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Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Pokédex - All Lumiose Pokémon Locations & Evolutions

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Pokédex - All Lumiose Pokémon Locations & Evolutions

Taking the action straight into the city, Pokémon Legends: Z-A certainly doesn't skimp on the Pokémon available to catch!
With a big range of familiar 'mons to collect in Kalos' Lumiose City, we've got a complete list on where to find every single Pokémon across Lumiose City for you, as well as every Pokémon confirmed for the Mega Dimension DLC.
Lumiose Pokédex and Pokémon Locations - Where to find every Pokémon
We've listed all 230 Pokémon you can collect for the Lumiose Pokédex below. Note that we've excluded Alpha Pokémon from the locations list for now.
Lastly, if it's Mega Evolutions you're after, then we'll have a separate guide for all of those.
POKÉDEX NUMBER
POKÉMON NAME
LOCATION
EVOLUTION METHOD
1
Chikorita
Starter, Wild Zone 20 (post game-only)

2
Bayleef
N/A
Evolves from Chikorita at level 16
3
Meganium
N/A
Evolves from Bayleef at level 32
4
Tepig
Starter, Wild Zone 20 (post game-only)

5
Pignite
N/A
Evoles from Tepig at level 17
6
Emboar
N/A
Evoles from Pignite at level 36
7
Totodile
Starter, Wild Zone 20 (post game-only)

8
Crocnaw
N/A
Evolves from Totodile at level 18
9
Feraligatr
N/A
Evolves from Crocnaw at level 30
10
Fletchling
Wild Zone 1, various rooftops

11
Fletchinder
Wild Zone 9, various rooftops
Evolves from Fletchling at level 17
12
Talonflame
Rooftops
Evolves from Talonflame at level 30
13
Bunnelby
Wild Zone 1, 5

14
Diggersby
Wild Zone 17
Evolfes from Bunnely at level 20
15
Scatterbug
Wild Zone 1, rooftops with grass

16
Spewpa
Wild Zone 4 (daytime only), rooftops with grass
Evolves from Scatterbug at level 9
17
Vivillon
Wild Zone 13 (daytime only), rooftops
Evolves from Spewpa at level 12
18
Weedle
Wild Zone 1, rooftops with grass, some parks

19
Kakuna
Wild Zone 2, 7 (on trees), hanging from trees in parks
Evolves from Weedle at level 7
20
Beedrill
Wild Zone 15 (daytime only)
Evolves from Kakuna at level 10
21
Pidgey
Wild Zone 1, 5

22
Pidgeotto
Wild Zone 5
Evolves from Pidgey at level 18
23
Pidgeot
Rooftops
Evolves from Pidgeotto at level 26
24
Mareep
Wild Zone 1

25
Flaaffy
Wild Zone 6, 16
Evolves from Mareep at level 15
26
Ampharos
N/A
Evolves from Flaaffy at level 30
27
Patrat
Wild Zone 2, 4 (nighttime only), Lumiose Sewers (southwest)

28
Watchog
Wild Zone 10
Evolves from Patrat at level 20
29
Budew
Wild Zone 2

30
Roselia
Wild Zone 7
Evolves from Budew with high friendship during the day
31
Roserade
Wild Zone 20
Use Shiny Stone on Roselia
32
Magikarp
Wild Zone 2, 6

33
Gyarados
Wild Zone 11
Evolves from Magikarp at level 20
34
Binacle
Wild Zone 2, 6

35
Barbaracle
Wild Zone 16
Evolves from Binacle at level 39
36
Staryu
Wild Zone 2 (nighttime only), 10

37
Starmie
Wild Zone 16 (nighttime only)
Use Water Stone on Staryu
38
Flabébé
Near flowerbeds across Lumiose + rooftops

39
Floette
Wild Zone 7
Evolves from Flabebe from level 19
40
Florges
N/A
Use Shiny Stone on Floette
41
Skiddo
Wild Zone 3

42
Gogoat
Wild Zone 12
Evolves from Skiddo at level 32
43
Espurr
Wild Zone 3, 9

44
Meowstic
N/A
Evolves from Espurr at level 25
45
Litleo
Wild Zone 3

46
Pyroar
Wild Zone 17
Evolves from Litleo at level 35
47
Pancham
Wild Zone 3

48
Pangoro
N/A
Evolves from Pancham at level 32 + have a Dark-type Pokemon in your party
49
Trubbish
In alleyways next to trashcans (check near cafes and restaurants!)

50
Garbodor
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Trubbish at level 36
51
Dedenne
Rooftops, often close to apartment doors

52
Pichu
Wild Zone 1 (specifically, in a small section of the Zone accessbile from the far left)

53
Pikachu
Wild Zone 3
Evolves from a Pichu with high friendship
54
Raichu
N/A
Use Thunder Stone on Pikachu
55
Cleffa
Wild Zone 19, rooftops (rarely) (only at nighttime)

56
Clefairy
Wild Zone 19 (nighttime)
Evolves from Cleffa with high friendship
57
Clefable
N/A
Use Moon Stone on Clefairy
58
Spinarak
Wild Zone 4 (on the side of the crypts)

59
Ariados
Lumiose Sewers (northwest)
Evolves from Spinarak at level 22
60
Ekans
Wild Zone 4 (daytime only), Lab (endgame area)

61
Arbok
Wild Zone 10
Evolves from Ekans at level 22
62
Abra
Wild Zone 5, rooftops (will teleport away quickly)

63
Kadabra
Wild Zone 9
Evolves from Abra at level 16
64
Alakazam
N/A
Trade Kadabra
65
Ghastly
Wild Zone 4, Lumiose Sewers (south)

66
Haunter
Lumiose Sewers (south)
Evolves from Haunter at level 25
67
Gengar
N/A (can catch as part of the main story)
Trade Haunter
68
Venipede
Wild Zone 5

69
Whirlipede
Wild Zone 15 (daytime only)
Evolves from Venipede at level 22
70
Scolipede
Wild Zone 15 (daytime only)
Evolves from Whirlipede at level 30
71
Honedge
Wild Zone 4 (nighttime only), Lab (endgame area)

72
Doublade
Lab (endgame area)
Evolves from Honedge at level 35
73
Aegislash
N/A
Use Dusk Stone on Doublade
74
Bellsprout
Wild Zone 5, 10

75
Weepinbell
Wild Zone 13 (daytime only)
Evolves from Bellsprout at level 21
76
Victreebel
N/A
Use Leaf Stone on Weepinbell
77
Pansage
In trees

78
Simisage
N/A
Use Leaf Stone on Pansage
79
Pansear
In trees

80
Simisear
N/A
Use Fire Stone on Pansear
81
Panpour
In trees

82
Simipour
N/A
Use Water Stone on Panpour
83
Meditite
Wild Zone 6 (daytime only)

84
Medicham
Wild Zone 16 (daytime only)
Evolves from Meditie at level 37
85
Electrike
Wild Zone 5 (daytime only), Lab (endgame area)

86
Manectric
Lab (endgame area)
Evolves from Mantyke at level 26
87
Ralts
Grassy courtyards

88
Kirlia
N/A
Evolves from Ralts at level 20
89
Gardevoir
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Kirlia at level 30
90
Gallade
N/A
Use Dawn Stone on Male Kirlia
91
Houndour
Wild Zone 6, Lab (endgame area)

92
Houndoom
Lab (endgame area)
Evolves from Houndour at level 24
93
Swablu
Wild Zone 6, 18 (daytime only), rooftops

94
Altaria
Wild Zone 18 (daytime only)
Evolves from Swablu at level 35
95
Audino
Wild Zone 7, 19

96
Spritzee
On top of market stalls

97
Armoatisse
N/A
Trade Spritzee while holding a Sachet
98
Swirlix
On top of market stalls

99
Slupruff
N/A
Trade Swirlix while holding a Whipped Dream
100
Eevee
Wild Zone 19, on rooftops (rarely)

101
Vaporeon
N/A
Use Water Stone on Eevee
102
Jolteon
N/A
Use Thunder Stone on Eeeve
103
Flareon
N/A
Use Fire Stone on Eevee
104
Espeon
N/A
Evolves from Eevee with high friendship during the day
105
Umbreon
N/A
Evolves from Eevee with high friendship during the night
106
Leafeon
N/A
Use Leaf Stone on Eevee
107
Glaceon
N/A
Use Ice Stone on Eeeve
108
Sylveon
N/A
Evolves from Eevee with high friendship + Fairy-type move
109
Buneary
Wild Zone 6

110
Lopunny
N/A
Evolves from Buneary with high friendship
111
Shuppet
Wild Zone 7, 15, rooftops (nighttime only)

112
Banette
N/A
Evolves from Shuppet at level 37
113
Vanillite
Wild Zone 7, 12

114
Vanillish
N/A
Evolves from Vanillite at level 35
115
Vanilluxe
N/A
Evolves from Vanillish at level 47
116
Numel
Wild Zone 8

117
Camerupt
N/A
Evolves from Numel at level 33
118
Hippopotas
Wild Zone 7 (daytime only)

119
Hippowdon
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Hippopotas at level 34
120
Drilbur
Wild Zone 8, 14

121
Excadrill
Wild Zone 14
Evolves from Drilbur at level 31
122
Sandile
Wild Zone 8

123
Krokorok
Wild Zone 8
Evolves from Sandile at level 29
124
Krookodile
N/A
Evolves from Krokorok at level 40
125
Machop
Wild Zone 8, 12

126
Machoke
Wild Zone 12
Evolves from Machop at level 28
127
Machamp
N/A
Trade Machoke
128
Gible
Wild Zone 8 (in the holes, rare)

129
Gabite
N/A
Evolves from Gible at level 24
130
Garchomp
N/A
Evolves from Gabite at level 48
131
Carbink
Wild Zone 9, rooftops

132
Sableye
Wild Zone 9

133
Mawile
Wild Zone 9

134
Absol
Rooftops (will get during the main story too)

135
Riolu
Rooftops (only during the day and if its sunny)

136
Lucario
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Riolu with high friendship during the day
137
Slowpoke
Wild Zone 10, 11

138
Slowbro
N/A
Evolves from Slowpoke at level 27
139
Slowking
N/A
Trade Slowpoke while holding a Kings Rock
140
Carvanha
Wild Zone 10

141
Sharpedo
N/A
Evolves from Carvanha at level 30
142
Tynamo
Wild Zone 10

143
Eelektrik
N/A
Evolves from Tynamo at level 39
144
Eeletross
N/A
Use Thunder Stone on Eelektrik
145
Dratini
Rooftops (rare)

146
Dragonair
Rooftops (extremely rare)
Evolves from Dratini at level 30
147
Dragonite
N/A
Evolves from Dragonair at level 55
148
Bulbasaur
A Call from Mable Side Quest, Wild Zone 20

149
Ivysaur
N/A
Evolves from Bulbasaur at level 16
150
Venusaur
N/A
Evolves from Ivysaur at level 36
151
Charmander
A Call from Mable Side Quest, Wild Zone 20

152
Charmeleon
N/A
Evolves from Charmander at level 16
153
Charizard
N/A
Evolves from Charmeleon at level 36
154
Squirtle
A Call from Mable Side Quest, Wild Zone 20

155
Wartortle
N/A
Evolves from Squirtle at level 16
156
Blastoise
N/A
Evolves from Wartortle at level 36
157
Stunfisk
Wild Zone 11

158
Furfrou
Wild Zone 11, 19

159
Inkay
Lumiose Sewers (South, Northwest)

160
Malamar
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Inkay at level 30
161
Skrelp
Lumiose Sewers (South, Northwest)

162
Dragalge
Wild Zone 20, Lumioise Sewers (South)
Evolves from Skrelp at level 48
163
Clauncher
Wild Zone 11

164
Clawitzer
N/A
Evolves from Clauncher at level 37
165
Goomy
Lumiose Sewers (South), outside in the rain

166
Sliggoo
Outside in the rain (extremely rare)
Evolves from Goomy at level 40
167
Goodra
N/A
Evolves from Sliggoo at level 50; it must be raining
168
Delibird
Wild Zone 12, rooftops

169
Snorunt
Wild Zone 12

170
Glalie
N/A
Evolves from Snorunt at level 42
171
Froslass
N/A
Use Dawn Stone on a female Snorunt
172
Snover
Wild Zone 12

173
Abomasnow
N/A
Evolves from Snover at level 40
174
Bergmite
Wild Zone 12

175
Avalugg
N/A
Evolves from Bergmite at level 37
176
Scyther
Wild Zone 13 (daytime only)

177
Scizor
N/A
Trade Scyther while holding the Metal Coat
178
Pinsir
Wild Zone 13

179
Heracross
Wild Zone 13

180
Emolga
Wild Zone 14, rooftops

181
Hawlucha
Rooftops (rare)

182
Phantump
Wild Zone 13 (nighttime only)

183
Trevenant
N/A
Trade Phantump
184
Scraggy
Lumiose Sewers (South)

185
Scrafty
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Scraggy at level 39
186
Noibat
Lumiose Sewers (South, Northwest)

187
Noivern
Lab (endgame area)
Evolves form Noibat at level 48
188
Klefki
Lumiose Sewers (South)

189
Litwick
Lumiose Sewers (South)
Evolves from Litwick at level 41
190
Lampent
Wild Zone 17
Use Dusk Stone on Lampent
191
Chandelure
N/A

192
Aerodactyle
Restore Old Amber at the Research Lab

193
Tyrunt
Restore Jaw Fossil at the Research Lab

194
Tyrantrum
N/A
Evolves from Tyrunt at level 39 during the day
195
Amaura
Restore Sail Fosil at Research Lab

196
Aurorus
N/A
Evolves from Amaura at level 39 at night
197
Onix
Wild Zone 14

198
Steelix
N/A
Trade Onix while holding a Metal Coat
199
Aron
Wild Zone 14

200
Lairon
Wild Zone 14
Evolves from Aron at level 32
201
Aggron
Wild Zone 20
Evolves from Lairon at level 42
202
Helioptile
Wild Zone 14 (daytime only, sunny)

203
Heliolisk
N/A
Use Sun Stone on Helioptile
204
Pumpkaboo
Wild Zone 15

205
Gourgeist
N/A
Trade Pumpkaboo
206
Larvitar
N/A

207
Pupitar
N/A
Evolves from Larvitar at level 30
208
Tyranitar
N/A
Evolves from Pupitar at level 55
209
Froakie
Wild Zone 16, complete A Challenge from Froakie Side Mission

210
Frogadier
N/A
Evolves from Froakie at level 16
211
Greninja
N/A
Evolves from Frogadier at level 36
212
Falinks
Wild Zone 16

213
Chespin
Wild Zone 17, complete A Feisty Chespin Side Mission

214
Qulliadin
N/A
Evolves from Chespin at level 16
215
Chesnaught
N/A
Evolves from Quilladin at level 36
216
Skarmory
Wild Zone 17 (never in the rain)

217
Fennekin
Wild Zone 18, complete Get Well, Fennekin Side Mission

218
Braixen
N/A
Evolves from Fennekin at level 16
219
Delphox
N/A
Evolves from Braixen at level 36
220
Bagon
Wild Zone 18

221
Shelgon
N/A
Evolves from Bagon at level 30
222
Salamence
N/A
Evolves from Shelgon at level 50
223
Kagaskhan
Wild Zone 19

224
Drampa
Wild Zone 19 (daytime only)

225
Beldum
Lab (endgame area)

226
Metang
Lab (endgame area)
Evolves from Beldum at level 20
227
Metagross
N/A
Evolves from Metang at level 45
228
Xerneas
Post game, catch at the end of The One That Gives Main Mission

229
Yveltal
Post game, catch at the end of The One That Takes Main Mission

230
Zygarde
Post game, complete To Keep the World in Balance Main Mission



Mega Dimension DLC - All Confirmed Pokémon
Even more returning Pokémon will be added when the Mega Dimension DLC launches on 10th December 2025.
Based on the trailers we have, here are all the Pokémon we know will be making an appearance. For Mega Evolutions, as always, check that guide.
Baxcalibur
Chimecho
Corviknight
Cubone
Garganacle
Golisipod
Golurk
Hoopa
Marowak (Alolan)
Mr. Mime (Galarian)
Munna
Musharna
Naclstack
Whimpod
Zeraora

Ready to catch 'em all in the city now? Have a look at the rest of our Pokémon Legends: Z-A guides for more tips, tricks, and helpful hints.

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Rockstar

November 20, 2025Nov 20

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: How To Increase Friendship Fast

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: How To Increase Friendship Fast

The Friendship stat is back in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, along with many Pokémon that need to be best buds with you to evolve. Raising it is very simple — if you know where to go!
Here's our guide on how to raise Friendship levels in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, where to get the Soothe Bell, and which Pokémon require high friendship to evolve.
Friendship Guide - Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Friendship is a hidden stat that every single Pokémon has. Basically, it determines how much they like you. In previous games, it has other effects, but in Legends: Z-A, it's really only useful for one thing — helping certain Pokémon evolve.
There are a number of ways you can raise a 'mon's friendship (or happiness) here, and they're all relatively easy!
What's the quickest way to raise friendship?

The fastest way to increase your Pokémon's friendship by far is by sitting down and drinking at cafés. A little pricey, but nothing a run around the city won't solve. If you need some cash for some refreshing drinks, then we've got some tips on how to make money.
Basically, make sure the Pokémon you want to raise the friendship of is selected. You should also give the the Soothe Bell item to hold. Then, go to any café of your choice and sit down and have a couple of hot drinks. Take some photos if you want, too!
With the Soothe Bell, it only took three coffees for us to max out our friendship with a Pokémon. Buy the cheapest drink on the menu and just relax.
Where to find the Soothe Bell

If you don't have the Soothe Bell yet, don't fret, it's fairly easy to get.
It's a reward for the Some Friendly Competition Side Mission, which you'll unlock once you have access to Canari's Quiz Whiz Contest, which is available in Main Mission 14.
Then, you're looking for a woman drinking coffee at Café Rouleau in the Magenta District. Follow the road (Estival Avenue) southwest from Centrica Plaza and you should find it.
Talk to her, defeat her Clefairy, and you'll get the Bell.
Other ways to raise friendship
If you don't want to rush your way through making friends, then here's a couple of other ways to raise your 'mons' happiness:
Run around the city with them
Battle with them
Make them break Mega Crystals and obstacles
Feed them berries
All Pokémon that evolve with high friendship

There are 6 Pokémon that require high friendship to evolve in Lumiose City, with one of those having three different evolutions based on this method.
Here's a list of all of them — if you want to know where to find them, then jump into our complete Pokédex!
Budew - evolves into Roselia with high friendship (daytime)
Pichu - evolves into Pikachu with high friendship (anytime)
Cleffa - evolves into Clefairy with high friendship (anytime)
Eevee - has three different evolutions based on friendship: Espeon requires high friendship (daytime); Umbreon is the opposite — high friendship (nighttime); Sylveon needs high friendship and for Eevee to know a Fairy-type move (anytime)
Buneary - evolves into Lopunny with high friendship (anytime)
Riolu - evolves into Lucario with high friendship (daytime)

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Rockstar

November 20, 2025Nov 20

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: How To Make Money Fast

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: How To Make Money Fast

Pokémon Legends: Z-A's Lumiose City is based on Paris, France, and while Prism Tower might be the most-recognizable comparison between the two locations, there's a bigger similarity — it's an expensive town, especially if you have a taste for fashion.
You'll always need a lot of cash on you if you want to splurge on clothes, Mega Stones, and tons of potions. So here are a few quick and easy tips on making Poké Dollars in the city of fashion and coffee.
How to make money in Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Thankfully, making money is actually pretty darn easy in Legends: Z-A. There's almost always something to sell lying around, and the Z-A Royale gives ample opportunities to make a ton of cash (and gain some levels) in a short space of time.
Still, it's worth noting down the best ways to make cash — particularly early on when the Z-A Royale's best rewards are still out of reach.
Pick up every sparkle you see

Lots of NPCs will tell you this , but we'll say it too — see something shiny on the ground? Pick it up. These little sparkles range from potions to Poké Balls and, more frequently, Tiny Mushrooms and Pretty Wings.
Tiny Mushrooms sell for 250 Poké Dollars, while Pretty Feathers sell for 500 Poké Dollars. That doesn't sound like much, but if you walk around a lot, you'll have batches in the 30s, 40s, and maybe even 50s or higher. Those small numbers soon add up to something far greater.
Do Side Quests

Another very obvious thing, but sometimes difficult if you want to power through the entire game. Side Quests almost always give cash rewards, and some might even give you the odd Pearl of Nugget to sell.
These go for far more than your 'shrooms or feathers, so sell them if you have them.
Compete in the Z-A Royale

The Z-A Royale is mandatory if you want to make it through the story, but it's also an amazing opportunity to make a lot of money.
While building up points should be your priority, you can also rake in the Poké Dollars quickly by doing a number of things while you explore the Battle Zones.
Pick up every single medal you see. The more Medals you have, the more money you'll get at the end of the night. And, the more trainers you defeat, the higher your multiplier will be.
The highest multiplier we've ever got is x2.0, but you can go as high as 3.0. So, if you happen to make 20,000 Poké Dollars that night, you'll actually get 40k. Not bad at all!
Plus, you can maximize that money even further by completing those Bonus Cards. Not only do these give you lots of points, but they also give you more medals.
Buy the Gold Canari Plush

At Racine Construction, you can trade in Colorful Screws for Canari Plush dolls, which give you a range of benefits, including increased Exp, more Mega Shards, and make you more resilient to attacks.
For money, though, you want the Gold Canari Plush. This increases the amount of money you get from Pokémon battles — which include those Side Quests where you have to fight trainers.
You can upgrade it three times, with each tier increasing the money you earn a lot more than the last.

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Rockstar

November 20, 2025Nov 20

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Best Starter Pokémon - How To Get Chikorita, Tepig & Totodile

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Best Starter Pokémon - How To Get Chikorita, Tepig & Totodile

So, you've started Pokémon Legends: Z-A, you've picked your partner Pokémon (and it was an agonizing decision), but now you're doubting yourself. All three are irresistible, after all!
Fear not, you're can still get all three starters in-game regardless of your first choice. Still, here's our guide on what the best Starter is in Legends: Z-A and how to get Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile all in one playthrough, without relying on friends and trading.
What's the best Starter Pokémon in Legends: Z-A?
Here's the age-old question, then: who should you pick? Honestly, it doesn't really matter. Pick your favorite, or pick something different. Legends: Z-A is certainly tougher than other Pokémon games, but not by much, and there are enough options and type coverage that it really doesn't matter.
Statistically, though? It's Tepig. It's the only one of the three whose final evolution is dual-typed, and it has the highest base attack stat of all three. it has a few weaknesses and its defense stat isn't amazing, plus that Mega Evolution doesn't change the game, but in terms of strength, it's the best easily. Totodile and Chikorita are no slouches, though.

Chikorita is statistically the weakest of the three, but its Mega Evolution adds the Fairy-type to its arsenal. That's pretty good. It's the fastest of the trio and has the best special defense to boot. Plus Chikorita is adorable, right?
Totodile was our pick (it's this author's favourite starter out of every Gen), and as well as having the highest base stat total, it's also extremely balanced. It's being a Water-type physical attacker limits its damage output a little, but its Mega Evolution also adds Dragon-type to the mix, making those Outrage swipes very dangerous.
Ultimately, however, it's down to how you build your team: vary your types, movesets, and build a balance set of six, and you'll be a champ regardless.
How to get all three Lumiose City starters

Obviously you'll get to pick your starter Pokémon at the start; Urbain or Taunie will offer up one of Chikorita, Tepig, or Totodile to help get your luggage back from the thieving Pancham. This will be your companion for the entire game. But what about the other two?
Well, if you want to get the others, you'll actually have to wait until the end of the game. The trio only become available in a brand new Wild Zone that opens up once you've rolled credits. A little annoying, but hey, at least they're available.
Where to catch Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile

All three Pokémon are catchable in the game's final Wild Zone, Wild Zone 20, which appears in the centre of the map.
As we said above, this only unlocks once you've beaten the main game; after that, you'll need to progress the post game story a tiny bit by speaking to your friends in Hotel Z then heading to Centrico Plaza to speak to Vinnie.

Then, Wild Zone 20 is yours to explore. Totodile is found near the water, Chikorita in the grassy areas, and Tepig in the more brick-like area.
Where to get Mega Stones for Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile

You'll get one of these three during the main story, right after you defeat Mega Absol and obtain the Absolite.
The next day, AZ will hand you the Mega Stone that corresponds with the starter you picked at the start of the game.
As for the other two, like with the absent starters, you won't be able to get them until the post game. Luckily, you don't need to hunt them down — they're sold at the Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue. They're pricey, though: 100,000 Poké Dollars each. Make sure you save up your pennies for those!

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Mini Review: Arcade Archives 2 TOKYO WARS (Switch 2) - Another Polished But Wafer Thin Hamster Port

Mini Review: Arcade Archives 2 TOKYO WARS (Switch 2) - Another Polished But Wafer Thin Hamster Port

Hamster Corporation's Arcade Archives series is back with another cabinet classic on Switch 2. I got to check out Jet Ski racer Aqua Jet back in August, which was a lovingly crafted port. This time I'm revisiting the destructive tank combat of Namco's Tokyo Wars, which served as inspiration for The 3DO Company's N64 classic Battle Tanx: Global Assault.
Aqua Jet was notable for having a cabinet containing a replica Jet Ski, something which can’t really be recreated on Switch (without some serious hardware modding). Tokyo Wars had a similar hardware quirk that provided a satisfying kickback to simulate your tank firing its payload. A feature that is, bafflingly, not emulated with the Switch 2 controllers' haptics.
Aside from the complete lack of feedback when unleashing shells on enemy tanks, this port is as clean and generously featured as I've come to expect from Hamster Corp.
The premise couldn't be simpler: Rival factions battle it out in the streets of Tokyo. You choose from White Force or Green Force and roll around the map, shelling any opposing tank you find, while avoiding your team’s armor. This was a great game back in the day and it's worth experiencing now, even if there isn't much to do in its two arenas.
This 1996 title looks as polished as it possibly could be, outside of being remastered. Visuals and audio are crisp and suit docked and undocked modes equally, with many format options to tweak the experience to your liking. Special mention goes to crisp presentation of Akihiko Ishikawa's insane music, which makes you feel like you're at a sweaty Japanese rave instead of a warzone.
Both English and Japanese versions of the game are playable in all available modes. Caravan time attack makes a return and can be played in split screen. Other modes can also be played in up to four-player local split screen.
Much like other games in the Arcade Archives, all the content in Tokyo Wars has to offer can be experienced in minutes. An additional Multiplayer mode is the only thing that would extend the lifespan of this slight experience.
Enjoyment comes from improving on your own performance and competing with others, as is usual with an arcade title. That said, the more of these Arcade Archives titles that Hamster Corp puts out, the more it becomes evident that an 'Arcade Archives 2 Collection' would be much more value for money than individual releases.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

AYANEO's "Premium" Pocket VERT Has A Fascinating Hidden Feature

AYANEO's "Premium" Pocket VERT Has A Fascinating Hidden Feature

Yesterday, AYANEO held a special "Sharing Session" for its upcoming "premium" handheld, the AYANEO Pocket VERT, going over some of the features that will be included with the Game Boy-style device.
Many of these features we'd already heard about in the past, such as the fact that it will include diamond-cut shoulder buttons, a 3.5" 1600×1440 LCD screen, and will offer "10× pixel-perfect Game Boy scaling". But there was also another surprise announcement from AYANEO's CEO, Arthur Zhang, which we can safely say we didn't expect.
That announcement was that the device will actually include a large hidden dual-mode trackpad located beneath its glass front, which will be situated beneath the D-Pad and buttons.

This touchpad is being described as suitable for "diverse use cases" and will reportedly be programmable to act as a stand-in for both joysticks, if you decide to try and load up any games featuring analog movement.
Of course, this isn't the first time AYANEO has added a touch-screen to a Game Boy-inspired device. If you cast your mind back to last year, you may remember that AYANEO previously included a trackpad on its Pocket DMG device, with the option there being a stand-in for its missing right analog stick.

Reviewing that machine, Hookshot's editorial director Damien McFerran called that solution "surprisingly decent" despite his initial "misgivings". So, it will be interesting to see how its implementation here will compare.
Other than the hidden trackpad, AYANEO also shared that AYANEO Pocket VERT will feature a high-density 6000mAh battery and active air cooling, and has stated it will also include the MagicSwitch key, previously introduced on the Pocket DMG, to control the volume. Three colourways are also expected to be available at launch. These include Midnight Black, Moon White, and Lava Red.
Right now, it's currently unknown exactly when the AYANEO Pocket VERT will go on sale or what chipset will be powering it, but we'll keep our eyes peeled for any more news as it emerges.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Best Canari Plush - All Dolls & Effects

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Best Canari Plush - All Dolls & Effects

Canari is a name you'll become all too familiar with in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but you won't actually meet her for a few hours. Instead, you'll get acquainted with her rather adorable plush dolls.
This guide will explain everything you need to know about the Canari Plush Dolls, what they do, where to get them, and just how to get them.
Canari Plush Dolls explained - Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Canari Plush dolls are key items that sit in your inventory and provide a handful of boosts to you throughout the game. You don't need to equip them — as long as you've bought the doll, it'll provide you with the little boost.
There are five different types of Canari Plush: Red, Gold, Pink, Green, and Blue. You'll get your first one, a Red Canari Plush, from Tarragon after reaching Rank Y in the Z-A Royale.
Afterwards, you'll be able to buy more dolls and upgrades for existing dolls wby spending Colorful Screws.
Where to buy Canari Dolls

You can buy Canari Dolls at the Racine Construction building, which is on South Boulevard in the Vert Sector.
You'll know you're in the right spot when you see a construction worker standing outside. Make sure you head inside the building to unlock it as a fast travel spot!
How to get Colorful Screws

Colorful Screws will be available to collect as soon as you get your first Canari Plush. These can be found all across Lumiose City on the rooftops and in many scaffolding platforming puzzles.
You'll see them as they emit a purple glow; don't worry, you can't get every single one immediately, so just pick them up as and when you can.
All Canari Plush effects
Every plush brings with it a different benefit, so they're all worth getting eventually. Here's what all five dolls do, and all the upgrades, including screw cost.
Many thanks to Serebii for recording the exact effects of these dolls!
Canari Plush
Effect
Level 1 (3 Screws)
Level 2 (5 Screws)
Level 3 (8 Screws)
Red Canari Plush
Increases Exp. points
+5% Exp earned
+10% Exp earned
+15% Exp earned
Gold Canari Plush
Increases prize money from beating trainers in Z-A Royale
Increases your prize medal conversion by *1.15
Increases your prize medal conversion by *1.299
Increases your prize medal conversion by *1.5
Pink Canari Plush
Increases the amount of Mega Shards dropped by Mega Crystals
Small Crystals drop 2-4 Shards
Large Crystals drop 8-12
Small Crystals drop 3-5 Shards
Large Crystals drop 10-14
Small Crystals drop 5-7 Shards
Large Crystals drop 14-18
Green Canari Plush
Increases your (the trainer's) health
HP increases to 150
HP increases to 200
HP increases to 250
Blue Canari Plush
Makes it easier to catch Pokémon
Catch rate increases by 10%
Catch rate increases by 20%
Catch rate increases by 35%
What's Canari Plush should I get first?

For our money — or should that be Colorful Screws? — we think the Blue Canari Plush should be the first one you grab.
This will help make some of those tougher Pokémon much easier to catch. Take that Dratini! It'll just be less of a headache building teams with rarer Pokémon as you progress through the story.
As for the rest, Pink, Gold, then Red are probably the next three you should focus on: you'll need Mega Shards to trade for Mega Stones later down the line, while Gold will help you make money nice and quickly. Red is always worth grabbing if you need an Exp. boost and are training 'mons up.
Green should be your last pick — perhaps if you're struggling with a Rogue Mega Evolution fight.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Battle System Beginner Tips - How To Become A Pokémon Battling Pro

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Battle System Beginner Tips - How To Become A Pokémon Battling Pro

With a new real-time battle system, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has upgraded Pokémon battles to a whole new level, and with it comes a bit of a learning curve.
If you want to get to grips with the basics, or become a pro, then this guide will help you understand everything you need in order to get through the game.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Battle System - Beginner Tips
Moving to real-time doesn't just change things from turn-based to action-based, it's a bit deeper than that! You can now fully move around the battle arena, as can your Pokémon!
That adds a whole layer of strategy already, but there's a lot going on. So here's some basic tips we suggest focusing on — some of these are similar to previous Pokémon games, but others are a little more unique.
Yes, you can avoid attacks
Who needs an accuracy stat? Not Legends: Z-A it seems. Almost every single attack in the game is now reliant on a number of factors, not just whether they'll hit or not.
Some attacks, like Quick Attack, and guaranteed to hit, so there's no need to run around like crazy trying to dodge that. But the Hydro Pumps, Solar Beams, Shadow Balls of the world, watch out.
Keep an eye on your opponent to see what attack they're going to use. Watch their animation, and move. Don't command your Pokémon to attack while they're getting ready. And, if they get close, lure them in, then move at the last second. No Headbuts allowed!
Oh, and attacks like Pin Missile, that used to hit between 3-5 times? Those are dodgeable now too.
Stay out of traps

This should go without saying, but considering the way traps work in Z-A, it's a little bit new here.
Spikes, Poison Spikes, Stealth Rock, Fire Spin, Future Sight, and a bunch of other moves no longer just sit on the field for guaranteed damage each turn — or prep a power boost on the next attack. Instead, these sit in a specific spot and will stay there until they expire. You don't have to step in them, and you shouldn't!
Type advantage is still very important
Another fairly obvious one, but with all the changes here, it's worth reiterating — pay attention to Pokémon types. Don't take a Grass-type into a fight with a Fire-type; avoid using Dragons against Fairies. You get the idea.
Mix up your attack types, too, as you would a normal Pokémon game: don't just give Floette Fairy-type moves; give it some Grass, some Normal, some Poison. TMs are reusable so don't be shy about using them.
Keep close(ish) to your Pokémon
This is maybe the most important thing we learned while playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A — don't stand far, far away from your active Pokémon. Sure, it puts you in a bit of danger, but the crucial thing is that it stops your Pokémon from running back and forth between you and the enemy.
Keeping close to your 'mon means not only can you see what's going on a little better, but it also means you can lead your buddy away from danger. You can't control them directly, but they will follow your movements, and the close you are, the better you know that you'll be able to avoid damage.
Lock on - but not all the time

Holding ZL will lock onto the enemy, allowing your Pokémon to use one of its moves. But it also makes you move slower and means you can't dodge roll.
So, if you see your opponent readying a move, let go! And run! You really only want to lock on to keep an eye on the opposing Pokémon (if you end up far away) and to ready an attack of your own.
Stat boosts (and debuffs) are worth it
Outside of competitive battling, buffs and debuffs didn't always feel worth it in the mainline games — they waste a turn and more often than not the gain didn't outweigh the damage we took.
That changes in Legends: Z-A. Now, because you can prep as you sneak up on an enemy, or even just move out of the way, buffing is absolutely worth it. Debuffing, too, particularly in the early game.
Fight Mega with Mega

This won't apply until your a few hours into the game, but we figured it was worth saying here — if your opponent Mega Evolves, or you're up against a Rogue Mega Evolution, you ideally want to fight fire with fire and do the same.
Mega Evolutions have hugely improved stats over their base forms, and that means that, more often than not, they're more defensive and have higher HP. Super effective attacks are great and all, but they'll make less of a dent.
If you have the power to Mega Evolve when your opponent does, then just do it. it's not worth the hassle, and you'll get the energy back easily as you continue.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Battle System - Advanced Tips
Alright, so you're getting pretty good at this now. But there are some extremely useful and very unique situations to react to throughout Z-A, so for those of you who want to become the A-Ranked trainer of Lumiose, read on.
These tips will be very helpful for when you take on the later Z-A Royale challenges or try to catch some difficult Pokémon in the post-game.
Put your Pokémon away!

Yes, you heard — put your 'mon back in its ball! You don't always need to be doing damage, and because you can't really control your Pokémon's movements, in situations where it's hard to get them to avoid damage (particularly in Rogue Mega Evolution fights), stick 'em back in your pocket.
Many fights have wide area-of-effect attacks that are pretty tough to avoid without worrying about your Pokémon Pal too. So save yourself some potions and just put them away for a few seconds. Wait for the attack to stop, and send them out again.
If your Pokémon is Mega Evolved, then don't worry, they won't revert back inside the ball. They're raring to go once you send them out again.
Stack up effects
So you can't stack tons of status effects on top of each other, but you can stack say, Poison with a lovely-placed Fire Spin.
Not only will both of these chip away at damage, but they're easy to reapply and overtime can take out a significant chunk of health. Add in some of your own attacks and, well, it's damage city over here.
Don't be afraid to double up move types

Something that's a little bit of a no-no in mainline Pokémon — doubling up moves of the same type. Not always the case, but variety is the spice of life and all that.
That's less of an issue now thanks to attacks being on cooldown. You can just rotate between two Water-type moves against a Rock-type opponent and absolutely destroy them, for instance. One isn't going to run out of PP anymore, after all.
Plus Moves are A+
Plus Moves become available around the same time you get your first Mega Stone. They consume part of the Mega Gauge, meaning it'll take longer to Mega Evolve, so you might be worried about using them. Don't be.
Plus Moves make 'mons who can't Mega Evolve pretty darn powerful. Don't just save them for the Florges' and Pangoros of the world, though — they're great for every Pokémon.
Pressing + before using an eligible Plus Move gives your attack a Mega-style boost to its power. Attacks get stronger and have a wider area-of-effect, for instance. In situations where you're struggling, or when you're just not building up the energy to Mega Evolve, use Plus Moves.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: All Mega Evolutions & Mega Stone Locations

Pokémon Legends: Z-A: All Mega Evolutions & Mega Stone Locations

Mega Evolutions return! Pokémon Legends: Z-A brings this fan-favourite mechanic back; not seen since Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, this ability allows your favourite 'mons to get an extra power boost and a snazzy new look to boot.
All previous Mega Evolutions have returned in Z-A, but we've also got some brand new ones to sink our teeth into. But before you jump in, you'll also want to know how to get that 'mon's Mega Stone. So we've got every single Mega Evolution in Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the location of the relevant Mega Stone, including for the upcoming Mega Dimension DLC.
Note: This guide will contain spoilers for the entire game, so please read at your own risk!
All Mega Evolutions & Mega Stone Locations in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

There are currently 65 Mega Evolutions in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, many of which are brand new to the franchise. At least four more will be added to the game via the Mega Dimension DLC.
We've listed all of them below, along with the Mega Stone you'll need to Mega Evolve them, and how to get the stone.
MEGA EVOLUTION
MEGA STONE
LOCATION
Mega Meganium*
Meganiumite
After defeating Rogue Absol (Chikorita starter), or from the Stone Emporium in Post Game (100,000 Poké Dollars)
Mega Emboarite*
Emboarite
After defeating Rogue Absol (Tepig starter), or from the Stone Emporium in Post Game (100,000 Poké Dollars)
Mega Feraligatr*
Feraligite
After defeating Rogue Absol (Totodile starter), or from the Stone Emporium in Post Game (100,000 Poké Dollars)
Mega Beedrill
Beedrillite
Defeat Rogue Mega Beedrill
Mega Pidgeot
Pidgeotite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Ampharos
Ampharosite
Defeat Rogue Mega Ampharos
Mega Gyarados
Gyaradosite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Barbaracle*
Barbaracite
Defeat Rogue Mega Barbaracle
Mega Starmie*
Staminite
Defeat Rogue Mega Starmie
Mega Eternal Floette*
Floetite
Get Eternal Flower Floette (post game)
Mega Pyroar*
Pyroarite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank A)
Mega Clefable*
Clefablite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank B)
Mega Alakazam
Alakazite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Gengar
Gengarite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 50,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Scolipede*
Scolipedite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Victreebel*
Victreebelite
Defeat Rogue Mega Victreebel
Mega Medicham
Meditchamite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 50,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Manectric
Manectite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Gardevoir
Gardevoirite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Gallade
Galladite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Houndoom
Houndoominite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Altaria
Altarianite
Defeat Rogue Mega Altaria
Mega Audino
Audinite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Lopunny
Lopunnite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Banette
Banettite
Defeat Rogue Mega Banette
Mega Camerupt
Cameruptite
Defeat Rogue Mega Camerupt
Mega Excadrill*
Excadrite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Garchomp
Garchompite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 70,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Sableye
Sablenite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Mawile
Mawilite
Defeat Rogue Mega Mawile
Mega Absol
Absolite
Defeat Rogue Mega Absol
Mega Lucario
Lucarionite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Slowbro
Slowbronite
Defeat Rogue Mega Slowbro
Mega Sharpedo
Sharpedonite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Eelektross*
Eelektrossite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Dragonite*
Dragonininte
Defeat Rogue Mega Dragonite
Mega Venasaur
Venusaurite
Defeat Rogue Mega Venasaur
Mega Charizard X
Charizardite X
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 100,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Charizard Y
Charizardite Y
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 100,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Blastoise
Blastoisinite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 100,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Malamar*
Malamarite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank A)
Mega Dragalge*
Dragalgite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank B)
Mega Glalie
Glalitite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Froslass*
Froslassite
Defeat Rogue Mega Froslass
Mega Abomasnow
Abomasite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 50,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Scizor
Scizorite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 50,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Pinsir
Pinsirite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank E)
Mega Heracross
Heracronite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 180 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Hawlucha*
Hawluchanite
Defeat Rogue Mega Hawlucha
Mega Scrafty*
Scraftinite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 140 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Chandelure*
Chandelurite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank D)
Mega Aerodactyl
Aerodactylite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Steelix
Steelixite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 70,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Aggron
Aggronite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank D)
Mega Tyranitar
Tyranitarite
Defeat Rogue Mega Tyranitar
Mega Falinks*
Falinksite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank D)
Mega Skarmory*
Skarmorite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 240 Mega Shards (Reach Rank C)
Mega Salamence
Salamencite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank A)
Mega Kangaskhan
Kangaskhanite
Stone Emporium on Vernal Avenue, 70,000 Poké Dollars
Mega Drampa*
Drampanite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank F)
Mega Metagross
Metagrossite
Quasartico Inc,, Mega Shard Exchange, 360 Mega Shards (Reach Rank A)
Mega Zygarde*
Zygardite
Receive at the end of the game
Mega Chesnaught*
Chesnaughtite
Reward from Z-A Battle Club's Ranked Battles Season 3
Mega Delphox*
Delphoxite
Reward from Z-A Battle Club's Ranked Battles Season 2
Mega Greninja*
Greninjite
Reward from Z-A Battle Club's Ranked Battles Season 1
Mega Diancie
Diancite
Mysery Gift (as of 6th Nov 2025)
Mega Raichu X*
???
Mega Dimension DLC
Mega Raichu Y*
???
Mega Dimension DLC
Mega Chimecho
???
Mega Dimension DLC
Mega Baxcalibur
???
Reward from Z-A Battle Club's Ranked Battles Season 4
How many new Mega Evolutions are there?

We're pleasantly surprised that Z-A has added so many new Mega Evolutions to the game — right now, we've counted 29 (though not all of them are immediately available), which includes Mega Diancie, revealed on 6th November 2025.
The DLC will be adding at least four new Mega Evolutions too, so this list is bound to grow.
What are Rogue Mega Evolutions?

You'll see in the list above that lots of the Mega Stones are only available once you defeat a Rogue Mega Evolution. Don't worry, these are all related to the mainline story, so no need to worry about seeking them out.
Rogue Mega Evolutions are similar to Frenzied Pokémon from Legends: Arceus — they're big boss battles where you need to whittle down your opponent's health. Once you defeat them, you'll get their Mega Stone as a reward.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review (Switch 2)

Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review (Switch 2)

I honestly never thought I’d fall in love with Pokémon battles. That’s not why I play Pokémon – I don’t play competitively either – because I play a ton of RPGs where combat is the draw. I can get my fix elsewhere. But Pokémon Legends: Z-A may have done the impossible; in Kalos, I can’t wait to get into a fight.
Taking the basic framework for 2022’s Legends: Arceus, Z-A transplants the frictionless catching and larger environments to the streets of Lumiose City and switches things up by placing battles at the forefront, rather than the exploration. Arceus is one of my favourite Pokémon games ever, so I had concerns, but the shift here mostly works.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
When a Pokémon spots me from a distance or I lock eyes with a trainer, no longer am I simply going for the same attacks, nor am I stressing about PP in a long Elite Four rush. Everything is real time with Xenoblade-style cooldowns and full movement to boot.
This is the best Pokémon battles have ever felt. Your Pokémon are no longer just static sprites and polygons with repetitive animations: they move in accordance with your own movements. And you have to use that to your advantage to both attack and avoid opponents.
Suddenly, I’m not just thinking about type match-ups (still important, of course) but attack distance, Pokémon speed, the battle space around me, and when to use each move. Totodile’s Bubble Beam can hit from a further distance than, say, Bite, but it has a longer charge-up time and it gives the opponent the chance to run away. Bite, however, might put Totodile in harm’s way. What if this Sandile has Absorb and gets it off as my little croc is running up to attack?
I’m even using attacks like Fire Spin and Toxic Spikes to set up traps and lure my opponent. These are all things that I know are used competitively, but I, even casually, feel like I have to utilise status effects and stat boosts and everything else in my Pokémon’s arsenal to win. And things can get particularly dicey when Alpha Pokémon get involved.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Even Mega Evolution feels like it’s been massively improved, with snappy and dramatic transformations that in many story-focused battles are essentially mandatory. It’s beautiful to see the bones of the series’ combat be fully realised in this new system, and I’ll be sad to lose this system outside of Z-A.
Thankfully, as you can probably gather so far, there is a lot of that combat thanks to the Z-A Royale, which makes up one half of the game’s narrative progression. By day, Lumiose is a place for coffee and couture — and I must say, the fashion available is très chic — but by night, a battle zone opens up where trainers lurk and aim to duke it out and gain ranking points to reach the next promotional match. You can pick up Bonus Cards to help boost those rewards by fulfilling certain conditions, such as defeating foes with Plus Moves or putting them to sleep.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
It’s another excuse to get into battle, which is absolutely a good thing. Especially as you progress through the game and higher-levelled trainers join the ranks. I never got bored sneaking into a new battle zone, picking up the nearest Bonus Card that fit my Pokémon team’s skillset, and then destroying a foe five levels above me with a crafty super-effective back attack. It’s extremely satisfying to pull off and frustrating when the trainer turns at the last minute to spot you, in a good way.
When you’re not spending time in the Z-A Royale, you’ll be helping Team MZ to quell the Rogue Mega Evolution threat popping up all over the city. These are basically the Frenzied Fights from Arceus, but much better. To me, they’re like MMORPG raid battles – watch the attack patterns, try to dodge, expose the ‘mons’ weaknesses, then Mega Evolve for some big damage numbers.
Because I was actually battling the Rogue Mega and not just running and throwing things, I felt engaged in these fights. They weren’t just an obstacle, but they helped me understand the importance of space and movement in combat. There were even times where I had to recall my Pokémon and hide behind an obstacle to avoid taking damage. It’s another layer of strategy that I wasn’t expecting from Pokémon that I really appreciate – even if those fights can get a little too chaotic and hard to track.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Something I hope Game Freak and The Pokémon Company can keep up on Switch 2 is smooth performance. I wish I wasn’t so shocked here, but they’ve managed it in Legends: Z-A. Running at a very consistent 60fps in both handheld and docked, with only a few slight dips in extremely busy, late-game battles and some fast menu cycling, it’s honestly a relief. Load times are also relatively snappy in both formats. I wasn't able to test out the Switch 1 version for review, so we'll have some thoughts on that post-launch, but on the newer console at least, it's a success. If only the visuals were as consistent.
I’ve showered a lot of praise on Legends: Z-A so far; the music is excellent, and I enjoy the abundance of fashion shops and customization you have access to throughout the whole game. But as I said earlier, it mostly works. Unfortunately, there’s a big thing holding the whole game back from being truly brilliant: Lumiose City.
I will say, I’m pleasantly surprised at how dense this Kalos staple feels: it’s full of alleyways to get lost in and packed with life. There’s always a cafe or a boutique or even just a few market stalls tucked around the corner, places where people and Pokémon hang out. Scaffolding is stacked along the side of buildings, presenting some finicky platforming challenges and item rewards. Even on the rooftops, you’ll find Bird ‘mons fluttering around and trainers gathering and chatting.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
But while I was wandering around the cobbles of Lumiose, I realised it all felt very compact. The city is essentially one big open zone, with a fair amount of verticality. But that means I’d run through and explored the entire place within about five hours. Sure, more Wild Zones unlock as you progress, bringing more Pokémon to catch. But it left very few surprises for the entire game.
I also wish it looked better, too. Lumiose has a few lovely sights here and there, but on the whole, Legends: Z-A appears lifeless. Arceus wasn’t a graphical showcase, but that watercolour-style aesthetic gave it a really unique feel. New Pokémon Snap looks so much better and more vibrant than this. If clothes can swish around and hair flow through the wind, why can’t we have windows that aren’t just flat textures or shadows that don’t look like bleeding ink blotches on the floor? It's a little better docked, but not much.
I know this is controversial, too, but voices would help give this game character. I’m not even asking for full voice acting — though monologues and pre-rendered cutscenes feel utterly bizarre as just text on a screen — but I’d love a voice clip or two, along the lines of modern Zelda games. It’d also help give the story a little more oomph, which it needs when focusing on friendship, recovery, and forgiveness. Even with an explosive climax (which I urge you not to spoil yourself on), I felt... nothing.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Those aforementioned Wild Zones might be my biggest disappointment with Z-A; admittedly, this is less about exploration and catching Pokémon than Legends: Arceus is, but it restricts that sense of discovery and magic that even the mainline ‘Gen’ games have. No longer am I walking out into a field and seeing Magikarp in the rivers and Bellsprout in the grass; instead, they’re constrained to tiny pockets of land, most of which are just little parks, boxed-off little streets, or construction sites.
What makes the Wild Zones stick out more is that there are actually plenty of Pokémon that do just wander around Lumiose: I spotted the Unova monkey trio just hanging around in trees at various times; Fletchlings and Pidgeys sit on roofs or lampposts and fly away when you approach; when it was raining, I found a Goomy sitting waiting for the nighttime drizzle to stop underneath a bridge. I still love catching these little creatures, so let’s give them the love they deserve. You can’t reasonably expect Pyroar to just prowl around the city streets, I get that, but sticking various 'pens' across the city doesn’t feel like the right solution.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
The monster-catching aspect of the series does feel like it’s been relegated to the back seat a little; I’m glad Arceus’ catching system is back and still snappy, and you still have to put yourself in danger to “catch ‘em all”, but in revisiting Lumiose, in being restricted to this city and these zones, and in a Pokédex that lacks variety, it all starts to add up. The return of Mega Evolutions does help to alleviate that somewhat, but I really miss the sense of discovery I get from going to a new place or finding Pokémon in unexpected places.
Instead of feeling like a fresh new spin on the Legends formula, Legend: Z-A squeezes it into an X & Y-shaped sequel. In many ways, it’s more focused, but Z-A loses a lot of charm and the smaller environs don’t entice me to dig into every nook and cranny of the city. It’s so close to being a great Pokémon game thanks to that combat, which alone makes it worth picking up. But ultimately, it's just a good one.
Conclusion
Pokémon Legends: Z-A should be celebrated for its fabulous real-time combat and its largely smooth jump to the Switch 2, but in condensing things down to one single location, it loses part of the Pokémon magic that Arceus and many other entries managed to amplify.
I’ll forever find filling up my Pokédex fun, and for the Switch 2 generation, this is a good starting point for the franchise. But if the Legends series is to continue, it needs to recapture its personality and fuse that real-time system with a bit more freedom.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC's Next Mega Evolution Is A Mythical One

Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC's Next Mega Evolution Is A Mythical One

With three weeks to go until the Mega Dimension DLC drops, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has unveiled its next brand new Mega Evolution, and this time it's a Mythical Pokémon getting an upgrade.
Zeraora was first introduced in Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, way back in Gen VII, and its Mega form makes a few subtle changes to its original design.
Its mostly-yellow fur has turned black, and there's now a lot more blue on its knees, head, and chest. its blue tuft on its head has turned to something resembling a horn, and it has a few blue spikes across its body in general. And, lastly, it now has two ponytail-like features instead of one.
It's definitely one of the lighter Mega Evolutions we've seen so far, especially compared to Mega Chimecho, but hey! The Thunderclap Pokémon has its fans.


Images: The Pokémon Company
According to the Pokédex, "The electric energy it stores in its body is equivalent to ten bolts of lightning. Protrusions on its forehead, chest, back, and the backs of its hands are where the electric energy is particularly concentrated."
We'll be getting one more Mega Dimension update in two more weeks (2nd December), which will likely be another Mega Evolution. Stay tuned until then!
What do you think of Mega Zeraora? What 'mon do you want to see go Mega? Let us know in the comments.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

'Outbound' Brings Campervan Crafting And Open-World Road Trips To Switch 2 Next Year

'Outbound' Brings Campervan Crafting And Open-World Road Trips To Switch 2 Next Year

If you're into cozy games with crafting, farming, and the like, but also like driving around in an open world, Dutch studio Square Glade Games has announced that Outbound is coming to Switch 2.
Previously announced for the original Switch (don't worry, it's still coming to that console if you're a Switch 1 faithful), the game was a Kickstarter success back in 2024, raising a chunky €265,679 to bring Outbound to PC and consoles in Q2 2026, and that now includes Switch 2.
The trailer above will give you a good idea of the gameplay blend the small team is working up, but it looks to be combining elements of open-world exploration (co-op with up to three other players if you want) with campervan decoration, crafting, farming, cooking, patting the dog - all the cozy things you might want wrapped up in a Firewatch-esque art style.
The Kickstarter broke every stretch goal going, so you've also got fishing, beekeeping, other minigames, and a character editor. Here's the offical blurb and feature rundown, plus a bunch of screenshots showcasing the breadth of options available, not to mention the incredible breadth of your camper's roof that allows for all that customisation:


Images: Square Glade Games
"A utopian near future..." Yep, we'll have a drop of that, please.
The Kickstarter page still has an estimated delivery date of January 2026, but Q2 2026 is the official word at the moment. Given the ambition (we particularly like the sound of the four-player co-op) of this two-person team indie endeavour, we'll be impressed if it doesn't slip a little.
See? Not a single mention of BOTW visual vibes. Let us know below if you like the look of Outbound and plan on getting away from it all sometime in the first half of 2026.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

"Consumers Generally Do Not Care" About AI In Games, Says Former Square Enix Exec

"Consumers Generally Do Not Care" About AI In Games, Says Former Square Enix Exec

Genvid CEO Jacob Navok, the former Director of Business at Square Enix, has shared his two cents' worth on the ongoing debate surrounding the use of AI in game development. While it's far from a glowing endorsement of the practice, Navok argues that most players "generally do not care" about it (thanks for the heads up, GamesRadar+).
"For all the anti-AI sentiment we're seeing in various articles," Navok wrote in a recent post on X, "it appears consumers generally do not care".
Alongside the successful launch of ARC Raiders, the source of Navok's argument is Steal a Brainrot, the Roblox game that racked up 30 million concurrent users ("approximately 80x the ARC Raiders concurrents") earlier this year despite being, quote, "named after/based on AI slop characters". The game tasks players with 'stealing' voxel characters modelled on the AI-generated creature meme, 'Italian Brainrot', and, if those numbers weren't telling enough, has proven immensely popular.
"Gen Z loves AI slop, does not care," wrote Navok. "The upcoming generation of gamers are Bane in Dark Knight Rises, saying 'You merely adopted the slop, I was born in it'".
This follows a handful of high-profile cases of AI-generated images appearing in the year's biggest releases, with both Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and ARC Raiders being dragged through the mud at launch, while still putting up huge sales numbers, regardless.
And yet, art and voice work are just "the tip of the spear" when it comes to AI being used in the industry, Navok continues. "Many studios I know are using AI generation in the concept phase, and many more are using Claude for code".
"It will be hard to find a non-indie title that isn't using Claude for code," he concluded, "and ignoring Claude's AI use because it's code while focusing purely on art shows that a lot of AI sentiment is being driven by emotion rather than logic".
Of course, high player counts for the Roblox slop game or ARC Raiders aren't to suggest that everyone is on board with AI implementation. While some studios like EA are diving headfirst into it, we've seen great swathes of studios (big and small) standing opposed to the idea, and our social feeds are constantly awash with disappointed fans after the discovery that their favorite series/franchises/games have hopped on the AI trend.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Gran Turismo 7's New Bonus Credits Offer Feels Cruel for Current Players

Gran Turismo 7's New Bonus Credits Offer Feels Cruel for Current Players

It was announced a little while back that the Gran Turismo series reached a whopping 100 million copies sold in total, making it comfortably one of Sony's most successful franchises.
In celebration of this milestone, developer Polyphony Digital has announced a couple of things for Gran Turismo 7. The first is a major free update named Spec III, due for release in December.
Additionally, a premium DLC called the Power Pack is also on the way, arriving at the same time as the update.
Now, a less splashy bonus has been unveiled, but rather than rewarding existing fans, it's something only new buyers can enjoy.
As announced on the game's socials, both editions of Gran Turismo 7 now come bundled with a bunch of in-game Credits at no additional cost.
If you buy the standard edition, you'll receive 750,000 Credits, while the Digital Deluxe edition rewards you with 2 million Credits.
In the grand scheme of things, it's not a massive number of Credits, but it's enough to give newbies a little head start in the sim racer.
While this is mainly a benefit for new purchases, fans of the series aren't best pleased about it, asking where their free Credits are for supporting the game at launch.
Indeed, it would be nice for fans to get some sort of perk, even if it is just a boost to their Credits.
Still, it's not a huge issue, really; if you're super into GT, you probably don't need to worry about your Credit count.
Are you tempted to pick up GT7 and gain these bonus Credits? Tell us in the comments section below.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Dragon's Dogma 2 Sales Top 4 Million with Still No Sign of an Expansion

Dragon's Dogma 2 Sales Top 4 Million with Still No Sign of an Expansion

Capcom has announced a new sales milestone for its fan favourite action RPG, Dragon's Dogma 2.
As revealed on its official social channels, the cult hit sequel has now surpassed 4 million copies sold:
Dragon's Dogma 2 launched in March 2024, meaning it's taken around 20 months for it to reach the milestone. The first 3 million sales were within the game's first few months.
While fans are happy to celebrate the news, many responses are asking after some sort of DLC.
The original Dragon's Dogma eventually received the Dark Arisen expansion, and players are hopeful that the sequel will get the same treatment.
However, it's not clear that any such extra content is coming; Capcom has made no allusions to an expansion for Dragon's Dogma 2, though it's of course still possible.
As it stands, though, the game itself received a very positive reception despite some rough edges, and has been getting updates as recently as April of this year.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

The Crew Motorfest Races Onto Xbox Game Pass This Week, And You Don't Want To Miss It

The Crew Motorfest Races Onto Xbox Game Pass This Week, And You Don't Want To Miss It

Today's Xbox Game Pass roundup has delivered some lovely upcoming additions - which we're very grateful to see given that the post-Black Ops 7 XGP lineup was looking a little thin. One game that's really standing out to us here is The Crew Motorfest; Ubisoft's 2023 racer set in open-world Hawaii. At the time of its release, we said that a true Forza Horizon competitor had come to market, and today, we're doubling down on that. Motorfest is a really good open world racing game, and one that's absolutely worth your time on Xbox Game Pass.
If you've played any of the more recent Forza Horizon titles you'll pretty much know what to expect here. Rather than The Crew 1 & 2 which focused on incredible scale and more RPG-like sensibilities, Motorfest strips things back towards something that more closely resembles the Playground Games series. In fact, this The Crew experience even revolves around its own in-game festival (the clue's in the name), and yeah, even the overall vibe is very Forza Horizon.
Having said that, Motorfest does have a few issues. We'd argue that the game's progression isn't as satisfying as it is in Horizon - Playground just has that gameplay loop nailed down. The Crew focuses largely on 'playlists' that are quite similar to Horizon Stories in Forza, and when you have plenty of them dotted around on the map, they're fantastic fun. Down the road though, the amount you can hop into dries up (DLC aside), and then the game becomes a bit more laborious progression-wise. Thankfully just driving around the open world is good fun, and the game is gorgeous too.

Xbox Series X players can experience Ivory Tower's open-world rendition of Hawaii at up to 60FPS, while Series S players are stuck at just 30FPS. However you play though, this is one very good looking racer - it maybe even beats Horizon 5 in the looks department if you ask me. Speaking of Horizon 5, if Xbox's most recent Horizon game feels a bit long in the tooth now, The Crew Motorfest is simply a great alternative, especially before FH6 rolls around in 2026.
So, yeah, The Crew Motorfest is a really good addition to Game Pass Ultimate, we reckon. It's not exactly original as an open-world racer, but it's the closest you'll get to a proper Forza Horizon alternative right now, and its addition to the library later this week (November 20th) will be well worth exploring. For everything else included in today's fresh Xbox Game Pass roundup, check out our coverage on that down below - and we'll chuck our original The Crew Motorfest review underneath that as well.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Kirby Air Riders Review (Switch 2)

Kirby Air Riders Review (Switch 2)

Kirby Air Ride, I think it's fair to say, didn't receive all that warm a welcome when it launched back in 2003.
With lucky GameCubers already marinating in the delicious driving juices of Mario Kart: Double Dash and F-Zero GX, Kirby's cute and chaotic style of racing just didn't seem to stick with the mainstream, and, as a result, it's become known as one of those Marmite efforts. You either gelled with its new approach to slinging yourself around tracks or you didn't.
For me personally, I've always enjoyed Air Ride's novel take on track racing. I also think it's a game that sings especially strongly in multiplayer, once everyone who's racing fully knows what they're doing. Indeed, this was the first GameCube title that allowed for LAN setups via broadband adapters, so the multiplayer was 100% where the gravy was at.

Taking everything into account, though, and despite my love for the OG, a sequel in the form of Kirby Air Riders was an unexpected announcement during the run-up to Switch 2. I certainly didn't have it on my Switch 2 bingo card. So it's lucky, then, given that it's a bit of curveball, that it's actually very good.
If I had to guess the two main issues people had with Kirby Air Ride back in the day, it's a fairly even split between a lack of meaningful single-player content and how messy the game can seem to the uninitiated as races (and minigames) play out. Nintendo has obviously taken note of the first issue here, and as a result, we've got a sprawling story mode with multiple paths and endings and a metric ton of collectible content to keep you busy. It's also got a very gritty and serious sci-fi tone, which is so at odds with the style of the actual racing that you can't help but love it.
However, on the second problem, well, you'll have to suck eggs and learn to play the game, I'm afraid. It all makes sense when you get into the sweet Air Ridin' groove. It also wasn't broken in the first place, so bravo to Masahiro Sakurai for sticking to his guns and keeping the soul of it all intact.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
On that note: Air Riding. It's not karting. This style of racing is a different beast entirely, and there's a learning curve in getting a hang of the basics. In Air Riders, you take control of a rider from an ever-growing roster of Kirby and his pals, each of whom has an impressive variety of stats relating to their driving abilities, along with their own specials and tricks to pull off mid-race. Stuff like turbo boosts, area of effect attacks, and lots of other stuff I won't spoil the fun of unlocking.
Once you've chosen Waddle De— I mean...whoever your favourite is, you then pick a machine. These aren't just different for the sake of being different, nor do they simply have varying degrees of speed, boost, handling, and so on. No, in Air Riders, there's depth. Proper depth. And it comes in the form of an impressive menagerie of unique machines that work in fundamentally different ways.
We've all seen the default Warp Star that gives you a nice balance of ground and air speed, but then you've got other options like the incredibly fast but terribly fragile Paper Star, the charging Tank Star, the slippery Slick Star, and even a few that transform or straight-up blink like electricity from point to point on a track as they slow then boost.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
There's a lot more to take in than you may expect at first blush, and especially if you've listened to naysayers over the years who say it's shallow. Get a few seasoned riders into a race and things can get hugely intense.
With rider and machine chosen and on the track, you then get down to slinging yourself around. Movement forwards is automatic, the number one mental hurdle for newcomers. Your job as pilot is to make sure you utilise every opportunity on the track as it presents itself; to gain maximum forward momentum, by spinning, shifting around the course to hit boosts and jumps, and hammering enemies for mini-boosts or copy abilities to whale on your opponents with.
Once you 'get' it, it's incredibly moreish, and almost zen-like in the focus that's required to take down another rider who knows what they are doing. Feels too automated? You're not trying hard enough.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Also at the core of the racing, beyond the automatic nature of travelling forward, you have the all-important boost/brake button. Holding down 'B' will slow your machine right down until it eventually stops. It also, at the same time, charges up your turbo boost. So there's a strategy at the heart of everything here, and it's a pleasing one in how it relates to some very nicely designed tracks.
You want to know these tracks well to target the best jumps, to know the best opportunities to slow right down for a full boost (tight corners are the most obvious example) or overtake, and to find these opportunities on any given course, whilst also battling a constant stream of other riders and NPC enemies, makes for an addictive and satisfying thing to settle into. It's manic in all the right ways.
This sequel, too, is made all the more satisfying by some visually spectacular race sequences spliced throughout tracks. There's a mix of sections composed of proper, tight-corner racing alongside flashy on-rails sequences where you whip between rails to collect/dodge and set yourself up to boost into whatever comes next.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Nintendo has gone to town on these rail sequences, with some elaborately cool parts where riders tumble and spin through all sorts of wild scenarios, and the game does well to give you just enough control at all times, and enough ways to steal a lead or damage your opponents, that even when you're not fully in control of your machine, and even when weapons are auto-fire on proximity for a lot of the time, it still feels like you're needing to think quickly and know the rules, tracks and machines inside out to make an impact, especially in the online mode.
The story mode is the real big addition, and it makes a good impression. I won't ruin the narrative (and it's not much to write home about), but the setup, where you race through 11 chapters composed of levels full of races and minigames, works well.
Between each race and challenge, you're returned to your vehicle as it blasts along a road through each stage, and this gives you three options at all times on how to proceed, so there's variety along the way, until you hit a mini-boss or boss race battle. It also gives solo players lots to unlock, there's replayability in returning for alternate endings, and it acts as a fantastic training mode for the delights of online.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Before I touch on the online, though, you've also got the returning City Trial, Air Ride, and Top Down racing modes. These generally remain largely unchanged from what was offered up in the original game. City Trial gives you five minutes to gather as many collectibles as you can whilst blasting other racers before being dropped into a minigame for a grand finale, and it's as chaotically frenzied as ever. Top Down mode is honestly addictive as all hell when you get into it (think Codemasters' Grand Prix Sim on the Commodore 64 but with crazy courses and you're 90% of the way there).
It's the online, though, that's the real king. I had limited time with it for this review, but I luckily found matches in Air Ride and City Trial modes against a few ferocious competitors and I couldn't be happier with the performance. No input lag, no issues connecting, and in races it was buttery smooth, as it is across all modes.
The City Trial and Air Ride races really do come alive here, and I implore you to dig in, learn how to drive the machine of your choice well and reap the benefits of some surprisingly fierce competition - alongside all the jumping into targets, gliding competitions, and events where you try to eat more than everyone else. I mean, Kirby gonna Kirby.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
As a solo game, Kirby Air Riders is a step up, then. Each of its modes brings over 100 collectible bits and bobs to unlock and create a picture scene from the story, so there's plenty to work towards. The campaign itself also does a suitably Kirby-esque job in starting out relatively normal on the narrative front before ending up in some far-out sci-fi states. The whole thing also looks and plays as good as anything I've played on Switch 2 thus far, so you're in for a treat on that front, my friends.
I've also got to make a special point here to mention the surprisingly deep machine customisation on offer. I was actually a little shocked! There are loads of textures, icons, unlockable pixel art, and all manner of ways to truly make all of your machines your own. It's a lot, and it's very, very welcome for solo fans.
Onto niggles, and I will say that the chaos — all of the huge icons and speeding around amidst groups of riders, especially in City Trials — can feel aimless at times. And it's still every bit the Marmite experience. The story is silly, and most of the side games, which see you hit air targets, make long jumps, and so on, well, they're not exactly riveting.

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
And in local multiplayer, whilst playing on the same system, we spotted that you lose the ability to see the stats for your chosen rider and machines, which sort of takes away the ability to inspect and learn on the fly. Let's hope a little tweak can be patched in on that one.
Overall, then, I know it can be hard to make Kirby converts, but I genuinely believe Kirby Air Riders deserves them. This is a huge big colourful beast of a sequel. It's jam-packed to the rafters with stuff to find, to unlock, and collect, and it has proper depth. There's a ton of machines, loads of riders and courses, and — should you get stuck in and learn and "git gud" — you'll find an alternative to the usual kart-racer style of business that absolutely deserves its place on any podium.
Conclusion
Kirby Air Riders is a cracking sequel that gives solo players much more to dig into with its story campaign, whilst also bringing all-new levels of shiny graphics, bells and whistles to its returning City Trial, Air Ride, and Top Down Racing modes. This is a chaotic and frenzied racer, there's no doubt, but it's got depth for those who wish to learn and plenty of competition to be had both online and at harder difficulties for diehards.
With lots of excellent tracks, riders and machines to unlock, sat alongside some surprisingly deep machine customisation, Kirby's latest air riding adventure is off to a strong start. Oh, and that soundtrack!

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

AGGRESTA Is A Promising New Sidescrolling Shmup That Should Definitely Be On Your Radar

AGGRESTA Is A Promising New Sidescrolling Shmup That Should Definitely Be On Your Radar

Right now, it's a pretty good time to be a fan of shoot 'em ups!
Not only did Polygon Bird's Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga-esque shooter Birdcage recently release on Steam, earning some incredible early reactions from players. But we also have a ton of other exciting indie shoot 'em ups on the horizon to look forward to, with the latest of these to be added to our own personal wishlist being the promising 2D sidescroller, AGGRESTA.
The promising shoot 'em up first came to our attention earlier this week, thanks to the regular Time Extension collaborator, Ashley Day, and is an independent game from the Japanese developer named Tetsu (てつ), who has been sharing updates of the game since the project first began back in 2020.
It mixes Gradius-style arcade shooting with sword-based combat and looks set to include some impressively detailed levels, ranging from verdant cities to underwater stages and enemy strongholds located in the middle of a densely-packed asteroid field.
Right now, details about the game are scant, with Tetsu (てつ) writing online that the reason for this is that they want players to be surprised and to go in with fresh eyes when playing. As a result, we're not even entirely sure of the platform yet, though PC would probably be a safe bet.
Regardless of that, though, the project looks phenomenal from all that the developer has shown so far, with the stages featuring a nice mix of 2D and 3D elements, and some brilliant mechanics such as the ability to flip the ship horizontally to fire backwards at enemies who have managed to slip past you.
We'll be keeping an eye on this one in the future for sure. But you can also stay up to date on the game's progress by following Tetsu (てつ) directly on Twitter/X or checking out the #AGGRESTA tag.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

The Outer Worlds 2 Review

The Outer Worlds 2 Review

Your latest mission as an Earth Directorate agent is to investigate the source of certain perilous rifts. However, the sabotage of this investigation leaves you drifting unconscious through space for a decade. 
The galaxy you wake up in is both familiar and different: factions have splintered, emerged or even merged, while the forces of capitalism are as rampant as ever. For you, the objective is clear: track down the one who wronged you and decide on their fate.
A return to Obsidian's corporate satire
Despite being a sequel, The Outer Worlds 2 shares little in terms of story with the first game. It’s set in a new colony with a new cast. You don’t need to have played the first one to get into this one. But if you’ve played the first installment, you will have a pretty good idea of what’s on offer: a space opera that leans on corporate satire (the irony is not lost here with Obsidian being under the umbrella of a giant corp itself).
Unlike the first game in this series, The Outer Worlds 2’s plot is less on the nose with its “capitalism=bad” message. The narrative is more nuanced while carrying similar overarching themes. Being an Obsidian game, you can expect the same wittiness in exploring relatable issues that come to be expected from its titles. 

   
Characters also have depth to their personalities. As you interact with the main cast, you get to learn about their backstories and motivations, helping better relate to them. While it is not as well-implemented in every NPC - the main antagonist, for one, doesn’t immediately come off as particularly interesting - it helps in fleshing out its universe. The conversations you engage in with your expanding crew or NPCs who will inevitably throw side quests at you are memorable as you actively engage in tasks (and, sometimes, combat) that aid them (or not).
The Outer Worlds 2’s environments are varied and detailed. Whether you are exploring your spaceship the Incognito or venturing on a new planet, the world building remains strong. For the inquisitive gamer, notes and conversation logs reveal details about the world and its inhabitants. Doing so might also provide hints or leads that can be used in conversations and side quests. Venturing off the beaten track often offers some of the game’s best moments: inventive, surprising and often hilarious encounters and discoveries. This encourages and rewards exploration, and the game doesn’t offer a dull moment in indulging in such practices.

 
Assemble your crew, embrace your flaws and embark on adventures!
As an immersive simulation, The Outer Worlds 2 offers an extensive level of player agency. From the moment you boot the game, you can customise your character’s appearance and attributes. Your in-game choices further influence your progress. Should you side with this authoritarian faction to get easier access to where you need to be? Or should you aid the one under attack, despite their questionable practices? Whatever your choice, the intrigue of alternative scenarios persists, encouraging replays.

 
More often than not, there are multiple ways to tackle quests. The game offers a freedom of play style, allowing you to mix and match stealth, frontal assault or other approaches based on the situation you find yourself in. Other pathways can also open up based on information you find by exploring. Conversations will indicate that you might be missing some key information, encouraging you to comb your area for additional clues. Such levels of experimentation contributes to player agency while making your playthrough unique.

 
As an RPG, The Outer Worlds 2 comes with the expected gamut of character customisation from upskilling to equipment management. One of the freshest additions is the way choices can mould your character beyond a morality system. Right from the character creation stage, you have to pick positive and negative traits. This balances out your character’s attributes, offering a fair challenge in the game.
Furthermore, when leveling up, you will often be offered flaws. These are additional traits that you can choose to accept or reject, and are based on your character’s actions leading up to that point. For example, if you’ve been on a buying spree at vendors, you might get the ‘Consumerism’ flaw. It reduces vendor prices but also the value of items you sell. It’s a smart design that integrates with the game’s themes around consequence and corporate hubris.

 
Obsidian’s latest magnum opus
It’s been a busy year for Obsidian, with the launch of Avowed, Grounded 2 (Early Access) and, now, The Outer Worlds 2. Each of these titles are recommended in their own right, and The Outer Worlds 2 is the company’s latest hit, until the next one, if this year’s trend is any indication. 
This sequel rarely feels boring with the levels of player-driven choices, rich world-building and freedom of playstyles. That said, there are some areas where it falters, even if slightly so. Some narrative beats occasionally slow down and take a detour that feel like layers of fluff added to stretch a map. The restrictions of certain actions or conversation options that require specific skills that you didn't opt for can get on your nerves. It’s as if the game is gently waving you away from accessing all of what it has to offer. But this is a purposeful design that nudges towards replayability where different builds unlock different doors, further hammering in the aspect of player-driven choices.
My main gripe has to do with the narrative exposition. The game all too often takes a hand-holding approach to sinking you in its lore, from your preset objectives to the faction-led universe. This limits self-discovery of the intricacies of the world, as if the developers don’t trust the player in doing so. There is plenty of exploration and lore to flesh out by checking logs and talking to NPCs, but the main gist feels like it’s presented to you so that you can’t miss it. It’s not a bad approach for a narrative-driven game, but can feel odd for those who have experienced other titles in the genre.
Nevertheless, The Outer Worlds 2 remains an engaging and entertaining game. If you are into sci-fi RPGs, you’ll want to try this one out. If you’ve played the first title, this one will feel like an improvement. The writing remains a high point with its wittiness and satire that defines this universe. Obsidian might have found its own Fallout franchise and I hope to see more installments in the future.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

New GTA 6 Assets Potentially Added To GTA Online By Rockstar

New GTA 6 Assets Potentially Added To GTA Online By Rockstar

It appears Rockstar Games have introduced some GTA 6 assets into GTA Online before the new game has come out. That’s according to a couple of dataminers who have delved into the game’s files from the Money Fronts update.
Last week, Rockstar launched a series of new mansion teaser missions called the New Listing missions. As part of it, it led dataminer Lucas7yoshi_RS to examine how the missions work. He found some interesting things such as how the pool cover at Devin’s mansion is actually a bunch of fences with tarp, which are existing assets, placed horizontally.
This is a neat trick by the developers at Rockstar to avoid making a brand new asset for this one area. Another dataminer, rollschuh2282, at first thought this was a new asset but could not find it in the game’s files. This led him down a rabbit hole and the discovery of asset textures using the naming convention Rockstar is using for GTA VI and and not GTA V.
GTA 6 Assets In GTA Online Explained
Lucas explains that both GTA VI and Red Dead Redemption 2 use PBR (physically based rendering) and a new character system called “metapeds” unlike GTA V.
Due to this, the file naming scheme is quite different from GTA V to RDR2 and now GTA VI. The names are far longer and include extra suffixes. You can see an example of GTA V, RDR2 and the apparent GTA 6 asset name in GTA Online provided by Lucas below.
The assets in GTA Online with GTA VI’s naming convention are a pair of chinos, love heart underwear and a bra. They are found when exiting a laundry bin during the second Mr Faber mission.
One thing to note is that we do have “Love Heart Boxer Shorts” already in GTA Online. These came as part of the Valentine’s Day Massacre Special update in 2014. It’s possible they were remade for GTA 6 or the naming convention has changed because they will be in GTA 6 and this was a bit of a small mistake.
Lucas thinks an artist could be making the assets using the wrong workflow. There are some GTA Online assets that “inexplicably have pbr texturing, but that could be assets destined for gta 5”. Regardless, these specific boxers now have a new naming scheme. The dataminer continues by saying “The metaped naming is the most explicit confirmation this was intended for GTA 6, as this isn’t even proper clothing its used for”.
Rockstar Have Done This For Quite Some Time
This is not the first time assets that showed up in a GTA VI trailer were added in GTA Online updates. Various clothing items in Trailer 1 and Trailer 2 can be found in GTA Online. There has also been speculation vehicles have been backported. It was explained to us that backporting does not make much sense and rather the assets are improved for GTA VI. So the chances of someone using the wrong workflow as mentioned above for these assets is plausible.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Rally Arcade Classics Review

Rally Arcade Classics Review

Rally Arcade Classics is a £15.99 game that, at the very least, looks strikingly similar to Sega's seminal off-road racer, Sega Rally. With a gorgeous 90s Aesthetic dialled in, 40+ cars to unlock from across the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and 48 stages to plough through now thanks to the 1.27 Chase & Precision update, there is a lot of bang for your buck here, but is it worth your time?


Gorgeous scenery, great-looking cars
Beginning the game, you have five modes ahead of you, including the initial requirement of working your way through a licensing area. With some 60 licenses to bag and 180 stars to earn, there is a mammoth task ahead of you before you even set foot in the tour, rally, chrono, arcade or events sections.
The early licenses require you to hit checkpoints as fast as possible to gain bronze (one star), silver (two stars), or gold (three stars) status against the clock. Alternatively, you might need to drift or perform some rally-related escapade to grab those stars. Each license stands on the shoulders of the previous, so gaining enough stars in C grade will unlock B, then A1, A2, and then ultimately S1 and S2 for the top-tier drivers.
There are a total of 508 in-game trophies (19 PSN ones too) and 1280 stars to collect throughout your journey, and those collectable stars can be used to unlock new difficulties and tracks or purchase new cars, which, although unlicensed and with no liveries, look recognisable as their real-life counterparts. There are a staggering 44 cars in total, ranging from small-engined front-wheel-drive runabouts to flat-out all-wheel-drive supercars; there is something for everyone, and the progression cycle is tough but exceedingly rewarding.
Starting in Finland, you have the cool, crisp, fresh environments composed of forests and lakes. Catalunya in Spain is a more mountainous region, with lush greenery and wetter, muddier conditions, whereas Greece is far drier, more of an arid and harsh environment with open vistas and dry surfaces to skid around. Lastly, Monte Carlo offers the most heavily varied and curated tracks with the tightest turns and hairpin-like corners.
Time of day and weather also play into how your races fare, with some really nice sunny and nighttime variations, slippery thunderstorms, and my most hated: foggy weather. The lighting and scenery are consistently nice-looking, but I noticed that your headlights don't cast shadows on anything other than solid brick walls, so a little bit of the realism feels lost when fanging it around courses at night.


Graphically hits the brief & is very challenging too
Rally Arcade Classics' arcade, tour, chronos and event modes are where the meat of the game resides once you have earned your stripes and gotten through the licensing phases.
Arcade alone contains 16 challenges that are dependent on your licensing situation and the cars or stars obtained, and gradually puts you through challenges with the level of car you have unlocked, going from the slowest beginner models up to the most rapid pro spec cars.
Tour mode contains six chapters, each packed with time attack, drift and versus challenges, and "rally" opens up the four main locales, each with six difficulty levels for pitting yourself in either regular cars or rally-specific models. 
Chrono is a great mode to sink your teeth into and get to grips with all of the cars without needing to unlock any. I really enjoyed feeling the difference between the "Startos" (Stratos) and the "Kopper" (Cooper), "Wolf" (WV Golf), or "Paigot" (come on now), you get to toy with at the start. The faster cars include the Seilka, Collora, Esworld, Suforc and the wonderfully titled "Mr Bang Sti", which is plainly a Subaru Impreza.
Everything can seem quite daunting at first, but practice really does make perfect, as you punch it and keep trying to skim off those seconds across each stage. There is a handy bar at the top of the screen that indicates your progress against the clock, with a silver depleting bar showing you're total progress, green that you're ahead of time, or red that you're trailing behind.
One mistake can cost you the entire race, so you need to be in control of your vehicle and know the basics of drifting, and how to brake to take every type of corner or hazard that you'll encounter. Luckily, you have your trusty co-pilot barking out "easy left" or "hard right" for example. I found that generally you can floor it and take easy corners without breaking, medium corners require a single brake pump, and hard corners can be taken by either a series of feathered braking, or one swift handbrake turn. Using these basic rules, I managed to fire on all cylinders and conquer a lot of courses with ease, that was until I got to Monte Carlo, where the tight turns absolutely rocked me, and I had to strategise a lot more.
In one event, I remember finding myself 8 seconds behind the leader with just one last stage to go, so I floored it and made sure I paid attention to the split times given to me all the way around. I gradually clawed back "-2" per quarter and scraped through just 300ths of a second ahead of the previous leader. It's tense and engaging, especially if you have something to lose, so cranking up the difficulty and challenging yourself is where the endorphins really flow!
Weekly and monthly events also add a layer of freshness at regular intervals, pitting you against the world with a specific track, condition and car for you to compete with. I really like this as it gives players something to look forward to each week. It's unbelievable that this game is only £15.99, really.

No splitscreen or real multiplayer modes
Rally Arcade Classics contains so much content and offers enough real, engaging challenges that it's hard not to recommend. On top of all this, you also have an online leaderboard with really serves to ramp up your explosive passion when it comes to besting those other faceless players online. I repeatedly hit retry so that I could put my best times up against the world, and honestly, I managed to go from 1400-ish down to the top 200-300 within a matter of 3-4 attempts, but getting any better than the top 200's I found extremely challenging; there are some really good players out there already!
On that note, I would also have loved to see a proper online versus mode, or even split screen.
Sure, rally car races in real life only pit one car against another's time, and when it comes to video games, I would imagine this format makes for an easier, quicker project to design, create, and deploy because there is no need for fancy netcode or optimisation for multiple cars on track, but it's something that could have been fantastic.
Without multiplayer, it essentially boils down to ghost racing with no official liveries and notably no damage system either, which puts an extremely small dampener on things when we look at the bigger picture. We have to remember that this is not a £60 game, it's not even a £30 game, it's a steal at £15.99 with weekly/monthly updates to boot!

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review

After the Celestial Collapse, the runes' energy dwindles and ceases to flow throughout the Eastern lands of Azuma, stagnating nature and its inhabitants. As either Kaguya (Female) or Subaru (Male), you awaken from a dream of dragons fighting in the sky. To absolutely nobody's surprise, you have amnesia—a fairly common gaming trope at this point.
As a glorified shrine maiden, you're tasked with keeping a shrine to an unknown god clean and to offer prayer, until one day when you're approached by a flying wooly with horns and are inevitably tasked with finding a way to restore the village and remove the corruption set upon it by the Collapse.

The story is of the classic "Save the Four Elements" variety, but the characters and environments help keep everything fresh in this ~33 hour Rune Factory spin-off. There are no twists or turns to be found here with pretty much every major story event being either heavily foreshadowed or completely spelled out for the player.
A certain un-marry-able mom from Rune Factory 5's child, now grown, makes an appearance and is sure to be a fan favorite pick for marriage candidate, along with 13 others in the base game and two from the "Seasons of Love" DLC pack. There is roughly double that number of other important NPCs to interact with daily and complete tasks for spread out across the four different villages in the game.
Technically Speaking...
Let's address the elephant right away—the Switch as a console is weak tea. Even when overclocked, Rune Factory 5 chugged in the Unity engine and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Luckily, the team behind Guardians of Azuma used the Unreal Engine which has a much better performance track record on the console. Even on stock clockspeeds Guardians plays perfectly fine, though this isn't without sacrifices when looking at the draw distance and larger texture quality.
It appears the developers opted to crunch down textures to a bare minimum and employ both billboarding and distance rendering techniques, which cause a lot of pop-ins for the environment, while keeping the character models loaded in full detail. I feel this tradeoff was probably the best of the limited options they had to try and get the game running smoothly on the previous gen hardware right before the launch of the Switch 2.
 
Luckily, the Eastern (Japanese) style of the environments and villages along with the higher detailed enemies and people really help the eye gloss over the muddy textures while playing, and it stopped bothering me after I stopped looking for it. Using large particle effect attacks do cause some slowdown and frame loss, but it never got to the point where it bothered me the way Rune Factory 5 did.
Kairosoft? In MY farming sim!?
The main character is gifted with a magical multi-tool (Farming Life in Another World, anyone?) that completely removes the need to swap tools, refill your water pale, or even upgrade it and it doesn't use even a single RP to swing. It sits in a weapon wheel with your other mystical treasures, but doesn't need to be selected as all the gardening plots, rocks, and trees are context sensitive and your character will automatically use the appropriate transformation when available.

Anyone familiar with Kairosoft games will instantly pick-up on the village building mechanics of Guardians of Azuma. Each village has abandoned sections of plots ripe for development by yours truly. When entering edit mode, you can change the camera to a God's Eye view to place, remove, rotate, and do just about anything else you want to while organizing shops, decorations, and monster pens.
Different buildings and decorations can have "collection" types that, when placed together in the same region, boost the effects of the pieces. The villagers themselves don't seem to care what their town looks like, so you're free to cram everything in a corner if you aren't that great at public design (me) and just want to collect the stat bonuses that they give.

Crops can also be interacted with in this way, completely removing the need to walk to each plot individually to plant seeds or water... not that you'll be doing much farming in this game. Each town has its own set of residents that need to be assigned to different jobs based on their inherent skills and perks: Farmer, Miner, Arborist, Shopkeep, and Animal Handler.
While at first glance, the town management may seem overwhelming, the game doesn't ask a lot of the player and everyone in town will be perfectly happy with a rating of 100 without any interaction on your part once the few basic buildings are placed. Any rabble-rousers with the Lazy and Heavy Eater traits, for example, can simply be kicked out of the village without so much as a 30-day notice and someone will come to take their place the very next day.
In a new twist on the series, every farmed crop drops a seed of the same type which means, essentially, infinite crops with no up-front costs. Your farmers will automatically harvest and replant the appropriate plants for the season at the highest level available and place them in the shipping box, where you can retrieve them for personal use or let them be sold off for income. Long gone is soil or runey management, in favor of a mystical relic (unlocked eventually) that can burn away the crops and leave you with a pocket full of (potentially) higher level seeds.

Relationships are a cinch with many ways to increase your rating level each day. Along with the standard "speak" option, there is a "Hang Out" option that takes a set number of minutes out of the very generous daily timer. You can choose to give a plain ol' gift or take the lucky guy/gal on one of the many activities in an attempt to find their favorite activity for a large boost to their meter. By the time you reach the end of the game, even if you're rushing, you should have at least a couple of friends close to max as they also gain points from helping you in combat, which leads to unlocking more combat prowess and powers as their relationship level increases.

The strongest part of Guardians is all of the charming characters and how they travel between each of the towns as you unlock them, making the entire world feel connected as they stop by to shop, grab a snack, or hit up the onsen for a quick bath. Never before have I felt a farming/life sim that had such an interconnected relationship between the different areas and cast. Luckily, the map provides a list of all the important NPCs in that village, so you don't have to wander around trying to find a particular person and waste time on loading screens.
Combat and Spoils
The itemization and skill tree is probably the weakest aspect of Guardians of Azuma. While the mainstay sub-jobs of Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Cooking, etc. exist, they are extremely watered down and, in my opinion, completely useless. The amount of weapons, armor, and accessories is extremely truncated and all come to you in order with a well-metered power creep. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it's great for newcomers to the series in not overwhelming with the massive amount of random stat/enchantment/elemental options seen in other Rune Factory games.

While there are no more skill orbs, and all magic uses the same animation and attack style, it doesn't really matter a whole lot because the best weapon in the game is given to you early on and it scales with you. Swords, bows, and magic are free to use and no longer cost RP. Your RP bar is entirely reserved for your Relics you acquire as the story progresses. The entire combat system was simplified and, because of this, you're never going to come across a wild randomly generated weapon in a chest. In fact, all of the treasure littered throughout the world kind of sucks. I was never once excited to open a chest as they all only contained mundane items.
Long gone are recipe breads, replaced by frog statues and shrines that dole out recipes in prescribed order as you visit new areas and run around on the incredibly dense maps, filled to the brim with landmarks to visit and things to collect.

Different actions acquire unique experience points for that action, as per Rune Factory modus operandi, but now those points can be spent on their respective skill trees. While most of the major nodes can add some crit, elemental damage, or other effects to other weapons outside that tree, all of the minor stat nodes are absolutely useless, no matter how you look at it. Adding one to three points to your strength means nothing when you can run back to down and build a statue of an Oni that grants you several hundred points of strength with no special resources required.
The combat is also so laughably easy that you'll never find yourself crafting new armor or weapons out of necessity. Seriously, the Fan is so broken (at least in version 1.0) you'll just decimate enemies with one or two waves. Equipped with an item that slowly regenerates RP, not even the post-game dungeons stand any chance of killing you. My recommendation? If you've played any Rune Factory before, crank the difficulty up to the max.

Boss fights include a stagger meter which, when filled, knock down the boss and allow you to deal bonus damage. When using the correct elemental weakness, it's possible to remove 90% of a given boss' health with a well-timed ultimate move and the correct relic equipped. The perfect dodge mechanic also feels really good and gives you plenty of frames to execute, negating the entire attack's damage (including all other projectiles that were a part of it) and slowing down time just long enough to deliver two charged attacks with your favorite weapon or magic. I really hope we get to see these just as fleshed out in Rune Factory 6.
So where does this leave the game in terms of balance? I think Guardians of Azuma fits nicely into a package that lets new players explore the different crafting systems typically found in Rune Factory without requiring a PhD and 12 tabs open to a wiki page. The combat is easy enough for casual game players to not get frustrated and the town building is simple, but also fun and rewarding. The social interactions are cute and engaging with lots of events and sub-stories to immerse yourself in. If you want an entry to the franchise that's easy to digest, this is it. Grab it to prepare yourself for the next mainline entry.
The long-time Rune Factory player may get frustrated and completely abandon the crafting, as you won't really need any of the items to complete the main and post-game story because of how easy it is. In fact, I was able to complete the game in just the first season/month and had plenty of time to explore every map completely and do most of the side tasks and finished with an overwhelming amount of resources while never once came close to dying. These folks may want to hold off, or catch this title when it goes on sale (including the DLC containing the best marriage candidate, Pilika).

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Review

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Review

Marvelous' star farming series is one I hold somewhat dear. Starting all the way back in 2003 with Friends of Mineral Town, I've experienced the highs and lows, with some of my best memories coming from the DS era in particular. Originally releasing in 2008, Grand Bazaar was one such positive memory; having not returned to the game in more than 10 years, I was excited to see this familiar landscape in an entirely new light.
Starting Out
Kicking off with a brief cutscene, Grand Bazaar is happy to slowly introduce you to the larger world of farming that is to come. Once you’ve created your character and named your farm, you get an introduction to the town and its current situation from its mayor, Felix. It’s not terribly far off most other farming games you’ve seen before, and naturally with it being a remake, it’ll be familiar to some out of the gate regardless. Zephyr Town used to be known for its bazaar, but when the previous farmer left interest started to wane. Only getting a handful of visitors now, the mayor hopes that your arrival and taking over of the nearby farm will help breathe new life both into the town and the game’s titular bazaar. It’s a simple setup that’s kept relatively short; regardless it does a good job of pulling you in and gives you enough to work with.

The first week of the game is probably the slowest, with a character from the town visiting you each day to introduce a new tool and bit by bit expand what you can do. It threw me off a little that I couldn’t even gather flowers at the start, this requiring a sickle. With each new tool a matching tutorial is offered, going over the basics of farming, foraging, fishing, and more. Something that stood out to me with these tutorials is that notable aspects do still get a quick mention even if you opt to skip them. This might sound like a bad thing, but I can certainly imagine most people who have played a Story of Seasons game in the past would opt to skip over things like farming basics. I really appreciated that the game recognises this and shines a quick spotlight on an aspect that’s entirely unique to this game, this being the idea of jumping before using tools to enhance their effects. I’ll take a moment here to say that I really do like this concept as a whole, removing a good bit of tedium that used to come with standing in the same spot for a few seconds to charge up a tool. It speeds up the farming part of the game without necessarily relegating its importance, compared to something like the mouse-controlled farming we saw in the latest Rune Factory title.
This introductory week culminates in your first real shift at the bazaar, with the bazaar opening to the public every Saturday. Selling at the bazaar is split into two shifts, one starting in the morning, and one starting in the afternoon. Before your shift starts you can load up your stall with whatever stock you have to hand. Each season there will be hot products that will attract more attention, but as a whole you tend to find people are interested in just about anything you put on your storefront. With your stock loaded up, your shift can begin.

I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy the bazaar part of the game at first, which is something I admit sounds odd for a game with the bazaar as its titular selling point. It’s easy to see it as arbitrary extra steps for selling your farm’s produce, and in some ways it’s exactly that. The basic premise sees you stood behind a table as people walk past your stall. If you ring your bell you’ll get their attention, and they’ll either spot something on your stall to buy, stop and think “I hope they have X item”, with said item being in your stock but not currently on display, or just walk away. The minigame sees you constantly running between ringing your bell to get attention, tending to the people stood in front of items they want to buy, and putting out the stock for people who are stood waiting. It’s surprisingly engaging, with further complexity being introduced later to keep you interested and active.
Daily Life
With most of the tutorials out of the way early on, the game largely leaves you to settle into your daily farm life. There’s a decent amount to fit into each day, with stamina management being one of the key considerations early on; you burn through it much faster than I'm used to. I didn't necessarily hate it though, which did surprise me. The first few days it's common to be low on stamina, with tilling the fields and sewing your seeds being an added burden on top of the daily watering of the crops. Subsequent days you'll have more stamina to work with, only needing to repeat that final step of watering. That much does remain true here, but I did find myself struggling regardless. You can do very little for free in this game.

Watering your crops will burn through maybe a quarter of your stamina bar, but from there you've got multiple daily-respawning resources to collect. As you might expect from previous titles this includes using a tool to break ores for minerals and chopping wood for lumber, but on top of this you've also got cutting weeds and flowers. Foraging really stands out here, with it usually being an action that doesn't require stamina. It's not like you need to do everything in a day, but as somebody who likes to, it becomes a lot to juggle. 
If Grand Bazaar does one thing better than any Story of Seasons game before it, it's in pushing you to engage with everything it has to offer. This idea of pushing a fuller experience onto you is felt throughout, and goes beyond a somewhat limiting stamina bar. Stamina can be restored as you play; a few times a day you can use the bath to recover a significant chunk, but beyond that you can also cook meals and eat them to do the same. These meals can also confer bonuses like a movement speed increase, or even a modifier to how much stamina is used as you're going about your various activities. I've never felt the need to engage with cooking in previous titles, but in wanting to forage to my fullest, I was pushed towards it. And it was a mechanic I ended up enjoying. Cooking itself is naturally supported by both farming and fishing, keeping you in a cycle that really does a good job of filling out your days.

I'd go so far as to say that if you want a faming game just for the farming, that this one might not be for you. You definitely can skip over certain parts that aren't to your fancy to some degree, but where it gets challenging is in fulfilling the requests of the townsfolk. Some of these are optional, sure, but it's incredibly likely you'll hit a wall when trying to woo your character of choice, with the relationship level locked at certain points behind one such request. So much of the game is connected, and as a larger package it feels really well thought through, if a little constraining early on as you're just getting going.
Unlike the majority of classic titles in the series, crafting plays a large part in this game. Beyond cooking, which is ultimately just another form of combining items for something new, we also see windmills come into play. Unlocked fairly early on, the windmills are like blending Minecraft's crafting table and furnace into one. The essence here is that you put set items in and, after a certain amount of in-game time, will get an item out the other end. Through this you can refine your materials, upgrade your tools, and even make decorations for your bazaar stand. Of all the systems in the game this was the one you really have no choice but to engage with, and it's designed well enough to just slot into the background of your days. You might set a few things going in the morning and come back before you sleep to them being complete. The speed of crafting is also affected by the weather, which is a nice touch; it makes sense that stronger winds would make the sails go faster. As you upgrade your tools you gain access to new materials, and in turn new things to make.

Where the game really surprised me was just how easily I was able to keep on top of the various events happening around town while still keeping up a daily routine. What I'm used to doing is looking up guides to figure out the often specific combination of being in a certain place at a certain time with certain weather after doing a laundry list of activities beforehand. You don't quite get everything spelled out here, but what you do get is a map that'll tell you when there's something happening, and where to go if you want to be a part of it. It's more than enough for me, and encourages variation in my routine from day to day to go see what's going down.
A Slower Life in Zephyr Town
As a whole Grand Bazaar feels like a much slower game than I'm used to. It's not necessarily a positive or negative thing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if you're considering picking the game up. Both starting out and going into the larger day to day cycle it's difficult to avoid moments of waiting, be it for an item to finish crafting in the windmills, which takes a set amount of in-game time, for materials to respawn day by day, for the weekly bazaar to come to sell your goods. You're rarely idle in these windows of waiting, but it can often feel like it gets in the way of progression.

Grand Bazaar was a great game when it first released, and I feel like this is the definitive way to experience it. Refreshed and renewed while maintaining much of the original charm, this release serves as a fantastic entry to the series, and one I can very much recommend jumping into. Whether you're coming back to Zephyr Town after all these years or visiting for the first time, there's a lot to do and a lot to enjoy. It's not one to skip for the enjoyers of farming, foraging, and everything else that's on offer.

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November 19, 2025Nov 19

Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS Review

Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS Review

Nacon’s RIG R5 Spear PRO HS recently launched in Europe and will soon be available in the US. This officially licensed PlayStation headset presents itself as an affordable audio companion with customisable hardware that does not compromise on sound quality. We’ll take a closer look at it in this review.
Contents and specs
The Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is priced at US$69.99 / EU€79.99 / £69.99 and comes with the following items:

Specs of the headset are as follows:
Official PlayStation licensed wired headset
40 mm graphene drivers for ultra-precise, high-quality sound (<0.5% THD)
Optimized for Tempest 3D AudioTech on PlayStation
Flip-to-mute microphone for crystal-clear voice chat (50 Hz – 15 kHz)
On-ear volume controls for quick adjustments
Snap+Lock magnetic customization: swap plates & cushions instantly
Memory foam comfort on headband and ear cushions
Lightweight, fold-flat earcups for portability
Universal 3.5 mm jack — PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC & mobile ready
RIG R5 Spear PRO HS hardware impressions
Nacon has a solid track record when it comes to the build of its headsets, and the company doesn’t disappoint with the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS. Despite packing a plastic frame, it doesn’t feel cheap. In fact, it is very sturdy and features Nacon’s iconic highly bendable (unbreakable?) headband. 
It’s also remarkably comfortable to use. This is thanks to it being lightweight and the memory foam-padded ear cushions and headband. A nice touch is the flat-folding earcups, which make resting the headset around the neck more comfortable, especially if you are taking it on the go.
 
With the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS, Nacon introduces its magnetic Snap+Lock system. This is a magnetic mechanism that lets you instantly swap out modular plates and ear cushions. The company has currently released modular plates and plans for future ear cushions. The modular plates are mostly nice-to-haves as a customisation option (they also made the STL files available), but aren’t that functional. The swappable, magnetic ear cushions, on the other hand, make them more easily replaceable and washable.

For its cost, the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is well built. However, it lacks a few premium touches you’d find on higher-tier (and pricier) headsets. For instance, the cable and mic are not detachable, and there is no wireless option. These nagging limitations, especially with the microphone and cable being fixed, impact its versatility and longevity. 
Being a wired headset, it would be handy to have more physical controls on the device itself. The RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is limited in this regard as it only has an inline volume slider. But I am not a fan of this option as the controls are not as granular as a dial or volume rocker. The latter would be more intuitive options, and I wouldn’t have to rely on my system’s volume controls as much.

 
The RIG R5 Spear PRO HS audio performance
While the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is affordably priced for an entry-level gaming headset, the audio quality is more than entry-level. The 40 mm graphene drivers deliver extremely clear sound with minimal distortion. The audio fidelity stands out whether it’s for playing single-player games or multiplayer ones. 
Being custom-tuned for first-person shooters and benefiting from PlayStation Tempest 3D AudioTech optimisation, I found it to be a great companion for games like The Outer Worlds 2. Footsteps, reloads and subtle ambient cues are well defined. I could gauge direction and distance of movement better than I expected in this price range. 
The 6mm flip-to-mute boom mic, with its 50Hz–15kHz frequency range, captures voice clearly. This is enhanced by the “bendy” mic arm that you can position closer to your mouth so that it picks up your voice better over ambient noise.

As a wired headset, it is also compatible with other systems. It fleshes out atmospheric soundtracks in games like Keeper. And you can also put the quality audio output to good use with your Spotify playlist.
At its price point, some concessions have been made on the audio side. The main one is that there is no companion software for the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS. This means that you don’t have granular EQ control and are stuck with it being custom-tuned for first-person shooters. It can be a benefit if you prefer a plug-and-play experience, but audiophiles looking for more audio-level customisation, this headset will leave them wanting. 
Closing thoughts
In its price range, the Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS delivers some of the best audio value out there. If you prioritise sound clarity, comfort for extended gaming sessions, and a plug-and-play experience, this headset is a strong contender for your next audio accessory. But don’t expect features and versatility of higher-end headsets, as some concessions have been made to keep the price affordable.

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Rockstar

November 19, 2025Nov 19

More Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC News Is Coming Our Way Tomorrow

More Pokémon Legends: Z-A DLC News Is Coming Our Way Tomorrow

After all of the Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension DLC news earlier this month, The Pokémon Company announced that another trailer drop would be heading our way on 19th November (that’s tomorrow, if you were wondering). Well, with the day almost upon us, we’ve got some more specific details about when we can expect things to get underway.
As brought to our attention by Serebii.net, tomorrow’s new trailer will debut on the official Pokémon Company YouTube channel at 2pm GMT / 9am ET / 6am PT / 3pm CET. Much like the last news drop, this announcement will only be a trailer, but we’re sure that there will be plenty of reveals in store.
You’ll find the precise time that the trailer will drop in your region below:
North America: 6am PST / 7am MST / 8am CST / 9am EST
UK/Ire: 2pm GMT
Europe: 3pm CET / 4pm EET
Asia/Oceania: 11pm JST / 10pm AWST / 1am (Thu) AEDT
Your Local Time: 7am, Wed 19th Nov 2025 Mountain Standard Time
The Mega Dimension DLC will arrive on Switch and Switch 2 on 10th December, adding a new dimension-hopping story expansion, fresh Mega evolutions, a boosted level cap, and more.
The last trailer left us feeling slightly underwhelmed by the whole thing, so let’s hope that things are looking brighter tomorrow.
https://x.com/Pokemon_cojp/status/1990791394881941560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1990791394881941560%7Ctwgr%5E60ff1c31732fc85045ffd388ea7957c740b77e91%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendolife.com%2Fnews%2F2025%2F11%2Ficymi-more-pokemon-legends-z-a-dlc-news-is-coming-our-way-tomorrow

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Rockstar

November 18, 2025Nov 18