Apart from the launch trailer, it’s now finishing off the week with character introductions. So far we’ve got a look at Ogden and Kora. Here’s both and if more show up, we’ll add them to this post.
“The walking Monsterpedia, Ogden. A true expert in monsters, who marches to the beat of his own drum and goes whereever his curiosity takes him.”
“Kora, a founding member of the Rangers whose wisdom and care for the party is matched by her explosive combat prowess! Together with the Protagonist, she sets out to discover the truth behind the Queen’s disappearance.”
You can check out the game’s launch trailer (and a special animated trailer) in the previous post here on Nintendo Life. Capcom has also revealed the save data unlocks for the new game, as well as some free DLC.
If you’re still wondering about this upcoming entry, there is a demo you can download from the eShop. The full game arrives on 13th March 2026.
What do you think of these character reveals? Will you be getting Monster Hunter Stories 3 for the Switch 2 next week? Tell us in the comments.
If you’re a popcorn lover and want to make your cinema experience extra special when you go and see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie next month, you’ll want grab this themed bucket.
The Yoshi popcorn bucket, featuring an egg to store popcorn inside, will be available alongside the movie’s theatrical release. These buckets will be available at AMC cinemas in the US and also select regions outside of this location. Here’s a look:
“See THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, opening 4/1, and collect one of the brightest figures in the universe.”
Image: AMC Theatres
Like other themed popcorn buckets nowadays, this Yoshi one will cost a little bit extra on top of your movie ticket. If we hear any significant updates, we’ll let you know.
Along with this, the Major League Baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers has announced a special Yoshi Bobblehead. The first 40,000 fans at L.A.’s game against the Guardians on 31st March 2026 will receive this Yoshinobu Yamamoto “Yoshi-infused” bobblehead.
“The bobblehead features Yoshi donning a white home Yamamoto jersey and a classic blue Dodgers cap. Yamamoto’s No. 18 jersey number is painted on the back of Yoshi’s trademarked shell, while the lovable dinosaur is also wearing a blue baseball mitt.”
Yoshi was teased in the first Mario Movie, and in the new one, he’ll play a much bigger role alongside Mario, Luigi and the rest of the gang. You can find out a bit more about what to expect in our previous coverage here on Nintendo Life.
Will you be watching the Super Mario Galaxy Movie in cinemas next month, or are you going hold out for the digital and retail release? Let us know in the comments.
When I first got my hands on Nintendo’s Pro Controller for the Switch 2, I was blown away by just how smooth the analogue sticks felt. The tech is simple yet astoundingly effective: silicone rings were added to the interior, cushioning the movement of the sticks while preventing the caps from making contact with the plastic exterior. Remarkable stuff.
Of course, even with this, Nintendo declined to include Hall Effect or TMR sticks, so the spectre of stick-drift remains a very real concern amongst players (though as we approach the Switch 2’s first anniversary, this has yet to escalate into a widespread issue). Third-party manufacturers have naturally caught on to this worry, and one of the first to offer a real smooth alternative is Mobapad with its new Chitu2 HD controller.
Mobapad is open about its approach to the Chitu2’s sticks, providing an entire article on how it took direct inspiration from Nintendo and pushed the design further. The result is analogue sticks that faithfully emulate the ‘smooth-gliding’ feel of the Pro Controller while also implementing TMR technology to (theoretically) eliminate stick-drift.
And make no mistake, the sticks on the Chitu2 feel just as good as Nintendo’s official pad, providing zero noise and ‘grinding’ feedback when moved around.
So if high-quality sticks are a priority for you when choosing your next controller, this is probably the best you’re going to get for the time being. TMR technology combined with that magical ‘smooth-gliding’ feel puts the Chitu2’s sticks above and beyond everything else on the market, including Nintendo’s Pro Controller 2. And yes, it’s cheaper than the official offering at $49.99 for the pad on its own, and $65.99 for a charging dock bundle.
Where the Chitu2 might divide opinion is in its buttons. All of the main inputs — including ABXY, the D-pad (which, by the way, comes with two interchangeable designs), and the shoulder buttons — are mechanical, which means that they have ‘clicky’ feedback when actuated. I imagine many of you have already made your mind up about whether or not this is a good thing, and it very much comes down to your preferences regarding the feel of the buttons and the noise they make.
So with the Chitu2, the clicky feedback feels, in my opinion, absolutely incredible. There’s just something really satisfying about knowing exactly when a button has been pressed; it’s hard to describe, but I swear my ability to rapid-press has improved with the clicky feedback. With the D-pad in particular, it’s proven especially useful when more precise inputs are required with games like Street Fighter 6 or Contra: Operation Galuga.
On the flip side, the noise is unavoidable. You can hear each and every click, and while it’s not so bad if you’re able to crank up the volume on your TV and drown it out, it’s still very much there. Personally, I find that the overall feel of the buttons outweighs the noise, but I can equally understand if you’re not keen on hearing the click all of the time.
In terms of features, the Chitu2 has almost everything you could want from a third-party pad: Switch 2 wake-up support, NFC compatibility, gyro controls, HD rumble, and back buttons appropriately labelled ‘GL’ and ‘GR’. On the official Pro Controller, you could very quickly map these by holding down the ‘Home’ button and navigating to the relevant option. You can’t do that here, but rather everything’s done via the ‘Settings’ button just beneath the D-pad; it’s quick and easy, and once you’ve mapped the back buttons to your desired input, chances are you won’t be fiddling around with it again.
The only thing missing is a dedicated ‘C’ button for quick GameChat access. Instead, the Chitu2 includes an ‘M’ button beneath the right analogue stick. You can map this to whatever you want, and this includes custom macros. By default, it’s been assigned a macro that essentially takes you back to the Switch 2 home screen and navigates to the chat app – essentially Mobapad’s solution for its lack of dedicated ‘C’ button, which is fine, but not a replacement for the real deal.
Ultimately, however, if this is really the only thing missing, then I can’t complain too much; after all, it’s exceptionally rare to find a third-party pad with amiibo-reading NFC support these days. If you absolutely need to have a headphone jack too, then it’s perhaps worth noting that this isn’t included either. Not a big deal for me, but you might think differently.
The Chitu2 comes in three colours: black, white, and a kind of pearlescent pink. The latter is actually my favourite, since the pink colour is pretty subtle and the way the faceplate gradually fades into a kind of blue/purple colour is really lovely. Again, it’s not something you see too often, and I’ll take anything that brings a bit of unique flair.
The build quality is also really solid, though it does lack that ultra-smooth surface of the Pro Controller. It feels about what you’d expect from a $50 pad, and there’s a decent heft to it, which I really appreciate. Battery life also clocks in at between 15-20 hours on a single charge, which is more than acceptable for most pads.
Finally, if you go for the $65 bundle, you get a charging dock, each of which is themed to match the colour of the controller. It’s really understated compared to the dock included with 8BitDo’s Pro 3, yet the magnetised attachment ensures that the controller won’t accidentally fall off while charging. You also get some funky RGB lighting while charging, so that might sway your decision as to whether or not to part with the extra cash.
It’s worth noting too that if you go for the black Chitu2 on its own, its faceplate will be glossy, which I’m really not a fan of. Bundled with the charging dock, the faceplate is matte, and it’s a lot more pleasing on the eye, though I’m not keen on locking such a feature behind a more expensive product. The white controller appears to be glossy regardless, while the pink is matte with or without the dock.
Basically, then, I’d say just go for the pink; it looks better in general, and if you’re not fussed about the dock, you still get the matte finish.
Image: Ollie Reynolds / Nintendo Life
Conclusion
Mobapad’s Chitu2 HD is an excellent controller through and through. Taking inspiration from Nintendo itself, it has TMR analogue sticks with the same ‘smooth-gliding’ technology as the official Pro Controller 2, meaning these are probably the best sticks on the market right now. The mechanical buttons also feel wonderful, though if you’re put off by repetitive clicking noises, this won’t be the right choice for you.
Really, the only major thing lacking is a dedicated ‘C’ button; the macro provided by the ‘M’ button to navigate to the chat app is an admirable replacement, though not ideal. With wake-up support, HD rumble, gyro controls, and perhaps most surprisingly, NFC support, this is a feature-rich pad at a much more affordable price than Nintendo’s own offering.
The samples used in this review was provided by Mobapad.
Welcome to our Pokémon Pokopia Full Walkthrough Guide hub! The Switch 2-exclusive is making a splash online, and we’re here to help guide you through every single aspect of the game.
Our Pokémon Pokopia Walkthrough will help you make your way through the main story, from exploring each of the four main towns to rolling credits to the post-game. We’ll also have specific guides on Pokémon skills, Ditto Transformations, building tips and guides, and tons more.
Note that we’re currently working our way through everything there is to know about Pokémon Pokopia, so this guide is still a work-in-progress as we continue to make new discoveries every day. Bookmark us and keep coming back for more!
Pokémon Pokopia Guides
Getting Started
Image: Nintendo Life
So, you’ve just picked up Pokémon Pokopia and want to know what to do first. It’s overwhelming! We have some handy beginner’s tips, a guide on how to change the weather, comfort levels, and more right here for you.
Beginner’s Tips What are the first things you should do in Pokopia? Save your Life Coins? Eat berries? Build like crazy? Here are 15 tips to help get you started.
Change The Weather Fed up of the rain and need some sun? Trying to find Goomy and just can’t get the drizzle to drop? This guide will tell you how to flip between all kinds of weather types.
Comfort Levels A happy home requires happy Pokémon, and luckily, it’s fairly easy to make your pals more-comfortable. You’ll find all the tips you need to make your Pokémon comfortable in their habitats.
Dream Island Guide On top of the towns you can visit in Pokémon Pokopia, there are also Dream Islands you can visit solo or with a friend. Here you’ll find all Dream Island types and how to unlock the Dream Island Specialty.
Environment Levels You’ll be introduced to Environment Levels early on in the game, and while they may not feel mandatory, if you want to see everything Pokopia has to offer, you’ll want to know as much as you can about them.
Complete Walkthrough
Image: Nintendo Life
Below we have suite of guides that will guide you from the very start of the game to when you roll credits. There are four major areas to explore, with a few final tasks to complete before you can say you’re truly done. That is, unless you’re a building fanatic.
Each section will contain a general story walkthrough and a separate guide on rebuilding that town’s Pokémon Center
Withered Wasteland
Covering the first area of the game, this section looks at the Withered Wasteland, a barren place where the grass has dried up and the water has run dry.
‘Yawn Up A Storm’ Guide Your first town will see you rescuing an Onix and restoring rain to the world. We’ll take you through every step of this introductory chapter right here.
Withered Wasteland Pokémon Center Once you’ve cleared the main story for the Withered Wasteland, you’ll finally be able to get the Pokémon Center up and running. All the materials and ‘mons you need are listed right here.
Bleak Beach
Sandy shores, dark skies, and lots of water await in Bleak Beach, the second big area of Pokopia. The S.S. Anne isn’t in great shape, but neither is the rest of the place.
‘Brighten Things Up’ Guide Your main task in Bleak Beach is to bring light back to the town, and with the help of Peakychu (and us), you’ll have Mosslax awake in no time.
Bleak Beach Pokémon Center Another Center to rebuild, and with a lot of trash to clean up, you’ll want to save it to reconstruct this central building. Here’s all the stuff you need to get to work.
Rocky Ridges
Pewter City has certainly seen better days, hasn’t it? Rocky Ridges is a series of interconnected tunnels carved out through a large volcano. There’s a lot of ash to clean up, but first, what about a party…
‘Time To Party’ Guide In the ash-covered ruins, there’s no better thing to do than throw a party. This guide is all about the Rocky Ridges storyline, from Chef Dente to DJ Rotom and everything inbetween.
Sparkling Skylands
The final area of Pokémon Pokopia is the most complex, a series of floating islands full of trash, abandoned buildings, and construction sites. And a huge skyscraper at the centre of it all. Seems familiar, right?
Coming soon!
Pokopia Pokédex & Habitat Dex
Image: Nintendo Life
It’s not a Pokémon game without a Pokédex, right? Well, you technically have two this time around! Here is where you’ll find every single Pokémon available in the game, including some specific guides covering the more-challenging ‘mons.
Complete Pokédex & All Habitats With hundreds of Pokémon to meet, you’ll need a one-stop shop to find out what ‘mons your missing, and what habitat requirements they have. Thankfully, we have you covered in this complete Pokédex and Habitat Dex guide.
All Eeveelutions Coming soon!
All Fossil Pokémon Coming soon!
More coming soon
Ditto Skills
Image: Nintendo Life
Ditto is a multi-talented Pokémon — it can turn into a human, for goodness sake! This section covers all of your unique abilities in Pokopia.
All Ditto Transformations & Skills Ditto has the ability to transform into whatever it wants, and doing so will grant it new skills and abilities. This guide covers every single Transformation and Skill Ditto will learn.
Pokémon Specialties
Image: Nintendo Life
It’s not just Ditto who can do things — every single Pocket Monster has a use in Pokémon Pokopia. We have guides on all Specialties, as well as individual guides on how to use some of the more-obscure ones.
All Pokémon Specialties & Abilities Looking for a list of Specialties and examples of which Pokémon can do what? Click here to see all available Specialties, and a general overview of what they do.
Fly & Teleport If you’re looking for a friend fast, then you’ll need another friend who can Fly or Teleport. How do you do that, you ask? This guide has the answer.
Trade No, you can’t trade Pokémon, but you can trade for items, materials, and goods. Here’s how you start Trading with other Pokémon.
Items, Decor & Materials
Image: Nintendo Life
There are hundreds of items to collect in Pokémon Pokopia, and this section is all about the knicknacks, the furniture, and the relics you can uncover. We’ll cover the most-useful items and materials that will make your life easier, as well as Lost Relics, Feathers, and Mysterious Slates.
How To Get Lumber One common material that requires a few extra steps to get, Lumber is needed for a lot of builds, so you’ll need this to keep yourself stocked-up.
How To Get Pokémetal This rare material is used for all sorts of endgame builds, and you’ll need lots of it if you want to fill your towns with big buildings and bathtubs. This is your resource on everything Pokémetal related.
Lost Relic List Lost Relics are curious items than you can’t quite identify without the help of a certain Professor. We’re putting together a complete list of all the Lost Relics you can find in the game right here.
Mysterious Feathers If you hear a loud Pokémon roar, then be prepared, as something is about to fall from the sky: a Mysterious Feather. But what do you do with it? We’re here to tell you.
Building & Decoration
Image: Nintendo Life
This section is coming soon
Online & Multiplayer
Image: Nintendo Life
If you’re the kind of person who loves to build with friends, then you’ll be pleased to know there are a host of multiplayer options in Pokémon Pokopia. These guides will cover GameShare, local and online play, and more.
How To Play With Friends With a boon of multiplayer options for you and your friends, we’ve broken down the three different ways you can play Pokopia with your besties.
How To Use GameShare Pokopia is the latest Switch 2 game to utilise GameShare, meaning you can play with your family even if you only have one copy of the game. Here’s how to jump into a session with those nearby.
FAQs
Image: Nintendo Life
Here, you’ll find a whole host of other questions that we haven’t covered in the guides above. Want to know how long it takes to beat the game? How to use Mouse Mode? What a Pokémon Center actually does? You’ll find it all here very soon.
Can You Change The Time Of Day? Pokopia is all about the slow life, about living a normal day and not rushing things. Some people can’t help themselves, and with ‘mons exclusive to the night, you might be wondering whether you can change the time.
Can You Evolve Pokémon? There are a lot of ‘mons to make merry with, but do you need to “catch ’em all” or can you just evolve them? Here’s where you’ll find the (surprising) answer.
Does It Use Mouse Mode Controls? The Switch 2’s Mouse Mode has been a hit in games where it’s included, and it makes sense that Pokémon Pokopia should have them, but does it?
How Long To Beat You can easily lose your life to Pokémon Pokopia, especially if you love building. But if you’re just looking to clear the story, then you don’t have too much to get through. We’ve covered all playstyles here.
Is Pokémon Pokopia On Switch 1? Haven’t yet upgraded to a Switch 2 yet? Want to know if you can play Pokopia on your older console? The answer here isn’t the best, but with GameShare, there’s a way around it.
The usual plethora of online events and goodies are up for grabs in Pokémon Pokopia. Yep, Mystery Gifts are here, as are Limited-Time Events, which give you access to some event-exclusive Pokémon
All Limited-Time Events Pokopia has an event system where you can get some rare items and brand new Pokémon for you Pokédex. We’ll have all past, present, and future events listed right here.
Mystery Gift Codes List Free furniture is good in our books, and with Pokopia’s Mystery Gifts, that’ll be the common factor. Here is every single Mystery Gift currently (and formerly) available.
Where to buy Pokémon Pokopia for Switch 2
If you’re reading this guide and you don’t own the game yet, well, we get it! Things are expensive. But it’s a fabulous game, and there are a number of places you can pick up this Switch 2 exclusive.
Just take it from us. We awarded the game an extremely positive 8/10 , with our reviewer (aka, me!) calling the game “the freshest Pokémon experience in a long time, bursting at the seams with charm and content that rewards both curiosity and creativity.”
There’s tons to uncover in Pokémon Pokopia still, so make sure you check back very soon for the best paradise-building guides out there. And let us know how much you’re enjoying the game, too. We certainly are!
Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.
Pokémon Pokopia launched exclusively for the Switch 2 this week, and if you haven’t already heard about this new relaxing life-simulation, it’s been getting quite a lot of praise.
The game has already shot to the top of Metacritic as one of the highest-rated Pokémon games of all time, and here in our review on Nintendo Life, we mentioned how it was the freshest Pokémon experience in a long time, bursting at the seams with charm and content that rewards both curiosity and creativity.
Of course, one other major talking point has been the game’s “physical” release. It’s actually a Game-Key Card, requiring a download. With all of this in mind, we want to know if you ended up getting this game for the Switch 2 in the end.
So vote in our poll and leave a comment below.
Will you be getting Pokémon Pokopia? (1,065 votes)
I’ve already got it!31%
I’m still waiting for my delivery to arrive…2%
At some point, but not right away17%
I’m still thinking about it11%
Probably not…6%
I’m playing or waiting for something else0.9%
I don’t even have a Switch 2 yet!7%
If we get a proper physical release, sure9%
No, I’m not interested16%
Something else (comment below)0.1%
What version of Pokémon Pokopia did you get? (396 votes)
This event, taking place between now and 3rd April 2026, gives players the opportunity to get special in-game statues inspired by Meetup in Bellabel Park, which you can then decorate your kingdom with.
Here’s the full rundown of this event, including the statues on offer:
During the event, performing certain actions in Toad Rally, such as stomping enemies flat or vaulting, will cause your meter to increase. Once it’s full, a Wonder Flower will appear and all coins will transform into Gold Goombas! But don’t worry. You can defeat Gold Goombas simply by touching them, and you’ll get a stamp on your stamp card for every 30 that you defeat.
Four Stamp Cards appear in this event. You can collect 20 stamps per card, and you can get an in-game statue of a character from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park game. So defeat as many Gold Goombas as you can to complete your stamp card! Note: Wonder Flowers appear in Friendly Runs in the same way.
If you haven’t already played Super Mario Run on mobile, you can check out review here on Nintendo Life. We’ve also got a preview up for Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s new paid DLC. This content will be officially released on 26th March 2026.
Will you be participating in this upcoming event? Tell us below.
As a reminder, it’s now available for the Switch 2 via the eShop. The good news is save data will also carry over to the full game when it arrives on 12th March 2026.
In the demo, you’ll experience the “early stages of the game”. Here’s the full rundown from Koei Tecmo’s official website:
“Follow Mio and Mayu as they are drawn by a Crimson Butterfly into Minakami Village, where they encounter vengeful spirits in an abandoned house and engage in intense battles.
“Immerse yourself in the enhanced graphics and sound, discover the all‑new hand‑holding feature that brings Mio and Mayu closer than ever, and confront terrifying spirits with the newly upgraded Camera Obscura in heart‑pounding combat.”
Image: Koei Tecmo
Will you be checking out this demo on the Switch 2? What are your thoughts about it so far? Let us know in the comments.
It’s been a busy week for Xbox, but it’s not done just yet! Following the announcement of its next generation console, it’s now locked in a release date for the Switch 2 version of the “award-winning” title South of Midnight.
This third-person action-adventure title by Compulsion Games was announced for Nintendo’s new hybrid platform (and the PlayStation 5) last December, and the latest trailer confirms it will be releasing later this month on 31st March 2026.
Once again, this game, set in a “magic realist version of American South”, was originally released for the Xbox Series X|S in April 2025. Here’s what our sibling site Pure Xbox had to say about it in its review:
“Here’s the basic premise: you play as Hazel, a young woman on a quest to save her mother after a deadly storm wreaks havoc in the Deep South. The adventure starts out as a grounded, desperate scramble to help and ultimately save the ones you love, until Hazel realises she’s a ‘Weaver’; a unique character that can interact with some of the more supernatural goings on down there. There’s a nice bit of growth to Hazel as you progress through the game, and she becomes a more-than-capable monster-whooping young gal by journey’s end.”
In some other Xbox-related news, Bethesda (which is also under the Microsoft gaming banner) last month released Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition on the Switch 2.
Will you be checking out this game when it arrives on the Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.
Nintendo of America is suing the U.S. government, including the Department of Treasury, Department of Homeland Security, and US Customs & Border Protection, over the tariffs implemented in 2025 via executive order from President Donald Trump.
As reported by Aftermath, the complaint concerns the “initiation and administration of unlawful trade measures that have, to date, resulted in the collection of more than $200 billion in tariffs on imports from nearly all countries”.
Nintendo believes that the tariffs set via the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) have caused it to “suffer imminent and irreparable harm for the entries it has paid”. Just last month, the U.S. supreme court struck down Trumps tariffs and deemed them to be illegal, citing their use under an act meant for national emergencies.
The complaint then states that “all tariffs collected under the IEEPA Duties must be refunded with interest”. Nintendo joins a host of other companies including FedEx, Costco, and Revlon in attempting to recoup the costs from the tariffs, with a federal judge in New York recently ruling that companies would be entitled to refunds following the decision of the supreme court.
Nintendo’s business was impacted significantly by the tariffs introduced in 2025. Not only was it forced to delay pre-orders for the highly-anticipated Switch 2 in the US and Canada, but it also raised the price of the Switch 1 along with several key accessories. The cost of a Switch OLED went up by $50, the standard model by $40, and the Switch Lite by $30.
Nintendo has confirmed the complaint to Aftermath, but has stated there is “nothing else to share on this topic.” We have reached out for further clarification.
