Captain Toad Treasure Tracker

With news of an upcoming Build-A-Bear Animal Crossing collection and all the MAR10 Day celebrations, it's been another busy week in the world of Nintendo. Let's relax with some chatter about our gaming plans, shall we?

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!

Austin Voigt, contributing writer

This weekend, I'll be digging further into Super Mario 3D World (which has been an online multiplayer joy), as well as Bowser's Fury. Random tangent from my time with this game: I suddenly realized how much I enjoyed the Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker-type levels in 3D World, and decided to go back and play that, too! What a gem... I'm clearly not on the cutting edge of anything, but it's fine. I've also recently purchased my ticket for the PICROSS train and have been entirely engrossed in that - it's an obsession.

Damien McFerran, editorial director

Given that we've just posted our SNES RPG guide, I've been investing a bit of time into one of the many games of my youth, Arcana. It's one of those titles I return to every few years, mainly because I'm a nostalgic fool but also because it's got lovely visuals and stunning music. It's also one of those games which never, ever seems to get spoken about, despite being coded by HAL and marking Kirby's first appearance in a video game. I live in hope that Nintendo will bring it to Nintendo Switch Online because my battered original is on its last legs – I'm amazed the internal battery still works!

Ollie Reynolds, reviewer

Hey folks! Hope you're all well. I've had a horrifically busy week, so I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend with a few games! I've decided to start Pokémon Blue from scratch after following Zion's journey through the game on Twitter. It's crazy how little the game holds your hand in comparison to later titles – I completely forgot!

I'm still working my way through The Sinking City, and the overall jank is slowing down my progress at the moment. Other than that, I may boot up Animal Crossing: New Horizons and just see what's been going on recently (there will no doubt be a few fresh weeds that'll need disposing of!).

Kate Gray, staff writer

This week, I've been playing more Harvest Moon: One World, and watching my partner start the Ace Attorney case that revolves around Matt Engarde - it's one of my favourites, so I'm excited to see him go through all the twists.

I'm in Winter of Year One of One World, and somehow it feels like I've been playing for eight years. Some games you can get to 200 hours without even realising it; some games you can spend 10 hours in and it feels too long. Sigh. I just wanted a nice farming game...

Harvest Moon: One World is really bumming me out, so I've also been checking out Loop Hero on PC - it's a sort of passive dungeon-building game that's quite good, and it's done in a retro style that's alternately quite appealing and really, really hard to read. Also, Valheim. Did you know I've been playing Valheim? VALHEIM.

Gavin Lane, features editor

I find that my desire to get lost in a meaty RPG tends to increase as my opportunity to do just that evaporates entirely. I’m jonesing to start Octopath Traveler (which I bought ages ago) or Paper Mario: The Origami King (which I bought on sale yesterday) or return to Witcher 3 (which I bought at launch and played for a handful of hours before getting distracted). I also recently took delivery of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for GameCube – the only Zelda game I’ve never played to completion – and I’m itching to connect a GBA and fire it up.

However, a recent arrival in the Lane household means my gaming time has been reduced to scattered periods between the approximate hours of 11pm and 5am, as I bounce around the lounge with a small human attached to my torso. In fact, my capacity to engage with complex systems or parse reams of text is undeniably diminished in these small hours, so I’ve found myself returning to Picross S and ploughing through the remaining 50% of the puzzles I never finished. Picross is the perfect activity to zone out with – to occupy and focus the mind without requiring incredibly control dexterity or the volume turned up.

So, while I dream of adventure in colourful fantasy kingdoms, I’ll most likely be using my sleep-deprived noodle to carve out a 15x15 picture of an apple or a socket wrench. Vidyagames.

Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer

Still making my way towards complete Verytech unlocks in Gamecube’s Robotech: Battlecry. Might give the Switch game a try now that I discovered the original Game Boy Advance cheats also work on this new version. Further Switch musings: Space Otter Charlie is an amazing surprise, Cyanide & Happiness – Freakpocalypse turns the series into a charming point & click adventure, Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection remains super hard and the updated 1.07 Wrestling Empire adds, among other features, ladders, barbed wire and the Hexagon ring to the best wrestling game ever made! Won’t somebody think of the children?

My game of the week is Everhood. Dismiss this brilliant RPG rhythm game as a mere Undertale clone at your own peril!

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