The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is just days away. While it would have been great to see a new 3D (or even 2D) Super Mario game on Switch 2 to coincide, we’re instead being treated to the Meetup in Bellabel Park expansion for the excellent Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It’s available as a £16.99 upgrade or for £66.99 as a complete package.
Bellabel Park adds a bunch of new challenges, battles against the Koopalings, decorations to mess around with, and Rosalina as a playable character. Mouse controls for multiplayer co-op and a 4K resolution bump also feature. Early impressions are that it has more to offer than previously envisioned.
IGN awarded the expansion an 8/10. “Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s Switch 2 Edition adds essential improvements to an already excellent platformer, with great boss battles, difficult endgame challenges, and clever cooperative minigames, even if I wish it’d gone just a bit farther with some ideas to reach its full potential,” was their verdict.
SEGA’s also back with Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage, which adds a new single player mode, rollback netcode, and more training options. £15.99 seems very reasonable, and it’s great to see another competitive brawler on Switch 2. Now all we need is Tekken 8.
Another belated conversion due is Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the fantasy third-person adventure that sees headstrong lead Kena tackle a corruption spreading across the land. Think modern Zelda, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Immortals Fenyx Rising mashed into one and you’ll get the gist. We awarded the recent Xbox version an 8/10, although we did note that it takes a couple of hours to get going. Kena is being joined by the slightly newer The Midnight Walk, which has a Claymation aesthetic and was well received on PS5.
Three retro collections are poised for this week, too. Capcom’s Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection brings together seven DS instalments with online play, MARVEL MaXimum Collection offers a bunch of superhero games from the ‘90s including Konami’s revered X-Men arcade game, while Taito Milestones 4 features classics Syvalion, The Ninja Kids, Cameltry, and more. Technically Neopets: The Mega Mini Games Collection falls into this genre as well, featuring remasters of web-games once found on the Neopets site – along with one new mini-game.
From Arc System Works comes Damon and Baby – an explorative adventure with twin-stick shooting. Reviews are live and mostly positive. “Damon and Baby has some solid qualities, such as its core gameplay and narrative/setting, but its repetitiveness and confusing map design hold it back from reaching its full potential. I think a couple of additional mechanics and a couple of gameplay tweaks would go a long way for this one, as what’s there is decent, but could be better,” said Monster Vine.
NiS America’s new RPG Etrange Overlord – which has a dark comical tone and extra multiplayer modes – has been garnering attention too. “Etrange Overlord is a refreshingly original action JRPG that thrives on its charming cast, heartfelt storytelling, and playful tone, even as its simplistic combat and grind-heavy progression hold it back from true greatness,” said Noisy Pixel before handing out an 8.5.
Then there’s Acclaim’s rhythm based hacking sim GRIDbeat, Idea Factory’s side-scrolling RPG Ariana and the Elder Codex, the garden designer Grimoire Groves, video game studio management sim Mad Games Tycoon 2, the trinket tiding Trash Goblin, block breaking adventure Chico’s Rebound, and an EGGCONSOLE release of Take The A-Train – a management sim that’s still going strong today. In fact, there’s a new version for the Switch 2.
Lastly, this week’s Arcade Archives re-release is Namco’s racer Final Lap, an evolution of sorts of Pole Position, while the latest Console Archives re-release is the Famicom version of the 1985 shooter Terra Cresta. It’s frothy, man.
New Switch eShop releases
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage – £15.99 – Switch 2
The pioneer 3D fighting series continues to evolve as Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage arrives on Nintendo Switch™ 2!
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage takes the gameplay of Virtua Fighter 5 to new heights:
-Rollback Netcode and Cross-play support let you take on any challenger, anywhere, across the globe in the most intense battles yet.
-A brand-new single-player mode, “World Stage”: Challenge powerful rivals on a solo quest to become the ultimate fighter
-Enhanced replay functionality and improved training tools.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park – £66.99
Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park is playable only on Nintendo Switch 2. If the physical or virtual game card is inserted into a Nintendo Switch console, you can play the Nintendo Switch version of the game without any of the additional features exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
If you already own Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Nintendo Switch, you can purchase the upgrade pack to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection – £32.99
The Mega Man Star Force series, which expanded into an anime, is back in the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection with all seven games and additional features like a gallery of illustrations and music! Upgraded from the original version, online play is also supported!
It is the year 220X, and the world has seen rapid advancements in Wave technology. Our protagonist, 11-year-old Geo Stelar, refuses to go to school as he mourns the disappearance of his astronaut father.
One night, Geo is at the observatory gazing at stars as he usually does. Suddenly, his Transer picks up a signal from space and he is hit with a powerful electric shock!
The 80s were a simpler and more colorful time. Especially in the arcades! With the Taito Milestones 4 collection, you can transport yourself back to the era of hairspray, neon, and pixels, and experience ten games from a variety of genres. Whether you enjoy sports, martial arts, platformers, shoot ’em ups, or even blocks and balls, you’re guaranteed to find something magical here.
Étrange von Rosenburg is falsely accused of assassinating the king and is executed. Waking up in hell with no sweets in sight, she decides she’ll just have to take the whole place over! Experience this frenetic action RPG from creator Sohei Niikawa, featuring a unique revolving lane mechanic that sends items, buffs, and even characters circling around the map! Enjoy the gorgeous character designs by legendary illustrator Shinichiro Otsuka as Étrange and her allies ride, fight, and even sing their way across hell. The action-packed gameplay can even be enjoyed by up to 4 players in a high-octane multiplayer mode!
Kena: Bridge of Spirits – £35.99 – Switch 2
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a story-driven action adventure set in a charming world rich with exploration and fast-paced combat. Players find and grow a team of tiny spirit companions called the Rot, enhancing their abilities and creating new ways to manipulate the environment.
Kena, a young Spirit Guide, travels to an abandoned village in search of the sacred mountain shrine. She struggles to uncover the secrets of this forgotten community hidden in an overgrown forest where wandering spirits are trapped.
The Midnight Walk – £24.99 – Switch 2
Journey with Potboy along the twisted trail of The Midnight Walk. Work with your companion to outsmart fire-eating monsters, using his flame to distract while you hide from and evade the many threats of The Dark Itself. Encounter new friends and experience awe-inspiring sights as you navigate a path fraught with both peril and affirmation.
Experience a new type of action adventure, featuring a fusion between exploration within an expansive world and highly technical twin-stick shooting. At your home base, power up the demon king Damon and make purchases. During the exploration phase, defeat enemies to complete each area. The story progresses as you alternate between the two phases.
Ariana and the Elder Codex – £26.99
The Librarian Ariana’s mission is to repair the Seven Hero Codices, which have been altered. Due to the terrible damages, magic has vanished from the world.
By utilizing special Librarian magic that allows her to enter Codices, Ariana seeks to mend the books to bring back magic. Can Ariana safely repair each tome and unravel the mysteries hidden within the Library?
Social and economic conflicts have rocked the world. There is just one metropolis that can boast stability, but even this city only has enough resources to maintain a precarious balance of power. The authorities decided to create an algorithm that could build a perfect city for all segments of the population. This project gave birth to Iris, an artificial intelligence designed for building a utopia. Welcome to Technotopia! Build a perfect city You will have a deck of cards with buildings at your disposal.
Home to magical creatures and plants, the fabled Grimoire Groves should’ve been a haven for witches looking for a new home. But by the time they arrive, the forest spirits have disappeared and only a few plant creatures remain. But not all is lost. With a little hard work, investigation and magic, the witches might just restore the Grimoire Groves to the lush forest it once was!
In this hybrid strategy roguelite deck builder, you must protect your hero from hordes of enemies in a grid-based combat system. Prepare to fend off attacks from all directions as you remain stationary at the centre of the battlefield. Use your action cards wisely, strategically combining energy, cards, effects, and knowledge of your enemies to overcome the odds.
Prepare boba teas, serve customers, and expand your menu to attract more patrons.
You play as Risa, a woman who is tired of corporate life and has decided to chase her dream of opening a boba tea shop.
This is a psychological horror game that builds tension through an eerie atmosphere, unsettling events, and moments of intense scare when you least expect them.
This is a deck-building roguelike game. Combine and upgrade over 100 carefully designed spells to forge the ultimate magical power.
More than 50 unique enemies appear across a wide variety of stages. Choose your own battle strategy and cast powerful spells at just the right moment to fend off endless waves of foes!
Encounter unexpected events, decide between risky or safer paths, face different enemies, pick different cards, and discover powerful relics!
Primal Planet is a solo developed metroidvania that combines survival and crafting elements with a pixel-perfect aesthetic and an action-packed story, and it’s all taking place on a lush planet filled with dinosaurs.
“99% sweetness × 1% surprise”!?
“Hey, do you know the meaning of the four-leaf clover?”
A fully-voiced, youthful yuri visual novel you’ll fall in love with at first sight is coming to Nintendo Switch™!
In Mystic Explorer, you are no longer bound by a single blade! Through our unique “Multi-Weapon System,” you can command an entire arsenal simultaneously—from devastating melee strikes to barrages of missiles. Experience explosive combat as you lead your hunter squad through shifting mystic realms to defeat the ultimate Demon King!
In Shardpunk you’ve already lost. The Rat Swarm has breached the walls of The Capitol and flooded the city with its vermin horde. Now you need to run for your life while saving as many people and pieces of equipment as possible.
Put together a crew of survivors and use a range of steampunk weapons and bots to scavenge for resources, slow down the horde, and reach safety. Push through three districts with progressively more vicious enemies, rising emergency levels, and supplies that dry up like blood from a knife wound.
Keep on moving and use every skill and item at your disposal to reach the safety of fusion core-operated bunkers. From battle tactics to the most difficult decisions on who should receive the last medpack or rations, you’ll need to take charge and (hopefully) live with its consequences.
The Knights of the Cross – £12.99
The Knights of the Cross is an RPG card game adapted from The Knights of the Cross by Nobel Prize-winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz. You will play as the knight Zbyszko and embark on a medieval adventure. Recruit companions, build your deck, and help the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth battle the Teutonic Order in the epic Battle of Grunwald.
SHINONOME ABYSS The Maiden Exorcist – £12.79
Take on the challenge of escaping from endless haunted houses as shrine maiden Yono!
Following in the footsteps of her missing Onmyouji brother, shrine maiden Yono arrives at a terrifying mansion haunted by yokai and vengeful spirits called Mononoke. With limited items and traps at your disposal, you will need knowledge, experience, and courage to survive the endlessly-changing halls and rooms.
Make video games history!
Start in a tiny office in 1976, program pixelated dreams on clunky computers, and experience up close how audacious ideas become legendary blockbusters. Form visionary teams, survive flops and risk everything for the next big hit; the future of the industry is in your hands. Are you up to the task?
Get ready to mosh in Devil Jam, a survivor-like roguelite in the fiery depths of Hell. After signing a cursed contract with the Devil, you’re dragged to the underworld and forced to perform the gig of your afterlife. Armed with possessed instruments and a soul full of riffs, fight off endless waves of deranged fans, vicious mobs, and hellish rivals. Every run is a new jam session, with numerous challenges and a unique 12-slot inventory system offering near-infinite build variety. Master the combat, harness the power of metal, and rise to claim your place as the greatest metal icon, by defeating Death himself.
Work with your neighbours and the city council to improve your local community while you settle in to city life. Welcome to Garland, you’re gonna love it here!**
**Loving it not guaranteed.
The bell rings—but this isn’t your school anymore. The halls are cracked and rusted, the lights hum with static, and something cold stirs in the dark.
You wake in an empty classroom, desks overturned, blood smeared across the chalkboard. Somewhere down the corridor, a girl hums softly—a tune you almost remember. Her footsteps echo closer, calm… deliberate… patient.
Run through long-forgotten classrooms, the overgrown stadium, and science labs filled with broken glass and secrets best left unspoken. Find what binds you to this place before it finds you first.
Overpowered 2 – Crux of Fate – £2.69
Within these walls, your fate rests in the hands of luck. Overpowered 2 – Crux of Fate is a survival shooter where you’ll have to surround yourself with the most powerful weapons you can find in order to fend off relentless waves of enemy monsters! But as you will soon discover, in this arena your luck increases with each failed attempt, and your determination will ultimately be rewarded!
A small town in the far north goes about its life: preparing for the Festival of the New Star, decorating streets, celebrating. The festival is inseparable from a cycle that repeats month after month. And Sonya stands at its center.
She’s part of a story she’s still trying to understand. A kind girl with a sharp mind and countless questions, she searches for answers among snow and lights.
Sonya helps friends, makes new ones, explores hidden corners, fights spirits, and solves puzzles. She acts, hoping her actions will lead to understanding.
Homicipher, the language-deciphering x exploration adventure game in which you try to escape by deciphering the words of horror men, is coming!
Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey – £19.99
Neopets™: The Mega Mini Games Collection is a lovingly remastered collection of 26 fan-favourite mini-games from the golden age of Neopets! From collecting Doughnutfruits in Hasee Bounce, launching Kass in Kass Basher, or chasing Neggs in Meerca Chase, the magic of Neopets is back!
And introducing an all-new adventure: Starlight Symphony, starring Nyx in a dazzling musical quest through the stars!
Otome Daoshi -Fighting For Love- – £44.99
Welcome to Kayu, where every citizen, both man and woman, young and old alike, enjoy martial arts.
Living in that kingdom as a Daoist priestess in training, you made your way to the Tournament of Valor to root for your childhood friend.
A sudden attack during the Tournament of Valor forces you to protect your country and those you care about.
Fight alongside friend and foe alike to save your kingdom!
A heroine who has lost everything faces tragedy and discovers her way of life in a magical and suspense-filled Otome game.
Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom – £5.49
Embark on an epic adventure in Aarik And The Ruined Kingdom, a relaxing and family-friendly perspective puzzle game that blends heart warming storytelling with mind-bending challenges.
Cards Lie is a single-player social deduction experience inspired by timeless games of bluff and betrayal — reimagined in a gothic, Burton-esque world. Each card represents a villager or a demon. Flip, listen, and judge who tells the truth… or who’s leading you straight to hell.
Break blocks, grab powerups, solve puzzles, and beat bosses! When a mysterious tower appears in the forest, Chico the Chipmunk and his new friend Beeatrice decide to go exploring. In the tower they’ll find a whole host of block-breaking challenges, clever environmental puzzles, and secrets to be unraveled! How can a tower appear out of nowhere? The answers are waiting inside.
Distorted – The Living Manor – £4.99
Some places don’t stay the same.
In Distorted – The Living Manor, you are sent to investigate an old mansion rumoured to be haunted. Your task seems simple: enter the manor once per day, carefully inspect its rooms, and decide whether something supernatural has occurred.
At first, the house appears normal. Quiet. Almost welcoming.
But as days pass, subtle changes begin to appear — shadows where none should be, missing rooms, unsettling figures that vanish when approached.
Slide Viking: Treasure’s Path – £4.49
In Slide Viking: Treasure’s Path, you step into a charming Viking village filled with clever puzzles and personality. Controlling a fearless Viking, your mission is to push axes onto treasure chests, marking each one before claiming the hidden riches.
EGGCONSOLE TAKE THE A-TRAIN PC-8801 – £5.39
This simulation game was originally released by ARTDINK in 1986. While many fans today associate the series with urban development—laying tracks and transporting passengers or cargo to grow a city—the first TAKE THE A-TRAIN offers a slightly different experience. Your primary mission is to lay tracks to safely guide the Presidential Train to the final goal.
In this game, you are given a limited timeframe of one year. You must manage your railway company and earn sufficient funds while advancing the Presidential Train toward its destination. A single accident, running out of funds due to reckless management, or exceeding the 365-day limit will result in a Game Over.
The gameplay leans toward a puzzle-like challenge, requiring both strategic thinking and careful resource management. As a title that still commands high recognition today, why not take this opportunity to experience the true origin of the franchise?
Easy Delivery Co. is a relaxing driving game, with definitely no secrets. You’ve been hired as a delivery driver in a once-lively scenic mountain town now plagued with inhospitable weather. Make deliveries and uncover the story of the town’s not-at-all mysterious residents, all while earning well below minimum wage.
Trash Goblin is a wholesome and cosy shopkeeping game where you uncover and clean trinkets for sale! Customise them by upcycling and more to meet the eccentric requests of your endless colourful, customers. Spend your savings to upgrade your shop, buy new and better tools, and customise your space! There is no pressure, no risk, no right way to play – it is not a simulator – it’s just good vibes and nice customers to serve.
Five Hearts Under One Roof season2 – £25.99
“Looking for someone to run the boarding house once again!”
The FMV dating simulation [Five Hearts Under One Roof] returns with Season 2!
Step into the shoes of Yuman once again and run a love-filled boarding house alongside six charming heroines.
Take on the role of a futuristic soldier who must protect their city from mysterious alien attack, while at the same time capturing the heart of your sweetheart.
Plan your schedule of daily and nightly activities, manage resources like energy, health, items, money, and time, and build your relationships with each girl. Do battle with aliens!
Unlock 7 different romantic endings with each of 7 beautiful and fully-voiced heroines.
MARVEL MaXimum Collection – £TBA
Limited Run Games is proud to present one of the most comprehensive gatherings of Marvel’s early gaming legacy. Featuring every major iteration across Arcade, 8-bit, 16-bit, and portable consoles, this collection is a curated journey through the evolution of the 1990s Marvel Universe in pixels. It’s more than a game – it’s a piece of history, preserved with modern features and bonus content for the ultimate fan. Experience every pixelated punch, web-swing, and optic blast across multiple platforms.
We haven’t just picked a favorite version – every major console and arcade iteration is included. Whether you grew up with a controller in your hand or a roll of quarters in your pocket, the MARVEL MaXimum Collection is the ultimate tribute to the True Believers.
GRIDbeat! – £TBA
Dungeons! Danger! Rhythm Action! You just hacked into the biggest corporation in the world and stole an unfeasibly valuable amount of data, but getting in was the easy part. To get back out you’ll need to explore the Mainframe, solve puzzles, battle security programs… and do it all on the beat!
Next week: South of Midnight, Super Meat Boy 3D, Legacy of Kain: Ascendance, Go! Go! Mister Chickums, Goat Simulator 3, Darwin’s Paradox, Living Dead House, VECTORED, Magic Exposure 2, PULMO, ROGOLF, NubiaPhobia, Homura: The Crimson Warriors, and MotionRec.