Blathers Animal Crossing

Another busy week has been and gone, this time bringing a cheeky asset flip game on Switch, more Animal Crossing item duplication glitches, and the big Paper Mario Switch reveal, but now it's time to wind down with some weekend gaming.

Members of Team Nintendo Life have gathered together to discuss our weekend plans, and we'd love for you to join in via our poll and comment sections below. Enjoy!

Liam Doolan, news reporter

For the past few months, the only game I've really been playing on my Nintendo Switch is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nothing has really changed in that time - I'm still in debt, and I'm still in need of more Bells. As a result, I'll be spending most of my weekend picking and selling fruit to pay off at least something, so I can then take out another loan from the bank of Nook and do it all again next week.

When I'm not busy paying off loans, I might finally test out the last major update for Super Mario Maker 2. There's also a limited-time Animal Crossing event taking place in Tetris 99 this weekend, so I need to unlock that theme. That's all for me!

Ryan Craddock, news editor

My time with Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still winding down more and more, but I'll no doubt pop in each day for half an hour or so just to keep on top of the daily activities and check Nook's Cranny for any particular juicy goods.

The majority of my free time this week, however, has been spent playing Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on the good old Game Boy Advance. It's been sitting on my shelf since childhood, and booting it up revealed that ten-year-old me only managed to put about an hour in before moving on to something else. I've been enjoying my time with it - especially the humour - and will keep going over the weekend. Between this and the Paper Mario reveal this week, I'm in a very Mario mood.

PJ O’Reilly, reviewer

This weekend it’s back to the Elder Scrolls for me for some Elder Scrolls: Blades review action. I’ll be interested to see how far the game’s come since I first dipped into it when it initially released back on mobile devices, here’s hoping they’ve done away with at least some of the constant timers and adverts and other pay to play elements that put me right off it back then.

Elsewhere, I’m still thoroughly enjoying blasting lumps out of thugs in Huntdown, it really is the best old-school run n’ gun effort I’ve played in a long time, and I’ll also be pulling out the old 3DS and introducing my kids to Paper Mario to let them get a taste of why I’ve been so excited about the announcement of The Origami King this week. Hope you’re all staying safe and have a good weekend.

Zion Grassl, video producer

I’m going to do my absolute best to make sure the only game I play this weekend isn’t just Animal Crossing (but honestly, no guarantees.) I’m finally starting to get a bit more creative with my island and have some new areas I’m working to decorate and spruce up! I ended up making a trading post area that I like to call “The Stop and Swop” ala Banjo-Kazooie, except Isabelle said she’s not the biggest fan of it since it mostly consists of some unsavory items like my old Moldy Dress, Frugal Hat, etc.

I did start playing Final Fantasy VII on Switch a few weeks back for our video review and have been trying to pick it back up when I notice myself with a bit of free time. I played it way back in the day and made it to the very last “dungeon” but put it down for some reason and never picked it back up! I think some part of me didn’t want the game and its story to be over, so hopefully with this new playthrough I’ll see the journey out to the very end.

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

I've finally gotten into my groove in Animal Crossing, where I log in for about an hour each day and just complete general tasks. Of course, this has opened up room for me to begin playing other things again. I'll probably dig back into some of the games I was in the middle of before Animal Crossing Mania hit, like Luigi's Mansion 3.

I've also been playing a lot of Overcooked 2 with friends and family online during the quarantine. Some new games I've downloaded over the past few months and have yet to try out include Good Job!, Picross S4 and Little Town Hero, as well. However, there are some new events kicking off in Animal Crossing soon... so who knows if I'll actually ever get around to playing anything else!

Gavin Lane, features editor

I’m in the mood for some breezy co-op gaming this weekend. In our household we’ve been suffering from an Overcooked 2 addiction which has started to strain relationships. It’s a fantastic game, but we’ve bled it dry and those 4-star challenges are just too stressful. We’re in need of a fresh co-op experience and I’ve had my eye on Moving Out since it was first announced. I interviewed Ashley Ringrose from developer SMG Studio a little while ago (look out for that interview going up soon), and I’m eager to find out if I’ve got the makings of a great F.A.R.T. or not. *keeps straight face…*

Have a good one, everyone!

Gonçalo Lopes, contributing writer

I've just discovered something new and unexpected in Ring Fit Adventure - no spoilers - and Animal Crossing: New Horizons keeps finding new ways to keep me going back to the island. The eShop also saw yet another ridiculous amount of quality stuff this past week: Gravity Rider Zero, Pong Quest, The Elder Scrolls: Blades, Ion Fury and the superb Jet Lancer will all find their way into this weekend’s rotation.

My game of the week is a masterpiece by the name of Huntdown. Amazing to have another GOTY candidate mere days after the Streets of Rage 4 release. Now if you will excuse me, John Sawyer’s trigger finger is itching again. Time to kill, kill and then kill some more pixelated street scum.

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...