Category: Nintendo News

Nintendo surprised us all earlier this week with an out-of-the-blue Yoshi and the Mysterious Book release date trailer. We now know that we only have to wait until 21st May to get our hands on this adorable little platformer, and today, we’ve got a peek at the Switch 2 box art.

As you’d expect, it’s very cute. The cover puts Yoshi centre stage (naturally), whimsically looking off into the distance as he ponders… something. Who knows what’s going on inside that head? What we do know is that we’re in love with the hand-sketched style of our beloved little dino — come on, that pencil nose shading really is something!

The background seems to take a page out of Yoshi’s book, literally, with similarly hand-drawn diagrams of the game’s many creatures surrounding the green machine himself. We see the humble Glubbit — who was introduced in the release date trailer — on the right, but it looks like there are many more creatures besides that we’ll be learning about through the game’s main story.

Here’s the cover itself, so you can get a closer look:

Yesterday, we learnt that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be listed for £49.99 / 59,99€ on European eShops with a hefty 20.5GB file size.

What do you make of the Yoshi Switch 2 box art? Will you be picking up a physical copy? Let us know in the comments.

The Pan European Game Information (or PEGI for short) ratings system is officially getting a massive overhaul in an effort to target microtransactions, loot boxes, and mechanics that reward logging in for daily quests.

It’ll no doubt prove a huge blow to the likes of EA, which puts a lot of emphasis on it’s ‘Ultimate Team’ mode for EA SPORTS FC 26. The series, which utilises extensive in-app purchases for the blind-bag card packs, has been rated PEGI 3 for as long as we can remember. Now, under the new rules, it’s likely that future EA Sports FC titles will be rated at least PEGI 16.

Meanwhile, games that utilise NFTs will automatically be PEGI 18, as will games that include completely unrestricted communication features. Titles that offer ‘play-by-appointment’ mechanics – that is, features that reward daily logins – will be PEGI 7 unless they actually punish the player for not logging in, in which case they will be PEGI 12.

Here’s a look at how PEGI describes its new rules:

Purchases of in-game content: games with time-limited or quantity-limited offers will be classified with a PEGI 12, games with NFTs or blockchain-related mechanisms will be PEGI 18.

Paid random items: the default rating will be PEGI 16 if the game contains paid random items (and in some cases they can be a PEGI 18).

Play-by-appointment: mechanisms that reward returning to the game (e.g. daily quests) will get a PEGI 7. If these mechanisms punish players for not returning (e.g. by losing content or reducing progress) they will become PEGI 12.

Safe online gameplay: if games contain entirely unrestricted communication features (e.g. no blocking or reporting), they will be PEGI 18.

Frankly, this is great news, as we’d argue that mechanics like this have been ignored for far too long by the likes of PEGI. It’ll undoubtedly hurt sales of big titles like EA Sports, for sure, but perhaps that’s the best outcome if it means protecting younger audiences from the potential dangers of loot boxes and microtransactions.

The new rules will be enforced from June 2026, so it’s likely that this year’s EA Sports FC 27 will come carrying a PEGI 16 age rating.

What are your thoughts on these changes from PEGI? Are you in favour of it? Let us know with a comment in the usual place.

Before Blizzard’s free-to-play multiplayer shooter Overwatch 2 arrived on the scene, there was the original paid experience led by game director (and fan favourite) Jeff Kaplan.

You might recall how Kaplan made an abrupt exit from the company behind Diablo and Warcraft in 2021, after almost 20 years of service. It left a lot of fans concerned about the future of Overwatch at the time, and now he’s finally broken his silence on Lex Fridman’s podcast.

In one segment, he mentions how things supposedly went downhill because of the commitments to the professional Esports competition “Overwatch League”. When Activision Blizzard was unable to meet investor expectations, the onus was then placed on the development team, which led to “the pressure to ship Overwatch 2”.

Kaplan hit his own breaking point when he apparently found himself in a meeting with Activision Blizzard’s CFO at the time, claiming he had to make so much money or future lay-offs would be on him. Here’s the transcript courtesy of PC Gamer and you can watch this segment of the interview in the video below (note: the redacted figures are due to a confidentiality agreement):

“What ultimately broke me and my Blizzard career was I got called into the CFO’s office and he sits me down and he says—he gives me a date which at the time was 2020 and was going to slip to 2021, but at the time it was 2020—and he said: ‘Overwatch has to make [redacted] in 2020, and then every year after that it needs a recurring revenue of [redacted]’ and then he says to me ‘if it doesn’t do [redacted] we’re going to lay off 1,000 people, and that’s going to be on you.’ And that was the biggest f**k you moment I’ve had in my career, it felt surreal to be in that condition.”

Kaplan goes on to say he loved Blizzard and expected to retire there, but realised “that was it” for his career at the company at that point. He also noted how “luckily for Blizzard” the same CFO is no longer there. As noted by the source, Dennis Durkin was CFO between 2019 to May 2021, and his successor was Armin Zerza, who was in the role until 2025.

Overwatch 2 most-recently made the decision to drop the number from its title, with the Blizzard president Johanna Faries claiming it’s a “timeless game” and the name should reflect this. In saying this, the title remains free-to-play and the collaborations with IP outside of the Blizzard universe continues. The latest one is a crossover with NieR: Automata.

As for Kaplan, he’s now working on a new game called The Legend of California – an open-world action-survival shooter set in California during the gold rush era.

In case you missed it, Overwatch was announced for the Switch 2 last month and will be releasing at some point this year.

Super Mario is currently celebrating his 40th anniversary, and one other announcement for MAR10 Day this week is a new Tetris 99 Maximus Cup and Grand Prix.

As highlighted in the MAR10 Day celebrations on Nintendo UK’s website, this new Grand Prix will take place next month between 3rd April 2026 and 7th April 2026, and allows players to unlock a special Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 in-game theme when they collect over 100 points.

If Nintendo shares a video of theme we’ll provide an update. To participate, you’ll need to have an active Switch Online subscription. This theme follows Galaxy 1 + 2’s release on the Switch last October. These games have also received some enhancements for the Switch 2. Their return leads into the Super Mario Galaxy Movie next month.

Earlier this week, Nintendo hosted a Direct for the upcoming movie, sharing a new trailer and some additional announcements. It’s also made a new Galaxy-themed item available on the My Nintendo Store in North America.

Will you be participating in this Tetris 99 event? Let us know in the comments.

Although Fortnite made a name for itself as a battle royale title, one other mode it’s always offered is the PvE action-building co-op campaign experience, Save The World.

On 16th April 2026 (aka next month) Epic will be welcoming more players to join this fight as Save the World goes “free-to-play”. It’s also been confirmed the Save the World mode will be made available to Switch 2 players on the same date.

“After nearly ten years, the game that started it all welcomes even more players to join the fight. Save the World is going free to play on April 16.”

The more players that pre-register, the more in-game rewards pre-registrants will get. This will include a Save the World hero. Epic is also offering thank you rewards to current and existing players, and will be gifting superchargers, vouchers and gold on the same day this mode goes free-to-play.

If you’re not familiar with the Save the World mode, you’re tasked with holding back hordes of monsters and exploring a vast, destructible world, as you build huge forts, craft weapons, loot and level up. To help get players up to speed, Epic has teamed up with the “community expert” Beast to share a breakdown of the Save the World mode in 2026:

Will you be revisiting this mode when it goes free-to-play next month? Tell us in the comments.

The relaxing life sim Pokémon Pokopia for the Switch 2 has got off to a roaring start, with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo today announcing global sales of the title have already surpassed 2.2 million units.

Pokopia managed to achieve this in just the “first four days” since its launch on 5th March 2026. Additionally, it’s been confirmed one million of these units were sold in Japan during this time frame.

Specifics haven’t been shared about the sales in other regions just yet, but the game is currently in the top spot in the eShop charts in locations such as the US and UK. There have also been reports about this new title being undersupplied for retail, and its early success has reportedly caused a surge in Nintendo’s share price.

This is a respectable start for Pokémon Pokopia when you consider it’s a Switch 2 exclusive and it’s technically a spin-off of the mainline series. In comparison, Pokémon Legends: Z-A was reported as shifting 5.8 million copies in its first week, based on the combined Switch and Switch 2 game sales (approx 3.89 million sales to date on Switch 2).

Compared to other Switch 2 exclusives with over a million sales, Kirby Air Riders has sold 1.76 million units, Donkey Kong Bananza has shifted 4.25 million units and Mario Kart World is right out in front with over 14 million sales. The Switch 2 has now sold more than 17 million units worldwide.

If you haven’t already played Pokémon Pokopia it’s well worth a look. In our review here on Nintendo Life, we called it the “freshest Pokémon experience in a long time, bursting at the seams with charm and content that rewards both curiosity and creativity”.

Did you buy this game in its first four days of availability? Let us know in the comments.

Edgar Wright-ing the Edgar Wrongs

• 
• by Jim Norman Yesterday, 6:30pm

Surprise, farmers! Natsume has today planted the first seed for its upcoming all-new Harvest Moon game, Echoes of Teradea, confirming that it’ll sprout onto both Switch 1 and 2.

We don’t have a release date just yet, though the dev has shared a fair amount of information about what we can expect from this one, teasing new love interests, exploration abilities and more.

Echoes of Teradea boasts all of the usual farming, animal rearing and general life building that we’ve come to expect from the series, wrapped up in a story about a mysterious fog-filled forest and its giant guardian wolf ruler. Awooo, indeed.

Here’s a rundown of the game’s key features and a handful of screenshots from Natsume’s big reveal:

• Ten New Love Interests: Woo five all-new bachelors and five all-new bachelorettes! Marry whoever your heart desires!
• New Exploration Abilities: Jump to hidden locations and climb ladders and vines to reach new heights and gather resources.
• Animal Companion System: Bring your pets and animals on the road to adventure together! Each animal companion and mount has special abilities to help you explore uncharted territory.
• Untamed Wilderness: Evade and escape wild animals like wolves, bears, and tigers! Keep your wits about you and don’t let yourself get caught, or you’ll lose items you’ve collected and end up back at your farm!
• Island Life: Obtain nautical charts to locate remote islands to treasure hunt and befriend rare animals that you won’t find on the mainland.
• Make Everyone Happilia: Help villagers and contribute to the development of Teradea to gain Happilia!

Natsume president and CEO Hiro Maekawa teased that more details about Echoes of Teradea will be released “in the coming months”, including news about pre-order bonuses and special editions.

We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for all the newbies and will keep you updated with each release.

What do you make of Echoes of Teradea so far? Let us know your initial thoughts in the comments.

Physical distributor First Press Games doesn’t exactly have the most glowing of reputations these days. One quick Google search will bring up a host of results delving into whether or not the company is effectively scamming its customers.

Well, it seems like Chained Echoes developer Matthias Linda has had enough. Posting on Kickstarter, Linda confirms that he is now severing ties with First Press Games entirely and is preparing a lawsuit, citing a 2-year delay for the physical release of the game. Only standard copies on PS4 have been fulfilled so far, but that’s it.

Here’s what he had to say:

I hope you are all doing fine. I have new information regarding the physical copies. It’s been a bit over 2 years since the physical copies were supposed to be released by First Press Games and so far in 2026 nothing has arrived except the regular Playstation 4 edition. Because of that I had to make a decision:

I am terminating my business relationship with FPG and I am preparing a lawsuit.

This decision wasn’t easy and came after careful consideration. Please understand that for legal reasons I can not go into further details.

While Linda is unable to go into too many specifics for legal reasons, he is offering two potential routes for Kickstarter backers who opted for a physical copy. The first is fulfilment from another publisher – though this understandably incurs another potentially lengthy wait – while the other is a simple refund.

So if you’re a backer who’s currently stuck in limbo waiting for a physical copy, then do check out the full post over on Kickstarter. Linda provides an email address for those wishing to get a refund, along with the necessary details you’ll need to provide in your claim.

What a mess, huh? Leave a comment down below and let us know what you make of all of this.

I’ve seen lots of games try to emulate top-down Zelda over the years; some to great success and others, well… not so much. Minishoot’ Adventures – NIntendo Switch 2 Edition falls into the first camp, and although it’s not as grand in scale as your average Hyrulian quest these days, it nevertheless nails the feel of a great Zelda.

The twist here is that Minishoot’ Adventures combines twin-stick shooting mechanics with more traditional Zelda tropes. You’ve got a wide open space in which to explore various areas, plus a load of interesting dungeons to pillage, keys to uncover, hearts pieces to boost your health, and enemies to vanquish. When you do run into some bad guys, you’re treated to short bursts of bullet-hell mayhem, either via organic encounters or specific combat segments in which you fend off waves of enemies.

As you work your way through the world, you’ll gain red crystals that act as experience, filling up a little diamond-shaped vial in the top corner of the screen. Each full vial grants you an additional point to use against upgrades for your ship. This includes a faster boost, increased damage, a more potent rate of fire, and more. In a world of almost overwhelming choice when it comes to character customisation, it’s refreshingly straightforward, and each upgrade makes a real difference to your chances of survival.

That said, Minishoot’ Adventures can be pretty tough at times. I ran into a roadblock when I came up against a huge boss flanked by standard enemies, all of which jump long distances and shoot out waves of bullets upon landing.

The good news is that if you’re not familiar with twin-stick mechanics, there are three difficulty options on offer. ‘Explorer’ is a good option for newcomers that slows down enemies and bullets, while ‘Advanced’ is geared toward those who want a challenge. ‘Original’, of course, sits somewhere in between, and this is the option I went with. Various aiming modes can also help make the experience more approachable, ranging from full manual control of your ship and weapons to automatic aiming and shooting.

Visually, Minishoot’ Adventures maintains a strong and consistent art style throughout. Its environmental design is basic with minimal textures, helping to ensure rock-solid performance with seamless navigation and practically zero frame drops. Any potential drawbacks in terms of detail (or lack thereof) are balanced out by the wonderful use of colour, giving each major biome a wonderful sense of place. Add in some gorgeous overworld and combat music, and the overall presentation is basically faultless.

Coming in at under 10 hours, I felt satisfied with what I’d played, yet I still wanted more. Despite how good I think the core experience is, there’s a lot of untapped potential waiting to be unleashed. More NPCs, more quests, a more engaging narrative… all of this would go a long way, and I sincerely hope to see a sequel in the future. This, however, is a bloomin’ great start.