Category: Nintendo News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A week out from Pokémon Day and Pokémon’s official 30th anniversary celebrations, Nintendo has officially announced the return of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen as standalone eShop releases.

The announcement has surprised (and shocked) trainers around the globe in all sorts of ways and if the existing info dump wasn’t already enough, the official Pokémon YouTube channel is now sharing additional footage of the returning Game Boy Advance titles.

In this particular video, we’re given a side-by-side of the FireRed and LeafGreen opening themes, and how exactly you can expect them to look if you end up purchasing them for £16.99 / $19.99 each (or your regional equivalent) on the Switch.

“The excitement of the Kanto region, as well as the charming Pokémon you know and love, are just as you remember them with updated graphics in Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version. The Sevii Islands—not present in Pokémon Red or Pokémon Blue—have also been added, greatly expanding the areas you can explore and the scope of your adventure. We hope you enjoy these classic Pokémon adventures on Nintendo Switch too!”

These games are returning on 27th February 2026 and Nintendo has even released an extensive FAQ, clarifying all sorts of details about the Switch releases. This also rules out a local physical release, although there will be one made available in Japan, but it’s a code-in-box release.

Does the above opening intro bring back memories? Or will you be jumping into FireRed and LeafGreen for the first time? Let us know in the comments.

A week out from Pokémon Day and Pokémon’s official 30th anniversary celebrations, Nintendo has officially announced the return of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen as standalone eShop releases.

The announcement has surprised (and shocked) trainers around the globe in all sorts of ways and if the existing info dump wasn’t already enough, the official Pokémon YouTube channel is now sharing additional footage of the returning Game Boy Advance titles.

In this particular video, we’re given a side-by-side of the FireRed and LeafGreen opening themes, and how exactly you can expect them to look if you end up purchasing them for £16.99 / $19.99 each (or your regional equivalent) on the Switch.

“The excitement of the Kanto region, as well as the charming Pokémon you know and love, are just as you remember them with updated graphics in Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version. The Sevii Islands—not present in Pokémon Red or Pokémon Blue—have also been added, greatly expanding the areas you can explore and the scope of your adventure. We hope you enjoy these classic Pokémon adventures on Nintendo Switch too!”

These games are returning on 27th February 2026 and Nintendo has even released an extensive FAQ, clarifying all sorts of details about the Switch releases. This also rules out a local physical release, although there will be one made available in Japan, but it’s a code-in-box release.

Does the above opening intro bring back memories? Or will you be jumping into FireRed and LeafGreen for the first time? Let us know in the comments.