If May wasn’t already busy enough, Bandai Namco is currently celebrating “PAC-MAY” – a month-long birthday celebration of the iconic video game character Pac-Man.
The fun has kicked off this week with the first teaser trailer video of the “Pac-Man: Snack Breaks” animated short series, created in partnership with the animation studio Cartuna. The first episode will debut on YouTube on 22nd May 2026, and there’ll be a “new episode every month”.
Here’s some additional information about Snack Breaks from the PR:
“PAC-MAY kicks off today with the first teaser trailer of the “PAC-MAN: Snack Breaks” animated shorts. Bandai Namco Entertainment, in partnership with animation studio Cartuna, produced the animated series, which follows PAC-MAN as he leaves PAC-Village for the fast-paced, neon sprawl of NEW PAC-CITY, where everyday life bursts into high-speed, snack-fueled adventures. With Team Ghost always on his tail, PAC-MAN’s boundless optimism is the ultimate power-up. By combining action, high-energy comedy and inventive worldbuilding, the new series honors the franchise’s iconic history while launching PAC-MAN into a bold new chapter of adventures in NEW PAC-CITY and beyond.”
Pac-Man’s birthday celebrations will also apparently extend to live events, tournaments, fan events and crossovers (including Fruit Ninja x Pac-Man). Bandai Namco is also giving Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac players a new free costume. It will be added to Nova’s Costume Shop. If anything else is announced, we’ll provide an update.
What are your first impressions of Pac-Man: Snack Breaks? Let us know in the comments.
The official description reveals it’s “coming this August”, with the eShop listing seemingly narrowing down the estimated release date to 14th August 2026. The same listing estimates the file size on the hybrid platform to be around 50GB.
Image: EA
This follows the release of Madden NFL 26 on the Switch 2 last August. We described this entry as a very solid port, even with the frame rate drops.
“Server issues at launch aside, and with the loss of cross-play noted, Madden 26 is a very solid port of one of the best outings for this franchise in recent memory. Yes, you’ll need to get used to a drop in the frame rate to 40fps on Switch 2, but it’s a reasonable downgrade in order to get this type of game running as well as it does on a portable machine. It really is a very close match in all other ways to other consoles.”
Will you be checking out the next entry on Switch 2? Did you play Madden NFL 26? Let us know in the comments.
Following a new Animal Crossing set announcement, LEGO and SEGA have officially revealed a “Sega Genesis Console” set.
Set 40926 is officially described as a “highly detailed model” bringing together the best of creativity and a love for retro gaming. If the Mega Drive is more your thing, you can also customise this non-functioning brick build to look like this model – complete with detachable controllers and decorative stickers.
This set will launch on 1st June 2026, is priced at £34.99 / €39.99 / $39.99, and includes 479 pieces. We’ve even got some official measurements and photos:
“The set measures over 1.5 in. (4 cm) high, 6 in (16 cm) wide and 4.5 in (12 cm) deep, while the controllers measure over 1 in. (2 cm) high, 3 in (8 cm) wide and 9.5 in. (24 cm) deep.”
Image: LEGO / SEGA
If you want to actually relive the Genesis and Mega Drive, the Switch Online + Expansion Pack ‘Nintendo Classic’ service includes this retro Sega library. You can also buy Switch Online Genesis / Mega Drive controllers on the Nintendo Store.
What do you think of this Genesis / Mega Drive Lego set? Will you be adding this to your collection? Tell us in the comments.
The release of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Switch 2 has us here at Nintendo Life Towers cracking out our 4K discs for a cheeky rewatch. A little righteous swashbuckling and fantastical archaeology in these troubled times is just what the doctor ordered.
However, there’s another treasure-hunting game that caught our eye recently, one that’s seeking some of Indy’s fortune and glory: namely, Fortune & Glory, a brand-new GBC platformer that’s currently live on Kickstarter after smashing its goal on the first day.
Coming from indie dev Matthew Loffhagen, it’s actually another Disney character of Scottish heritage that this homebrew title is channelling: Scrooge McDuck – or more specifically, Scrooge’s NES platformers and the wider 8-bit Capcom oeuvre under the Disney banner (as spotlighted recently in Digital Eclipse’s excellent — and long overdue on Switch — Disney Afternoon Collection).
Image: Matthew Loffhagen
Honestly, the Indy reference and the namecheck for quality Saturday morning tie-ins like Chip ‘n Dale and DuckTales was enough to pique our interest, but there seems to be plenty of heart and soul that’s gone into this GBStudio project.
You control one of the titular rodents as you explore Gatopolis — the City of Cats — in search of (in the best tradition) some sacred MacGuffin or other. Ancient cities? Check. Booby traps? Obvs. Minecarts? Natch. Snakes? Probably. Rats? Er, they’re mice, no? Mind-scarring melting faces or heart removal scenes? Probably not.
The game picked up second place in the Game Boy Competition 2025 jam, and you can check out the Kickstarter trailer at the top of the page for a better idea of how this little platformer moves and sounds. Here’s a little flavour from Loffhagen’s Kickstarter page:
“I’ve long wanted to make my own tribute to these games, and finally last year I fulfilled this dream by entering Fortune & Glory in the GB Compo ’25 game jam. To my surprise, the game won 2nd place in the jam’s games category, as well as scoring highest among the judges for art.
“Emboldened, I took my initial game and expanded it significantly, quadrupling its size and adding an additional playable character as well as detailed cutscenes tying the whole adventure together with a story inspired by Disney classics – with a healthy amount of Indiana Jones and The Mummy (1998) in there for good measure! After all, these films were inspired by Disney comics to start with, so it all felt very thematic!”
Image: Matthew Loffhagen
There’s still more than 20 days to go on the Kickstarter at the time of writing, so if a physical copy of this sounds appealing (plus a variety of add-ons if they float your boat), head over there and take a gander.
Still not sure? There’s a demo on itch.io that you can download or even just play in your browser.
Let us know below if this is pressing your nostalgia button.
It’s an impressive accomplishment given that the development team is also knee-deep in producing the third and final entry in the trilogy. The currently-untitled game has yet to receive a firm release date, but according to director Naoki Hamaguchi, work is progressing very well.
This is just one of several topics we touched on in our recent interview with Hamaguchi-san, who kindly took time from his schedule to answer questions ahead of Rebirth’s launch. We discuss why Rebirth is launching so soon after Remake, how he relaxes during his downtime (or, to be more precise, doesn’t), and which first-party Nintendo game he’s particularly excited for in the months ahead.
Nintendo Life (Ollie Reynolds) – How has development gone for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Switch 2? Were you working on this alongside Remake?
Naoki Hamaguchi: Truthfully, from the moment we launched the Switch 2 version of Remake, the only thing I was thinking about was how to turn these other launches into a reality. This is because it wouldn’t be fair to the players if the platforms were split partway through, given how this project was designed to be a trilogy. So, rather than saying we developed Rebirth in parallel, it’s more accurate to say that we were operating with the assumption that we’ll continue this path forward from the moment Remake proved to be viable on the Switch 2.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we were developing two entire titles simultaneously. However, the optimisation insights we gained from Remake and our growing understanding of the Switch 2 hardware were fed back into Rebirth from a fairly early stage. As a result, Remake and Rebirth ended up releasing on the Switch 2 within a relatively short time span. This wasn’t because we prioritised speed, but rather, it was a decision driven by our top priority of avoiding a fragmented experience.
Image: Square Enix
How did you find the transition from the more linear gameplay in Remake to the more open-ended structure in Rebirth?
The transition from Remake to Rebirth was essentially the accumulation of adjustments focused on answering one question: “How can we make this work?” Because Rebirth features large-scale fields with heavy processing loads on rendering and streaming, it couldn’t be ported to the Switch 2 as is. That led us to take a step back and reassess things, from our approach to rendering techniques, to lighting, and background streaming.
We were especially keen on ensuring that switching between handheld and docked modes never made players feel like they were playing a different game.
We were especially keen on ensuring that switching between handheld and docked modes never made players feel like they were playing a different game. We prioritised stability and consistency of experience, exploring sensible solutions while keeping how games were played on the Switch 2 in mind. Through that process, we gained a very clear sense that an open-world experience of this scale can truly work across different environments. That realisation isn’t limited to Rebirth; it serves as a major source of validation for us as we take this series to its finish line as a trilogy.
With Remake, you’ve mentioned that lighting was crucial to ensuring the game looks so good on Switch 2. Was this the same for Rebirth, or did the open-world structure require a different approach?
Lighting is an important element in Rebirth, as it was in Remake. However, because Rebirth adopts an open-world structure with a much larger field scale, it’s a title where the amount of information being rendered at any given moment is higher. As a result, rather than making significant changes to lighting in isolation, our approach focused more on how to balance the overall rendering load.
The use of DLSS was indispensable in that regard and was readopted in Rebirth as it was in Remake. Neither of their modes relies on fixed resolutions and is instead designed based on dynamic resolution. In handheld mode, the internal resolution ranges between a maximum of 1344×756 and a minimum of 672×380. In docked mode, it ranges between a maximum of 1920×1080 and a minimum of 960×540, the same as Remake.
As for the compatibility between DLSS and hair rendering—which was a topic of discussion with Remake — for Rebirth, we took a slightly different approach. We didn’t fundamentally change the rendering technique itself, and applied subtle blur adjustments based on hair direction and density, aiming for the most natural balance possible under restricted conditions. While it’s not identical to the technique used in the PS5 version, we believe you’ll be able to feel the difference within the context of the Switch 2 environment.
Image: Square Enix
Speaking of open-world, did the larger scale of Rebirth cause any development headaches on Switch 2? What would you say was the biggest challenge?
The shift to an open world means the scale of the world in Rebirth is significantly different. This difference became the greatest challenge for the Switch 2’s port.
For Remake, we were able to maintain 30fps through adjustments to post-effects and fog, but because Rebirth dramatically increases the number of rendered meshes, we couldn’t implement the same thinking. For this reason, the background models themselves were optimised specifically for the Switch 2 in the port. We didn’t simply reduce the polygon counts; we made adjustments to the overall game structure by redesigning from the LOD (level of detail) stage, and reevaluating materials with heavy rendering loads from the ground up, etc.
We also adjusted the scale at which background LODs switch for the overall scene, ensuring the processing load wouldn’t spike suddenly even as draw distances increased. On top of that, we addressed these issues by identifying the conditions where processing loads tended to concentrate, determining cutoff points for minimising rendering of non-visible areas and reorganising the rendering order for the overall environment, etc.
By defining what absolutely needed to be preserved, then conducting tests based on real gameplay scenarios to identify and reproduce conditions where processing loads concentrated, we were able to address those issues one by one. It was through this cumulative process that we were able to achieve this stable frame rate.
Without going into spoilers, do you have a favourite scene or gameplay segment from Rebirth that you’d like to highlight for players?
I think the minigames pair exceptionally well with the Switch 2. Because they can be played in short sessions, they give rise to experiences that draw players in before they even realise it.
Take Queen’s Blood, for example. What starts as “just one match” flows into another. You think you’ll make a quick tweak to your deck, but you end up continuing to play. Picking up the game in handheld mode starts an organic chain of play sessions.
Image: Square Enix
How do you find the balance between extending the story of FFVII into three games whilst staying faithful to the original vision?
The greatest challenge was thoughtfully evaluating, title by title, how far to push “nostalgia” and “innovation” respectively, so they could work in balance.
For players familiar with the original game, I think what matters goes beyond the story arc itself—it’s the relationships between the characters, and the emotions they felt upon discovering this world. Those are elements we can’t afford to treat lightly. At the same time, for players discovering FFVII today, we needed to update the presentation and design to align with modern sensibilities; otherwise, the experience itself simply wouldn’t resonate. For this reason, we adopted modern approaches to visual expression while preserving the emotional core and character relationships that were beloved by many in the original game.
We want to capitalise on this cadence and moment to tie the experiences together without any gaps, from Remake to Rebirth to finally the third installment that lies beyond them.
Rather than framing this as a simple binary of whether to “preserve or change” something, we’ve continuously reevaluated how to interpret these notions of “nostalgia” and “innovation,” and how to express them. As we’ve expanded the story as a trilogy, that thinking has remained consistent. That’s our approach to making the Final Fantasy VII Remake series as a whole.
Rebirth is launching on Switch 2 just five months after Remake. What was the approach behind this, and does it feel like the right move?
The short span between releases was a deliberate choice. We view Remake and Rebirth not as completely separate titles, but as an experience unfolding within a single journey that follows one another. From the earliest stages of the remake project, each instalment was designed not to repeat the same experience, but to progressively expand the scale of gameplay. Remake focused on an experience that engages deeply with story and characters, while Rebirth continued that path and leaned even further into the sensation of journeying through the world.
With large-scale titles like this one, it’s common for a long gap to exist between the first and second instalments. However, because they were ports, we decided we could deliver them without leaving much of a gap. We want to capitalise on this cadence and moment to tie the experiences together without any gaps, from Remake to Rebirth to finally the third instalment that lies beyond them.
When we spoke in 2025, you mentioned that development on the third game was progressing well – you had finalised the story and begun working on the core gameplay. Without going into too much detail, can you provide an update on the game’s progress?
We’re very excited about how the game is currently progressing. I have already completed over 40 full playthroughs! I can’t wait for as many people as possible to experience the game for themselves, and myself and the team are working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience.
Image: Square Enix
You must be so busy overseeing such an ambitious project. What do you do to relax during your downtime?
To be honest, it’s rare for me to make downtime with the intentional goal of “relaxing.” I play games and watch films, but sometimes I’m not even sure whether I’m purely enjoying them or engaging with them as part of my own creative process.
As a way of clearing my head, I’ve made it a habit to get off the train a few stops early and walk for about 30 minutes on the way home. While walking, my thoughts tend to connect in unexpected ways, and I’m able to make sense of things as a result. It’s also good for my physical health.
Are there any Switch 2 games you’ve been playing recently, or perhaps any that you’re looking forward to playing in the future?
Truthfully, the refinement work for the third instalment has been ramping up, and I haven’t been able to spend time with the Switch 2 after Donkey Kong Bananza. That said, there are a few titles that have piqued my interest that I’ve kept myself in the loop for.
For me, Final Fantasy VII is a truly special title that I’ve deeply admired, even as a creator. Because of that, I’ve always carried the belief that this remake series must live up to the expectations of fans who have continued to show their love for FFVII
Among them, Splatoon Raiders has particularly caught my attention. I’m interested in how it leverages an existing IP while expanding the game design itself, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll balance its action gameplay and field design from the perspective of a game designer.
As you look ahead to the conclusion of the Remake Trilogy, how does it feel to bring such a significant chapter of your life to a close?
When I look back, the finish line of this project felt unimaginably far away when it first began. But now it feels like time has flown by surprisingly quickly, partly because our days in development were so packed and eventful.
For me, Final Fantasy VII is a truly special title that I’ve deeply admired, even as a creator. Because of that, I’ve always carried the belief that this remake series must live up to the expectations of fans who have continued to show their love for FFVII, and honour the efforts of my fellow creators who have run alongside me up until this point.
I, myself, have been involved with this project for over ten years, but with this final instalment, I feel a deep certainty that we’ll be able to deliver an experience that’ll make people think, “I’m glad I stayed with the series until the end.” That’s something I feel in my heart. For the many fans who have supported us over this long journey, I sincerely hope that the time you’ve spent following this story to its conclusion will stay with you, as something to cherish. My wish, from the bottom of my heart, is that we deliver a finale that’s worthy of that.
Image: Square Enix
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. A huge thanks to Naoki Hamaguchi for taking the time to answer our questions. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches on Switch 2 on 3rd June 2026.
Chances are, then, that you’ve already seen how the game holds up from a visual and performance point of view, either from your own experience or our recent hands-on impressions. But to give some more information, director Naoki Hamaguchi detailed the specific internal resolutions during a recent interview we conducted with him.
DLSS is doing some heavy lifting here, with the handheld internal resolution ranging between a maximum of 1344×756 and a minimum of 672×380 and the docked resolution ranging between a maximum of 1920×1080 and a minimum of 960×540.
For more context, here’s the full quote from Hamaguchi-san:
“Lighting is an important element in Rebirth, as it was in Remake. However, because Rebirth adopts an open-world structure with a much larger field scale, it’s a title where the amount of information being rendered at any given moment is higher. As a result, rather than making significant changes to lighting in isolation, our approach focused more on how to balance the overall rendering load.
“The use of DLSS was indispensable in that regard and was readopted in Rebirth as it was in Remake. Neither of their modes relies on fixed resolutions and is instead designed based on dynamic resolution. In handheld mode, the internal resolution ranges between a maximum of 1344×756 and a minimum of 672×380. In docked mode, it ranges between a maximum of 1920×1080 and a minimum of 960×540, the same as Remake.”
In our demo impressions piece, we did note that the performance raised a few concerns, stating that “closely examining some of the surrounding textures reveal things to be slightly lower-res than you might have hoped”. Overall, however, we’re exceptionally pleased with how Rebirth is shaping up on Nintendo’s console.
We also touched on the upcoming release of the untitled third entry of the remake trilogy with Hamaguchi-san, and he confirmed that he’s already completed “over 40 full playthroughs” during development.
Lots to be excited about, then, but for now, we’ve got our eyes firmly set on the release of Rebirth in just a handful of weeks. Be sure to check out our full interview with Hamaguchi-san for more information.
Are you excited to dive into Rebirth when it launches on Switch 2 in June? Share your thoughts with a comment down below.
Final Fantasy VII fans are eagerly awaiting news on the upcoming final instalment in the remake trilogy, but if you’re worried or anxious about the status of its development, then a recent comment from director Naoki Hamaguchi might bring you peace of mind.
We recently interviewed Hamaguchi-san and asked how the third game is progressing, and to our surprise, he confirmed that he’s already completed “over 40 full playthroughs”. That’s quite an accomplishment, but we imagine it’s probably necessary to ensure the experience works as intended and doesn’t contain any nasty surprises.
Here’s what he had to say:
“We’re very excited about how the game is currently progressing. I have already completed over 40 full playthroughs! I can’t wait for as many people as possible to experience the game for themselves, and myself and the team are working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience.”
There’s no release date for the third entry yet (and we still don’t even know its full title), but we’re confident an announcement can’t be too far off at this point.
In fact, when questioned about the short gap between the release of Remake and Rebirth on Switch 2, Hamaguchi-san may have subtly hinted at the idea of closing the trilogy fairly soon after, maintaining a steady cadence of launches to tell the overarching story:
“With large-scale titles like this one, it’s common for a long gap to exist between the first and second instalments. However, because they were ports, we decided we could deliver them without leaving much of a gap. We want to capitalise on this cadence and moment to tie the experiences together without any gaps, from Remake to Rebirth to finally the third instalment that lies beyond them.”
Our full interview with Hamaguchi-san is available now, so be sure to check it out for more interesting tidbits of information from the remake trilogy’s director.
When do you think we’ll see an announcement from Square Enix for the third FFVII Remake entry? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.
The ratings board is at it again, and this time it’s for a Nintendo-published title. But there’s a little bit of confusion as to what it actually means.
However, the rating is dated 9th September 2025, which means it’s potentially been sitting in plain sight for a while. And, as some people have pointed out BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! launched in Taiwan on the same day as the rating.
Some of the more-hopeful fans are praying this is the real deal, mostly because of the extortionately-priced BOXBOY amiibo, which you’ll regularly see for sale online for over $400. A reissue for that would be amazing.
But really, what’s the deal here? Is BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! getting a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition? Or a Switch 2 port? It’s hard to say at this point. But we can look back at another game rating in Taiwan for a bit more of an idea.
Here’s a cute little Nintendo Today! announcement we weren’t expecting: a brand new LEGO Animal Crossing set featuring our favourite tanuki nephew duo, Timmy & Tommy.
Arriving on 1st August, Timmy & Tommy’s Fun Day Out will cost $59.99 / £54.99 and features the pair fishing on a red bridge together. It’s pretty adorable!
The set contains 513 pieces, including models for both of the boys (in their New Horizons attire), a balloon present, flowers, a buildable bridge, and a little disc on the water that shows just where that pesky fish is — going under the bridge, of course.
When built, it’ll be 7.5 in. (20 cm) high, 9 in. (24 cm) wide and 5.5 in. (14 cm) deep.
Of course, there’s also the range of LEGO furniture within Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
What do you think of the new LEGO set? Will you be grabbing it? Catch a fish in the comments and let us know.
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Resident Evil Requiem is quite unique in that it allows players to choose whether they experience the game in first or third-person.
In fact, you can experiment quite a bit with it, utilising different perspectives depending on whether you’re playing as Leon Kennedy or Grace Ashcroft. According to developer Koshi Nakanishi in an interview with Denfaminico Gamer (thanks, VGC), players were pretty keen to play as Leon in third-person, but were a little more indecisive with Grace.
If you’ve played Requiem, you’ll know that it recommends you play as Leon in third-person and Grace in first-person. However, Nakanishi states that about 90% of people play Leon’s scenario in third-person mode, while only 60% of players experienced Grace’s story in first-person, with 40% switching to third-person.
It’s likely that most people opted for third-person during Leon’s segments because his appearances in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 also took the same approach. As for the 40% who switched Grace’s perspective to third-person, it’s possible that they just wanted some parity between the two scenarios. Well, either that or they were simply too scared to experience the horrors in first-person.
Nakanishi notes that players in Japan and other parts of Asia tend to prefer third-person games, while producer Masoto Kumazawa clarifies that the end results were largely in line with development expectations.
Still, very fascinating indeed!
What were your camera preferences when playing Resident Evil Requiem? Did you stick to the game’s recommendation? Let us know.
