Mario

Yet another week has flown by, this time full of Pokémon Direct revelations and Animal Crossing pre-order goodies, but it's finally time to sit down and chat about our weekend plans.

Members of Team NL have done just that below and we'd love for you to join in via our poll and comment sections, too. Enjoy!

Gavin Lane, staff writer

This weekend I hope to have another few runs at Dead Cells. I picked it up over the holidays and have spent a few stolen hours in the evenings steadily making progress. I surprised myself on one run when I found an amazing shield and totally changed my aggressive devil-may-care play-style, managing to thrash the Timekeeper (a boss who had previously destroyed me a couple of times) through parrying alone. I died on the next level, but still. Great game, that.

I also broke my rule of not rebuying unplayed Humble Bundle PC games in my Steam library and picked up Grim Fandango on sale. Everyone says it’s a classic, so on the backlog it goes. And I’d like to get my last few gym badges in Pokémon Sword. I’m still a long way from catching them all, but I’m enjoying the journey.

Ryan Craddock, staff writer

I'll probably be left with a saddening lack of spare time to play anything this weekend, but I do have a couple of things in mind if I get a spare minute or two. First up is Animal Crossing: New Leaf; with New Horizons on the... well, 'Horizon', I thought it was about time I gave the franchise the attention people suggest it deserves. I've had New Leaf sitting on my shelf for years but I've never properly given it enough time, so I thought I'd rectify that and see what all the fuss is about.

Secondly, that Pokémon Direct has made me miss Pokémon Sword and Shield and I suddenly want to dive straight back in and catch some more 'mon for my Pokédex. I think I was getting close to catching around three-quarters of them, so at least there isn't too long to go - for now!

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

This weekend, I will quite literally be going through my entire game catalog and playing every single thing I own - because I finally did it. I conquered my basement and built myself a home theater. I got an amazing gaming projector, and will be playing everything from my old GameCube games to Breath of the Wild to Super Mario Odyssey to Pokémon Shield - I’ll even probably play all of the old NES and SNES games on a giant screen with surround sound, because what the heck! If anyone has any suggestions of perfect games to play on the big screen - mainly on Switch - throw ‘em in the comments for me.

Ollie Reynolds, reviewer

Before the storm hits and we're inundated with games like Animal Crossing New Horizons and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX (what a name), I'm continuing to spend my days replaying some classics. On the Nintendo front, I've started Super Mario Odyssey again from scratch - I think I've spent enough time away from the game that everything feels more or less completely fresh!

Elsewhere, I'm replaying the original Resident Evil 3 ahead of the remake's launch, and I've also started going through the entire Halo franchise for the billionth time! Some folks say I have too much time on my hands, I just don't know what they're on about...

PJ O’Reilly, reviewer

This weekend I’ll be getting stuck properly into all the Labo kits I bought cheap on Black Friday. I built a couple over Xmas, just the easy ones, and it’s been a lot of fun so far but I definitely see a point, as the builds get more difficult, where I’ll need to be restrained from tearing up bits of cardboard and screaming my house down. It’s those little bags of string and extra bits, I can just tell there’s pain on the horizon.

I’ve also finally, just about managed to get to the end of Astral Chain, a beautiful thing which I’m gonna have to return to at some point for a fresh run because this playthrough has been a terribly fractured affair owing to time constraints. Have a good weekend everyone!

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

The quietude of January endures, providing me with plenty of opportunities to catch a breather and work on my epic backlog. You probably guessed it already: more DAEMON X MACHINA and Astral Chain sessions, along with further SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays (there is new DLC out!) progress and possibly a side serving of the brilliant River City Girls. Unsure how long it lasts, but I will be having some fun with the surprise Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX demo. It made me realize I miss Shiren The Wanderer...

My game of the week is the surprisingly hardcore Ultimate Racing 2D, bringing me back to the simpler days of Commodore Amiga 500 overhead racers with friends. I’m always happy to see this niche genre represented on the Switch and developers now have a new benchmark to beat.

Which games are you playing this weekend?

(You can select up to 3 answers)

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a vote in the poll above and a comment below with your gaming choices over the next few days...