Grumblevolcano

@RupeeClock Yes it is the largest, currently Prime 4 is in second at 31.6GB (Switch 1 version at 30.1GB) and Air Riders is in 3rd at 25GB.

Definitely getting it but not at launch, I want to monitor prices over the next month or so. Bananza's first physical price drop (outside of hardware bundle deals) happened in August so theoretically AoI would get a price drop around Black Friday if it follows similar trends.

The lack of Switch 2 ports from Xbox could be to do with Nintendo being stingy about devkits. We know that Bethesda and Activision has devkits because of Indiana Jones/Fallout 4 and THPS3+4 remake respectively so we'll probably see announcements for Starfield, DOOM The Dark Ages and a CoD game (whether an old or recent one) in the near future. But perhaps none of the other Xbox studios have devkits yet and that's why stuff like Halo/Gears/Forza have skipped Switch 2.

Continuing with the postgame of Legends Z-A, while the base game was very well paced the postgame feels rather grindy at the moment but I want to see if there's more story content present after completing the current main mission.

If I finish the postgame or get too bored with the grind, I'll move onto Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion.

Excited for this game and it's nice to see Nintendo finally marketing it. That said, with this and Air Riders I'll be waiting to see whether UK retailers rapidly drop the price soon after launch like they did with Bananza.

Bethesda announced that Fallout 4 is coming to Switch 2 in 2026.

Hopefully this turns out to be a good port.

Looking forward to the demo, the game's looking very promising from what's been showed so far.

A Pikmin 1+2 style release seemed most likely for Prime 2+3 but in any case hopefully it's not NSO. It's a huge shame that NSO already killed off any chance for F-Zero games having any sort of physical release on post-2001 hardware.

Looking forward to this Direct, hopefully there's a story mode and some sort of demo/beta announced.

I will say it's rather surprising how little Nintendo's promoting Age of Imprisonment, Prime 4 is still 1.5 months away so silence isn't particularly surprising but AoI is 2 weeks away.

Is it partially a result of the state of UK retail perhaps?

For example GAME was still alive back in January 2022 with the full range of discount options like reward/elite programs and the ability to trade-in games. Meanwhile nowadays GAME is pretty much dead with dedicated stores replaced by small areas of Sports Direct and all ways of saving money killed off.

Completed DK Bananza (not 100% yet but completed the postgame stuff) so I went on to the Switch 1 version of Legends Z-A.

I'm happy with how the Switch 1 version runs on Switch 2 and makes me very optimistic about how the Switch 1 version of Prime 4 will run.

I do have the Switch 1 physical preordered but I don't see myself playing it day 1 as I'm still working my way through DK Bananza.

If Shadows truly is releasing on Switch 2 in December, it gives me hope of some sort of Direct with 3rd party announcements happening soon (probably Partner Showcase considering Nintendo hasn't done a post-September general Direct since 2015) as all the Assassin's Creed Wii U and Switch games featured in Directs (mostly the initial announcement but sometimes a reminder it's releasing soon).

One thing to note about the Galaxy 1+2 bundle is that lots of people already have Galaxy 1 on Switch via 3D All Stars, there will be plenty of people who pick up Galaxy 2 standalone digital to go alongside 3D All Stars as it's cheaper.

The bundle is for those who missed out on 3D All Stars (they'd get 64 and some time in the future Sunshine via NSO Expansion Pack) or specifically want Galaxy 2 physical.

Returning to DK Bananza, it's a very good game so far. I'd still say my GotY is XCX Definitive Edition but Bananza has a good chance of reaching my top 3.

Continuing with Galaxy 2, it's nice to be able to revisit this game though it's shorter than I remember so I may also start Pac-Man World 2 this weekend.

With Konami having this big comeback with MGS and Silent Hill it would be really neat if MGS Master Collection volume 2 happened. MGS4 shouldn't be trapped on the PS3.

All focused in on Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, really fun game so far.

I really don't get why Nintendo didn't just do what Sony did with PS4/PS5. Game fully on the cart but you install the game to let 3rd parties access the faster speeds. Does the same job that Key Cards do but is a faster install than internet download and when the Switch 2 servers inevitably shut down in the future the games are still playable.

Back to Splatoon 3 for Big Run. I think this particular Big Run was the one I failed to get Bronze on last time so it'll be nice to have a full collection of Bronze or higher Big Run trophies.

Klonoa's a nice surprise, I liked the other games that came to Switch so I'll check this one out.

Interesting that this deconfirms a September GCN game. I figure from this that Luigi's Mansion is October for Halloween, Path of Radiance is November/December so it has a suitable distance from Fortune's Weave, Pokemon is February for the anniversary and Sunshine is March/April so it has a suitable distance from Galaxy 1+2.

I wish there was physical Galaxy 2 by itself considering I already have the Switch version of Galaxy 1 via 3D All Stars but I'll get the bundle so I can have a physical version of Galaxy 2 on Switch. UK retailers usually drop the price of Switch 1 games pre-launch like how DKC Returns HD, XCX Definitive Edition and Legends Z-A were all £43 while Nintendo's pricing was £50.

Didn't take long for Bubsy 3D to get really annoying on launch day, I can see why people call it such a bad game but still it was nice to be given the option to check out this bad game for the novelty factor kind of like how despite Virtual Boy's infamous reputation, Nintendo's giving people the opportunity to check out the game's library next year on Switch/Switch 2.

Prime 4 is too far away for me to start my Prime 2 and 3 playthroughs on Wii U now (will wait until November) so I'll be starting Shinobi Art of Vengeance.

Prime 4 release date and hopefully Prime 2+3 releasing beforehand.

Really excited for this Direct. An opportunity for Prime 4 news and in general it'll be interesting to see what the balance between Switch 1 and Switch 2 is.

More MK8 Deluxe. I want to check out Bubsy 3D when the Bubsy collection launches in a few days so not much point starting a new game.

I don't have one yet but from what I've seen I think 7/10 sounds reasonable. They have a solid lineup there but Key Cards and prices do deduct points.

I will say it's very interesting that Nintendo chose to focus very heavily on the short term as if it was the 9th year of Switch 1 rather than the usual new console approach of hyping up further into the future. Considering that 8 years later Prime 4 still doesn't have a release date, I think this is the right option.

This new info makes it sound like Nintendo themselves will move to Key Cards for 1st party releases once the "Switch 1 game turned into a Switch 2 game" territory has passed and we're into games that started development on Switch 2 territory. For example the next new 3D Zelda game.

@N8tiveT3ch Good find, must just be an error with the article then. As for Standard being missing for Switch 2, I think it's because it's not on the eshop yet (Standard seems to be the digital version of the game while Specialist is the base physical version).

@N8tiveT3ch It's definitely $70 on PC, PS5 and Series X|S so either the listed prices in the article are wrong or they're charging $10 extra for the Switch 2 version.

Focusing on the Sonic Racing CrossWorlds beta. It's looking promising from what I've played so far.

Either October 30th, October 31st (they broke the old release day trend to release LM3 on Halloween) or November 6th. Every Switch year except 2018 had a game in either the last week of October or the first week of November:

• 2017 - Super Mario Odyssey
• 2019 - Luigi's Mansion 3
• 2020 - Pikmin 3 Deluxe
• 2021 - Mario Party Superstars
• 2022 - Bayonetta 3
• 2023 - WarioWare Move It
• 2024 - Mario & Luigi Brothership

Leaning towards November 6th but October 30th would lineup exactly with the Pikmin cycle (in Japan the gap between Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Pikmin 4 is identical to the gap between Metroid Prime Remastered and October 30th 2025).

@IceClimbers Age of Imprisonment appeared in the July Partner Showcase so it could appear in another Partner Showcase. As for Rhythm Heaven Groove and Tomodachi Life Living the Dream, in normal circumstances the reveals we got in March would've been reveals in September so they could theoretically return as Nintendo Today release dates announcements similar to how Drag x Drive was handled and then the marketing cycle works out as if they were announced for the first time in September.

Would be nice for a general Direct but this rumoured timing specifically being with the SMB 40th anniversary (it would be the 13th in Japan) sounds more like an anniversary Direct than a general Direct. Maybe Nintendo's splitting it up again so like:

• Week beginning September 8th - SMB 40th anniversary Direct
• Week beginning September 15th - Partner Showcase
• Week beginning September 22nd - Prime 4 Direct
• October - Another Kirby Air Riders Direct

The Sonic Racing CrossWorlds news earlier on in the week made me decide to return to Sonic X Shadow Generations. Also may return to MK8 Deluxe.

I know that my focus next weekend will be the Sonic Racing CrossWorlds open network test so not starting a new single player game this weekend.

@Clammy Nintendo already has an October game, Legends Z-A (October 16th) so releasing Prime 4 in late October would be the same as releasing it in early November.

Looking forward to both, this was the best announcement of Opening Night Live. I wonder if Radical Highway turns up as one of the Pac-Man World 2 levels.

Good to see that the game is turning out well and I'm excited to find out more tomorrow at Gamescom Opening Night Live. Preordered it even though I don't have a Switch 2 yet as it's fully on the cart.

This is a nice surprise, didn't think we'd be getting more news on this game until September. Also makes me wonder if Nintendo's going to have Prime 4 appear at Opening Night Live considering it's the only 2025 game Nintendo's being silent about at this point.

Back to working on my backlog, this time The Plucky Squire. While I'm looking forward to getting Switch 2 in the near future, in some ways I'm thankful I don't have a Switch 2 yet considering there's a fair few fantastic games I've played over the past few months that may have gotten stuck in the backlog if I had a Switch 2.

There's a lot of focus on Unleashed here so hopefully a hint Unleashed remaster is the 2026 Sonic game. Unleashed really needs to be freed from its Xbox prison (Series X|S is the only modern hardware the game is playable on).

Switch 2 only came out 2 months ago, that's a very short amount of time compared to Wonder (the newest game on Nintendo Music) which came out nearly 2 years ago. What's really surprising to me is they haven't added the rest of the Splatoon 3 songs yet.

Continuing with Wario Land 4 and once I beat it I'll move on to Is This Seat Taken?, generally aiming for shorter games so I can adapt once the Prime 4 situation is clearer (release date, whether Prime 2 and 3 are coming to Switch).

I wish the general retail release of the Castlevania collections were worldwide.

It's interesting how there's now 3 consecutive weeks of presentations (week 1 Pokemon Presents, week 2 Partner Showcase, week 3 Indie World), excited to see what gets announced here nonetheless.

It'll be most interesting to see which demo they get, is it the intro demo people got to experience at the Switch 2 experience events back in April/May or is it a new demo where people get to explore Viewros.

Replaying Metroid Prime Remastered and maybe a bit of MK8 Deluxe. What I pick as my single player game after Prime Remastered will depend on when we get Prime 4 news.

Such a packed lineup for August/September on Switch 1:

• Gradius Origins (digital as there's no physical)
• Shinobi Art of Vengeance (digital as there's no Switch physical)
• Ninja Gaiden Ragebound
• Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
• Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac
• FF Tactics

Prime 4's probably September too.