Mario Kart World Direct Roundup

The Mario Kart World Direct has aired today and given us some more details about the game, though most of it was already deduced by the fans out there from the existing footage. For example, you could spot the Big Donut battle stage, which had soft-confirmed Battle Mode. But it's still nice to have an official confirmation on a number of things, including the possibility to play your classic three-lap courses in Versus Mode.

As a Zelda player, I'm naturally intrigued by the Free Roam mode with all the little secrets that you can find everywhere. The P-Switches are essentially like your Korok puzzles in this, but there are also special medallions to find and the ?-panels. We don't know yet what they will do, but it's not like I care about the reward with these things, as long as exploring the world is fun.

The drive-thoughs for unlocking outfits are also a nice idea. It looks like this will be based on the different courses and regions, where you can obtain Sushi and with it the Happi outfits around the new Japan-themed course, Cheep Cheep Falls. However, this will mean that you will have to go everywhere with all the characters in order to unlock all their outfits, which might be somewhat repetitive.

Also, that the outfitted characters are simply appended onto the character select screen is... far from ideal. Well, it's nice that characters in the same outfit are right next to each other, making it easy to see what you are still missing. But it will blow this out of proportion in the end, where it would be better if you were to select the character first and the outfit second, like in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

But it looks like Mario Kart World is truly getting the good stuff from Mario Kart Tour that didn't make it into the Booster Course Pass. This includes the "new" items, however, where additions like the Feather, the Hammer, the Ice Flower, or the Coin Box did already exist in previous games, mainly in Tour. It's still a novelty for everyone who hasn't played the mobile game (including myself), but only the Coin Shell and Kamek are truly new from what I can tell. And it's unfortunate for the latter, because he has just joined the fun only to be demoted to an item right away.

The most interesting change has to be the Charge Jump, however, which is activated by the drift button, but you charge it by going straight instead of drifting. This jump is then what lets you dodge attacks, grind on rails and even briefly drive on walls. The possibilities of this looked insane and this will add a lot of depth to the racing overall.

All in all, Mario Kart Tour looks great and like an absolute must-have for the Nintendo Switch 2. It won't make me buy the system at launch, though, where right now I'm not interested in becoming a "Nintendo Switch 2 Ambassador".

Also, on a side note, I find it interesting how Nintendo is pushing Rosalina as this snow princess, like it's their version of Elsa from Frozen. I do like her Aurora outfit, however, it's really beautiful.

Nintendo Music: The Legend of Zelda Added

If they keep adding Zelda titles to Nintendo Music at this rate, then we may see a complete collection at some point in 2026, during the 40th Anniversary. They could even use the anniversary as an excuse to add things like the 25th Anniversary Orchestral CD that came with Skyward Sword. I also expect the Tears of the Kingdom soundtrack to arrive in June, when they are releasing the Switch 2 update for the game and new amiibo.

Anyway, the original Hyrule Fantasy was just added with 12 tracks. It's very basic, where they probably should have added The Adventure of Link along with it, but still nice to have. And they have also added the Famicom version, which has some differences here and there, most notably the title theme, because the Famicon had a wavetable sound channel.

Age of Imprisonment – New Battle Mechanics

With the change to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Koei Tecmo had streamlined a number of things when compared to the first game. The magic system was removed in favor of more powerful Special Attacks. And the clunky item selection was replaced with holding down either the L and R buttons to quickly trigger the three different elemental rods, healing, or the four Sheikah Slate Runes, which could be accessed by all characters.

Needless to say that the Sheikah Slate abilities won't return here in the same way or at all. Maybe Purah could still use some of them with an enhanced Purah Pad, but that would be limited to one moveset. And the Zonai abilities just wouldn't work so universally for combat, where it's more likely that they will be woven into individual movesets as well.

We can already see this with Recall and Zelda, where all the sages will likely get to use the powers of their Secret Stones in combat. In addition, Rauru makes use of the Ultrahand to attack from a distance, while Mineru will probably have "Autobuild" as part of her moveset. Maybe she or another character could even use Ascend in a whacky way... And the Flail weapon from Pulse of the Ancients was essentially a prototype for how Fuse would function in a moveset.

However, Fuse is the only ability here that could work well for everyone and everything, but there probably would be some limitations. Maybe it's mainly used to infuse weapons with elements when you need them, which is where the replacement for the elemental rods come in. There are technically no rods as basic weapons in Tears of the Kingdom anymore, instead they are all the result from fusions. But it would make sense if instead you were given the different types of elemental fruits:

• Fire Fruit
• Ice Fruit
• Shock Fruit
• Splash Fruit
• Dazzlefruit
  

The elements felt somewhat underdeveloped in Age of Calamity, but with the sages they should become a lot more important, where their movesets will give you clear advantages in certain scenarios, e.g. using the Sage of Fire in the icy Hebra Mountains. But in order for the other characters to be still able to do something, you also get the elemental fruits, so you can throw fire on ice enemies and so on.

Potentially there could also be Bomb Flowers, Muddle Buds and the Puff Shrooms, so eight items in total, which could be selected in a basic item wheel. Holding down R lets you select something to throw and holding down L lets you select something to fuse, where your character's main weapon will gain a temporary elemental boost.

Food is not part of this eight-way wheel, because it wouldn't make sense to fuse any healing items, but that is a topic of its own. Food is tremendously overpowered in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, so much that it breaks these games. Age of Calamity then went with the extreme opposite, where you only get a bunch of apples that heal only a little. It made the game in its higher difficulties completely unforgiving, where maybe they will find a middle ground this time.

Finally, it also looks like there are going to be new specials, where you can join hands with other characters to do some cool combo attack. This idea really fits the symbolism of hands from Tears of the Kingdom very well and opens up many new possibilities, where it's interesting to experiment with different character combinations. This could work similar to the pairing system from Fire Emblem Warriors, where another character will escort you in battle and together you build up a "Dual Attack" gauge. Alternatively, this could simply be triggered by using your Special Attack close to another character.

Age of Imprisonment – Ancient Hyrule

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will let us visit the new Hyrule in its founding years, long before the Great Calamity first struck 10,000 years ago. And while there are some concerns about experiencing the same Hyrule for the fourth time, this could be actually quite exciting.

It already was interesting to see the Hyrule from 100 years ago in Age of Calamity, where places like Hyrule Castle, Hyrule Castle Town, various villages or the Great Plateau can be experienced before they get ruined (or while they get ruined), at least to some degree. But it was still the same Hyrule overall, where nothing much else has happened over the 100 years after the Guardians had laid everything to waste.

This will be very different in Age of Imprisonment, where we're looking at the late era of the Zonai and their culture. Hyrule Castle sits in the middle of the Great Plateau, next to a very different Temple of Time in the Garden of Time. And that's where most of the memories in Tears of the Kingdom have taken place. There are also some at the Forgotten Temple and of course the place where the final confrontation takes place, what eventually will become Ganondorf's sealing grounds. According to the Master Works book it is the Temple of Light, a place that never was fully seen in a Zelda game... so far.

What's also a mystery is pretty much everything else. The Goron, the Zora, the Rito, the Gerudo... we have yet to see how their homes have looked like in the ancient past. And just like Hyrule Castle, it's certain that these places will have looked very differently, offering you an entirely new experience. The overall geography of the map might be the same, but what can be found in this version could all be completely new. The team working on this game has a lot of creative freedom, simply because we have seen so little.

On top of that (or more on bottom) we also have the Depths, which were this huge mystery in Tears of the Kingdom that never really led anywhere. Maybe there will be some remediation to that, showing us more of the mining operations down there and maybe shining some light on what this place used to be. For example, we could learn more about the Bargainers. And maybe such insights may not be restricted to cutscenes this time...

If you watch the trailer closely, you will certainly notice one particular moment that stands out. It's where Zelda is following Queen Sonia and King Rauru through the Garden of Time, after she was found by the both of them. This is not a cutscene, so you're actively following them as the player. But this isn't your typical Warriors fighting scenario either.

It's too early to say and we have to wait for more material, but it's possible that this game will offer "interludes" in various places, where you can walk around and talk with people, just how the modern Fire Emblem games like to do it. You probably won't be able to freely explore the ancient in Hyrule in its entirety, but there could be a number of places that act as a "base", where you can interact with your allies in different ways – first and foremost the Great Plateau with the ancient Hyrule Castle and Temple of Time. But it's likely that such a thing will be also possible in Zora's Domain, for example, or the Forgotten Temple.

And if this was the case, then this would already offer a huge selling point over Age of Calamity. Imagine if you could have done this in that game. If you could walk around Hyrule Castle as Link, talk to Zelda and her father, and so on. This would have been amazing. Well, let's not jump to conclusions here, but it would certainly be interesting to look at the ancient Hyrule in other ways than just cutscenes and battle scenarios.

Age of Imprisonment – Potential Fighters

A new Hyrule Warriors game is currently in development, this time taking place during the Imprisoning War from Tears of the Kingdom. It's again a whole spin-off title dedicated to a single Zelda game, but we know from Age of Calamity that this isn't a hindrance, at least not with an open world Zelda of this scale, where at the end we had 21 slots filled with different playable fighters. And we already know of three to boot with:

• Zelda
• Rauru
• Mineru
  

Rest assured that they won't be alone, where there is plenty to work with. It is mainly an opportunity to shine some light on characters that we didn't really get to see much during the memories. The younger incarnations of Purah and Robbie, for example, got first made for Age of Calamity. And they also came up with a number of original characters, like Terrako and Sooga. Well, in case of Age of Imprisonment it's quite obvious who should be fleshed out: the rest of the sages.

We've never learned their names and never got to see their faces, which most likely will change here. And at least with their names we can make some educated guesses, because they are wearing masks resembling the future Divine Beasts, meaning that they are likely the sages these machines got named after. Though, the original intent was probably to name those after the corresponding sages in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, which got retconned with Tears of the Kingdom. And since Rauru is named Rauru, it's likely that the other sages got named after their classic counterparts as well:

• Darunia
• Ruto
• Nabooru
• Medlo (?)
  

Well, in case of Medli and Vah Medoh we can only guess how the Sage of Wind will be truly called, since their genders don't align. But I'm certain that the other sages will be named like in Ocarina of Time for the fan service alone.

Given that we strictly follow the events of the Imprisoning War, there isn't much else to work with, however. Queen Sonia's role in the story makes it difficult for her to become a playable character. Maybe we could have the Great Fairies as a support again, where it would be amazing to see them as younger versions, potentially.

It would also be interesting if this time we could play as the dragons, since they are quite important to the Zonai mythology – Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh. However, these would probably become this game's equivalent to the Divine Beasts, where you only get to play as them in select stages, which offer a larger scaled battlefield to traverse with them.

Otherwise we would already get in the territory of creating new characters, where there could be a new Korok, for example. Or they could dive into some other mysteries, like the Bargainers in the Depths or even the Ancient Hero as some bonus character. But that's pretty much it, unless... this Hyrule Warriors will allow you to be the villain again.

One of the most fun twists about the original Hyrule Warriors was that it allowed you to play as Ganondorf and take over Hyrule in the middle of the story, even if this part was only brief. Age of Calamity didn't have this, where all of the villain characters that you can play, like the two Yiga, eventually joined the forces of good in order to become playable. Koei Tecmo did get away with this, since the central villain of Breath of the Wild is this abstract force of evil, the Calamity Ganon. But they won't get away with not having a villain campaign when there's the fan favorite Ganondorf back, looking better than ever. It's an absolute must.

Well, Age of Calamity also introduced a new system, where the story chapters and side missions are all part of the same map, making it so that everything you do contributes to the same goal. But that could be easily solved by having two versions of the same map, one for good and one for evil. And this would add a number of possibilities:

• Ganondorf
• Phantom Ganon
• Twinrova
• Some unique Lynel
  

There is the question how they will handle Ganondorf's transformation into the Demon King, but maybe they could make this part of his moveset, similar to how Rhoam changes from a hobo to a king, or as a second weapon type, like with the Bow of Light for Zelda in Age of Calamity. In any case, it would not make sense to have two separate characters, except for Phantom Ganon, which is some remote entity that Ganondorf is able to create... as many times he wants. Of course with this character you want to be able to turn into the Gloom Spawn.

And that epic unicorn from hell has to be playable as well, though Hyrule Warriors has a history of not doing much with horses. Epona was only playable as one of Link's many weapon types in the first game, where she didn't see much utilization. And Age of Calamity had completely ignored horses altogether, even though they were quite important in Breath of the Wild and often seen in the memories.

Ideally, a horse or similar mounts is something that certain characters can summon at will. We also see Mineru riding on a Zonai wheel, though that's probably just her default "running" animation, but she could also summon something more sophisticated to move around even faster. Mounts could potentially also let you attack while you're speeding over the battlefield.

Anyway, as for Twinrova, you can actually see them in two of the memories, standing behind Ganondorf. They are adding to the list of masked characters, where we have yet to see their faces, but their golden masks have a gemstone on them, in their respective element's color, blue and red. Their outfits even have their names written on them in Hylian, Koume and Kotake, so that's yet another throwback to Ocarina of Time. If they are playable, they will probably be a duo character, similar to Robbie & Purah, where they can fuse into Twinrova at will.

One thing that people already wanted from Age of Calamity was a playable Lynel, and in a villain campaign this could become a reality. However, it should not be just any Lynel, just how Sooga was not just any Yiga Blademaster. It would have to be a special, named Lynel. This isn't a new idea, where I had called him "Lionel" in the past, but maybe this idea will finally become a reality.

With these additions, we're looking at around 13 characters in total, which isn't bad. That's the number of fighters the original Hyrule Warriors launched with. But it's still not on the same level as Age of Calamity and we will be kidding ourselves if we believe that this game won't include anyone from the future. That's just not going to happen.

The question is how it will happen. I've already gave an outline in my previous post, which does respect the events of the Imprisoning War and let's you play them as they happened in Tears of the Kingdom during the first half of the game. But then Zelda and her friends will mess up the timeline even more by going back into the past after the epilogue from Tears of the Kingdom. Alternatively, there could be projections of the heroes from the future that become playable, similar to the Vows, just more livelier. No matter how they do it, this will add – in the least – the following:

• Link
• Purah
• Sidon
• Riju
• Tulin
• Yunobo
• Mineru's Construct
  

One thing of importance here is that all these characters will get new movesets. While many of them were already playable in Age of Calamity, they can't just copy and paste them over. For example, Sidon will now fight with the actual Lightscale Trident and not with a pair of cheap Ceremonial Tridents. Or Riju will have two Scimitars of the Seven, instead of relying on Patricia (though, she could still be her mount if mounts are a thing).

Link might be the only one where he could play and behave mostly the same as in Age of Calamity, with the same three basic weapon types, but maybe they will mix things up as well, because it would be lame if everyone got new movesets except for the hero of Hyrule. And naturally Purah won't just be Robbie's sidekick this time, she has earned this much and her new design makes the fanbase go wild.

As for Mineru's Construct, the one we saw her using in the trailer for a special move was actually what will become the Seized Construct, not the one that Link later assembles. And it's likely that some Construct will be playable on its own, since the Constructs are somewhat important to the story. Age of Calamity had two playable Guardians, after all. And here it makes sense to use the most prominent one, which was already playable to a degree. It's even still there in the present, just dormant.

Of course, there are also other characters from the present that could make the cut. They could include Teba again, for example, or bring back Hestu, given that he didn't already exist tens of thousands of years ago. But if we're time traveling again, then this should only involve the main team, because it would have to be done on purpose. (Though, Tulin also somehow sneaked into the past together with his father the last time, but he wasn't playable.) The time travel would allow, however, to also let Queen Sonia join the cast, because her fate then wouldn't be sealed any longer. And maybe Master Kohga will also find his way into the past, so he can join the villains this time.

But with these characters from the present, we already have enough to easily compete with the amount of content Age of Calamity had in the end. And that's including the DLC characters, where ideally Age of Imprisonment will follow the example of its source material and be completely finished from the beginning. To be fair, it's not like the DLC for Age of Calamity was actually planned, it only came to be because of demand. But how they didn't anticipate the demand for Robbie, Purah and Sooga is still beyond me. So, let's hope that they won't repeat such mistakes and introduce Twinrova as some badass fighter, only to not have them playable at the end. Don't let anyone join Astor's club this time!

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment Announced

Let's finally talk about what's one of the biggest surprises from the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct last Wednesday, even though it probably doesn't qualify as news at this point any longer... But I wanted to save the most important topic on this blog for last – the upcoming Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment.

As you may know, I've always been enjoying the Hyrule Warriors games, where it's already been over a decade since the first title on the Wii U. And while playing Tears of the Kingdom it became apparent very quickly that what they had done with Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity could be easily repeated here. Again, you have a major conflict that unfolds in the distant past, where you only catch glimpses of it via memories. And this conflict is none other than the Imprisoning War, though it's technically not the Imprisoning War we know from A Link to the Past, but something very reminiscent in the rich history of the latest Hyrule. Still, it is a very important historic battle, taking place long before the events of the first Calamity from 10,000 years ago.

There's the one memory, called "The Demon King's Army", which plays in the late game and shows Ganondorf on a fierce horse, leading hundreds and thousands of his monsters into battle. And this was effectively just a commercial for the next Hyrule Warriors – they already knew when they were making this particular cutscene what it would convey. That this is something that the fans want to experience for themselves. So, it made all the sense to follow up on Tears of the Kingdom with this and here we are:

In my predictions about the Future of Zelda from early 2024 this was big on my list, where I expected this around 2026, which may even become true. Though, I honestly did not anticipate this to be revealed already, as one of the first exclusive games to come to the Nintendo Switch 2 within its first year.

But Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was the game that made me finally buy a Nintendo Switch back in 2020 (after years of waiting for a Zelda edition of the console), so it's only poetic that its successor will likely get me to buy the Nintendo Switch 2. At least this will be happening much sooner this time, because I honestly regret having waited that long with the Switch.

That being said... it looks like the game is running like garbage again. The only aspect of the gameplay in the trailer that tells me that this is in fact a Nintendo Switch 2 game is the sheer amount of enemies. This goes far beyond anything what Age of Calamity was able to pull off and it's very impressive how they were able to translate the tremendous mass of monsters we saw in the Demon's King Army memory into a Warriors game. But I probably would have prioritized performance, because the biggest point of criticism about Age of Calamity was its poor frame rate, where Age of Imprisonment doesn't seem to run any better.

To be fair, the footage was in 4k and there will probably be a performance mode to target a higher frame rate. Maybe things will even get somewhat optimized in the next months, before the game is released. And hopefully they will also update Age of Calamity while they are it, so you can finally enjoy playing it with stable 60FPS.

There is another valid concern and that is how the story will unfold, which is the other problem many people had with Age of Calamity. In its early marketing it looked like we were going to experience a bold new Warriors game that dared to explore one of Hyrule's darkest chapters, the Great Calamity, where the kingdom will ultimately fall to ruin. But that was not what we were getting, instead the game used time travel to unfold an alternate turn of events.

And while it was disappointing, it was also understandable to a degree. They probably didn't want to make a game where all your efforts are in vain, where you lose your fighters and everything ends in a disaster. And naturally they also wanted to make the descendants of the Champions playable – especially Sidon and Riju were big fan favorites that you couldn't just leave out in a Warriors game all about Breath of the Wild. And to be fair, the roster of 21 playable characters (technically even 25) left very little to desire at the end. You have to give them that.

Now, with Age of Imprisonment they are dealing with a backstory that actually ends on a win. The Imprisoning War ends with Rauru and his Sages successfully sealing Ganondorf. And this leads into the events of Tears of the Kingdom. From a story perspective there is really no need to alter the events with even more time traveling...

However, this would cut the roster quite short. We have seen three playable characters so far with Zelda, Rauru and Mineru. The other sages will certainly become playable as well, so that's seven in total, only a third of what Age of Calamity had to offer. Sonia is sadly out of question if they respect the canonical events. Maybe Ganondorf and some of his minions (like Twinrova) will become playable this time in a villain campaign. Maybe they will bring back both the Great Fairies and Hestu, because they have been around for eternities. That would add some more, but it still couldn't compete with the previous title.

But like with Age of Calamity they won't dismiss the descendants. Sidon, Riju, Yunobo and Tulin will most likely become playable as well. They are even getting new amiibo this year, so there is no way that they are going to leave them out of this game. And Link, of course. As much as everyone enjoys the recent spotlight on Princess Zelda, where this will be another big chance for her to shine, Link has to join the fun eventually. The question is how they will pull it off, while respecting the events of the Imprisoning War...

One idea would be to pick up from the epilogue of Tears of the Kingdom, where Princess Zelda asks Link, Purah and the sage descendants to stand with her in order to keep the peace in Hyrule for all time. Well, she probably didn't mean it so literally, but maybe they will find a way to use her time powers to go back into the past and support Rauru in his battle. Well, this would create yet another alternate timeline, but who's counting at this point? (It's three. Three timelines, just like the classic Hyrule.)

So, the game would start with Zelda arriving in the past. Then you would play the events of the Imprisoning War as you know them from Tears of the Kingdom. But after the finale the game's second half unfolds, where Zelda and her team return to the past and alter the timeline, which unlocks many more characters to play as (potentially even Sonia).

I think that this would be the best approach. And overall there is a lot of potential with the ancient Hyrule, because there is so much we have yet to see there, where this will be very exciting. But let's talk more about that in upcoming posts...

Breath of the Wild – Improvements Needed from Tears of the Kingdom

On June 5th both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will receive major updates that allow them to be played with nicer graphics, better performance and additional features on the Nintendo Switch 2 (see here). In case of Breath of the Wild we will be looking at version 1.7.0.

Well, we're talking about Nintendo here, where it's rare that they are fixing their games once they are released, unless we're dealing with critical issues. But they do it from time to time, so there are the occasional updates for your quality of life needs... And the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a great chance to bring over a number of such improvements that were introduced with Tears of the Kingdom, where they had learned from their mistakes in Breath of the Wild.

Of course, we would have heard of such improvements by now if there were any, since Nintendo invited the press to play many of the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 games. So, this is likely another missed opportunity to do one or more of the following:

• When using the quick select you can now sort and drop your weapons, bows and shields
  
• Whenever you can't take an item out of a treasure chest, because your inventory is full, it displays the quick select to let drop something and make room.
• The Travel Medaillon can now be upgraded at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, so that you may place up to three of them at the same time.
• The armor inventory limit has been increased to 150.
• The Sheikah Sensor now has a height pitch, making it easier to track things in a vertical space.
• There are no glitched treasure chests any longer that cannot be accessed.
  
• When you touch the ground after gliding, riding, swimming or boating for a longer period of time, randomly spawning foes won't appear instantly any longer.
• Not all Lynels will evolve into the silver / golden tier, so you can still get all their pictures and weapon tiers at the end.
  

This is all some minor stuff, really, but it made Tears of the Kingdom more enjoyable overall, where it would be a shame if Breath of the Wild never saw the same level of polishing.

 

There are also some bigger things that they could change or add, but this is really entering true remaster territory. It starts with the main menu, where the vertical inventories allow for a much quicker navigation.

And they should also add Sticky Frogs, Sticky Elixirs and the Froggy Armor, which always has been one of the most-wanted features for the game. Climbing in the rain wasn't the big game changer in Tears of the Kingdom, because the Zonai vehicle stuff lets you traverse terrain easily, but this addition would see a lot of use in Breath of the Wild. Another much desired feature was the Recipe Book, giving you a nice overview of everything you can cook and also an incentive to really try out all the different ingredients.

There also could be the more sophisticated sky diving mechanic, even though you wouldn't be able to utilize it as much. And finally, a remaster should add some additional shrines to offer more warp points. The Rito Stable, Kara Kara Bazaar and Deplian Badlands immediately come to mind here, where all of these areas got shrines in Tears of the Kingdom.

Tears of the Kingdom – Sages amiibo Announced

Also amongst all the news last week was the reveal that they will be making more amiibo for Tears of the Kingdom, which are also going to be released on June 5th, together with the Nintendo Switch 2 and the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game. There will be four new amiibo at once, of the four Sages Riju, Sidon, Tulin and Yunobo.

This is very reminiscent of when they had released the four Champion amiibo for Breath of the Wild, about a month before the Champions' Ballad DLC pack. Only that this is happening much later. But Tears of the Kingdom never got such a DLC phase, where it returned to the spotlight, so I suppose the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade is that DLC phase, where they use the chance to market the game even further.

The amiibo will unlock new paraglider fabrics, like all others before them. And I'm certain that they will also work with the upcoming Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment in some form. In addition, an amiibo of Mineru's Construct is planned for a later date, where I suppose this will be a bigger one and maybe you can even bend the arms, like with the Guardian amiibo.

So, at the end Tears of the Kingdom will have eight amiibo in total, which is almost as much as the nine for Breath of the Wild. They made sure that the game is in no way treated inferior to its popular predecessor... Except for the lack of a Master Mode.

Correction on the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions

Yesterday I've made some posts about the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, claiming that the upgrade packs will only be included as download codes. This apparently came from the UK customer service and I instantly believed it, because this sounded like a Nintendo thing to do in the current economics. But there is actually some conflicting information about this (see NintendoLife), where we have yet to get some clarification.

The other answer, also coming from Nintendo Support, states that the upgrade pack contents are indeed included on the card, but you will still be able to play these Nintendo Switch 2 Editions on a Nintendo Switch, just without the enhancements.

If the upgrade packs were to be included on the cards and ideally also the latest version of the games, then owning the physical Nintendo Switch 2 Editions would be quite desirable in the long run. I prefer to have as much on cartridge as possible to not be dependent on the eShop and downloads.

I have updated the previous posts accordingly. Sorry for the misleading information!

Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Editions Announced

Last year we had some rumors that Nintendo might be working on a new version of Breath of the Wild for the Nintendo Switch 2. Not only turned this out to be true, but they are also going to release an enhanced version of Tears of the Kingdom at the same time, as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition program. You can watch a full overview trailer on Youtube, which wasn't featured in the Nintendo Direct, and these editions will launch together with the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th.

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" and "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition." That's quite a mouthful. I would have called these "2nd Edition" if it weren't for the fact that this is the third version of Breath of the Wild, counting the one on Wii U, which already had less features than the Switch version.

Anyway, those are not full-fledged remasters. Like with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, these are the same old Nintendo Switch games with some graphical updates installed on top of them. They don't go into any specifics here, only mentioning higher resolutions and frame rates, as well as HDR support, but I suppose it will be similar to Metroid Prime 4 (either 120FPS or 4k in 60FPS). They also have improved the texture quality for Breath of the Wild and the load times of both games are now much faster.

In addition, both games will now support a second save file, which comes with the usual number of automatic and manual save data entries. This will allow you to start a new game without losing your old data or using a second user profile on your system, which is handy. Your old save data will also carry over. Plus, it sounds like you will technically be able to continue on your adventure on an old Nintendo Switch after playing on the Switch 2, but the data in the second save data slot won't be accessible in that case.

If you have the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, then you will get access to these updates for free, as long as you stay subscribed. So, this will work similar to DLCs like the Booster Course Pass or Happy Home Paradise, where the access to them can be revoked. We've seen that there is going to be a new version of Breath of the Wild, version 1.7.0, which enables all this and may only be offered on Nintendo Switch 2. Version 1.6.0 was already exclusive to the Switch and never made it onto the Wii U (it contained the VR feature).

There has yet to be a confirmation on this, but it looks like the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Breath of the Wild won't come with the DLC on the card. At least the box or the website doesn't mention anything about the DLC (Update: the site even warns about in-game purchases). Curiously, there have been editions of the game that also came with the DLC on card, so this would feel like a rip-off if it were true, because you would still have to pay more for Breath of the Wild than Tears of the Kingdom if you want the full experience.

 

ZELDA NOTES

There is an additional aspect here and this is the new "Zelda Notes" app, which is similar to the NookLink app for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You will be able to access it via the existing Nintendo Switch Online app.

This offers a variety of new features for both games, some of which are useless gimmicks, but others are actually quite interesting. The not-so-interesting stuff is an amiibo boost, where you can scan any amiibo a second time per day after using it five times. You can also edit your screenshots in the Photo Studio. And there is an Item Sharing feature, which seems to be the spiritual successor to the Tag Mode from Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, where you can trade consumable items and weapons with your friends.

The Autobuild Sharing is probably more interesting, because this lets you turn your builds into a QR code, which then can be scanned and transferred into the game by other players. This is really nice to have and makes we wish that Link's Awakening will be added to the Zelda Notes app at a later date, because this would be awesome for sharing Chamber Dungeons.

Then there's the Play Data, which keeps track on a number of statistic and even features a set of medals that you can earn based on them. So, both games are now basically getting achievements, the uncreative kind. I'm mostly curious about how this will behave in relation to your existing save data. Both games do track a number of hidden statistics, mainly in relation to the level scaling system, and maybe everything this new play data needs is already there. It would be very unsatisfying if the hundreds of hours I have put into both games were for nothing with these play statistics.

Many players are not even done with their existing playthroughs, but maybe the Navigation app will help with finally getting to the 100%. It's essentially like all the fan-made guide maps out there, or apps like the Breath / Tears Companion. So, this isn't anything new, but the main advantage is that this can be connected to your game, so the apps knows what things you have already found and what you still need to discovers. It's very convenient and absolutely perfect for finding your last missing shrines or Korok Seeds.

For those who have already completed the game or aren't as interested in collecting golden poops, there are also the Voice Memories, offering a new experience. These play special diary entries in certain locations, featuring Princess Zelda, King Rauru and even Master Kohga. However, these are not an actual part of the game – you have to visit the corresponding locations in the game and the app will then play the voice entries. It's a bit weird and disconnected, which reminds me of the Tingle Tuner in The Wind Waker. There you also had these little story segments happening on your Game Boy Advance, but with nothing visible in the game. It's weird. Still, this might be the most worthwhile addition and a good reason to revisit all these locations, where it looks like there will be a lot of them.

My Thoughts & Plans

Overall, these new editions make a lot of sense. They could have gone with completely new remasters of these two games and they certainly would have sold well, where in case of Breath of the Wild I also had a number of ideas how to improve the game while they are at it. And some of that may still make it into the upcoming update... (More on that later.)

But I also dreaded the idea of there already being a third version of the game, while I haven't even started Master Mode on the Nintendo Switch yet. Turns out that this is actually a good thing, because when I now replay this massive title for the fourth time, I will be able to do so with better frame rate, nicer graphics, and some new features, which is a great incentive. Collecting all 900 Koroks again will also be easier with Zelda Notes.

But I'm not sure I ever want to replay Tears of the Kingdom, unless there is a major remaster, which gives you a new experience. This game was just too much for me. I will check out the new Voice Memories in any case, which should work in the existing save files, and then let's see how these new medals will work. Luckily, I will be able to play the upgraded versions right away, once I have a Nintendo Switch 2, with the NSO Expansion Pack. Though, in the long run it makes sense to purchase the upgrade packs or even the physical editions, so you don't require the subscription. I also own the Booster Course Pass and Happy Home Paradise...

Anyway, these upgrades also makes sense when you're looking outside the bubble of the Zelda fandom. Even inside the Zelda community the number of players who have fully completed both games is quite low, mainly due to the Korok Seeds. And the more "casual" players are either still in the middle of playing these games or have lost interest at some point, because it was all too much. And these people were certainly taken into consideration when making these new versions of both games, not just the fans. Being able to pick up from where you've left off in 4k graphics and with additional guidance certainly sounds appealing.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond ~ Full Beginning

During the Treehouse Live stream on Thursday there was one segment dedicated to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Here they play the full beginning of the game, which features everything seen in the announcement trailer from last year, up to the point where you first encounter Sylux. And this is giving us a number of new insights to the game, starting with the story introduction:

It is the cosmic year 20X9.

Determined to defeat Samus and the Galactic Federation, Sylux and his army of Space Pirates launched a series of attacks on Federation Research Facilities.

It is believed that the Space Pirates are being controlled by Metroids that have the ability to fuse with other life-forms and control their minds.

Now, on Planet Tanamaar in the Desolan System, another Federation Research Facility is being attacked.

Galactic Federation HQ received their distress call and dispatched Samus, who was on a reconnaissance mission nearby.

So, this right away confirmed what we saw in the Nintendo Direct from last week: Metroids now are fusing with enemies, which is a thing with different bosses in this game. The first one is Aberax, reminiscent of the first Berserker Lord encounter in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but with some Mogenar mixed in for an overall tougher battle.

Anyway, the Galactic Federation has found a mysterious artifact somewhere in the Desolan system, which is the thing that you can see in the game's logo and also what Sylux is after. He shoots the artifact and this causes some gigantic eruption, swallowing Samus and everyone around her, in fact most of the research facility.

What happens next, that we don't know, but we can make some educated guesses. Right in the middle of this tutorial section there is this gigantic mecha getting controlled by a soldier, which – unlike those in Federation Force – is actually threatening and impressive. This mecha also gets swallowed by the artifact's burst and in the Viewros footage from last week we could spot it hanging in the trees:

So, what seemed like another crashed ship actually comes from the research facility seen in the intro. However, it looks like it all has been there for quite some time, meaning that Samus arrives on Viewros long after everyone and everything else.

It's an interesting premise and also gives Sylux the chance to grow as a villain, should he also arrive before Samus. In the intro he gets knocked over by a single charged shot and this is to be expected, since he is canonically about as strong as Samus in her most basic suit, which gets portrayed quite accurately here.

The threat mainly comes from him partnering with Metroids that are controlling Space Pirates. And you have to respect a villain, who isn't some grotesque force of nature, like the Metroid, the X, or Phazon, and therefore really tries his hardest to overcome both Samus and the Galactic Federation with some evil schemes. I'm curious to see where this will lead and how they will utilize him as a villain.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond ~ Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Announced

In the latest Nintendo Direct we got introduced to the concept of "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" games. A variety of Nintendo Switch games will see updates to enhance performance, increase resolutions, and enable the new sharing feature on the Nintendo Switch 2, where most of them will be free. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, however, require you to purchase an "upgrade pack", but they will also come with improved graphics and new features.

The first line of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games include Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pokémon Legends Z-A, and... Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Some of these will even feature additional contents, like the Star-Crossed World for Kirby, but in case of Metroid Prime 4 this is primarily about the controls.

The game will support the mouse-functionality of the new Joy-Cons to offer a new control method. And it even does so seamlessly, so you can play with the pointer controls and as soon as you put down the right Joy-Con's side on a surface you will be able to utilize the mouse aiming. That's really cool!

Otherwise, the game will run in 120FPS, twice as much as on the Nintendo Switch. Or you can alternatively play in 4K. Both modes also support HDR in addition for even prettier visuals.

This sounds great, so there should be no good reason to go for the Nintendo Switch version, right? Well... there is a catch: the atrocious boxes. Here are the ones for Metroid Prime 4 in comparison (the different size of the boxes is just a guess, but the Switch 2 ones will be larger in a similar dimension to the consoles):

 

I'd say that the Nintendo Switch versions are actually more desirable. They take away less space and the covers are much cleaner. The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition looks like one of those empty boxes that only include a download code.

And that might be partially even true. There is conflicting information about this, but we don't know for sure yet whether these upgrade packs will be included on the cards or as download codes. If it's the latter, then there will be no real value in owning the physical versions of the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions over the normal ones....

Well, in my case, I won't get a Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, so I will likely play Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on my current Switch anyway and then upgrade it later. The enhanced visuals are very nice, but I can also appreciate what Retro Studios was able to achieve on the old Nintendo Switch. It's very impressive. And when I replay the game later on, like in a harder difficulty, I can do so on the Nintendo Switch 2 with even nicer graphics.

Nintendo GameCube on Nintendo Switch Online

The Nintendo Switch 2 opens the doors to additional libraries of classic games, where the Nintendo GameCube will be the first. Technically, it was already possible to emulate GameCube and Wii games on the Nintendo Switch, as proven by the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, but probably not within the online environment, which is a crucial part of this.

Anyway, only four games will be available at the start, but half of these are interesting for Zelda fans. There is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker finally making it on the Switch, just not in the form everyone wanted. Maybe this is the reason why Nintendo has not yet released a port of The Wind Waker HD yet, but they also had released a Game Boy library with Link's Awakening DX after producing the remake of Link's Awakening, so this may not be a deciding factor. These online libraries simply offer a cheaper alternative, where now it doesn't look like we'll be getting back the two Zelda HD remasters from the Wii U anytime soon... or ever.

The other title is SoulCalibur II, starring Link. I loved this game on the GameCube and I might even play it again on the Switch 2 with this, but I was always hoping for its remaster on a Nintendo system with Link, which didn't happen. And I suppose this will be a common pattern with GameCube and Wii games. Luigi's Mansion? Nice to have, but I would prefer a remaster to complete the trilogy. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? Nice to have, but I would prefer a remaster (and complete the trilogy).

However, there is one game I would never expect to be remastered, because it's just such an odd creation. In fact, this GameCube online library is the only real chance I ever saw for a return of this title – The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. It requires such a unique setup, where each player has his or her own screen with a Game Boy Advance, that this made it difficult to return on new hardware. Maybe on a Nintendo 3DS it could have worked, but instead of going through the trouble of porting Four Swords Adventures over, it probably was the better – or at least the more interesting – choice to make a completely new multiplayer Zelda game instead, with Tri Force Heroes.

But this is it, this is where Four Swords Adventures can finally return. Playing this game in multiplayer will be easily possible with the online connectivity, just like it was with Four Swords last year. And the integrated voice chat of the Switch 2 will make things even more convenient. However, Im curious to see how they will handle the whole GBA connectivity. Will this be supported in The Wind Waker? If not, you won't be able to get Knuckle's figurine and the Tingle statues...

What's finally supported is button remapping and it even allows doing so per title. They will also add this functionality to the Nintendo 64 library, together with the rewind feature, but only on Nintendo Switch 2. This is something I wanted from the beginning and is very important to have, because the default button mapping is not always ideal. Hopefully they will also make this happen in the other libraries, no matter how arbitrary it may seem. The Select button, for example, can be quite important in some NES games, like The Adventure of Link or Metroid, but isn't very comfortable to use via the ⊖ button.

Donkey Kong Bananza – The Free Digging Game

The big gameplay gimmick of Donkey Kong Bananza is going to be his ability to freely tear through the ground. You can punch tunnels and fully explore the underground below you, like Minecraft on steroids. This has caught my attention, because this a mechanic I expected to see in an upcoming Zelda game.

In the developer interviews for Tears of the Kingdom, it was revealed that Aonuma wanted the player to dig underground in Breath of the Wild, which the developers didn't want to implement. This led to the caves in Tears of the Kingdom, but those won't let you dig freely. There are designated chunks of rubble that you can clear out, which makes exploring the caves more like a chore than some satisfying discovery.

After I was finished with Tears of the Kingdom, I kept thinking about what the next the open world Zelda could do to be more fun. I was going to write some of these ideas down on this blog, but sadly I didn't find the time yet... And one of them was to bring back the transformation into the different species, just in an open world setting. You would be able to freely explore the skies and the oceans as a Rito and a Zora respectively, once you've obtained the ability to turn into them. And for a Goron I thought it would make the most sense to bring back this digging idea from Aonuma. Let the player mine through the ground wherever they want to discover underground caves.

But looks like they've given this idea to Donkey Kong instead, he's even a miner now in this game. And don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to see new takes on classic characters. Nintendo shines with fresh ideas and this is something completely new for the Donkey Kong franchise, but it also feels like a great fit. And the whole digging mechanic looks like a lot of fun.

At the same time I'm a bit disappointed that I'm not looking at Goron Link doing all this. Of course, this doesn't have to be exclusive to Donkey Kong, there still could be a Zelda game in the future with a similar ability. Just not in the near future...

 

Mario Kart World Introduced

Since the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible and they are also offering enhanced versions of Switch games for the new system, everything that comes out on the Switch 2 will have to compete with what's in the existing Switch library. In case of a new Mario Kart, it will have to compete with the popular Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and its 96 courses, which is a tall task.

The best way to do so is by making the game more unique and also offering an experience that wouldn't have been possible with the Nintendo Switch. Mario Kart World tries to achieve this by turning this into an open world racing game, where the main courses are all part of an interconnected world. In addition, your kart will now transform into a boat when on water or into a plane when flying, instead of driving underwater or utilizing a glider. Nothing of this is innovative, since there have been a number of racing games set in a gigantic free-roam environment, like Need for Speed Underground 2, The Crew series, the Forza Horizon series and more. And the vehicle transformations are straight out of Diddy Kong Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

It is something new for Mario Kart, however, and it will certainly make it distinct from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It's also of note how the selection of retro courses really aims at the stuff that has been missing in the previous title, including most of the more popular tracks from Mario Kart Tour that didn't make the cut for the Booster Course Pass:

• N64 Koopa Troopa Beach
• N64 Wario Stadium
• GCN Dino Dino Jungle
• DS DK Pass
  
• DS Airship Fortress
• Wii Toad Factory
• 3DS Shy Guy Bazaar
• 3DS Wario Shipyard
  

There always was speculation that they might leave out some of these courses in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe purposefully and it looks like this was on the money. I personally didn't see it as a hindrance, because the iterations from Mario Kart Tour will be vastly different in the end, since anything in Mario Kart World will have to be much wider and spacier to offer enough room for the 24 combatants... But of course it makes these courses feel fresher if they haven't appeared in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe already.

From what we have seen so far, there are 29 courses on the world map and there will be seven cups with four courses each. This makes one course an orphan somehow, unless there is a cup with five courses in total. However, some courses may be used twice with different routes, like all the cities from Mario Kart Tour, and there also will probably be an eighth cup, the Special Cup, which is going to feature the traditional Rainbow Road somewhere.

And all these courses are connected, where the parts in between may even resemble or contain other classic race tracks. But that's also where I see the greatest weakness of Mario Kart World so far. Each cup begins with your usual three-lap course, but then you will be driving to the next course, which works like a sectioned track, similar to Mount Wario or Wuhu Island. Laps 1 and 2 are the road to the next course and lap 3 is the course itself. So, you're only going one lap on the other courses in a cup, which cuts this very short. It detracts from the actual courses and the roads between the courses feel like a lot of filler, where you're also just following a line. Not a straight line, but still a line.

It adds a lot more variety to the cups, that's for sure, and nearing a course also looks quite impressive, where they are the clear highlights in this open world environment. So, it's certainly a new experience for Mario Kart, but it also feels watered down. You spend so much time going towards these highlights, these landmarks, but then only have a very short race on them. It's like a cup is now 50% meaningless filler.

The courses look like they will loop normally, however, so I suppose that you can still get the traditional Mario Kart experience when playing custom cups in Versus Mode, probably also when playing online. I tend to play the normal cups in singleplayer only for as long as it takes me to get all starts, so I suppose it will be fine. This flow also works very well for the new Knockout Tour, which is basically like F-Zero 99 ("Mario Kart 24"), where it's really cool that this makes you go from one end of the map to the next over six courses.

Another important topic are the drivers and karts. And I love how unanimously the internet reacts to the cow being a playable character now with "Oh, now I need to get this game. Screw the open world or the graphics, I want playable moo moo." Well, I'm personally more hyped for the penguin, but generally I'm loving how they are going all-in with the character additions. Finally, there is a playable Goomba in Mario Kart! And they are doing some really outlandish stuff, like the Coin Coffers from Super Mario 3D Land.

Character costumes are also a thing and it looks like you will be unlocking them via food items while racing through the world. Many of the outfits are returning from Mario Kart Tour and Super Mario Odyssey, which is lovely. And maybe you have to drive with the corresponding characters through certain areas in order to obtain them, which gives you a reason to explore more.

There even seems to be a connection between the playable characters and the courses. For example, we have the cow and Moo Moo Meadows. Or you have the Cataquack and Peach Beach. You get Pokeys and Desert Hills. Most of these also acted as obstacles in the courses in question. So, maybe you will unlock the characters by visiting all these courses and recruiting them as new drivers, which would be a nice change.

However, with all these odd additions it will be hard to swallow any missing characters at the end. We have yet to see the Koopalings, for example. Ad the other Kongs are also absent again, though here it's understandable, because they are basing Donkey Kong on his new Bananza design. And maybe they don't want to go for redesigns of Diddy Kong and the others just yet. But this makes it all the more tragic that Dixie Kong didn't make the cut into the Booster Course Pass.

As for karts and bikes, we are back to choosing individual vehicles, instead of parts, like it was in Mario Kart Wii. So no more kart customization. While this allows less freedom and will miss creative combinations, it does have its merits. Whenever I play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with friends or family, who aren't all too familiar with the game, the kart selection process tends to take forever, because there too many options and too many variables. This will simplify things. It also allows the comeback of stranger vehicles, like something that has chain wheels. In one part of the trailer we could see Rosalina riding a snow mobile, for example, which wouldn't have been possible in Mario Kart 7 or 8.

On April 17th we will get a Nintendo Direct for the game, which will probably teach us everything we want to know. But I'm also curious how the game will handle DLC, since Mario Kart has proven to be a game that is the perfect candidate for additional contents.

Maybe this is where all the crossover stuff will go into... again. I could see them making a second world map, where all the other Nintendo franchises have their home, maybe as individual islands. One island could be Hyrule, and there could be Wuhu Island as a whole on the map, maybe neighboring an Animal Crossing: New Horizons resort. If you're unlocking characters on a course-basis this would make all the more sense. But that's just a thought, I'm also fine with them focusing on getting as much crazy Mario stuff into Mario Kart World as possible.