Target has revealed a massive collection of Pokémon-themed clothes, accessories, and toys in celebration of the gaming giant’s 30th anniversary. The collection, which includes over 100 Target-exclusive products, was designed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company and will roll out in two phases starting on May 2.

A full lookbook of the collection is already available on Target’s website, where you can sort by product category or Pokémon type.

Target x Pokémon 30th Anniversary Collection

Target’s press release indicates that the exclusive collection will only be available for a limited time, but it does not disclose an exact end date. Instead, the collection's duration will likely depend on stock availability. The retailer will also be hosting in-person events and giveaways at select locations.

Amy Sachtleben, senior director of licensing and promotions at The Pokémon Company International, spoke on the ethos behind the new line of 100+ products: “This collection is designed to bring that sense of fun and adventure into everyday life, with merchandise that appeals to both longtime Trainers as well as those who recently began their Pokémon journey.” Every clothing design, for example, is available in both children’s and adult sizes.

Clothing does make up the bulk of the collection, and the pricier end of it, with a spread of graphic tees, reversible jerseys, and a Kanto-themed jacket. Besides collaborating with The Pokémon Company itself, Target also worked with "nostalgic" brands like Lip Smacker and Caboodles on individual products. Scroll past the clothing and you'll find a seemingly endless list of accessories, toys, and totes.

Other highlights include tumblers and water bottles, where you can either guarantee yourself a specific Pokémon or go for a 'gacha-style' mystery box. We’ll even get a full series of NatureWell fragrance mists, in case you ever wanted to know what Jigglypuff smells like.

The collection is releasing soon after a spread of Pokémon-themed sneaker designs from Puma. As of now, however, Target is the only US-based mass retailer to collaborate with the gaming giant. Other ways Pokémon has been celebrating its anniversary so far include new logos for every single Pokémon and the revamped release of Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green.

Blythe (she/her) is an Audience Development Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.

Fortnite is adding microphone vocals to its Rock Band-like Festival mode, just in time for a new season featuring jazz pop star Laufey.

The Madwoman singer will arrive in Fortnite tomorrow, April 16, at the start of the next Fortnite Festival season. Gameplay additions also arriving tomorrow will add the ability to sing along to any of the mode's many tracks using a compatible microphone on PC and console.

That same update also adds a Pro Drums option, allowing you to plug in a Rock Band 4 or compatible MIDI drum kit. And in another helpful tweak, you'll now be able to move while jamming in other Fortnite modes — rather than being locked into place while playing an instrument.

As ever, the new Fortnite Festival season comes with a Music Pass (included in the Fortnite Crew subscription) that'll include a Laufey skin and Madwoman as a jam track. A separate Laufey skin will also be sold via Fortnite's shop, alongside two other tracks: Tough Luck and Lover Girl.

Tomorrow's Fortnite update will also finally make the game's original Save the World PVE mode free to all players, and introduce the next story act for the game's main battle royale mode.

It remains a typically busy time for Fortnite and developer Epic Games, which is reportedly developing a major Disney extraction shooter mode for launch later this year, despite mass layoffs that impacted 1,000 employees last month. We subsequently spoke with industry analysts to learn more about what may be troubling the studio.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Pokémon Go fans are wrestling with U.S. government geographic data to find a newly-released creature: Silicobra, the sand snake Pokémon.

This week saw the release of Silicobra into Pokémon Go, as one of the few species locked to a very specific real-world habitat. Outside of this habitat, your chances of encountering Silicobra seem to be close to zero — a situation seen before with Wigglet, the barnacle-like version of Digglet, that requires players find a local beach.

For Silicobra, though, the situation is even less obvious. Pokémon Go developer Niantic has advised players they need to head to areas it classes as "desert" — which is fine if you live near the Sahara, but not so useful if you're in Seattle or South London.

So, as is often the case, Pokémon Go fans are now banding together to try and work out what's going on. Niantic typically uses open-source location data to create its own overworld map, but again, Silicobra seems to be bucking the trend by using a fresh dataset not seen previously.

Over on top Pokémon Go reddit TheSilphRoad, players have spent the past 24 hours narrowing down the map system that Niantic may have used to program Silicobra's availability, with the U.S. government Geological Survey's World Terrestrial Ecosystems 2020 data currently the lead candidate.

To cut a long story and a lot of map overlay experimentation short, fans reckon they've now found the right combination of map tags to deduce where Silicobra will spawn, and crosschecked this with reports of where the snake has already been spotted, in and around the New Zealand capital of Christchurch.

Thankfully, it's mostly good news for those who don't live in an actual desert (or in New Zealand, for that matter) as it appears that Silicobra can be found — rarely — in sssspecific locations across most countries. But fans are still surprised at just how rare these map locations seem to be.

"My local community found a nest in London," wrote SilverGoon. "I went there on my lunch break and caught 11 within 20 minutes." IGN has cross-checked the location with the USGS map data tool, and found it fits the expected criteria exactly. (For those in the British capital, the location is Stave Hill Park, in Rotherhithe.)

"Copenhagen has not had any Silicobra spawns, and I do not see any areas tagged with 'Land Cover: Sparsely or Non-Vegetated,'" said Temporal_Bellusaurus, confirming that the USGS data once again fitted with expectations — and that Silicobra have seemingly skipped the Danish capital completely.

"Malmö in Sweden has Silicobras in one very tight location near Hyllie Station," they continued. "Looking at the map, there is a single spot tagged with 'Land Cover: Sparsely or Non-Vegetated' right next to the station. I cannot see any other places in Malmö with the tag."

For the dedicated Pokémon Go players out there, the USGS map data seems to be a good indicator to find whether there are any Silicobra near you, and TheSilphRoad thread has easy instructions on how to perform a data check for yourself. Whether anywhere nearby actually qualifies, though, is another matter.

"It spews sand from its nostrils," reads Silicobra's Pokédex entry from Nintendo Switch game Pokémon Shield. "While the enemy is blinded, it burrows into the ground to hide." Maybe this is why it's so hard to find.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

UPDATE: Sony has now made its PlayStation Plus game catalog additions for April official, confirming today's earlier leak of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, The Crew Motorfest and Football Manager 26 Console.

In addition to this trio, four other games have also now been revealed: action roguelike Warriors: Abyss, indie sandbox shooter Squirrel With a Gun, Dead by Daylight narrative spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone, and deckbuilder Monster Train.

While the above titles are available to both Extra and Premium subscribers, the latter will also get access to Wild Arms 4, the anime-inspired role-player originally launched back in 2005 on PlayStation 2. Sony's now-complete lineup of additions lies below — anything catch your eye?

PlayStation Plus Game Catalog April 2026

Extra/Premium:

• Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered (PS5, PS4 gets Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition)
• The Crew Motorfest (PS4, PS5)
• Football Manager 26 Console (PS5)
• Warriors: Abyss (PS4, PS5)
• Squirrel With a Gun (PS5)
• The Casting of Frank Stone (PS5)
• Monster Train (PS5)

Premium:

• Wild Arms 4 (PS4, PS5)

ORIGINAL STORY: Sony's PlayStation Plus games lineup for May 2026 has leaked online, led by Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.

Reported by the ever-reliable billbil-kun from Dealabs, Sony's next batch of games will also include Ubisoft's The Crew Motorfest and Sports Interactive's Football Manager 26 Console.

If you're yet to play the first Horizon title, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is the shinier PlayStation 5 version of Guerrilla Games' adventure, launched back in 2024. This includes its Frozen Wilds DLC plus various technical options and visual upgrades to make it look more like its sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. "Horizon Zero Dawn presents us with a beautiful world full of unforgettable challenges," IGN wrote in its review of the game's original release back in 2017, scoring it highly.

The Crew Motorfest, meanwhile, is Ubisoft's taken on the open-world driving genre popularized by Forza Horizon. It features a sunny version of various Hawaiian islands and launched to positive reviews back in 2023.

"It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," IGN wrote in our The Crew Motorfest review. "To be fair, Motorfest is a robust racer with a confident sense of style, a quality arcade handling model, and a long list of generally well-planned events right out of the box. However, the shift to a smaller map has seen it lose a part of its old identity, boats and aircraft feel like they’ve been sidelined, and some of its event Playlists work a lot better than others."

Finally, there's Football Manager 26 Console, a game which needs little introduction. It's Football Manager, on console, and the latest version to boot.

As ever, Sony is yet to make this list of games official — though is expected to do so later today. We'll update again when it does so, and slot in details of any further additions.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

20th Century Studios has snagged the rights to make a movie based on hit Roblox game 99 Nights in the Forest.

99 Nights in the Forest is the seventh most-played game of all time on Roblox despite being only about a year old. As you could probably guess from the title, it has a bit of a Five Nights at Freddy’s feel to it, forcing players to spend 99 nights in a haunted forest. During that time, players must defeat creatures that live in the woods and set out to save four lost children.

The game currently has 26 billion lifetime visits and a 14.2 million all-time peak player count, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hearing those numbers, it makes a lot of sense as to why 20th Century Studios decided to make it its first major foray into video game adaptations since Disney acquired the studio in 2019.

No creatives or producers have been attached to the project yet beyond the game’s developers — Alex Kieft, Cameron Angland, and Matthew Hufton — who will serve as executive producers.

“Growing up, Disney and 20th films were a huge part of our childhood, so collaborating with such legendary and enduring studios feels surreal,” the game’s creators said in a statement. “We’re excited to explore the world of 99 Nights in the Forest on a broader stage and to create some scares in an entirely new medium.”

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

A competitive Pokémon Go player who had their recent tournament victory scrubbed over "unsportsmanlike" behavior is now fighting The Pokémon Company to have the decision overturned.

Earlier this month, footage of Firestar73 winning 2026 Orlando Regional Championships went viral after news broke that the player had been handed a game loss due to his celebration, in which he quickly removed his headphones and stood up to perform a fist pump, before calmly shaking hands with his opponent. You can watch the moment for yourself below.

At the time, viewers described Firestar73's subsequent game loss as "embarrassing," while his opponent reportedly acknowledged that the player should have kept the win. Now, Firestar73 has issued a formal statement on the matter, and said he's begun the process of having the decision overturned, all while maintaining he bears no "ill will" to the judges involved.

After a long loser's bracket run, @Firestar73_ wins a decisive game 5 to win the Orlando Regional Championship. Allegedly this celebration was unsportsmanlike, resulting in a game loss and giving NTC The win. I'm at a loss for words, I feel so bad for firestar. pic.twitter.com/72l1RJO31v

— AXN (@ItsAXN) April 5, 2026

"By now you have all seen the video of my reaction after winning the 2026 Orlando regional," Firestar73 wrote in a lengthy statement. "You can all form your own conclusions about whether my reaction was unsportsmanlike or whether a one-game loss that flipped the result was too harsh. Nearly all of you, if not actually all of you, have said you disagree with the decision. I am extremely thankful for the public support you've all expressed."

Firestar73 has asked The Pokémon Company to reverse the decision for two main reasons. Firstly, that his celebration was equivalent to various other examples of extremely similar reactions that can be viewed online, reactions The Pokémon Company itself has apparently told competitive players they welcome as demonstrations of the "emotion and celebration" that playing Pokémon video games provokes.

Secondly, Firestar73 argued, even if the celebration did fall foul of "unsportsmanlike" behavior rules, that under the Pokémon Go Tournament Handbook (Section 7.1), a game loss is only applied "when a mistake severely impacts the integrity of the game state." Here, Firestar73 argued that the game had already concluded, therefore his celebration cannot be worthy of disqualification. He went on to note other clauses on "minor unsporting misconduct," which typically result in simple warnings.

"I do not hold ill will towards anyone who was involved in this decision, especially the two judges you saw on stream," Firestar73 concluded. "They did not make the decision to hand down the one-game loss. That decision was made by someone much higher up on the Tournament Organizer's staff. As I explain below, I think that person made a good-faith mistake. I am asking everyone involved – please, DO NOT direct any harassment, threats, or ill will towards ANYONE involved in this. I don't want to focus on who's responsible for the past. I want to focus on the future on the future — on why the result should rightly be changed."

IGN contacted The Pokémon Company previously for comment on the matter, but did not receive a response.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Fortnite developer Epic Games is reportedly working on a new extraction shooter featuring Disney characters that is set to launch later this year.

A Bloomberg report states the currently unnamed spinoff is expected to launch November 2026. It, as well as the other two unnamed titles, is said to be the result of a $1.5 billion investment Disney made in the gaming giant back in 2024.

According to the site’s sources, the mystery extraction experience is said to be a shooting game not unlike Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders, which launched to impressive player numbers and wound up a massive success for the developer late last year. Those familiar with the Disney game say some at Epic are optimistic the project will stick the landing at launch, though internal reviews have expressed concern about unoriginal game mechanics.

Disney has had plenty of its characters crossover to the main Fortnite experience in the years since its investment was announced, with two recent examples seeing Buzz Lightyear and Emperor Zurg joining its enormous roster of skins. Last month, Epic gave players the ability to create their own experiences based on Star Wars. The game has also featured numerous crossovers with the Marvel universe in the past.

It’s unclear which characters from Disney’s wide catalog of IP it plans to let loose in a new extraction shooter from Epic. Further details on the two entertainment companies' continued partnership are even murkier, as Bloomberg reports the plan is to eventually see at least a second and third game materialize in the future. There’s no word on what shape each will take, as the site’s sources paint a picture of average internal reviews for game number two, while resources for game three have been reallocated to the others.

Bloomberg reports Disney was “disappointed” with the game developer’s progress on the other projects, which drove the decision to shift resources around. Epic senior director of global communications Liz Markman told the site its reporting is “not reflective of the ambitions of the Disney collaboration,” adding, “We are building a new games and entertainment universe of Disney experiences.”

“Epic’s timelines are aggressive and always have been,” Markman continued. “We've heavily moved developers onto projects with releases approaching, while smaller prototyping teams are working on further-off projects.”

A representative for Disney also provided the site with a statement, saying that it remains “focused on our long-term collaboration with Epic which continues to have strong momentum and our work to build a transformational games and entertainment universe remains unchanged.”

News of Disney’s alleged plans with Epic follow the announcement that the Fortnite maker had laid off 1,000 employees just weeks ago. A message shared by the company pointed to a “downturn in engagement” at the time, while also saying it was “spending significantly more than we're making.” A separate announcement confirmed plans to shutter its Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Festival Battle Stage experiences in the near future. Remaining employees took to social media in the wake of the news to speak about what was next for the team.

We spoke with industry analysts in the aftermath of the layoffs to learn more about what may be troubling the studio. Meanwhile, tech reporter Alex Heath shared on The Town podcast late last month that Disney was allegedly interested in acquiring Epic at some point.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

The idea of a battle-centric Pokémon game that lets trainers duke it out without all the breeding and badge collecting has been around since the early days with Pokémon Stadium, so it’s exciting that Pokémon Champions looks to continue that legacy 26 years later. This “free-to-start” (Nintendo’s words, not mine) turn-based battler puts its full focus on online PvP using the series’ classic combat system. That being said, while it may look and play like Pokémon, spending some time in the arena during its launch week has so far made Champions feels less like the Stadium successor I’ve been waiting for and more like a stripped-down Ditto imposter.

If you have played any of the mainline Pokémon games, Champions will feel like slipping back into a slimmer pair your favorite Running Shoes – the best comparison might actually be the Wii’s Pokémon Battle Revolution, as it forgoes any story or even Stadium’s fun minigames to be purely about the battling. You and your opponent build teams of six pokemon to pick from for either 3v3 single battles or 4v4 double battles, choose your moves simultaneously, and slug it out until one team is entirely knocked out. I really enjoy this combat system even without all the catching and leveling that usually accompanies it, so the fact that this is all there is wouldn’t be an issue if the options available for it, at least as of launch, weren't so – dare I say – Gloom-y?

Champions launches with a paltry 186 monsters to battle with, a mere 35 more than the 26-year-old Stadium had. The ones that have been included remind me of the “popular cool kids club” from grade school days. You have the captain of the football team, Charizard, and head cheerleader, Sylveon, hanging out at the lunch table, but the nerdy Porygon or the weird Lickitung that eats glue are nowhere to be found. In fact, basically all early evolutions are absent, and baffling omissions like Rillaboom, Mewtwo, Mew, or most of the other Legendaries leave glaring holes. We can expect this roster to expand over time with live service updates, of course, but how fast and to what extent is still a mystery, and what’s available right now leaves me feeling like Psyduck – confused and with a headache.

In addition to missing plenty of fan favorites, the competitive community has taken a particularly hard critical hit due to a lack of both Pokémon and held item options. For example, out of the 22 monsters that made up the various teams at last year’s Pokémon World Championships Masters Division tournament, only three are currently usable in Champions. The unique goodies that you can have your team hold are nearly as uninspired, with the vast majority either being healing berries or items that improve certain move types (not including the Mega Evolution stones), with outliers such as the Scope Lens, Light Ball, Mental Herb, and Shell Bell being the saving graces. Heavy hitters like the Power Herb, Choice Specs, Air Ballon, and many others used by the most hardcore players are all absent, which could make Champions a tough berry to swallow at the moment. With this year’s Pokémon World Championships rolling around at the end of August, it's hard to say if this will be in a good enough place by then to serve as the de facto battling platform it’s meant to be.

To get your favorite Pokémon onto your team (assuming they made the cut, that is), you have two main options: Bring them over from a previous game via Pokémon Home, or recruit them from Champions’ farm. The Home route I found to be a straightforward and relatively painless process, both when I was importing them into Champions as well as when I sent them back. The recruit method is also fairly simple, but as you can only get Pokémon that happen to be in a rotating pool of seemingly random options, finding one you are hoping for is a bit of a gacha situation. You get one free pull each day, as well as the ability to spend a resource called Victory Points (VP) to rent Pokémon for a period of time or permanently add them to your Roster. The countdown to pull again can also be shortened using special tickets you earn by completing objectives. If this all makes Pokémon Champions sound like a mobile game, that’s because it is – or will be later this year, as it’s only available on Switch 1 and 2 as of this review.

Even still, that scent of a mobile cash grab is already all over this. From how the menus and UI are laid out to the various currencies you can earn that speed up timers and expand your storage, the DNA of its mobile-focused business model comes through loud and clear. Thankfully, at least right now, I haven't found myself hindered by sticking to the free version of Champions – typical of a gacha game, it hands out plentiful beginner gifts in the early hours, even without the $7 (USD) paid Starter Pack bundle that’s being offered. It will take some time to see just how long you can stay comfortable without spending, though, and there’s a Battle Pass you will need to sign up for if you want to earn all the rewards.

While there are many aspects of Champions that have doused my excitement a bit, the Training features are something that I’m really interested in dabbling with more. By spending your VP, you are able to not only boost a Pokémon’s individual stats, but (far more excitingly) swap out its moves, special ability, and even nature. All of these alterations stay locked to Champions and won’t carry over if you send them off to another game, but this sort of fine tuning does provide room for theory and strategy crafting that I appreciate. That said, requiring you pay VP points to make those changes does blemish it somewhat. I worry that if Nintendo ever decides to allow players to purchase the resource directly with real money, it will quickly spiral into a pay-to-win situation.

Having only spent a little time with Pokémon Champions so far, I’m struggling to find the hook that may pull me in deep. While it is a functional way to let you pit Pokémon against others around the globe, its lackluster offerings out of the gate don’t inspire much excitement at the moment. Most of my favorite Pokémon simply aren’t here, and neither are many of the ones you’d expect to see at the highest levels of PvP. While being “free” gives it some allure, you really need to send your own Pokémon over from Home to properly take advantage of it, which means you already have better, more complete games at your disposal. I plan to put plenty more time in before my final review, but right now Champions feels like it might need an evolution of its own if it wants to be the very best Pokémon battler out there.

Hollywood actors keep bringing up a potential Red Dead Redemption movie and saying they would love to be in it. After Jack Black revealed he’d love to star in a Red Dead Redemption movie, despite the fact he doesn’t think Rockstar would ever greenlight it, Karl Urban has thrown his hat into the ring.

Urban, star of The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, The Boys, Dredd and so much more, even suggested the character he’d love to play: John Marston.

In an interview with Square Mile, Urban was asked if there were any other video game adaptations he’d love to star in, having played Johnny Cage in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2.

“Red Dead Redemption is one of my favourites,” he replied. “Red Dead is a fantastic game. It’s interesting because I didn’t really have too much of an opportunity to get that heavily invested in the gaming culture. Although I absolutely enjoy the opportunity to indulge in that kind of escapism, when gaming consoles came out in 1994, I was an unemployed actor living in Sydney. I couldn’t afford those consoles.

“By the time I could, I was so busy working on various projects around the world that I was never able to get into it. From time to time, when I did get the rare opportunity, Red Dead was certainly one of the games that spoke to me.”

Then, Urban delivered the kicker: “I mean, come on, John Marston! I’d love to play that character.”

John Marston, for the uninitiated, is the protagonist of 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, and a secondary protagonist of its sequel, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2. He’s a former outlaw trying to escape his violent past and protect his family while being forced by federal agents to hunt down his former Van der Linde gang members.

While Urban does seem perfect for the role, it seems unlikely he’ll ever get the chance to realize this particular dream. Rockstar and parent company Take-Two have shown no indication of allowing Hollywood anywhere near their prized properties, and that includes Grand Theft Auto. In 2024, Rockstar Games co-founder and former head writer Dan Houser said a Grand Theft Auto movie "never made sense,” insisting it would have been a "huge risk" considering the reputation of the GTA brand.

"Why would we do this?," Houser and the other Rockstar leads asked the film executives. "What you've described is you making a movie and us having no control and taking a huge risk, that we’re going to end up paying for with something that belongs to us."

"They thought we’d be blinded by the lights and that just wasn't the case. We had what we considered to be multi billion dollar IP, and the economics never made sense. The risk never made sense. In those days, the perception was that games made poor-quality movies."

Photo by Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Sonic’s official 35th anniversary doesn’t land until June, but Sega is already treating 2026 like one long victory lap for the blue blur - dubbed as "Forever Fast" celebrations.

That means early deals, and plenty of them. Amazon has kicked things off with a genuinely massive sale across Sonic the Hedgehog games, 4K Blu-rays, and comics.

There’s a lot here, maybe too much, and not all of it is worth your time. So instead of throwing everything at you, here’s a quick run-through of the deals that actually matter, plus the ones I’d personally spend money on.

Listen, I’m not pretending to be objective here. I love Sonic. Played everything, stuck with it through the rough years, and still show up every time. It’s one of those series that’s just been a constant for me.

I am absolutely giving you my personal recommendations, with expert opinion on prices, but also, this is purely a sale for the Sonic fans like myself.

For starters, I wanted to highlight a couple of standout deals over on Woot. It’s basically Amazon’s scrappier sibling: same account, same Prime perks, but consistently better when it comes to properly steep discounts. If there’s a weirdly good deal floating around, there’s a decent chance it’s hiding there.

The standout is on Sonic X Shadow Generations for just $12.99 on PS5, Switch, and Xbox - undeniably a massive bargain. I love this game so much, and the Shadow portion is some of the best "Sonic" gameplay I've ever had the joy to experience. Play it!

The other highlight at Woot is the latest, and critically acclaimed, game - Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. It's just $29.99 for Nintendo Switch, and you can upgrade that to the Switch 2 version for just $10 as well!

But let's take a look at what else is up for grabs as well. This time, directly from Amazon, you can save big on all three of the live-action Sonic films, with my favorite deal being on the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray, which is now just $17.14 (down from $25.99).

There's also Sonic 3 for $19.99, alongside the OG film for $12.59 on 4K, or the Limited Collector's Edition on Blu-ray for $9.09. That also includes the exclusive mini posters for the film, alongside physical copies on Blu-ray and DVD, and a code to download the film digitally.

To finish up my highlights, I wanted to call out the discounts on the Sonic the Hedgehog (2018-) IDW collection of comics, with volume 1-3 collection currently down to just $26.92.

The hardcover collections are a little pricier, but also experiencing hefty discounts right now as well. It's worth noting that these hardcover options are titled as "Volumes" but they shouldn't be confused with the "Volumes" that they are also encompassing.

For example Vol. 1 of the IDW Collection collects the first 12 issues from volumes 1-3 (Fallout, The Fate of Dr. Eggman, and Battle For Angel Island), while Vol. 2 of the collects issues #13–20 from volumes 4 and 5 (Infection and Crisis City), and so on.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 21: Reprise is also up for preorder with a small discount, currently available for $15.83 and releasing later this month on April 21 as one of the biggest comics of the year so far. Vol. 20 released in December last year, and is also discounted at Amazon right now, down to $13.93.

Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.

A brand new free-to-play Borderlands game has suddenly launched today on iPhone, and you'd be forgiven for not knowing it was due for release.

The game was quietly published today by mobile giant Zynga, though is developed by British studio NaturalMotion, which previously worked on Star Wars: Hunters.

Right now, Borderlands Mobile currently exists on the App Store as part of a "limited-time test", according to a statement about the game — something that also reveals Borderlands creator Gearbox was involved simply in an advisory role.

"We are always exploring ways to introduce Borderlands to new audiences," a spokesperson for Zynga said in a statement passed to IGN. "Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio is currently conducting a limited-time test for an untitled Borderlands mobile project, with Gearbox providing creative guidance on the franchise's design, history, and lore. We hope that players enjoy this new Borderlands experience and look forward to their feedback."

Described as a free-to-play "epic looter shooter", Borderlands Mobile is currently only available on iPhone (there's no Android version, yet) and only in the US. We've tried accessing the game from elsewhere, but simply get an error message stating that it's unavailable in the region.

"Create Mayhem YOUR way!" reads an official blurb. "Loot wild weapons and blast enemies in this mobile Borderlands experience. Join other Vault Hunters in an ever-evolving universe to fight greedy corporations and open legendary Vaults. This action-packed looter shooter brings the signature chaos, art style, and gun-slinging adventure to mobile for the first time!

"Hunt down legendary loot drops and power up your abilities to customize the way you play," the blurb continues. "Use everything from pistols to rocket launchers to make your enemies wish they never crossed your path! Master devastating action gameplay that's been fully optimized for mobile. Fight skags, bandits, and bosses as you battle through a variety of exciting mission types, including Campaign Missions, Tower of Terror, and Circle of Slaughter."

Right now, there's little else announced about the game. There's no trailer, and curiously no mention of its existence at all from any of Borderlands' official social media accounts, which seem busy posting about Borderlands 4 updates instead. After a turbulent first six months, it just got its first big DLC, and Gearbox has high hopes it'll be enough to draw back fans.

In the meantime, if you give Borderlands Mobile a go, let us know what you think.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The Nintendo Switch Online classic games catalog has today been updated with three more titles, including arcade favorite Pac-Man.

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can access the three new (or rather, old) titles via the Nintendo Classics NES app now, and play Pac-Man, Mendel Palace and The Tower of Druaga.

Pac-Man needs little introduction, as this is the classic experience from the yellow hero's arcade days. Chomp pellets, avoid ghosts, and gobble up Power Pellets to turn the tide. Should you risk getting all the fruit too? Yes, yes, you should.

Prepare to be a-maze-d! #NintendoSwitchOnline members can now enjoy three more classic #NES games:

👻 PAC-MAN
⭐ Mendel Palace
🛡️ THE TOWER OF DRUAGA pic.twitter.com/TId6fEaV5W

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) April 9, 2026

Mendel Palace, meanwhile, is a puzzle game originally released in 1989 by a small team known as Game Freak — yes, the same developer that would later go on to make Pokémon, a franchise you're more likely to have heard of. Mendel Palace is an unsurprisingly simpler affair, which asks you to flip panels to ward off enemies and activate special effects.

Last but not least is The Tower of Druaga, the Namco action RPG originally released in arcades all the way back in 1984. Amusingly, the game has been described as a "fantasy Pac-Man", with knights, wizards and locked doors arranged in somewhat similar-looking mazes. Can you reach the tower's top?

Anything take your fancy? If not, IGN has a full list of every other game already available via the Nintendo Switch Online classic game catalog, across every platform from Game Boy to GameCube.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Following a rocky launch, the maker of Pokémon Champions has apologized for the game's various technical issues and released a list of bugs it's currently planning to fix.

Champions, billed as the Pokémon franchise's new competitive battle platform, launched this week for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, but has received a mixed reaction from fans.

There have been complaints of technical issues — some of which are now in the process of being fixed — but also wider criticism of the game's lack of features, limited graphical polish and reduced Pokémon roster. And while it may now be reassuring to see the game's developer already responding to early issues, the list of problems officially listed to be fixed below is by no means exhaustive.

Indeed, there's no sign yet of a solution for the eye-opening bug that leaves docked Switch 2 players at a lower resolution than intended — a situation that requires you undock and re-dock the console to fix, every time you boot up the game.

"Thank you for enjoying Pokémon Champions," reads a note from the game's developer, posted online today. "We have confirmed that the following issues are currently occurring:"

• The description of the "Leech Seed" state is incorrect. Incorrect: Takes damage equal to 1/16 of maximum HP. Correct: Takes damage equal to 1/8 of maximum HP. However, the calculation is correct during battle.
• Under certain conditions, when both Pokémon Mega Evolve simultaneously, the order may be unintended.
• The gender of some Pokémon in the tutorial is incorrect.
• The gender of some Pokémon in the released coordinated teams is incorrect.
• When in Encore state, the ability "Lightning Rod" may not activate correctly.
• When viewing move details during battle, if you hover the cursor over "Mega Evolution" and press the B button, you cannot select the move. If this phenomenon occurs, you can avoid the inability to select the move by opening and closing the surrender window with the "-" button.

"The above bugs are scheduled to be fixed in future data updates or maintenance," the note continues. "We will continue to investigate other issues not mentioned above. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thank you for your continued support of Pokémon Champions."

An earlier issue surrounding the transfer of Pokémon from the cloud-based Pokémon Home service has already been fixed, it's reported.

Players have branded the game as still feeling "like a beta test," though it is still early days. Pokémon Champions has pitched as the home of the franchise's competitive battling scene for years to come, with more creatures and features to be added in future. Indeed, The Pokémon Company has said it will add more features to Pokémon Champions over time — potentially until there's 10,000 Pokémon species, rather than the current 1,000-odd. Right now, however, the game doesn't feel seem to have left a particularly positive initial impression.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Pokémon Champions has shipped with a bug that blocks higher 4K visuals when playing on a docked Switch 2 — unless you manually undock and then re-dock your console.

The graphical issue, discovered by players following the game's launch yesterday, adds to the growing list of grumbles around the free-to-play battle game — such as missing features and modes, sluggish 30fps gameplay, and a small roster of supported creatures.

Now, players say that the Switch 2's version is stuck at 1080p when playing docked — until you pick up your console, take it out of the dock, then put it back in. After doing this, the game will actually register it is connected to a docked Switch 2 console and shift to a higher 4K framerate (the game will still be stuck at 30fps, though).

A widely-shared post on social media by Pokémon fan account CentroLeaks suggested the game's docked Switch 2 resolution was "halved" unless players perform the redocking trick to fix the issue. The trick must also be repeated every time the game is booted while playing in docked mode, it's been claimed.

"Can confirm I tested the resolution but going around for Pokémon Champions on Switch 2," added Joe Merrick, who operates top Pokémon fansite Serebii.net. "If you boot it docked it won't load in increased resolution so undock it and re-dock it then it will.

"ILCA and Unity," Merrick continued. "What a duo." The reference here is to video game engine Unity and ILCA, the development studio founded by The Pokémon Company to handle work on its lucrative franchise outside of its mainline games. ILCA previously handled the cloud storage software Pokémon Home, which Champions uses to import creatures, and the poorly-received Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes, launched back in 2021.

Yesterday, players branded the game as feeling "like a beta test," though it is still early days. Pokémon Champions has pitched as the home of the franchise's competitive battling scene for years to come, with more creatures and features to be added in future. Right now, though, the game features a tiny fraction of the franchise's total Pokémon roster, and fans say its technical side needs improvement.

And while Champions is a free-to-play game, it has arrived with various paid options to spend money — including a 12-month membership priced $49.99 (also available monthly, with a recurring $4.99 cost). For this, players can store more Pokémon and have more Battle Teams usable at one time, as well as unlock exclusive missions and battle music. A separate, one-off $6.99 Starter Pack also increases Pokémon storage space, and there is of course a Premium Battle Pass (priced at $9.99), which adds extra rewards and exclusive clothing.

How have you found the game so far?

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

The Seven Deadly Sins universe is something of a monster, providing fans with buckets of content spanning manga collections, TV series, spin-offs, games and films. Sure, it’s not One Piece or Bleach, but it’s still a substantial mountain to climb if you want to truly understand what’s going on. Adding to the lore's existing complexity is Netmarble’s gacha consolidation, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, a time-bending mystery that plays with fan expectations, delivering an original story to unpick one quest at a time. Origin seems like a compelling character-action game at first, backed up by vibrant, series-appropriate visuals. Alas, like many of the lower-tier attempts at this saturated genre, its repetitive gameplay and resource-riddled submenus provide far too much friction as you get into the meat of the dreaded gacha midgame.

Set in a version of the Kingdom of Britannia, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin centres on Prince Tristan of Liones and Tioreh, the children of key figures from the original show and manga. One day, the duo uncover a dangerous cavern that, in addition to serving as a handy tutorial area, causes the world around them to shift. With extratemporal events popping up all over the place and a strange, nefarious infection sending chills through the world, your job is to tie up as many loose ends as you can to get the realm back on track, a process replete with the usual perspective puzzles and combat encounters. Regardless, as a fan of the anime who has since lost their spark for the series, this clever twist on the lore reminded me of what I loved about The Seven Deadly Sins to begin with: Its loveable range of characters pulling off stylish moves, framed by beautiful fantasy backdrops – though Origin’s nostalgic charm offensive is only effective at maintaining this mirage for so long.

As you crest your first hill in the glorious land of Britannia and feast your eyes on the cel-shaded world ahead, it’s easy to get distracted. Questions like: "Is that a treasure chest behind that rock?” and “What do you think is hiding in that giant bird's nest in the sky?” flood the mind and elicit a kind of excitement only an open-world landscape can provide. It’s a pity, then, that these questions slowly give way to mechanical answers that require sustained investment and optimisation to enjoy. Despite the visual smokescreen, you soon realise how cold the world feels to actually explore.

This is in part due to a lack of technical polish that plagues Origin’s loot-covered terrain. Rabbits shimmy in unison like professional backing dancers, and textures are blurry up close, particularly when you press up against them in search of dodgy objective markers and inventory-bolstering goodies. Moment-to-moment character animations aren’t convincing either — Prince Tristan’s climbing stance is dubious at best, a far cry from the body contortions Link pulls off in Breath of the Wild.

Further issues with camera positioning forced me to restart the game multiple times, which only added to the overall sense of irritation. While none of these problems are dealbreakers in isolation, they do stack up to put a damper on the adventure, the creaking edges of the game creating disconnection from the overarching story, which is genuinely interesting. It felt like the only way I could feel a sense of achievement was through clearing objectives as fast as I could, and following the golden path whenever it was presented, lest I summon some kind of game-breaking issue. Standout locations like the castle grounds of The Kingdom of Lionel and the pastoral glades that surround it help mitigate this sense of frustration somewhat by providing carefully recreated spaces to wander through. Ultimately, though, I found myself hungry for a more considered, holistic gacha experience like Genshin Impact

Thankfully, you unlock movement abilities early on in The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, which helps to distract you from your disappointment. I was pleased to see open-world essentials like the ability to climb and swim, as well as a Da Vinci-esque wooden glider I could deploy to whizz through the sky. There is one more addition to your movement toolbelt, too, and that’s a pig-steed that fans of the show will recognise as the loyal garbage-eating scamp, Hawk. Alongside allowing you to speed down roads and across dragon-bone graveyards, the chunky swine’s brand of adorable humour helps to pave your path through the game with light banter as you uncover more of its mysteries.

With the only barrier being a surprisingly generous stamina bar, Origin’s traversal skills allow you to cheese your way across Britannia as soon as you’re cut loose from the tutorial. Don’t get me wrong, there are some particularly egregious progression-shaped roadblocks that require you to complete certain missions and acquire items to progress into new areas, but at the very least, I was glad that Netmarble provided these skills up front, so I could experiment even so.

As you stretch your legs, you’ll uncover glowing Warp Points that reveal the map’s busy topology and allow you to jump between central locations as you please. Initially, these additional goalposts prompted me to get creative, sneaking past fiends or flying across peaks to reveal more of the world. (Shoutout to all the Breath of the Wild sickos out there who opted to unlock every Sheikah Tower before doing the main story…) Still, once you’ve pushed through the limited pool of self-inflicted challenges, Origin seems more concerned with keeping you playing by rewarding you with repetitive busywork rather than providing any kind of meaningful progression. Inevitably, as a result, I found myself losing interest in Prince Tristan’s plight, fueled only by the serotonin boost that comes from seeing the ‘mission complete’ banner when wrapping up another dull task.

Seven Deadly Sins: Origin’s saving grace is its familiar, tried-and-tested combat system, which meets the bar set in the genre. On top of a jump, dash, and dodge, each character has a normal attack, a special attack, and a skill attack, with the latter two dealing more damage but requiring you to wait for them to cool down before triggering them again. On top of that, each hero also wields a unique ultimate move whose heightened damage arrives courtesy of well-animated character-dependent sequences – I’m still not sick of seeing Prince Tristan brandish his sword with volcanic intent. It’s a bright, flashy game in motion, yet remains approachable thanks to a simple control scheme.

Unfortunately, the enemies don’t hold up their end of the depth bargain. They aren't nearly as reactive as you may hope, operating more like sentinels than living, breathing bad guys. Say you’re strolling down a hill and get spotted by a sentient shrub. They’ll do nothing but chase you within their designated zone of operation and wallop away until the screen turns black. I was by no means expecting the intricate back-and-forth of a series like God of War here, but the bar is so low in gacha games that it feels egregious not to try something different. I would have preferred more cohesive fights that took advantage of Origin’s supernatural effects and mechanical additions – something like Monster Hunter’s part-breaking brawls – to really differentiate it from every other character action gacha game out there.

This issue feels particularly flagrant during boss battles, which were rarely complicated enough to make me break a sweat, let alone elicit any kind of heart-pounding emotion. Simply put, you’ll chase and hack away at your target regardless of their imposing stature, navigating a barely perilous arena to unseat their health bar. The enemy designs do much of the heavy lifting here, making reference to the funky creatures you find in the source material, like the towering speckled Albion. Even so, it feels like a huge waste to provide such a gratifying combat system when there’s no reason to actually master it, so long as button-mashing to the next checkpoint gets the job done.

Early on, I faced off against a lumbering beast that smacked the ground like an infant in a tantrum, sending fireballs raining down on me from above. My job was to avoid getting hit by the immolating stones while smacking the baddie's fists until they fell backwards, revealing a glowing orb in their stomach. I’m sure you’re getting Deja Vu while reading this…From here, I needed to scale the monster, Shadow of the Colossus style, and whack the orb on repeat, before it would get up and start losing its temper all over again. The smoking gun was that stamina limitations meant I had to wait patiently before I could climb the beast to smack the orb, leading to idle moments in the middle of the fight that killed the pacing, and my broader sense of enthusiasm towards Origin’s gacha-poisoned architecture.

Many of the game’s most important battles feel highly derivative by default, lacking unique design elements or crafty quandaries to separate them from the established norm. I shouldn’t be sitting there reminiscing about boss battles from Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage due to a comparatively lethargic encounter in 2026. Is it too much to ask for a gacha game to lean into the context of its IP, or find another way around this tried-and-tested formula that could provide a deeper sense of challenge? I can concede that encounters like those in Origin are deliberately simplistic and designed to be moreish, but is that in service of the player or to direct them towards the storefront with greater efficiency and speed? It doesn’t feel like Netmarble is too interested in finding the fun in this regard, and it’s fairly damning when compared to something like Arknights: Endfield, where the factory-building system provides a refreshing and inspired throughline to follow alongside a more conventional structure.

At first, your team of heroes in Origin consists only of Tristan and Tioreh, though it soon grows to include up to four members thanks to the looming gacha systems that hand you additional characters throughout the odyssey. You’ll earn a currency called Star Memory, which can be forked over to pull randomised gear and new companions. It’s a recognisable loop that, like much of Origin, doesn’t stray from the norm in pricing or style, and despite my own affinity for the genre and a rose-tinted lens on the source material, it still stings to glance at the Shop tab and see so many convoluted systems propagating through the mid to late game, reducing my favourite characters and their journeys into marketing tools.

On the upside, Origin doesn’t require you to spend money to succeed, though notably, it doesn’t provide you with much premium currency through organic gameplay either. Despite spending over 50 hours grinding, I barely earned enough to pull the gacha more than a handful of times, and even then, my pulls were more often than not total duds. That’s the ball game, at the end of the day, but I was at least hoping for some kind of glitzy fanfare to accompany my hard work, or a means to demonstrate how these pulls could enliven my moment-to-moment experience. Instead, all I got was a pop-up menu from the shop prompting me to enter my details so I could roll the dice again.

Often cited as one of the world's most valuable media franchises, Pokémon is a household name that's been a Nintendo staple since the Game Boy. The beloved series is home to hundreds of amazing creatures you can catch in-game or collect as trading cards, with each new generation bringing loads more to discover. Every console released by Nintendo has had plenty of Pokémon games released for it, and the Nintendo Switch is no exception.

Pokémon Day brought tons of new announcements about what's next for the franchise. Below, we've compiled every Pokémon game that has been released on Nintendo Switch and the information we have on a number of upcoming Pokémon games releasing on the Switch 2.

How Many Pokémon Games Are There on Nintendo Switch?

In total, 16 Pokémon games have been released for the Nintendo Switch. This includes the mainline games for the 8th and 9th Pokémon generations as well as plenty of spinoffs. For the sake of this list, we've counted mainline entries with two versions as a single release. We also don't include the Pokémon games offered through Nintendo Switch Online, but you can check out that list below.

All Pokémon Games on Nintendo Switch (in Release Order)

Pokkén Tournament DX (2017)

Pokkén Tournament was originally released for the Wii U in 2016. A year later, Nintendo and Bandai Namco prepared a deluxe version of the game for Nintendo Switch, adding new characters and updated visuals to take advantage of better hardware. This three-on-three battle system is a blast to play with friends both in person and online.

Pokémon Quest (2018)

Pokémon Quest turns all your favorite Pokémon into miniature cube form. This free-to-play Switch game features a fun and simple combat system where you send Pokémon on expeditions. Equip different abilities to your Pokémon to handle all types of encounters.

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee! (2018)

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! are remakes of the beloved 1998 Pokémon Yellow. These titles were the first mainline Pokémon games ever to release on a home console, since none made it to the Wii U. Set in the Kanto region, all 151 original Pokémon appear with varying forms from previous mainline installments. With heavy accessibility features, these remakes were a great first step for the series on Nintendo Switch for newcomers and veterans of the series.

Pokémon Sword & Shield (2019)

Pokémon Sword & Shield marked the first installment in the series to feature aspects of an open world. Dubbed the Wild Areas, these regions allowed for free traversal and battles with wild Pokémon. Gyms also made a return for the first time since X & Y. Additionally, Sword & Shield introduced the eigth generation of Pokémon, which included Dynamax and Gigantamax forms of previous Pokémon.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (2020)

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is a remake of the 2005 titles Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team & Blue Rescue Team. Surprisingly, this is the first Pokémon spinoff remake ever, with development handled by Spike Chunsoft. The gameplay consists of completing jobs in different dungeons and unlocking new Pokémon along the way.

Pokémon Café ReMix (2020)

The other Pokémon release of 2020 was Pokémon Café ReMix featuring similar gameplay to other puzzle games like Disney Tsum Tsum, which requires you to connect Pokémon together to solve puzzles. In Pokémon Café ReMix, you and Eevee own a café and must serve the Pokémon who come for food or a little drink. This charming service game is free-to-play via the Nintendo eShop.

New Pokémon Snap (2021)

After more than 20 years, the Nintendo Switch is the console that finally received a sequel to Pokémon Snap. Developed by Bandai Namco, you traverse around different biomes and areas with an on-rails camera to capture pictures Pokémon in the wild. You can unlock new courses by taking good pictures in New Pokémon Snap, leaving for a sizeable amount of content to unlock and discover. You never know what you might find during each session!

Pokémon Unite (2021)

This free-to-play game marked Pokémon's first entry into the MOBA genre. You command and control a team of five Pokémon in head-to-head battles against other players online. There's a solid amount of Pokémon to choose from, so you can adjust your team to best fit your needs. Pokémon Unite went on to be featured in different esports tournaments, with multiple championships held for the game.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (2021)

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Pokémon Shining Pearl are remakes of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, which originally released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS. As the fourth generation of Pokémon, Diamond & Pearl feature a wide variety of Pokémon to battle against and discover. The remakes feature a new chibi art style that was created to stay faithful to the original titles while still remaining fresh.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022)

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is often praised as one of the best Pokémon games available on the Switch. This original title takes place far in the past, somewhere in the Hisui region. With a focus on exploration, you can freely walk all around the map to capture Pokémon, explore different environments, and so much more. Pokémon can be spotted wandering around all over the map, which requires you to be strategic if you're looking to avoid battle.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (2022)

The latest mainline Pokémon games officially kicked off Generation 9, bringing along an entire new approach to gameplay and world design. In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, an open world awaits with freedom to explore wherever your heart takes you. The DLC pass, titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, is now wrapped up, making it a perfect time to check out Scarlet & Violet.

Detective Pikachu Returns (2023)

One game and one movie later, the sequel to Detective Pikachu is finally available on Nintendo Switch. Tim's father is missing, and it's up to Detective Pikachu to solve the case! This sequel features new puzzles and investigations, where you can investigate scenes and use your notebook to get to the bottom of the mystery. If you're a fan of both Pokémon and mystery games, this is a great game to consider.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A (2025)

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the most recent release in the series, launching on both Switch systems on October 16. Rebekah Valentine's review for IGN marks a significant shift from the downfalls of the previous generation, describing that "what elevates Lumiose City far above the much larger overworld of Scarlet and Violet is that it’s dense with interesting landmarks, items, obstacle courses, stores, Wild Zones, shops, and people."

The game takes place in the French-inspired Lumiose City, with familiar starters in Tepig, Chikorita, and Totodile, all of which get new Mega Evolutions. A big change in this game is the combat system, which introduces more real-time action.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (2026)

This is where timelines can be a bit confusing. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are technically remakes of Pokemon Red and Blue that released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. In 2026, the remakes were released once again for Switch platforms, making this one of the best ways for Switch users to dive into the glory of Gen 1 and the Kanto region.

Pokémon Pokopia (2026)*

While we may not be getting a new Animal Crossing game (yet), Nintendo released a new Pokémon spin-off game that should definitely scratch any cozy gaming itch. Pokémon Pokopia makes you a Ditto with a human appearance, who must work and learn from local Pokémon to build new habitats across a massive spread of areas. Build homes for your Pokemon, decorate new areas, and help figure out why all of the humans disappeared. You can learn more about this one, which happens to currently be the highest rated Pokemon game of all time, in our 9/10 review.

Pokemon Champions (2026)

The most recent release from Game Freak and The Pokémon Company is Pokémon Champions, a new free-to-play battle game in the spirit of Pokemon Showdown. You can battle with Pokémon you've trained in other games through the Pokémon Home app, but there are some interesting limitations to what Pocket Monsters made the roster cut. Champions will also be the new standard for Play! Pokémon VGC events.

Available Pokémon Games With Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

The Nintendo Switch Online subscription service has even more options if you're looking for more. Here are the Pokémon games you can play with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership:

• Pokémon Trading Card Game (GameBoy Color)
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Red Rescue Team (GameBoy Advance)
• Pokémon Snap (N64)
• Pokémon Puzzle League (N64)
• Pokémon Stadium (N64)
• Pokémon Stadium 2 (N64)
• Pokémon Coloseum (GameCube)
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (GameCube)

Upcoming Pokémon Games on Nintendo Switch

Pokémon Day 2026 as well as Pokémon's 30th anniversary have brought tons of new game announcements. Here's what's confirmed for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2:

Gen 10: Pokémon Winds and Waves

While there may have been some leaks ahead of time, The Pokémon Company officially confirmed the existence of the next mainline Pokémon games, Winds and Waves, on Pokémon Day 2026. Our first teaser certainly seems to indicate a long-hoped for graphical update, and went right on ahead to reveal the Gen 10 starters: Pombon, Gecqua, and Browt.

The teaser also clarified that the next mainline Pokémon games will be releasing for Switch 2 in 2027, marking a full five years since Gen 9.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

Pokémon Champions is getting a mixed response from fans, who have criticized the newly-launched free-to-play game for its lack of features, performance issues and limited roster of creatures.

Available now on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, Pokémon Champions is pitched as the home of the franchise's competitive battling scene for years to come. But it's clearly still early days, and early reaction to the game has centered on the various features that Champions currently lacks, rather than what it includes.

At launch, Champions is focused around being an online-only multiplayer game. An internet connection is always required, which was perhaps to be expected, though there's also no local wireless play — something fans had been hoping for. You also need to add other players manually, rather than use your Switch friends list.

Other disappointments among fans include a lack of standard 6v6 battles, and the small roster of currently supported Pokémon. Fans say just 185 Pokémon species are currently available to use in the game, out of more than 1,025 total. Mega Evolutions are available for many of these, however, which does add slightly to the total.

Visually, the game (which will also launch for smartphones later this year) has also been criticized. On Switch 2, fans say the game appears to be running at 30fps even while docked, while menu navigation is slow and icons appear fuzzy.

"This really feels like a beta test," wrote MessyLessy on video game forum ResetEra. "I like a lot of the stuff that I'm seeing, but the performance issues, the missing content, etc etc are just so odd. Starting to think mobile is the main platform for this and that's why it's getting more time in the oven lol."

"I've played this for about 1.5 hour so far, and I like it," countered another fan, wijuci. "The only bad surprise so far is the very limited set of items! No Assault Vest? No Life Orb? Very surprising. No Light Caly either for my Ninetale, but that's more niche so I get it. I'm ok with the choices they made for this first release (no terrain, many staples Pokémon unavailable) as it's clear they will complete it later, but the item choice is a little too limited for my taste."

"Pokémon Stadium 2 ran on an N64 in the year 2000 with more Pokémon, 6v6, offline play, and local multiplayer," wrote maxdeploy via X/Twitter. "26 years of hardware progress to ship a downgrade."

"The fact that I can't do 6v6 against friends is honestly crazy," added KaneMarcus. "The one thing I was looking forward to doesn't exist. I get not having it in ranked but cmon why take it away from CUSTOMS."

Fans had also been holding out hope for some kind of small single-player offering, perhaps offering a training mode or practice against AI opponents, though this is non-existent.

While Champions is a free-to-play game, it has arrived with various paid options to spend money — including a 12-month membership priced $49.99 (also available monthly, with a recurring $4.99 cost). For this, players can store more Pokémon and have more Battle Teams usable at one time, as well as unlock exclusive missions and battle music. A separate, one-off $6.99 Starter Pack also increases Pokémon storage space, and there is of course a Premium Battle Pass (priced at $9.99), which adds extra rewards and exclusive clothing.

Of course, The Pokémon Company has said it will add more features to Pokémon Champions over time — potentially until there's 10,000 Pokémon species, rather than the current 1,000-odd — but it's a rocky start for a game that's designed to become the main competitive platform for the franchise in just a few months, ahead of regional tournaments and this summer's annual Pokémon World Championships.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Plants vs Zombies 3 has been soft launched yet again in certain countries around the world, as part of the troubled threequel's latest attempt to take root.

This is at least the third time that developer PopCap has attempted to release a game titled Plants vs Zombies 3 — with this latest iteration focused on new gameplay that allows players to merge different plant species. It also arrives with a shiny new subtitle: Plants vs Zombies 3: Evolved.

Today, Evolved is now available to download on iPhone and Android devices in Ireland and the Philippines, before a wider rollout beginning in the UK and Singapore over the next couple of months.

Plants vs Zombies 3: Evolved is the product of a decade of development, with work beginning back in 2016 on ideas for a third major PvZ game. That work resulted in multiple false starts, as developers initially flirted with the introduction of 3D graphics and various other gameplay changes that were later scrapped.

After an initial version with 3D visuals and other unwelcome changes was ditchd back in 2020, PopCap worked for years on a new version that ultimately soft launched as Plants vs. Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia. This iteration was itself ditched in late 2024, when publisher EA admitted it was taking the game offline for a "major overhaul".

18 months later, and Plants vs Zombies 3 is back again, this time with that Evolved moniker and its plant-fusing gameplay — an idea previously seen in a popular PvZ player mod, something that itself has raised some eyebrows among fans.

In a new blog post, PopCap acknowledged the game's latest soft launch and acknowledged that this version of Evolved was itself an evolved form of "Seedling Build" it tested in some regions last fall, albeit with some significant revisions (longer levels, and the removal of systems tied to your neighborhood and creating player avatars).

All of that said, PopCap has cautioned that this latest period of early access is still "early" — meaning that the game's features are still subject to change yet again.

"For those joining us in Early Access, it is, well, early," PopCap wrote. "So as the months go on we'll be planting new systems and features, pruning things that aren't working, and steadily growing the experience with more content and improvements. Like any well-tended garden, the game will continue to evolve over time."

Here's hoping this time Plants vs Zombies 3 finally grows into a success.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Pokémon Go fans are in uproar over the "embarrassing" decision to disqualify the winner of this year's Orlando Regional Championship, following a celebration that was allegedly deemed unsportsmanlike.

Firestar73 celebrated his win by standing up and swiftly removing his headphones, in order to raise his fists in the air and do a fist pump. He then crosses over to his opponent, nitetimeclasher, where the two amicably shake hands. You can watch the moment for yourself via the embedded video, below.

In the hours that followed Firestar's win, however, it became clear that it was nitetimeclasher who had instead been awarded the victory — to the astonishment of fans watching online, who have since called for the decision to be reversed. Many have shared the contact form for The Pokémon Company's website, where fans have been encouraged to let their feelings be known.

So here's a live look with a close up of the headphones making contact on the desk. This had to be a decision that came from the higher ups as an attempt to be "consistent" with their ruling based on the incident that happened a day prior (that video is here… pic.twitter.com/S3tzpgtWtW

— Tru Inferno at Orlando Regionals! (@TruInfernoPoGo) April 6, 2026

"This is a genuinely embarrassing ruling," wrote IPissExcellentThrows on top Pokémon Go fan reddit TheSilphRoad. "Like so insanely bad I can't help but jump to the conclusion of corruption... This has to be overturned. Feel bad for the deserving winner but also sucks for the other guy who is possibly going to get weird hate for something he didn't do."

"He had his win stripped for removing his headphone and doing a fist pump? I don’t even go here but that’s insane," added rainbowbrite517. "All followed by a handshake and bow to his opponent. Craziness."

The Pokémon Company has not commented publicly on the decision, given their exact reasoning why the reaction counted for a disqualification, or acknowledged the growing negative feedback online to it all taking place. IGN has contacted the company for more.

Nitetimeclasher, now the official Orlando Regional Champion, has not commented publicly on social media, and is believed to be bound to accepting the win per tournament rules. But unverified screenshots taken from Discord show that, in private, the player has acknowledged that "Firestar is the Orlando regional champion," to a positive response from other fans.

As for Firestar himself, the now-disqualified player has issued a brief message thanking fans for their support, and promised a full account of his side of the story will follow. "Hello everyone, I am incredibly thankful for the support directed my way," Firestar wrote on Twitter/X. "I have a direct account of my experiences releasing soon in an interview, which I will link when it’s out. For the moment, please use the support link if you disagree with the ruling as well. Love yall <3."

Some fans have pointed to an earlier disqualification at the same event, albeit within a Pokémon TCG match, where a winning player was also disqualified for removing their headphones in an abrupt manner. But as others have stated, this decision likely also took into account the player standing up before the end of their turn — when it became they clear they would win, rather than after having completed the winning move.

Still, at least this time Pokémon players weren't disqualified for allegedly flinging poo, as was reported at an official UK tournament back in 2012.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social