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Games

Valve no longer permits games with “mature themes” to release in early access

by admin September 15, 2025

Valve reportedly no longer permits games with “mature themes” to be released in early access.

As detailed by Dammitbird and reported by GamesMarkt, adult game Heavy Hearts failed Valve’s review last month “because [Valve is] unable to support the Early Access model of development for a game with mature themes.” The developer was invited to resubmit the game for approval when it was “ready to launch without Early Access.”

Though Valve did not expand on why games with mature themes have been quietly removed from the Early Access process — and it remains unclear what, precisely, is meant by “mature themes” — it’s thought this is just the latest in a long line of changes from digital storefronts like Steam and itch.io following pressure by its payment processors and conservative activitists to moderate adult content on their sites.

“Due to current events, I panicked and contacted my publisher to help me get on Steam Early Access,” the developer told GamesMarkt. “The general rule is that your game should be about 65% done before doing EA. Well, we are about 70% done so the time was right anyway. But now, all of a sudden and without a policy announcement, the rules have changed and now I can’t join Steam EA.

“Heavy Hearts is still available on itch, but you’ll never be able to search it, because it is de-indexed.

“It’s hard to promote your game on platforms like X because they deboost any mention of Patreon or other socials. Since Patreon used to be the king of de-listing kinky adult games, I never put much stock in it. Now it’s basically all I have, and I still have the risk of getting deplatformed from it.”

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Valve for clarification and will update as/when we receive a response.

Itch.io “deindexed” all adult NSFW content from its browse and search pages back in July after an open letter from conservative campaign group Collective Shout called for a stop to “payment processors profiting from rape, incest and child abuse games on Steam,” targeting the CEOs of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and Japan Credit Bureau (JCB).

For more on the situation, read our feature, what’s going on with Steam and itch.io’s crackdown on adult content.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya believes Japanese publishers are “more understanding toward creators,” as layoffs continue to rock the games industry

by admin September 15, 2025

Japanese publishers are “more understanding toward creators,” said Hideki Kamiya, which partly explains why there have been fewer layoffs in the Japanese games industry.

Speaking to VGC, the Bayonetta and Devil May Cry creator discussed the current state of the industry and the difference between eastern and western studios.

“What it feels like when working with Japanese publishers is that the development culture feels closer to mind, and they tend to be more understanding toward creators,” said Kamiya, who’s worked with multiple publishers on both sides of the globe.

Okami sequel – Project Teaser TrailerWatch on YouTube

“I think of game development as a kind of invention,” he continued, using the likes of Bayonetta’s Witch Time and Okami’s Celestial Brush as examples. “My goal is always to build in a unique mechanic that only that game can have. On the Japanese side, my impression is that they see you’re trying to make a new invention. They understand the struggle of trying to give birth to something new, and they watch over the process with patience.”

By comparison, western publishers prefer the “sense of safety following an established format”.

“That’s where I see there’s a difference with publishers,” said Kamiya. “For foreign companies, if you’re trying to invent something new, because the shape of it isn’t clear yet, there tends to be pressure, like ‘show us something that’s taken shape more’. And if you look at the games themselves, like how first-person shooters were the popular thing for a while, I get the impression that they feel a sense of safety following an established format.”

Kamiya used Scalebound as an example – the Xbox One exclusive was a joint project between PlatinumGames and Microsoft but was ultimately cancelled. Here, the team was building a system to control both a human protagonist and a dragon simultaneously. “But there was no clear reference or format for us to follow for a game like that,” said Kamiya. “And I think that’s why it was easy for some to have doubts.”

And while Kamiya doesn’t believe Scalebound would’ve been published had it had a Japanese publisher, he did admit “it would’ve been different.”

“Japanese companies tend to be more open to new challenges, and I think the conversations would have been more positive, like, ‘Okay, so how should we approach this together?’,” said Kamiya. “For me personally, overseas publishers seem to have a much stronger desire to see a finished product as quickly as possible. If it had been a Japanese publisher, I feel they might have given us more leeway.”

Speaking on his desire to protect his new studio from layoffs, Kamiya said: “We really have a deep commitment to keep the company going for [our staff], who we’re grateful to. Of course, I understand there are circumstances that force large companies to make layoffs, but for us, that’s a route that we don’t want to go down. We want to take care of our staff.”

Kamiya has recently founded a new studio, Clovers, which is developing a sequel to Okami with Capcom. Back in March he joked about resurrecting Scalebound.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Adult games hit once more, as Valve seemingly denies Early Access to games with mature content

by admin September 15, 2025

Valve appears to have quietly updated its Steam Early Access policy to no longer accept games with mature themes.

The decision comes in the wake of pressure from payment processors against adult content on digital storefronts like Steam and itch.io.

Dammitbird, developer of the adult game Heavy Hearts, applied for Steam Early Access but failed review “because we’re unable to support the Early Access model of development for a game with mature themes”, according to a notice from Valve they shared on social media.

“Due to current events, I panicked and contacted my publisher to help me get on Steam Early Access,” Dammitbird told GamesMarkt. “The general rule is that your game should be about 65 percent done before doing EA. Well, we are about 70 percent done so the time was right anyway. But now, all of a sudden and without a policy announcement, the rules have changed and now I can’t join Steam EA”.”

Valve updated its vague guidelines back in July around what sort of content was allowed on Steam.

“We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks,” a Valve spokesperson told Eurogamer. “As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store, because loss of payment methods would prevent customers from being able to purchase other titles and game content on Steam.”

Now, it seems, this has been extended to include Early Access games. However, it remains unclear exactly what constitutes adult content.

Heavy Hearts, for instance, includes pornographic content, so it’s assumed this isn’t accepted in Steam Early Access.

Valve’s denial to Dammitbird | Image credit: Dammitbird

But where does Valve draw the line? Baldur’s Gate 3, for instance, includes sexual content and is listed on Steam as a mature game that’s age restricted. Would Larian’s game – celebrated for its gradual development through Steam Early Access – be allowed under these new rules?

Eurogamer has contacted Valve for clarification on what games are eligible for Steam Early Access.

Pressure from payment processors isn’t just impacting pornogrpahic content on steam and itch. Eurogamer recently spoke to queer developers who’ve been caught up in the recent rule changes after itch.io’s blanket de-indexing of adult content.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Governor Points To Games And Memes In Radicalization Of Charlie Kirk Shooter

by admin September 15, 2025

The suspect in the Charlie Kirk shooting apparently likes video games. This makes him indistinguishable from over a billion other people across the planet, but in the eyes of some pundits and politicians, it’s evidence of the corrupting influence of our current online culture. Asked about the radicalization of the person allegedly responsible for the assassination, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently blamed “a lot of gaming going on” and “meme-ification” on places like Reddit.

Cox pointed to the inscriptions on bullets recovered from near the crime scene which have since gone viral. They include, among other things, a famous stratagem input for Helldivers 2 and a reference to the Italian anti-fascist anthem “Bella Ciao,” which some may know from singer Becky G’s 2021 remix but others might be more familiar with from the WWII strategy game Hearts of Iron IV (or, more specifically, its By Blood Alone DLC). He noted that he had no idea what any of these things meant. For him, up, right, down, down, down and possible furry memes are all part of the same incomprehensible and potentially dangerous cocktail of social media accelerationism.

Utah Gov. Cox: Kirk’s Killer Radicalized By Video Games, “Reddit Culture,” And “Meme-ification” Of Society

“Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on. Friends confirmed there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet.” pic.twitter.com/9PFntfMEpP

— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) September 14, 2025

“Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep,” Cox said on Meet the Press yesterday when asked about the radicalization of suspected gunman Tyler Robinson. “You saw that on the casings, I didn’t have any idea what many of those inscriptions even meant, but certainly the meme-ification that is happening in our society today.”

As people search for meaning behind why Robinson allegedly went to Utah Valley University on September 10 to shoot the right-wing podcaster during a speaking event, they’re left rifling through generic pastimes and background noise for clues. A former high school classmates told CNN that the 22-year-old was “very, very big into gaming” and that he and friends “would spend their lunches playing the card games and all that kind of stuff.”

Meanwhile places like Discord, where people meet to play games together ranging from Fortnite to Pokémon, are being cast as internet meth labs where people cook their brains on edge-lord humor and GIFs. Take this ponderous logic to its ultimately boomer conclusion and you get people like Geraldo Rivera trying to defrost half-remembered moral panics from decades ago.

pic.twitter.com/nwZR4StZjD

— Zach Grimes (@GrimisS) September 14, 2025

“Whether Tyler Robinson faces a firing squad in Utah for the murder of Charlie Kirk, my guess is the accused killer will probably have been motivated more by Halo and similar fantasy role-play than by substantive political discord,” he posted on X over the weekend. “The game features Grunts vs Elites. I’m guessing nobody wants to be an elite.” Grok, is this true???

There is an epidemic of school shootings in this country. The increasing rate at which political violence is foregrounded in our democracy is alarming. So, too, is the way open bigotry is not just permitted in national debates but cheered on through platforms that profit off of fueling outrage. It would be not only nice for people to be able to talk about these issues with the level of seriousness they require, but indeed it feels increasingly urgent.

The internet is rife with concerning undercurrents of irony-pilled nihilism, cultural atomization, and hopelessness. They don’t call them brain worms for nothing. The popularity of Discord, Helldivers 2, and Halo are not the problem, but talking about them as if they are is certainly a symptom of the underlying causes.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Forget Nintendo, My Arcade Atari Gamestation Go With 200+ Retro Video Games Including Pac-Man Is Now Up for Preorder on Amazon

by admin September 15, 2025

My Arcade has produced a number of miniature retro arcade cabinets supporting officially-licensed games from developers like Capcom and Sega. But now, they’ve just launched an Atari gaming handheld, the Gamestation Go, that just looks beautiful. Pre-orders have opened up earlier this week. You can head on over to Amazon to reserve yours at a price of $180.

See at Amazon

200+ Video Games

The library is impressively stacked. Over 200 video games from yester-year, spanning the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari 7800 along with Atari Arcade as well as Jaleco and PIKO platforms. Play titles like Breakout, PAC-MAN, Balls of Steel, Missile Command, Centipede, and Asteroids. They all come pre-loaded, no download necessary. It does state is has built-in Wi-Fi for easy updates, but it’s unclear if that could mean more games added at some point in the future.

Design-wise the Atari Gamestation Go looks similar to a Nintendo Switch at a glance, with controller inputs along the side of a big 7-inch display. Also, like a Nintendo Switch, you can play its games on your TV. No dock required. Just a simple HDMI cable will allow you to put these classic titles on the big screen. You’ll probably want one with some decent length though as you’ll still be using the Atari handheld as the controller. It’s battery life will grant you about four to five hours of playtime on a single charge.

The original Atari consoles were well before we established the quintessential layout and design of modern video game controllers. My Arcade’s Atari handheld looks backward to the weird oddities of these old controllers, implementing multiple options like a trak-ball and numeric keypad. You can play these Atari titles authentically to these quirky inputs you just don’t see any more.

There are also all the modern conveniences like an analog stick, D-pad, bumpers and classic A-B-X-Y gamepad buttons (Notably in Xbox’s layout with the A button at the bottom). The various buttons, sticks, and other inputs are all illuminated with SmartGlow technology to both see the inputs in the dark and, more importantly, look cool.

The price point or $180 is a little rough. That’s more than half the cost of a Nintendo Switch for a console that just plays games from the 80s that are pretty easy to get your hands on for next to nothing elsewhere. This seems like a collector novelty more than anything, but definitely a cool thing to pick up if you want to escape skill trees and battle passes for awhile.

The Atari Gamestation Go is available to pre-order at Amazon and is set to release October 31 of this year.

See at Amazon

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

There’s an old MST3K-style video series about a bonkers collection of Flash games I keep going back to, so I invite you to join me down the rabbit hole

by admin September 14, 2025

Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic. Remix by Destructoid

“The psychological assessment test, you moron.”

Published: Sep 14, 2025 02:59 pm

Do you remember Adobe Flash? Or does it make me old, even asking the question? Well, in the pre-Unity, pre-Steam, pre-indie era of online entertainment, this humble software platform was the primary source of browser-based gaming fun, serving as the precursor to the vibrant solo dev efforts of today. Creators of crappy (and occasionally awesome) Flash games in the early aughties crawled so we could run.

The vomit-green Skittles of gaming

I am aware this already opened a can of Pandora’s worms – excuse the mixed metaphor, my writing is fueled by an excessive dosage of caffeine today – when it comes to millennial nostalgia, and you can bet your bottom dollar that we will eventually revisit this graveyard of gaming history from the perspective of our favorite pastimes, too.

On this occasion, I’d like to direct your attention to a secondary form of experiencing Flash game non-classics: by watching someone else play them, of course. Or, rather, watching the OG legends of the early Let’s Play era—slowbeef and Diabetus of Retsupurae fame, an MST3K-style comedy riff show that tackled terrible games and terrible playthroughs of games in equal measure alongside a whole bunch of other things, which was a decade-long YouTube experiment spanning from February 2008 to March 2018. It’s a time capsule in many ways, and one well worth checking out in detail if you enjoy old-school snarky web content.

For today, they will serve as the best possible tour guides into the strangest Canadian I have ever heard of: Michael Gibson, aka ZapDramatic, who created a series of interactive story games from Newgrounds that aim to help you navigate the labyrinth of disturbed people’s psyches.

They look like this:

Cosmic horror. Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic

And they behave like this:

A terrifying amalgamation of scary and silly. Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic

Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The product of an incomprehensible mind

Every few years, I find myself drawn back to the Retsupurae crew’s playthrough of Michael Gibson’s intellectual output, like a hapless character in a Lovecraft story stumbling back to a long-buried copy of a skin-bound Necronomicon. It all starts out with a healthy dose of WTF and gets more nonsensical from there, played entirely straight and taken wholly seriously by Mr. ZapDramatic all along.

We progress from standalone scenarios to a longform multi-game series called Ambition that begins with a husband strapping a few dozen sticks of dynamite to his torso in a bid to reclaim his kids—this is episode one—followed by encounters with a hitchhiker, infidelity issues, psychiatric evaluations, a murder, a police investigation, conspiracies, marriage counseling (no, I didn’t get the order wrong), a trial, a ghost, a terrorist, I can’t take it anymore—it’s calling again—help—

There’s so much more, made even more amusing by the whiplash-inducing tonal shifts from scene to scene and series to series. While playing through the games would no doubt be like pulling teeth, having appropriately snarky tour guides for this car crash, and an excellent longplayer in the form of PinstripeHourglass, makes for a legendary bit of classic gaming YouTube content. If you’ve got a few hours that you’d like to spend getting repeatedly baffled, I can’t think of a better way for you to do so.

There’s an inevitable point in composing fiction where the content begins to bend. Either under the weight of its conflicts with reality, or the pressure points created by all the elements you previously established, characters and events in a longer story inevitably collapse if they are haphazardly piled on top of each other without rhyme or reason.

But sometimes, an incredibly bad writer can find a way past the singularity and the event horizon, and keep going further to an impossible other side, where it’s fine that nothing makes sense anymore because you are completely disarmed by their oblivious confidence, and you can’t wait to see what is the next bit of nonsense they have managed to come up with. Truly, the only thing I can compare it to is Tiger King. Except this is about a series of video games, so it is a much better fit for us.

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The Stop Killing Games movement is nearing an official meeting with EU lawmakers

by admin September 14, 2025

The Stop Killing Games campaign is continuing to gain momentum after hitting more than a million signatures in July. After a July 31st deadline, the movement secured around 1.45 million signatures, which the organizers are currently in the process of verifying. The initiative aims to enact legislation that preserves access to video games, even when developers decide to end support, as seen with Ubisoft when it delisted The Crew and revoked access to players who already purchased the game. There were some early concerns about the potential for falsely-submitted signatures, but the latest update from organizers said that early reports show around 97 percent of the signatures are valid.

According to the European Commission’s website, EU authorities have three months to verify the signatures once they are submitted. After that, the organizers said they will personally deliver the petition to the European Commission. With initial estimates clearing the threshold of one million verified signatures, the following steps involve getting meetings with both the European Commission and the European Parliament.

From the date of the initiative’s submission, the European Union will get six months to decide what to do regarding the Stop Killing Games movement. There is the possibility of the governing bodies not taking any action at all, but the organizers said they are “preparing to ensure our initiative cannot be ignored.” To prepare for the meetings, the organizers said they will be reaching out to members of Parliament and the Commission, while also trying to counter any misinformation or industry lobbying. For now, the campaign will post more frequent updates on its Discord community and social media channels.

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Crypto Games Keep Shutting Down. This $500K Fund Aims to Help Players Recover

by admin September 14, 2025

In brief

The Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund has been set up to offer players of shuttered crypto games assets for Splinterlands.
A total of $500,000 worth of tokens and in-game assets are available, spread out over seven years.
The Splinterlands team hopes to welcome additional contributors to offer up game assets to affected players.

Blockchain games are shutting down in droves so far this year, as hype and funding fade and crypto investors turn their attention elsewhere. But one long-running crypto game hopes to draw some of those players affected by shutdowns by offering free NFT assets for affected users.

Crypto trading card game Splinterlands is inviting the players of failed blockchain games to apply to its newly formed recovery fund, in which $500,000 worth of crypto tokens and in-game assets can be unlocked over the next seven years.

The project told Decrypt that it is currently in talks with other projects based on the Hive blockchain to allocate assets to the fund—and invites the broader industry to join in to save crypto gaming by giving burned users a bridge to new games.

The Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund is already expanding. If you were impacted by one of these games and want to start a path to recovery in Splinterlands, submit a claim and we’d love to welcome you to the family! Link below: pic.twitter.com/jvAnq4JdoT

— SPSDAO (@TheSPSDAO) August 27, 2025

Currently, only the players of the defunct crypto titles Pirate Nation, Tokyo Beast, and Walking Dead: Empires can access the Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund. Affected players must create a Splinterlands account, purchase a $10 item (which provides in-game credits of the same value), and submit their wallet address containing items from eligible games—which they get to keep.

Then they can start gradually unlocking assets over the next seven years from the $500,000 fund. The assets are released as long as the player remains active on Splinterlands, which is measured by a series of monthly challenges—such as playing five battles.

“I welcome any of our competitors who would want to be a part of this to come and join. Why would they want to? Because they want to see the space grow,” Dave McCoy, Chief Operating Officer at Splinterlands, told Decrypt. “We are just the first, but hopefully we have many other people join us.”

An epidemic of crypto games shutting down has struck the industry this year, with countless notable projects closing shop. That includes Deadrop, Ember Sword, Nyan Heroes, Realms of Alurya, Symbiogenesis, Raini: The Lords of Light, and MetalCore—just to name a few.

While all of these games have cited slightly different reasons behind their crashouts, one thing they all have in common is that they leave behind a player base with no game to play. And many of those players sunk cash into supporting the project, and are left with tokenized assets that no longer have utility.

“I’ve been in hundreds of communities over the years. […] When a project gets rugged, it’s a horrible feeling. Especially when you have high hopes for it,” Blaze, Splinterlands’ pseudonymous sales and marketing lead, told Decrypt. “We just put our foot down and said: Hey, enough is enough. Somebody has got to step up here and help these people who are getting crippled.”

The Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, that votes on which games will be eligible for the fund. Each supported game has a specific portion of the fund that is allocated to it, although Splinterlands did not confirm the exact division per game.

In the first year, 2 million SPS tokens worth over $16,000—plus 5,000 Rebellion packs—are allocated to the fund. This scales up to 10 million SPS (currently about $82,000) and 25,000 packs by the seventh year. Rewards are then divided among the number of players that were active, meaning if only one person is active within a specific pot, then they will get everything, McCoy said.

“The design is for seven years, because we’ve been around for seven years,” McCoy explained. “So the point we’re trying to make is we’re going to be around seven more years, as well.”

Splinterlands is a strategic trading card game with NFT cards minted and tradeable on the Hive blockchain. It originally launched in 2018 as Steem Monsters—based on the Steem crypto social network—but was rebranded to Splinterlands in 2019 and has been steadily building ever since.

The game’s SPS governance token first debuted in July 2021 and quickly reached its peak of $1.07, according to CoinGecko. The token is now down 99%, however, valued at $0.008.

McCoy told Decrypt through the game’s lifespan, it has battled its way through “everything” that a crypto game can face. He explained that “it’s not easy to manage,” and suggested that other games haven’t survived so long because of unsustainable game models—with Blaze pointing to Pirate Nation’s $150,000 per month expenses.

Unfortunately, to McCoy, the wave of crypto game shutdowns is a necessary purge of the industry. But he hopes that the Crypto Gaming Recovery Fund is the first step to building the industry back up, potentially with more contributors alongside.

“Again, this isn’t about Splinterlands. This is about the whole industry,” McCoy told Decrypt. “If [any game] wants to be part of it, if they want to contribute, we would love to have them.”

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Today in video games – 12th September

by admin September 14, 2025

How much do you know about the Itch/Steam adult game crackdown?

Image credit: Lorenzo Redaelli/Eyeguys/Santa Ragione/Eurogamer

I’m sure you’ve heard that it’s going on but how much do you know about the Itch.io and Steam payment processor-related crackdown on adult games? What even is an adult game? It suggests one thing but can include many things.

Matt investigated the collateral damage on queer-themed adult games yesterday and received some incredibly powerful quotes in response. At its heart, it’s a story about censoring and controlling art, and if you whittle away what’s allowed and what’s not, where then will you find the edges sharp enough to pierce and make a point?

“We are sick and tired of how games are viewed as vile and derogatory by people who don’t understand them,” says Bobbi Augustine Sand of developer Transcenders Media. “We want games to be taken seriously as a medium. Games that include sex as a topic or content are no different from other media doing the same.”

“People make art about traumatizing events, taboos between adults, and even violence, and these are paid for every day by people who go to the movies or buy novels. Video games and interactive fiction have the same potential to transform lives for the better,” adds Queer Bundle organiser Caroline Delbert.

Lorenzo Redaelli of Mediterranea Inferno fame concludes: “Art is the most precious resource we have as humanity, and that’s something that concerns everyone… For years, indie authors have been working hard creating and fighting against the market to dignify the art of video games, and that also means producing video games for adults, where a video game is not a toy. Let us be adults.”

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

12th September video game roundup: Nintendo mixes Switch 2 upgrades and new games in latest Direct

by admin September 13, 2025

Update: The day is done. The Direct is done, and it’s given us plenty to think about. Have a lovely weekend.

It’s Nintendo Direct time. At 2pm UK time (9am ET, 6am PT, 3pm CEST), Nintendo will give us an hour-long look at what it’s been cooking up.

We’ve been promised updates and releases for both Switch consoles, old and new, and the pressing question for this Direct broadcast is will it feature Mario? Remember, it’s the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. this weekend, so now would be a great time to unveil something new. But what?

The Mario Galaxy team was behind Donkey Kong Bananza, so perhaps it’s a follow up to the 2D Mario Wonder from 2023. Or perhaps it’s something else altogether. Besides Mario, we’re hoping for a release date for Metroid Prime 4. And a lovely basket of surprises besides.

Tom and I will be delivering the blow-by-blow report, and after the show ends, we’ll continue the day’s liveblogging here.

Watch on YouTube

Our live coverage of this event has finished.

Coverage
Comments

12:40 pm
UTC

It’s Nintendo time!

Here we are with a full-fat showcase on the way. What are you hoping to see?

Robert Purchese

12:48 pm
UTC

chesterBox says: Afternoon!
What I’m hoping to see is not realistically possible but…new Zelda only for Switch 2 would be extremely cool. (i know, i know it’s many years away).

Aside from that bunch of dedicated Switch 2 titles, new Mario Odyssey?

Don’t limit those dreams, Chester! I’d take an exclusive new Zelda too.

Robert Purchese

12:51 pm
UTC

Creeping Death says: A Prime 4 release date is a pretty safe bet, I think. My money is on November.

Completely out of the box, I’d love to see a new Fatal Frame or some re-release of 1 – 3 announced.

Honestly, I just want to see some games for the rest of the year that I actually want to buy.

Fatal Frame! That’s a great shout.

Robert Purchese

12:52 pm
UTC

2much says: My number one desire is for a new Fire Emblem announcement, ideally by the same team as Three Houses. I’m not expecting us to see a new Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, or 3D Zelda, but obviously those would be nice. I’d like a new 3D Mario game but my suspicion is that we’ll be seeing a new 2D Mario game. What I really want is to see something really out there that’s really high effort and shows to me that Nintendo are excited about the Switch 2. MKW and DKB were great but I want to see something whose development didn’t start on the Switch.

I’d take a new Fire Emblem!

Robert Purchese

12:52 pm
UTC

SBandy says: New Star Fox, New Wave Race, New F-Zero, Eternal Darkness anything.

N64 remaster collection from Nightdive Studios.

Ability to turn off the godawful borders on the online Nintendo Classic games.

DIDDY.KONG.RACING.

I wish patch notes read like: “Ability to turn off the godawful borders on the online Nintendo Classic games.”

Robert Purchese

12:53 pm
UTC

Afternoon everyone. Morning, if you’re in the US. The resident Nintendo hater has logged on! I say that because I’ve been called it in the past. It’s not true. I simply didn’t enjoy Disaster: Day of Crisis on the Wii, so someone sent me a death threat.

Happy Nintendo Direct everyone!

Tom Orry

12:54 pm
UTC

Incidentally, there sort-of is a new Star Fox in development from one of the people who made the original. It’s called Wild Blue.

Watch on YouTube

Robert Purchese

12:55 pm
UTC

mcmahonman says: I’m hoping for a re-release/sequel of Super Mario Bros 35(40 in this case.) The original was incredibly good fun and I’m sure there is more you can do with that idea.

Goodness me I must have missed dozens of those Mario games. I don’t remember us getting to 35!

Dad jokes are a given gratis here, by the way.

Robert Purchese

12:56 pm
UTC

I love Mario Galaxy 2. As much as Mario 64 was “my” Mario game as a kid, Galaxy 2 is incredible.

Tom Orry

12:56 pm
UTC

About Doubt says: Silksong release date!

Haha – well played!

Robert Purchese

12:57 pm
UTC

About Doubt says: Silksong release date!

What if they un-release it! Would be a big shock announcement as the “final thing”.

Tom Orry

12:59 pm
UTC

One minute to go…

Tick tick tick. We’re getting there. Buckle up!

Robert Purchese

12:59 pm
UTC

WithLove&Squalor says: BLOODBORNE 2 WHEN

Preach! Preach!

Robert Purchese

13:00 pm
UTC

Started spontaneously whistling a Galaxy 2 tune. Anyone guess what it is?

Tom Orry

13:00 pm
UTC

And we’re off!

Here we go. The show starts. Some jaunty shapes act all jauntily on screen. They are Nintendo shapes, a special breed. They work together like ants to make a Nintendo Direct logo. What poetic coverage!

Mario starts us! We see sketches from various Mario games…

Robert Purchese

13:02 pm
UTC

There’s Shigeru Miyamoto. Apparently he used to smoke like a chimney. He’s talking about the 40th anniversary tomorrow.

He’s talking about how Mario games have been supported by evolutions in technology. Is Nintendo making a VR headset as well?

From now until next September, tickets to the Nintendo Museum design show will be free, he says. You just need a plane ticket to Japan first.

Robert Purchese

13:03 pm
UTC

Nintendo opened a theme park in America, too, he’s telling us. And now he’s jumped back to Japan to tell us about a marathon in Kyoto. You can print a special Nintendo bib for the race apparently. But again, you’ll need to actually get there.

Right. Enough of that. Coming next spring…

Robert Purchese

13:03 pm
UTC

Nintendo announces Super Mario Galaxy film coming April 2026

This must be a look at the new Super Mario Bros. film!

Robert Purchese

13:04 pm
UTC

Mario’s asleep by a tree in a lush green field. Then the camera flies through a verdant land.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie!

Nintendo is working with Illumination on the movie. It’s coming in April 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:06 pm
UTC

Why does it feel like this guy is talking to young children?

Tom Orry

13:07 pm
UTC

We’re hearing from Illumination person, um, something or other, who’s talking very slowly to the camera.

Chris Pratt is Mario again. Anya Taylor-Joy is Peach. Charlie Day is Luigi. Jack Black is Bowser. Keegan-Michael Key is Toad. And Kevn Michael Richards is Kamek.

Robert Purchese

13:08 pm
UTC

Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 double-pack for Switch 2 announced

A Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 double-pack is coming to Switch 2. They don’t look to have been changed very much. I wonder if we’ll hear more about technical improvements, if there are any.

They’re coming 2nd October.

I imagine they’ll cost a pretty penny.

Robert Purchese

13:10 pm
UTC

Koizumi-san is here now to tell us more about the two Galaxy games. He’s recapping the concept. You can read Rosalina’s book in both games, he’s telling us. And it’s going to be available as a real-life product.

Oh and that’s it – more details to come.

Robert Purchese

13:11 pm
UTC

Tom Orry

13:13 pm
UTC

Now Nintendo is going to introduce some other Mario games coming to Switch 2.

Mario Tennis Fever. There are new defensive manouevres in it and Fever rackets, which are like super-charged tennis rackets. You can freeze a court with an ice racket. There’s a mini-mushroom racket, a shadow racket. There are 30 Fever rackets each with their own abilities.

“A talking flower provides riveting commentary in Tournament mode.” The trailer narrator really just said that.

Robert Purchese

13:14 pm
UTC

Mario Tennis Fever launches February 2026

And it’s got an Adventure mode where you can play as Mario babies, which is a weird sentence to write. Mario Tenns Fever launches 12th February 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:14 pm
UTC

I think from now on I’m going to say “and” like “Annnnnnnd” after hearing this Tennis man say it. Might make it my whole identity.

Tom Orry

13:15 pm
UTC

Super Mario Bros Wonder Switch 2 Edition announced

Super Mario Bros Wonder now. But it’s just a Switch 2 edition, sigh.

It’s got an attached meet-up in Bellabel Park mode, which looks like it comes with some more multiplayer party-game modes.

Robert Purchese

13:16 pm
UTC

2much says: We’re gonna see so many Switch 1 games resold to use as Switch 2 editions aren’t we? This is gonna be the thing that makes me mad during every Direct, isn’t it?

It’s got that feel to it!

Robert Purchese

13:16 pm
UTC

So yes, Bellabel park is all about packing various versions of multiplayer content. As to the other new stuff in Super Mario Bros. Wonder Switch 2 Edition, we’ll have to wait and see.

The game is out in spring 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:17 pm
UTC

Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t understand why these Switch 2 add-ons for Switch games are only for Switch 2. Nothing here seems like it wouldn’t be fine on the OG Switch, which still has a big audience.

Tom Orry

13:18 pm
UTC

Nintendo is making an actual Talking Flower toy

You know that talking flower Nintendo has been talking about during this broadcast? They’re making an actual toy of it. It looks like a minuature gramaphone. It’s coming out in the spring.

It’s Alarmo all over again isn’t it.

Robert Purchese

13:19 pm
UTC

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book looks lovely

We’re onto a Yoshi game now, which seems to involve Yoshi reading a flower-themed book at the moment. Yoshi then teleports into the book to explore, and then eats the flower and plops it out as an egg to find out more.

As you adventure through the book, it’ll fill out, just like books do in the real world.

It’s very cute looking, whatever this game is – papery, slightly slower frames per second to look stop animated.

“A page-turning adventure awaits.”

It’s Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. Spring 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:20 pm
UTC

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book looks brilliant.

Tom Orry

13:20 pm
UTC

Rogueywon says: We’re certainly all-in on the talking flower here.

I like that they haven’t even bothered to think up a name for it. It’s just “talking flower.

Haha – quite!

Robert Purchese

13:21 pm
UTC

We’re getting an update on games coming to Switch now. This is a side-scrolling roguelike called, um, Cryptoka. Crypto-something or other. I’m good at this aren’t I? There’s co-op. It’s not called Crypto-something at all!

It’s called Storm Lancers and it’s out today.

Robert Purchese

13:22 pm
UTC

I’m Australian so I can definitively say that this is exactly what being in Australia is like.

Tom Orry

13:22 pm
UTC

A charming Australian-themed survival sim now, which has Animal Crossing vibes x Minecraft. Dinkum, it’s called, which is very Australian. It’s coming 6th November. A demo is out later today.

Robert Purchese

13:23 pm
UTC

Another co-op game here, a third-person action game but also a puzzle game, based around shooting coloured-bullets at coloured sections of enemies. There’s a party mode for more players too.

Popucom. Coming this winter.

Robert Purchese

13:24 pm
UTC

I’m not the only one who thought that name was a bit… rude, right?

Robert Purchese

13:26 pm
UTC

The voices of the Miis are real right? I’m not hallucinating?

Tom Orry

13:26 pm
UTC

New Tomodachi Life brings Mii avatars back but has horrid AI robo voices

A Mii-using island adventure now. Oh god AI voices. Then they live on an Animal Crossing-like island somewhere.

It’s a bit Simsy. You pick up other characters to make them talk to each other. They’ve got a garbled language, too.

Oh, you can tickle them? That’s weird.

It’s Tomocachi Life: Living the Dream, coming next spring

Robert Purchese

13:27 pm
UTC

Digital Eclipse’s Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection is coming to Switch. It is excellent. It’s coming 30th November.

Robert Purchese

13:28 pm
UTC

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Integrade coming to Switch 2

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to Switch 2 in 22nd January 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:29 pm
UTC

Rogueywon says: Ok, it’s official: InZoi is no longer the creepiest Sims-clone around.

I think we’ll all be checking under the bed for creepy-voiced Miis before going to sleep tonight.

Tom Orry

13:30 pm
UTC

It’s Hades 2!

A glitzy cinematic trailer for Hades 2 to announce that…

(Please launch today…)

Oh they’re padding the announcement out!

Robert Purchese

13:31 pm
UTC

Hades 2 is a Switch 1/2 console exclusive and launches 25th September

We’re getting an overview of Hades 2. Cut to the good stuff, Nintendo!

Hades 2 is a console-exclusive on Switch 2 and launches 25 September.

It’s also getting a 120 FPS mode while played in TV mode, apparently.

Robert Purchese

13:33 pm
UTC

Rogueywon says: I have a transatlantic flight on September 26th. I think Supergiant just sorted out my entertainment for that.

Perfect!

Robert Purchese

13:33 pm
UTC

Nintendo copying Ubisoft’s underrated Starlink with these Kirby amiibo.

Tom Orry

13:35 pm
UTC

Zelda Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment launches 6th November

This is the Zelda musou game Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment now, in which you play as Zelda.

This one’s got split-screen co-op!

It launches 6th November.

Robert Purchese

13:35 pm
UTC

Carl Sheen says: “Hades 2 is a Switch 2 console exclusive”

Also on Switch 1

D’oh – thanks!

Robert Purchese

13:37 pm
UTC

Why does the guy in red in Dragon Quest 7 have the most annoying face I’ve ever seen?

Tom Orry

13:37 pm
UTC

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined in February

I am glossing over this perfectly lovely Dragon Quest CGI now. What a moustache that character has!

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined is coming 5th February. We’re seeing some footage of it and it looks greatly visually improved.

Robert Purchese

13:39 pm
UTC

New Virtual Boy device announced for Switch 1/2

Nintendo has made a new Virtual Boy device compatible with Switch 1/2! It’s coming 17th February and there are a host of games being released for it.

There’s going to be a cardboard model of the accessory released as well, presumably to play the games without shelling out a considerable amount of money for some plastic tat.

Robert Purchese

13:39 pm
UTC

OMG, they are selling a Virtual Boy accessory to play the games on switch. Pure Nintendo.

Thankfully there’s also a cardboard version!

Tom Orry

13:40 pm
UTC

FTJT says: They’re not going to sell a single one of those. Not one.

It’ll sell out in five seconds!

Tom Orry

13:40 pm
UTC

Fatal Frame 2 remake coming early next year

Your Fatal Frame dream has come true! Sort of. There’s a remake coming for Fatal Frame: Crimson Butterly. We see some footage of it and it looks nicely improved.

It’s coming early next year.

Robert Purchese

13:40 pm
UTC

Did one of the Fatal Frame characters just start singing part of the Gaga song from Top Gun Maverick?

Tom Orry

13:41 pm
UTC

Who’s buying one of those Virtual Boys then?

Robert Purchese

13:42 pm
UTC

Powerwash Simulator coming to Switch 2 this autumn

Ooh. There’s a Switch 2 version of Stardew Valley coming with four-player co-op. And there’s a Switch 2 version of Human Fall Flat. “You can enjoy a new way to wobble.”

Powerwash Simulator is coming to Switch 2 in the Autumn. It’s got “enhanced soap”. It’s got local split-screen co-op.

Robert Purchese

13:45 pm
UTC

Samus gets a motorbike!

We’re getting nearer the end now so we’re moving onto some bigger things. This looks like Samus. This must be Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Samus is on a Tron-like motorbike. She’s blasting across sand dunes as electric guitars blare in the background.

She’s power sliding into enemies to defeat them, which is cool.

Now she’s off the bike and blasting.

Robert Purchese

13:45 pm
UTC

Did someone accidentally drop their uni project into this Direct? That Metroid bike stuff looks… well.. bad?

Tom Orry

13:46 pm
UTC

Metroid Prime 4 is out this year – 4th December

The trailer is still blaring electric guitars. Oh and that was it? Release date!

4th December 2025!

Robert Purchese

13:47 pm
UTC

Tom Orry

13:48 pm
UTC

Paid DK Bananza DLC out today – and a demo for the main game

We’re seeing some new Donkey Kong Bananza content here. It’s all about collecting emeralds. Oh nice and we get random power-ups as we play. it’s a roguelike mode, it looks like. You see how far you can get in each run and unlock various treats as you go.

DK Island and Emerald Rush paid DLC launches today. A demo of the main game will be out today too.

Robert Purchese

13:52 pm
UTC

Pokémon Pokopia is sort of Pokémoncraft and it’s coming in 2026

10 minutes to go. Here’s a Pokéball. Here’s Ditto. Here’s a new Pokémon game?

It’s a Minecraft-like world where we play as Ditto, it seems. Ditto learns a move from Bulbasaur to grow plants. Then Squirtle teaches Ditto how to water the plants. As the island folourishes, so do the Pokémon.

We can build. We can build homes for the Pokémon. And we can have gardens. The Pokémon all mill around and hang out with you.

Pokémoncraft?

Robert Purchese

13:52 pm
UTC

Everyone: We like casual farming sims.

Nintendo: Ditto

Tom Orry

13:52 pm
UTC

Rogueywon says: It looks more Fantasy Life than Minecraft. The crafting looks pretty limited.

It does!

Robert Purchese

13:53 pm
UTC

Pokémon Legends Z-A now, which is coming to Switch 2 on 16th Oct with three new mega evolutions.

Robert Purchese

13:54 pm
UTC

We’re still in Pokémon land. Pokémon Legelds Z-A: Mega Dimension DLC is coming to the game too. It’s got two new mega evolutions for Raichu.

Robert Purchese

13:56 pm
UTC

Daganronpa 2 is making a comeback

Danganronpa 2 is making a comeback. And along with the main game, there’s an additional story being included.

Danganronpa 2×2 is coming to Switch 1/2 next year.

Robert Purchese

13:57 pm
UTC

Dynasty Warriors Origins is coming to Switch 2 in January 22nd.

Robert Purchese

13:58 pm
UTC

Monster Hunter Stories 2 out in March next year

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Twisted Reflections now. A turn-based role-playing game where you raise monsters and battle with them. 13th March 2026.

Robert Purchese

13:59 pm
UTC

What’s the show-closer? That’s the question.

Robert Purchese

13:59 pm
UTC

Just throwing this out there. Ignore if bad…

Bike version of Ridley in Metroid Prime 4: Ridely.

That’s it.

Tom Orry

14:00 pm
UTC

A dark room. A phone rings. Resident Evil vibes.

A dark corridor, a battered old door. A lady’s voice. It is Resident Evil. Resi Requiem.

Robert Purchese

14:02 pm
UTC

Resi trailer would have been scarier had it used the Mii voices.

Tom Orry

14:03 pm
UTC

Resident Evil Requiem & Village & 7 announced for Switch

We’re seeing a shorter version of the Resident Evil Requiem trailer we saw in the summer. It doesn’t look quite as glossy as on other platforms but it doesn’t look too bad.

Resident Evil 9 Requiem is coming to Switch 2 on 29th February.

Oh and there’s one more thing?

Resi Village and Resi 7 are also coming to Switch on the same day.

Robert Purchese

14:03 pm
UTC

Why on earth are they launching three Resi games on the same day?

Tom Orry

14:03 pm
UTC

But there is one more thing and it looks like Fire Emblem?

Robert Purchese

14:05 pm
UTC

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave announced for 2026

It really looks like Fire Emblem! But set around Roman arena-style games?

We’re getting a good overview of the game here and it’s ticking all the right boxes.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. 2026.

Robert Purchese

14:06 pm
UTC

Show’s over – thoughts?

And that’s it. It dipped, it worried us, but Nintendo pulled it back at the end?

Robert Purchese

14:08 pm
UTC

As someone who finds the Fire Emblem games complete snoozefests (sorry, seemingly everyone in chat), that Direct wasn’t the best. I was most looking forward to Metroid Prime 4, but the bike sections look awful.

Tom Orry

14:09 pm
UTC

I got very into a Fire Emblem on 3DS. I can’t remember what it was called. I missed Three Houses. So I’m preparing myself for the plunge into this one. But how long will we have to wait? Still, it’s exciting.

Robert Purchese

14:10 pm
UTC

I think a lot of how people view Switch 2 depends on what consoles/PC you own. If I’m purely a Switch 2 player, Resi news is great. As someone who will play it PS5 Pro, it’s not a huge bit of news personally.

Tom Orry

14:13 pm
UTC

2much says: Bertie it was probably Awakening you played, or maybe Fates. I’ve only played Three Houses and Engage to completion but they’re both great, especially the former. I’ve played about half of The Sacred Stones on NSO too and that’s also fantastic

Awakening sounds right! Yes – Chrom! It was definitely that one. Gosh, 2012?! That was a long time ago.

Robert Purchese

14:15 pm
UTC

I’m torn on the simplistic re-releases of the Mario Galaxy games. Both of them still look great due to the art design, but part of me wants to see what could have been done with a visual overhaul.

Tom Orry

14:33 pm
UTC

Antendo says: Glad i’m not the only one who would unashamedly buy that Virtual Boy… it has a golf game for god’s sakes!

(also hoping Mario Tennis Fever is better than Aces)

That’s two people at least who’ve said they’ll buy it. That’s two sales you’ve got there, Nintendo!

Robert Purchese

14:38 pm
UTC

The big show roundup

Image credit: Eurogamer/Nintendo

We’ve gathered all of the trailers from the show, and all of the announcements, and put them into one handy list.

Robert Purchese

15:05 pm
UTC

The Virtual Boy Switch accessory costs £66.99

The Virtual Boy Switch 1/2 add-on costs £66.99, it seems.

Image credit: Nintendo

Robert Purchese

15:07 pm
UTC

Image credit: Nintendo

Which reminds me of Alex’s very timely review of Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, which we published when Switch 2 launched. It was a bit of a cheeky fake-out from us. But who doesn’t want a hardware review decades later?

Robert Purchese

15:37 pm
UTC

Zathtrec says: Virtua boy? This isn’t Sega!

/quits

Robert Purchese

15:44 pm
UTC

Ordered 100 Virtual Boy add-ons for Switch 2 as an investment. No one tell my wife. This is my make it or break it moment!

Tom Orry

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September 13, 2025 0 comments