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.
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.
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…
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.
Image: Omar Hafeez-Bore / Nintendo Life
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:
Image: Omar Hafeez-Bore / Nintendo Life
(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.
Nintendo usually only gives 24 hours’ notice before its Directs, but back in the June presentation, it revealed when the next show is heading our way.
It’s Splatoon Raiders that’s being put in the spotlight this time, with Nintendo sharing even more details on the upcoming spin-off ahead of its 23rd July release date.
Below, we’ve listed everything we currently know about the next Direct, so you can make sure you’re prepared for it.
What time is the Splatoon Raiders Direct?
The Splatoon Raiders Nintendo Direct will arrive on 30th June 2026 at 3pm BST.
Here is the precise time that the show will start in your timezone:
We’ll be sharing our usual livestream post here on Nintendo Life. This will go up before the event kicks off, so you can pop in for some pre-show chat.
How long will the Splatoon Raiders Direct be?
We still don’t know the exact run time for the Splatoon Raiders Direct just yet.
Most game-specific Directs in the past have been around 15-20 minutes, with the exception of Kirby Air Riders, which got a whopping 1hr 45mins split across two shows.
We’ll update this section as soon as hear the official runtime.
What will be announced in the Splatoon Raiders Direct?
Again, we still don’t have any specifics on this one at the time of writing.
After the Raiders appearance in the latest full-fat Direct, Nintendo teased that the stand-alone show has “even more details to cover”. We saw a fair amount of gameplay in the ensuing Treehouse: Live presentation, and we already know about the tie-in amiibo and Joy-Con 2 colours, so we’re not sure what else there is to cover.
Expect a deep dive on all the mechanics we haven’t really seen yet, hopefully with a few surprises along the way.
Will you be watching the Splatoon Raiders Direct? What do you hope to see? Let us know in the comments.
Update []: 8BitDo has now confirmed pricing for the new N64-inspired Retro 87 Keyboard and Ultimate 2 controller.
The keyboard will cost $99.99 from 8BitDo’s store with shipping commencing from 14th August 2026, while the Ultimate 2 costs $59.99. As standard, the Ultimate 2 will come with a charging dock along with TMR sticks and Hall Effect triggers.
Since it’s designed for PC and mobile, however, the ABXY layout is based on the Xbox.
Original Story: The N64 turns 30 years old today. It’s okay, just breathe. It’ll be okay.
Anyway, assuming you’ve not collapsed to the ground in a state of existential despair, listen up. As reported by Retro Dodo, accessory manufacturer 8BitDo has a couple of really neat new products in store for the console’s anniversary, and they look gorgeous.
First up is a mechanical keyboard that pays homage to the N64 with yellow arrow keys to mimic the c-buttons, blue and green A/B buttons, a red CTRL button, and a transparent ‘Wave Blue’ casing. It’s stunning!
The controller, meanwhile, is a ‘Wave Blue’ edition of the Ultimate 2 pad, meaning it’s likely earmarked for the PC and sadly won’t be directly compatible with the Switch 1&2. Again though, just look at this thing! The ABXY buttons are coloured as a callback to the N64, while the casing colour matches the keyboard beautifully.
These new products were supposedly discovered on the Chinese Portal IT Tome, and so we don’t have much official information beyond the couple of images you see below. That said, once we have details on the release date and price, we’ll update this article and let you know.
What do you make of these N64 callbacks? Share your thoughts with a comment down below.
Cosy games and tea are a perfect pairing: think curling up under a blanket, Switch in hand, cup by your side. It’s no wonder, then, that the concept for Wanderstop came about.
The debut from new (and now sadly defunct) studio Ivy Road — co-founded by Davey Wreden, of The Stanley Parable fame — blends management-sim gameplay with a unique story about quelling the ‘do more’ voice in our heads, and taking a break with a hot drink. Now it’s come to Nintendo’s handheld following its debut on other platforms in 2025, you can curl up with it – and I recommend you do.
Wanderstop starts with a motion comic that seems to set up another game. After years undefeated, warrior Alta has lost a series of battles. On a quest to find the illustrious Master Winters, she faints in the woods, fatigued and unable to lift her sword. That’s when she’s found by Boro, the owner of the Wanderstop tea shop.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Unsatisfied with sitting still, Alta starts working with Boro. The two are a very sunshine-rain pairing: Boro is sweet, light-hearted and goofy, while Alta is hot-headed, sardonic, impatient. That means, ironically, working in a slow-paced tea shop is her toughest challenge yet.
Gameplay is mainly chatting to customers and filling their beverage orders. You make tea with a machine that’s the Wonka Factory meets Magic Faraway Tree meets something else magical. It’s a multi-step process where Alta climbs a ladder to boil water, channel it around the tree, and toss in ingredients like fruit and tea leaves.
The farm-sim elements will please most genre fans. You can sow small plants for more seeds, or bigger plants for fruit. Planting various seeds alongside each other grows hybrid plants with a similar flavour to Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ rose-breeding.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Less pleasing, for me, was organising crops in 3D third-person – like Disney Dreamlight Valley but in a hex grid. You have plentiful space to do this, though. In fact, the clearing is so big, I was grateful for Highlight Mode: holding ‘ZR’ to see characters and interactables.
The mechanic of collecting leaves, harvesting fruits and brewing tea is fun, even with a few steps to it. You get a Field Guide that helps you steep yourself in the process and track requests. Experimenting with ingredient combinations produces delightfully psychedelic rainbows in the pot.
You serve a bevvy of customers, from out-of-work demon hunters to nanas threatening to put you out of work. Ingesting their lives and their tea needs is like Spiritfarer and, to a lesser extent, Spirittea, where entertaining dialogue expresses stark personalities and requests until it’s time to move on (I mean leave the clearing – not die).
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Tea requests do get more complex: customers might need an energy boost, or crave a particular flavour. You might need to take a puzzle-solving approach or crossbreed plants to get particular ingredients. The difficulty increases at the right pace and it’s satisfying cross-referencing a mood or craving with the Field Guide fruit descriptions. There’s also a Book of Answers that serves full spoilers if you get stuck.
The story is linear yet exploration is free. You can take your time, plant seeds, prune Dreamlight Valley-esque thorns, or pet Pluffins (cheeky little birds that inhabit the clearing). You can also return to the forest, though you won’t get far before Alta faints – a consequence of rushing her recovery.
That’s because Wanderstop wants you to stop. And it’s when you make Alta ‘do nothing’ that the game is often most rewarding. Sit down and drink a cup, and you’re treated to a narrative-driven pause where Alta reveals parts of her origin story and difficult childhood. I won’t spoil things, but different ingredients stir up different emotions in her, so you’d have to try them all to get the full picture. This action is by no means necessary, but it’s such a meditative moment for our heroine, you’d do yourself (and her) a disservice to skip it.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Wanderstop’s chapters are marked by ‘seasons’. At various intervals, certain characters stop talking. Boro explains it as a mystery of the forest. He then takes you to a Shrine. Once Alta spends time reflecting at the Shrine, the story moves forward: the game cuts to Alta in the forest wrestling her internal demons.
The dialogue feels raw and honest, giving us an unfiltered insight into her mental anguish. Then you return to Wanderstop, but the clearing has evolved – befitting the ‘starting over’ theme. The gentle piano-led tunes adjust to fit the mood, things move around, your pockets empty.
Most noticeably, the colours change. Across the board they are gorgeous, initially bursting with soft pinks, turquoises and mints, then adding honey yellows. The palette cools to dark blues and wintry greys as Alta sinks to her lower moods, then vibrant magentas and indigos as the narrative comes to a boil.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
I’ve already compared parts to Disney Dreamlight Valley, but the illustrations really are quite Disney-esque. Alta may not fall into our preconceived notions of a ‘princess’, though her design — big eyes, voluminous hair — certainly does. Meanwhile, Boro’s role of comic relief meets unending kindness and wisdom fit the Disney bill. Added to that, animations like Boro laughing at his own jokes and Alta’s combat-like sweeping are nice touches that round out the characters.
What a shame such beautiful graphics don’t shine their brightest on Switch 2. Everything’s a little fuzzy on this console, especially in docked mode. It’s kind of like looking through water. Frame rates also appear to be lower than on other platforms.
My second main nitpick is the fiddly inventory. If you’re holding an item, you have to Stash it before you can pick up another. There are multiple pockets and some seem miscategorised. But if you can swallow these hiccups, the game is definitely worth playing.
Conclusion
Wanderstop follows Alta on a journey where little journeying takes place. In fact, this game is all about slowing down, taking your time, and resting, cup of tea in hand. In 12-ish hours, you drink up a story of heroism’s dark side and the need to take breaks. Its response to hustle culture is emotional, yet never sickly sweet.
The beautiful art style may not be at its most potent on Switch 2, but if you’re a Nintendo-only household, don’t pass on Wanderstop, especially if you’re a cosy fan. Ironically, if your personality is anything like Alta’s, you might be too impatient to play this. Then again, you might absolutely need to. Now, who fancies a cuppa?
We’ve still got Star Fox and Rhythm Heaven Groove to come, but Nintendo’s marketing for its next big July release has stepped up a gear today with the arrival of the first ‘Deep Cut’s Island Misadventures’ comic, the Splatoon Raiders prologue.
These were initially announced in the June Direct and tell the story of everything Deep Cut has been getting up to on the Spirhalite Islands before the events of the game.
The first issue, ‘Crash Landing’, is available on the Nintendo Today! app right now, and with one month exactly before the game launches on 23rd July, there will be a whopping 30 daily issues to keep up with on the run-up to release day.
Looking at the first issue, it seems that these ‘Misadventures’ are going to be really rather brief, but hey, if it gives us our daily Splatoon fix, who are we to complain?
We’ll learn even more about Raiders in its upcoming game-specific Direct next week on 30th June. You’ll find everything you need to know about the show in our guide below.
Will you be checking into Nintendo Today for your daily Raiders comic? Let us know in the comments.
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…
Three decades ago to the day, players were sitting down with Super Mario 64 on their new console for the very first time. Launching in Japan on 23rd June 1996, the N64 ushered in a new era of video games and Mario was there Day One to show everyone how it was done.
We recently asked Nintendo Life readers to send in their most treasured N64 memories, and today we’re publishing a chunky handful of the many responses that came in. It’s all here: smiles, tears, superlative parenting, multiple Snowboard Kids shoutouts, plenty of 14-inch CRTs, and who can forget that other ’90s mainstay, Lynx Africa?
Many thanks to everyone who responded. Below you’ll find some of our favourite Ultra 64 memories, including those of Team NL…
N64 at 35 – Nintendo Life Memories
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
“dad showed signs”
2007: aged 4, I remember going to the local game store buying cheap PS2 games. But my dad showed signs of wanting something else; somehow I picked up on that, so as soon as we got to the car, I decided to return my games to put that money toward the thing he wanted: an N64 with Perfect Dark. My dad played GoldenEye in the ’90s, but Perfect Dark hooked him in 2000, especially being able to make tuxedo-wearing aliens in Combat Simulator. Seven years later, he introduced me. We’ve been playing PD together ever since. Atari-Dude
“One-Hit Crouching Slappers”
I got the N64 on release day with Mario 64 and the Shadows of the Empire. It cannot be overstated what a leap this was from the SNES. Suddenly all our favourite heroes – Mario, Link and Donkey Kong were running around in 3D. Fondest memories were 4-player Mario Kart 64, Lylat Wars (Star Fox), and the granddaddy of them all – GoldenEye 007. Now I’m fancying another round of One-Hit Crouching Slappers! Scott Fuller
“I actually lost a friendship”
I have so many great childhood memories playing N64. The single player games were excellent, but the built-in 4 player multiplayer was a literal gamechanger for my friends and I coming off the SNES era & controller passing. The countless after school hang outs and slumber parties became multiplayer battles that lasted hours. Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Bomberman 64, Mario Party. But the king was always WrestleMania 2000. I was so good at it that I was willing to let my opponents pick my wrestler. I actually lost a friendship after defeating someone with Paul Bearer. AG_Awesome
“an N64 in her shopping cart!”
When the N64 was close to release in Germany, I was 14 years. My family never allowed preordering (they were extremely risk-averse, they wouldn’t even do any kind of mail order), and told me to “just go to the store” when it’s released. But then — and just as I expected — a few weeks before launch all stores told me the same thing: It’ll be impossible to secure an N64 on March 1. I was devastated – I’ve saved money for months, ever since my birthday and Christmas the year before! On March 1, I went to a large supermarket with my grandparents. My grandpa and I went to a nearby electronics store, but of course there was no N64. New stock? “Maybe in three months.” Sad and disappointed we went to my grandma, who was at the supermarket at that time. And guess what? My grandma had an N64 in her shopping cart! What happened was this: While my grandpa and I were away, she asked for an N64 at the supermarket. And they actually had an extremely small amount of consoles – five or six, all of them reserved. But one of them was reserved by the store clerk she talked to – and he had empathy towards my grandma and let her buy the console he had originally reserved for himself, making not only me, but also my grandma extremely happy! Markus Pfeffer
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
“we did the purchase at school with a teacher present”
I got my N64 secondhand from my friend in middle school. I begged my dad to let me buy it, it was a good deal the system and a stack of games and 2-3 controllers. My dad gave me the money and we did the purchase at school with a teacher present to hold the system till the end of day. That was a cool memory but the thing I’ll never forget was that night playing Mario 64 for the first time. It was like nothing I’d seen or played before and my whole family mom, dad, and sister sat around the tv watching me play this new first of its kind 3D Mario. Everyone was blown away by the graphics and freedom of the 3D game play. That is 100% a core memory and it was an amazing family bonding moment. William Randall
“The TV couldn’t do 60Hz”
I remember my imported US N64 arriving through the post at the back end of ’96. I remember plugging it in to my TV via its as yet unused S-Video socket. I then remember Super Mario 64 firing up in Black and White 😭 The TV couldn’t do 60hz over S-Video 😤 Luckily, the TV was a Sony Centre rental so I just upgraded it, happy days 😂 The end. mandlecreed
“I can’t believe I lived without F Zero X”
I adored the NES and SNES. I lost touch with gaming for the N64, but from Gamecube on I was all in with Nintendo. I’m forming my memories now, it is a complete blank spot for me! I can’t believe I lived without F Zero X for that long….. Ganon821
“arcade-like places”
I have to say that the Nintendo 64 is the console that I love the most, and that has something to do with the fact that I didn’t have one growing up. I grew up in Manizales, a medium-sized city in Colombia’s coffee region, and my home’s budget would never have allowed my parents to buy me a videogame console. We could actually rent game time in some arcade-like places. So I was always looking forward to meeting with a few friends, gathering as many coins as we could put together, and paying for the right to sit down on plastic chairs in front of a huge 14-inch TV split in 4 to play Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., Cruisin’ World or the masterful Goldeneye for a couple of hours. I can’t really put into words how satisfying it was to play next to my friends and feel the sheer group joy of a head to head final lap or hunting the person with the most points before time ran out. There’s something so special about being in community and laughing or even amicably arguing outloud because of a dirty tactic someone pulled at the last second. Unfortunately, I have never felt that way with gaming again. Playing online is nowhere near a similar experience, and I feel really sad to think that that incredible sensation will probably never return. The weirdly shaped controller, the huge cartridges that still sell for incredible amounts of money and keep on working after decades of being released, so many game mechanics that first showed up in the Nintendo 64 and have shaped gaming forever. This console is literally a game-changer. A few years back I bought my Nintendo 64 with an Atomic Purple semi-transparent controller. Then I fitted the controller with the 8BitDo Mod Kit + Rumble Pack + TMR Joystick, and bought a couple of my most beloved games for it. I want to keep it as a small treasure that brings me back to those beautiful years. At this very moment, my wife and I are in the process of adopting a baby. My very naïve dream is that we will some day sit next to our little one and form hundreds of new precious memories with these marvelous games for years to come. Sebas
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
“sent to Milton Keynes”
It was late 1997, I had graduated from Uni in the summer, and was starting my first full time job, in IT. Along with 2 old school friends, we were sent to Milton Keynes for training, for a month or so. We shared a single big room above a hairdressers and spent every night playing Mario Golf. The game was so well balanced, so much fun, and mashing the ‘nice shot’ and ‘mamma Mia’ taunts to say ‘nice mamma’ when your mate was trying to tee off is now a core memory haha. Gaz Wills
“Enough said”
Grant Kirkhope. Enough said. Brandon
Yesssssss. – Ed.
“sneak a controller into my backpack”
My living situation wasn’t the best in the mid-90s, and I would often prolong going home after school as much as I could. A classmate picked up on this, and started inviting me to his place after classes. I’d sneak a controller into my backpack, and together with a few more friends, we’d while away the weekday afternoons with four-player GoldenEye, Star Fox, and WCW/NWO World Tour. Though I couldn’t avoid going back home at some point, the daily escapism was much needed. And to this day, those remain my happiest gaming memories by a long shot notreallyhere
“Trevelyan on my aunt’s bedroom TV”
The N64 is the moment our TV chose to just stop working. But as I spent too much time on it, my parents decided not to buy a new one. I remember stuffing my console into my backpack to go to friends or relatives so I could go forward with Goldeneye… I finally killed Trevelyan on my aunt’s bedroom TV. Tibob
“I could never find the Z-button”
My Nintendo 64 memories are somewhat unique because my family never actually owned the console. But we did have an Xbox with an early 2000s Nintendo 64 emulator. I was too young to realize that classics like Super Mario-64 and Ocarina of Time weren’t actually Xbox games. But I do remember being confused about why I could never find the Z-button on the Xbox controller when Navi prompted! The emulator wasn’t perfect either, but these idiosyncrasies led to several fun memories among my siblings. For example, on Mario Kart 64 the D.K. Jungle and Skyscraper maps were set at double speed. Imagine trying to land on the D.K. steamship or keep from falling to your (balloon) death when you moved at lightning speed with the slightest tap of the gas! On another note, I attribute my love of dark green settings to the hours I spent wandering around Kokiri village and forest as a young lad. When I think about the Nintendo 64 I remember how well these games embody atmosphere, music, and fun gameplay in one phenomenal package. Bowsers-Inside-Story
“cake and lasagna”
The N64 will always be special to me. Not just for the games that felt surreal at the time. For me it is more personal. I asked my parents for an N64 for my birthday and my mother created a custom scavenger hunt with small presents (plus cake and lasagna!) as I was home alone for about two hours after school. The final prize was an IOU from my mom, stating she put the system on layaway. Christmas 1996 I got my N64 and Mario 64. I cried like a baby and played until I passed out, controller in hand. Love you Mom! Ryu_Niiyama
“on the Trinitron”
I’ll never forget the late nights on the fold-out sofa bed with my cousins and friends as we played Smash, Mario Kart, and Diddy Kong Racing on the Trinitron. Bradley Herdman
“our new family dynamic”
The release of the N64 came out at a sensitive time in my life, right at the height of my parents’ divorce. Over that next year, in the summer of 1997, my mother and I adjusted to our new family dynamic by playing way too much Mario Kart 64, and I even learned to reconnect with my dad and his new partner thanks to Mario Tennis and multiple Mario Parties. It’s the system that turned what could have been some truly terrible memories into some truly great ones, and I’ll always cherish it for that! Splash_Woman
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
“sitting in a beam of light like the Master Sword”
When the N64 was nearing its release and the hype was building, my dad took me and my brother to Blockbuster to go pick out a SNES game and a movie to rent for the weekend. We didn’t know that this location had set up a 64 demo kiosk with Mario 64. What a surprise. In my memory, it was sitting in a beam of light like the Master Sword. We took turns playing and laughing, and we had it all to ourselves because we were somehow the only customers at the time. To this day it’s a perfect memory. Dave Montes
“a competition with Pokémon stickers”
My first memories with the N64 were unhappy ones. It was not widely available in my country as we were still recovering from communism and such luxuries were EXTREMELY rare. I remember a competition with Pokémon stickers and if you filled an album it with ALL Pokemon you had a chance of winning the Pikachu N64 edition … that was unheard-of at the time! I filled TWO of those and send them over but only got Pokemon toys as a prize Now, today I have TWO N64! One European for my European games and one USA N64 that (I think) you know really well as I have hand crafted it into a StarCraft battlefield! Zuljaras
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
“the atmosphere”
I never owned a Nintendo 64, but I still remember playing Ocarina of Time on my cousin’s console one Christmas Eve. We spent the whole afternoon exploring Hyrule Field, amazed by how vast and alive that world felt. It was a constant battle of “my turn” and “your turn,” but neither of us wanted to put the controller down. What I remember most, though, is the atmosphere: a small TV with mono sound, my grandmother’s warm kitchen, and the excitement of Christmas dinner approaching. Looking back, it wasn’t just a game—it was one of those perfect childhood memories. MicroMatscenes
“an N64 for good grades”
I remember going into CompUSA (does not exist anymore, but was a Best Buy like store) with my mom and brother and picking up an N64 for good grades. We must have grabbed it the next spring since it released in September. We each got to pick one game to go with it. I went with Super Mario 64 and my brother went for Goldeneye. Wow the hours we put into those games. The N64 really was top 2 for local game play. Danielle Boyd
“a communal N64”
At six years old, a post-tonsillectomy infection left me in and out of the hospital for weeks. The only thing to take my mind off the pain was a communal N64 the nurses would roll in on a cart and hook up to the TV. I vividly remember dreaming about Mario Kart in that hospital. Dad promised that if I would get better, he’d buy us one for home. I couldn’t understand how incentives would help me heal faster; but I guess it worked! I got better, and I’ve been a Nintendo fan to this day. Sam White
“Why do they speak like dummies?”
Perhaps my most treasured N64 memory is not even about a game itself. My late-granda was watching me play Banjo-Tooie. When she hears the characters talk she immediately asked “Why do they speak like dummies?” That surprisingly has stayed with me all these years. HammerGalladeBro
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
We’re not even halfway yet! Turn the page for plenty more N64 memories…
Pokémon Pokopia‘s Wish Upon a Jirachi event runs from 23rd June to 8th July, 2026, introducing the Gen 3 Mythical to the cosy life simulator.
Though it follows a similar format to previous limited-time events – with a new Pokémon pitching up at a Pokémon Center, offering you items in exchange for a new currency – it’s how you get this new currency that’s a little different, even if it’s doubling down on a now-familiar gameplay loop.
This Pokémon Pokopia Wish Upon a Jirachi guide explains how to start the event, how to get the Sparkling Wish Notes currency, and everything you need to get the Jirachi event habitat up and running.
How To Start The Wish Upon a Jirachi Event
Before you start, you need to have rebuilt a Pokémon Center, and play between the dates of 23rd June to 8th July, 2026. (No time-travelling here, by the way – this latest limited-time event requires an internet connection to authenticate the correct date.)
When you log on, Jirachi will appear outside of a Pokémon Center, and hand over a receipt for Wish Notes, which require two Vine Ropes to craft.
This is the first step to getting the real event currency, Sparkling Wish Notes, which are rewarded when completing requests from resident Pokémon in your town when you have Wish Notes in your possession.
How To Get Sparkling Wish Notes
To get Sparking Wish Notes, you must hand over a standard Wish Note to a Pokémon when they ask for a request. These requests are the same as they are at any other time – requiring you to fetch an item – and are indicated by a speech bubble that appears over their head.
Talk to them to start the request, and as part of the process, you’ll also hand over a Wish Note. Complete the request, and you’ll get the usual reward, alongside a Sparkling Wish Note, in return.
It should be noted that any requests you have started before the event will not reward a Sparkling Wish Note – you haven’t had a chance to hand over a Wish Note to that Pokémon after all – and if you’re struggling to spot any new requests, we recommend waiting for some time to pass first so they can start springing up.
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo
Also, despite what the in-game tutorial says about having to hold Wish Notes when approaching Pokémon, in our experience that’s unnecessary; as long as a Wish Note is in your inventory, it should be handed over all the same.
All Wish Upon a Jirachi Event Items
Image: Nintendo Life / Nintendo
When you have some Sparkling Wish Notes, you can head to the Pokémon Center and exchange them at the counter for event-specific items. These are:
Item
Sparkling Wish Note Cost
Needed or Event Habitat?
Star closet
1
Yes
Starry-sky bed
1
Yes
Cloud table
1
Yes
Star-shaped dresser
1
No
Jirachi Lamp
1
Yes
Moon clock
1
No
Star mat
1
No
Star wall decoration
1
No
Telescope
1
No
Cloud cannon
1
No
How To Get The Surrounded By Stars Jirachi Event Habitat
The Wish Upon a Jirachi event habitat, Surrounded by Stars, requires the following items, which requires a total of four Sparkling Wish Notes to build:
Star closet x1
Starry-sky bed x1
Cloud table x1
Jirachi lamp x1
Note that you need to connect electricity to the lamp in order for the habitat to be completed.
Jirachi will show up at the habitat once the event ends following 8th July.
This isn’t the first Pokémon Pokopia event we’ve covered. And if meeting Jirachi has inspired you to keep playing, our Pokémon Pokopia walkthrough leads the way to many more guides that can help along the way.
