FishyS

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Dynamite Headdy - Playing on Sega Genesis Classics collection but it's also on NSO Expansion Pack. This is one of the weirdest games I have ever played. Hard to even describe.
• Super Mario Odyssey - After finding the missing purple coins in the Sand Kingdom, finally playing the Wooded Kingdom.
• BOXBOY + BOXGIRL - Grabbed this at the current US Nintendo sale. No idea why I never played this game before; it's very cute.
• Blaster Master: Enemy Below (NSO GBC) - Blaster Master is fun, but I really wish this game had a map.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Just a bit of Endless as usual lately.

I checked out the demo. It seems well made but it had a bit too much of that repetitive addictive mobile-game-like feel for me (even though it's not on mobile). It's very pretty though.

The featured sales is a nice addition to this article.

I played the demo on Switch 2 a few days ago; looks beautiful and it's really fun.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. Some of my game time this week has been watching directs (Kirby looks great!) but I have also played a little of:

• Super Mario Odyssey - Got all the moons in Sand Kingdom, but missing several purple coins... not sure if I care about the coins enough to spend a zillion hours looking.
• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World (demo) - playing through the demo. Absolutely lovely game. Looking forward to playing it completely.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Sadly no mario maker Direct announcement. Playing some endless.
• Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 - I picked a random game from my collection to play for a bit and this was it.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - Just a couple puzzles this week.

The new 3D Kirby looks great and I bet we'll get a random spinoff or remaster of another Kirby as well. It should be a good Kirby year.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Super Mario Odyssey - Working in the Sand Kingdom, getting all the moons I can find. I'm not sure if I'll end up 100%ing the game, but I will for the early bits at least.
• Final Fantasy Resonance (demo) - Downloaded the demo but haven't started yet. The game looks fun though. I plan to play through the demo and decide if the game will go on my wishlist.
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (nso) - Continuing with my only-fish-companion playthrough. I may finish this weekend or I may not.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - My desperation for a mario maker 3 announcement is getting higher. I'm just playing some random endless levels.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - Picross is my puzzle game for the week.

Mario Maker 3 is my number 1 hope as it is all directs.

I haven't bought any of these, but I played the demo of Duskfade and really enjoyed it.

The list needs Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. That may legitimately be my favorite open world game on Switch.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Onimusha: Way of the Sword (demo) - Working through the demo. I'm not usually a huge fan of photo-realism but this game has a neat vibe. The combat is fun, although I suck at parrying consistently 😆
• Super Mario Odyssey - Randomly decided to start a new save file. Haven't actually played for a very long time. I don't have any specific goals in mind, but it's fun to be back in the game.
• Tetris Effect: Connected - Was in the mood for Tetris and I haven't played Tetris Effect for quite awhile.
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (nso) - Halfway through so I should play some more. It's a very cute game. I don't think I will 100% it though.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Just a few levels. It's getting near Direct season so I will be praying for a super mario maker 3 announcement yet again.

@Nintoz oooh. I messed up the 'how many games do you own' question because I was just counting all my games I have on Switch 2, which are mostly Switch 1 games but I don't usually think about that distinction.

In fact, Switch 2 doesn't let you sort your games by which ones are Switch 2, so I have no idea how many I have.

The survey gave me an 'out of range' error for the number of digital games I own.

I used to use this app a lot when I was traveling. Nice to have a larger screen than a phone to watch stuff.

I feel like some styles of art are being tainted by over-use by AI.

That said... that was a weird and not very good trailer, regardless of how it was made.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Lovish - I think I've played all the post-game levels and bosses now. I'm just wrapping up a few collectables. Very cute game. It's not 100% polished, but the creativity put it up to an 8/10 for me.
• Kirby's Dream Land 3 (nso) - My current NSO game. I just finished world 3. I am trying to play through the entire game with the fish companion and the fire power-up. There are a couple places where that is impossible, but I always immediately go back to firefish afterwards.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - I opened up a new room to decorate, so doing a little of that between puzzles.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - For a couple years I was playing Hello Kitty or Fantasy Life i enough that I always automatically got my weekly NSO platininum points for 'game supporting online'. Now that I don't play those I am back to playing mario maker once a week just to get my platinum points 😅
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - Just messing around in the post-game maps. The game makes me very sleepy so I tend to just go in and do like one task at a time.

tbh, I feel like it's largely kids/teens who most enjoy eviscerations, decapitations, swearing, etc. After you've grown out of the phase, you just want high quality enjoyable games.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Lovish - I rolled the credits and then went back to get 150 collectables to open bonus levels. I apparently need to get different special hidden collectables to play the last 2 (?) post-game levels, so I may work on those.
• BALL x PIT - I finally went back to try the latest free update. Of the two new characters, one is really neat - it lets you have 10 special balls all at once in exchange for no passives. This adds some interesting strategy and makes the older classes which don't have baby balls less useless.
• Super Mario Sunshine - The NSO release has me starting a fresh playthrough, although I'm actually playing on 3D all-stars. This game is... not as good as most Mario games, but it's still fun to revisit every once in awhile.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Mostly just playing some random endless.

@rjejr @-wc- @Spider-Kev I remember people complaining that the 3DS folders are not in fact real file directories/computer folders by the traditional definition, they were just visual groupings of shortcuts/icons. Which is 100% true - neither the 3DS or Switch versions of these things are true folders. The Switch ones are similar to the 3ds ones but with some nice added capabilities — they hold more games each and you can put one game in multiple groups which is extremely useful.

I think what most people dislike is not the arbitrary naming convention, but the fact that Switch decided to keep the default view uncluttered and instead put folders/groups under a different menu.

@Davestator Extremely different than Astalon, but very fun and ... none of the game play is unique individually but the way it was all put together is very creative and humorous. I don't want to put more spoilers than the early game ones I already did, but it gets more and more hilarious the deeper you get into the game. And the way it deals with collectables and adding new powers is quite creative and weirdly nonlinear for such a simple linear game. I think this is a game I will have to 100% just to see all the insanity, although I'm not super looking forward to doing the speed trials for the bosses.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Dunkadillo - Just finished the game. Another really fun game by the Dadish dev. The character is an armadillo who rolls into a ball and bounces to get past platforming challenges although can do a non-ball double jump so you have more control than most auto-bouncers.
• Tetris 99 - Played for the new Splatoon theme. I should have gotten rank 1 once but I completely sabatoged myself at the very end 😅
• Lovish - This game is fantastic in a hard to explain way. It's sort of your basic level-based one-room action-platformer with some upgrades you can buy to various things but there are weird jokes which range from stepping in poop to randomly having to do an entire vampire surviviors mini game to making bosses love you.
• Final Fantasy XIV - I started the free trial. The controls are extremely messy with pro controller but I am semi starting to understand them. I had a fun time with the character generator and have just been doing the intro quests. I'm not sure if I'll stick with the game, but it looks fantastic and the music is great.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - Just doing the occasional puzzle.

Yay. This is a pretty adorable theme.

I tried the demo of Denshattack and although I can understand the appeal, I didn't personally enjoy it.

The only July eShop game I bought was Wake up, Lia, a cute dark precision platformer where you play as a traumatized girl. There are screen-orientation shenanigans, but overall it's a pretty good game.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Dunkadillo - Silly cute little game. Auto-bouncers can be hard to do but this game does it pretty well. I'm on world 2.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - I hadn't played for awhile so I had a hankering. Just doing some endless.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - Doing some smaller size puzzles which is a nice break after finishing the big ones in LogiartGrimoire DLC.
• Wake Up, Lia! - Cute little precision platformer with an adorable dark story. I'm in a platforming mood this weekend. Partially because I don't have much game time so short levels are convenient.

Probably none of these for me. I'm a little interested in Fire Emblem, but not $80 worth of interested. In terms of major games, I may wait for Zelda in (presumably) November.

I've played 20 of these and another 10-ish are on my wishlist. I probably won't grab anymore right now though because I have too many games.

The fact that the vast majority of those Splatoon user metacritic scores are by people who have never posted a metacritic score before makes me ... skeptical. Not that it isn't a good game, but metacritic user scores are insanely unreliable. It doesn't need to be bots, but all you need is one big e.g. discord group working together to wildly veer the user score.

I trust Nintendo Life user scores somewhat more (currently 8.7/10); not exactly an unbiased source either, but at least the NL scores naturally include a variety of different site readers.

Is the free trial only for the online part or for the game itself? If there is a way to try the game for completely free, I will definitely try it.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Super Mario Bros. 3 (NSO) - Just finished a 100% run. Well... not quite 100% because I didn't get the anchor, but I played all the levels and mini games without using items besides the hammer to open paths. I was trying for no-damage but got damaged a few times starting in world 4. I restricted myself to only the raccoon power-up which made water levels and hammer bros a bit challenging. I hadn't played for a few years and enjoyed my time. I'm not a huge fan of most NES games, but this one has aged extremely well.
• Dunkadillo - A platformer where you are an armadillo who rolls into a ball and moves by bouncing. Each level ends with you finding a basketball hoop to bounce into.
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home - Back for some furniture and rodent themed Picross puzzles.
• Sea of Stars - Got the Switch 2 edition which looks quite nice. Just starting out.
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - Continuing to do just the occasional discovery when I'm in the mood.

I enjoyed this game and played a ton, but the last DLC wasn't super exciting. I'll probably try out the new update but I may not spend much time on it.

@solarwolf07 After new game+ is new game++. Then +++ and so on.

Regardless of this particular data snippet, we know from Nintendo's recent financial release that 46% of their game profits come from physical games.

Fun letters as always.

I really hope General Directs don't get phased out.

I saw a list of the top 50 most popular sports worldwide awhile ago and Pickleball did not make the cut. Of course Thumb Wrestling didn't either ... I feel like Squash would be a fun game to add to a Switch Sports title.

I basically never use mouse mode even when it is an option - nice concept in theory and it was fun to try it out in the early Switch 2 days, but it's just a little too awkward compared to normal controllers. Plus I am usually either using a Pro controller or playing handheld, neither of which work with mouse mode; I don't use detached joycons all that often except for with certain types of motion control games.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Picross LogiartGrimoire - I have one more 30 x 40 puzzle remaining in DLC 5 so I think I'm going to do that one and be finished. Perhaps I'll take another Picross break or maybe I'll move back to a different Picross game.
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - I finally 100%ed one chapter ( a middle one) 😅 But some chapters I've done very little. Not sure if I'll work on filling out another section or start a new one.
• Bubsy 4D - I've been playing this at the pace of one level a week 😅 I am trying to 100% collectables but the speed goals are actually quite hard and I'm not super good at the fast ball form of Bubsy so I'm not sure if I'll do the speed trials.
• Super Fowlst - This is a silly older game by the developer of the Dadish series which I grabbed on sale. You appear to be a chicken with very odd platforming/flying controls. I just started so I'm not sure if it's good, but this dev usually satisfies.
• Core Keeper - I've been playing a little but may give up on this game because I can't quite figure out the rhythm of what you're supposed to be doing. Also, the crafting controls aren't great on a controller.

@AlanShore Not sure why Nintendo would bother making a Pro model. Both OLED and Lite were ways to appeal more to the 50% of Switch owners who prefer handheld with better screen and/or better price and/or better battery. Switch 2 is powerful enough so a 'pro' isn't particularly needed and if Nintendo eventually wanted that I feel like they would just make a Switch 3 down the line.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - I've gotten my main lives to hero, crafted all the major crafting goals, gotten all the strangelings, opened all the shop levels, beat level 1000 of treasure grove... over 100 hours into the game and I may be done for now. I feel like I've finished all the goals which aren't pure grinding.
• Tetris 99 - Gotta play to get the new theme. I'm happy that Nintendo keeps having Tetris 99 events after all these years.
• Bubsy 4D - All I did was the intro last week so I'll be delving into level 1. I quite enjoy the platforming combinations the game has.
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - Just chugging along doing the occasional picture. The game makes me very sleepy so I have absolutely bite-sized play sessions.
• Picross LogiartGrimoire - Going to do one of the big puzzles in DLC 5.
• Core Keeper - Might delve into this more. I'm not quite sure what the goal is, but now that I'm finishing Fantasy Life i, I will have more time to try this one.

The hair and poofy leg coverings look great in the teaser art. I have every shantae game so I look forward to the new one.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - Getting my non-combat lives to master. I'm not sure if I will bother with my combat lives because (besides my main which was mercenary) none of them got leveled up 'naturally' as I played like all the other lives.
• Core Keeper - Cute pixel crafting/mining survival game where you are underground. I'm not quite sure what the goal is so far and the controls are a little jank with a controller, but it's chill and has a nice aesthetic.
• Bubsy 4D - I'm not a huge fan of the bubsy series but I was in the mood for some traditional 3D platforming and I like the devs which make this one.
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - I'll probably do one or two pages. At the current rate it will be months before I finish the game 😅 It's super cute but the combination of super chill and also a little chaotic is something I only want in small pieces.

I also caught up on demos this week and updated my wishlist ( currently 346 games long).

Happy holiday to the Americans here.

@-wc- The Switch 2 version is on sale for less than $30 right now and was briefly on sale for $18. I'm sure it will be on regular $15 or less sales soon enough.

I've played some good Switch 2 editions this year, though very few games which actually came out in 2026. I played Yoshi which was cute, but not stupendous. I'm guessing my GotY will be a game which hasn't come out yet.

I just bought Raiden IV x Mikado Remix a few days ago when I saw that it was both on sale and that they had fixed the issues. It had been on my wishlist but marked as incompatible for a year.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - Getting some more lives up to Master. And doing far too much crafting 😆 I need some more people up to max friendship also.
• Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare GBC (NSO) - Super jank survival horror game which is basically a point and click game with some very silly combat occasionally thrown in. They made it pseudo 3D by pasting together background segments in a way which makes it very hard to know what ways to can walk versus not. Kind of a hilariously bad game, but interesting to experience.
• Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists -A cute silly metroidvania. I just started playing so I haven't seen much yet.
• Leap Year - Bizarre platformer where you die if you fall from the height of your own max jump. So you always have to jump upwards or have something to bounce off of for every single jump. Quite an interesting mechanic.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Finishing up a super world I was playing. It's been fun since I haven't play much Mario lately.

I managed to get a cheap smaller card early on. I still have to redownload and archive things constantly which is a pain. I want a 1 TB card (I had one on Switch 1) but no way will I buy one until it is less than $100, preferably $50. Which might not happen anytime soon given computer component prices lately.

Ideally I would like a 2TB card; Switch 2 games are just too huge.

I'm less convinced 3DS games will be on NSO rather than ported one by one for near full price each, but I do hope DS ends up on NSO. It might be a reason for me to finally get expansion pass.

Lots of good letters this month.

As for the direct, I don't think the overall reaction was necessarily super negative; it just depends on what comment sections you lurk in. I wrote down 3 must-have games after the direct; the fact that only one of them was a Nintendo game was fewer than usual, but it was still a decent direct and I'll look forward to the next one.

As for how long I've taken to finish a game... there are definitely games I finished recently on NSO which I never finished as a young kid. So 20 years technically? 😆 Even on Switch there are a lot of games I take 5 years to finish just because I'm in no hurry and play them in little bits and pieces. Then again, there are also plenty of games I obsessively finish within a couple weeks of buying. Just depends on the game.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - After almost stopping the post game, I have now gotten more addicted to it 😅 I am going to work on leveling up some lives today.
• DK Challenge event (bananza) - I finished the retro challenges which were easy but quite fun. Now I'll try some of the bananza ones.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Someone on this site mentioned a bunch of levels in the forum so I decided to play them. A 2026 mario maker 3 probably missed its chance so I'll have to make do with smm2 for awhile.
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - This is a very laid back non-addictive game so I just play a bit when I feel like but I should get back to it.
• The New Denpa Men - I occasionally revisit a randomly chosen game from my library and this is what popped up. There are some new story levels since last time I played.

Bananza is my favorite Switch 2 exclusive so far although I am also enjoying a lot of third party games on Switch 2.

For controllers, Switch 2 Pro Controller is wonderful.

Also, am I the only one which was confused when the article said 'pads' rather than controllers?

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - I decided to do some Snoozeland, the roguelike mode. It's kind of challenging given the short time limit but also just super weird.
• Picross LogiartGrimoire - Finishing up the easier puzzles in DLC 5. I haven't been playing much lately so jumping into the super big puzzles may be a struggle 😅
• DK Challenge Event (nso) - Working on the various classic NSO challenges first. They're mostly just portions of levels; it's a little odd they aren't more remixed.
• Tetris: The Grand Master 4 - Absolute Eye - I can't resist Tetris so I snagged the new game. I'm trying all the different modes right now.
• Star Fox (demo) - I just downloaded the demo. I played the snes star fox recently so it will be interesting to compare to the Switch 2 game.

They didn't show much, but looks good. I'm excited.

Mina is fun. I'll probably get sektori eventually as well.

I'm glad Mario Kart World was not my first Switch 2 game, but my interest in it has been going up over time. I'd like to buy it eventually if I can ever find it 50% off.