Latest news with #Hyrule
The Verge
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Breath of the Wild's Switch 2 enhancements have me exploring Hyrule all over again
Last night, I stayed up way too late playing through the Great Plateau section of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and I'm falling in love with the game all over again. The opening moments of Breath of the Wild are iconic. The wide shot of Hyrule you see after leaving that first cave is breathtaking, showing you the world of possibilities ahead. Solving the puzzles on the Great Plateau requires some real creativity and experimentation, especially to survive the colder parts of the area. All of that magic is still there with the Switch 2 version of the game, which you can get as a $9.99 upgrade if you already own the Switch version or as a standalone $69.99 purchase, but it all plays better. As far as I could tell, the frame rate stayed at a steady 60fps no matter where I went in my initial explorations, which makes the game feel much smoother and more responsive. That was nice for my skirmishes with the Great Plateau's Bokoblins; they're basic enemies, but I liked sparring with them at the faster frame rate all the same. The game also has a higher resolution on Switch 2, and while the graphics aren't improved too dramatically from the original game, I thought the Switch 2 version looked great on my 4K TV. (I did notice things like grass or rocks popping in as I got close to them, though.) Best of all, the load times are much faster, which could be the improvement that really makes the Switch 2 version worth it. On the original Switch, the load times weren't too bad, but they would regularly force you to pause as you waited for the next area to load. On the Switch 2, it felt like I was loading into shrines or a fast-travel point with only a brief delay, and over the course of an entire playthrough, those shorter loads will add up. In my initial testing, the Zelda Notes companion app's navigation tool (found within the Nintendo Switch app) also seems like it could be a big time-saver. The feature functions like a GPS for all sorts of things you can discover, including shrines, towers, enemies, and even Korok seeds. I opened it up, picked a Korok seed that was apparently near me, and the app guided me toward it by showing my position on the map in the app and telling me what direction to go. It even nudged me to climb upward, which was helpful because I happened to pick the Korok that's found on the highest spire of the Temple of Time. The navigation feature arguably takes away from the self-guided exploration that makes Breath of the Wild so special. Since it's an optional feature, though, I don't think it takes away from the experience too much — especially since it requires booting up an entirely separate app on a separate device, so you have to do some work to get it up and running. If you're playing through the game on the Switch 2 for the first time, I'd recommend that you don't use it. But if you want to find every single Korok seed, it could be a lifesaver. What surprised me most with my first couple hours with the Switch 2 version of Breath of the Wild was that I was getting into its captivating loop all over again. Even though I've played through the game multiple times on the original Switch, I still found myself darting around the Great Plateau to take on random camps of baddies, diving into a pond to get a Korok that I knew was hidden there, and marking shrines and towers on my map. On the Switch 2, it's all much more refined, making it an excellent way to play one of Nintendo's best games.
The National
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Switch 2: The best games available on launch day, ranked
The much-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 launched worldwide today. Following the immense success of the first Switch console, which sold 152.12 million units since 2017, gaming enthusiasts are looking forward to getting their hands on the new and improved version. What's a console without games, though? And Switch 2 has an impressive selection of new games to play. Here, we list some of the most significant game releases, and what fans can expect from each experience. 1. Mario Kart World The biggest game release alongside the launch of the Switch 2 is Mario Kart World, the first new mainline entry in the Mario Kart series in over a decade. This instalment introduces open-world tracks, off-road mechanics, elimination modes and supports up to 24-player races. It also features unlockable costumes, which offer a fresh take on the beloved racing series. 2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Remastered Both beloved titles from Switch return with enhanced graphics and performance, taking full advantage of Switch 2's upgraded hardware. These remasters provide an opportunity for players to revisit the game's kingdom of Hyrule with improved visuals and smoother gameplay. 3. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond This game marks protagonist Samus Aran's most ambitious adventure yet. Set in the alien world of Viewros, the game adds psychic abilities to her arsenal, allowing for new puzzle mechanics and combat strategies. The storytelling adopts a darker tone, with cinematic cutscenes and dialogue-driven encounters. The visuals are powered by Unreal Engine 5, showcasing realistic environments, particle effects and fluid character animations. 4. Donkey Kong Bananza In Donkey Kong Bananza, players are treated to vibrant worlds with levels that include jungles, volcanoes and futuristic cities. Each level is fully destructible, offering multiple paths and secrets depending on how the player interacts with the environment. The game supports two-player co-op, with other characters joining the adventure. Kong's new abilities such as wall-climbing and explosive stomps, allow for exploration opportunities. 5. Super Mario Party Jamboree With more than 200 mini-games and 10 new boards, Super Mario Party Jamboree renews the party game genre. The boards are now interactive with dynamic weather and events that can change the outcome. There's also a 100-player online tournament mode, which adds a competitive experience. Characters in the game now have personal items that allow them the option of strategic plays. The custom mini-game playlists, meanwhile, will let players create their own party experience. 6. Hades II Hades II is a roguelike action game that follows Melinoe, the immortal Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus, as she embarks on a quest to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time, who has imprisoned her family. Building on the success of the first game, Hades II introduces new weapons, abilities, and a deeper narrative rooted in Greek mythology. Players can explore expanded realms, engage with diverse characters, and experience dynamic combat infused with dark sorcery and Olympian boons.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Is the Nintendo Switch the best console of its generation – or just the most meaningful to me?
The lifespan of a games console has extended a lot since I was a child. In the 1990s, this kind of technology would be out of date after just a couple of years. There would be some tantalising new machine out before you knew it, everybody competing to be on the cutting edge: the Game Boy and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1989 were followed by the Game Gear in 1990 and the Super NES in 1991. Five years was a long life for a gaming machine. Now, it's more like 10. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in a couple of weeks, more than eight years since I first picked an original Switch up off its dock and marvelled at the instant transition to portable play. Games consoles often feel like they mark off particular eras in my life: the Nintendo 64 was the defining console of my childhood, the PlayStation 2 of my adolescence, and the Xbox 360 of the first years of my career, the first console launch I ever covered as a (ridiculously young) journalist. The Nintendo Switch came along just a few months after my first child was born, and for me it has become the games machine of that era of harried early parenthood. When I reflect on my experiences with the Switch, I remember snatching moments in Breath of the Wild's Hyrule while the baby napped beside me; hiding on the veranda of a French villa to play the odd Splatoon match on our first family holiday; and trying to make a mint on my Animal Crossing turnip trades while walking my second baby around the house in his sling, trying to get him to sleep (he never did). When they got old enough, the first games I played with my children were on the Switch. We all played Pokémon Sword and Shield together, and most recently my youngest made his way through the surprisingly entertaining Princess Peach Showtime with only minimal assistance from me. Over the last eight years, my living room TV became dominated by things like Bluey and Moana and most recently (god help me), Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I no longer have the hours of uninterrupted gaming time in the evenings. The Switch gave me some of that that time back, though, letting me dip into games whenever I had a moment – which gave me vital stress relief, a route back to myself during some of the most challenging years of my life. Eight years is a long time, enough for anyone's life to change beyond recognition. In that time I've lost people, moved cities, gained new friends, too. And, of course, we all went through the pandemic. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became perhaps the defining game of that time, and I am not the only person for whom the Switch was a blessed oasis, a way to connect when we were starved of in-person interaction. Things have changed for me since 2017, as they probably have for you. Consoles feel like companions, especially perhaps the portable ones like the Switch and the Game Boy, which we literally carry with us wherever we go. My kids are older now, enjoying all the Switch games that I enjoyed when they were very small – and it does seem as if the Switch 2 will neatly mark another new stage, for me and for them. I recently gathered together all the Switch consoles, games, controllers and accessories in my house and my office for an audit, from the battered day-one unit that serves as the family console to the untouched OLED Zelda special edition my partner got me and the variably functioning spare JoyCons accumulated over time. It's not quite time for them to join the other old consoles under my bed, each in a clear plastic box with all of its cables, ready to be dusted off when the time comes; the Switch 2 will take its place in my rucksack and in my office, but I won't be upgrading the family console for some time yet. I don't really want to. I think the Switch is probably my favourite console I've ever owned, not just because its best games are real hall-of-famers that will be remembered in another 20 years, and not just because its hybrid home-portable nature was a feat of technical wizardry that genuinely changed how I play – but also because of the space it has occupied in my life. A little sentimentality is forgivable at the end of an era. In a couple of weeks all the talk will be about the new console, how it's selling, whether it's worth the money, what the best Mario Kart World strategies are, and how it compares to its record-breaking predecessor. For now, I'm not thinking much about what the Nintendo Switch meant for the gaming industry; instead I'm thinking about what it meant to me. Have you ever heard of Fantasy Life? It was a bit of a cult hit on the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, a cosy-feeling role-playing game that let you switch between 12 different professions, so you would be blacksmithing one minute, fighting monsters another and cooking things up the next. The sequel – Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – is out today after years of delays. You can now be an artist or a farmer as well as a magician, carpenter, fisherman, alchemist or whatever else you fancy, and also it adds time travel into the mix. It's an intriguing amalgamation of the Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon style of Japanese life simulator, and the Dragon Quest/Ni no Kuni flavour of unthreatening role-playing game, and I'm looking forward to exploring it. An especial shout-out to the members of one of my group chats who have been eagerly awaiting this for more than a decade. Available on: Switch/2, PS4/5, Xbox, PC Estimated playtime: 30-plus hours Sign up to Pushing Buttons Keza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gaming after newsletter promotion A couple of interesting games hitting Kickstarter this week: Crescent County, a colourful witch-delivery game with broom-racing and plenty of small-town drama; and a ghost story set in Paisley just outside Glasgow, named after its Chinese takeaway Crystal Garden. If you have a few minutes, have a go at this satirical simulation text game You Are Generative AI, which casts you as an increasingly self-aware AI large language model answering random questions that people cannot be bothered to research or think through themselves. I got three different endings and one of them made me genuinely quite sad. Developers at Bungie, makers of Destiny and the forthcoming shooter Marathon, have been dealing with an alleged plagiarism scandal after unattributed designs from an artist called Antireal were found in promotional screenshots and art from Marathon. Bungie is blaming the mistake on a former employee. VG247 has a rundown. After half a decade, PlayStation 5 sales are neck and neck with PlayStation 4's results at this point in its life cycle, at 78m – despite the fact that its price has actually increased, due to the wild times in which we live. Video Game Chronicle gets into the numbers. Farm Simulator: 16bit Edition – the simple joy of ploughing your own furrow | ★★★★☆ Deliver at All Costs – madcap driving game goes nowhere fast | ★★☆☆☆ Fortnite unavailable on iPhones globally after Apple rejects App Store release I've had several good suggestions for the name of reader Travis's book-club style video game club: Select/Start (thanks Alex), Long Play (from Eva), and Doki Doki Videogame Club (niche reference there, Chris). Especial props to Kenny, however, who went hog wild and came up with several, including these three beauts: Go Forth and Multiplay, Concurrent Players and Let's Console Each Other. Lucas also had a great suggestion for last week's questioner: 'Your bookclubber should look at for crazy little free games to play and discuss with their friends! The indie folks sharing their games there would probably love the attention/feedback of a games book club.' (You Are Generative AI, which I mentioned earlier, is on Itch, along with just hundreds of other shortform games worthy of discussion.) And we've just about got room for another (timely) question, this time from reader Ali: 'I've always admired Nintendo for coming up with different names for each console, as opposed to Sony going for the sequential naming convention and Microsoft jumping from 360 to One to Series (?). My opinion has somewhat changed now that the successor to the Nintendo Switch is called Switch 2. Do you have any thoughts on console names?' It's true that Nintendo usually goes for completely new names for each console, except arguably the series of Game Boys, the NES and Super NES, Wii and Wii U, and now Switch and Switch 2. And yes, this is the first time they've gone for a number. I'd say this is down to how badly the company did with the Wii U, whose confusing name surely contributed to how badly it flopped. But I think it reflects the more conservative and cautious mood of the games industry as a whole in 2025, as it comes to the end of decades' worth of unsustainably rapid growth. Or maybe it's because Nintendo's president Shuntaro Furukawa used to be an accountant. If you've got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – email us on pushingbuttons@
CNET
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Zelda Notes On Switch 2 Will Breathe New Life Into Tears of the Kingdom
The Switch 2 Nintendo Direct livestream on April 2 was jam-packed with hardware information, exclusive game reveals and third-party collaborations -- including information about Switch 2 upgrades for the Legend of Zelda games that essentially bookended the original Switch console's lifespan: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. With all of the hype surrounding these games, I couldn't blame you if you missed what seemed like a new minor feature buried within the Nintendo Switch App. Zelda Notes, as it's called, is compatible with the Switch 2 editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, helping players navigate Hyrule more effectively, view their in-game achievements and access save data on the fly. Watch this: Switch 2 Detailed: What You Need to Know 07:18 Perhaps most importantly, Zelda Notes will allow the Tears of the Kingdom community to build a library of Ultrahand builds that anyone can import into their game. The Switch 2 edition upgrades for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are free so long as you have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. Otherwise, you'll have to shell out some money to take advantage of Zelda Notes when the Switch 2 launches on June 5. Here's why this new Nintendo Switch App feature is such a big deal. Making Ultrahand easy for everyone From simple cars to complex flying machines, you'll be able to access any Ultrahand build you want with a single tap. Nintendo/Screenshot by CNET Forget the sky islands and the underground Depths: Ultrahand is the key selling point of Tears of the Kingdom. The Switch's Legend of Zelda games are about tackling problems creatively and giving the player complete agency over handling tricky situations. The Ultrahand ability is the Platonic ideal of player freedom. As long as you possess the proper building blocks, you can Frankenstein them together into whatever abominable tool you please. That doesn't mean Ultrahand has ever been easy or intuitive to use, though. And a lot of people just aren't imaginative or dextrous enough to engineer the massive mech suits, flying machines or dragons that go viral on Reddit. I know I'm not. The Zelda Notes app ensures we no longer have to live vicariously through these skilled builders. Now, they can share their Ultrahand builds with a QR code and other players can import them directly into their game. While the feature seems like a way to jot down some notes or view some stats on first glance, it's really the ultimate distribution of player freedom. Your average Tears of the Kingdom player will soon be able to open the Autobuild Sharing tab of Zelda Notes to play with brand-new vehicles and contraptions very soon -- the philosophy of this new app is very LittleBigPlanet-esque. Item sharing, daily bonuses and other odds and ends The voice memories feature will add much-appreciated lore to the Switch's mainline Zelda games. Nintendo/Screenshot by CNET Speaking of QR codes, the Zelda Notes app tries to promote a sense of community in another way as well. Players are able to create QR codes that share items like food, weapons and crafting parts when scanned. You're able to make deposits in a Zelda Notes deposit box for other players to claim when they're needed. A new photo mode makes it easier for players to share their favorite Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom vistas, as well as any wacky moments they encounter in-game. QR codes for item and autobuild sharing can be stamped on these pictures as well. Voice memories will expand upon the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom story, providing new contextual dialogue from key characters as you explore important locations throughout Hyrule. The daily bonus spins a wheel that turns on a 24-hour boost for your save file. You can unlock improved meals, weapon repairs, increased energy cell regeneration or health recovery times and more. Zelda Notes also keeps track of your compatible scanned amiibo figures, and will enable you to start using the amiibo twice in one day once you've scanned it for five separate daily bonuses. All of these bonuses and extra features will be available for the Switch 2 editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom when they're released on June 5.
