This Week in Games

Nintendo September Direct 2025

Welcome back, folks! I hope everyone enjoyed my cameo appearance in This Week in Anime yesterday. I'd have made a cute segue for it in last week's column, but things were arranged a bit too late for that. It's always nice to collaborate with Steve, Coop, and Chris, especially when I can chat about topics I'm familiar with. I got to meet Chris in person for the first time a few weeks back; he's just as charming as his writing. We were also able to meet up with fellow This Week in Anime alums Nicky. Good times were had by all! Today, though, we're covering a ton of news—so let's begin.

People sure love tempting the Persona 5 curse. You'd think after Star Ocean: anamnesis, Dragalia Lost and the Fullmetal Alchemist gacha, folks would have a bit of trepidation about collaborating with Persona 5. Oh well! Here comes Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 has had a lot of collaborations with Japanese media lately, and they've been hit-or-miss. The One-Punch Man outfits didn't look great, and the Cowboy Bebop collab was all right (given some weird faces). This time, the suits look pretty good. Mercy as Panther/Ana actually looks pretty great, and I can't fault any of the other choices (D.Va as Queen/Makoto, Genji as Skull/Ryuji, Wuyang as Joker/Akira, and Lifeweaver as Fox/Yusuke). They've even got art from Shigenori Soejima; that's at least as much effort Fortnite would put into one of these. The collab started on September 16; at the time of writing, further details haven't been released.

I snark, but the skins look legitimately cool. I might be a bit burnt out at the sight of Persona 5, and Overwatch has never really done anything for me. But kudos to Blizzard for finally getting one of these right.

A major surprise dropped into our laps earlier this week with the reveal of two new Game Boy Advance titles added to Nintendo's NSO+ service—and both of them are third-party titles from Bandai Namco! While they were exclusives to Nintendo's old handheld, this opens a lot of fun doors for the NSO+ library. Provided, we might want to keep those reins in check: these likely came about because Nintendo and Bandai Namco have some very close business relations. Those old side-scrollers starring Nickelodeon characters might still be a bridge too far, more's the pity.

First up is Mr. Driller, Bandai Namco's long-running puzzle series starring the eponymous miner. The Mr. Driller games are fun, hectic puzzlers: using your drill, you tunnel your way through variously-colored minerals, with entire blocks of like-colored minerals vanishing at once. But as you drill your way through, blocks that aren't affixed to larger blocks will fall behind you, forcing you to keep on digging to keep from getting caught in the cave-in. Complicating things is your oxygen meter: you lose air as you drill, and harder minerals require more effort (and thus more air), forcing you to be careful in choosing your path as you tunnel. It can be a long way between spare air tanks... Mr. Driller has never been a massive hit for Bandai Namco, but the games are fun—especially if you can take them on the go. Also fun is the lore behind the title: canonically, the titular Mr. Driller, Susumu Hori, is the son of Dig-Dug's hero, Taizo Hori. Taizo has even made cameo appearances in other Mr. Driller games! (The mom is Toby Masuyo, protagonist of Baraduke/Alien Sector. According to Namco x Capcom, Toby and Taizo had an acrimonious divorce.)

The other game is another attention-nabber: Bandai Namco's beloved Klonoa: Empire of Dreams! I have a soft spot for the Klonoa titles: deceptively deep platformers with stunning presentation and music, and stories that rip your heart out. Empire of Dreams sees the Dream Traveler Klonoa having to clear his name of the crime of "dreaming of adventure." Of course, there's a reason why dreams have been outlawed, and Klonoa is likely to make us shed a few tears as he finds out the truth...

Empire of Dreams continues the series' traditional mechanics: Klonoa can jump and flutter around a bit by flapping his cute, floppy ears. Klonoa also has his Wind Ring, which lets him inflate enemies. From there, Klonoa can carry them around, throw them at other enemies, or throw them after jumping to extend his jump. It's basic stuff on paper, but eventually expanded into surprisingly complicated platforming sections. The Klonoa titles might be cute, but 100% completion is a true challenge in those titles.

My heart always weeps for Klonoa. We were fortunate enough a few years ago to get the Phantasy Reverie Series back in 2022, and I was luckier still to get to review it. Bandai Namco even teased a possible Klonoa 3 if the collection sold well enough... but it's been three years. At the very least, the Phantasy Reverie Series regularly goes on sale for very cheap; at around $10, these are some of the best platformers you can get your hands on. I'd at least like to hope that Empire of Dreams coming to NSO+ means that the other GBA Klonoa titles are on the table. Dream Champ Tournament is also cute, but Legendary Star Medal never came to the United States. We can only hope for more chances to hear Klonoa's adorable "WA-HOO!"

Both of these titles go live on NSO+ this September 25.

Last week, I mentioned how Nintendo and Pokémon have become a serious "bitch eating crackers" for the gaming industry and for self-described "Gamers." For folks unfamiliar with the phrase, a "bitch eating crackers" is when you have such dislike for someone that something as innocuous as them eating crackers at the other side of the room ticks you off. I maintain that. Mind you: More than a few decisions in the following Direct did turn me off... but also, I wasn't catastrophizing about this being the worst display of arrogance from a company that "needs to be humbled." Because there wasn't any need to. I worry if I'm the crazy one, but then I read past the headline of an article...

With 2025 being the 40th anniversary of the Mario Brothers, Nintendo has arranged for several fun goodies: special art and light displays at the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, sponsoring the annual Kyoto Marathon... fun stuff. There was also the news that the Mario Bros. sequel is being developed, and it's going with Super Mario Galaxy. (A lot of folks have pointed out that Old Spice jumped the gun a little and spoiled the reveal with some of their promotional stock that is in stores now. Whoops.) Weird that the movie is going with Galaxy, but considering that none of the other Mario games escalate on the level Galaxy does, I see where they're coming from. Doki Doki Panic has been buried; Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World only really introduce the Koopalings, which aren't enough of a draw; Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine don't really shake up the formula enough, and Illumination still thinks Chris Pratt is more charming than Charlie Day, so that's a no-go on Luigi's Mansion. No word yet on who's playing Princess Rosalina, but Rosalina's storybook (as in, an actual physical representation of it) is for sale on Nintendo's website and set to release this November 25.

The real disappointment was the news that Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel are getting a remastered physical release—at full price, US$70. This is following the Super Mario Bros 3D All-Stars, which already included the first Super Mario Galaxy. Let me be clear, I think people have lost their damn minds when it comes to game price discourse. I saw someone comment that Digimon Story: Time Stranger "doesn't look AAA, so it shouldn't be priced like a AAA game," which is a great way of completely disregarding the amount of effort that went into actually producing the game. It is my genuine belief that Steam's firehouse sales have destroyed any semblance of value when it comes to a game; why buy a game at full price when you can get it for 20% off at the Summer Sale? And why pay that when you can get it for 30% off at the Winter Sale? And why pay that when you can get it for $5 at the next Spring Sale? I feel like the effort put into remaking a game top-to-bottom isn't invalidated just because the game was originally released on Game Boy or because you can't see the individual scales on Gomamon's Marching Fishes.

That said, US$70 for both Super Mario Galaxy games is where I draw the line. Both of those titles were US$20 on the Wii U! We already had Super Mario Galaxy in the first 3D collection! This is what a piss-take looks like, if you ask me. But this got weirdly ignored following the further news. At any rate, it releases on October 2, with promotional Amiibo (Mario with a Luma, and Rosalina reading a book to several Luma) releasing on April 2. I rather like the Rosalina Luma a lot. I'd rather buy that than the US$70 two-pack.

I regret to inform you all that the following news involves tennis. (Cue the clip of Rex Mohs screaming his soul out in disgust.)

We're getting a new Mario Tennis game, titled Mario Tennis Fever. The titular gimmick is the fever rackets: tennis rackets that can build up energy over the course of a rally to activate special effects. There are over 30 Fever Rackets, with all sorts of effects like freezing the opponent's side of the court or summoning Mini Mushrooms. There is also a record-breaking amount of characters in Mario Tennis, over 30. There are also a variety of modes, like the standard Tournament mode and online Ranked modes, along with a mode for motion controls or randomized effects on the court ("Mix-It-Up" mode). The Adventure Mode is most intriguing. It's a story mode where the Mario characters are turned into babies and have to relearn tennis skills as they travel through a world. It's a good way to mask a tutorial mode, especially for people who aren't great at tennis simulators. Mario Tennis Fever releases on February 12, 2026, but, y'know, it's tennis without Ultra-Smashes.

Super Mario Wonder is also getting a dedicated port on Nintendo Switch 2—but it's not just a graphical update. New features and content were teased, but we won't hear about that until later. The main feature the Direct focused on was the Bellabel Park update, which adds a variety of multiplayer options. A lot of these are actually quite fun as party games.

Only a few games were showcased, but they all seem pretty fun. Tag Mode stands out for me: players in a limited arena will run around wearing Phanto's mask, tagging other players. Whoever is tagged gets Phanto's mask on them and is "it," and needs to tag the other players before time runs out. The catch is that everyone else can disguise themselves on the stage. Consider this Nintendo's take on Prop Hunt. There are other modes, like an honest-to-God Deathmatch mode (you try to hit other players with power-ups) or beating a stage while playing hot potato with a Bob-Omb (passing it resets the fuse; you have to clear the stage without letting it explode). There's a lot of creativity in there for a side-scrolling game. I can see this becoming a hit at parties the way Nintendo Land used to be. Look forward to the Bellabel Park update when Super Mario Wonder's Nintendo Switch 2 port lands this Spring.

Oh, Nintendo's also making a toy of the talking flowers from Super Mario Wonder. I'm... not sure who that's for? I don't hate the talking flowers as much as other people do, but they don't seem horribly memorable. And I know people went crazy for those dancing Groot toys when the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie dropped, but the Talking Flower toy just... has a few lines of dialogue. See, I'd have at least given it Amiibo functionality, since that's still halfway-relevant. Maybe give it some connectivity to the Mario LEGO sets. I've seen some folks point to Nintendo enforcing artificial scarcity as a ramification of their toy-making days, and that's a valid criticism. I had to wait over a year for my Pyra/Mythra Amiibo to get restocked, and I needed those to unlock stuff in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. If Nintendo's going to take advice from toy-making, I'd like for the lesson to be that people like playing with their toys; give us stuff to play with and reward us for finding weird ways to play with them (like with Super Mario Wonder itself).

Also, like, if we're getting toys of Nintendo characters, can we get more Yoshi toys? There's so much money left on the table from Nintendo not making a full stable of Yoshi toys. Speaking of the T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas:

A thing I appreciate about the Yoshi games is their use of different aesthetics. The original Yoshi's Island was ostensibly a Super Mario World sequel—but it abandoned the look of the original game in favor of a crayonesque design, along with its own unique platforming mechanics (i.e., carrying Baby Mario around). Yoshi's Story wasn't great, but its pop-up book aesthetic still looks pretty good. And so on with other games like Yoshi's Woolly World. So Nintendo's going all-in with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. With the help of the encyclopedia, Mister E (get it?), Yoshi and his friends must fill out the missing pages. The whole thing is done as a side-scrolling puzzle game, figuring out the various abilities of the creatures Yoshi encounters while using the world around him to move around. The trailer showcased a puzzle where Yoshi had to spread dandelion seeds to erode a boulder that was in his way; that's some good lateral thinking. They'll have a real winner on their hands if they can properly iterate on that kind of stage construction. Also, I like the in-universe aesthetic. It's a bit Super Mario Wonder in its approach, but with undercranked character animations to sell the "illustrated" aesthetic. See, this is the thing I like seeing from Nintendo; it's disappointing that this kind of attention to detail doesn't get its due appreciation.

That's not Bill Trinen! Nintendo had a minor once-over for Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, going over the basics of character creation and care. But there wasn't much else, outside of the confirmation of a Spring 2026 release. The burning question on everyone's mind is whether Living The Dream will actually incorporate gay/lesbian couples. There was a kerfuffle over the original Tomodachi Life on 3DS, since this was impossible then (outside of a glitch). Games have come a long way in the years since, and even other Nintendo games have allowed for more gender-affirming options, such as referring to body types as "styles." And that's before you consider other titles like the Story of Seasons games, allowing for non-gender-locked relationships. It'll be a significant disappointment if Nintendo doesn't follow along.

Here's a funny one. Square Enix originally broke away from Nintendo during development of Final Fantasy VII because Nintendo decided upon a cartridge-based format for the Nintendo 64, and Square Enix (then Squaresoft) had bigger goals in mind for their upcoming title. This was a particularly strong bit for them, so much so that they referenced the matter in their magazine ads. We wouldn't see new Final Fantasy titles on Nintendo consoles for years after that. Anyway, Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade is coming to the Nintendo Switch this January 22. The first part of Square's ambitious three-part remake of the original Final Fantasy VII, the "Integrade" update includes new story beats and stages that center around Yuffie, explaining what she was doing before Cloud and company find her in the forest. There might be some graphical compromises, but I feel like those are small potatoes compared to being able to play a game of Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade's scope on the go.

Speaking of Amiibo! Nintendo has decided to introduce a Smash Bros-style mechanic to Kirby Air Riders wherein you can train Amiibo Figure characters. These characters will learn racing techniques as they play against you, up to and including developing a "personality" based around their experiences racing. So far, we only have Kirby on the Warp Star and Bandana Dee (no need for a middle name here) on the Winged Star. But also: the figures are swappable! You can unplug the riders from their machines, which will come in handy with upcoming Riders and Machines that are being teased. You can expect Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Gooey to come along with certain machines. I lack the experience with Kirby Air Riders to make any educated guess on those. Also, because Sakurai's 40-minute Direct focused entirely on Kirby Air Riders wasn't enough, there's going to be a second one in the near future.

More updates on Hyrule Warriors: War of Imprisonment! The gameplay stuff sounds fun, but the most important bit is that it's Gameshare compatible: players will be able to play co-op across two consoles with just one copy of the game, including the original Switch model. It's a great move. I honestly wish more games offered this as a feature by default. Anyway, War of Imprisonment adds some new wrinkles to the Hyrule Warriors formula in the form of Tears of the Kingdom's Zonai tech. Using these ancient artifacts, players can mess with enemy groups or alter the battlefield. I appreciate the puzzle-based addition to the battles. I'm still not crazy for the post-Breath of the Wild Hyrule Warriors games because of the original Hyrule Warriors offering so much, but I can't knock them for actually trying to expand the formula.

Few things disappoint me than how the gaming community has left Dragon Quest in an ivory tower. If everyone who namedropped Dragon Quest Monsters during the Palworld/Pokémon discourse had actually bought a copy of Dragon Quest Monsters: The Black Prince, Square Enix might have brought over more Dragon Quest Monsters games. And hey, all those arguments about Expedition 33 and Square Enix's turn-based games are incomplete without recognizing all of the work Square Enix has put into titles like Dragon Quest XI (like how the Switch adds a sprite-based mode for playing the game, a la the 3DS remakes). Dragon Quest isn't the end-all, be-all of Japanese RPGs, and there were plenty of other games that were made leading up to their original title on Famicom... but getting anyone to recognize Dragon Quest in America is an uphill battle.

At any rate: Dragon Quest VII is getting a remake. And while it's not an HD-2D remake along the lines of the Erdrick Trilogy, it's nevertheless a top-to-bottom remake of the whole game. Er—another one, since we also had a comprehensive 3D remake of Dragon Quest VII back on the 3DS. Dragon Quest VII is a weird entry for the series; while tremendously overshadowed in the United States due to releasing alongside the graphical powerhouse that was Final Fantasy X, DQ7 also had a very long intro; famously, the PS1 original front-ended the game with a lot of puzzles, so much so that it could take you as long as five hours to encounter your first Slime in battle. Of course, there's a story reason: the protagonist accidentally petrifies his village, and he has to recover several stone tablets to break the curse. This whole quest has a very tragic ending, as many vignettes in Dragon Quest do, but it leads to a game that can have triple-digit length.

Dragon Quest VII's deal is its class system: much like Final Fantasy V, characters can be given specific jobs for battle, with each victory leading towards improving their proficiency in that class. There are a lot of classes, many of which are unlocked as combinations of other classes. And that's before we get to the Monster classes, earned by fighting monsters. Yes, there's a Metal Slime class, and yes, it's a pain to unlock and master. Look forward to this one on February 5.

Here's one that gets me: Nintendo is adding the Virtual Boy's library to the Nintendo Switch Online repertoire, along with other consoles like the Super Nintendo and the Nintendo 64. People have had words about this. For starters, the Virtual Boy was a failure of a console: its early attempts at 3D (plus everything being in shades of red) caused headaches, and the console wasn't very comfortable. All told, only 22 games were made for the console—14 of them are available on the NSO+Expansion service. This includes several... well, I can't call them "classics," but they're still noteworthy. Wario Land was the first game in the series, and had its first entry made on the Virtual Boy, making this the first time it's been ported, ever. There's also Jack Bros., a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off starring Jack Frost, Pyro Jack, and Jack Ripper.

The point of contention is that the Virtual Boy games aren't available to play in 2D—they're exclusively designed for 3D play. So to play the Virtual Boy games, you'll need an accessory that effectively re-creates the original console that you'll slot your Switch or Switch 2 into. The accessory costs $100 USD, which I agree, is a lot. I understand why Nintendo made it; it's to keep the games in context and because they likely don't have a way to allow these games to be played in 2D without extensively reworking them—a tall order for 30-year-old games from a failed console. Nobody's playing a Virtual Boy game to play it in 2D anyhow, the way I see it. The bit where I scrunch my nose up is people doomsaying about the $100 add-on... when there's a $25 alternative that's also for sale. If you don't want to spend $100, you don't have to. Heck, I even appreciate that Nintendo found a new use for the Nintendo Labo components. But the discussion begins and ends with the $100 doohickey. I've seen other peers point out how Nintendo also offers Switch-compatible variants of older controllers, from the NES and N64 controllers to even the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive controller for use with the NSO titles; a quick look at Nintendo's store reveals that those are all in the ballpark of $65. My dudes, the cardboard option is cheaper than a N64 controller. There's so much to complain about. I don't understand why this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, nor do I understand why people can't see the cheap option that's literally right there.

Speaking of old stuff, Koei Tecmo is bringing back another Fatal Frame title with a remake of Crimson Butterfly. Originally released in 2003(!), Crimson Butterfly tells the story of a young woman named Mio searching for her twin sister, Mayu, in an abandoned town. Along the way, Mio investigates an old ritual that the village was undergoing. Jumpscares and creepy Japanese ghosts ensue. The series' traditional Camera Obscura is still the central mechanic, a camera that can banish ghosts. This one's another comprehensive top-to-bottom remake; if it's half as good as the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse remake from 2023 (which I reviewed), it'll be a treat! Others and I would definitely prefer a new Fatal Frame proper, but this is a good-enough stopgap. Look forward to it in early 2026.

I am disappointed that nobody is talking about the new Suika Game. Suika Game was a huge hit among streamers and players alike, and countless Suika Game clones have emerged in its wake, like IntiCreates' PuzzMix. Just this past summer, Shift-Up even had a Suika Game-esque mini-game for their Boom The Ghost event in Goddess of Victory: NIKKE! In upping the ante, Aladdin X has taken the game to the only place left to go: space. Suika Game Planet has you dropping fruit into an orb at the center of the screen. You can arrange the fruit all around the planet, but they can't break its surface (it's more of a bubble, so the edges have some give). Another twist is in the form of Super Evolution, which grants you bonuses depending on how many fruits of which type you've combined in a row. It's even compatible with Game Share on the Switch 2! I don't expect Suika Game to register on most people's radar, but it'll definitely be a fun hit once it lands this Winter.

A major twist was delivered regarding Metroid Prime 4: Samus has a sick sci-fi bike! The reveal comes along with the twist that Metroid Prime 4 is now seemingly an open-world game, with Samus riding her new bike across massive vistas in search of new locales to explore. There's some consternation over this, given that Metroid has been at its best when it's nurturing a claustrophobic vibe. I'm with them. The trailer shows a sequence of Samus facing off against a pack of wolf-like creatures during a blizzard; it seems so pedestrian for Samus to be fighting space-wolves, given all of the other bizarre alien life-forms she's encountered. Regardless: Metroid Prime 4 is slated for a December 4 release, with Amiibo and an art book set to release shortly beforehand.

Donkey Kong Bananza has some DLC out now. Most of us expected DLC related to the twist reveal in Bananza, but the DLC is only tangentially related: you actually get to explore D.K. Island! It even plays the song from Donkey Kong 64! There's also the new Emerald Rush mode, a rogue-lite mode where Donkey Kong has to smash enough emerald ore within a time frame. You'll find fossils and stuff that can unlock perks as you run around smashing things, and better performance unlocks new stages in lower layers. A unique twist is that the locations for all of the ores and fossils are a constant, so you'll be able to strategize and plan out your route.

The news of Pokémon: Pokopia has some people unsettled, if only because your player character is a Ditto who has shapeshifted (badly) into a human. This has deep ramifications for the world of Pokémon that nobody wants to contend with. The idea itself is fun; however, Ditto will meet other Pokémon and learn moves from them that allow it to modify the environment. As the environment is made more comfortable, more Pokémon arrive, teaching Ditto more moves that allow it to create a whole village for the Pokémon to live in. The idea has been likened to Dragon Quest Builders, which I feel is apt (provided I haven't played Dragon Quest Builders yet). It's a cute idea, and I can see it leading into explaining how Pokémon in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games have places to live.

Let's go into a lightning round for some other titles: Danganronpa 2 is getting an expanded port with Danganronpa 2x2, which not only includes the base Danganronpa 2 but also a new scenario with a new story. It'll be available next year, also on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. Dynasty Warriors Origins lands on Switch 2 this January 22, with paid DLC announced. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflections has a March 16 release date. Resident Evil 9 arrives for the Switch 2 on February 27, wildly enough, with Resident Evil VII and Resident Evil: Village in tow.

A new Fire Emblem is coming! Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave takes the series to a Greco-Roman setting, where some would-be heroes duke it out in front of their regent in the hopes of having a wish granted. Some fight for revenge, others fight for someone else. Sothis from Fire Emblem: Three Houses is back, so maybe this takes place in the same world? Who knows.

I have an issue with Fortune's Weave, though. Several of the lead characters have darker skin; the protagonist we see is ostensibly a Black young man. His design is otherwise okay. I love his hair (he doesn't have the Killmonger haircut!). But a problem he and the other darker-skinned characters have is that they all have an ashy skin color. It does them a disservice. Mika Pikazo took a lot of heat for the toothpaste hair in Fire Emblem Engage, but she did right by the dark-skinned cast like Timerra by giving them beautiful skin tones. Even in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Claude's olive skintone belied his Mediterranean-inspired origins. So it's a disappointment that the ball was dropped with Fortune's Weave. Still, the cast seems interesting, the designs are nice, and I especially like the hairstyles. So I'm hopeful.

Here's where everyone lost their marbles. Paid DLC has been announced for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which releases this October 16. Now, this DLC includes new story content, as well as two new Mega Evolutions for Raichu (Raichu X and Raichu Y). The announcement of paid DLC before the game has launched has people outraged... as though this is the first time any game has been announced with paid DLC at launch. The trailer also reveals new Mega Evolutions for the Kalosian starters, Delphox, Chesknight, and Greninja. Notably, these three Pokémon didn't have Mega Evolutions in their original game, which, in the eyes of many, was an oversight. Legends Z-A corrects this... but also, the Mega Stones for these Mega Evolutions are barred behind timed ranked play over the course of three in-game seasons. There has been a lot of discourse about this being beyond the pale and a sign of Nintendo's modern-day "greed."

Let's break this down for a minute. First off: the DLC. Where have people been for the past decade? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had announced paid DLC before it launched, too! And the only carrot on that stick was knowing that the first character in the DLC list was the Piranha Plant! Nintendo has done this with all three Xenoblade Chronicles games on the Switch, going back to Xenoblade 2! Getting the Season passes was how you unlocked a stash of items and the post-game stories (which are effectively games unto themselves). This isn't new! This hasn't been new for years! You can't even say it's exclusive to Nintendo—Sonic Racing Crossworlds also has been promoting paid DLC for the game, and that game hasn't launched either!

There's a lot to argue over paid DLC as a means of bilking people out of their money, but that discussion has long since passed us by. One of the funniest clips from my favorite Vtuber is her going through almost a minute's worth of prompts from all the cosmetic DLC she bought before playing the game. For better or worse, paid DLC is just a standard factor in games these days. And you're telling me it's a problem now? In a Pokémon game?

Not when Bethesda was selling horse armor for $7 in 2006, not when countless AAA titles established Digital Deluxe copies of games with Day 1 DLC, not when a Battlefield game has a roadmap of DLC going months into the future, not when fighting games bar new characters off behind Season Passes? 19 years of paid DLC being a standard in the gaming industry, even with Nintendo games (lest we forget all the Fire Emblem Awakening DLC—that you can't get anymore). And now is when people take umbrage.

I've seen people claim that this artificially inflates the price of Pokémon Legends: Z-A--again, where have people been? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate costs $120 with both season passes—and you're going to want those, if you want to use Kazuya Mishima or Steve! It disturbs me how much people make this their hill to die on after actual years of literally every other publisher and developer going through with it. Especially since this is now such an entrenched belief with people. It's a truism that Nintendo is especially greedy, patent-starved and disrespectful to its fans and you're the crazy one if you bring up receipts proving otherwise. These are stances I can understand coming from rage-bait content creators online, who have the ears of the entire fandom. I am puzzled that people who should know better fall into these talking points. It's not even that paid DLC isn't a bad thing—it's sure as hell not, especially not since so many games had actual content cut from the main game just to be turned into DLC. That people decided Pokémon was where things were a bridge too far is what blows my mind. I half-expect that if Nintendo ever introduces a gacha system in a Pokémon game, it will finally prompt the rest of the industry to abandon the practice.

There's also consternation about Pokémon imported from Pokémon Home getting stuck in Legends Z-A if and when they're imported. Again, not fun! I don't like this! But I understand why it's happening: Legends Z-A has a unique battle system and Pokémon data likely has to be reformatted to accommodate it, and it'll likely be too much of a pain to reformat Legends Z-A data back out of Legends Z-A. This means that the unique Mega Evolutions in Legends Z-A are landlocked into the game... for now. Seriously, there's no way Mega Victreebell or Mega Hawlucha aren't going to be made available some other way. Pokémon Champions is still releasing soon, after all. Again, this is disappointing... but people know that you can't import Pokémon from the first two Generations into Gen 3 onward, right? Even now, there's no legal alternative to get Pokémon from Pokémon Gold out of those games. Sure, there were digital alternatives on the 3DS—but if you wanted to rescue your old Lugia from your old cartridge, there's no official means.

Now let's talk about the timed availability for the Kalosian Megas. I don't like this, either! It's not a new practice, either, but I don't like it! I still think people acting like this is suddenly a bridge too far are tilting at windmills (at least you don't have to buy a completely separate game, like Manaphy from Pokémon Ranger). But I was there when Pokémon Black/White launched in 2010... and you had to get that game within a few months of its launch window if you wanted to access Victini. I managed to get Victini at the time, but that doesn't mean I was happy with the process. And the practice goes even further back: remember having to buy Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness just to get Shadow Lugia? At least this time, this requires you playing in Ranked mode (which most adult Pokémon players will), with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription (which most adult players already have). The treatment of any of this as some new spore of needless burden to bilk players is puzzling.

I'll go a step further, because as much as I dislike this, I still don't think it's the worst. Monster Rancher 4 had an exclusive in-game monster based on Kasumi from Dead or Alive. The only way to get her was by scanning a copy of Dead or Alive: Hardcore for the PlayStation 2. So you had to spend $100 to buy two games, to get a special-edition Monster. And that's just Kasumi—I'm not counting White Hound, a unique variant of the default Tiger monsters. You could only get White Hound in Monster Rancher 4 by scanning a DVD copy of Princess Mononoke (or Red Hot Chili Peppers' By The Way album). That's another, what? $30 USD? And I haven't even gotten to all of the other exclusive monsters. And then there's Yokai Watch 2's Local Yokai, which you could only get by playing participating Yokai Watch arcade games in certain regions of Japan. That's right: you had to physically travel across the country to get all the cards with the QR codes for these promotional monsters. Or buy the cards second-hand, which still takes money.

It's bizarre how much anger gets levied towards Pokémon because I can point to so many similar issues from other monster-taming RPGs. And I think this really highlights the hollowness of much of the discourse surrounding the titles. It doesn't even invalidate the criticisms, but it definitely puts Pokémon into context. But that's the context that usually gets lost since most people don't look into the genre past Pokémon.

CAPCOM PRESENTS... the sales figures for Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. And good news: they're great! The game has sold 1 million units worldwide!

Speaking of good harvests: Marvelous was proud to announce this past week that both Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar and Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma have reached 500,000 units sold, each. The Rune Factory news might be a month old, but Grand Bazaar's sales figures are extremely promising—as of this writing, it's only been out for three weeks! One has to wonder how much of this is due to Marvelous' insistence upon proper cartridges for their games instead of game key cards...

Telenet's Earnest Evans trilogy (consisting of El Viento, Earnest Evans and Anett Futatabi, is getting a digital compilation in Japan! The games are slated for release this Christmas Day, December 25. Sadly, no word yet on an American release...

Dog-lovers, take note: Mononoke no Kuni launches on Steam in Autumn of 2026! The trailer hints at this being an action-adventure title about a boy in medieval Japan and his adorable Shiba Inu traveling to save the land... It'll launch in English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Spanish, German, Thai, Turkish, and many other languages.

Homura: The Crimson Warriors is coming to America! This story centers around Mutsumi Mochizui, a ninja cadet who is tasked with helping Nobushige Sanada and the Ten Braves at Osaka Castle against the Ura Yagyu group. Players can use the Ring system to oversee the statistics of the in-game paramours, unlocking powers in combat at the risk of their health. Players can also level up Mutsumi's abilities to help out the Crimson Warriors. You can also go back and replay earlier in-game scenarios to modify story progression. Homura: The Crimson Warriors comes to the American Switch sometime in 2026, but you can wishlist it now on Idea Factory's store.

IntiCreates' reference-laden card game Card-en-Ciel is getting a dedicated Nintendo Switch 2 version! Owners of the game will be able to upgrade the title for just $10. They've also announced a Season Pass (fancy that), promising at least one new story dungeon. Look forward to it on January 26.

That'll do it for this week. It's been a bit since I had a column this long... I stepped back and took a screenshot of the whole column when I had finished writing up the Nintendo Direct breakdown, and it was already long enough to be a column unto itself. That's what they pay me for, babes...! I might actually be glibbed out this time. Be good to each other. I'll see you in seven.

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This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.

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