Banjo Amiibo Nintendo Life
Image: Nintendo Life

It's the end of another busy week! We've crossed into a new season and territories across the globe are losing hours all over the place. In the last seven days we've found out Reggie is stepping down from GameStop's board of directors, we've seen old games continuing to sell for silly money, and — most importantly — we've witnessed the arrival of Banjo-Kazooie in amiibo form. Seriously, the last year has been a real piece of work, but gazing upon this colourful lump of moulded plastic... well, it feels like everything's going to be all right in the end.

Enough reverie — it's time to discuss our weekend gaming plans. 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!

Ollie Reynolds, reviewer

Hello folks! Hope everyone's doing well. I don't know about you, but I was absolutely crushed when I read the reviews for the new Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon games. I'm in the market for a new farming sim, and while SoS sounds okay-ish, it just doesn't sound like either game comes close to the greatness of Stardew Valley. So anyway, yeah, it's back to Stardew for me this weekend!

Elsewhere, I'm still making my way through Super Mario 64 and may move onto Sunshine when I'm done. Super Mario Sunshine is like comfort food to me, I genuinely can't get enough of it. Which reminds me, you really don't have long if you want to get some of that 3D All Stars action!

Ryan Craddock, news editor

I’m not sure why – I think I’ll go ahead and blame Zion for talking about his playthrough of it on Twitter – but I’ve once again ignored my horrible backlog to play the game I’ve probably played more than any other throughout my life: Pokémon Blue.

I’m having a bit of fun with it this time around, giving my party nicknames for the first time ever and purposely choosing some permanent team members that I’ve never played with before, and it’s amazing how well I remember the exact layout and location of pretty much everything Kanto has to offer. I can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday, but I can tell you exactly which ladder you need to take in Mt. Moon to get to the next floor, or where you can pick up a Bellsprout should you want one.

People say the original Pokémon games are a bit of chore to play through 25 years later, but for whatever reason (nostalgia, probably) I could play this again and again and again.

Kate Gray, staff writer

My Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons reviews are done, so I am finally FREE to play whatever I want... and I've actually just been playing more Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town. I know! It's a 6/10 game! But there's still a lot to like about it, and I am enjoying it despite its flaws. Plus, Marvelous included the DLC in the press copy, which is unusual — and it looks like the DLC adds quite a lot to the game. Wait, I'm going to have to review the DLC, aren't I...

Other than that, it's the usual Valheim and Ace Attorney combo for me. Last night I built a wolf pen and I'm going to make the wolves love me. I pondered getting into Monster Hunter Rise, but sadly, it's just not my jam — and since I haven't heard anything about Poogie being in this one, is there really any reason to play???

PJ O'Reilly, reviewer

Hello. This weekend, alongside every other Switch owner on planet *checks notes* Earth, I’ll be getting absolutely blasted into Monster Hunter Rise. I’m something of a newcomer to the series, with World being the first to really dig its claws into my game brain, but I’m still properly giddy with excitement to get to grips with all of the new stuff here, zipping about on wirebugs, galloping around on my Palamute and, of course, battering the life out of a spectacular array of wondrously epic beasties.

Beyond that, I’ll also be squeezing time in to continue making my way through Tales from the Borderlands for our upcoming review, making sure I login to NBA 2K21 for my daily rewards (I may be slightly addicted) and jumping into the Amnesia: Collection for the very first time after grabbing it for a criminally low price from the eShop earlier in the week. Have a good time whatever you’re doing or playing over the next few days and stay safe out there!

Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer

A weekend spent among vinyl records due to the arrival of ActRaiser and Haven soundtracks along with The Bitmap Brothers Odyssey (Amiga fans, represent!). Despite being surrounded by a ton of both new and retro games games, I will very likely be spending most of my weekend in or around Wrestling Empire. I am producing a very special tribute project in memory of a wonderful guy. Also, I need to give these new amiibo a go. I am certain most of my colleagues are head over heels (ZX Spectrum fans, represent!) about Banjo & Kazooie, but I can’t but help smiling for having the Legendary Lone Wolf sitting on my work desk. “Are you OK!?”

Game of the week is Monster Hunter Rise. This entry received a ton of upgrades that make this by far the best, slickest entry on Nintendo hardware ever. I just need to find proper mates for some decent hunts… otherwise, Felynes and Palamutes for life.


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