And down the stretch we come with a shovel.

For Shovelry, cries the puzzle-game playing part of my heart, as Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon sews up the "last major release of the year" slot barring any late shadowdrop shenanigans. Neal has already pulled rank to get the code, so check a look at his review. There's also a historic game this week,... Read more...

For longtime members of the staff, the location will be familiar.

Nintendo appears ready to expand their home base.

As first reported by Nikkei (note: link is restricted by a paywall and text is in Japanese), Nintendo is leasing approximately 8500 square feet (790 square metres) in order to expand their development base and reduce outsourcing costs. The facility is targeting May of 2022 for first use.

Start the new year with a positively restrained take on the collectathon.

After today's release of Paper Mario, the next game up for the Expansion Pack will be a bit more furry.

Nintendo UK have tweeted that 1998's Banjo-Kazooie will be the next game to be added to the N64 library of the pack. No specific date was given beyond "January".

Guh-huh!... Read more...

The long-awaited DLC has an appropriately named island.

The Delicious Last Course needs a bit more time in the kitchen, and now we know how much.

Studio MDHR have finally announced a release date for Cuphead's "Delicious Last Course" (DLC), and the adventure will resume on June 30, 2022. In addition to a "DLC Island", a new playable character Ms. Chalice will be added.

See that mountain? You can kiss human girls on it.

The blue blur is going open world for his next title.

Sega have finally named the Sonic title that was teased at the end of the Sonic 30th anniversary presentation in May. Titled Sonic Frontiers, the game is slated for release "holiday 2022".

Frontiers will be an open-world Sonic title, the first of its kind.

Don't chop your finger off for this one.

The Lord of the Rings universe is returning to Switch for the first time in nearly a decade.

Nacon (formerly Bigben) have announced Gollum: The Untold Story will come to Switch this evening. It was also announced for all currently active platforms (PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series) so it is not known in what fashion the game will come. A release window was also not provided.

Vampires? Check. Werewolves? Check. Dual blades with "love" and "hate" inscribed on them? Uh, give us a few months.

Capcom has dropped more details about Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, including another major monster.

The trailer revealed a new wolf-like monster, which was later identified by Nintendo and Capcom as having the name "Lunagaron". A couple of cutscene clips also aired featuring Rondine, the trader in base Rise, and officially names her home kingdom.

Oh, you mean I actually get to punch *spoilers* in the face for real?

A lost fighter of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is being preserved on the Switch.

Atlus have announced a re-release of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, the 2014 fighting game set following the events of Personas 3 and 4. Pricing for Switch has not been revealed for the Arc System Works-developed fighter, but the Steam preorder is priced at US$29.99.

Also known as "screw your Water types". Sorry, Wooper.

The newest Hisuian Pokemon for Legends Arceus is quite a shocker.

Following a social media campaign centered on Pokemon Sword and Shield's Ball Guy NPC, the company revealed a Hisuian version of Voltorb. The new form is Electric/Grass typed, and has added wood grain to the "Poke Ball" design of the original.

A true example of "if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here".

The design lead on Nintendo hardware from the Color-TV Game Series to the Satellaview has died.

Masayuki Uemura, former lead of Nintendo's R&D 2 hardware division from 1979 - 2004, passed away on December 6 at the age of 78. The death was announced by Ritsumeikan University, where Uemura founded a Game Research Centre during an academic career that began in 2004 and continued until his passing.

Looks like the system is going to have to change again for Europe at least.

The Switch's preorder system may have to be altered again soon following a ruling in German court.

Prior to August of 2020, preordering a game or DLC on the Switch eShop charged the user immediately with no direct possibility of refund and started the download: in August 2020, the process changed... Read more...

Finally, a quiet... oh crap, there's going to be a lot of shadowdrops Thursday night aren't there?

As one of the last weeks of the year opens, it seems like a quiet week on paper. The headliners are the third monster-taming game in the last 31 days with Monster Rancher 1+2 DX, though my friends are still trying to get me into Loop Hero. Some classic adventure awaits from the ghosts of Telltale... Read more...

Well, the new character could have an overpowered kit OR SHE COULD USE THE WARP STAFF!

The story of Fire Emblem Heroes is seemingly returning to where it all began.

Version 6 of the game will soon be available, and it will kick off a new story beginning on Tuesday (December 7). The story will take place in the game's original kingdoms of Askr and Embla, and a free copy of a new character... Read more...

This is the paper. It lets me know when I've stopped being funny. (Enough already - Ed)

The Switch Online Expansion Pass is expanding just a bit more before the holidays.

Nintendo have revealed the first of the promised second group of N64 titles, the original Paper Mario, will release on December 10. A brief trailer is below:

The August 2000 release (in North America) sees Mario and a cast of helper characters trying to rebuild the Star Rod in order to rescue the perpetually kidnapped Princess Peach.

Clearly this is a game named by little Bobby Tables.

A collection of latter day PlayStation 2 RPGs that has appeared in multiple ratings authority has finally been confirmed for Switch.

Bandai Namco have announced the .hack//G.U Last Recode collection will come to Switch on 10 March 2022 in Japan, with an English release for southeast Asian regions... Read more...

Puhuhuhu~!

Well, it's now the week of hope (or despair, depending on your choices) as the Danganronpa Decadence collection is split up for individual release on the eShop this Friday. All four of them. There is a preorder discount for all four of them... and we'll have more on why this is important shortly.... Read more...

And somewhere, James's heart grows three sizes.

One of the most bizarre yet beloved games of 2020 will hit Switch next spring.

Atlus announced a Switch version of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim will release in April of 2022 in Japan during a celebration of the game's second anniversary in the country: the Western branch have announced it will release outside Japan on April 12. It was previously on the PlayStation 4, while a PlayStation Vita release was scrapped due to the system's end of life.

The perfect (?) game for those holiday travels.

Yacht Club Games is not afraid to drop things in December, and we received another example of that today.

Preorders have now opened for Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, the Wario's Woods-styled puzzle game / dungeon crawler set in the Shovel Knight universe. The game is slated for release on December 13.

Bowser spitting internal fire on this one.

An email from Doug Bowser sent to all Nintendo employees on Friday has clarified Nintendo's stance on the ongoing culture of harassment at Activision Blizzard.

Following the publishing of an expose in the Wall Street Journal (possibly paywalled) this past Tuesday, Nintendo of America sent an email to all hands at Nintendo of America on Friday that was obtained by Fanbyte. In the email, Bowser underlined the seriousness of the allegations:

Let's face it, we know what you're here for.

In a week that's totally devoted to the sale that has already kicked off in Europe and will hopefully start a few hours away from starting in North America, there are a few new releases to talk about. The big one for me is DoDonPachi Resurrection from the eternally popular bullet hell franchise, with The Man also stepping up to provide Death's Door from Devolver Digital.