Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Update 3.0 Impressions

In November 2021 the 2.0 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released and said to be the last major one. Luckily, four years later Nintendo has changed their mind about it and added a variety of new features alongside a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition for the game. This includes a collaboration with The Legend of Zelda, so let's take a look together!

 

The Legend of Zelda x amiibo 

Let's actually start with the Zelda stuff, though pretty much all of it was shown in the announcement already. The only thing that hasn't appeared in the official footage was the Heart, which can be picked up in the same style as the Rupee(s).

It's generally a lot of fun to fully change into either Link or Zelda with a wink of your shiny new Tri Rod. I've never been 100% happy with the dress-up options in this game, even though there is quite a lot, but now I'm content. This is all I will need going forward. Well, it would have been nice if there was a second variant for Princess Zelda, like her appearance from the classic games or even Echoes of Wisdom, but what we have is lovely.

The interactions with the different items are also really neat. The Triforce makes the intro sound from A Link to the Past, the Goddess Statues bring their signature glow and you can wake up the Decayed Guardian. You can also "collect" the Rupees and Hearts, where it's a lot of fun to create some (secret) trails with them on your island. The Rupees can even be customized into six different colors (green, blue, red, purple, silver and gold), while the Goddess Statue has adorned variants based on Kakariko, Goron City and Rito Village.

Sadly, the treasure chest did not return, where it also could have had different variants from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Instead, the Master Sword will play the typical key item melody when you touch it... It also would have been nice if there were a second set of wall and floor, e.g. one based on the Sheikah Shrines. This would have been a great fit for designing indoor environments.

But the largest omission are certainly the Zelda villagers who are not returning from New Leaf. Both Mineru and Tulin feel quite special with their designs and are fantastic additions to the game, where I was quick to add  them to my island. However, I could have a whole Kakariko Village filled with characters from the Zelda franchise if Nintendo wasn't so selective about this.

A good excuse would have been if the recent additions introduced new personality subtypes, a C-type so to say, where they get special dialogues revolving around their respective franchises. Mineru and Tulin could have forever talked about Hyrule, the Demon King and Secret Stones, for example. But that's not the case, where instead they both got the plain A-type and act like any other villager in the game.

To be fair, their designs are quite sophisticated and detailed, e.g. Mineru actually opens her third eye whenever she is surprised, which certainly has surprised me the first time. But otherwise we're looking at low effort implementations, where they could have done the same for Epona and friends. It's just that then they really would have needed more floors and walls based on Zelda to make their houses more distinct from each other.

 

Quality of Life

What has been a real treat are some of the smaller improvements, especially everything revolving around the storage and crafting. Not only can you have up to 9000 items now stored away, it will automatically take items from your storage when you're crafting things on your island. This frees up almost 25% of your inventory, because you now can just keep the different crafting materials, like wood and stone, in the storage, instead of always carrying some around.

And yeah, there is the new batch crafting functionality as well, where both of this probably only got added for the new hotel DIY deliveries. You can even now buy 50 Customization Kits at once and they also can be used from your storage, where customized items will score you a few extra hotel tickets. These are all good improvements, but it feels like Nintendo was purely concerned about crafting things for the hotel and nothing else, because there are plenty of other things in this game that could use some streamlining.

And the new megaphone, which is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, is absolutely horrible. It rarely ever works, where it just calls Kapp'n most of the time for some reason. Maybe he's the fallback, but why would they make a character who always sits in the same place the fallback? And when the characters are inside buildings, they won't respond anyway, so it won't help you with villagers lost inside the museum. At least the loading times on Switch 2 are faster, so a restart (which resets your villager's positions) isn't as annoying as it used to be.

 

The Hotel

Your residents won't be the only ones lost on your island after this update. Easily the biggest change comes with the new hotel, which is ran by Kapp'n's family. At least now when he's sitting at your dock all day long, he's basically home...

This is a smaller version of the paid Happy Home Paradise expansion, except that this is properly integrated into the actual game and has a real impact on your island. In the expansion you were making these vacation homes for individual characters and there was no real reason to ever revisit them once you're done. It was its own little cosmos, where your villagers can appear on your island and in the resort basically at the same time...

But the hotel and its rooms, of which there are eight fixed ones in total, become essentially a part of your main island. As a result tourists will now arrive as guests, in addition to the rare person on the campsite. And unlike the campers they will freely wander around, where they even can go into shops and the museum, which completely changes the feel of your island, which used to be a fairly exclusive place. It now truly becomes a resort, whether you like it or not.

You can also visit the tourists in their rooms, which gives you an incentive to actually make these rooms look nice. However, without the Happy Home Paradise DLC you will be missing a number of design options. This isn't just about items, like the partition or the pillars, because you won't be able to change the size of the room or their soundscape, for example. And this makes the hotel feel like another hook to get you into buying the expansion if you hadn't already.

Luckily, it doesn't seem like you can make a bad job here. The Happy Home Paradise had this awkward scoring system, where you have to spend at least 20 minutes designing a home. That's not the case here, so you can just quickly throw something together and get your 200 or 300 hotel tickets out of it. 

And then there is the question whether you even want any of this to begin with. Maybe you have a themed island and carefully curated villagers, where you don't want any tourists running around. In that case your only option is to forever ignore the hotel, which will lock you out of many of the new furniture items, including the retro Nintendo systems.

At least you can provide your unwelcomed guests with clothing matching your island. In my case I went with the outfits of Tulin and Mineru combined with Majora's Mask and Tri. Both headpieces glow in the dark, which make them quite the eyecatcher.

But there also isn't really much to do with these tourists. If you happen to run into one of their former residents, they will remember you for some heartfelt moments. Tourists that have visited your island before will also remember you, where you can learn the names of everyone over time. But here's a missed opportunity by not letting you do more.

First of all, they only ever stay for a single day, which certainly should have been longer to make it seem like they are actually on a vacation and not just some randomized game feature. It especially makes putting any effort into the VIP rooms completely pointless, because you will be designing them for a single night. It would have been much more realistic and dynamic if the tourists were staying for a random number of days, arriving only when there are free rooms.

And if the tourists were to stay longer, this could have allowed the player to form a bond with them, maybe even in the form of some activities, like different games. At the end of their vacation they then could send you a letter with their photo as their thanks. Now, that would be truly engaging! I have never considered collecting the photos of all possible villagers as a realistic goal, but if it was working like this, then I would certainly attempt it and have a reason to play much more from now.

 

Retro Gaming

As a reward for doing all the stuff around the hotel you can order some new furniture items, as well as a series of new special items around Nintendo. These include the NES, Super NES and Game Boy, which even let you play a game on them, just like in the classic Animal Crossing games.

However, this is by far the biggest disappoint in this entire update. There is only one given game for each system and it's probably not the one you would pick. The NES lets you play Ice Climbers, for example, yikes...

No Awakening for Link here

And despite this massive limitation, they still had the audacity to ask for a Nintendo Switch Online membership in order to start them... Plus, the systems only really cover the basic subscription and not even all of that. There is no GBA, no N64 and no GameCube for you to enjoy here. In the very least they could have added a Game Boy Pocket and Color.

I'm not expecting them to give you access to the entire library here, but they could have made this a bit more playful. You should be able to customize the systems to swap their cartridge from a selection of eight different games. Let me pick The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, please.

 

Slumber Islands

The other big new feature next to the hotel is the ability to create your own dream islands. They are just not called "dream islands", because that was already a thing to share your main island at any time. But it uses the same entry point: any bed, where you will be greeted by Luna in your dreams, who will guide you the whole thing.

You get save slots for three additional islands, which you can delete and restart at any time. You can pick between three sizes: small, medium and large. The small one has the size of the little islands that you can reach via Nook Miles and large is the same size as your main island. You're also given one of four different patterns for how the Slumber Island can look like.

And then you're free to change the landscape and decorate as you please, where you can use anything from your catalog (making cataloguing everything quite valuable) and even summon any villager you ever had before on your island. Your house will also be there, which can be fully changed and redecorated from scratch.

This is huge... at least to me. Over the years I had a couple of ideas of what I could do with my island, but which would have turned into a massive waste of space. One of those ideas always has been making a gallery of all the insect and fish models, which I have all collected as one of my previous goals in this game, only to put them into my storage at the end. But there is simply not enough space to display them all on my island, especially since I like to keep things more practical and gameplay-oriented.

However, here I can now design a whole insect and fish island and take all the space I'll need for this. Sadly, you can't invite special characters to these dream islands via amiibo, so that I could have invited C.J. and Flick.

Another idea I had was recreating some island from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, because the Nintendo DS Zelda games feel quite similar to New Horizons with how the landscapes are structured and with how you move around. For example, you can jump across gaps on elevations. That basically invites you to remake something for the fun of it. And the best candidate seemed to be Maze Island, because it's square-shaped and only uses simple elements, while the idea itself isn't a stranger to Animal Crossing either. Of course you wouldn't want your main island to be a maze, but it's the perfect thing to built for one of your Slumber Islands. So... that's what I did:

It took me a whole Sunday and getting this right came with some frustrations, but I had fun in the process and I'm proud of the end result. I will show this off in greater detail at a later point, together with my updated main island.

The Slumber Islands are also great for simply prototyping. Maybe you have an idea for a change on your island, but you want to see how it looks first before you invest the time, effort and Bells to make it happen on your real island. 

 

Wishes for Further Updates

The golden rule of Nintendo is always to leave something to be desired. And should they eventually give their customers what they desire, this shall still leave new things to be desired. It has always been like that... But they are not completely deaf to feedback and maybe we will be getting a version 3.1 in the near future, which may address some of the aforementioned issues:

• Let tourists stay longer and give us new interactions to obtain their photos.
• Let the player decide whether tourists are allowed on their island or not. 
• Expand the Legend of Zelda collaboration to bring back Epona, Ganon, Medli and Wolf Link as villagers and the Treasure Chest, Princess Zelda Dress and Wig as items, plus the Sheikah Shrine Wall and Floor as new items.
• Expand the Splatoon collaboration to bring back Inkwell and the Spawn Point.
• Let the players swap the games of the NES, Super NES, Famicom, Super Famicom and Game Boy systems via customization.
• Add Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube.
• Allow to summon characters to Slumber Islands via amiibo. 

Those are really just small suggestions that would make the recent additions a bit more wholesome and polished.

Nintendo Switch 2: Potential Game Upgrades with Content

Nintendo has released a free update for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, which not only upgrades the game for the Nintendo Switch 2, but also adds some new features, like a playable Dixie Kong and the new Turbo Attack mode. The nice thing is that these additions are found on the original Nintendo Switch as well. During the first wave of free Switch game updates back in June there hasn't been anything like this, where the closest thing was the new Echo favorite functionality in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

If there were any new contents or big new features, it was usually tied to a "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition", which costs some extra money. In case of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, however, the Switch 2 Edition takes a backseat to the big 3.0 update, which brings a lot of new things on the table, even to players who are still on the Nintendo Switch.

This is a welcome shift and makes you think about what other games could see a similar treatment: upgrade them for the new hardware while offering something new to enjoy on both generations. So, here are some ideas where I would like to see this happen...

 

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

It's a no-brainer. They could add the Turbo Attack mode to bring it on the same page as Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, but they should try to make it more fun... Forever Entertainment may even be working on this as we speak, because they clearly took Dixie out of Tropical Freeze, which means that they have been touching the sequel.

 

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

If Koei Tecmo were to update one of the older Hyrule Warriors games, then Age of Calamity should have priority, because it really needs this for the performance alone. A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the game got already discussed on this blog last year, so let's keep this brief. But there is certainly some potential for some smaller content additions to both versions of the game, like Zelda's Royal Attire outfit or re-obtaining any special weapons. Or they could make things a bit more interesting by adding Astor as a playable character.

 

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition

As already mentioned, this should get in line after Age of Calamity. Nevertheless, it would be nice to see this updated to 4K as well. The game already supports full HD resolution on the Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode by accident, which is interesting.

Compared to its successors the game feels quite outdated, however, where it's questionable that Koei Tecmo would bother with adding new contents. But if they did, this would be the perfect opportunity to finally fill that 30th character slot after 10 years. Of course, adding a new character isn't as "trivial" as in the newer games, because they should get missions in Adventure Mode for all their upgrades.

One idea could be Zelda & Tri from Echoes of Wisdom, where you also get a small, new Adventure Map based on the game with rifts and different Echoes as Item Cards. This could be lovely and maybe also a nice gesture for the 40th Anniversary. But this is a very unlikely scenario, especially when people are still asking for a playable Ganondorf in Age of Imprisonment... And they should rather focus on that.

 

Metroid Prime Remastered

This should bring it to the same level as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, supporting the same visual modes and Joy-Con mouse controls. But this is also the perfect opportunity to finally bring back the Fusion Suit, which hasn't been available in the remaster for some reason...

 

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

They should just do the exact same thing as Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and finally add Dixie Kong as a playable character. Well, Sora was a good final character and new characters would also require them to make more amiibo, but apparently Nintendo will be going wild with amiibo this year anyway.

And the recent developments have pushed the doors wide open for some new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate contents. Masahiro Sakurai and his team at Bandai Namco have only just released Kirby Air Riders. So, even if the man was willing to make another Smash Bros. in his lifetime, it would take years for this new game to be finished. And like with Animal Crossing, it makes sense to offer something in the meantime, where a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of the previous title is in order.

For such a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition they could introduce a new game mode, which is more hardware-hungry and therefore wouldn't have been possible on the Switch. Maybe something akin to Smash Run from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, but bigger. After all, it was based on City Trial, which was a big deal in Air Riders. But that's just an example...

In any case, additions like fighters and stages should be done for both the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 versions, so they stay compatible in online play. I wouldn't expect anything major from this, like a whole third Fighters Pass, simply because the big additions will be saved for the next Smash Bros. game. But they could give us some free additions of characters in established franchises, which may even include new Echo Fighters (Hilda from A Link Between Worlds would be lovely).

Actually, Echo Fighters might be the way to go here, because they would allow for some easy additions, while technically keeping Sora as the last numbered fighter. They could even make Dixie Kong happen as an echo of Diddy. And maybe they will bring back some of the missing stages, like Woolly World (in celebration of Yoshi in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie):

They would be filling some gaps, while creating player retention during the launch of a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. It's the exact same strategy as with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and makes perfect sense for this year.

Metroid Prime 4 – Start of the Sylux Saga

There is a new interview with Metroid Prime series producer, Kensuke Tanabe, and in this interview he confirms a number of things. First of all, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was indeed meant to be the first game in a whole saga around Sylux, which explains why he is still taking a backseat for the most part. When talking about Metroid Prime 5, I speculated as much.

However, while Tanabe has worked towards this setup for a very long time, he is now also retiring from his job and Metroid Prime 4 is the last game he will have worked on for Nintendo. A whole era is coming to an end here, but maybe that's for the best. The Metroid Prime Trilogy will always be remembered as one of the best video game trilogies of all time, where Tanabe played a major role in shaping it. But with Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond he pursued rather questionable ideas, obsessed with the Galactic Federation and a mystery villain.

Well, he started this whole "Sylux Saga" and now it's someone else's turn to finish it, where Risa Tabata will take over his role. She has worked as an assistant producer on all Metroid Prime games (except for Hunters) and will finally step up into the producer role, which is very exciting. Let's see what she will bring on the table in cooperation with Retro Studios.

 

Source: Nintendo Dream via NintendoEverything / ResetEra 

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD – Free Update Released

This came out of nowhere. Today, one year after its release, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has received a significant update, which enhances its resolution on the Nintendo Switch 2 and even adds Game Share for the cooperative multiplayer mode. But that's not all, it comes with new features and improvements that can also be enjoyed on the Nintendo Switch still.

First of all, it fixes a number of issues that came with either the Nintendo 3DS version, which then carried over into the HD remaster, or with the remaster itself. These are missing details, like the sunset in the background of certain levels, or that the bounce boxes of enemies were immediately disappearing, which made the coop mode borderline unplayable in some areas. The final boss still hasn't gotten its blob shadow back, however, which used to be an important mark... So, it's technically still not the ultimate edition of the game, but it's getting very close.

Anyway, the most important addition is that of Dixie Kong. Well, she was basically ripped out of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and works pretty much the same way, including the rotating barrels, but this is a very cool addition nevertheless.

You can even use her in Classic Mode, even though it was meant to strictly recreate the harder Wii experience. And Dixie Kong can make the game easier with her helicopter hair, which increases the height of your jumps. In Tropical Freeze she even made Diddy Kong pretty much obsolete... However, this game was not made with her in mind, so in some levels it might be still better to go with Diddy, because otherwise you will be jumping into some spikes on the ceiling.

Nevertheless, this makes me a bit sad that I already had 200% completed the remaster last year when it came out, because Dixie Kong would have added some much needed novelty to the game. Now, there is also the new Turbo Attack mode to play, which doubles the game's speed and brings its own percentage rating on your save file. But I don't think that I'm going to bother with it, much like I have never bothered with the Time Trial mode.

Playing the levels at increased speed feels very clunky because of Donkey Kong's heavy weight, but it is an interesting challenge nevertheless. And if this was all that Turbo Attack was about, then I would be playing this game from start to finish yet again this weekend... But they also based it on the horrible Time Trial mode and ask you to beat certain times again.

It is the exact same mode, simply sped up and with the clock now ticking down. And I'm not sure who was asking for this. The Time Trials have always been flawed, because the clock keeps running when you die. In order to get the best time, you will have to manually restart after each single death, but then it actually loads the whole level again.

At least the loading times have been decreased down to a quarter on the Nintendo Switch 2, so the Time Trial mode is now somewhat bearable. But the concept is still broken by design, where the checkpoints are also completely useless. The Lonely Mountains series shows how this should be done: before the first checkpoint it resets the timer, just so the players don't feel the need to restart, and dying after a checkpoint only adds a small penalty.

Well, you can still play the new Turbo Attack mode for the Silver Medals, ignoring the time goal, but imagine how it would feel if Mirror Mode also asked you to do it fast and only gave you an ugly mirror whenever you don't meet the allotted time... I hate this obsession with speed running in the gaming culture, where beating a tough game isn't enough anymore – you also have to do it fast and perfectly in order to truly complete things. So, one mode for this paradigm was already more than enough.

It's also getting annoying when developers feel the need to add an even harder mode to their games just to artificially lengthen it. You've fully completed everything and it felt great, you've cleared the game from your backlog and are ready to play something else, but suddenly the game has moved its goalpost even further. Metroid Dread and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment would be examples of this. 

One good thing to say about both timed modes is that they will let you choose a barrel type. So, if you want to play the levels with Dixie Kong, because she lets you potentially skip whole sections, then you don't have to wait for the right barrel. That's a smart decision.

All in all, it still makes you hope that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will follow up shortly and also get a free upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2. Maybe a Turbo Attack mode there could be handled a bit more nicely.

This update also answered a lingering question I had about all those remasters with "HD" in the title. The Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword HD, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD... If you bring them onto the Nintendo Switch 2, those should technically have to be renamed into "4K". But apparently not. I suppose the title still indicates that this was originally made for HD resolutions and now they have simply upscaled it.

Nintendo Music: Phantom Hourglass Added

It's been a while since the latest Zelda addition to the Nintendo Music app. And they are not exactly ending the silence with a banger, because The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has probably the weakest soundtrack in the series, right next to Four Swords.

There are a few standouts within those 80 tracks, like Linebeck's theme, but the rest of it either borrows from The Wind Waker or is quite minimalist. The worst offender is that cavern interior music, which plays the same five notes in a loop.

Still, I've always had a soft spot for the game and actually liked it more than its successor, Spirit Tracks. But the second Nintendo DS Zelda game certainly had the better soundtrack, there is no denying that. Maybe we will be getting this next month? Overall, I'm hoping that they will get back to a monthly streak and bring a lot more Zelda goodness over the course of the 40th Anniversary, like Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom.

LEGO: Ocarina of Time – The Final Battle Revealed

We knew that this was going to happen for a while, but this Friday Nintendo and LEGO have revealed their latest collaboration around The Legend of Zelda. This new set will focus exclusively on Ocarina of Time, depicting the game's final battle exactly as you would remember it – with Link leaping high through the air and Zelda shooting her laser pistol.

To be fair, I think the set is actually quite neat. Ganon looks impressive and you can change its pose like with an action figure. There are three custom mini-figures, where there is also one for Ganondorf, who you can hide under the rubble:

The price points looks to be even more expensive than the Deku Tree set, however. That one had 2500 pieces for 300€, while the new one offers 1003 pieces for 130€. There is probably some special stuff in there, like Ganon's blades, but I'm no expert on the matter and LEGO is generally known to be overpriced. In any case, I have yet to buy any of the LEGO stuff around Zelda and I'm not sure I ever will, mainly because I wouldn't know where to display it.

The animated trailer for this set had me thinking that they might also make a LEGO game based on the Zelda license in the future. There would even be lots of potential here if they were to explore the entire Zelda series, like they did with the newest LEGO Batman game, Legacy of the Dark Knight. It's not necessarily something I want, but I also wouldn't be opposed to it.

My Nintendo Switch Year 2025

Yesterday Nintendo has made your play statistics for 2025 available, which is about a month later than in the last years. But that's actually a very good thing because now these statistics include the month of December, which they hadn't before, potentially creating a significant gap. In this case Metroid Prime 4: Beyond wouldn't have appeared at all...

Anyway, out of those 21 games that I've played, nine come from the Nintendo Switch Online offerings, which I often just play for the Platinum Points, so that really leaves twelve. And two games I had only launched because I wanted to quickly check something out. These were Echoes of Wisdom for the updates with the favorites back in June and Age of Calamity, where I wanted to get a sense for how it feels to return to it after Age of Imprisonment. So, that leaves ten games that saw some proper dedication. And these are the top three:

Unsurprisingly, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is my most-played Nintendo game of the year. It could have been Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Editions, which I was playing in preparation, but then came Hollow Knight: Silksong (which I didn't play on Switch). I've only done about a third of the Adventure Mode, so there is still a lot of time that I can and eventually will sink into this game again.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons also saw some more commitment later in the year, because I was preparing for the 3.0 update. (By the way, Nintendo has already released it today, one day early again.) I was adding all the villagers I wanted to have in the end, before Tulin and Mineru arrive, and trying to get their photos. So, I was back to playing it on a daily basis, as opposed to only once per week. And this will continue in early 2025.

The overview now offers your play time data for your most-played game each month, which makes it a bit easier to compile a list for the rest, though the hours aren't fully accurate:

1. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (110 hours)
2. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (72 hours)
3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (53 hours)
4. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (53 hours)
5. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (31 hours) 
6. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (30 hours)
7. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (20 hours) 

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker were my main games in the first half of the year. Due to some other hobby project, I wasn't playing much on my Nintendo Switch at the time – for less than an hour per day on average.

In the above graph you can also clearly tell when I was playing the three most important games for me in the year: Silksong, Age of Imprisonment and Metroid Prime 4. Silksong left a gap in September and October, where I was only doing my weekly Animal Crossing rounds. And at the end of October I got my Nintendo Switch 2, where I was also playing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in early November to check out their Nintendo Switch 2 Editions and collect all the voice memories.

And I already have too many plans for this year... Currently I'm still playing Mario Kart World and afterwards I finally want to experience Super Mario Odyssey for the first time. But I'd also love to replay a number of recent Nintendo games in their harder/hardest difficulties: Echoes of Wisdom, Age of Imprisonment and Metroid Prime 4. And I also want to play through Silksong again and prepare for its upcoming DLC, while Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition wants to be continued as well. It's a lot of time with games that I have already beaten, but they are all worth the extra round.

Fortunately, I have a feeling that 2026 won't bring as many must-play titles for me as 2025 did. Maybe there will be a Zelda remake, where I'm hoping for the Oracle games, and maybe some DLC for Mario Kart World, but I don't expect to be busy with new games for hundreds of hours. And that would be completely fine...

Mario Kart World DLC Ideas

If there's one game in Nintendo's current lineup that is practically begging to receive DLC, whether it's free or paid, then it's Mario Kart World. However, since everything is now part of an open world, this won't be as trivial as adding waves of new courses, which is probably why it's taking so long for Nintendo to announce something.

But it's easy to get ideas nevertheless, where mine will be split into two parts. First, there will be a set of free updates, which are aiming to enhance the current world of Mario Kart World in different ways. Second, there will be an Expansion Pass, which is going to add new islands with courses all around the existing world.

 

Free Updates

These should accompany the paid DLC and make more out of what's already in the existing game. And you don't have to be a creative genius to come up with something here, because the gaps are more or less obvious.

• 200cc mode
• Reverse courses
• Custom Knockout Tours
• New Battle Mode types
• More drivers and outfits 
• More music 

The biggest omission right now is easily 200cc, where it feels like most of the game was made with it in mind. Well, that's likely due to how the total number of racers has doubled to 24, making it necessary to widen all the courses, and due to all the long intermissions, where you never really have to take sharp turns. But it will feel like a natural addition nevertheless.

What's already possible is driving certain courses backwards, since they had to be built this way for the open world. And you can actively play races on some of them by picking the right intermissions in VS mode. Now, Nintendo could make more out of this by adding course variants (like Dino Dino Jungle R), so you can also play a three-lap race on them.

And the Knockout Tour really could use an equivalent to the VS mode, where you will vote for six connected courses one after another, which then will lead to a custom rally through the world. This seems simple enough, but will add infinitely more value to this mode than just having the same eight routes.

Battle Mode on the other hand is so bare bones that it needs some solid additions. Bob-omb Blast and Shine Thief should return from Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and 8 Deluxe as additional types. And they should really add some more courses dedicated to this mode, where they could fill some open spaces in the world with them, e.g. adding the traditional Block Fort on some field near Mario Circuit. Others could be added via new lands in the paid DLC, but we'll get to that...

When it comes to new drivers, there is also a lot already in the game which could be repurposed for the Kamek transformations. And there is a particular group of characters which hasn't returned from Mario Kart 8 for some reason, so here is a first list:

• Lemmy, Larry, Wendy, Ludwig, Iggy, Roy & Morton
• Dry Bowser
• Fire, Ice and Boomerang Bro
• Fire, Frost and Bone Piranha Plant
• Snow Pokey 
• Bully, Spiny & Skeeter
• Kamek 

The Koopalings and Dry Bowser could be rewards for scoring 1st place in each of the 200cc Knockout Tour rallies. Most of the other additions are just regional variants of the existing monster drivers, e.g. the Hammer Bro, but there could also be some new ones, like the Spiny. Finally, once you have unlocked all transformations, Kamek himself should become playable.

As for new outfits, there is so much stuff still left from Mario Kart Tour (see the Mario Wiki), it's offending. Even if they said that they wanted to match certain themes, there still would be a lot of open stuff, e.g. Daisy's Farmer and Yukata outfits. They could make a whole "Booster Outfit Pass" out of this, just to port this all over, but it would be a scam if you had to pay for outfits that other characters already have as part of the base game.

It would also be a chance of bringing some other characters back from Mario Kart 8 if we were to include all the power-up transformations, like Tanooki Mario, Cat Peach, or Penguin Luigi. There is a lot that they could do with those alone.

Some characters didn't really get much to begin with, where Pauline and Donkey Kong only have one alternate outfit each. But this could tie in to the paid DLC, where we might get a wave focused on Donkey Kong and with it new outfits for the existing characters as an appetizer. And this already leads us to the next part...

 

Expansion Pack

Of course, if we are talking about DLC for a Mario Kart game, then new cups and courses will have to be the main topic. But with the game's open world nature this isn't exactly trivial, because every addition with have to fit into that. And there are theoretically only two ways of making this happen: either they offer a second world, or they gradually try to expand the current world.

Neither is really ideal. With a second world Nintendo would have complete freedom, but they also would have to release it all at once, so you wouldn't have the typical DLC waves that keep the players engaged and excited over a longer period of time. It would also create a rift, which effectively splits the game in half.

As for expanding the current world, the best way to do that would be adding individual islands with the new contents all around it. This way they could be released in multiple waves, where each wave adds one or more larger pieces of land onto the map, which are home to the new courses. Since this feels more organic overall, let's run with this approach for the rest of this post.

With these new islands being their own thing, they could set themselves apart thematically from the rest and maybe even dive back into crossovers, like how they were established with the original DLC for Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U. But they wouldn't have to go this far, since the franchises directly linked to Super Mario are already quite excellent choices with lots of potential:

• DK Island
• Yoshi's Island
• Kitchen Island (Wario Land)
• Haunted Island (Luigi's Mansion) 

They could bring back a good number of retro courses with this one, like DK Mountain, DK Jungle, Banshee Boardwalk, Luigi's Mansion, or even the new Yoshi's Island from the Booster Course Pass. And then mix them with new inclusions, like courses based on Wario Land, Luigi's Mansion 3, Donkey Kong Bananza or the upcoming Yoshi game, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

The same goes for the characters and vehicles. They could bring back Diddy, Dixie and Funky Kong, while introducing Young Pauline, Void Kong or King K. Rool. They could bring back Poochy, while introducing Captain Syrup or E. Gadd. And rest assured that we should finally be getting that Rambi Rider back.

If we were to go intro full crossover territories, there would be even more possibilities for all sorts of crazy things. Potentially, one island could focus on multiple franchises at once, where here are some examples for such an approach:

• Wuhu Island (Wii Sports, Pilotwings, Wave Race 64) 
• Dreaming Island (Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing)
• Future Island (F-Zero, Metroid, Splatoon) 

Again, they could bring back some of the established courses from Mario Kart 7 and 8, while combining it with some new stuff. And the same goes for drivers and vehicles. Since this website is supposed to be a Zelda blog, let's just go through that particular franchises as an example:

• Courses: Hyrule Circuit, Death Mountain Driftway
• Drivers: Link, Zelda, Octorok
• Vehicles: Master Cycle, Master Cycle Zero, Zonai Cart 

Link would have this Champion's Tunic as an outfit, potentially also the archaic tunic from Tears of the Kingdom. The same goes for Zelda, who could have appearances based on Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild and/or Tears of the Kingdom. And maybe there could also be new playable characters coming from additional Kamek transformations, e.g. your classic Octorok. Though, they also could just repurpose the Swoops and Piranha Plants to pose as Keese and Dekuranhas in this case.

There are two problems with this island approach overall, which can't be dismissed. One is that this could potentially create a bigger emphasis on water roads, especially if they also want to connect the new courses to the old ones on the edge of the map. And that's not exactly exciting, though I love the idea of getting lots of Wave Race 64 tributes with the new wave riding mechanic.

And the other problem is that there would be too many volcanoes in the end. I'm not kidding here: the main land already has one for Bowser's Castle, but DK Island, Yoshi's Island and Wuhu Island all have their own volcanoes as well. And if there's some island themed around Hyrule, it will likely feature Death Mountain... So, that may look a bit silly, but these were all just some basic ideas, where Nintendo could and certainly will get a lot more creative.

Now all that remains is to wait and see what they are cooking. Maybe the obligatory February Nintendo Direct will already give us an idea... 

Mario Kart World Magnets

This is something that you could get from the My Nintendo Store as a Platinum Points reward, where there was also a set for the Knockout Tour. They cost 500 points each and I got them back in November, because we have the perfect fridge for this type of item:

And they look quite nice. When playing Mario Kart World as of late, I made it a small ceremony to add a magnet whenever I got three stars on Mirror Mode, meaning that I had fully completed the corresponding cup or rally. (It also gives you three stars in 50cc to 150cc.) If they add 200cc eventually, then I will do it all over again.

But when you have kids who like to play Mario Kart, then this might be nice to have as well for similar reasons. So, I can recommend these items, should they become available again.

Anyway, this also made me realize how the icons between the Grand Prix cups and the Knockout Tour rallies mirror each other thematically:

• Mushroom  ↔ Golden Mushroom
• Fire Flower ↔ Ice Flower
• Star ↔ Moon
• Green Shell ↔ Spiny Shell
• Banana ↔ Cherries
• Leaf ↔ Acorn
• Lightning ↔ Cloud
• Crown ↔ Heart 

That's a cool detail. Makes you wonder whether they will replicate this in potential DLC or not care about this any longer. For example, they could do a Bell Cup and a Lucky Cat Rally. Or an Egg Cup and a Fruit Rally. And more importantly, will they also release magnets for those? 

Mario Kart World Impressions

Going by the sales, it seems pretty much mandatory for anyone with a Nintendo Switch 2 to also buy Mario Kart World, where the bundle must have been super popular. Anyway, this was my game for the holiday season, where I've begun playing this after Metroid Prime 4.

And my first impressions weren't all that great. It already starts with the controls, which took away some options you had in Mario Kart 8 (Deluxe). You used to be able to accelerate with Y and steer with the D-pad, but not any longer. I personally preferred holding the Y button, because it sits more comfortably on the Pro Controller for my large hands and it makes it easier to hit the brakes on B whenever you have to. There was even one time where I was getting cramps from holding down A for so long. Yeah, I could use the auto accelerate, but I would be playing Kirby Air Riders instead if I truly wanted that.

You also don't need the precision of the analog stick, because you only need to press left or right, so the D-pad always felt more suited for the job. But I had to readjust, because the game isn't giving you any options here...

Well, the Y button is now used for the map in Free Roam mode (and only there), while pressing down on the D-pad lets you rewind, which is probably how these changes came to be. But I would have preferred the L and R buttons for these actions, or some options to swap things. Let me decided whether I want to use the analog stick or the D-pad, simply enough. 

And then there is the new scale of things: 24 racers, big roads, lots of going straight from one course to the other... It made me immediately want to have 200cc, because everything felt so slow at first. But sadly this mode doesn't exist yet.

However, when my niece and nephew came to visit for Christmas and I let them play for an hour, this gave me a different perspective. They thought that 100cc was way too fast and they were doing best on these long, straight intermissions, where you don't have to drift around tight corners. And since Mario Kart always has been a hit with kids, I can see why Nintendo was okay with this new direction.

At the same time they also gave the more serious Mario Kart players a lot more to master with all those new tricks, especially with the wall riding. I found that a bit unintuitive, to be honest, because the direction is entirely dependent on the angle you hit the wall with. You can't steer while wall riding, even though it feels like you should be able to. There is a lot of trial and error, potentially giving players an edge who have been practicing all those tricks and angles to perfection.

That's also true for many of the P-Switch missions in the Free Roam mode. Often I feel like the game is asking of a level of precision that it doesn't offer, usually when you have to hit rails or zip lines just right after a jump. Then I rewind, try to steer more, and fly past it anyway... In those situations I think their "snapping zones" should be larger, but this would probably be annoying in other scenarios.

Anyway, besides some of the trickier missions, I found the Free Roam to be quite enjoyable. It's perfect for in-between, for when you want to play a little bit. The must fun part are probably the ?-Panels, where there are five to discover per course. They really make you explore all around the race track and learn its hidden intricacies, maybe even more so than in Time Trials.

However, they also make me feel like an idiot after playing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. In the open world Zelda games it is mainly about spotting things and not a question of how to get there. You can always climb there, or fly up with your hover bike. In Mario Kart World you may spot a ?-Panel or a Peach Medaillon somewhere atop a house or on a pillar, but you can't just go up there directly. You have to find a way, which requires you to truly study the environments all around you, where you should not underestimate how complex some of those race tracks are. It can even get annoying, because you have to take huge detours to get where you want to be.

Things can get even worse should you happen to go out of bounds, because Lakitu is a tyrant in this game. He won't place you where you had been before your accident, no, he will place in one of few fixed spots around the race track, where then you have to backtrack all around the course just to try a second time. This got me quite frustrated around Crown City, one of the largest areas in the game, because it's two courses in one.

Sadly, you don't have any sense of completion for the P-Switches and Peach Medaillons. And all you ever get for your efforts are stickers, which you can use to customize your vehicle and avatar. To be fair, every single sticker is unique, so there is a stronger incentive to collect them all, as opposed to 900 pieces of golden poop. But they aren't even visible on some of the vehicles, so it's not all that exciting overall...

What's exciting is unlocking new outfits for the drivers, but this was done in the dullest way possible with the food. Whenever I saw a Yoshi's with something new, I swapped through all characters in the game who still had missing costumes to see if this did something... It's certainly not the intended way, but if you don't swap characters all that often, but want to have everything unlocked anyway, then this will be the most efficient method. And I was relieved when it was finally over... At least for now, there is a lot more left from Mario Kart Tour what they could bring over as DLC.

Oh, and the character selection menu is atrocious. I understand that they wanted to offer a selection based on themes, e.g. desert or snow, but it really would have been better if you could select the character first and then the costume. The way it is it's bloated, pretending that there are many more drivers than there actually are.

It's the other way around with the race courses, where there is more to discover than there is on first glance. Some of them do offer different variants, e.g. driving them in reverse, which can be played by selecting the right routes in VS mode. This is really cool, but there could have been more options here, like driving some courses in reverse for three whole laps.

And it was a nice surprise to find a number of SNES course tributes as intermissions on the world. There is like seven of these, which includes all three Ghost Valleys for some reason... But again, they could have done more with them, like offering them as courses in the underwhelming Battle Mode.

As for the new Grand Prix mode and the Knockout Tour, both heavily favor front-running, because for the most part you will be treading new grounds and therefore don't have to worry about bananas. The set rivals in Grand Prix feel super unfair, however, where they are clearly rubber-banding and getting support of the other CPU competitors. To get three stars on everything I had to fight them with their own methods, meaning that my partner helped me by covering my back.

Luckily, clearing a cup or rally in Mirror Mode now also gives you the stars in 150cc and lower, so you only have to do it once. In Mario Kart 8 150cc, Mirror Mode and 200cc had to be cleared separately. But there is also nothing to get here for the three stars, not even a sticker, so you really just do it for everything to look nice.

I personally found completing the Knockout Tour a bit easier, because you can gain a significant lead and just run with it. The first section is usually the trickiest, but at least you fail early and not in the third lap of the fourth race. The Knockout Tour is also a fantastic standout in this game, which makes good use of the open world setting to deliver something new for the series.

As someone who grew up with the Game Boy, I was delighted to finally see and hear some stuff from the Super Mario Land trilogy in Mario Kart World. The game has a rich soundtrack, where it randomly plays tracks during the intermissions and Free Roam, which covers a lot from all previous Mario Kart games, as well as other Super Mario games, like the Game Boy classics. It truly is a loveletter to the whole Super Mario franchise, and I was super excited when I first heard that Wario Land tune. Oh, and the Batadon and Tokotoko statues from the third world in Super Mario Land make their first reappearance, which was unexpected.

So... while my first impression wasn't the best, I really grew to like the game over the last weeks. Right now I'm hoping that it will get some awesome DLC in 2026, including a comeback of the crossovers. I want my Master Cycle Zero back! Vi-O-La would be cool as well, even though it was one of the more questionable aspects about Metroid Prime 4.

Rumor Mill: More Zelda amiibo

This is coming from the same source as the recent 3D Zelda rumors, Nick "Spheshal" Baker. And he claims that Nintendo is going all-in with amiibo in 2026, where there will be more than what you would expect. This includes one for Luigi's Mansion, which could hint at Luigi's Mansion 4 coming out this year, but there are also "some Zelda ones".

Well, we already know of Mineru's Construct from Tears of the Kingdom, so that's definitely going to be a thing. And they could theoretically make more amiibo for that title, like Rauru, Sonia or Purah, but they have covered the most important ones with Zelda, Link, Ganondorf and the Sages.

An alternative would be another anniversary line, like what they had done for the 30th Anniversary ten years ago. This mainly covered different incarnations of Link, where they could focus more on Princess Zelda and other characters this time around. Here are some ideas:

• Zelda (Ocarina of Time)
• Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time)
• Ganondorf (The Wind Waker)
• Zelda (Twilight Princess)
• Ganondorf (Twilight Princess)
• Twili Midna (Twilight Princess)
• Fi (Skyward Sword)
• Link (A Link Between Worlds)
• Ravio (A Link Between Worlds)
• Zelda & Tri (Echoes of Wisdom)

If we're getting the Ocarina of Time remake that everyone is talking about, then amiibo for that game will make a lot of sense, where they could add a new feature to support them. For example, they could expand the lineup of masks, which give you different interactions, like the Goron, Zora and Gerudo Mask.

This could also be the perfect opportunity to deliver an amiibo for Echoes of Wisdom, where it's curious that this didn't happen back in 2024 already. And maybe they could even add some more costumes to the game that can be unlocked with them.

Tears of the Kingdom could also receive another update to support new amiibo with more Paraglider fabrics. It's a simple thing, really, but always a good excuse to boot up the game once more. 

Rumor Mill: Next 3D Zelda

There are some rumors going around by Nick "Spheshal" Baker about the upcoming 3D Zelda game, following Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. He has a pretty solid track record, so it's worth listening. And I personally find these rumors quite interesting in any case, because they are lining up with what I'm expecting personally, so let's talk about them...

You can listen to them in his recent podcast with Jeff Grubb, but I'll give you a brief summary:

• The game gets developed with an updated version of the engine used for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom
• A core gameplay mechanic will be tears / rifts between dimensions, which can be used to interact with the environment

A given example is about a room with a floating ball attached to a chain. By opening a rift to the other dimension water flows in, the ball pulls the chain and this opens a pathway. Zelda games experimenting with linked realms and dimensions are nothing new, where this idea is as old as A Link to the Past, but this may become an evolution of that idea, one that is a lot more physics-based.

Anyway, there are different stances on how Nintendo should proceed with the franchise. Some fans want Nintendo to return to the classic Zelda formula, which won't happen after how successful the recent games have been. Some fans want Nintendo to move on from the Breath of the Wild style and come up with something new entirely. Zeltik even calls Age of Imprisonment the "End of the Wild Era".

However, I wouldn't be so sure about any of that. When discussing the three different options for the next game's general direction, it seemed more likely that Nintendo will continue with the Breath of the Wild brand on the Nintendo Switch 2, simply because it has been going so successful. The first thing they did on the Nintendo Switch 2 was updating both Breath and Tears for it, so they really want their audiences to catch up with these games, before they release the next adventure.

They will eventually innovate the series with a new style and direction going forward, that is for sure, but whether this will already happen with the next game or the one after remains to be seen. Of course, them re-using the engine isn't any indication for the art style, or even the gameplay. After all, Twilight Princess was based upon the engine for The Wind Waker. So, keep that in mind.

However, I'm personally thinking that we could be looking at the first major trilogy in the franchise, following the adventures of this particular Link and Zelda for a third time. And one open idea has been to explore the topic of the Triforce and the Sacred Realm, which already could have been a possible topic with Tears of the Kingdom, but which didn't happen. Instead, they focused on Ganondorf and the Sages, after they had introduced the Secret Stones of the Zonai as a new plot device.

But this leaves an important part of the Zelda lore out in the open for the Breath of the Wild era. Well, no one wants to return to the same Hyrule for a third time, since it already overstayed its welcome with Tears of the Kingdom, but the Sacred Realm is actually a great way to move Link and Zelda into a different land, one where the laws of reality don't apply... See where I'm getting with this?

Of course, Nintendo always comes up with the gameplay first and builds their stories around it, but if we're truly looking at a another game where you do things "between worlds", so to say, then the Sacred Realm could become central to the story. And with it the Triforce.

With a story about "rifts in reality", they could even go a step further and explore a more recent addition to the lore: Null from Echoes of Wisdom. It could become the ultimate evil, beyond Ganon, where it's even possible that Age of Imprisonment was already hinting at the idea with its "Shades". These were a form of the demonic energy that predated both the Gloom and Malice, but in a sentient state, looking somewhat similar to Null. The Gerudo were able to control them and maybe Ganondorf was creating them, or maybe these Shades were actually coming from another ancient evil and Ganondorf was simply tapping into Null's energy here.

Also, ever since that first teaser trailer for "the sequel to Breath of the Wild", people had this idea of Link and Zelda going on an adventure together, where both become playable. And maybe you are not able to swap between dimensions, but instead Princess Zelda is trapped in the other dimension and you can swap to her.

In any case, I'm excited to learn more about the next game. But if the rumors from Spheshal are indeed trustworthy, then I'm leaning more towards a third game in the Breath of the Wild style and era, instead of something completely new.