Steel thy shovel Just in case you were somehow still on the fence,Shovel Knightwill be joining the roster of Nicalis’ crossover fighterBlade Strangers. We’re still only a few days off of the announcement ofGunvolt, Quote, andIsaacyet Nicalis keeps surprising me. SHOVEL KNIGHT Bounces Into Action!The valiant indie legend swings his Shovel Blade for everlasting peace!Playable in#BladeStrangerson#NintendoSwitch#PS4#Steamsummer 2018!pic.twitter.com/4TGuQG76Vr — Nicalis, Inc. (@nicalis)June 08, 2025 This brings the current roster up to a healthy fourteen: It’s sure to feel bittersweet launching poor Emiko up into the air with a shovel, but I’m looking forward to the experience....

The party’s not over until the squid lady sings Nintendo may have long retired work on its arena shooterSplatoon 2— in fact, the publisher is already gearing up for incoming sequelSplatoon 3— but squid kids still battling out in Inkopolis can look forward to a fresh new balance update, which will be dropping tomorrow evening on Nintendo Switch. Of course,Version 5.5.0will not contain any new content per se, such as weapons, maps, or the like, but the update is expected to include a fresh run of balance tweaks, as well as a selection of new bug stomps that should keep the ink flowing freely among the Splatoon faithful....

Another Zapper and brush Tonight at 9:00pm Pacific,Splatoonplayers will begin battling to determine which is better: water slides or roller coasters. I don’t think as many people will have the level of intensity that we saw in thecats vs. dogs Splatfest, but whenSuper Sea Snailsare on the line, anything is possible. Nintendo is rolling out two new weapons tonight as well. The first is theN-ZAP ’89, modeled after the real-world orange NES Zapper....

Thanks, Konami! Suikoden II, one of the best RPGs ever, makes its PlayStation Network debut today. Somewhere out there, sullen eBay sharks are shouting at the heavens right about now. Dreams of financing their children’s college funds with that old used copy ofSuikoden IIare dying faster than mayflies. You know, the bugs that only live for a day. Once upon a time,Suikoden IIcould have netted them buckets of doubloons. Those Internet profiteers, with their extensive knowledge of supply and demand curves, kenned Konami only printed so many of the damn things, and weaponized that insight for Internet profiteering....

Bounce, baby, bounce, b-bounce, bounce Do you like playing with balls? How about bouncing balls? I’m talking about pachinko, jeez. Where’s your mind been?Super Monkey Ballreturns this summer withSuper Monkey Ball Bounce,a different spin on a classic formula. This time, AiAi and the crew bounce about through 120 levels of vertical mayhem, ping-ponging and zipping back and forth to collect bananas and trounce the evil Prof. Boscis’ lackeys. It looks like a pretty satisfying mixture of pachinko andPeggle, and since I was never really into the originalMonkey Ballgames, this might be one to watch for some casual fun....

Every Tuesday a bunch of us Dtoiders get together and hop online to play someTeam Fortress 2on theofficial Destructoid server! You should join us! Do you feel that in the air? That feeling of something long and bony poking its way up your back? Its getting to be Halloween time so I’m totally talking about bones or something. Not penises… This time. Anyway, Halloween is coming so you better prepare yourbuttholesTeam Fortress playing implements....

Top-down shooter Halo: Spartan Strike now available for $6 There’s a shiny newHalogame out today on Windows 8 devices, iOS, and Steam. Well, sort of. Halo: Spartan Strikeis another top-down shooter in the vein ofHalo: Spartan Assault, which probably isn’t what you think about when someone says “Halo,” but was apparently prettydecent. Destructoid’s reviews dad Chris Carterliked the first game well enough, but found its connection to the sci-fi mega franchise tenuous, saying it felt “like it could have been a completely new IP....

It’s a me, Mario rankings! This may sound funny coming from people who clearly took the time to write this list, but… how do you rankMariogames? Everything said about rankingZeldagames applies here. Except, also, what is aMariogame? I mean, we all know the big ones count, likeSuper Mario Brosfor the NES orSuper Mario 64. Yet doesSuper Mario RPGcount as aMariogame? DoesCaptain Toad’s Treasure Tracker? IsDonkey KongaMariogame? This isn’t a new question, but it does impact this entire list to an extent....

‘It will be very special’ This post feels like confirmation of the already-expected — like reporting that, yes, the sun rose this morning and, yes, it’ll set this evening. Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards are back, baby! You knew this would be the case, you could feel it in your bones. Life has many uncertainties, but death, taxes, and The Game Awards are not among them. Mark it on your calendars, December 12....

As free updates Pools. Get to the pools! They werenotably absentfromThe Sims 4at launch but they’re arriving in November as a free update. Sim deaths are going to skyrocket. Speaking of which, more immediately, the game is adding ghosts this month. They’ll have special behaviors based on the circumstances of their untimely demise, which is fun. This update also packsStar Warscostumes (Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, and Yoda) and new eye colors....

Social, connected, social, connected Okay, maybe the snarky headline was a bit mean but the devs behindForza Horizon 2are really making sure that you know that the game is social and connected. Aside from those buzzwords, what does that actually mean in terms of how the game plays? Well, it seems like there’s a lot of options for asynchronous multiplayer sessions with your friends even if they’re offline. Joining and finding online games looks easier than before and you’ll be able to join private or public car clubs where you can organize your own events and show off your custom paint jobs....

Eyes of the Hawk, Strength of the Bear As part of last night’s Sony State of Play presentation, Capcomoffered up a new trailerfor its upcoming scrapper sequelStreet Fighter 6, rounding out the cast of 18 World Warriors that will be launching with the title come June 6 — As part of the new preview, we got our very first in-game look at the initial roster’s final newcomer, Lily. Hailing from Mexico, Lily is a young and spritely fighter, whose small stature and cute appearance belies a power that has been honed through the ages....

Video Game history is filled with instances of controllers that are either poorly designed or ludicrously over designed. Weird, considering how coming up with a good controller should be easier than coming up with a good game, and the controller is responsible for a large part of the immersion we can experience with a game. Video Game controllers have evolved immensely throughout the years – and we’ll be making fun of the biggest offenders in history – but you’d be surprised to learn just how hilariously bad some controllers coming out nowadays can still be....