The pandemic giveth and the pandemic taketh away.

Nintendo released their fiscal second quarter sales results at the close of business in Japan today, and a slow second quarter release-wise still resulted in major gains from the last non-pandemic year of 2019 - though YoY comparisons are still unfavourable compared to 2020. As well, Nintendo has made revisions in both directions for their projections.

Hey, maybe they can start selling it again for the holiday? Or permanently? Permanently is good.

Eight months after its discontinuation, Super Mario 3D All-Stars has received an update to include another controller for one of its contingent games.

The update is now available for download and adds support for the Nintendo Switch Online-member exclusive Nintendo 64 controller to Super Mario 64. A similar update was released about one year ago that added support for GameCube controllers (via the adapter) in Super Mario Sunshine.

There's a lot to unpack this week.

The next couple of weeks will be crazy, but this week is more of an odd duck. Up front, the most expensive game (in North America) is Cupid Parasite, which we would have had a review for by the end of the week... but we've been alerted to a major patch coming for the visual novel that fixes text on... Read more...

It's not on the webstore or anything like that yet.

After its delay last week we MAY have a new target date for the Advance Wars reboot.

Listings on the on-device eShops in both the United States and Canada have the remakes coming out on April 8, 2022. It was originally slated for release on December 3.

Nintendo has not officially confirmed the new date, though we have requested comment.

...really, haven't 95% of you rolled credits at this point?

If you weren't convinced by our 10/10 review of Metroid Dread, you can now try it out for yourself.

Calling it an "early Halloween treat", the demo for Dread is now live on the eShop in all regions. The amount of content in the demo is not known at this time, nor if there is any sort of save carryover.

Uh, kind of hard to grow a garden in October guys. At least in the Northern hemisphere.

The 20th anniversary of Pikmin's original sprouting will feature the launch of its first mobile title.

The Nintendo and Niantic mobile Pikmin game has been revealed as Pikmin Bloom, which will roll out worldwide in the coming days (beginning in Australia and Singapore). Players will start with... Read more...

"Hey, what's your favourite scary movie?" "50 turns of Mario Party. Absolutely frightening."

Nintendo's second first party release of this month, and the one that will inevitably be the better seller because there is no God and the cage isn't thirty feet... Mario Party Superstars is out this week. And yes, they DID include some of the original's stick-destroying "rotate the stick" games,... Read more...

Looks like Big Brain Academy is going alone

The holiday season has gotten just a bit lighter for Nintendo.

A Nintendo of America tweet has advised that Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp, originally slated for December 3, is now due "spring 2022". According to the notice, "a little more fine tuning" is required.

The WayForward-developed remakes were announced for Switch release outside Japan in June's Nintendo Direct.

Yep, there it is.

Untold number of crashed cars and other crimes are just a few weeks out.

Rockstar released a new trailer for the upcoming Switch release of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy (3, Vice City, San Andreas) and confirmed a dual release. The set will launch on the eShop on November 11, and a physical copy... Read more...

No that's not Arrakis, just some random desert planet.

A long lost Dune game for GBA may finally get an official release after 20 years as Elland: The Crystal Wars. Indie publisher The Retro Room Games has obtained the rights to the unreleased game which initially started development back in 2001. It has of course had all references to the Dune IP removed... Read more...

And no James, the videographer isn't dead. Just fainted.

After some complaints about a "video" released on Tuesday, a cleaned up version has been released.

Although it does not explain how a video recording device ended up several centuries in the past, the new footage removed all the artifacting and static of the initial video. The mysterious Pokemon... Read more...

No early access, but lots of potential late recruits.

As is de rigueur for Shin Megami Tensei games, there will be options for downloadable content - including a fight against an old friend.

Atlus revealed the contents of the DLC overnight, and listings have now appeared for a Digital Deluxe version of the game (US$84.99) that includes seven bits... Read more...

Brought to you by the same laws that created Probotector.

Due to a ban issued for one of the week's major ports several years ago, European and Australian eShops cannot purchase Dying Light: Platinum Edition.

The survival horror title was one of the last titles to be banned from sale in Germany when it launched on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in early... Read more...

Time for another scintillating round of "Who's That Pokemon".

A new video has dropped purporting to be lost footage of the Hisui region as in Pokemon Legends Arceus.

The two minute upload shows burst of "static", but also confirms the existence of Snorunt in the world (as it is in the Platinum version of the Sinnoh region) as well as an unknown Pokemon with white fur on its head, a red-tipped tail, and yellow eyes.

All good things must come to an end.

With people waiting for the Switch OLED, one of Nintendo's most impressive streaks finally came to an end in September according to the sales survey released by the NPD Group.

All data, unless otherwise noted, is based on dollar sales for the five week period of August 29 - October 2. Select third parties include digital sales in their reports, but Nintendo does not.

Are we going to have to haul this week before the Senate before it gets assassinated?

Unlike the last couple of weeks, we don't have a consensus GOTY here - sure, Dying Light is an old game but it's not really one that blew up in the higher consciousness the same way Tetris Effect or Disco Elysium did. Meanwhile, we'll have a review up shortly for The Caligula Effect 2 - which is good,... Read more...

It'd be most impressive if they had Transfer Park functionality on the N64 one.

The promised N64 and Genesis controllers can now be purchased from the Nintendo store.

US customers can obtain their N64 controller here or their Genesis controller here. Each controller is $49.99 US.

Although the Genesis controller is a 3-button model, the N64 controller will have built in rumble; foregoing the need for a Rumble Pak.

...this might be cliche, but now how much would you pay?

It's not just going to be WinBack and M.U.S.H.A. in the Expansion Pack for Nintendo Switch Online.

During the Animal Crossing: New Horizons presentation, it was announced that the Expansion Pack would grant access to the "Happy Home Paradise" DLC. This would be included along with the previously announced Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis libraries.

Brewster's not known for being fashionably late, is he?

The Animal Crossing Direct has revealed content both free and paid for Animal Crossing that will start with the version 2 update November 5. This will be the final major update for the game.

We'll be talking a little Metroid Dread and Switch OLED before we get rolling on our RetroActive.

"We'll do it live!" RetroActive 50: Little King's Story is upon us and we'll be doing an RFN Live Show to commemorate it! Join us October 14 at 9 PM Eastern! This is a link for the radio feed, but it isn't live yet. However, we'll also be recording in the RFN Discord - hopefully. I'm going to try to get that to work but expect nonsense!