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.
Herbert Sinclair, the baron of Reddington’s Mount Holly Estate, is dead. In his will, he leaves the estate, its grounds, and his title to you, his grandnephew, Simon. There is one condition: to prove yourself worthy of the gift, you have to find the mysterious 46th room in the 45-room manor, the location of which has never been disclosed.
This is the setup of Dogubomb’s puzzle roguelike Blue Prince, and it’s about as much story as I feel comfortable giving you. Since it launched on PC and PS5 last year, I have been telling almost everyone I know to play it under the guidance of “read nothing about it and go in completely clueless!! Please!“, which doesn’t make for the easiest review now that it’s come to Switch 2.
This really is one of those games where the less you know about it, the better. I’ll try my absolute best to keep details to a minimum, but rest assured, Blue Prince is one of the most accomplished indie puzzlers in recent memory. It’ll worm its way into your head and refuse to let you go until long after you’ve rolled the credits. I spent the best part of 80 hours exploring the hallways of the Mount Holly Estate last year, but this Switch 2 version has sent me down the rabbit hole all over again. What’s more, I’m still adding to my pages of notes with the increasingly cryptic scribbles of a man obsessed.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
So, what can I tell you about Blue Prince? To make it to the goal, you’re tasked with navigating the ever-shifting rooms of the mansion, drafting which area you’ll find behind each door via your trusty blueprints. Yes, Blue Prince is a blueprints pun, that is, until it’s not. Like most things in this game, there’s something hidden under the surface that you’ll gradually get to grips with as you come to understand its systems.
You have a set number of steps you can take each day (one ‘step’ corresponding to each room, normally), and once your steps are up, it’s off to bed before the process begins again the next day.
You see, the rooms of Mount Holly aren’t set in stone — quite the opposite, in fact. Bar a very few exceptions, each and every one of them will be shuffled around at the end of the day, and it’s up to you to draft them in whatever order you see fit from the list of three options that appears upon opening each door.
This is a roguelike that I’m talking about here, so of course there are some permanent upgrades that you’ll unlock along the way (extra rooms, steps, money for buying items, etc.), but for the most part, the only thing that you take with you each day is your knowledge about how the estate works.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
The gameplay loop won’t be to everyone’s tastes, true. There is a slight frustration that comes with finally putting two and two together, only to find yourself unable to draft the correct rooms in the correct order for days in a row. But that format perfectly suits the game’s depth. You see, you can play Blue Prince solely to uncover the hidden Room 46 and roll credits, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
By jumbling the rooms every run, blocking off possibilities and opening new ones, the game forces you to investigate more avenues than the one which might feel immediately obvious. You might arrive with the straightforward goal of solving the central mystery, but if you really pay attention, you’ll see that there’s a lot more (and I mean a lot more) under the surface. Finding the impossible 46th room is one thing — and learning its rules is a pretty one-and-done deal on the replayability side of things — but this gameplay loop actively encourages you to take in everything else, too.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
If it all sounds like a lot to keep track of, that’s because it is. One common room that you’ll likely stumble across in your early runs will specifically nudge you to have a pen and notebook to hand, because you’re going to need to jot things down. In my experience, it’s handy to have several pens and several notebooks nearby, because while every room you come across might not initially appear like an essential step on the way to Room 46, I can guarantee there will be something in there that you’ll want to remember.
My notebook started with mere observations. Early pages say things like “Chess?”, “Angels?” and “Pictures?”, but after a few hours, I was in full conspiracy theory mode. Flicking through now, I’ve got detailed timelines, sigils, family trees, portraits, and more code possibilities than I can possibly keep track of.
It’s the kind of documentation where I was regularly found hunched over in the early hours of the morning, trying to make connections between things I had spotted on the first day, and things that clicked on my 60th. In a similar vein to Outer Wilds, Tunic or Animal Well, this is a game full of moments where you’ll feel like a genius, and even more where you’ll feel stupid for not noticing something sooner. Its secrets go so deep that I couldn’t stop thinking about them for days on end — shout-out to Trigg and Gusset’s subtly jazzy score for keeping the manor’s soundscape in my head at all times — but there’s no rush quite like the “A-HA!” realisation at the end of them all.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
For this alone, the Switch 2 version and its portability is a welcome bonus. This is a game I regularly struggled to pull myself away from, and now, I don’t have to!
Despite my best efforts, I still didn’t uncover everything Mount Holly had to offer last year, and part of me had hoped that I’d be able to bring it all across to Switch 2, using my permanent upgrades and room unlocks to mop up some of the deeper puzzles on the go. Unfortunately, all that time spent in the PS5 version remains on the PS5.
Starting back from Day One has been far from a huge inconvenience. The randomness has meant that I’ve still seen some new areas and gathered new clues, and any pre-existing knowledge of the manor’s rules makes navigating its halls far easier the second time around, but some cross-save goodness for the secret digging sickos like me would have been a welcome bonus.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Fortunately, it holds up as well as you’d hope on Nintendo’s hybrid. True, things are capped at 30fps, and I did notice some momentary drops when my mansion halls became particularly stacked with complex rooms, each with its own moving parts, but it wasn’t distracting. The visual style, complete with the kind of block colours and bold outlines that wouldn’t look out of place in a classic Telltale game, looks stunning in both Handheld and Docked, and there’s the added bonus of Mouse Mode here too — something I’m still not convinced is ‘the‘ way to play any Switch 2 game on account of the hand-cramping-ly thin Joy Con, but it’s a nice bonus, all the same.
Some people seem to have uncovered some small bugs in the Switch 2 version which I, try as I might, haven’t managed to stumble across in my playthrough. That said, by its very design, this is a game that no two players are likely to play the same, so there’s every chance that I (and you) may miss something that pops up immediately in another’s early drafts.
Conclusion
If Blue Prince were only about finding Room 46 and nabbing your inheritance, it would be a neat little puzzler with some fun twists along the way. For those who dive in headfirst and keep track of everything else it throws at you, however, it is so much more than that. Rarely has a game made me feel more clever, more lost and more elated the deeper into it I ventured, and still some question marks remain over its deeper mysteries.
Minor technical drops and a lack of cross-save features aside, this remains a superb achievement and one of the finest head scratchers I’ve had the pleasure of playing. If you’ve read this far, you’ve already read too much! Just go and play it already!
You thought that the barrage of posters we’ve already had for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was probably enough, didn’t you? Well, surprise! Nintendo and Illumination have got another one for us!
Yes, accompanying the announcement of next week’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct (which we’re pretty sure just means ‘another trailer drop’), the studios have also released a brand-new movie poster. These newbies have proven to be pretty eye-catching so far and are always worth a look, but the latest addition is so jam-packed with details that we thought it was double-worth a mention of its own.
This is your standard ‘floating character models’ affair that every big-budget Hollywood release uses these days. The main cast of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Rosalina, Bowser and Bowser Jr. take centre stage, but it’s the surrounding area that warrants the closest inspection.
Beneath the main cast, we see Toad in a Penguin Suit, a closer look at Ninji, Birdo and Mouser — many of which we spied in previous trailers — and, most noteworthy of all, Wart. Like, the chief antagonist of Super Mario Bros. 2, who, bar a couple of cameo appearances here and there, has been effectively MIA since the late ’80s.
Take a look just above the title logo, and you’ll spot this forgotten mean machine:
Outside of obscure series bad guys, the poster also shows what appears to be Princess Peach’s castle being abducted by a UFO, more than a few menacing airships, and a giant block-shaped establishment, which we assume is the setting of that Peach fight we’ve seen so often in the trailers.
There’s less than a month to go now before the Mario Galaxy Movie arrives in cinemas from 1st April, and we’ll be keeping an eye on the Direct on 9th March to see if Nintendo and co. have any other surprises up their sleeve.
What do you make of this latest poster? Let us know your favourite detail in the comments.
If you happen to reside in Europe, then chances are you’ve been waiting for the Switch 2 upgrade for Stardew Valley to go live (either that or you have a separate eShop account for the US). Well, the good new is that it’s now live.
Priced at £10.99 in the UK and €13,99 in Europe, this is another one of those games that offers up a completely free upgrade if you already own it on the Switch 1. As for why it’s taken so long to come to the region, developer Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone confirmed that he was waiting until a patch went live to fix some unsavoury bugs before releasing it outside of the US.
At the time, he wrote:
“A patch to fix the crafting bug, and add improvements to the mouse controls on the NS2 edition of Stardew Valley is coming soon. I’ll wait to release the NS2 edition in EU until this patch is ready, since the crafting bug can cause you to lose items.”
So yes, if you’re planning to play Stardew Valley on the Switch 2, you can now enjoy additional mouse controls along with four-player split-screen and eight-player online support. GameShare has also been added, so those without the game on Switch and Switch 2 can also participate.
Have you been playing Stardew Valley on the Switch 2, or have you been waiting for it to go live on the eShop? Let us know with a comment, and thanks to user ‘Rhaoulos’ for the heads up.
When Capcom revealed Resident Evil Requiem back at Summer Game Fest 2025, a brand new character took centre stage in the debut trailer: Grace Ashcroft.
Described by director Koshi Nakanishi as “the biggest scaredy-cat in Resident Evil history”, Grace plays a pivotal role and shares billing with Leon Kennedy, a much more familiar character.
For actor Angela Sant’Albano, stepping into the shoes of Ashcroft would prove to be her first foray into not only Resident Evil but the video game voice-acting world as a whole. We recently sat down with Angela to talk about her experience performing the role, what excited her about the character and story, and whether she plans to play more of the series now that she’s directly involved.
Note: Some details in the following interview may be considered spoilers for the game. If you’re keen to go in blind, come back later when you’ve experienced it for yourself!
Nintendo Life: Requiem’s out now and it’s already sold over 5 million copies in less than a week. How’s life been for you in the weeks leading up to launch?
Angela Sant’Albano: Oh, it’s been wild. I knew Resident Evil was a big deal, but I don’t think I quite prepared myself for just how supportive and passionate the fanbase is. You never know going into these things whether people will love the character or not like the character. So yeah, it’s been surreal, if I’m honest, that people have responded so well and been so kind and supportive.
This is your first role in a video game. How does the overall experience compare to the work you’ve done in the past?
Well, it was all performance capture; obviously, we went into a booth to do ADR [Automated Dialogue Replacement], but everything was captured at once. I think once you get beyond the tech side of things, all acting is the same, and you just try to find the truth in the character and their experience.
I’d say performance capture was kind of a blend of theatre and film and stage because it’s 360, all the cameras are all around you, but you’ve also got a camera right on your head, so it’s like the audience or the player is right there with you. I’d say it was it wasn’t too different and i didn’t approach it in any other way.
Image: Capcom
A lot of your scenes are emotionally very intense. How do you prepare and get in the right mindset to carry out such demanding scenes?
That’s a great question, I think again it’s just knowing Grace, her backstory and her relationship with her mum. Like with anything, it’s just throwing yourself in 150% and seeing what comes and what works. I felt very lucky, because Nick [Apostolides – Leon Kennedy] and I, Jane [Perry – Alyssa Ashcroft] and Emma Rose [Emily], we all had such natural chemistry in real life, and so we could just use that to make the scenes feel grounded and real.
I think Grace is the definition of courageous, because unlike other characters in the franchise who don’t really feel the fear, Grace feels it so viscerally, but still chooses to push forward.
There’s a little bit of real placement, which maybe isn’t the healthiest thing, of imagining someone you love and bringing those kinds of situations closer to me as Angela. Grace is sort of introverted and her main touchstone is her mum. I never really imagined her as a particularly social kid at school, so losing her mum was like losing her whole world. Then later, with Emily, she’s the first person that Grace becomes close to and feels protective over in her life, so when she loses her, it’s such an immense feeling of loss.
Capcom has described Grace as the biggest scaredy-cat in the series’ history, but what kind of qualities does she possess that excited you about the character?
I think Grace is the definition of courageous, because unlike other characters in the franchise who don’t really feel the fear, Grace feels it so viscerally, but still chooses to push forward. She’s incredibly selfless in moments where she’s terrified; she’s loyal in protecting Emily, and she’s loyal in protecting Leon, too. She’s a survivor, she had to survive when her mum passed away and build a life on her own.
Yes, she’s afraid, but in no way different to a normal girl thrown into a spooky hospital filled with zombies. So when I approached Grace, I kind of thought, ‘How would I, Angela, react to these situations?’ She’s just very human in a way that really excited me. I hope that when people see Grace, they see themselves, in a way. Yhey see just a normal person chucked into a completely bonkers situation.
Image: Capcom
I saw recently that you played quite a bit of Resident Evil 4 in preparation for this role. Are you tempted to dive further into the franchise now that you’re involved with it?
Oh yeah, definitely. I really want to play Requiem, I’ve played the first little bit, but I do want to sit down and play it all the way through. I’ve watched a lot of the cutscenes, but I’d like to play it properly. I kind of want to play RE7; I watched a lot of cutscenes for that one to really understand the horror tone they wanted to get across in Requiem. But yeah, I have a new fascination and appreciation of games, so I want to dive into Resident Evil, but also other genres, too.
You’ve mentioned previously that you were really keen to play a role in horror. What is it about this particular genre that excites you?
I think I just always saw it as a real challenge, because so much of horror for TV and film, you have to use your imagination, and it kind of takes you back to your childhood where you have to create all of these things from absolutely nothing.
I love Jordan Peele and I love psychological horror, but straight bloody gore? Not for me, I’m too scared!
Maybe I should psychoanalyse myself, but when I’ve done auditions in the past, I’ve always loved doing guttural screams and just the intensity of the crying and the screaming, or the crawling back from the monster, I’ve always loved that kind of high-stakes situation.
But to be honest, I don’t really watch a lot of horror. I love Jordan Peele and I love psychological horror, but straight bloody gore? Not for me, I’m too scared!
I recently spoke with Nick Apostolides and he had a lot of great things to say about you. What was it like working alongside Nick, and did it feel comforting to have someone who’s more of an RE veteran?
Totally, it was so comforting. Nick was such a mentor for me with performance capture, but also the video game world and the lore. He was so generous with his knowledge and his time, just giving us all little tips on the motion capture suit and the helmet, and all these little things.
He was always so passionate about Leon and telling the story and doing it justice. It was very inspiring for all of us. Also, Nick himself is a real fan of Resident Evil and has been for a long time, so to see that level of passion for the game and excitement for the story so up close, it just made the rest of the cast want to dive in and give it their all. We could really feel the love that he has, and he kept telling us, “Just you wait, this fanbase, they’re crazy about RE.” And so we were like, “Gosh, we’ve got to deliver!”
Image: Capcom
That’s a great point: Were you aware of just how popular the series is when you got involved?
I knew about Resident Evil and its cultural impact, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the fanbase and how much they love the lore and the stories. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t know when we were shooting, because I think I would have been a lot more stressed. It’s just good to go in a little blind sometimes, you know?
So I think I had a healthy balance of seeing Nick’s excitement and knowing that I had to deliver, but also the naivety of not knowing the true scale of just how popular the franchise really is.
Our thanks to Angela for taking the time to speak with us. Resident Evil Requiem is available now for Switch 2.
Nintendo has announced another Direct presentation for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, airing next Monday, 9th March 2026.
In other words, this is likely another fancy, overblown way of showcasing another trailer for the upcoming movie. Given that it’s less than a month away at the time of writing, it seems reasonable to assume that this will be the last major push in terms of trailers. Expect plenty more TV spots, though.
The new movie will once again star the likes of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black, with Brie Larson joining as Rosalina. A recent leak seemed to confirm a major unannounced character, but we won’t spoil that here – click through if you want to find out more.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will release on 1st April 2026.
Will you be tuning in to check out the latest information for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie? Let us know with a comment down below.
