Here we go again!

As expected heading into Tokyo Game Show next week, Nintendo is getting a Direct ready.

The likely-final general Nintendo Direct of the year will air tomorrow at 10a.m. EDT / 7a.m. PDT / 1500 CEST / 2300 JST. It will run for 40 minutes.

According to the announcement, the focus will be on Switch software "releasing this winter".

The forthcoming release will collect all nine Picross e games that are now inaccessible after the closure of the 3DS eShop.

The next game in the Picross S series will be Picross S+, a collection of all nine Picross e games that were originally released on the 3DS eShop.

Due out in 2024, Picross S+ will contain the content from Picross e for an estimated price of $4.99 (and equivalent pricing). The other eight releases will be available as DLC for an estimated price of $4.99 each. This will be the first time Picross e9 will be available outside of Japan.

And we didn't even get the Fire Emblem crossover via Elimine.

Mario Kart Tour is getting the caution flag.

In an announcement today of upcoming content, it was announced that the tour beginning on October 4 (the "Battle Tour") will be the final tour to add new racers, courses, or cart parts. The tour following (a Halloween-themed tour launching on the 18th) will be the first to run as a repeat.

Sounds like a big week for fans of silent towns and IBM.

Things we missed last week: NBA 2K24 (now with Kobe Bryant hagiography), Zing Zing ZIp in the Archives, and a game that surprisingly is not about The Colossus of Boggo Road who famously botched a spinkick and fell flat on his arse.

Last week nearly doubled between the first and last of the week... Read more...

Real "guy in your work group who doesn't do a thing" energy coming out of the ESA right now.

The organizers of the PAX shows and this past weekend's Nintendo Live have apparently had enough of the ESA when it comes to a revival of the moribund E3 show.

As first reported by subsidiary company GamesIndustry.biz, ReedPop and the ESA have terminated an agreement whereby the convention specialists... Read more...

If only it was posted on a site worth a damn.

The video regarding Charles Martinet's new role as a "Mario Ambassador" has been posted.

The video posted on Twitter (the site now known as X for some asinine reason) is available below:

Here’s a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet regarding the change of Mario’s voice actor, announced on 8/21. pic.twitter.com/4mOpD2Cx3a

Two of those imports being Nintendo games.

The retro libraries for the basic tier of Nintendo Switch Online have added four titles, though it may be more accurate to refer to them as Famicom and Super Famicom updates.

I think I'd rather have this than Starcraft 64 on NSO, but I'm alone there.

For the first time ever, one of the most popular real time strategy games is coming to a Nintendo console - or any console.

A remastered version of 2006's seminal WWII strategy game Company of Heroes has been announced for Switch by developer Feral Interactive; it will launch this autumn as the Company of Heroes Collection as it will include the base game as well as its expansions "Opposing Fronts" and "Tales of Valor".

Let's hope Bandai Namco have XSEED on line 2.

In honor of the source material's 20th anniversary, a pair of cult classics from Japan are getting a Switch "replay".

GameCenter CX: Arino no Chōsenjō 1+2 Replay has been announced by publisher Bandai Namco in a new trailer; although no release date was given, it will be appearing at the Tokyo... Read more...

One is familiar, the other ones not so much.

Nintendo of America has announced a trio of Switch bundles for the return of Detective Pikachu.

The bundle of a standard Switch that includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a three month NSO (standard, individual) membership traditionally offered around Black Friday, will instead launch on October 6.... Read more...

In honor of a television debut 51 years ago today: Help control the lawyer population, have your game show hosts spayed and neutered.

Things we missed last week: Digital Eclipse's The Making Of: Karateka on Tuesday, 30XX on Friday, and Archives title Cadash on Thursday.

Last week ended up in the 50s for release (aside from Japan), so this week is of course on the lighter side. Sadly, we're probably getting Festivus NEXT week... Read more...

Including some possible online play

This weekend's Nintendo Live show in Seattle has shown more gameplay from Super Mario Bros. Wonder following this week's Direct.

The gameplay showed both single and multiplayer gameplay - including two and four player local-cop and some online methods being shown as part of the stage. The roughly 20 minute video can be found below:

But only one tangible player goes on screen.

For the first time outside Super Mario Maker 2, it will be possible to have online play in a 2D Mario game.

Today's Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct confirmed the addition of "online ghosts" to the game, which can be used both in a cooperative and competitive fashion. The ghosts can be used to revive... Read more...

It looks Wonderful

During today's Nintendo Direct, a new Switch variant was shown off. The new OLED model features a red mario theme including some images of Mario and coins throughout the system and dock. The Mario Red Edition Switch OLED is planned to launch on October 6, two weeks before the launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

We recommend microdosing before this one.

A Direct injection of Mario Wonder information will be hitting in two days.

Nintendo have announced that a 15 minute Direct video will be released on August 31st at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT / 1600 CET providing new information on the October 20 release. The announcement was made on the company's Twitter (now known as X for some petulant reason).

A delayed 900, so delayed it could be called Metroid Prime 4.

2023 appears to be the year of the long-delayed indie game finally coming out, and a game thought lost from 2019 is finally coming.

Skater XL, originally announced for Switch release in the August 2019 Indie World show for a "2020" release, will finally release on Switch December 5. It was previously released on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in late 2018.

In Memoriam: Windham Rotunda ("Bray Wyatt") 1987 - 2023

Things we missed last week: Namco's early shooter Bosconian was the Archives release of the week.

Apparently last week was light due to Gamescom, so we're certainly making it up in volume this week; North America is over 40 already. The biggest looking game of the week doesn't have the biggest... Read more...

And the count goes to two. Or one.

Pokemon Stadium 2 isn't the only addition to the NSO Expansion Pack's N64 library this month.

A trailer has released confirming the next addition will be Excitebike 64; Nintendo of America quoted August 30 as the launch date, which may result in an actual release of late in the evening on the 29th for North America.

So now the products of the eShop's enshittification will probably crash more often too.

One of the more notorious digital rights management solutions on PCs is reportedly now officially available for developers to use on Switch.

Originally announced as working on Switch roughly a year ago, the Denuvo system is now available on the Nintendo Development Portal as a middleware according... Read more...

Tower defense check, platformers check, side-scrolling strategy check, card RPG check... yep, that was the next step.

The SteamWorld series is taking aim at yet another genre before the year is out.

SteamWorld Build, which adapts the steampunk/cowboy hybrid aesthetic to a city builder, has revealed a launch date of December 1 as part of Gamescom. The trailer is below:

Elements of earlier games in the series - specifically hiring bots to mine materials and setting up towers to defend against monsters - will appear in a modified form in Build.