Gaming in Japan. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

In the most anticlimactic way possible, Nintendo on Tuesday confirmed years of rumors: the Nintendo Switch 2 console is on the way.

Nintendo has finally confirmed two important things that people were speculating about. First off, we learned that another Nintendo Direct showcase will be taking place this June. More importantly, Nintendo finally confirmed that it is working on a Nintendo Switch successor and said we’d learn more about it within this fiscal year.

The bountiful creations of the late Akira Toriyama are household names, but you won’t find any of his most well-known characters in Sand Land. His lesser-known graphic novel has remained a footnote when compared to Dragon Ball Z’s prodigious success, but it’s clear that someone out there thinks that now is Sand Land’s time, with the arrival of a movie, an animated series, and a video game adaptation, all in the last six months. This multi-format assault showcases that the genius of Akira Toriyama extended far beyond the Dragon Balls, and while it might have taken a long time coming, it was well worth the wait.

Xbox is closing down four Bethesda studios, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks.

iFi Audio is one of the biggest names in the audiophile space. Its products routinely make best-of lists and push the limits on sound quality, features, and power for their size. We’ve put its latest product, the iFi GO Bar Kensei through its paces, seeing just what it has to offer over the original GO Bar. It’s a tiny, very pocketable DAC/amp that puts out a surprising amount of power — enough for most over-ear headphones, let alone in-ear monitors (IEMs) — and supports advanced features like sound customization with filters and its own X-Bass and X-Space enhancements, as well as JVCKENWOOD’s K2HD upscaling tech. It exists on the high end of the dongle DAC price spectrum, but if you want an audiophile experience on the go, it delivers.

Nintendo just announced the Switch 2 in the most casual way possible. Tweeting on the Japanese account, Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed an announcement would arrive "within the fiscal year", while also revealing a new Direct is due to take place in June. However, the Switch 2 will not be at this Direct, as it will focus only on the second half of 2024 for the original Switch - right now, Nintendo's upcoming roster looks very empty, possibly due to the hole created by the Switch 2.

Final Fantasy 14’s servers are currently under a worldwide DDoS attack that’s preventing players from logging into Square Enix’s MMORPG.

A newly announced Steam game called Starsand Island has strong Stardew Valley and Studio Ghiblivibes, and it has unveiled its first trailer. Announced for a late 2025 release on Steam, Starsand Island will take players to a Ghibli-esque island paradise they can explore and live in.

A real-life Yakuza member was arrested after stealing Pokemon cards in a break-in. Crimes involving Pokemon are more common and recurring than one might think.

After the backlash and subsequent U-turn on Helldivers 2 requiring players to link their Steam account to a PlayStation Network account, the next PlayStation flagship headed to PC has sought to reassure players that you won’t need a PSN account to play its single-player campaign. Multiplayer’s a different case, though.

Hulu’s new documentary The Contestantis a lively watch, but also a deeply unnerving one. In 1998,Nasubi (meaning “eggplant,” a personal nickname turned stage name) agreed to live in a tiny one-room apartment, completely isolated from the world, for a segment on Japan’s extreme game show Susunu! Denpa Shōnen. He was allowed no food, clothing, or other personal possessions, except whatever he could win through magazine sweepstakes. Told to stay in the room until he’d won 1 million yen worth of prizes, he slowly starved, naked and alone, with his physical and mental health deteriorating. Then, when he finally reached his goal, the show’s producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, told him he had to do it all again, this time in Korea.

An Elden Ring player discovered that a symbol featured on one of the critically acclaimed RPG's shields possibly has a real-life counterpart. FromSoftware revealed in the past that while its latest work did not take inspiration from one game in particular, the studio was influenced by titles based on various mythologies.

Even though Nintendo still hasn't confirmed it will be releasing the Switch's successor in 2025, one look at its 2024 slate serves as relatively concrete evidence that's the case. There are still games coming, but there's an argument to be made that the last tentpole release on the Switch was Super Mario Bros. Wonder. A game famed for turning Mario and his supporting cast into elephants, and fans in Japan were lucky enough to then see Elephant Mario turned into a plush soon after.

Ghost of Tsushima studio Sucker Punch says a PSN account won’t be required for the upcoming Steam version, at least in single-player mode.

As Helldiver 2's reviews continue to collapse on Steam, Arrowhead's best-selling action game has been pulled from around 177 countries in the wake of the new PSN account linking requirement that has turned its fanbase upside down.

Former Nintendo employees have revealed that, despite its public announcement, Xenoblade Chronicles was originally planned to go without a North American release. Xenoblade Chronicles is one of Nintendo's most popular RPG series, with its pedigree allowing developer Monolith Soft to become one of Nintendo's most reliable first-party studios. However, none of Xenoblade's success would have been possible without the very first entry released on the Nintendo Wii all the way back in 2010.

While many card games come and go, one that has remained relevant for over two decades is Magic: The Gathering (herein, Magic). Magic has survived the test of time as both a physical and digital tabletop game, with fans that play around the world. One of the reasons it has managed to outlast other card games is that it has managed to stay interesting by adding new cards, including special crossover packs that draw from other popular media. These expansion sets especially keep players interested in the game, releasing them regularly and adding exciting new cards to the game.

Activision studio Vicarious Visions was working on a 3D Donkey Kong title, it’s claimed.

Rail shooter game Rainbow Cotton, a former Dreamcast exclusive, is releasing on modern platforms come Thursday, May 9. The Dreamcast was the last console ever released by Sega. It failed to sell enough units to keep the company in the console hardware business, causing Sega to pivot to almost exclusively developing software. Even so, the Dreamcast is often pointed to as one of the most underrated consoles ever produced, as it featured a number of important innovations and featured a library of high-quality games.

Twenty years ago, Park Chan-wook’s revenge thriller Oldboy turned him into a worldwide star, setting off a new wave of Korean neo-noirs and helping break down barriers for international cinema. The movie’s memorable, irresistible hook: After a drunken bender, Korean businessman Oh Dae-su wakes up in a small, dilapidated hotel room, where he’s been imprisoned by unknown parties. As months pass with no contact from the outside apart from anonymous food deliveries, he begins to unravel, numbed by isolation and helplessness.

Forgotten Gems is a regular column about notable games that have moved out of the public eye and may not be easily accessible anymore. To see all the other games I've covered so far, be sure to check out the 11 previous issues of Forgotten Gems in our Columns section.

When creating Cyberpunk 2077's vast open world of Night City, it turns out that developer CD Projekt Red was faced with a "significant challenge" when it came to "adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings," simply because most of the team is European. 

The upcoming Ghost of Tsushima PC port won't require players to create a PSN account when playing the game's single-player mode.

Fans of the Kingdom Hearts titles are used to waiting extremely long times between mainline releases.

Yesterday, Viz Media announced the English release of a Magic the Gathering manga series called "Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated." The manga’s physical release, due later this fall, will also come with an exclusive Magic card.

An old Weedle Pokemon card was recently found in a school bus from way back in 2001. Pokemon trading cards and other merchandise have been in circulation since the franchise first took the world by storm in the late 90s, and items from those early days can fetch a large amount of money in online auctions and other outlets. Some of the rarest Pokemon cards are valued at over $5 million, making them highly sought after by collectors and nostalgic fans alike.

A newly revealed promo card from ’s expansion may be one of the best in recent times and players should not miss out on the opportunity of collecting it when it is released. Twilight Masquerade is a new Western set that is themed after the DLC for games for Nintendo Switch. A lot of the cards in the expansion are focused on the Land of Kitakami, its inhabitants, and its Pokémon. , for instance, brings Ogerpon and the Loyal Three to the spotlight, as well as Bloodmoon Ursaluna.

I didn't have a Game Boy Camera as a lad, partly because I couldn't afford one, and partly because my "friends" used to troll me ("bullying", I think we called it back then) about my Game Boy. Amongst other things, they'd reach over and flick the power off while I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I didn't finish that game for 15 years. I'd flown the family nest before I braved the Eagle's Tower. Can you imagine what my friends would have done if I'd owned a Game Boy Camera? Probably, they'd have taken photos of... bottoms with it, and such.

My Hero Academia returns this Saturday with the highly anticipated premiere of its seventh season. The latest season of the mega-popular superhero action anime is set to adapt the “Star and Stripe” arc of Kōhei Horikoshi’s original manga. That means the arrival of America’s No. 1 Hero, Star and Stripe, in Japan to aid Izuku Midoriya and his classmates in their battle against Tomura Shigaraki and the Paranormal Liberation Front.

The Apple Vision Pro might not be a hit in the consumer market as updated shipment estimates have dropped to 400,000 to 450,000 units for 2024, but the $3,499 head-mounted wearable is a success in the enterprise division, with companies thoroughly impressed with what has been crammed into the device. During Apple’s Q2 2024 earnings, CEO Tim Cook revealed that half of Fortune 100 companies have purchased the AR headset, and it has proven itself to deliver immense utility in various applications.

The producer of the upcoming Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP remaster has confirmed the game will be getting a physical version alongside a digital release. The remaster of this cult classic Xbox 360 and PS3 hack-and-slash game was originally announced for release in 2023, before it was later delayed to 2024. Dragami Games producer, Yoshimi Yasuda, has been providing fans with steady updates about the progress on Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, including its projected release window of Summer 2024. Yasuda has now confirmed the game won't be saddled with a digital-only re-release, but a boxed copy as well.

Special promo cards from the will be available outside of Japan for the first time ever, breaking a 26-year-long tradition. The new expansion box from the series is hitting shelves later this month and fans are already excited about the cards they will be seeing. News of which Pokémon will get Secret Illustration Rares in has already come out, and other potential cards have been leaked, leaving fans hoping the leaks are accurate.

Level-5 founder and CEO Akihiro Hino has said he wants to make erotic and violent games one day, something his studio certainly isn’t known for.

Fans of the Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country franchises have finally gotten official details revealed in a new trailer for the upcoming Super Nintendo World theme park land at Universal Epic Universe. The brand-new theme park, expected to open in 2025, will feature a fully-immersive land themed to two of Nintendo's classic IPs and will include rides based on Donkey Kong mine cart levels and a Mario Kart AR experience.

Major convenience store chain 7-Eleven has announced a surprising merch collaboration with Tetris, which includes the brand's very own handheld gaming device featuring the iconic '80s video game. Fashion and video game collaborations, like the many Pokemon merch partnerships with known brands, are no longer anything new in 2024, but Tetris may have been one of the last titles anyone expected to have merch of.

New rumors suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 will have an improved performance while docked, but perhaps not so much in handheld mode.

Huawei was reported to have attained a new milestone as its Pura 70 lineup was said to be comprised of 90 percent components sourced from Chinese partners. This approach would have meant that shortly, the company would be even less dependent on foreign suppliers that are strongly influenced by the U.S., assuming the claim turned out true. The report mentioned that the Japanese electronics consultancy firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions analyzed the latest smartphones, but the Chief Executive has denied this information.

The boss of Level-5, the developer behind family friendly titles such as Professor Layton, Ni No Kuni, and Yokai Watch, wants to create a violent and erotic video game one day.

Runaway waifu horse racing sensation Umamusume: Pretty Derby will make its PlayStation debut on 30th August, when minigame spin-off Party Dash gallops to PS4 in Japan and around the world. Unlike the main mobile game – which isn’t available in the west yet – this console outing centres on the Slapdash Grand Prix, which features four different sporting events, each with unique gameplay mechanics.

Stellar Blade was the best-selling physical game in the UK last week, with its launch sales on PS5 being enough to see it top sales charts in the region. Sony and Shift Up haven't shared any official sales data just yet, but this marks a good start for the title, which holds the potential to sell well long-term. TopSpin 2K25 was another new entry in the UK sales chart last week, debuting in third place.

If you’re not familiar with the Playdate, it’s the dinky yellow handheld with a crank that’s actively coveting a hobbyist, indie game development crowd. It’s home to a number of unique experiences already, but for PlayStation fans, this may be the most intriguing outing yet: Psygnosis’ legendary PS1 racer WipEout, rendered in beautiful black-and-white polygons.

Koei Tecmo has shared a brief sales update for recent PS5 exclusive Rise of the Ronin, revealing «sales are surpassing the Nioh series». Without posting any hard numbers, it goes on to say the game has a «high valuation» amongst players and the company is now looking at «mid to long-term growth» for the title.

D3 has confirmed it'll be bringing Earth Defense Force 6 to Western shores on PS5, PS4 from 24th July 2024, just shy of two years after its original Japanese release. A tongue-in-cheek news bulletin trailer has been posted online to mark the update and pre-orders are live on the PS Store now. The release date means EDF fans are in for quite the summer since Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is also slated to arrive on PS5, PS4 on 26th September 2024.

American convenience store chain 7-Eleven is partnering with Tetris on a line of merchandise, including a handheld.

Universal has released a video showing off the upcoming Super Nintendo World in Orlando.

Rainbow Cotton, a poorly remembered 3D offshoot of one of the definitive entries in the cutesy shooter canon, is somehow making a comeback in English 24 years after its original launch, and the devs have provided a helpful explainer on the differences between emulation, remakes, and remasters. The catch is that they might've gotten it wrong.

, “Piece of Trash,” was anticipated to be released on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. However, although the last issue of the manga did not announce a break for the upcoming week, Kodansha’s K Manga X (formerly Twitter) account announced that the. Instead, .

Yesterday, Meta announced Batman: Arkham Shadow, a VR-only game coming exclusively to the Meta Quest 3. Batman: Arkham Shadow is in development at Camouflaj, a developer with offices in Bellevue, Washington, and Kamakura, Japan. Camouflaj was founded in 2011 by Ryan Payton, who had previously worked at KONAMI as Assistant Producer on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Konami has released the opening movie for Powerful Pro Baseball 2024-2025, featuring the theme song “RELAY” sung by Mikei Fujiwara with music and arrangement by Naoyuki Sato.

Inti Creates has released the story trailer for side-scrolling action game Umbraclaw, which features the theme song “A Partner’s Promise” sung by Tsukumo voice actor Yuko Natsuyoshi.

A Pokemon player has successfully managed to transfer the rare Mew from Space World 1997 into the modern-day Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games. The Pokemonuniverse contains many rare and legendary creatures, and the powerful Psychic feline Mew may very well be one of the most elusive of all. Despite playing a major role in the lore of the original Pokemon Red and Blue games, Mew could not be encountered or captured in the base game without glitches or datamining. This would be the case for every mainline Pokemon game until Generation 4’s Diamond and Pearl, which allowed players to import it from the Wii My Pokemon Ranch spin-off.

Che Lingo, the U.K.-based rapper and musician, is an avid anime enthusiast. In addition to collaborating with Crunchyroll on its fall 2023 anime trailer, Che Lingo also composed and performed several songs for Jujutsu Kaisen’s first season.

The Nintendo Switch 2 may be clocked higher than expected in docked mode but "crazy low" in handheld mode to achieve better battery life, according to rumors circulating online.

Entergram will release Cabbage Soft-developed romance visual novel Jewelry Hearts Academia: We Will Wing Wonder World for PlayStation 4 and Switch on October 24 in Japan for 8,228 yen, listing at retailers such as Biccamera and Neowing reveal.

The Earth Defense Force franchise might not be the most pristine or mainstream gaming property around, but it’s picked up a sizeable and dedicated fanbase over the years, one that’s filled with players who’re all too happy to get fresh doses of its pulpy bug-shooting action once every few years. If you’re in that group, you’ll soon be getting another helping of the series’ offerings.

Japan’s most popular indie games expo, BitSummit, has opened ticket sales for its 2024 event, which will return to Kyoto on Friday, July 19.

fans might be wondering about where they can read the about Levi. While the series has ended, we’re lucky enough to have AoT content rolling out this year. Here’s a guide on where to read the Attack on Titan Levi Bad Boy manga and if it’s available online.

Earth Defense Force 6 will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on July 25 in the west for $59.99, D3 Publisher and developer Sandlot announced.

Japanese developer Arika has enjoyed a close relationship with Nintendo over the years.

A new Guinness World Record was set during a recent Yu-Gi-Oh card game tournament in Tokyo, Japan. While the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga wasn’t always centered around the Duel Monsters card game, it has become one of the most recognizable elements of the franchise. Konami started producing a physical Yu-Gi-Oh card game back in 1999, with Upper Deck bringing it to the US in 2002. Since then, Yu-Gi-Oh has become one of the highest-selling card games in the world, spawning several video games in the process.

We’ve all heard of Persona — it’s one the undisputed kings of the RPG right now, each game pitting one unwitting school kid against an evil adult, using an army of angels and demons to achieve the insurmountable odds stacked against them. But how many people have played a Shin Megami Tensei game, the franchise from which Persona was born? We’d guess comparatively few people. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the latest opportunity to change that.

It’s been more than a year since the Nintendo 3DS eShop shut down, but players will soon be able to access their library of 3DS games from their iPhone thanks to a new emulator. Mimicking the 3DS's iconic design, it will offer a split-screen view for players to dive into the Nintendo games on the go, putting well-loved games like on Apple's smart devices.

Longtime Tekken character Eddy Gordo has always been a little polarizing, particularly in Tekken 8, and one streamer has found a way to make him even more of a pain to fight, rising through ranked mode using a script that spams one button.

An incredibly rare Nintendo DS is being auctioned off, and it could sell for over £15,000. The Nintendo DS was first released in 2004 as the successor to the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and evolved the Big N's classic handheld formula by including a second touchscreen that players could use for hit titles like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Pokemon Black and White. While it was eventually phased out in favor of the upgraded Nintendo 3DS in 2011, the original Nintendo DS remains one of gaming’s most well-remembered portable systems, with several of its past exclusives being released on current hardware to this day.

A teaser trailer has showcased the two new 6v6 maps arriving on May 1 with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Season 3 Reloaded update. The maps, called Checkpoint and Grime, will be joined by other new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 features.

PQube will release MAGES.-developed otome visual novel Genso Manege, also known as Rever d’un Manege, for Switch and PC via Steam in the west, the publisher announced. A release date was not announced.

Just when you think a game likeShin Megami Tensei V can’t get any darker, a new version comes for blood.

Publisher Bandai Namco and developer Spike Chunsoft have released a new trailer and screenshots for Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO dubbed “Master and Apprentice,” which introduces 10 more playable characters.

If you missed seeing Hayao Miyazaki’s final* film, The Boy and the Heron, in theaters, GKIDS is bringing the enigmatic animated masterpiece to Blu-ray and DVD July 9.

Yu-Gi-Oh! just broke the Guinness World Record for the most entrants in a trading card game tournament, shattering its own record. This year, 7,443 people took part in the 10th Yu-Gi-Oh! Champion Series Japan tournament held at the Tokyo Big Sight.

Square Enix has announced that it “expects to recognize extraordinary losses” for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, attributing them as “content abandonment losses”. The Japanese company has, in other words, cancelled undisclosed projects, owing to which it will incur losses amounting to ¥22.1 billion (roughly $140.4 million).

A Dragon’s Dogma 2 player has encountered a Pawn resembling Samuel L Jackson’s character, Jules, from Pulp Fiction. Pawns form a useful part of Dragon’s Dogma 2, joining the player’s adventure to assist in defeating tough enemies and finding rare items.

Kaizen Game Works, the studio behind the bangin' 2020 detective game Paradise Killer, has revealed its next game, and it sounds absolutely wild in a way that seems meticulously catered to my precise tastes.

Square Enix has revised its approach to PC and console game development, and absorbed ¥22.1 billion (approx $140.9 million) in what it calls “content abandonment losses.”

Huawei achieved another milestone with its Pura 70 series launch and that is sourcing 90 percent of smartphone components from Chinese suppliers. With the U.S. export control barring foreign companies from shipping parts to the company to use in various products, Huawei was adamant about cutting off overseas manufacturers and relying on local firms to get the job done. So far, the progress has been impressive, and only a few components remain to completely eliminate dependency on supply chain partners outside of China.

A Pokemon fan has baked a pan full of cinnamon rolls based off of Poliwag, its evolutions, and one special guest. The adorable recreations of the Pokemon have a strong resemblance, and definitely look good enough for Pokemon fans to eat.

Hatsune Miku and her flowing twin pigtails are about to grace the art of some gorgeous collectible trading cards. The globally famous virtual pop star is the subject of several upcoming Secret Lair drops for Magic: The Gathering. The best part? She’s going on a year-long print-fueled tour with four Secret Lair drops in all. Polygon has a preview of the first six cards in the series, which go up for sale in May.

Pokemon GO players searching for shiny Pokemon are being tricked by one of the game's latest updates, which introduced the Rediscover GO campaign earlier this month. The Rediscover GO campaign includes visual and quality-of-life updates that aim to encourage Pokemon GO players to try out existing features that were greatly improved.

The franchise features an incredible variety of antagonists, but one particularly strange detail regarding a group of villains has gone mostly unremarked upon for decades. Although recent titles have tended towards having more individual true villains, a trend that has produced some of ’s most terrifying characters, the traditional «Team» still has a role to play in any given region. However, while all Teams have their own unique aesthetic, one also has a much more subtle, and ironic, quirk visible on close examination.