Metroid Dread EMMI
Image: Nintendo

This week we closed out with an Animal Crossing Direct broadcast that detailed the final free content coming to the game, plus the Happy Home Paradise paid DLC. The broadcast also confirmed the price and date of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack (not Pass, Pack!), too. Earlier in the week we also got our first good look at Pokémon Blimey This Is A Long Title When You Have To Type It Out A Dozen Times A Day. And the MetrOLED train just keeps on rolling. Phew!

After all that, it's time to chill out and discuss our weekend gaming plans. A few members of the Nintendo Life team have done just that below, so feel free to give our entries a read and then join in with your own via our comment section. Enjoy!

Tom Whitehead, deputy editor

I think I'm near the end of Metroid Dread, it seems that way; I've been taking my time and enjoying it a lot. I need to get back to Eastward too, which is charming and rather marvellous, while my annual playthrough of Resident Evil 4 is still merrily ticking along.

On non-Nintendo hardware I'll try and dip back into some Back 4 Blood co-op, I had a lot of fun starting that this week with my brother and couple of downright terrible AI bots. Still, AI is probably preferable to random players, I suspect.

Kate Gray, staff writer

I'M BACK ON THE MINECRAFT TRAIN. I'll hopefully be helping a few friends learn the Minecraft ropes in our shared server, and building all sorts of cool structures together!

And when I'm not Minecrafting, I'll be wondering if I should hop into Animal Crossing: New Horizons again... I still haven't checked if my island made the leap to my new Switch. I'm too scared to find out if I lost it all.

PJ O'Reilly, reviewer

Hello. I’ve gone kind of mad downloading stuff just to see how it looks on the OLED Switch, so this weekend I’m going to be doing lots of hopping around my back catalogue as well as digging into Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion for the first time. I’ve got Astral Chain downloaded (looks insane on this new screen), Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey will be getting dusted off and I’ll also be turning out all the lights and sticking my Bluetooth headphones in for some all-encompassing Tetris Effect: Connected action. I’m thoroughly enjoying my new toy.

Have a good weekend, whatever you’re doing or playing!

Jon Cartwright, video producer

My OLED arrived a little late, so I'm catching up to everyone reeling about the screen — it's incredibly hard to go back to the original Switch. This is by no means an essential upgrade but has me going back through my library to see what games can really make this thing sing.

First on the agenda is a second Metroid Dread playthrough. The initial run was handled on my the launch Switch and while I used the OLED to pick up the remaining collectibles, I really want to see the whole game through again on this beauty.

I imagine that won't be an incredibly long session so now's probably a good time to dive back into Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I've had the game since launch and I always end up getting distracted but I'm hoping the new display helps keep me on track — especially as the tiny font should be more legible on the slightly larger screen.

Ollie Reynolds, reviewer

Hi folks! I've got a big wedding to attend this weekend (best man, right here), so I won't be getting round to a lot of gaming. Once it's all done, though, I'll be heading right back into Metroid Dread and starting a new run in hard mode. What a game; I can't believe the leap in quality over Samus Returns (which was already great!). It'll definitely go down as one of my favourite entries in the series.

Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer

Hey, its my birthday! I’m way too many years old. To no one’s surprise I am still slowly making my way around Planet ZDR in Metroid Dread. Since the series usually takes a back-seat to the more popular Nintendo franchise releases every new game usually turns out to be pretty special… and I’m enjoying it immensely despite only some very short gaming sessions so far. I will also be returning to my youthful F1 fandom years with Horizon Chase Turbo - Senna Forever DLC expansion. I reckon this one could be it’s own stand-alone game!

Game of the week is Gleylancer. Sure, it only took a few decades to finally own one of the Mega Drive’s finest shmups but I at least I did not need to sell any body parts to purchase it. Both original and updated versions are excellent and remind me how much I miss NCS games in general.

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your weekend gaming plans!