What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 7th)

If you’ve noticed that things have been a bit quieter this week, that’s because it’s Golden Week in Japan, a series of four national holidays where a lot of companies grant time off. For others, Star Wars Day was on 4th May (okay, okay, May the 4th), and that’s also considered a bit of a holiday, depending on who you talk too! And tomorrow, it’s Mother’s Day in the US, so happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate it!

News-wise, well, there’s been a lot of Reggie talk following the release of his book, Disrupting the Game. Besides that, we finally got a new trailer for Mario Strikers: Battle League. There’s also a fun little Easter Egg in the credits for Nintendo Switch Sports. And we got a sneak peek at the upcoming Netflix Sonic series, Sonic Prime.

Now 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!

Alana Hagues, staff writer

Readers, I caved and picked up a couple of games in the ‘Spring Into Action’ sale. Incredibly, I didn’t already own Gris, so that was my first purchase. The other game I snapped (ha!) up is Umurangi Generation Special Edition — something I’ve had my eye on since it launched on Steam. One is a beautiful, sensory platformer about depression and grief, and the other is an urban, apocalyptic take on Pokémon Snap with cutting social commentary. I’m excited to finally dig into both of these.

I’ll also continue dabbling with Klonoa: Empire of Dreams, which I’m liking even more the second time around. I’ve been either busy or all over the place this week, so video games haven’t really factored into my routine. Instead, I’ve just been watching lots of Metroid videos. Sometimes, a good video essay or three is what I need. Have a lovely weekend, folks!

Thomas Whitehead, deputy editor

I’ve been aimlessly drifting between games on Switch, so it’s time to get focused! I think I’ll work through Two Point Hospital: Jumbo Edition, which I got in a sale recently, and also make a concerted effort to stick with Disco Elysium: The Final Cut as well. Very different games, for sure…

Elsewhere I’ll likely skip between Forza Horizon 5, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and Max Payne, depending on which random mood I’m in at the time.

Ollie Reynolds, staff writer

Hellooooo [waves]. This weekend, I’m looking to get into a bit more Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection; I’ve been sticking to the characters I know I’m fairly competent with so far, so I’d like to branch out a bit and try someone new. I’m still really enjoying it though, particularly those later entries!

Elsewhere, I’ve decided to restart Bioshock Infinite on the Switch. It’s been a while since I last played it and I’m interested to see whether the gameplay and narrative holds up. I remember the bird thing was cool, and jumping around on those hook things, but other than that, my memory’s a bit hazy.

Gavin Lane, editor

Without wanting to spoil anything, we’ve got something really special lined up for tomorrow and having had a small sneak preview of this passion project courtesy of the lovely Mr. Zion Grassl, I am jonesing to fire up Mother 3 and actually play the thing for the first time. I bought it from Japan last year, and have the fan translation ready to go on my trusty GBA — I just haven’t found the time to actually play it! I feel like the game demands and deserves my full attention — it’s not the sort of thing I want to play in half-hour spells over the course of months. We’ll see if I manage to find the time this weekend.

In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone, and keep an eye out for some heart-warming wholesomeness in the near future…

Gonçalo Lopes, reviewer

From top dog to bottom feeder again, I forgot how cruel the promotion to division 1 of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe league was. There’s not much going on really so this weekend it is time to play Return of the Jedi to completion in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and continue to destroy people at Nintendo Switch Sports.

Game of the week is Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I was not ready for the amount of post-credits game content and honestly… Kirby is truly the gift that keeps on giving!

As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave us a comment below with your weekend gaming plans!