What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 19th)
Another week, another dollar. Err, yes — that’s how that saying goes. Various things happened this week in the world of Nintendo, but by far the biggest story was definitely the lovely Felix joining our lovely video team.
What’s that? Oh yes, there was also the matter of Nintendo’s announcement of its closure schedule for the 3DS and Wii U eShops, with an estimated 1000+ games to be removed from sale. We spoke to a source who believes a full network shutdown for those consoles could come soon after, and we set about reminiscing and compiling lists of our favourite 3DS eShop and Wii U eShop games to pick up before it’s too late. If you love video games and Nintendo, it’s been a week of mixed emotions.
After all of that excitement it’s time to chill out and discuss our weekend gaming plans. A few members of the Nintendo Life team have done just that below, so feel free to give our entries a read and then join in with your own via our comment section. Enjoy!
Tom Whitehead, deputy editor
I’ll be giving the MLB The Show 22 Tech Test some time on Switch for a write-up, even if my initial impressions (as a series veteran and addict) aren’t particularly positive. Beyond that I’m still enjoying my time in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, making decent progress last week; I’m eager to leap forward again with a session or two this weekend.
Beyond those I’m making very slow progress through The Witcher 3 (on Switch, a very decent port!), while indulging in yet another playthrough of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, because I’m a nerd and its lightsaber fighting is just too much fun.
Austin Voigt, contributing writer
This weekend, I absolutely definitely do not intend to just play Horizon Forbidden West the entire time… making that commitment to myself now so I follow through on it. I will definitely be continuing to play Pokémon Legends: Arceus and EarthBound. I’ll also be spending time with family, which always calls for a few rounds of Overcooked, Mario Party Superstars and Mario Kart 8!
Kate Gray, staff writer
This weekend I will mostly be playing Graveyard Keeper, which I picked up during the latest sale. It’s scratching that “I need to farm something” itch until Rune Factory 5 lands, even if it’s maybe one of the sparsest tutorials I’ve ever seen.
I’m also hoping to jump into my 3DS library, and maybe give neglected games a go — I have Crimson Shroud, but never actually ‘opened’ it; I have Grezzo’s Ever Oasis too, but didn’t really get on with it as much as I hoped. And, obviously, I’ve got a few more to download before March 2023…
Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer
Time to wrap up The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and SoulCalibur II on GameCube. I’m quite happy with the overall performance of Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection so I will continue to slowly make progress on those three. Hope to fire up the new Triangle Strategy demo as well.
Game of the week is Infernax. It began to give me The Messenger vibes from the get go and it just kept on getting better. Glorious pixelated gore galore!
Ollie Reynolds, reviewer
So, look… I may have purchased and downloaded a few 3DS games this week. I panicked, okay?! I’m not done yet either, but for now I’ll be playing The Attack of the Friday Monsters, Kid Tripp, and Super Mario Land this weekend. Although it’s a result of some pretty horrific news from Nintendo, it’s so nice to be playing the 3DS again.
Elsewhere, I’m going through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Switch ahead of the release of Majora’s Mask, and having an absolute blast with it, too! It’s just a darn good game, isn’t it?
As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your weekend gaming plans!