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The weekend has arrived once more, and with E3 now a mere memory, we can return to grabbing a few quiet moments with our Nintendo Switches. Team Nintendo Life has many a game on the go between them this week, so read on to hear which titles have grabbed our attention. And we want to hear from you too, so feel free to leave a vote and a comment below with your hot picks. Have a great weekend!

Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, editor

Anyone that's on my Nintendo Switch friends list will probably guess what I'll be playing this weekend. Having ground my way beyond level 15, I'm now testing the ranked waters of Paladins: Champions of the Realm and having a ruddy good time while I'm at it. (Check out my review to see why I'm so hooked.) I enjoyed Overwatch back in 2016, but it never managed to keep my interest. 

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Whether it's the tactical use of cards or the fact I can play it anywhere around the house, Paladins has got its claws in me, and they're in deep. Now to grind my way through the Battle Pass so I can get that sweet Robo Force skin for my beloved Ruckus...

Dave Letcavage, contributing writer

My Switch has been receiving much love lately. For one, my wife Tami and I are rather focused on beating ARMS with every fighter on every difficulty setting, and we’re getting there. Outside of that, we’ve been engaging in friendly Mario Kart 8 matches and heated R.B.I. Baseball 18 Home Run Derby competitions. And when it’s single-player o’clock, I’ve been playing Owlboy (which, sadly, isn’t quite connecting with me as I thought it would). 

This weekend, though, is mostly about multiplayer Mario Tennis Aces. We’ve even purchased the Neon Pink & Green Joy-Con to celebrate the occasion. I anticipate a great deal of trash talk in the coming days... and a couple meals in silence that could be perceived as tense staring contests. Stuff’s about to get real. I can feel it.

Ryan Craddock, staff writer

This weekend will undoubtedly see me glued to my TV, foregoing basic life essentials like food and fresh air, as I play match after match of Fortnite. I’ve been hooked to the Switch’s latest big signing since I first tried it a few days ago, and I’m seriously considering grabbing myself a Battle Pass when the next full season comes along.

There’s something incredibly satisfying about working towards all the in-game challenges, and I like how I’m starting to feel more confident in my abilities the more I play. At first I’d nervously run around like a headless chicken whenever I came into contact with another player, but I’m slowly getting the hang of things and have been racking up a decent amount of wins. Lovely stuff.

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

After settling the great orange juice controversy of 2018 in Splatoon 2 and breaking a fair number of opponents rackets at Mario Tennis Aces, the GameCube is taking centre stage once again on the living room. The ongoing World Cup in Russia is the perfect excuse to dust off my impressive Virtua Striker 3 ver. 2002 skills while I simulate the competition and the timely arrival of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Ace Pilot Japanese import will sooth me over until the release of Daemon X Machina in 2019. Pretty sure I will sneak in a bit of F-Zero GX too.

Richard Atkinson, contributing writer

We’ve got actual sunshine and warm weather here in the UK for the next two days, therefore most of my weekend will be spent outdoors to get my yearly dose of Vitamin D. However, the Nintendo Switch will be my perfect companion (alongside my niece and nephew, of course) while I’m out catching the rays.

This weekend will primarily play host to a plethora of Nindie goodness; from diving back in with some couch co-op greatness with Pode (check out my review here!), Lanota (review coming very soon) and Pokémon Quest with a dollop of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker demo to spice things up a bit. Splatoon 2 is also on the menu - as is tradition – to finish things up on Sunday.

Dave Frear, retro reviewer

Fortnite is a game I kept meaning to try out, but I never got around to it until it turned up on Switch. To be honest I didn’t make much effort to find the time as I’d played that other big name Battle Royale game and it didn’t do much for me. Having now played Fortnite, however, I quite like. 

The best I’ve done so far in Solo is a fluky fourth and unless gyro controls are patched in, I don’t see me improving on that as my aim is slow and iffy without it. Outside of going it alone I’ve been having fun with the large group battles where (assuming I’m not on sniping duty) I tend to focus on building and healing. I’m enjoying the current Final Fight mode (five teams of 20) as that gets quite frantic towards the end, so I’ll be dipping into that whenever I get the chance.

Alan Lopez, contributing writer

A lot of people are shocked when they find out I was on my high school’s tennis team for three years. It’s that experience that gives me just the right level of expertise to explain some of the inconsistencies I’ve encountered so far in Mario Tennis Aces, released this weekend on the Nintendo Switch.

Firstly, the grass in the Donkey Kong jungle level is simply too tall, not at all regulation. Nobody can play on that, the ball wouldn’t even bounce. The pirate ship level is also right out - you cannot have a 20-foot mast obstructing the net area if you hope to play out any sort of rally. Finally, spoken from interpersonal experience, backflipping to celebrate your point is severely frowned upon by the game scorer and could impact close calls going forward. A direct plea to Nintendo: I’m available for rule interpretation if you need help for the sequel.

What are you playing this weekend? (332 votes)

  1. Fortnite14%
  2. Paladins - Founder's Pack3%
  3. ARMS3%
  4. Mario Tennis Aces16%
  5. Splatoon 218%
  6. Owlboy2%
  7. R.B.I. Baseball 18  0.3%
  8. F-Zero GX  0.9%
  9. Pode  0%
  10. Pokemon Quest4%
  11. Lanota  0%
  12. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker6%
  13. Something else! (Comment below)33%

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So that's our picks for the weekend, but what are yours? Feel free to drop a vote in the poll above and a comment below discussing your gaming exploits for the weekend...