Nintendo

I don’t know who needs to hear this, because that era of 3D platformers haven’t necessarily aged well — but I’m feeling some nostalgia well up anyhow! The three-game Tomb Raider collection is coming February (trailer below), while Jedi Power Battles (trailer here) is coming January.

Applications for Nintendo’s mysterious online playtest filled up basically instantly. In our Slack, we were seeing that Nintendo reached its limit of 10,000 participants within a minute of opening at 11AM ET.

If you were trying to get in, hope you were one of the lucky ones!

The company just opened a museum, launched Echoes of Wisdom and an alarm clock, and a new Mario Party is out next week. So Nintendo wants to remind you it still has another release this holiday season: the next Mario & Luigi RPG in November. Here’s five minutes explaining what the brothers are up to this time.

Nintendo’s been dreaming of Alarmo for a decade — CEO Satoru Iwata revealed the idea in an investor briefing back in 2014! It’s possible the project went on pause between then and now, though. Today, Nintendo said that its development took place during the covid-19 pandemic.

Here’s our hands-on with the cute-as-a-button Alarmo.

A retro game hobbyist in Japan posted to X after stumbling on two Famicom Disk System games, one a dev build of Eggerland. The other was, incredibly after all this time, “a mysterious undocumented game” called Maze.

Time Extension noted that the hobbyist plans to post video from the find soon.

You can now buy a DIY OLED screen upgrade kit for the Nintendo Switch Lite for less than $50, but how easy it to install? Taki Udon demonstrates the process and while there’s no soldering needed, the installation does require the Lite to be nearly completely disassembled, and its original screen to be removed with the help of a hair dryer.

As previously announced, Masahiro Sakurai’s excellent YouTube channel — which has covered everything from organizing classic games to the nitty gritty of game development — is coming to an end. The silver lining is that the Smash Bros. boss is teasing that a “special finale” is in the works.

Nintendo is adding a pair of speedy GBA games for Switch Online subscribers, with F-Zero: GP Legend and F-Zero Climax, the latter having only previously launched in Japan. They’ll both launch on October 11th. And there’s more: the online racer F-Zero 99 is getting an update today that adds five new tracks.

Solve stick drift by making your Switch thick? At just $40 (or $60 with translucent shells and carry case), I’m a fan — and I love the programmable macros. Just know this isn’t the Nitro Deck Plus, which adds TV docking and symmetrical sticks.

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“It’s going to be fantastic.” Well, I’m sold.

Ball discussed the movie while onstage with Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri to talk about how Unreal Engine can help with filmmaking.

Elago has updated its AW5 Hang Case so that the silicone Game Boy homage is now compatible with the Apple AirPods 4 featuring active noise cancellation. The $18.99 case doesn’t play any retro games, but it will help protect the AirPods 4’s charging case from scuffs and damage if dropped, while still allowing features like wireless charging and Find My to continue to work.

The best PC/Switch/Steam Deck gamepad I've ever used. Top-tier joysticks and wireless, great battery life, gyro, and rumble, convenient dock, can wake Switch and/or OLED Deck wirelessly from couch. Comfy, too! If it had swappable battery and saved multiple Bluetooth pairings, it'd truly be Ultimate.

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In an interview with The New York Times, Nintendo design guru Shigeru Miyamoto says the company has no interest in ditching originality to follow AI fads:

“It might seem like we are just going the opposite direction for the sake of going in the opposite direction, but it really is trying to find what makes Nintendo special,” Miyamoto said. “There is a lot of talk about A.I., for example. When that happens, everyone starts to go in the same direction, but that is where Nintendo would rather go in a different direction.”

Other companies like Embracer have embraced AI, and the likes of Ubisoft, Nvidia, and Microsoft are already experimenting with generative AI characters.

The app, which measures your sleep with the help of Snorlax and friends, can now help you track your nightly habits with your Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, Pixel Watch, or Fitbit.

This should allow for more accurate sleep tracking, as the app previously had you place your phone under or beside your pillow to monitor your sleep and snoring.

This week, Nintendo sued Palworld developers Pocketpair. Here’s everything we know about why.