Korean dev Shift Up’s hit action-adventure Stellar Blade is coming to Switch 2 this year.
As revealed in today’s Nintendo Direct, the game came out on PS5 back in 2024 with Sony publishing. Featuring scantily-clad ladies battling an assortment of vile monsters, it caused quite a stir, too, with its pretty ladies and impressive combat, and was generally well received by critics, having landed on a Metascore of 81.
Here’s some info from the PR blurb, plus some screens from the short Direct segment:
Step into the role of EVE, an elite warrior sent to reclaim Earth from mysterious forces. Experience intense combat and a twisting plot as you unravel the mysteries of Earth’s downfall in an immersive sci-fi world. Featuring a blend of cinematic storytelling and gameplay, Stellar Blade offers deep character progression with customizable skills, gear, and combat builds – which you’ll need during epic boss encounters. Further, players can experience support for Joy-Con 2 motion controls for activities, adding in an extra layer of immersion to moments away from combat.
No word on an exact release date beyond “2026” just yet, nor any info on a physical edition. We’ll keep you posted as we get more details.
Played this on PC or PS5? Intrigued to see how this will hold up on Switch 2? Let us know down below.
We are approaching Nintendo’s next big Switch 2 release with Star Fox, and today, we’ve learnt the development team behind it all.
As revealed on Bluesky, Velan Studios is behind this one. “We’ve been passionately working on this for a while, and we’re so proud to finally share it with the world: Velan Studios is the developer of Star Fox,” the accompanying message reads. “Collaborating with Nintendo and bringing Fox McCloud and crew to Nintendo Switch 2 is truly an honor.”
But that’s not all from Star Fox! The Direct also revealed that we can today go hands-on with a slice of it thanks to a new free demo.
The demo will take you through the tutorial and “one of the game’s opening stages” — or Meteo, for those in the know. It ain’t much, but a small taster before launch is always welcome.
While we expect things to play very similarly to everything we know from the N64 original, it should give us a good opportunity to see how those sweet new visuals hold up on Switch 2. An opportunity to try out the control schemes.
Will you be diving into the Star Fox demo today? Let us know in the comments.
Sega and Atlus brought the big guns to the Nintendo Direct today with PersonaMetaphor: ReFantazio for the Switch 2.
Originally released in 2024, the JRPG garnered critical acclaim across the board for its visuals and mechanics, and fans have been itching to see it launch on Nintendo’s console. Your wait is almost over – it will release on 12th November 2026.
Take that, GTA!
It seems like it’ll be a straight port for this one, so don’t go expecting any exclusive content or anything. Not that we need it, as such, it’s a pretty massive game as it is.
Let’s check out the key features:
– ATLUS’ Newest Fantasy JRPG: A mysterious & exciting story unfolds in a world where people must fight their own anxiety. Join the high-stakes Royal Tournament that promises hours of captivating exploration and discovery.
– Award-winning Art Direction: Ride your “gauntlet runner” to faraway dungeons & towns across an expansive world. Discover beautiful landscapes accompanied by captivating music, immersive UI, & anime cutscenes.
– Innovative Battle System: An exhilarating turn-based combat system with a blend of real time action. Party customization through “Archetype” powers provides the freedom to personalize your adventures.
– Time Management System: Go on quests, dungeon dive, & hunt for treasures by day. Strengthen relationships, build bonds, & increase virtues by night. Choose your actions wisely, time management is key to achieving your goal.
It’s not Persona, but it’ll do! What do you reckon? Will you pick this up? Let us know.
A couple of months ago, I opened a pack of Pokémon cards and pulled the super-rare ‘Secret Illustration Rare’ (SIR) Charizard card.
There’s even a video someone gave me of them rushing up to the commotion. “The $600 Charizard!” you can hear me yelling in the footage. My friends were cheering. It was awesome.
But there’s a big problem with this amazing memory — and it’s twofold.
First off, and embarrassingly, I probably spent a little over $600 chasing this card (even though I didn’t buy anywhere near as many packs as $600 sounds like it should be). Yikes.
But here’s the worst part: I’m still up big.
Image: The Pokémon Company
How is that possible? Traditionally, trading cards are worth oodles on their release day, then drop in value like a brick in just days, if not hours, later. But lately, Pokémon cards have simply cut to the chase when it comes to their long-term values.
It’s wise to not read editorials for up-to-the-minute card prices, but as of this writing, which is only a short few months after this card’s release, this Charizard has a market value of a bit under $900 according to websites that track stuff like that. (That’s somehow already $300 higher than when I pulled it.)
Not only that, but if I were to have the card graded by the most famous trading card authentication and grading service, this Charizard in a ‘gem mint’ condition is currently fetching barely under $2,500!
So why do I consider that “the worst part”?
Well, because it’s not healthy for so many brand new, non-serialised cards like this Charizard to be worth thousands of dollars, is why. The ramifications for the product are damning.
Even compared to the infamous pandemic years, Pokémon fans can totally forget about finding cards in stores these days; adults are brawling in the aisles of stores, all while bots scrape the internet before you can buy cards online. Meanwhile, entire cottage industries have risen around ripping packs, mystery repackages, and famous (and infamous) card streamers.
Heard of the term ‘recession indicator’? If ever there was one, the Pokémon TCG is it. Pokémon TCG should no longer be considered merely a fun hobby people like; it’s firmly a critical part of the world economy. And it’s acting like it.
By the Numbers
Image: Alex Olney / Nintendo Life
While it feels like Pokémon TCG has been non-stop booming for decades now, if you haven’t been paying attention over the past year and a half especially, the overall trading card market is now on a new level. It’s an unprecedented economic level, in fact.
This figure has been oft-reported recently but bears repeating: according to an index by Collectors (the parent company of professional grading company PSA), Pokémon card values collectively rose 282% between the years of 2004-2020, with most of that rise happening near the end, around the pandemic.
CNBC reports that the same index shows an out-of-this-galaxy 1,350% increase between 2020’s high and today.
Here’s a good way to visualise that increase. Below is a screenshot of TCGPlayer.com’s “Top 10 most expensive Pokémon cards” end-of-year recap from 2023, a snapshot in time well into Pokémon’s post-COVID renaissance. (Note: TCG Player is the de facto trading card marketplace, whose data is what much of the world derives a card’s market value from.)
In 2023, the top card pullable from a regular pack ended the year averaging resales around $115. Almost every single top chase of 2023 was reselling for no more than double digits.
Now here’s their same list recapping the end of 2025:
By 2025, top chases sat comfortably at hundreds, not dozens. The most expensive card, the Umbreon SIR, ended the year averaging over $1,000 resale (it’s way higher today). And indicative of this being a trend versus a handful of outliers, many sets released that year featured several cards worth hundreds, not just one or two.
Roughly one out of ten Pokémon cards that have ever existed was printed in 2025.
All the while, countless chases from years previous didn’t just rise, but compounded in value. In one high-profile example, the fan-dubbed ‘Bubble Mew‘ card from 2024 spent a year comfortably at around $80 resale, yet today is reselling at ~$850.
Also, as you can see, that Charizard from the top of the article has nearly doubled in value already, and cards like the popular ‘Eeeveelution’ variants are similarly bonkers. And do you even want to know what the top cards released in 2026 are doing?
Well, too bad, because a Pokémon card value article wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that, as of this writing, the straight-out-of-the-pack resale prices of 2026’s ‘Pikachu EX’ and ‘Mega Gengar EX’ SIRs are both well over $1,350. And there are way too many cards to list from 2026 that are worth hundreds apiece, too.
If I may speak directly to you here, just for a moment: chat, we’re cooked.
What does this mean for The Hobby™?
It’s not really breaking news to sit here and report, “Number Big!” I get it. We are all numb to reading things like this.
Instead, what I wish to put out into the universe is not that this fervour should be thought of as some kind of moral failing, nor merely to say that long-time, empty-handed fans deserve better than this. (They do, by the way.)
“Recently I started speaking up online about how difficult it’s becoming for younger collectors and families to get Pokémon products because of scalping, products selling out instantly, and release systems that many kids simply can’t access,” says Oscar, a 12-year-old fan who wrote to Nintendo Life about his experience as a young collector.
“As someone who is autistic, this hobby helped me make friends, build confidence and feel accepted…I’ve seen videos of people arguing and fighting over Pokémon cards outside toy shops…I don’t think that’s the environment kids should have to be around just to enjoy a hobby.”
Agreed, but sadly I think it’s time that we all stop thinking of the Pokémon TCG as just a hobby. Because regardless of how we wish to engage with it, by definition, it really isn’t anymore.
Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo Life
There’s hardly anything more imperious than someone bringing dictionary definitions to a debate, but I worry Pokémon fans have been like frogs on a stove for so long that we’ve lost the plot. Thus, it’s actually worth mentioning how Merriam-Webster defines ‘hobby’: “a pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in, especially for relaxation.”The Cambridge dictionary defines it as: “an activity that you do for pleasure when you are not working”.
Pokémon TCG can be pleasurable and exciting, but playing, buying — heck, even absorbing Pokémon TCG from a distance — is hardly passive anymore. It frequently requires job-like dedication at all levels, casual to professional. (The high amount of children who can rattle off up-to-the-minute market values is at least a little disturbing.)
Those circus clips of adults fighting may have overwritten our memories, but remember that even as recently as just over a year ago, the average person could walk into a store and still find something related to the Pokémon TCG, or at least they might in due time. Cards were expensive, but they weren’t expensive. Graded cards, both modern and vintage alike, were worth hundreds.
Yet today, no non-distributor can consistently get cards, because in mint condition, many brand new (not decades old) chases are worth down-payments on cars and houses. ‘Hobby’ is now a misnomer.
But it’s just a bubble, right?
Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo Life
Is this the new normal? The word ‘bubble’ gets thrown around a lot, but the problem with that theory is that this isn’t just happening with Pokémon.
Pokémon TCG is now in a symbiotic and inexorable relationship with the aftermarket
‘Luxury collectables’, which used to logically mean things like turn-of-the-century comics and cards, movie memorabilia, etc., are all on the rise, despite a general economic downturn globally. Even stuff like brand new trading cards from the anime One Piece have skyrocketed, and are competing against Pokémon’s market share, originating cards worth thousands out of those packs, too.
And of course, sports cards remain a massive force, which is no surprise, especially as sports gambling has become shockingly common, a money-milking practice now officially endorsed by various professional sports leagues around the world.
All of this has roughly coincided with, let’s just call it, the recent events of a year and a half ago. Laws on American markets have become deregulated, all while people continue to lose jobs to AI, wealth inequality remains swollen, cryptocurrencies are exploding in value, the world is still grappling with the after-effects of inflation, gas prices make no sense, and on and on and on.
In other words, ‘uncertainty’.
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
But Pokémon? Well, that’s at least one small thing in this crazy world that the market can still feel certain about. So here we are.
Because, unlike in the late ’90s, when fads like Beanie Babies, Pogs, and yes, Pokémon cards ruled the world, especially before the internet, there wasn’t such an overeliance on after-markets for the livelihoods of so, so many people. Many streamers, resellers, expos, websites, pseudo-celebrities, actual celebrities, and others now often rely on collectables — especially Pokémon cards — to literally make a living.
And crucially, Pokémon TCG is now in a symbiotic and inexorable relationship with the aftermarket. It benefits heavily from the free exposure, the goliath grading industry, the endless market watching apps and online videos, and the tango between distributors and resellers, all of which help keep the fire burning. Nothing grows a crowd like a crowd.
While people used to openly celebrate whenever someone could quit their job to continue doing a YouTube channel or to run a card shop full-time, it feels a little dystopian to realise that, for many, Pokémon cards are genuinely the best (or only) economic choice right now.
Uh… so now what?
Image: Jim Norman / Nintendo Life
If all this sounds like stress, a bummer, hard work, and like it requires your full attention just to keep up with it…well, it does.
You know, unlike a hobby.
And don’t parse this too closely. Of course you can still enjoy and even love Pokémon in a similar way as anything that’s been consumed by money; hunting for singles and packs, or watching people rip packs on YouTube for free is fun. I still do it. The chase is exciting.
But it’s the constant handwringing about scalpers and the bemoaning of supply and demand on Reddit that suggests fans are still stuck in 2015. All those things suck, but unfortunately, it’s not going back to the way it was; Pokémon is the most popular IP in the world.
Loving Pokémon is like loving caviar. If you’re someone like me who wants to buy packs every now and again, or god forbid, play the damn game, you’d be far more well-adjusted if you accepted this is now a Herculean undertaking. And god help you if you’re attempting to masterset any of the increasingly bigger and bigger sets The Pokémon Company has been putting out to capitalise on all this.
Yet if you still think this is going to go back to the old days eventually, here’s one final, sobering way to contextualise what’s likely to come next: The Pokémon Company reportedly printed 10 billion cards in 2025 alone. (Yes, with a “b”.) And they’ve printed 42 billion since 2022. But before 2022, the number of Pokémon cards that had ever been printed was 43 billion.
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
That means that in just four short years, they’ve nearly matched the amount of cards made during the first 25 years combined, and that still hasn’t been nearly enough to keep up with the demand. Roughly one out of ten Pokémon cards that have ever existed was printed in 2025.
I once incorrectly wrote that there was “no demographic for $20 packs.” I was completely wrong. It turns out, based on the normalisation of these sustained 5-to-10x prices for well over a year now, anyone who’s ever bought a pack before the last couple of years might not have represented the norm, judging the market by total volume of sales.
Freakishly, as the majority of lifetime sales have occurred only in the last few years, typical Pokémon fans could be considered ‘early adopters’ to the collectables market, which now is among the most reliable global markets in the face of economic uncertainty everywhere else. Pikachu? That’s the name of our new speculative currency.
So, in light of all of this skyrocketing growth, you may be wondering what I’m going to do with my four-digit Charizard card. Will I sell it and make a big profit, or will I keep it as a point of pride?
Reader, I think all of us are wondering the same exact thing.
With a Nintendo Direct right around the corner, it was only a matter of time before the speculation began about its contents. It’s been ticking away for a few weeks now with all of those Ocarina of Time rumours, and today, an NSO theory has entered the fray.
As spotted on Bluesky by dataminer @luigiblood, the NES, SNES and Game Boy ‘Nintendo Classics’ libraries have recently been updated with what is apparently a ‘challenge mode’, though it remains inaccessible for the time being. Hmm.
By the sounds of it, we should think of these challenges as something akin to NES Remix, only… not remixed. Luigiblood states that the challenges start from a specific point in select games, and each comes with its own unique success and fail states. It apparently all hinges on the NSO home menu to see and access the missions themselves.
Naturally, we’re taking all of the above with a pinch of salt until Nintendo announces anything official. That said, the currently inaccessible challenges certainly sound like they could be an announcement for tomorrow’s Direct — something to break up what we’re hoping will be a jam-packed show.
So, will we all be firing up NSO next weekend to speed through some SNES Zelda and Mario? We’ll have to wait and see.
Would you be keen for some NSO challenges? Do you think this theory will manifest into reality tomorrow? Let us know in the comments.
Nintendo has been fined a whopping €35 million (just over $40 million) thanks to the widespread drifting defects that plagued the original Switch.
As reported by Le Monde (thanks, Games Industry), an investigation by France’s General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) found that Nintendo may have been aware of Joy-Con defects as early as 2018, but failed to properly notify consumers until 2020.
It’s been deemed that Nintendo effectively misled its customers, forcing many to purchase replacement Joy-Con controllers. French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir filed a complaint in 2019 regarding the issue, stating that Nintendo had engaged in “planned obsolescence”, which is when products are produced with a deliberately limited lifespan.
Nintendo remains stubborn over the issue, however, stating that it did not mislead customers and that paying the €35 million fine “does not constitute an admission of guilt and reflects only the amicable resolution of legal proceedings.”
Meanwhile, a social media post from Nintendo Patents Watch notes that a ¥6.4B “loss on litigation” was highlighted on the company’s latest balance sheet. The figure more or less aligns with the fine, and so this is likely what it’s referencing.
What are your thoughts on this whole debacle? Leave a comment in the usual place and let us know.
A Nintendo Direct? In June? Who could have possibly guessed!?
Yes, Nintendo has announced its next presentation, promising 50-ish minutes of full-fat Direct goodness followed by an hour and a half of Nintendo Treehouse.
Following hot on the heels of a Summer Game Fest packed with Switch announcements, a proper summer Nintendo Direct is a thing to savour. Let’s see what Team NL is hoping to get from this not-E3 blowout…
The one last thing – Gavin Lane, Editor
Image: Nintendo
First-party-wise, it’s time for the big guns, Timmy.
Or at least one big gun. As much as I’m a Rhythm Heaven fan, the chance of this particular Switch 1 game making a Tomodachi Life-style dent on the collective consciousness is slim, and Nintendo must know that. I expect it to feature, but it’s not going to be a pillar of the presentation.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Wrath Weave is without a release date, so that’s a gimme, and we really haven’t seen much of Splatoon Raiders, so that’s another obvious pick, plus some Switch Online features and a token Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. And the recent Persona stuff, which conspicuously wasn’t announced for Switch 2.
Now is the time to tee up the big September/October/November slate and really flesh out the year, though. Whether it’s a Zelda remake or a Mario, I’m expecting the heavy artillery with some light anniversary theming.
Dusting off something dormant – Matthew Reynolds, Acting Deputy Editor
Image: FromSoftware
It’s about time we heard about whatever Mario or Zelda has in store for Switch 2, and with the rumours of an Ocarina of Time remake, that feels like that’s a pretty safe bet to keep us going until the next full iteration.
I’m otherwise hoping we’ll see a ‘dormant’ franchise getting dusted off and making a comeback. Golden Sun? Wave Race? Wario Land? Maybe F-Zero?
I feel like third-party studios have been shouldering the weight of the Switch 2 during its first year of sale, so I really want Nintendo to come out and basically say “Oh, you’re worried about the lack of major first-party games? No worries”. Then BOOM – it’s banger after banger after banger.
I’d love to see my beloved Star Fox Adventures added to NSO to complement the upcoming remake, but I fear that might be wishful thinking at this relatively early stage. I do, however, think we’re due a peek at Luigi’s Mansion 4, or whatever it’s going to be called. And do I dare wish for a look at the next 3D Mario..? Yes, I do.
Finally, a proper trailer and release date for the much-rumoured Ocarina of Time remake would be absolutely delicious.
Pulling into port – Jim Norman, Features Editor
Image: Nintendo
I totally agree with my esteemed friends above, and I have high hopes for a first-party blowout tomorrow. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the rumours have misunderstood the assignment, and it’s actually that forgotten Twilight Princess port that’s coming to S2 instead of OOT — gosh, that would be a bummer, wouldn’t it?
But I must admit, I don’t think this’ll be a wall-to-wall Nintendo Fest. Some Elden Ring footage feels about right, an eventual Marvel Rivals reveal, and perhaps that Metaphor: ReFantazio port we’ve long been waiting for. Dare I mention Baldur’s Gate 3? Ooh, the nerve!
If I’m going from the heart, though, I’d love to see a 3D Mario, some Tomodachi Life DLC, and the first rumblings of a Pikmin 5.
So there we are – all aboard the not-E3 hype train! Let us know below what you’re hoping to see from Nintendo’s summer (well, in the Northern Hemisphere) Direct.
What are you hoping to see in the June ’26 Nintendo Direct? (1,828 votes)
Sabotage Studio has today announced that 2023’s wonderful RPG, Sea of Stars, is getting its final update, with a Switch 2 version launching to mark the occasion.
The Sea of Stars: Sunset Edition — to give the update its official name — is all about bidding farewell to the project that the studio has worked on for the last seven years. It adds a new opening cutscene of the past Solstice Warriors, tweaks the balancing in the game’s Normal and Hard modes, and throws in yet another gorgeous piece of key art by Bryce Kho.
The Switch 2 port will arrive on the eShop today, complete with GameShare for some sweet three-player co-op. What’s more, it’ll be available as a free upgrade to all those with the Switch 1 version, with save data being carried over.
For those after something for the shelf, Sabotage has announced that it is working on a new Collector’s Sunset Edition physical release with iam8bit, set to be shipped later this year.
While we’re sad to see Sea of Stars come to an end, it has been a hell of a ride. Sabotage has teased that it is now full steam ahead on its third game, “Project Sparrow,” so we’ll have that to look forward to down the line.
Will you be checking out this final update? Let us know in the comments.
Nintendo has announced that a long-awaited (and much-rumoured) Nintendo Direct is coming our way tomorrow, 9th June.
As revealed on the Nintendo Today! app, the showcase is set to get underway from 3pm BST / 7am PT / 10am ET, offering up 50 minutes of news and announcements about games coming to Switch 1 and 2.
If that wasn’t enough, the Direct will be followed by a 90-minute Nintendo Treehouse: Live, “showcasing gameplay of select titles featured during the Nintendo Direct”. One of the surprise announcements? Let’s hope so!
Here’s the exact time that the show will kick off in your region:
Asia/Oceania: 11pm JST / 10pm AWST / 12am (Wed) AEST
As for what’ll make an appearance in the showcase, your guess is as good as ours. Nintendo’s first-party release schedule is looking pretty light for the rest of 2026 as it stands, with Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave as the last project still shrouded in mystery. Some big releases to prop up the second half of the year would be nice, then. An Ocarina of Time remake, perhaps? We’ll see…
What are you hoping to see in tomorrow’s Direct? Let us know in the comments.
The recent Xbox showcase contained not one, but two trailers for the Persona franchise. We already knew about Persona 4 Revival, but the new glimpse showcased some proper gameplay for the first time along with confirmation that it will launch on 18th February 2027.
Meanwhile, the much-rumoured (and leaked) Persona 6 was also officially revealed with little more than a logo and a few vague, abstract clips. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for fans who have been waiting for years for some information since the release of Persona 5 back in 2017.
The problem, however, is that neither Switch or Switch 2 have been mentioned as target platforms for either titles. That seems… insane, right? Considering how popular the games are in Japan and how much Nintendo consoles dominate in the region, you’d assume these would be an instant lock. Not to mention the persistent requests from Switch fans to release legacy Persona titles on the Switch, which Atlus eventually delivered over the course of 2022 and 2023.
Of course, it’s possible that Sega and Atlus may have carved out some dedicated space in the much-rumoured upcoming Nintendo Direct, which maywill take place later this week. After all, fans were similarly dismayed at the lack of Persona 3 Reload on the Switch 2, but it eventually wound up on the console in October 2025 following its initial release in February 2024.
Fans are definitely concerned though, and here’s just a few of the initial reactions over on social media:
Our own community on Nintendo Life is similarly disappointed at the lack of a Switch 2 confirmation, with user HubbaHunt stating “I was really hoping Atlus was going to announce day in date release for Persona 6 and 4 Revival on Switch 2”.
For now, we’d advise patience. We think it highly unlikely that these games will never come to the Switch 2, and we reckon there are two likely possibilities for the time being: the first being that confirmation will come during a Nintendo Direct, and the second being that Revival and 6 will simply arrive on Switch 2 at a later date.
Would you like to see Persona 4 Revival and Persona 6 on the Switch 2? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
