and I tracked it through the gorgeous little town, residents exclaimed they saw the ugliest little creature running about. We followed it to a little shady spot in the woods where it was glitching out and, as you’d expect, I completed a few minigames to fix it up.

But this time around The Boy didn’t turn into something more visually pleasing. Instead, Percy decided to study it further, ending the quest and highlighting a narrative thread running throughout the demo and presumably the full game: What was happening to the HanaPets? First, the Gen 1 HanaPets are nearly extinct. Root Zero was covered in goop and had to be rescued. And now this wonky, glitched-out creature raised even more questions.

“Petal Runner really is primarily story-based,” Crown elaborated. “It’s about Cali and Kira and that relationship you have with your childhood pet that grew up with you and how important that is.”

Percy and The Boy’s questline also looks like it will explore those relationships between people and their pets, as Percy first perceives The Boy as an academic quandary to solve but — potentially — becomes something much more meaningful and personal to him.

As a lifelong dog owner myself, I began to worry someone might start chopping onions nearby as I played. While I didn’t get a good sense of the overall plot, the demo was packed full of endearing, lighthearted dialogue that I sensed could flip to melancholic and heartbreaking at any moment.

The little white fox Kira often stole the show with his portrait next to his dialogue box, as it featured adorable and expressive animations. Residents in town bickered with each other and one snarky boy challenged me to clean a Leap Cell quicker than he could. HanaPets themselves (they can talk, obviously) asked after ‘snax’ and protested when Kira got their name wrong. As such, I couldn’t help but talk to everyone I ran into as I explored Petal Runner’s gorgeously rendered world.

Crown assures me there are separate areas with different colour palettes. I can’t wait to see them.

But I’ll have to wait a while – at least to play it on a Nintendo Switch. There’s a similar demo to the one I played on Steam and a planned release date in 2026, but a release on a Nintendo console is still unconfirmed. But much like every other small developer I spoke to at BitSummit, the Switch is an eventual goal.

Regardless, Petal Runner’s gorgeous art direction and endearing characters stole the show this year despite the small amount of real estate it commanded, and I can’t wait to play more.

Mina The Hollower might just be our most-anticipated indie of the year. Yacht Club Games’ throwback Zelda-like has felt like a long time coming, and today, we’ve started to get an idea of what we can expect from the full game.

Yes, while we technically have to wait until release day (29th May) to go hands-on ourselves, the review embargo has lifted, and the scores are flooding in. Spoiler: they’re pretty darn positive.

Here at Nintendo Life, we gave Mina a 9/10, calling it “another retro-styled masterpiece” from Yacht Club Games. Here’s a snippet of our take, followed by a link to the full review:

Blending the exploratory charm of The Legend of Zelda with the European gothic setting of Castlevania, and adding subtle nods to numerous other titles, Yacht Club Games has delivered another finely polished gem that stands shoulder to shoulder with the classics it pays tribute to.

Of course, we’re not the only ones with thoughts on the game. Below, we have rounded up a handful of reviews from across the web, in the hope of showing you the full spread of opinions so far — as difficult as that is, since almost everyone seems to be in love with it! Do bear in mind that the following reviews may be based on other platforms.

We’ll kick things off with a full-beans 10/10 review from IGN, which, as you might expect from that score, praised just about everything Mina has to offer:

Its blocky exterior disguises rich combat systems, some of the best puzzle solving ever put to screen, and a funny, deeply weird world I loved to explore.

It was more of the same in The Gamer’s 5/5 review:

Mina the Hollower is an almost faultless game that combines elements of nostalgic classics we know and love with a healthy dose of Yacht Club’s flair and expertise to make it something that truly stands out as a retro-inspired masterpiece.

GameSpot landed on the same 9/10 score that we did, arguing that Yacht Club has even surpassed Shovel Knight this time around:

It surpasses the boundaries of mere homage or retro throwback to become something new, fresh, inventive, and exciting. Shovel Knight was a well-deserved successful debut for Yacht Club. Mina the Hollower may be its masterpiece.

GamesRadar+ was similarly optimistic in its 4.5/5 review, particularly praising the number of approaches available to each puzzle and combat encounter:

Yacht Club Games clearly understands what works about the classics, and Mina the Hollower is an incredible collection of tested ideas rebuilt in new ways.

Keeping the good times going, Game Informer offered Mina an 8.75, with the “annoyances” of Mina’s movement being the only real sticking point:

Mina’s titular hollowing ability, where she can go underground to move quickly, leap from the ground, and avoid some attacks, is the game’s most compelling and novel mechanic, but learning to control it well takes time; I still had annoyances related to it even through the final challenges leading to the end boss.

Giant Bomb went lower still, opting for a 3.5/5 after finding frustrations in one too many of its systems:

Other early game enemies hit so hard and have so much health that grinding almost feels mandatory. And, hey, usually I’m a big defender of grinding. I think it’s fun and relaxing. But even I thought it was a bit strange how much I was relying on it in a Zelda-type game.

Pretty glowing across the board, eh? As it stands, Mina the Hollower has pulled in a Metascore of 93 based on 38 critic reviews — that puts it as the site’s best-reviewed game of the year so far!

Gosh, it may have been a long time coming, but it certainly looks like Mina the Hollower will be worth the wait.

Will you be picking up Mina the Hollower later this week? Let us know in the comments.

Ahead of its 10th anniversary later this year, Hello Games is back with another No Man’s Sky update, and it sounds like a big one.

The Swarm update arrives in the game today, throwing the entire galaxy into all-out war. Hey, we said it was a big one! Huge objects, the ‘Hive of Glass’, have appeared in the sky over NMS’ planets, and it’s up to the community to face off against it in space battles and by solving puzzles down on the surface. A faction system is being added to the game based on a personality test at start-up, with all three groups needing to work together to tackle the Hive head-on.

Naturally, anything shot down in battle can be salvaged on the planets below, so even if fighting isn’t your thing, know that there will be a lot of scrap collecting to be getting on with while the war wages overhead.

Here’s a handful of screens, so you can get an idea of how big a threat this Hive poses:

It’s quite the leap from No Man’s Sky’s last Pokémon-inspired update, no? Just when we think Hello Games has added everything it possibly could to the game, there’s another surprise waiting around the corner.

Will you be checking out the Swarm update on Switch (2)? Let us know in the comments.

Rounding out Dragon Quest’s 40th anniversary showcase, we got our very first peek at the next entry in the Dragon Quest monsters spin-off series: The Withered World.

The teaser was admittedly pretty light on details. We saw a bunch of monsters, two young protagonists and… that’s about it. It was all accompanied by a vague “Coming Soon” message, though Yuji Horii noted, “we hope to release before [Dragon Quest] XII”.

Just in case that sounds like it might be coming soon, the announcement also contained the news that development has restarted on the next mainline entry in the series, so don’t get those hopes up just yet.

So, there you have it! Another ‘Monsters’ game is in the works. We would have liked to see some gameplay, admittedly, or get even the vaguest idea of what this entry will bring to the table, but our fingers are crossed that it won’t take too long before we get to hear more about it.

Hey, at least we’ve got Dragon Quest XI to dive back into (again) on Switch 2 this year.

Will you be checking out the next Monsters game on Switch (2)? Let us know in the comments.