
Issue #475
March 22, 2026
A handheld boost for the Switch 2
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Switch 2 finally lets you play Switch 1 games in docked mode while playing on handheld — Sure, battery life will take a hit, but this new Handheld Boost Mode sounds like a win. Chris Scullion // VGC Thanks to EU consumer law, Nintendo is updating the Switch 2 design to enable European players to replace the battery — I wrote about this change a couple of years ago, and here's the long tail of that coming into effect. However, that's not to say it will be a particularly user friendly battery swap — we shall see. Vikki Blake // Eurogamer I spent a week living with Mario’s Talking Flower and it tormented me nonstop — Come for the cursed domestic reality of living with this annoying jump-scare noise box, stay for rad Garfield alarm clock. Giovanni Colantonio // Polygon Your Pokemon Go data is being used to train AI delivery robots Chris Brandrick // Hanafuda Report PREVIEW After nearly 3 hours of Pragmata, it's cemented that 2026 is Capcom's year James Galizio // RPG Site INTERVIEW As ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ turns six, Nintendo of America VP talks free update, Switch 2 Edition and what comes next — Curious about what's next? Well… “I totally appreciate that question, but we don’t have anything to announce”. Jennifer Maas // Variety Not so classic: How Super Mario 64 changed the Mario franchise for the worse — Did Mario lose something when it gained a dimension? I adore Mario 64, so don't come away with the same conclusion, but I also think a large part of this sort of thing is really down to your age at the time. I was 10 when this game landed, and it left a huge positive impression on me. Ernie Smith // Typebar Magazine Dashiell Wood // TechRadar REVIEW Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! — "combines nostalgia with tried-and-true first-person shooter mechanics and gameplay". Jordan Rudek // Nintendo World Report Human Fall Flat brings the chaos in new Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — Would it surprise you if I told you this game has sold over 50 million units across all platforms since it first launched? Jim Norman // Nintendo Life Switch 2 system update adds screen reader to first time setup Marijn Rongen // Can I Play That? Picross S Konami Antiques Edition coming to Switch in April — Retro? Nah, old games are antiques now. GoNintendo 25 years ago, Nintendo put SNES games in the palm of your hand with the GBA Damien McFerran // Time Extension Pokopia, storytelling and ADHD — "this game was made to undermine an ADHD-addled writer in their thirties with two decades’ worth of affection for Pokemon and a big list of things they ought to be doing instead". James Hamilton // Stupid Idea Box Kill your inner lore master — "…an approach to art that prioritizes what can be said about it over what it feels like to be inside it. In games, that shift is everywhere: a Pokémon becomes a set of stats, a battle becomes a question of optimization, a story moment becomes sanded down into what it is 'really about'". Jake Steinberg // Jake Should Be Writing Is Winds & Waves just 'Pokémon: Tears of the kingdom'? Evan E. Lambert // Nintendo Life ▶ Nintendo is wasting Metroid's potential TammorH // YouTube ▶ This SNES dev cart has GameCube test software? — A curious bit of kit here. Did you ever play a Nintendo game in a hotel room? Hard4Games // YouTube Scott Pilgrim returns to brawl on the digital streets of Toronto in new video game — Creator Bryan Lee O'Malley "likens game to revenge", after the original 2011 game was made under difficult conditions. Jonathan Ore // CBC Why Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are still great 20 years later Ethan Gnau // Nintendo Everything Jack Yarwood // Time Extension Victoria Phillips Kennedy // Eurogamer A thumb brace has let me play games pain-free for the first time in years — Sharing this as I know some readers of the newsletter are often on the hunt for anything that can make using a controller more comfortable. Nicole Clark // Mothership ▶ Why Nintendo's open worlds feel so empty Thomas Games Docs // YouTube Buzzfeed says Nintendo inspired it to make AI slop games — An …odd take on the 'lateral thinking with withered technology' line. Ethan Gach // Kotaku
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