25th Anniversary of Animal Crossing

Nintendo is being weird today, because they are celebrating one of their anniversaries on point. On April 14th 2001, Dōbutsu no Mori was released in Japan for the Nintendo 64, which would later be known as "Animal Crossing". The series has a long crossover history with The Legend of Zelda, where earlier this year we got the 3.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Tulin and Mineru as new villagers, as well as various Zelda items.

Today we got a new update (version 3.0.2), which adds a postcard themed after the original game, as well as the "Leaf Statue" item, which serves as a lamp. They've also added the first game's soundtrack to Nintendo Music. It's certainly nothing amazing, but better than nothing

Still, this will make many people wonder what happened to the 40th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, which Nintendo has yet to acknowledge in any way or form. But keep in mind that this is normal... at least when it comes to the Zelda anniversaries.

The main difference is that Nintendo has never done any extensive anniversary campaigns for Animal Crossing. It was just another artwork for the 20th Anniversary, for example. The only two series where Nintendo has done extensive campaigns are Super Mario and Zelda (Pokémon is handled by the Pokémon Company). And Zelda always has to wait a little, so it doesn't clash with Super Mario's.

But the Super Mario Galaxy Movie is in the cinemas now and we will get Yoshi and the Mysterious Book next month, so we're getting there. Expect to hear about the Zelda anniversary in a Nintendo Direct in June. And in the meantime, go play some Animal Crossing. It's chill.

Tears of the Kingdom – Secrets of the Zonai (Art and Histories Book) Announced

It's happening after all. The Master Works artbook for Tears of the Kingdom was released in Japan back in 2024 and Dark Horse has announced that they are going to publish the English version this year, on October 20th. This piece of news came yesterday and somehow flew under my radar, so this isn't some April Fool's joke.

 

They are also going to release a "Hero's Edition" with some goodies, which is similar to the one for Creating a Champion. I really liked that one, so I might be getting it as well, even though this looks like a cheap knock-off. That basic artwork of the Sages simply doesn't have the same class as the photo of the Champions. And a map of the Depths isn't all that exciting, because there is nothing in the Depths. But I appreciate the idea of mirroring the previous Hero's Edition, and the Secret Stone collectible is a actually an upgrade.

Mario Kart World: Bob-omb Blast Added

Whether this was by accident or on purpose, Nintendo had teased us with the return of Bob-omb Blast in Mario Kart World earlier this month. Back then I said that we shouldn't necessarily expect more than this and today they indeed released an update, version 1.6.0, which primarily gave us this mode. There are also some balance changes, but Bob-omb Blast is the main attraction here.

And I'm happy to have it back. This is the best thing that came out of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and has always been my favorite Battle Mode... mode. You certainly want to use the "Frantic" item option for this one, so you always have the double item boxes for that enjoyable explosion spamming. Overall, this is more similar to the version from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, so you have balloons, you won't see anyone holding stacks of bombs, and so on.

It's a fantastic addition, but it doesn't make up for the lack of dedicated battle courses. There are only two of them and only one of those is actually fun to play (Big Donut), where as a result even Bob-omb Blast gets boring quickly. That's one of the biggest complaints I have about Mario Kart World – that they didn't use the space between courses for more Battle Mode goodness. And with the exception of Dino Dino Jungle, I find the modified race tracks too large. I can race around DK Pass for a minute without running into any opponents... And that's lame.

Maze Island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

One of the big new features in version 3.0 of Animal Crossing: New Horizons were the "Slumber Islands", where you can create up to three in three different sizes. They let you freely design without the limitations of your actual island, which is perfect to realize ideas that otherwise would have been too large or inconvenient. And one of the ideas I had was recreating an island from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

The Dodolint Chronicles II

It's been two and a half years since I had posted my Dodolint Chronicles and during these two and a half years I have kept playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons more or less regularly. For a while it slowed down to only once per week, but since the announcement of the 3.0 update I went back to playing on a daily basis, in an attempt to finish my vision of a Zelda-themed island. So, let's have a look of how this has been going...

The Ocarina of Time Remake Again

NateTheHate has doubled down on an Ocarina of Time remake for 2026 in a podcast today, stating that this will truly be a remake and not just a remaster of the 3DS remake. And now this seems all but confirmed to the internet.

Well, it's what everybody and their mother wants to hear. Conveniently, he is also now talking about a new Star Fox game, right after Fox McCloud was announced to appear in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie for some reason. And I think that's the whole logic behind these so-called leaks. "They are putting Fox in the new Mario movie, so it makes sense for there to be a new Star Fox, right? They have released an Ocarina of Time LEGO set, so it makes sense to get a remake of Ocarina of Time, right? Why else would Nintendo do these things...?"

Maybe there is some wishful thinking in it as well. If you have the status of Nate, where a lot of Nintendo fans and video game journalist can't wait to hear your gospel, then you can throw out your predictions or your wishlist disguised as insider information. People will hear whatever you have in mind and then keep asking about those titles, which creates demand. And maybe one day Nintendo will actually give us the Ocarina of Time remake that everyone has been talking about for years...

I'm not claiming that it's truly like that, nor am I saying that a new Star Fox game or an Ocarina of Time remake are in no way possible for 2026. I'm just saying that we should be careful with such "leaks", because they have been often wrong in the past, which includes the stuff from Nate. Last year he claimed that we will be getting Kirby: Planet Robobot for the Nintendo Switch and I'm still waiting for that to happen... He is a reliable source for Nintendo Direct dates, though.

As for the actual likelihood of an Ocarina of Time remake, I keep saying the same thing: there is the big question mark of the developers. Who is going to remake the game? Who? Hmm? But so far none of the supposed leakers and insiders have said anything to answer this question. A good-looking remake for the Switch 2 will be quite the effort, so this isn't something that Nintendo or GREZZO will have done as a small side project.

So, either they have a different studio to take on this job, where this would require a huge amount of trust from Nintendo, or it's all just overblown speculation at this point.

Likewise, it's always a red flag when people talk about a new 3D Mario when we have just gotten Donkey Kong Bananza from the 3D Mario team last year. To be fair, Nate says that it's not happening this year, but this is after claiming that there will be a 3D Mario ready for Christmas 2026. And now he makes it sound like they have postponed this to 2027, but either way this is very questionable information.

Nintendo Music: Super Metroid Added

This is one of those titles that should have been in the Nintendo Music app from the very beginning, or at least added early on. An absolute classic. Super Metroid took a huge step in defining the Metroid series for what it still is today, where some of its music has been reinterpreted again and again, first and foremost the Ridley battle theme. It's certainly the Link to the Past of Metroid.

The music and overall atmosphere made me an instant fan when I had first experienced Super Metroid back in 2008, making me want to play all other Metroid games right after. But there is a certain charm about the old Sony soundchips that never could be quite matched, for better or worse.

Anyway, we got the three most important Metroid games in the library now: Metroid, Super Metroid and Metroid Prime. In addition, there is Metroid II and a sample of the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond soundtrack. You can still see Nintendo advertising the latter on social media on a regular basis, where hopefully this will lead to the complete soundtrack soon. And I expect Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to become another Nintendo Switch Online double release of both the game and its music.