An ex-Sega engineer has created a CRT emulator for macOS so realistic that it even supports screen tapping to fix the notoriously sketchy performance of the technology. On Tuesday, a developer showcased a CRT emulation project which some commenters complained was more like a CRT damage simulator. In other words, the CRT effects like flickering, noise, and aberrations were judged by the masses to be somewhat overdone. Today, @GOROman has followed up by demonstrating that the famicom-rf-hackrf-decoder software’s CRT rendering can be improved via an old-school whack to the top of the monitor. See it with your own eyes, in the video embedded below.

The developer of this CRT emulator, GOROman, is an ex-Sega and ex-Facebook software engineer. They explain that the famicom-rf-hackrf-decoder software receives VHF RF output (NTSC-J) from their Famicom (Nintendo NES) via an open-source SDR (software-defined radio) solution dubbed the HackRF One.

With the software running and the NES plugged into the HackRF One, the console’s RF-modulated video can be displayed on VHF channel 1 or 2. However, here you can see it on a modern LCD, in a window on the desktop. Thus the GOROman project is performing a full NTSC-J color decode in software and displaying the result on the desktop in real time via SDL2.

It is further explained that the Famicom “is not broadcast-compliant (non-interlaced 240p, chroma phase advancing 120° per line, one short line per frame).” Therefore, the decoder has to run several processes in the background to avoid quirks like drifts, wobbles, and color burst instability.

In summary, the Famicom’s RF output isn’t ideal for piping into modern monitors, so the decoder has to effectively simulate an analog TV’s brain, locking in the image stability and color. The initial demo shared by GOROman looked so much like a ‘damaged TV’ because the dev wanted to play around "by shifting the VHF frequency (exaggeratedly)." [machine translation] It was an eye-catching, humorous demo.

So, what’s happening with the new video and demo of percussive maintenance support? On social media, some have guessed that the fun picture stability-fixing mechanic could be using feedback from the Apple MacBook’s lid angle sensor. However, I looked at the GitHub page for GOROman’s famicom-rf-hackrf-decoder software, released under the MIT open-source license, and there appears to be an input variable for "audio tap," so the effect may be based on mic audio input.

Someone in the comments has requested a magnet mode to play with the ‘CRT,’ so guess what might happen tomorrow.

A new Nintendo Switch dock shell has been designed to mimic the sleek undulating curves of the classic Nintendo 64 (N64). Dubbed the 64BITDOCK, this Switch accessory kit can be bundled with an 'N64 cart' that will help you keep your Switch Game Cards tidy. The 64BITDOCK is available now direct from the maker on Etsy, priced from $89.

In the assorted images of the 64BITDOCK from Nintendo Switch accessories specialist Krasivoe, you can see that the ‘N64’ cradles the Switch (Nintendo Switch / Switch 2 / LCD / OLED) horizontally, so the upper curves of the ‘N64’ are uninterrupted. Pleasingly, the ‘N64’ cart slot is actually useful here as a Nintendo Switch Game Card silo if you buy the optional magnetically secured storage receptacle (with 6 slots).

● Check out this product on Etsy

This is a cosmetic kit for your original Switch Dock

The 64BITDOCK is basically a snap-on cladding kit for your existing original Switch Dock. What you are buying is a set of “custom plates inspired by the iconic 64-bit console… [which] snap onto your Switch dock in seconds, transforming it into a nostalgic centerpiece while keeping all sides open to prevent overheating.”

The Krasivoe 64BITDOCK is available in light grey and ‘original’ charcoal finishes, with matching Game Card storage receptacles. For the dock plates alone, the Etsy store asks $89. If you want a Game Card cartridge holder, the price rises to $103. Worldwide shipping is $6.99.

This isn’t Krasivoe’s first retro-inspired Switch Dock makeover kit. It also sells the 8BITDOCK, 16BITDOCK, and CUBEDOCK. Fans of retro Nintendo consoles will surely know what those look like.

The market is overflowing with Nintendo Switch docks, so Krasivoe has cannily sought to offer some eye-catching differentiation in the form of this 64BITDOCK. Its $89 starting price is quite a premium offering, though, as it doesn’t even include docking hardware – it’s just a cosmetic 3D-printed shell for your original Nintendo Switch Dock. We see that you can get basic, fully functional Switch docks from $20 or $30 on Amazon, with original ‘toaster’ style replacements priced at about $40.

Tobias Friedly, also known as Game of Tobi on YouTube, is quite the wizard when it comes to making the seemingly impossible happen on early Nintendo hardware. His latest venture is getting a limited version of Minecraft running on the Game Boy Color (GBC)... but in 3D. As an added bonus, he even got the game working on the original Game Boy in limited fashion, thanks to both machines' interoperability.

Friedly demonstrated his work in a short YouTube video, where it's plainly visible that he managed to coax the GBC's 8x8 sprites into something visually resembling Minecraft in a three-dimensional projection. Although there are no enemies, inventory, or game logic, the feat is exceedingly impressive given that the hardware was never meant to have 3D games.

This is a significant departure from existing Minecraft demakes for old Nintendo gear, seemingly all of which tried implementing the original game's mechanics in a flat two-dimensional space. Friedly's project appears to be an offshoot of his existing Minecraft 3D for the Gameboy Advance.

Even with the limited GBC hardware, he even went as far as adding a map generator that can create flat or bumpy maps. Blocks of various types (including portals) can be placed and removed, and he even added the Nether area of the game. Game saving and loading is included, and there's an option to enable block textures. Predictably the results are a bit iffy given the limited resolution of the display and the inherent difficulty in faking texture mapping with 8x8 tiles.

Despite running at different speeds and color levels, the Game Boy Color and original Game Boy are for the most part compatible, and Friendly even showed that his clone does run on the original black-and-green Game Boy. It's hard to distinguish blocks on that screen — but it works. If you're interested in trying it out yourself, download the cart files that Friedly published.

Goldeneye Recomp v1.0 has been released on GitHub by developer SunJaycy. Gaming-focused social media channels are excited with this release, which provides “a native PC port of GoldenEye 007 (Xbox 360 / XBLA), built by statically recompiling the original game into C++ with the ReXGlue SDK,” states the dev. “No emulator — the game runs as a real native executable.” I played the original Nintendo 64 classic for hours in the late 1990s, but this version comes with numerous benefits, including support for modern Windows controllers, online multiplayer, widescreen support, and post-FX filters, all at a purported stable 60 FPS frame rate.

GoldenEye was a seminal release for consoles, establishing that FPS games were a compelling proposition beyond the realms of PCs and keyboard/mouse control. Nintendo / Rare showed that slick, responsive FPS controls were possible on a console, and it felt good to play, with widespread praise from both reviewers and fans. In effect, GoldenEye trailblazed this genre on consoles, thanks in part to the N64’s 3D power and sensitive analog controller. Without its strong approval, we may not have seen the subsequent console developments/releases of games like Perfect Dark, Timesplitters, and many more.

Though it may be exciting for old GoldenEye N64 players (and even those who’ve only experienced the game on N64 emulators), getting the GoldenEye 007 — PC Recompilation installed isn’t a cinch right now. As SunJaycy highlights on the GitHub page for the project, “This repository contains no game code or assets. It is only the source that wraps the game (menus, hooks, online, post-FX, build config).” They go on to explain that “You must find the game files yourself. This game was never released publicly.” So, that’s a challenge you’ll have to work through on your own.

If and when you get the Xbox 360 version of the game recompiled for PC, though, you should expect the following thrilling benefits:

• Runs natively on Windows — no emulator, no BIOS.
• Controller support.
• Online multiplayer — host or join matches over the internet (LAN, Hamachi, playit.gg, or a public server).
• In-game pause/settings menu (ESC): video, resolution, frame limit, fullscreen, online setup.
• Post-FX filters (brightness, contrast, saturation, vignette, presets…).
• Smooth, stable 60 FPS (recompiled, with GPU-pacing fixes for the original's frame timing).

Instructions are provided for building the Windows version of the game from its collected sources, plus the Goldeneye Recomp v1.0 code.

Coincidentally, this Recomp release comes as the latest James Bond title, 007 First Light game, rides high in the charts on PCs and current-gen consoles. First Light is also the centerpiece of the latest Nvidia GeForce bundling promotion. PC gamers can grab a free copy of the action-adventure game 007 First Light when they purchase a qualifying GeForce RTX 50-series graphics card, gaming desktop, or laptop.

Nintendo has officially disclosed that it's planning on releasing a new version of the Switch 2, updated to comply with European Union regulations. According to these new rules, certain devices, including portable handhelds, need to have easily user-replaceable batteries if they wish to be sold in the region. The law goes into effect from February 18, 2027, so we can assume Nintendo will have an updated Switch 2 out by then.

The company has a dedicated "Compliance with EU Directives and Regulations" page on its website that was just updated with a new "Batteries Regulation" section. It mentions how the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive has made replaceable batteries mandatory and that "Nintendo is implementing measures to comply with these requirements by preparing versions of products to meet the Regulation."

The last part of the sentence is the important bit; it confirms that the company will launch a Switch 2 with user-replaceable batteries sometime between now and February 2027. The products falling under this category come with model numbers starting with "BEE," and in the future, they'll have an additional code "OSM" visible on the package to indicate "separate products for regulatory purposes."

That specific wording makes it sound like the Switch 2 units that comply with the new battery rules are different from a regular Switch 2, almost discouraging users from opting for it willingly. Moreover, the "BEE" model number is also designated to Switch 2 Joy-Cons and the Pro Controller, so it remains to be seen whether they'll be updated with replaceable-battery models as well.

Whatever ends up happening, it's important to keep in mind that we're talking about the European Union only, so don't expect to see a potentially revised Switch 2 being sold in North America or Asia. Of course, it can be imported, but we don't know whether Nintendo will region-lock the consoles to ensure they only work in the EU. Currently, Switch 2 models and games (outside of Japan) are not region-locked.

Lastly, you can still swap out the batteries in a regular Switch 2 today, but it's a very involved process, similar to a modern smartphone — if not harder. There are about 36 steps listed in iFixit's guide just for getting the battery out, and another 27 after for reassembly. The console overall has a 3/10 repairability score, lower than the original Switch, and much lower than even the latest iPhone 17 Pro lineup.

A Lenovo-branded G02 retro handheld launched in China earlier this month, coming in at an affordable $63.56 on AliExpress compared to the thousands you have to pay for the Lenovo Legion Go 2. There were some questions if this was a legitimate Lenovo product or just another hardware manufacturer using the logo of a prominent brand, but a Lenovo employee in the company’s Product and Licensing department reportedly confirmed to Retro Dodo that it was an official, white-labeled device the company intended to sell only in China. More interestingly, they have unearthed that the handheld ships with thousands of copyrighted games, mostly from Nintendo.

“The G02 device is produced through a regional brand licensing agreement meant for the China market only and is not part of Lenovo’s official global product portfolio,” the company told the publication. “As such, products developed through these agreements may differ from Lenovo products sold through authorized channels.”

However, it wasn’t the handheld’s branding that caught Retro Dodo’s attention — instead, it was the fact that it came with thousands of copyrighted titles out of the box, most of them from Nintendo. It’s unclear if these games are licensed at all; after all, Nintendo is famously protective of its intellectual property, and it’s unlikely that it would readily allow a third-party hardware manufacturer to include Nintendo titles. Furthermore, the Japanese company built a reputation as a litigious company, targeting anyone that poses a threat to its IP.

The G02 is just a white-labeled device, meaning that its manufacturer just signed a deal with Lenovo to use its name for marketing purposes. However, the maker of the Legion Go handhelds still approved the regional licensing deal, even though we’re unsure if it reviewed the final product before it went on sale. One possibility is that the factory behind this retro handheld console loaded these ROMs after approval to boost sales, even though its AliExpress product page does not advertise that it comes with these games. Another alternative hypothetical scenario is that the developers behind this console accidentally included all the titles they were using to test the device in the general release.

Whatever the case, this could become a legal problem for Lenovo. After all, even if it’s just a white-labeled device made by a third-party manufacturer, it still carries the company’s branding. The company, in theory, could do some damage control to prevent this from becoming a bigger issue, like recalling the affected products or remotely deleting them, if possible. But the fact that Nintendo games were likely distributed outside of official channels would catch the attention of the Japanese company’s lawyers.

Following industry-wide speculation and murmurs from Nintendo executives themselves, the rumors have finally come true. Nintendo is raising the price of its Switch 2 handheld by $50 from September 1, 2026 — the Switch 2 will now cost $499 in North America, the same as the Mario Kart 8 bundle did at launch. Japan will actually see price bumps in just two weeks across every Switch model, including last-gen ones.

In the States, the Switch 2 currently costs $449, and it will continue to remain at that rate for at least a few more months, so you still have time to buy one if you're interested. Similarly, in Canada, the Switch 2 costs $629.99 CAD, but it'll be going up to $679.99 CAD in September. European prices are already comparatively higher, going from €469.99 right now to €499.99, which translates to over $700 USD.

The Japanese-only model of the Switch 2 goes for ¥49,980 ($320), but it'll shoot up to ¥59,980 ($383) on May 26, 2026. The previous-gen Switch OLED model will go from ¥37,980 ($242) to ¥47,980 ($306), the Switch Lite will see its price rise from ¥21,978 ($140) to ¥29,980 ($191), and finally, the Switch V2 model that costs ¥32,978 ($210) at the moment will soon sell for ¥43,980 ($280) instead.

The prices of Nintendo Switch Online, the company's equivalent of PlayStation Plus, are also being hiked, but only in Japan and South Korea. Every tier of the subscription is getting more expensive from July 1, 2026, to "support appropriate alignment among region," implying that it was relatively cheaper in those regions up until now.

Nintendo's reasoning behind the console price hikes is the same as every other company who's done the same. The current global market conditions created by the AI boom and uncertain geopolitical rhetoric have made it difficult to source components even for large corporations. Memory and storage are significantly overpriced, while silicon in general is hurting, too.

Just last month, Meta raised the prices of its Quest 3 lineup and two days ago, Sony made refurbished PS5 Slim consoles $100 more expensive. Sony had another price increase across all its PS5 models in March of 2026. Before that, last year, the company hiked PS5 consoles by $50 already. Even laptop prices are reportedly up to 40% higher now, while companies keep pouring in more and more money into AI.

The wonders of miniaturization never cease to amaze in the tech business. A case in point is provided by a new video demo of the Nintendo Kawaii project – a GitHub project that had successfully shrunken a lumpen boxy GameCube down to a keychain. That’s just 2.36 × 2.36 × 0.62 inches (60 × 60 × 15.8mm). Moreover, the project has been completed in cool blue anodized CNC aluminum style.

In the above video, Tito from retro gaming channel Macho Nacho Productions goes hands-on with an original Nintendo Kawaii as created and fabricated by YveltalGriffin, Wesk and Ding. At the heart of this project is not the Raspberry Pi Zero, or similar, you might typically expect. Instead, the Kawaii relies on original Nintendo-used processors and ICs.

Vintage Nintendo console lovers will be aware that the firm’s Wii retained backward compatibility with the GameCube. Because of the former’s renowned extreme trimmability among the modding community a trimmed Wii motherboard is used in this project. Specifically, the Kawaii packs in the Omega Trim Wii. The GitHub source doesn’t compare the original and Omega motherboards, but the video shows the original GameCube next to the Kawaii.

Other tech tweaks to make this a successful project include the NAND Flex mods, to stack certain motherboard features / ICs. Then, the Thundervolt mod is used to undervolt the CPU so it doesn’t boil in the confined case. Thankfully the Wii processors can still handle GameCube titles with aplomb, even when power constrained.

A nice touch in this build is the CNC aluminum shell which elevates the finished look above similar projects, and on one side we’d like to think the organically ribbed metal fins might help a little with the passive cooling. It is still gratifying here to have original silicon to run your GameCube (and some Wii games that work with GC controllers) titles. Users are expected to load games onto a microSD card. One drawback of this neat design is the flash card becomes captive with the case assembled.

Clearly, the Kawaii isn’t a self-contained console. It has an elegant docking method, though, with discrete pogo pins. The dock actually looks larger than the keychain, and then you’ll need the hefty GameCube controller, a USB power brick, two sets of dongles, and a TV to plug it into.

Though the GitHub page is complete with MCAD, ECAD, and BOM files, the team hasn't gotten around to putting together instructions. Those wishing to replicate this meisterwerk are directed to a thread on BitBuilt that follows the assembly of two Kawaiis.

We previously reported on the Kawaii project, ahead of this hands-on demo, in July 2024.

ZSNES is a legendary Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulator with its roots stretching back to the DOS era. Created by zsKnight and Demo, the last major release of this seminal hand-tuned, assembly-coded emulator was nearly two decades ago. It has been reborn this week as Super ZSNES with “super enhancements” powered by your system’s GPU. Rewritten from scratch by the aforementioned dynamic duo, Super ZSNES now boasts “far more accurate CPU and audio cores than the original ZSNES,” as well as a “GPU-powered PPU core.”

See some hands-on Super ZSNES footage and discussion from MVG, above. The RetroTuber has had access to this emulator reboot for a couple of weeks.

Before deciding to go ahead with this project, zsKnight had pondered what to do differently for a reboot. The dev told MVG, “I had to brainstorm a bit, thinking what I could do differently. So, I started out by writing a GPU renderer that replaces a large chunk of the SNES PPU emulation with rendering done mostly on the GPU through shaders.”

The big underlying challenge here was the SNES architecture being CRT-based and GPUs being geometry-based, but zsKnight enjoyed jumping the hurdles. In the first release of Super ZSNES, MVG confirms tasks such as “palette lookups, tile rendering, transparencies, mode 7, color math, main and subscreen combinations, mosaic effects are all handled via GPU shaders.” This architecture unlocks some ‘Super’ enhancements in the new UI, and some intriguing possibilities for coming releases – like high-res textures, for example.

Another aspect of this new emulator that makes it 'Super' is its new Super Enhancement Engine, and it is here that we reckon the new GPU-powered architecture will also often come into play. We’ve tabulated what this means to your old SNES games, below.

Before we go, we note that the new Super ZSNES was put together using Unity. However, the devs insist that there’s been “no vibe coding” and everything under the hood was completed “classic development style.”

Naturally, as this is version 0.100 of the new emulator, there are bugs to be fixed, improvements to implement, and enhancements to come – such as netplay. There’s also a disclaimer that “This is an early build, so there are still emulation bugs and special chips (DSP1, SuperFX, etc.) have yet to be implemented. A bunch of optimization work has yet to be done so performance may be a bit slow.”

MVG notes that zsKnight has highlighted work-life-ZSNES development balance. While the devs are loving being back in the saddle for this project, and the initial reception to the reboot has been great, more direct support via platforms like Patreon would perhaps help oil the wheels.

You can grab Super ZSNES now for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android, and there is an iOS release “coming soon.”

A maker with a love for synthesizers and retro gaming has showcased their latest project, the NES-SY2.0. This bewitching new device is not just an homage to Nintendo’s legendary mid-1980s vintage console but also chip tune synthesizer music and the archaic luggable computer form factor.

Above you can see the creator of the NES-SY2.0, Love Hultén, a self described provider of “tech, noise and craftporn from Sweden,” playing a selection of compositions on the device. A couple of short melodies later, Hultén flips NES-SY2.0 modes, plugs in a gamepad, and enjoys a session of Mega Man 2 on the built-in visualizer screen.

Fans of the video are full of questions about the design, such as how the NES electronics are integrated with the synthesizer side of the device. Also, we see maker Love Hultén change cartridges during the brief three-and-a-half-minute demo of the device. Some wonder if that changes the synthesizer tones or features. But there are some clues to the making of the NES-SY2.0 in the brief video description.

“This is NES-SY2.0 - incl NES Poly, Keystep, FS22 delay/rev, and a custom made MIDI visualizer created by @p1xelfool, and yes, the system supports cartridges!!” notes Hultén.

The first of those key components is the NES Poly. It is as foundational as it sounds, delivering a MIDI-controlled, 4-voice polyphonic synth that emulates the sound of the NES console. It also features two-oscillators per voice, real-time waveform switching capability for NES pulse “pluck” effects, vibrato pre-delay, attack, and 4 vibrato low frequency oscillator waveforms, and 16 sound parameters that can be edited with MIDI CC messages.

Then the ‘keystep’ refers to the compact MIDI controller from Arturia, which will have been the donor for the keys you see being played, and several more bits and pieces.

We reckon the “FS22 delay/rev” is a reference to the tri-mode effects stomp box produced by Flamma. This will add a luscious feeling of space to the sounds coming from the NES-SY2.0 and can even be tuned for delays affected simultaneously by shimmering reverbs.

Finally, the visualization screen is said to be based on a project from another artist / maker called p1xelfool.

What we can say is that the blend of all those technologies put together so stylishly by Hultén is indeed “craftporn.” But it isn’t just a fantastic-looking project, it is a great musical instrument and a luggable, perfectly playable original cartridge-loading NES.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that this isn’t Hultén’s first mix of retro gaming and music tech – as this example is so polished. The maker’s YouTube channel also features such wonders as a VIC-4 custom synth, a MIDI NES axe (guitar), and some Pac-Man-themed synths.

A developer has demonstrated an open-world engine in a Nintendo 64 game, which offers a “seamless, massive world with zero loading screens” on original hardware. In essence, James Lambert and a handful of other contributors behind Junkrunner 64 have coaxed the 30-year-old N64 into delivering draw distances matching the scale of Skyrim. The video below explains how this feat was achieved.

The majority of this video showcases Junkrunner 64 gameplay and features. You will see a cute character walk and ride a jet bike around a gigantic, open-world environment in real time, with expansive draw distance. Basically, a player can stand on one corner of the map and see across the entire world.

Anyone with experience owning or playing an N64 will have experienced the sharp end of the retro console’s draw distance problem. It is an old console, of its era, and system resources are meager compared to what developers in the first open-world gaming era and beyond would expect.

Typical visual issues in worlds that try to be too ambitious include pop-ups and clipping. In particular, at a distance, Lambert’s video highlights the phenomenon of Z-fighting, where some objects closer to the user might actually be obscured by farther-away objects.

The developer explains that the N64 features a 15-bit Z-buffer, which can hold ~32,000 unique values. But in his game development tests, about 90% of those values are used for things that are very close to the camera. Resources are slim for the oodles of distant objects in an open-world game, leading to Z-fighting.

What can be done to fix pop-ups and combat the occasions when closer objects are obscured behind more distant objects? “The solution is I just draw the world twice. First, I draw everything that's far away scaled down by about 100, and then I do a separate pass where I draw everything that's close,” explains Lambert. “So that gives me the best of both worlds. I can draw large objects at a small scale where details don't matter. And then when I'm drawing things close, I'm able to retain that near clipping plane and render things more detailed.”

So, that’s one solution, but memory constraints and performance considerations remain. Another innovation that has been shoehorned into Junkrunner 64 to help mitigate the scarcity of processing power and memory is the engine’s implementation of world tiles of various detail levels, cleverly layered.

Texturing in the demo game was handled by contributions from fellow developer Pyroxene, using a technique called baking. This is implementing lighting and material details directly into the textures, particularly on low-detail models.

Additionally, Pyroxene worked on a new kind of N64 fog: implementing RGB color-mixed fog gradients in the distance, plus locally colored fog. This further enhances open-world visuals.

In Junkrunner 64, the map starts hidden, as in many modern open-world games, and exploring the environment reveals the map little by little. Thankfully, there’s a super-fast 180 mph hovercycle that can be acquired and upgraded to get you around. Towards the end of the video, we see a small segment of gameplay demonstrating map exploration on a hovercycle.

Lambert closes the video by teasing a new (unnamed) full game that will be coming to the N64, ModRetro, and the Analogue 3D. It will, of course, use the above-mentioned technologies.

You can grab the code for the Junkrunner 64 demo, which was the main topic of the video. Version 2.1 is now on GitHub as a 16.5MB z64 file for your emulators, flash carts, etc. The source code is there too.

Nintendo is reportedly planning to reduce Switch 2 production after the company failed to meet its expected year-end holiday sales in 2025. Bloomberg reports that the Japanese gaming giant intends to reduce output from 6 million to 4 million units — a 33% reduction from its initial plan — effective April 2026. This is a disastrous development for the maker of the popular gaming handheld, especially after it had a blockbuster opening weekend sales of 3.5 million units, selling a million more units than the original Switch did during its first month.

This is certainly a challenge for Nintendo, especially as a console’s second year could potentially mark how it will perform over the rest of its lifespan. So, if the company fails to maintain the Switch 2’s momentum, third-party developers might be discouraged from making new titles for the console owing to its smaller user base compared to other competitors like the Sony PlayStation and the Steam Deck.

Some reports blame the larger download sizes and the increasing price of microSD Express cards that the console requires for the sluggish game sales on the Nintendo platform. However, a few gamers contest this, saying that more expensive titles and the lack of compelling new releases are the primary reasons why fewer people are buying games for the Switch 2. Thankfully, the just-released Pokémon Pokopia has seemingly garnered the interest of fans, with the title selling over two million units in just four days, providing a much-needed boost to Nintendo.

Others inside the company argue that the reduced sales were caused by people buying the Switch 2 much earlier than expected. The report claims that this was because of the ample supply that Nintendo had leading up to the release of the console. If true, then this could be the reason why the company experienced fewer sales during the holiday season. Furthermore, it could have been compounded by the uncertainty brought about by the tariffs set by President Donald Trump, with some people buying the console as early as they can to avoid any possible price increases brought about by the import taxes.

The company’s problems do not end at the underperforming sales of its handheld console, though. Skyrocketing RAM and storage chip prices are posing a challenge for every manufacturer, and Nintendo is purportedly already considering increasing the Switch 2’s $450 price, which could further reduce sales numbers. It’s also reportedly working on a hardware revision for the EU market, where the handheld may get a removable battery to comply with regulations that will take effect next year. While this will initially be limited to Europe, the fact that it will have to make some hardware changes would entail additional cost at a time when global instability and uncertainty are making everything else so expensive.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will reportedly get a removable battery specifically for the European market. According to Nikkei [machine translated], the company is making the hardware revision due to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, which says that “Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the lifetime of the product.” Although the law was passed in 2023, the removable battery clause will not take effect until February 18, 2027.

This change will also affect the Joy-cons, making it easier for users to replace the batteries on the console and its controllers without needing special tools, solvents, or other materials — at least in the EU. Nevertheless, there is hope for the rest of the world, as the company is reportedly planning to make the same change if the U.S. and Japan adopt similar right-to-repair rules.

It’s unclear why Nintendo didn’t build the Switch 2 with a removable battery from the get-go, especially as Europe is its second-largest market after the United States. Still, this is good news for European fans as it would allow them to easily replace the battery on future Switch 2 consoles, letting them keep their gaming handheld for longer.

This is another challenge that Nintendo has faced in recent months. Despite the Switch 2’s record-breaking opening weekend sales, the company is facing weaker game sales. One report blamed the AI-driven chip shortage for making storage more expensive, although others point to pricier titles and a lack of compelling options as the reason gamers are purchasing fewer games. It has even sued the U.S. government over tariffs, demanding a $200 billion refund with interest.

Note that the EU regulation isn’t limited to the Nintendo Switch 2 or gaming handhelds. In fact, it’s expected to affect nearly every portable battery-powered device, including smartphones, laptops, earbuds, headphones, and more. Other companies have already started responding to this change, with Sony making it easier to replace the batteries on its DualSense controllers and the new MacBook Neo being much easier to repair than older MacBook models.

Nintendo has rolled out a new system update with version 22.0.0 for the Switch 2, bringing a new feature to the hybrid console called "Handheld Mode Boost". According to the patch notes, enabling this mode allows the software to run as if in TV Mode. This essentially lets original Switch games run in handheld mode as if they were docked in TV mode, taking advantage of the Switch 2’s faster hardware and built-in 1080p display.

Since the original Switch featured a 720p display, most games ran at the console’s native resolution in handheld mode and scaled up to 1080p when docked. With the latest update, the Switch 2 can now run those games at higher resolutions in handheld mode, offering improved visuals along with a potential boost in performance for certain titles.

Nintendo notes that enabling Handheld Mode Boost comes with a few drawbacks. For instance, the attached Joy-Con 2 controllers are treated as a Pro Controller, which may disable the touchscreen since the game runs in TV mode. Additionally, some on-screen instructions may be inaccurate, and certain games that rely on motion or touch controls are not supported. While Nintendo has yet to provide a full list of compatible titles, a report by Eurogamer indicates that games such as Super Mario Maker 2, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Eevee!, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Clubhouse Games, Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ’n’ Fun!, and Pikmin 1+2 are not supported in Handheld Mode Boost.

To enable Handheld Mode Boost on the Nintendo Switch 2, head over to System Settings > System > Nintendo Switch Software Handling, then toggle Handheld Mode Boost on or off. The company notes that enabling the mode can result in increased power consumption while playing games at a higher resolution.

The latest update is available for both the Switch 2 and the original Switch, although Handheld Mode Boost is only supported on the former. It also includes general system stability improvements along with several new additions, such as the ability to save notes about friends, updated text and animations when loading virtual game cards, improvements to GameChat, support for Russian and Portuguese in GameChat’s speech-to-text feature, and a more detailed breakdown of system memory and microSD Express storage by data type.

Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on March 6 in the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking a refund of tariffs it paid under President Donald Trump's executive orders since February 2025, according to a complaint obtained by Aftermath. The company, represented by Venable LLP, argues that those tariffs were unlawfully imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) and seeks the return of the collected duties "with interest," along with attorney fees and the reprocessing of its import entries.

The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA-based tariffs on February 20, ruling that the act did not grant the president authority to impose them. The court also ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund the duties it had collected. In a separate filing on the same day Nintendo filed its complaint, however, CBP stated it was "not able to comply" with that order.

Nintendo is among more than 1,000 companies that have filed suit, joining FedEx, Costco, and Revlon in seeking refunds. The 14-page complaint (case no. 1:26-cv-1540) states that tariffs have resulted in the collection of more than $200 billion in import taxes on imports from nearly all countries since February 2025. Nintendo told Aftermath it had filed the complaint but had "nothing else to share."

Nintendo's lawyers name the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Commerce as defendants. A notable element of the complaint is its use of the government's own prior concessions: in the earlier V.O.S. Selections v. Trump litigation, the government argued that "if tariffs imposed on plaintiffs during these appeals are ultimately held unlawful, then the government will issue refunds to plaintiffs, including any post-judgment interest that accrues." Nintendo's lawyers cite this directly, arguing that the position already binds the government.

The complaint covers 10 executive orders in total, stretching from the initial February 1, 2025, tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China through to a 40% tariff on Brazilian goods and a 25% tariff on India tied to its purchases of Russian oil, both issued in mid-2025. China-specific duties escalated rapidly over the period: starting at 10%, rising to 20%, then to 84%, peaking at 125%, and then reduced to 34% in May 2025.

Nintendo manufactures its consoles and accessories primarily in Vietnam and China, putting it squarely in the crossfire when sweeping tariffs were announced in April 2025. The company delayed Switch 2 preorders from April 9 to April 24 to assess the potential cost impact, and ultimately raised prices on accessories rather than the console itself.

Joy-Con 2 controllers went from $90 to $95 per pair ahead of the June 5 launch, and the Pro Controller rose from $79.99 to $84.99. By August 2025, Nintendo also raised prices across the original Switch family in the U.S., with the OLED model climbing from $349.99 to $399.99 and the standard Switch from $299.99 to $339.99, following a 20% tariff imposed on goods from Vietnam.

Trump has since proposed a 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and more than two dozen states filed suit over that measure as of March 6. Nintendo's complaint covers the IEEPA duties specifically, meaning the company's exposure to future tariffs on its production in Vietnam and China remains an open question, with Nintendo itself having warned last year that Switch 2 pricing "may be subject to change" depending on market conditions.

[DO NOT DELETE FOOTER BELOW]

Nintendo is facing pressure from the AI shortage, as increasing NAND prices are doing more than just hiking the company’s costs to build the popular Switch 2 gaming handheld. According to Bloomberg, some users are reportedly balking at purchasing new titles, especially as the console’s specs limit its onboard storage to just 256GB. The fact that it uses more powerful hardware than the original Switch means that its game titles are now significantly larger. For example, the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, one of the major franchises on the Nintendo platform, is about 102.5GB, meaning it will take up around 40% of the console’s onboard storage.

One gamer told the outlet that they used to buy games "on a whim," but are now more cautious "because the space is filling up so quickly, at a pace that I didn’t imagine.” According to figures collated by Bloomberg, Switch 2 software sales momentum "lags behind the original Switch's." As of the end of 2025, it calculates that the average number of games purchased per console is just 2.18. When the Switch reached the same sales milestone of around 17 million units, that figure was 3.88, a marked decrease in Switch 2 game sales.

If you’re a collector and like to have a ton of games installed on your console, vastly larger titles like Final Fantasy mean you'd have to purchase external storage to increase your Switch 2’s capacity. Although you can easily get one of the best microSD Express Cards from Amazon, they’re more expensive than ordinary microSD cards, and the storage chip shortage is not doing gamers (or Nintendo) any favors. For example, the 512GB TeamGroup Apex microSD Express Card cost around $100 in late 2025 but now sits at $114.99 on Amazon. The 1TB Lexar Play Pro is far more expensive, too — it’s currently priced at $219.99 on Amazon, although it used to cost less than $190 before the shortage.

These price increases on the Switch 2’s storage solutions are giving gamers pause when shopping for new games — and that’s a problem for Nintendo. Although the company does not sell its hardware at a loss (unlike Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation), it does so at exceedingly thin margins. That means it still relies on the sales of its games to make up for the majority of its profit. But with increasing game sizes, many users are now having second thoughts about buying games willy-nilly, especially as storage costs spiral out of control.

The company is attempting to help gamers by launching Nintendo-branded microSD Express cards made by Samsung. The report even claims that Nintendo has "secured concessions from retailers" to give up some of the profits on sales of these devices. They're currently available on Amazon for just $59.00, but at just 256GB, you’ll have to purchase several of these if you’re an avid game collector. Furthermore, this adds to the already relatively high price of $449 for the console, which was driven by the uncertainty of tariffs and global geopolitical events. And with titles already costing around $50 to $80, the need to spend extra for storage will definitely weigh more on gamers’ pockets and eat into Nintendo’s revenues.

Before there ever was a Game Boy, Nintendo had the Game & Watch, the company's first successful handheld that invented the D-pad. Since the original Donkey Kong G&W, Nintendo has done modern re-releases as recently as 2021 when the Zelda edition came out to celebrate the franchise's 35th anniversary. Now, on Zelda's 40th birthday, an enthusiast has decided to take that Game & Watch and mod it into a proper retro emulator.

Unlike the original Game & Watches for the 80s, the re-release got an updated color LCD and came loaded with classic games, powered by a USB-C port. The battery and controls are also updated to reflect current times, which means there's a pretty decent base here for a portable handheld. The open-source community has done a lot to unlock G&W's full potential, and this project from Macho Nacho Productions is built on their shoulders.

The mod starts with taking apart the G&W, disconnecting all the ribbon cables, and desoldering the speaker. Then, the firmware stored on the motherboard is dumped, modified, and flashed back onto the memory chip to essentially jailbreak it. Unfortunately, this chip is only 16 MB, which is not enough to push the payload through, so the process required replacing it with a 64 MB IC. That comes later, though; they actually need the files from this chip.

An ST-Link V2 programmer was then connected to the motherboard by soldering it to the relevant pads. This is what enables communication between a computer — which will retrieve and mod the firmware — and the Game & Watch. Once that was done, Macho Nacho upgraded the memory chip, and it was time to flash the custom firmware.

Lots of PowerShell windows later, the process was completed, and the programmer was removed from the motherboard. He was not quite done with the hardware side of things yet, as even though the custom firmware worked, it still needed to read from something, and that meant adding a microSD card slot to the Game & Watch.

This is perhaps the toughest soldering job of the bunch, as it required individually soldering each contact of a custom ribbon cable to the CPU on the board. That ribbon cable itself had passive components like a capacitor and, of course, the microSD card slot soldered onto it before.

Now that the Game & Watch had external storage, Macho Nacho put everything back together, performing the final soldering on the speaker wires to reconnect it, but there was still one thing remaining. The SD card slot needed a cutout on the back shell to ensure it was accessible from the outside.

Thankfully, the modding community already had 3D-printable jigs ready for our host. He used them to drill out the slot, sand it to ensure it doesn't look too DIY, and finally close the Game & Watch back up. At this point, both the hardware and software should be ready (if you prepped the SD card already), and you only need the games.

It's easy enough to dump ROMs on the card, so Macho Nacho spent the rest of the video showcasing what this modded Game & Watch can do. It runs Retro-Go, a popular firmware that has lots of support in the community and features a slick, modern UI. The biggest benefit of Retro-Go is its ability to emulate a bunch of consoles — everything from the Sega Genesis to the Turbo Grafx 16.

The games look beautiful on the sharp display with vivid colors, and the ability to save on the go (save states), thanks to Retro-Go, really adds to the portable nature of the device. Think of it as a DIY Miyoo Mini that you can just put in your pocket and forget. Speaking of which, this Game & Watch is even smaller than a Game Boy Pocket, which it can emulate.

The controls feel responsive, and the device even has Homebrew support. Macho Nacho unfortunately didn't speak on the battery life, but it should be similar to the retail version. The only real con of modding a Game & Watch like this is the sheer expertise involved in performing the mod.

The software side of things can be handled fairly well by tutorials, but microsoldering isn't for everyone. Thankfully, there are people out there who can do this for you, and some who even sell pre-modded Game & Watch consoles. If you don't want the novelty of the form factor, though, you're likely better off buying an Anbernic, which will be more powerful and come ready out of the box.

The memory and storage chip shortage that has been causing RAM, SSD, and GPU prices to skyrocket is now starting to affect other products. Valve has recently announced that Steam Deck availability is now intermittent due to the current situation, and Bloomberg now reports that Sony and Nintendo are considering taking drastic actions, too.

“Sony Group Corp. is now considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. That would be a major upset to a carefully orchestrated strategy to sustain user engagement between hardware generations,” the publication said. “Close rival Nintendo Co., which contributed to the surplus demand in 2025 after its new Switch 2 console drove storage card purchases, is also contemplating raising the price of that device in 2026, people familiar with its plans said.”

While both companies do not disclose how they manage component orders, they likely have long-term agreements in place with various memory chip suppliers to help keep their costs predictable. But because of the continued massive demand from data centers and AI hyperscalers, chip manufacturers like Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix have reduced their output for consumer memory, resulting in higher prices in the spot market and when customers sign new contracts.

If the reports are accurate, Sony and Nintendo are applying differing strategies to deal with the situation. Nintendo is willing to increase the price of the Switch 2 to offset the increased memory and storage costs, especially as it is selling the new console at slim profit margins. The company has done this before with the original Nintendo Switch, which had its price increased by $30 to $50 in response to economic pressures.

On the other hand, Sony’s rumored tactic would be to delay the next-generation PlayStation for more favorable pricing. We’re unsure how long the memory chip shortage will last, with some estimates pointing out that it could go on for as long as a decade. Nevertheless, some believe that the memory chip fabs would’ve caught up with the demand by 2028 or 2029, meaning prices would’ve stabilized by then, even if they do not return to pre-shortage levels.

The news of chip shortages has been circulating among PC enthusiasts since the last quarter of 2025, but it seems that that is just the beginning. Gaming consoles and handhelds are now feeling the pinch, with mobile phones expected to follow suit. Even cars will be hit by the shortage, especially as nearly every modern feature found in automobiles requires DRAM and NAND.

The driving force behind Sega’s iconic console hardware passed away just ahead of the weekend. Hideki Sato, widely known as the ‘Father of Sega Hardware’ according to Japan’s Beep21 gaming magazine, which broke this sad news, was a key player behind the creation of the full gamut of classic Sega consoles. From the SG-1000, through the Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast – Sato and his R&D team architected and helped define multiple home console generations.

Sato began his Sega career as an engineer in 1971. This was just a couple of years ahead of the iconic gaming firm’s first electronic coin-op, the discrete logic driven Pong-Tron arcade machine (1973).

The long-serving Sega stalwart and his R&D team would subsequently be responsible for the development of the firm’s first home console, the SG-1000. This lesser-known (in the West) console was the first public showing of the (in)famous Sega-Nintendo rivalry, launching on the same day in 1983 as the Nintendo Famicom (NES in the West).

Sato’s team would roll out a couple of revisions of the SG-1000 before the popular Sega Master System arrived, in 1986. However, the most famous Sega console of them all, the MC68000-powered Genesis (AKA Mega Drive) would launch in 1988/89 to fire the opening salvo of the 16-bit wars, some time before Nintendo could get its SNES ready (1990/91).

Sega, with the capable help of Sato and team, released its first handheld, the Game Gear, in 1990, and there would be a number of add-ons for the Genesis cash cow, to extend its life before the 32-bit era was defined by consoles like the Sega Saturn, and contemporaneous Sony PlayStation.

Next up was Sega’s wonderful swansong, the Dreamcast. But by this time, Sato’s role was more in executive oversight, rather than as the designer, architect, and hardware lead positions he took for the prior generations.

Sato continued to climb in the Sega corporate ranks, even as it found its feet in its initial post-hardware years. The recently deceased gaming industry titan would take on the role of Sega’s acting president from 2002 to 2003. He eventually left Sega in 2008, after holding chairman and similar high-end advisory roles at the gaming company. His post-Sega career was largely as a Professor at Tokyo University of Science, lecturing on engineering and gaming hardware history.

Hideki Sato passed away on Friday, February 13. He was 75 years old. Sega co-founder David Rosen’s death was reported only a few weeks prior.

A canny developer has managed to coax a Game Boy Color (GBC) into running an interactive, user-controlled, real-time 3D shader demo. Danny Spencer shared a video, blog post, downloadable ROMs, source code, and even embedded the demo in an online GBC emulator, so anyone interested can give his Lambert-shaded 3D teapot a spin.

It is always fascinating to see developers squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the available hardware. So, seeing this interactive spinning teapot demo for the GBC is super cool. Moreover, Spencer reveals all the nitty-gritty behind this feat.

Getting this real-time shader running on the GBC wouldn’t be a big deal if the handheld had a powerful processor. Nintendo’s second handheld was far from powerful, though. It retained the Sharp SM83 SoC, as used in the original Game Boy, but boosted it to “dual-speed mode” at a smidgen over 8 MHz. This mode switching, single-to dual-speed chip, was great for backwards compatibility, though.

While the extra speed is useful for this real-time 3D demo, the GBC’s processing is still sorely lacking for running a user-interactive shader. For example, Spencer devotes a significant section of his blog explaining how the SM83’s lack of a multiply instruction was deftly sidestepped by using logarithms and lookup tables. To reduce computation overhead, the developer converted vectors to spherical coordinates. Then the Lambert shader is implemented using a spherical dot product. Far more detail about the programming, math, and rendering is available at the linked blog post.

Download and play with the demo

Spencer has made the gbshader code and related resources available on GitHub. There you will also find links to grab GBC ROM releases for this interactive 3D shader demo.

It will be most convenient for the majority of readers to run the shader demo inside the embedded emulator, via the blog post. Here you can use the cursor keys to adjust the position of the light source, while also manipulating the teapot view angle. On my computer keyboard, I could adjust both parameters simultaneously to control the animation and lighting.

A 20-year-old Nintendo Wii console has been demonstrated making an online Domino’s Pizza order in the U.S. This is quite a feat for several reasons. Firstly, the Wii’s online services were shuttered by Nintendo last decade. Secondly, as PCGamer notes, the service that has been resurrected to order at your local U.S. Domonio’s was previously a Japanese-only app called the ‘Damae Channel,’ which was deactivated in 2017. Lastly, the Wii app seemed to work very smoothly – we’ve definitely seen worse takeaway ordering apps on Android and iOS.

In the video above Pete from Retro Game Attic talks us through the surprisingly painless process of ordering a Domino’s Pizza online using the old but once revolutionary Wii console. Pete mentions up front that the ‘magic’ behind this Wii Food Channel is reliant on a WiiLink.

In the words of the team of tinkerers behind WiiLink, this software “attempts to revive all WiiConnect24 channels, region exclusive channels, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.” WiiLink went into development in 2020 and supports nine channels, including the headlining Food Channel.

When you open up the Food Channel, though, the cupboard is a little bare. As of now, the only vendor in the channel was Pete’s local Domino’s . It isn’t mentioned in the brief video whether Pete populated that option, but it is explained that it integrates with Domino’s web API for digital orders. The WiiLink wiki confirms that Domino’s is currently compatible with the Food Channel for residents of the U.S. and Canada. Sadly, support for other online ordering APIs like Deliveroo and Just East seem to have come and gone, since they were added to WiiLink’s Food Channel.

Clicking the Domino’s icon in the Food Channel brings up a portal which shows your delivery address, order history, T&Cs, and the all-important ordering menu. Once into Domino’s you can browse the UI for all the currently available foodstuffs on the menu. Pete even goes and customized his Pizza toppings.

All throughout the process, the Wii doesn’t seem to skip a beat, which actually puts some modern food ordering apps to shame. Perhaps some notable restrictions that seem to be in place at this time, though, are that you have to use the pay on delivery option, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to input the discount codes that canny pizza pickers will be familiar with from Domino’s flyers and online offers.

Reassuringly, after the order goes through, the UI provides confirmation, including your phone number, address, and food order details. We didn’t see Pete input these details, and they were blurred for privacy. Thankfully it looks like you just set them once – using the Wii’s slow soft-keyboard input method, and they will be remembered.

As once-connected PCs consoles age, there is a lot of concern about preserving their access to games and apps that may have had an online element to them. Thankfully, community projects like WiiLink exist, so features don’t disappear and render once beloved old devices inanimate, irrelevant, old hunks of hardware.

Retro fun-loving developer Rodrigo Delduca has succeeded in prompting Claude to write “a functional NES emulator.” Claude generated a series of Lua scripts that worked in tandem with Delduca’s Carimbo 2D game engine to create the emulator. You can give the code a spin for yourself and enjoy a bit of retro Donkey Kong action online, simply by visiting this link.

The NES is one of the most widely emulated game consoles ever. And, as one of the older cartridge-based platforms, it provides a good baseline for emulator development on new platforms, or for demonstrating new emulator creation technologies. We’ve seen AI generate playable games before, as in the recent competent Minesweeper clone test using four competing LLMs. However, emulators present a very different challenge for developers (and AI).

Some insight into the NES emulator is provided by Delduca’s GitHub, where the source scripts are shared. Here you can dive into the Lua scripts that breathe life into the emulator. From the file names alone, you can see separate scripts targeting the NES CPU, PPU, Input, bus, and more. These all have to work in harmony with the game code.

Lua and Carimbo

Delduca’s Carimbo 2D game engine powers the Lua scripts to create the working NES emulator. Lua is a “powerful, efficient, lightweight, embeddable scripting language,” that is free and open source (MIT license). Claude can generate scripts in this robust, fast, portable, and embeddable scripting language.

Carimbo is described by Delduca, its creator, as a simple yet complete 2D game engine written in modern C++23 using SDL. Importantly, it is scriptable in Lua, and can run natively on Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and the web (via WebAssembly). Carimbo relies on libraries such as boost, Box2D, EnTT, stb, simdjson, sol2, PhysFS, SDL, and OpenAL.

In addition to this emulator, there are a handful of other Carimbo engine games and demos available for you to try.

In my testing, the AI coded NES emulator felt slow, but depending on your system and web browser, you may get different results. Some of the comments on the emulator highlighted its sluggish performance. One cruelly notes that the 'cost of slop' was a 40X drop in performance, without sound, compared to rival online embedded NES emulators. Indeed, I remember playing with NESticle in the late 1990s, enjoying fast and responsive NES emulator fun on an old Pentium 120.

Epilogue, the maker of the GB Operator dock that lets you use the Game Boy Camera as a webcam, recently announced the SN Operator cartridge reader and has opened pre-orders for the $59 device. The company says this USB-C gadget will read SNES cartridges, allowing you to play your collection on your PC or handheld console via the Playback in-app emulator compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The SN Operator dock also makes it easy to back up your saves and game data on your computer. This is particularly important as the SNES is already 35 years old, with many game cartridges failing simply because of age. But aside from just reading the cartridge contents and backing up your extensive library, you can also use this USB-C reader to write new save files. This means you can play your SNES games on your PC, Mac, or even handheld consoles like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally and keep your progress on the original game cartridge.

Although you can play most SNES games using modern game controllers, there are a few titles that require the old Super Scope (which only works with curved-screen CRT displays) or SNES Mouse peripherals. But even if you no longer have these accessories, the Playback app can still let you play them by using your modern mouse as a stand-in for these accessories, allowing you to enjoy the old classics without having to find specialized hardware.

Another important feature that Epilogue added to the SN Operator is the ability to detect the authenticity of a particular cartridge. This can help you validate your collection and avoid counterfeit cartridges when you’re looking to expand your SNES game collection.

This SNES cartridge dock is a crucial tool for SNES fans who want to keep a backup of their game library, and for game preservationists who want to ensure we don't lose any SNES titles to history.

Nintendo is, of course, known for blocking emulators that promote ROM distribution and the unauthorized copying of games, but given that the SN Operator (and the older GB Operator) is specifically designed for personal, non-commercial use and for backing up legally owned cartridges, we hope that the company won’t take steps to kill this product that’s intended to lengthen the lifespan of the game libraries of Nintendo’s biggest fans.

A Chinese device maker is teasing a new mini PC inside a chassis that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Acemagic’s blog and social media share images and a handful of specs for this AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 machine, which it has dubbed the Retro X5. The maker characterizes this mini PC as “an all-in-one solution created to simplify classic gaming,” which makes us wonder if it will come with Batocera Linux, SteamOS, or another non-Windows OS/UI.

We don’t know a lot about the hardware inside the Acemagic Retro X5 as yet. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 inside is a capable processor, though. It features a 4x Zen 5 performance cores and 8x Zen 5c efficiency cores for a total of 12 cores and 24 threads, running at up to 5.1GHz. Onboard is a decent iGPU in the shape of the Radeon 890M (RDNA 3+). This packs in 16 CUs and runs at up to 2.9 GHz. There’s an XDNA 2 NPU with 50 TOPS, too.

If we are thinking about PC gaming with this processor, it should easily overshadow the Steam Deck. However, you will be targeting higher resolutions on a desktop. Also, as a mini PC, the HX 370 should run without the thermal constraints typically experienced in handheld or laptop designs. Thus, the Retro X5 might push this processor to the upper part of the processor’s configurable 15-54W TDP range.

From the few images of the new mini PC we can see a USB-C, 2x Type-A, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a power button up front. We also know that the “Retro X5 supports expandable memory and storage, multiple display outputs, and high-speed connectivity,” as it says so on the blog. Hopefully, that means at least: twin SODIMM slots, twin M.2 SSD slots, HDMI, USB-C monitor connectivity, USB4 or USB5, OCuLink, and Ethernet, multiple extra ports along the back, and built-in Wi-Fi / BT.

RetroPlay Box

It looks like Acemagic will try and differentiate its latest mini PC with some kind of launcher, dubbed RetroPlay Box, which you can see represented by swirling tiles in the Tweet embedded above. It could be an app that is pre-installed on Windows 11 – the least adventurous option.

There’s also the chance that Acemagic might go with a Linux-based OS to host its RetroPlay Box. It may save money on a Windows license by choosing SteamOS or Batocera Linux, for example. We shall have to wait and see.

Surfing the retro-wave

Acemagic is riding on the coattails of Ayaneo (and Nintendo) with its “inspired by iconic gaming consoles” design here. But, perhaps its timing, surfing the wave of retro-enthusiasm precipitated by Windows 11 disillusion, the rise of SteamOS, and yet another PC AAA gaming hardware cost crunch, will help it achieve better success.

The Acemagic Retro X5 is “coming soon,” according to the firm’s social media postings.

Newer isn’t always better—sometimes, nostalgia wins big. As X user Pirat_Nation discovered, the over-a-decade-old Nintendo 3DS has seen its value skyrocket, now almost matching the price of the brand-new Switch 2. On eBay, Nintendo 3DS XL consoles are fetching between $200 and $350, costing more now than when they first launched.

Nintendo released the 3DS in 2011 for $249.99, but after slow sales, the company slashed the price to $169.99. The following year, the larger 3DS XL (known as 3DS LL in Japan) hit shelves for $199.99. Just a year ago, you could pick up a used Nintendo 3DS XL for as little as $100. Now, their prices have soared—climbing 3.5 times in just twelve months—making some used units up to 76% more expensive than when they first came out.

The reasons behind the sudden spike in the value of Nintendo 3DS consoles remain a mystery. While the global DRAM shortage has driven up prices for many electronics, it doesn’t apply to the Nintendo 3DS. The classic supply-and-demand equation offers one clue: Nintendo stopped producing the 3DS family five years ago, cutting off new inventory. Still, the recent explosion in demand for these aging consoles is as puzzling as ever.

Production of the Nintendo 3DS ended in 2020, followed by the shutdown of the 3DS eShop in 2023 and the console’s online services in 2024. This full sunset has likely fueled a wave of nostalgia, prompting collectors and retro gaming enthusiasts to snap up the now-vintage handheld—driving prices to new heights, as sealed and mint-condition units are a rarity nowadays. The 3DS eShop closure has also affected the pricing of used physical cartridges, but those haven't increased substantially.

The Nintendo 3DS was far from a flop—over 75.94 million units were sold by the end of 2024. The handheld boasts a stellar library of iconic titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Bravely Default. For retro gaming fans, the 3DS remains a treasure trove of classic experiences.

The Nintendo 3DS is also a favorite among modders—thanks to its accessibility, gamers can easily install custom firmware or set up emulation with minimal effort. Yet there’s been no breakthrough in the modding community to explain the recent spike in demand. It’s also possible, however, that those pesky scalpers are driving up prices by buying up consoles and reselling them at eye-watering markups.

The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 was marred with controversy when it came to how the console dealt with physical media. A lot of games, including some first-party titles, came with download codes, despite shipping with proper boxes with cartridges inside. Others skipped a physical release entirely. That might be about to change soon, as reports of a smaller capacity Game Card for the Switch 2 have started floating around.

For context, Nintendo currently offers only two solutions for physical releases: a costly 64GB Game Card that's interface-limited to only 400 MB/s, or a Game-Key Card that will take you to the Nintendo e-Store to download and install the game digitally. Neither of these are wholly ideal, so a middle ground has been desperately needed for a while.

A few days ago, the publisher behind R-Type Dimensions III, Inin Games, announced on their website that their new game will be able to get a physical release because Nintendo is starting to offer smaller capacity cartridges. That statement has since been reworded to remove this specificity, and now just says that the game will cost 10 EUR more because of the extra production costs associated with Game Cards.

Later, Inin Games posted a statement on X admitting that they perhaps shared more than what the console maker liked, and apologized for the corporate snafu. In particular, they clarified how the announcement from earlier shouldn't be interpreted as Nintendo speak, and that any updates on Game Card specs haven't yet been officially confirmed.

Hence, we don't have any officially confirmed details, but we can assume these smaller capacity cards likely refer to 16GB or 32GB iterations of the existing 64GB cartridge. That should alleviate some of the cost and allow devs (especially indie ones) to consider physical releases. Though, with rising NAND prices and industry-wide shortages, it's hard to say how beneficial that would really be in the real world.

I can confirm that smaller capacity Switch 2 game cards are in production but due to chip shortages it will take time before we see widespread availabilityDespite the smaller capacity, these cards will still be expensive due to rising cost of materialsGame-Key Cards are not going away

— @nintendeal.com (@nintendeal.com.bsky.social) 2025-12-21T12:39:47.309Z

That brings us to today, when popular leaker Nintendeal revealed on Bluesky that Game Cards with smaller storage sizes are indeed in production, but they will face delays due to the ongoing component crisis caused by AI. For the same reason, they won't be cheaper to produce, either.

The new reality we live in, therefore, sort of renders this development useless but, hey, Nintendo didn't create this mess and likely couldn't have seen it coming. On the other hand, microSD Express cards that can boost your Switch 2's system storage are also experiencing unprecedented demand, with many stores completely sold out in Japan, for example.

There is a silver lining to this, and that's that Game Cards are at least not going anywhere. In an era of omnipresent slop and the decay of everything analog, tangibly holding the thing you own — like a movie on Blu-Ray, or a game on a disc (well, catridge) — has become increasingly special. So, it's good to know that the choice is still there and digital hasn't completely taken over yet.

On Sunday evening, the first official live playable Tetris game in the sky was hosted by Red Bull Gaming. The spectacular backdrop to the game was the glitzy city of Dubai’s night sky, with the Tetris action animated using thousands of RGB drones. The Dubai Frame, a 150m (492 feet) tall structure which is adequately described by its name, formed the towering playfield for the iconic block-dropping gaming competition.

Fehmi Atalar of Türkiye was the winner of the tournament, claiming the first-ever Red Bull Tetris global crown. It had been a long path to glory. Red Bull says there were “more than 7 million games played in qualifiers, National Finals in 60 countries, and a full day of World Final knock-out brackets.” The lucky few qualifiers would end up at the grand final at the Dubai Frame last night.

The pre-final saw rivals from Türkiye and Peru go head-to-head for three minutes “with their Tetriminos created in real time by a fleet of 2,800 drones: 1,400 for each player,” explains Red Bull. After winning this stage, Atalar opted to send his opponent to the final round first.

Peru's Leo Solórzano would score 57,164 in his personal 5-minute RGB drone Tetris session. With the advantage of having a target to beat, Atalar excelled, crushing his opponent with a 5-minute score of 168,566.

“Over [my] five years of Tetris experience, this was the best moment, and this event was one of a kind. It's not a thing you can describe in words,” Atalar said of his extremely successful tournament experience.

You can see from the pictures and videos of the evening that it is no overstatement to describe this as a spectacular event. With Tetris, this is also such a huge contrast from its origins. The iconic puzzler is probably best known as the Nintendo Game Boy pack-in, experienced on a 2.5-inch 160x144 pixels 2-bit display. Compare that to the thousands of RGB drones within the huge Dubai Frame'd night sky.

The last time we reported on Tetris gaming was earlier this year, when a canny developer managed to embed a playable version of the iconic title into a PDF. That achievement also strongly contrasts with yesterday's glittering event.

Something's rotten in Mushroom Kingdom, and this time around it's not Bowser's fault. Nintendo's stock price took a 4.7% nosedive today, due to predictions that the Japanese console maker won't be able to keep its profit margins as high as expected. As has become the norm these days, the fear is caused by the ongoing RAM and chip availability crisis, as AI datacenters grab any transistor that's not nailed to the floor.

The latest dip wiped $14 billion off Nintendo's market cap and brought the stock roughly to its May price, eroding gains made since then. It's also the second hit in as many days, with the weekly drop being about 9.8%. The production cost for the Switch 2 has risen substantially, given that it uses 12 GB RAM chips whose cost has reportedly risen by 41% in Q4 alone.

Adding insult to injury, the NAND flash onboard the console also saw an 8% aggravation. Bloomberg notes that this rise in storage pricing will also reflect itself on storage cards, further cementing statements previously made by OEMs like Transcend and Adata, some of which are even unable to secure flash chips to begin with. The Reuters report also points out that microSD cards aren't really optional, as some titles chew up most of the Switch 2's capacity.

Stockholders are right to be concerned, as reports from earlier in the year remark that Nintendo was apparently selling the Switch 2 at a very slim profit margin, with some outfits estimating that non-Japanese sales could be at a simple break-even point, or even at a loss. The U.S. tariff situation is only likely to complicate that matter further.

Having said all that, the Switch 2 actually sold at an aggressive price during Black Friday, effectively bundling Mario Kart World for free with the console, so it's not impossible that Nintendo saw where the RAM winds were heading and took the appropriate precautions beforehand.

Plus, even with this latest dip, the stock is still up around 25% for the year. Add to that the fact that Nintendo almost certainly makes the lion's share of its money from games rather than hardware, and maybe this situation is just a temporary concern.

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the U.S., the Video Game History Foundation hosted a discussion with three of the key executives behind the big 1985 launch in the U.S. Among the interesting stories told, we were tickled to hear that, in some alternate future reality, the NES might have ended up looking like an Atari 2600 — complete with a wood veneer finish and top switches.

The above panel discussion, headlined “We Launched the NES 40 Years Ago Today,” was recorded at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2025.

The panel included Frank Cifaldi, the Founder and Director of the Video Game History Foundation, and three former Nintendo of America employees. In 1985, Bruce Lowry was VP of Sales, Gail Tilden was the marketing communications manager, and Lance Barr was a product designer involved in preparing the NES and the Zapper for the U.S. market.

Many video gaming enthusiasts will already be aware that the NES was a version of the Famicom (Family Computer) that Nintendo marketed in Japan since 1983. However, the North American hardware came with a distinctly different design from the Japanese console, which shared the same MOS 6502-powered 8-bit guts.

Straight off the bat, the panel highlighted their dislike of the Japanese Famicom design and explained how it had to be different in the U.S., with the industry still reeling from the Video Game Crash of 1983. Launching into this market might have seemed foolhardy at the time, with both retailers and consumers skeptical of ‘new’ video game systems. Thus, it was important for Nintendo to do its utmost to give the NES a fighting chance in North America.

The post Video Game Crash of 1983 environment

The panel started by discussing why the Japanese design wasn’t simply brought to the American market, as it was, despite their dislike for the outward appearance.

Barr was first to step up to answer this, and without hesitation opined that “I thought it was awful.” The American product designer said the color scheme wasn’t to his liking, nor was the cartridge door mechanism, which he called “weird.” Even the gold metal section atop the controllers drew criticism for looking like it was made from “leftover beer cans” from recycling.

Underlining the design as an ‘Entertainment System’

Lowry also damned the original Famicom’s design, dismissing it as “a cheap toy.” But moving to more reasoned, constructive ideas, the ex-VP of Sales said he wanted to steer the design of the American version of the console to fit more closely with the home Hi-Fi and VCR aesthetic of the era. What would eventually become the Nintendo ‘Control Deck’ would fit better with the intended price point, Lowry also hinted.

Wood isn’t good, and gun issues, “rats, snakes, and toxic waste”

Barr said that before he got started with the NES design, he was handed quite a few alternative plans and ideas from various agencies; we assume Nintendo had previously paid to do some groundwork.

One design clearly irked Barr. “So, guess what? It had fake wood grain, and it was kind of boxy and switches were on the top.” Nevertheless, he had to work with one of those design alternatives. Of course, the Hi-Fi / VCR / home entertainment concept was the one that eventually got the green light.

Please watch more of the lengthy embedded Portland Retro Gaming Expo video to learn about the decisions regarding the NES launch titles, the reason the light gun was named the Zapper, some “dumb” NES peripherals you may never have heard of, “rats, snakes, and toxic waste” in the warehouses, and the panelists’ thoughts on the legacy of the NES.

Video game industry rebounds to greatness

The design and the NES became a resounding success, revitalizing the wounded video games industry. As moderator Cifaldi would underline to the panel, “This machine did not just survive, it dominated, and it fundamentally changed what entertainment meant.”

Thus, the groundwork has been put in for the 8-bit rival, the Sega Master System, as well as 16-bit successors like the SNES and Sega Genesis. This market has forged ahead strongly ever since, with the video game industry beginning to eclipse the movie business in revenue from the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, video games would be bigger than movies and music combined.

Nintendo has confirmed to Tom's Hardware that it has no intention of blocking the use of third-party docks with its Nintendo Switch 2 console, after users reported that the latest firmware version for the device rendered certain third-party docking stations inoperative. Numerous user reports have been abundant on the Switch Reddit platform, expressing their anger. Fortunately, vendors have identified a solution to this issue and are now releasing firmware updates for their docks to address it.

The big question many Switch 2 fans are wondering about is whether the issue was deliberate or just an accidental oversight on Nintendo's part. In a statement, a Nintendo representative told Tom's Hardware that "Nintendo Switch 2 outputs audiovisuals once it detects that it is docked into a Nintendo Switch 2 Dock. Nintendo Switch does the same, outputting audiovisuals once it detects that it is docked into a Nintendo Switch Dock. Nintendo does not have any intention to hinder or invalidate legal third-party dock compatibility."

Although the Switch 2 appears to use a standard USB-C docking interface, Nintendo is reportedly employing a proprietary handshake protocol. According to our sources, Nintendo may have separated the PID (Product ID) and the VID (Vendor ID), assigning one to charging and USB functionalities, and the other to HDMI output. The hypothesis is that Nintendo retained the existing PID and VID for charging and USB operations, but generated a new PID and VID specifically for HDMI output. That would explain why Switch 2 owners who have upgraded to firmware version 21.0.0 can still charge their devices on third-party docks, but there is no image output on the TV.

PSA: switch 2 v21.0.0 disables third party docks from r/Switch

It is amusing to note that some user feedback indicates that the official Nintendo dock allegedly stopped working correctly after updating the Switch 2's firmware. However, a restart resolved the issue, though third-party docks did not fare as well.

The market currently offers a wide array of third-party docks and adapters for the Switch 2, supplied by brands such as Next, Antank, Siwiqu, Viture, Jemdo, Jsaux, and Hagibis. However, the firmware has not incapacitated all third-party docks; instead, only specific models have been affected. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that Nintendo did not deliberately disable third-party docks.

We reached out to Next, a manufacturer that produces a bunch of Switch 2 accessories, to inquire whether the issue affects its 4K TV Dock Kit (NX-NS2DK), which is exclusively sold at Best Buy for $59.99. The vendor confirmed that the firmware version 21.0.0 temporarily impacted the compatibility of its dock. However, Next's engineering team has successfully resolved the issue. It plans to deploy a firmware update with detailed instructions to restore the dock's functionality either today or on Saturday.

Most Switch 2 gamers will get by with the included official Nintendo dock. However, some individuals have televisions in multiple rooms and may prefer a dedicated dock for each display. Additionally, there are occasions when you want to share the Switch 2 experience with friends or family members and choose not to transport the dock frequently, seeking a more portable alternative.

Nintendo offers the Switch 2 dock separately for $124.99 on its official website. Although the company has not raised the prices of the Switch 2 due to U.S. tariffs, there has been a price increase concerning accessories and the standard Switch model. The cost of the Switch 2 dock was previously $109.99, then increased to $119.99, and subsequently settled at $124.99. It is considerably more expensive than third-party alternatives. The issue is that Nintendo sells the dock as part of a set that includes an AC adapter, a USB-C charging cable, and an HDMI cable, which naturally increases the overall cost.

If Nintendo were to offer the Switch 2 dock as a standalone product to make the price more attractive, it could persuade owners to prefer official products. Aside from design, the lower prices are what make third-party docks more appealing. If your dock is not functioning correctly, sit tight and wait for your manufacturer to release a firmware update to resolve the issue. Some have already done so.

A high-profile hacking group called Crimson Collective claimed that it had successfully hacked Nintendo, which is notorious for being litigious and overprotective of its intellectual property. Cybersecurity intelligence firm Hackmanac shared a screenshot on X that allegedly showed proof of the attack, with folders that seemingly stored Nintendo data, including production assets, developer files, and backups. However, the Japanese gaming giant is yet to make a statement about this attack, so we’re unsure if this is real or just a made-up screenshot.

Crimson Collective is the group behind the recent attack on Red Hat, during which it gained unauthorized access to the company’s GitHub repositories and stole about 570GB of data. The group then attempted to extort the company but was simply dismissed. Red Hat eventually confirmed the breach, opting to work with the authorities to pursue the attackers and collaborating with its affected clients to rectify the issue.

If this attack on Nintendo is legitimate and perpetrated by the same party, then it’s likely they are attempting the same tactic of contacting the gaming giant through official channels and asking for payment to delete the stolen data, or else they will leak it.

This isn’t the first time that hackers have attacked a gaming company. Rockstar was previously targeted by an attack in 2023, and some of the source code for Grand Theft Auto VI was leaked online. In the same year, Insomniac Games, the studio behind several Spider-Man titles, was hit by a ransomware attack, and files related to games and employees were made available for download on the internet. CD Projekt Red was also a victim in 2021, after the source codes for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, and several other titles, along with several different files, were stolen and threatened to be released publicly if the company did not pay.

Despite all the noise, Nintendo is known for keeping its secrets. Unless customer or personal data has been targeted or leaked, where it’s required by law to notify the public of an attack, it’s unlikely that the company will disclose any details of this breach. So, without confirmation from the makers of the Switch 2, we can only guess if Crimson Collective’s exploit is true or not.

Nintendo is infamous for its stringent stance against any kind of copyright infringement, to the point where even fan-edits have gotten people in trouble. So, when the company tells you to stop illegally distributing games, you should probably listen. But that doesn't seem to be the case for "Archbox," who served as the primary moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit for some time, before he was charged last year for selling pirated games.

Originally reported by Nintendo Everything, the company is now seeking a $4.5 million default judgment because the defendant never showed up for the court proceedings. Archbox, whose real name is James Williams, is popular in the Switch modding community. He reportedly ran several pirating sites, along with "shops" — such as JITS — where games are available to download on jailbroken Switch consoles. James not only tested Nintendo's patience pertaining to its intellectual property, but committed the cardinal sin of piracy while doing so: charging money for it.

"Since 2019, Williams has been either directly or indirectly the owner, manager, operator, creator, administrator, supplier, and/or overseer of several online Pirate Shops, and has worked to actively promote these Pirate Shops to communities consisting of many thousands of individuals," reads the official filing.

According to online discussion, James asked for donations to give access to "pro" subscriptions, where people would be able to download games a lot faster, likely with uncapped speeds. Those who often sail the seas know never to hide pirated content behind a paywall, because that then constitutes grounds for a lawsuit. Nice-guy Nintendo even first warned James by sending a cease-and-desist through a law firm last year, but he reportedly never responded.

The lawfirm, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, investigated a number of online piracy storefronts and identified James as one of the leading kingpins, who was then located through email addresses tied to repair orders in Surprise, Arizona (yes, that's a real city). This happened before the Switch 2 was announced, which meant that Nintendo was more rigorously protecting the now-outdated console. But the company likely has more than enough lawyers and resources to keep an eye on any platform where it sees its products being pirated.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the only mainstream console that comes with Nvidia hardware inside, while Microsoft and Sony rely on AMD. Therefore, the Switch 2 supports Nvidia's proprietary DLSS technology that helps it upscale games to 1080p and beyond, which is crucial in a handheld with power constraints. It was long speculated that the version of DLSS present on the Switch 2 was unique and unlike the standard models available on PC, and Digital Foundry's latest testing has confirmed that.

While looking at a diverse selection of titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Outlaws, The Touryst, and Fast Fusion; Digital Foundry observed that there are two different DLSS versions at work.

First up, there's "Fat DLSS" that resembles the CNN-based model found on PC, and this can only upscale games to 1080p. It has a cleaner, sharper image in motion, less artifacting, better antialiasing, and smoother camera cuts. Objects move in and out of motion almost identically to how they would on PC — which is to say, gracefully.

But, as mentioned, it's limited to 1080p. To go past that resolution, Nvidia and Nintendo have developed a special "DLSS Light" which can upscale to greater resolutions (remember, Switch 2 is marketed for up to 4K when docked). This version looks better in stills, but looses sharpness as soon as you move because reconstruction techniques get temporarily disabled. It introduces artifacts where you can see unfiltered pixels, but at the benefit of half the frame-time cost, which allows it to scale way past just 1080p.

Nintendo announced the Virtual Boy adapter — an accessory that accepts both the Switch and Switch 2 — during the Nintendo Direct 2025 presentation. According to the company’s press release, this will work hand in hand with the upcoming release of Virtual Boy titles in the Nintendo Classics library, allowing Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers to relive the ‘90s.

This add-on is available in two flavors: one is made from plastic and resembles the original 3D console from 1995, priced at $99.99, while the other version is made from cardboard. Although the latter doesn’t look as close to the original as the former, it’s a far more affordable option at just $24.99. But whichever material you choose, it will work with both Switch models, meaning you don’t have to buy Nintendo’s latest handheld to enjoy its classic 3D titles. They’re also quite easy to use — all you have to do is slot your gaming console into the accessory, and you’re good to go.

With only a few months since its launch, the modding community has already started tinkering with the Switch 2 and has come up with a practical solution to battery life issues. A YouTube video posted by user naga shows the entire process of replacing the stock 5,220mAh battery with a higher-capacity 8,000mAh unit to extend the console’s battery life. Interestingly, such replacement batteries are being sold for under $40 on Goofish, an international online marketplace owned by the Alibaba Group.

The Nintendo Switch 2 launched with relevant upgrades over its predecessor, including a faster processor along with a bigger and brighter 7.9-inch 120 Hz LCD display. It also features an updated design with larger and sturdier Joy-Con controllers that improve the overall experience of the device. The company also included a larger battery this time, promising longer playtime sessions when you are on the go. However, in our testing, we found that the bump in battery life isn’t as impressive, making it one of the few areas where the Switch 2 falls short.

The modder dismantled the console by removing all screws and carefully taking off the backplate and the metal shield covering the internals. After disconnecting the battery and various cables, they applied isopropyl alcohol to dissolve the adhesive beneath the battery. Using pry tools, the stock unit is lifted out along with any remaining glue.

Since the replacement battery is larger, the metal frame that holds it is trimmed down to create extra space. The metal shield is also modified to fit the 8,000mAh battery. Once everything is reassembled, the backplate snaps back into place without any issues.

There’s no clear data on the overall increase in runtime with the larger battery, but the modder does note that Cyberpunk 2077 running at 40 Hz gained over an hour of playtime, jumping from 2 hours 18 minutes to 3 hours 25 minutes. That’s a substantial improvement and should translate to even better results in less demanding games.

While the mod is certainly enticing, it’s not recommended unless you have prior experience handling delicate electronics. Opening up the console will void the warranty, and since the replacement battery isn’t verified by Nintendo, it could impact both performance and long-term stability.

Ubisoft wasn’t being ‘cheap’ by opting to deliver Star Wars Outlaws for Nintendo Switch 2 via Game-Key Card, according to a developer who worked on the title. In a discussion thread on BlueSky, Rob Bantin, Snowdrop’s Audio Architect, explained that “Switch 2 cards simply didn’t give the performance we needed” to run the game at an acceptable quality. The Snowdrop engine uses a lot of disk data streaming to render open world environments.

The Switch Game (Key) Cards mess

If you aren’t very familiar with the Switch 2, there’s an important distinction to be made before discussing the issue here. Nintendo facilitates Switch 2 games distribution digitally online (simple enough), and on physical media dubbed Game Cards (even simpler). However, there’s a somewhat controversial third way: the Game Key Card, which acts like a kind of dongle signaling ownership of a title and allowing you to download and play it on the console that you insert it into. After installation, this kind of game does not required constant internet connectivity, but you'll keep the card in the slot to fire it up.

Game Key Cards are widely acknowledged to be cheaper to make for the games publishers. No flash required. And the gaming community is naturally resistant to dongles, DRM, and what has here been referred to as the worst of both worlds. Moreover, Nintendo’s Switch 2 comes with a measly 256GB of internal storage.

Expanding your built-in storage with MicroSD Express cards adds a middling third performance tier of ~800 MB/s transfers to the machine. These cards, sold in sizes up to 2TB, are quite costly for users, as we have highlighted previously. However, if the physical Game Cards matched this performance spec, perhaps we wouldn’t see games like Star Wars Outlaws being forcibly shoveled onto the limited built-in storage of the Switch 2 via Game Key Card distribution.

Cost of cards was “moot”

Moving back, now, to Bantin’s reasoned defense of the use of Game Key Card distribution for Star Wars Outlaws, and the dev underlines that “I don’t recall the cost of the cards ever entering the discussion - probably because it was moot.”

Game design makes a difference

The biggest video game of the year, if not the decade, has arrived on the scene in a major way. Hollow Knight: Silksong, widely considered to be the most anticipated indie video game release of all time, crashed digital storefronts like Steam and the Nintendo eShop on release yesterday, immediately hitting the Steam Charts with the third most concurrent players in the world as a paid, single-player platformer.

Silksong, the sequel to 2017's Hollow Knight, is currently the #3 most-played game on Steam before the West Coast even wakes up. Its peak of 535,213 players, achieved 3 hours after release, is enough to make it the 18th highest all-time peak on Steam, ahead of game franchises like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and Fallout. This is made more impressive by the fact that Silksong is an independent release from the three-person development squad Team Cherry, and is a Metroidvania-style platformer.

To get over 500,000 concurrent players, Silksong first needed to be bought by at least 500,000 gamers. This was a challenge for many as Steam, Nintendo eShop, and the PS5 Store all reported widespread outages immediately following Silksong's release at 7:00 am Pacific Daylight Time yesterday. Of course, the 500,000 player count only includes online Steam users, with the Day one player/sales numbers from other platforms still unknown; careful estimates place Silksong well north of 1,000,000 players on its first day.

Silksong has become something of an internet joke in the six years since it was first announced as a DLC to Hollow Knight. The three-man development squad behind the title was extremely secretive about development progress, offering no release date until earlier this year. The game became the most wishlisted title on Steam even as the release was wholly uncertain.

Silksong hopefuls and Hollow Knight fans became somewhat assured that the game would never release, until a May Nintendo livestream revealed a few extra gameplay clips that sparked hope the game would release soon. Yesterday's release date was surprise-announced two weeks ago, causing an indie games wave that led dozens of other indie games to delay their own releases to avoid becoming completely overlooked by Silksong's massive hype.

The hype and goodwill around the game's eventual release are also unprecedented in a modern cynical internet. Users of Reddit's r/Piracy forum, one of the foremost hubs for discussing pirating video games and other media, began encouraging each other to purchase the game rather than pirate it, pointing to its cheap $20 price tag and a desire to support the small dev team.

Silksong's release is the first time I've seen comments on the Piracy subreddit push for people to buy it instead.

— @airbagged.bsky.social (@airbagged.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-09-05T12:28:50.865Z

Nintendo just confirmed that its Switch 2 console can potentially overheat when used in hot environments. According to its X (formerly Twitter) post [machine translated], both the original Switch and the newer Switch 2 must be used in ambient temperatures between 5 and 35 degrees Celsius (41 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit). It also warned against using its consoles outdoors, especially as temperatures in Japan have been soaring above 35 degrees Celsius recently.

“Using Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 in a hot environment may cause the console to become hot. Please use it in a place between 5 and 35°C, as it may cause a malfunction,” Nintendo Japan’s customer service posted on X. “Recently, the temperature has been exceeding 35°C for several days. Please be careful when using outdoors.”

Many users have already reported the overheating issue on the Switch 2 in early July, with the console’s fans spinning at max speed trying to cool the unit. There were also several instances of the handheld crashing — both in handheld and docked modes — with one even saying that it became too hot to hold. More concerningly, these incidents weren’t limited to AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077. There were reports of this happening even while playing less demanding games like Splatoon or Pokémon.

Beyond that, this warning is also concerning for players based in hotter climates. Some regions, especially in the Middle East, the Sahara, and South Asia, often experience temperatures far exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. So, players based in this area would have trouble playing with the Switch 2 unless they’re in an air-conditioned area. And as global temperatures continue to soar, we can only expect more areas to experience higher ambient temperatures, causing more consoles to experience overheating.

The Nintendo Switch 2 received a major hardware upgrade from the original Switch. But despite that, it’s still a woefully underpowered console compared to modern handhelds like the GPD Win 5 and the Ayaneo Next 2. Although most of its fans buy it for its Nintendo exclusives, the company’s decision to have more AAA games available on its platform means that its hardware will be pushed to its performance and thermal limits by more demanding, less optimized titles.

Nintendo just announced a price hike for the U.S. that will hit all original Switch / Switch 1 handheld consoles, select Switch 2 accessories, and the Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo. According to its announcement, the company made these adjustments “based on market conditions,” and they will take effect starting August 3, 2025. Thankfully, the cost for the Nintendo Switch 2, game titles for both Switch 1 & 2, and Nintendo Switch Online memberships remain the same. However, the gaming giant also said that “price adjustments may be necessary in the future.”

This is unusual, as most companies typically drop the prices of their old models after launching next-gen products. And Nintendo has just released the Switch 2, which has been quite successful and is projected to beat the original Switch. However, it seems that these price hikes are driven by economics, especially given the uncertainty of the tariffs that President Trump applied the U.S.’s trading partners. We can't directly blame tariffs for the increasing costs of these consoles, though, as Canada was also affected by these price increases.

The price increases vary between $30 and $50 for the Switch 1 consoles, bringing the cheapest Nintendo handheld to $230 and the most expensive Switch 1 option to nearly $400. At this price, you’re better off spending $50 more and getting the Nintendo Switch 2, which starts at $449.99. This will give you much better performance and a larger screen, although you’ll be missing out on the OLED display. You can also install more games on the new handheld because it uses microSD Express cards. Although these cars are more expensive and harder to find (if you don’t know where to look), they offer better performance and allow you to load games directly from the expansion slot.

More importantly, the Switch 2 is now readily available. This isn’t like the PlayStation 5 launch fiasco, where scalpers made a ton of money buying up Sony’s consoles because it had little to no supply. So, as long as you know where to buy it, you can easily pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 console at any time.

One of the most notable features of the Nintendo Switch 2 that has many in the gaming community intrigued is its Nvidia DLSS support. Nvidia's AI-powered tech has long been the 800-pound gorilla of upscaling, and it seems especially useful on a console with limited graphics horsepower like the Switch 2.

Despite the fact that DLSS is in the Switch 2 developer's toolkit, however, it's becoming apparent that the technology isn't being universally adopted among devs.

Surprisingly, the holdouts include Nintendo's latest blockbuster, Donkey Kong Bananza. The fine folks at Digital Foundry unpeeled the mystery of missing DLSS support in the title as part of their recent review.

Italian content creator Francesco Salicini, who owns the YouTube channel Once Were Nerd, says he is currently under investigation by Italian authorities for allegedly promoting piracy by “advertising” Anbernic game consoles. Anbernic is known for its retro handheld gaming consoles that can emulate classic titles from Nintendo and Sony. However, the company often ships its products with microSD cards that contain hundreds of copyrighted ROMs. This is definitely against the law and a form of piracy, but Salicini claims that he only reviewed the hardware and that no manufacturer sponsored his videos. He even went further and refrained from adding affiliate links to his content.

Salicini is currently accused of violating Article 171 ter of the Italian Copyright Law, which metes out a maximum penalty of €15,000 (around US$17,000) and three years' jail time. At the moment, his case is still under investigation, with the Italian Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police) seizing more than 30 consoles, including those from Anbernic, TrimUI, and Powkiddy. The police also hold the creator’s phone, as well as the transcripts of his conversations with these gaming handheld makers.

The initial investigation takes about six months, after which the authorities will have to decide whether to drop the case or to go forward with the criminal proceedings. But in the meantime, Salicini also runs the risk of having his channels taken down even without definitive proof that he’s in the wrong.

Nintendo is known to be extremely protective of its intellectual property and is known to serve copyright strikes against YouTubers who emulate its games on their channels. The company has also taken down thousands of Yuzu emulator repos on GitHub and successfully shut down Ryujinx. At the moment, we don’t know who filed the case against Salicini, but if Nintendo or Sony (or both) is behind this, then they’re taking things up a notch with this potential case.

There’s currently a tug-of-war between game studios and game preservation enthusiasts on the legality of emulators. On the one hand, developers and studios want to have total and complete control over all their titles, even those that have been published almost 50 years ago. But as the hardware designed to run these games is slowly dying out and keeping them running on current-gen consoles might not be profitable for developers, the only way we can enjoy these is through the use of emulators — or else we risk losing these games forever.

Premium retro console (re)maker Analogue has updated the FAQ page for its long-awaited reimagining of the Nintendo 64. The big news is that the Analogue 3D (formerly the Analogue 64) is delayed again. However, the delay doesn’t seem to be extreme, with shipments now being touted to begin in “late August.” In a social media post on Tuesday, Analogue blamed “last week’s sudden tariff changes” for the change of plans.

If you are one of the long-suffering pre-order customers, then perhaps the assertion that tariffs have caused this delay may worry you. Analogue assures all its pre-order purchasers that “we’re absorbing the costs – your pre-order price remains the same. No additional charges.”

Delays upon delays

The firm is still offering any pre-order customers the chance to cancel for a refund at any time, should they be unhappy about the delay. But having had their $250 locked in for a while already, and the potential price rises coming when the units hit general distribution, we wouldn’t expect a lot to take up this offer.

To put this latest delay into perspective, the Analogue 3D was originally teased in 2023, announced in 2024, and pre-order customers were told to expect hardware shipments in Q1 2025. In March this year, customers were asked to shoulder a delay until July, without explicit reasons given. Now, macroeconomic turbulence has pushed the delivery dates back to “late August.”

Analogue 3D details

The Analogue 3D is new console hardware designed to replace your creaking Nintendo 64, offering “one hundred percent compatibility” with original cartridges from every region (USA, EU, and JP).

Giving the Analogue 3D its modern allure is the impeccable styling that this remake is known for. Importantly, the Analogue 3D also folds in 4K HDMI output – with original display modes supported, as well as “reference quality recreations of specific model CRTs and PVMs.”

Other modern niceties include the Wireless and 2.4G peripheral compatibility, though the machine still packs four original-style controller ports.

Remember, like several other modern retro recreations, the Analogue 3D isn’t relying on software emulation for its functionality. It uses a specially modified FPGA, which operates on a transistor level implementation,” to weave all its N64 magic.

Cartridges only

A Reddit user claims that update 1.2.2 for Mig Flash works, because they haven’t been banned from Nintendo’s online services despite using the third-party cartridge extensively. According to the Redditor, they “ripped 20 carts” and “played them all online”, and their Switch 2 console still works fine. However, other users say that it’s just a matter of time before they get banned, especially as the Japanese gaming giant is quite protective of its intellectual property.

The Mig Flash is a third-party reprogrammable game cartridge designed for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. It’s primarily used for backing up legally purchased games, and you can fit multiple titles on a single card, making playing multiple titles on the go much easier. But it can also make piracy much easier, and Nintendo cracked down on its use when the Switch 2 launched. In fact, it just took 12 days after the popular handheld console dropped for Nintendo to start nuking Switch 2 consoles that used the popular flash cart, even if users were dumping their own ROMs.

Still not banned from r/switch2hacks

However, the Mig Flash received a firmware update on July 1, which the company behind it claims makes the cartridge “virtually undetectable from a real gamecard.” It also released a further update, 1.2.2, on July 9, following the discovery of a potential issue with update 1.2.1 by its bug bounty program.

The anonymous user received a 0.2 ETH award for the report, which amounts to more than $600 at the current exchange rate. Despite this, the company still does not guarantee that using the Mig Flash won’t get your console banned, and says that you’re using it at your own risk.

Many Nintendo Switch 2 users have been burned by other users who used a Mig Flash or similar tool to back up their titles and then sold the original cartridge later, leading to an unexpected ban. Perhaps more egregiously, some users are even reporting account bans stemming from using second-hand Switch titles legitimately bought on eBay. For example, a content creator was banned after buying and playing an old game that had apparently been flashed onto another cartridge and used simultaneously with their real copy. Thankfully, those who can prove to Nintendo of America that they acted in good faith and that they were duped can get the decision reversed. But those who were caught using a Mig Flash are likely out of luck, as that is against the company’s terms of service. Even those who go undetected, like this confident user, are playing with fire.

A Switch 2 owner has had their console “restricted by Nintendo” after installing a Switch game they bought on the used market. Quinn Nelson, the creator behind popular YouTube channel Snazzy Labs, fell foul to the long arm of Nintendo law, and now assumes the “old copy of Bayo 3 on eBay” they bought must have been dumped/ripped by its previous owner and got flagged by big N’s anti-piracy servers.

Nelson kindly posted the above warning as a PSA (public service announcement) for other Switch 2 owners who may be considering building their game library via the used market. “Be EXTREMELY careful buying used Nintendo Switch games,” they stress. Nintendo’s action, represented by the screen, doesn’t just disable access to the possibly duped and redistributed copy of Bayo 3. All access to Nintendo’s online services have been cut off.

“The use of online services on this console is currently restricted by Nintendo”

The above foreboding message effectively signals a ban on the particular console from online services operated by Nintendo. The move isn’t tied to the user account, but Nelson’s “1-month-old $450 Switch 2 is BANNED” from a lot of the online fun available. To be clear, if this happens to you, the physical cartridges that you own will remain playable, without updates, and some previously downloaded digital games may remain accessible.

Other social media users were quick to reassure Nelson of two things. Firstly, hardware bans received for using second-hand game carts that have been cloned by tools like MIG Flash are not uncommon. And, probably more importantly, Nintendo is receptive to owners who can provide corroborating evidence that they are innocent of Nintendo-flavored piracy. We reported on exactly such a case, only last week, with a happy ending for the innocent Facebook Marketplace-sourced used-game buyer.

All that seems to be required to iron out this digital wrinkle is some online correspondence with Nintendo and some kind of paper trail (or screenshots) showing that the offending game cart was bought used without any awareness of bad provenance.

Nelson has publicly dabbled in MIG Flash game dumping

Not all social media responses to Nelson’s situation were supportive, though – this is X in 2025., afterall A particular point was raised by Centro LEAKS, a Pokémon leaks, rumors and news site, which highlighted Nelson’s previous posts, one mentioning that he intended to run “my MIG Flash game dumps” on the Switch 2.

Nintendo Switch 2 game developers are already bumping up against the constraints imposed by the new console’s hardware. In an interview with Spain’s La Vanguardia newspaper (machine translation, h/t WinFuture), Donkey Kong Bananza director, Kazuya Takahashi, admitted “performance may drop,” due to the extravagant use of 3D voxel technology in the game’s destructible environment. This is quite an admission from a Nintendo exec behind a flagship first-party title. Takahashi explained that this performance-second decision was given the green light as the team “prioritized fun and gameplay.”

Nintendo just pulled off the most successful console launch in gaming history with the Switch 2 selling a record-breaking 3.5 million units in just three days. Demand is through the roof, and supply still hasn’t caught up as the Switch 2's beefed-up hardware has pushed the console’s momentum beyond Nintendo’s usual fanbase. It opens the door for heavier, more demanding third-party titles—Cyberpunk 2077 included—to finally run natively on a Nintendo platform.

Accordingly, Cyberpunk co-developer (they helped with one patch) and porting studio Virtuos recently spoke to Wccftech about the Switch 2, sharing their thoughts on what we could expect from the console going forward. Eoin O’ Grady, Technical Director at Black Shamrock—a subsidiary of Virtuos that helped co-develop games like The Outer Worlds—was asked whether he thinks the Switch 2 is closer to an Xbox Series S or a PlayStation 4 in terms of its hardware prowess. Here's what the developer had to say:

"GPU-wise, the Switch 2 performs slightly below the Series S; this difference is more noticeable in handheld mode. However, the Series S does not support technologies like DLSS, which the Switch 2 does. This makes the GPU capabilities of the two consoles comparable overall. CPU-wise, there is a clearer distinction between the two consoles. The Switch 2 is closer to the PlayStation 4 in this respect, having a CPU just a bit more powerful than the PS4’s. "

The key takeaway from Eoin's statement is his admission that DLSS helps bridge the performance gap between the Switch 2 and Xbox Series S, a gap that would otherwise be more apparent due to the Switch 2's slightly weaker GPU compared to the AMD-made one inside the Xbox Series S. That being said, the Switch 2 has a more powerful CPU than the PS4, which should help it run more complex simulations and background processes in heavier games that carry a bigger scope. But that's not the most interesting bit, as immediately after saying this, Eoin added:

"Since most games tend to be more GPU-bound than CPU-bound when well optimized, the impact of this difference largely depends on the specific game and its target frame rate. Any game shipping at 60 FPS on the Series S should easily port to the Switch 2. Likewise, a 30 FPS Series S game that’s GPU-bound should also port well. Games with complex physics, animations, or other CPU-intensive elements might incur additional challenges in reaching 30 or 60 FPS or require extra optimization during porting."

According to Eoin, any game that runs at 60FPS on the Xbox Series S should be easy to port over to the Nintendo Switch 2, despite the architectural differences between x86 and ARM. This is because (most) games are inherently more reliant on your GPU than they are on the CPU. With a respectable base performance that slid over the edge thanks to DLSS, the Switch 2 has enough grunt under the hood that it can essentially play an Xbox Series S game with the same level of smoothness, despite its slow screen. There's no promise for fidelity, but if someone with as much experience as Virtuos can confidently guarantee 60FPS, then it's only a matter of time before we see it happen.

For those unaware: while you might've not heard of Virtuos before, they're a huge name in the industry, providing assistance on some of the biggest titles over the decades. From PlayStation exclusives such as Horizon: Zero Dawn to high-profile remakes like the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, they've worked with your favorite studios helping co-develop their high-profile titles. Therefore, their opinion holds some weight given the extensive portfolio under their belt across all consoles and PC.

Moreover, Eoin also hinted at NVN2, Nintendo's elusive graphics API for the Nintendo Switch 2, when discussing how DLSS is implemented on the Nintendo Switch compared to Windows PCs. "It is not as simple as taking the PC DirectX implementation of DLSS and running it on the Switch," Eoin added. "Instead, DLSS has to be integrated through Nintendo’s NVN2 graphics API, and the extra work required for this might have been deferred by some developers for their initial ports."

This serves as our first confirmation of the NVN2 API being used on the Switch 2. Before that, there had been leaks pointed toward NVN, but not much was known publicly about this tech, and we're still just in its infancy. Now, we understand that it's a key component in enabling DLSS upscaling for Switch 2 titles and will likely only get better over time as Nvidia and Nintendo work together to collect and analyze more neural data that could improve DLSS on the Switch 2 in future updates.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is out, and if you want to have one in your hands, then hopefully you've got some patience, as stock supplies are fluctuating constantly as stores struggle to keep up with the demand for Nintendo's latest gaming phenomenon.

The Switch 2 is bigger and better than the original Switch in a few ways. Not only is it physically larger than the original Switch, with bigger Joy-Cons, but it also has a new dock and redesigned kickstand. You might also want to look at where you can buy a microSD Express memory card for extra storage if the 256GB internal storage of the Switch 2 is inadequate for installing all your favorite games.

The Nintendo Switch 2 features a 7.9-inch screen and measures 13.9 mm thick. Its display has a 1080p resolution, up from the original Switch's 720p. When combined with the dock, the Switch 2 has the potential to play compatible games up to 4K. Without the dock, the Switch 2's LCD screen can go up to 120 frames per second and have HDR, depending on the software.

You can currently pick up the console separately or in bundle deals that include the Mario Kart game or bundled peripherals. Check back regularly as we update this page with up-to-date pricing and stock alerts.

Where to buy the Nintendo Switch 2 in the US

Best Buy

Walmart

Antonline

GameStop

Newegg

Target

Where to buy the Nintendo Switch 2 in the UK

Argos

Very

Smyths Toys

Amazon

Nintendo Store

ShopTo

GAME

Currys