Zelda Links Awakening

Another busy week has flown by with new reports of an upcoming Switch console revision and that surprise Nintendo Direct Mini, but now it's time to take a breather and chat about our weekend gaming plans.

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

Gavin Lane, features editor

This weekend I shall be steering clear of the Switch eShop sales and putting some time into the excellent Star Wars Episode I: Racer. Elsewhere, I’ll endeavour to complete Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs’ Big Break on Game Boy – a game I’ve started a handful of times this week but haven’t been able to finish thanks to real life butting its nose in. Man, playing a great Konami game really makes the fact the company doesn’t make video games anymore a drag.

Ah, at least we’ve got the classics. If I get time, I might squeeze in some Gradius on the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection and I also downloaded A Short Hike last night and hope to devour that in one sitting. That it’s true to its title and isn't a 20-hour slog is a genuine boon for me, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Liam Doolan, news reporter

The Switch game I'll be spending most of my time with this weekend is probably Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Remastered. I know it's not the most popular spin-off nowadays, but back when it first came out on the GameCube I was blown away by the multiplayer. As difficult as it was to get together a group of friends that all had Game Boy Advance and the special GCN-GBA link cables - if you did manage to pull it off, it offered hours of fun. Hopefully, the new one can provide me with just as much enjoyment, despite the exclusion of local play.

Apart from this, I'm planning to revisit Jump Force Deluxe. I did play this one a little on another platform last year but never returned, so I'm hoping the Switch version of it can hold my attention this time around. One other thing I've been up to recently that I'll be continuing this weekend are my time trials in Sonic Mania Plus. Yes, I've become addicted to speed runs in Sonic - I'm even watching the best ones on YouTube to try and perfect my own attempts. Gotta go fast!

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

I feel like a broken record, but this weekend I'm really going to attack my backlog. I have so many games that I've started and never finished - or finished the main storyline and never completed the post-game or DLC portions. These include Luigi's Mansion 3, Pokémon Shield, Ring Fit Adventure, Zelda: Link's Awakening, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Super Mario Odyssey... honestly, pretty much every game out there. I believe I even still have a few Korok seeds to find in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

And, like most weekends, I'm sure my plans will fail and I'll just mess around in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or something dumb and make zero progress. Stay tuned for next week, when I have the exact same plans!

Ryan Craddock, news editor

I'm finally nearing the end of Paper Mario: The Origami King (I think!) and will no doubt be trying to finish the game off over the next few days. As I mentioned last week, I've been really enjoying my time with it so far and despite what other people might say, I think the battle system is good fun.

Elsewhere, after watching the rather enjoyable High Score on Netflix, I've been really in the mood for some old classics. Sadly, for me, this always results in me eyeing up old consoles on eBay (I really should stop this), but I did bring the NES Classic console downstairs last night to play some original Super Mario Bros. and Excitebike. Maybe next I'll jump into something I've never played before? Have a good one!

What games are you playing this weekend?

(You may select up to 5 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...