Nintendo Japan shared the Switch game download rankings for the first half of 2025, and the most popular title ended up being Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. The list consisted of the top 30 most popular games in the region. It only took into account sales made between January 1, 2025 and June 30, 2025.  [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time debuted worldwide in May 2025. The ranking here only applied to the Switch version of the game. It didn’t include the Switch 2 sales figures. It is one of 10 2025 releases in the top 30. 

Here are all of the top 10 Switch games that topped the 2025 download rankings list in Japan for the first half of the year. All of them are titles that are available worldwide.

1. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
2. Super Mario Party Jamboree
3. Tamagotchi Plaza
4. Minecraft
5. Urban Myth Dissolution Center
6. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
7. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
8. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
9. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
10. Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics

As for the other new 2025 releases that made it into the top 30 Switch games downloaded, all of them also appeared in every region. Deltarune Chapters 1-4 appeared in 12th place. Saga Frontier 2 Remaster took the 19th spot. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is ranked 22nd. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy ended up being 26th. Finally, the Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster found its way into 28th place.

As a reminder, Suika Game topped the 2024 Switch Download Ranking.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is available on the Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC worldwide.

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Koei Tecmo announced the Atelier Ryza series is returning with a Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack that will bring the three games to platforms it previously appeared on and the Switch 2 for the first time. It will launch in 2025. There will be new and old content, and Gust will go over details in a livestream at 5am PT/8am ET/9pm JST on August 4, 2025.

The announcement confirmed this Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy collection will include the games Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout, Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy, and Alchemist of the End and the Secret Key. The initial reveal teased new allies will be present. The first trailer for this collection started with Ryza acting as a teacher in front of a group of kids, then acting as a narrator as footage from all three games played. It also seemed to perhaps include a Serri tease.

We do know some details about this release, though! All DLC will be included, which happened with past pack releases in the series. The official website also addressed the issues of physical copies. In Japan, Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack will be digital-only for the Switch 2 and PC versions. The US and UK English sites says it will only be sold digitally for all platforms.

Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack will bring all three games to the Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, and PC in 2025, and the showcase discussing it will air worldwide at 5am PT/8am ET/9pm JST on August 4, 2025.

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If you’ve ever played one of Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball games, you know the company consistently supports them. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 came out almost 10 years ago. It got an add-on based on the Dragon Ball Daima new spin-off anime back in May 2025 and Future Saga updates in 2024. It’s totally plausible and even expected for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to get its own Daima DLC five years after that installment’s debut and, after some initial time spent with it, it seems 

For those familiar with Dragon Ball Daima, I feel like the add-on starts off by quickly getting us introduced to the spin-off’s new characters and shuttled off to the Demon Realm where the story takes place. If you didn’t watch that show, it’s pretty good at quickly and concisely getting you started. As a quick summary, new Supreme Demon King Gomah got the Dragon Balls. He wished Goku and his allies would become kids. He took Earth’s Guardian Dende. The bad news for Gomah is that Goku was still super powerful as a kid. He and Supreme Kai Shin (also turned into a child) end up going into the Demon Realm with new allies Panzy (was a child even before the wish) and Glorio (the only “adult”) to save Dende and show Gomah what for. 

I really appreciated how quickly things get going. Which is a necessity here, since the whole point of the add-on is to get access to this new space, its original quests and characters, and the adventure tied to it. I experienced only the first parts. It’s a pretty solid introduction to this new story. I think that will bode especially well for newcomers, since the banter between existing characters like Goku and Shin works well, and this add-on maintains the same relationship I enjoyed between him and Glorio and Panzy for the parts I went through. I don’t feel like someone new to this story would feel left out. 

There are also marked design decisions present to make the Daima Demon Realm feel different than other places we’ve been in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. CyberConnect 2 made it look different, naturally. We’re also forced to explore it all on foot. This makes it feel like a more traditional type of open-world experience, and I also felt it encouraged me to do a little more exploring and investigating since I couldn’t just fly up and check out everything from above. Also, seeing his crew around him, running alongside as you explore areas, is just a nice touch and makes it feel a bit more like the newest anime.

This decision also changes combat. Since this is a child version of Goku, our moveset is a bit different. He’s still going to use ki, but I appreciated the enhanced focus on using his Power Pole. It genuinely reminded me of watching the original Dragon Ball anime after school as a kid. The inability to fly comes up in fights as well. This means different types of evasive maneuvers or pursual tactics need to be employed to dodge or get in close for attacks. 

The first part of the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Daima DLC seems like it could be a really worthwhile adventure. The brief segment I sampled seemed surprisingly large. It added a new type of gameplay experience that remained true to the source material. It could also serve as a good introduction to that storyline for folks who didn’t catch the series yet. I’m excited to see more. Especially since CyberConnect 2 made sure we get introduced to and comfortable with the new world so swiftly.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the first part of the Daima DLC debuts on July 17, 2025. The second part of the add-on’s story will arrive in 2026. The Dragon Ball Daima anime is streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Square Enix will introduce a new vocation, Hermit, in Dragon Quest X. It should come out in late August 2025. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

The official English name of the new Dragon Quest X vocation has not been announced yet. According to ryokutya2089, it will be a support-focused Master Vocation with its own unique gauge. This gauge will fill up over time, or with special skills. To become a Hermit, you’ll need to have enough levels as a Priest and a Ranger. The Hermit can use the power of spirits to offer multiple boons to the party. It’s unknown at this point if this new vocation supports with purely buffs, or if it can heal as well. Lastly, ryokutya2089 believes that the Hermit’s visuals are a little plain.

Dragon Quest X is the online MMORPG entry of the long-running Dragon Quest series, and it first came out in 2012. An offline remake version is also available under the name Dragon Quest X Offline. In Japan, you can even purchase it for mobile devices so you can play it on the go without bringing your console around.

Dragon Quest X is readily available on the PS4, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, and mobile devices. More information on the new vocation will appear at a later date.

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Nintendo started to announce in regions like Europe and Japan that it will end its Nintendo Switch Game Voucher program for Nintendo Switch Online members. The last day to buy tickets is January 30, 2026, and the last day to use them will be January 29, 2027. The North American site hasn’t updated to state if it also will be shutting down at that time.

How it worked is someone who subscribes to the Nintendo Switch Online service could spend $99.98/£84.00/9,980円 to get a pair of voucher tickets. This would allow you to get two first-party original Switch games from the official list of applicable titles. Due to the cost of these normally, it typically could mean you’d get them at a discount.

The company did clarify some details about the end of this promotion. The list of games that are eligible to be used with Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers won’t be changed, and new titles will be added even after the end of the program. You can stock up in advance, but you can only hold up to eight of these voucher tickets at a time. Note that these tickets are only good for a year after purchase, so it would be wisest to wait until the day before the cut-off to ensure they last as long as possible.

This marks the second promotion Nintendo will end that rewards people who make purchases on Switch games. The My Nintendo Gold Points program got shut down in March 2025. That allowed any player, not just a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber, get Gold Points that could be used toward bonuses like currency on game purchases. 

And of course, the company famously ended Club Nintendo back in April 2015. That was replaced with My Nintendo, which isn’t as comprehensive or in some ways impressive.

Sales of the Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers program for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will end in regions like Europe and Japan on January 30, 2026, and any purchased ones can be used until January 30, 2027. 

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The Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop series are a staple that kids worldwide grew up with if they had access to Nintendo systems. From the original game on the DS in 2005, released worldwide, to five later 3DS entries that didn’t make it outside of Japan, they showed up as handheld minigame staples. Tamagotchi Plaza is a revival of of the series appearing worldwide and, while it does fill an early launch niche for the Switch 2, I can’t help but feel like this installment is lacking. 

Tamagotchi Planet Prince Tamahiko abducts the player from Earth in Tamagotchi Plaza for a very important mission. His Tamahiko Town is competing to be the host of Tamagotchi Fest. It’s a bit run-down, with shops not really catering to and pleasing visitors as they did in the past. To help bring the event home and help bring peace to Gotchi King (who is a giant egg) and his family, you need to revitalize the shops via playing minigames tied to them to properly serve customers and upgrade them. You can also upgrade parts of the town square to make the town more appealing.

There are 15 shops in the Switch 2 version of Tamagotchi Plaza, with five locked away until you essentially perfect other shops. Given we have ten right away and three of these extra shops are combination ones that combine elements from two existing experiences, not getting immediate access isn’t too bad. I will say that I wish Hyde and NicoLabo made the two Switch 2 exclusive Sushi and Shuriken Shops available immediately. Given they’re tied to a paid Upgrade Pack and might be the reason someone picks one version over the other, it feels like there shouldn’t be any additional gatekeeping. Also, I found the Sushi Shop is one of the most clever and best paced inclusions, and hated that I needed to spend so much time even getting it.

While Tamagotchi Plaza is a minigame collection, it doesn’t exactly function how ones you might expect would work. Aside from the Switch 2 Sushi Shop and Shuriken Shop, which both use mouse controls either for assembling and surving sushi or tossing shuriken at targets, these don’t feel very gimmicky. There’s no overuse of motion controls. There aren’t guaranteed multiplayer experiences. If anything, many of them feel like they should all use touch-screen controls like the DS Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop series or mouse controls. Like the Dentist Shop involves selecting the tool, then using the joystick and A button to brush, drill to drill, tweezers to pull out bugs, and fill them. The Manga Shop means fulfilling requests to create two panel stories customers request. Galette Shop involves looking at the crepe ingredients and making orders. There are a lot of shops that involve selecting items from menus, possibly moving or arranging them, and hoping you did the right things.

I say hoping, because there are no instructions for shops. Once you visit one for the first time, it “reopens.” You’re then thrust into assisting customers. Some situations are very self-explanatory. The Night Pool has you wait for a visitor to request an item or drink. You make it or get it in the menu, then hand it to them. The Rap Battle is a brief rhythm game. The Personal Trainer minigame is something of a button masher that involves going at the speed the customer needs by checking responses. The Tailor means matching parts and patterns to the example. But some of these do involve some nuance, like the Eyewear Shop or Dentist. And the Manga Shop will straight up have a customer ask for a manga featuring ________ character, but there are no labels on any of the possible images! So good luck if you can’t recognize Gozarutchi or Violetchi on sight! 

A lack of tutorials and instruction is a common theme throughout Tamagotchi Plaza. You’re told in the beginning you can swap your chosen partner at any time. The game never tells you how. If you don’t go to places like the Committee Room or investigate, you might not realize you can customize areas and develop the town square. It’s also a bit user friendly in other ways, as you need to walk to every shop. No clicking a location on a map and immediately being able to head into that minigame!

Tamagotchi Plaza also suffers from the past Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop issue of the quality of the minigames widely varying. Manga Shop is a novel idea, but can take far too long to complete a request for the amount of money you get. The Night Pool is more boring than entertaining. Dentist is probably one of my favorites, but that’s because it doesn’t deviate much from the original. Rap Battle has potential, but it’s incredibly short and the actual raps both aren’t that clever and don’t really involve any “battling.” You can get gotchi currency to upgrade elements, but none of the customization items feel all that exciting. It can feel more tedious than entertaining, and I feel like adjustments to minigame execution, some design changes to improve pacing, and more motivation to take part could have helped.

It isn’t necessarily that Tamagotchi Plaza is bad, as I do think it could be fun for kids or someone who really loves Bandai Namco’s virtual pet line. There are just some awkward decisions made that make it a little uncomfortable to play at times. And even if you do overcome that and work things out, it can feel like there’s not too much to do. Especially since you can’t even bring it out as “the early Switch 2 multiplayer minigame collection” due to how few games actually involve more than one person. For the right person, it could be fine, but it caters to a very specialized (and probably forgiving) audience.

Tamagotchi Plaza is available on the Switch and Switch 2. 

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Multiple Hello Kitty Island Adventure updates appeared, with a Sunshine Celebration about to launch everywhere and the City Classics patch 2.7 coming to Apple Arcade ahead of a wider release. The update with new content is live on Apple devices now, and it is “coming soon” to the Switch and PC. As for the summer event, that starts on July 10, 2025. 

Sunblink shared five of the new additions in the Hello Kitty Island Adventure 2.7 City Classics update. Two have to do with the City Town location. You can open a tourist kiosk or buy items at a Tourist Shop. Three new questlines are available after the update too. One involves Kuromi and My Melody, with new furniture as part of the rewards for taking part. There are also questlines for both Retsuko and Tsunoda.

As for the Sunshine Celebration, it will debut on the same day in Hello Kitty Island Adventure this year as it did in 2024. The last time, it involved collecting lemonade and trading it for rewards. For the 2025 run, it is returning to its 2023 routes and making sunscreen the currency again. We’ll take part in quests with Badtz-Maru for this year’s run. Also, in addition to previous summer decorations and clothing, new items will appear. Grass skirts and hats and Hawaiian shirts will be among the cosmetics. Some of the new furniture include items to add bar, column, and palm tree elements to cabins.

Here’s a trailer showing some of the event items off. It starts by looking at the beginning of the event and Badtz-Maru taking the reins away from My Melody for this year's run. We then see what it's like to collect sunscreen and turn it in for items. The latter parts of the video show the new furniture in a home.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is available for the Switch, PC, and Apple Arcade devices, and the City Classics patch 2.7 update is live for Apple products. 

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Dragami Games has revealed that it will release LoveR Kiss Endless Memories for Nintendo Switch and PC in late November 2025. The newly upgraded version of the Japanese dating simulator game will also be available worldwide with additional language support in English and Simplified Chinese.

For the record, LoveR originally appeared for PlayStation 4 in Japan in March 2019. It is the latest iteration of a long-running dating sim game series that launched with the 1996 PS1 entry True Love Story and also comprises KimiKiss, Amagami, PhotoKano, and RecoLove. LoveR Kiss, an upgrade to the original LoveR, appeared on the PS4 and Switch in February 2020.

Endless Memories will bring even more updates to LoveR. There will be a new Pro Photo Session mode, where the player can immediately access additional photography and decoration features like frames and stamps.

In addition, the English localization for Endless Memories will be human-translated. Frontline Gaming Japan's Johann C.K. revealed that he had provided translations of the game's scripts that contain around 750,000 Japanese letters.

Dragami Games has also uploaded an announcement trailer for LoveR Kiss Endless Memories in Japanese on its YouTube channel:

LoveR Kiss Endless Memories will be available worldwide for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on November 27, 2025.

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The release date and price of the physical Nintendo Switch 2 version of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time have appeared on the official Level 5 webpage for the game. As Level 5 announced earlier this year, the physical editions are Japan exclusive, and there’s no information as of yet regarding a Western release.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game will cost 7978 JPY ($54.45). It’ll come out on August 7, 2025 in Japan. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch and PS5 versions cost 7678 JPY ($52.40), and are already available. If you have a physical copy of the Nintendo Switch version already, you can pay 300 JPY to upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 edition. However, if you play the Switch 2 version on a Switch console, the graphics and such will still be the Switch version’s.

Aside from news of the physical release, Level 5 also announced Photo Mode. It’ll appear later this month. You’ll be able to customize it with poses, emote, and angles. As well, Level 5 will hold a contest to see who can take the best picture. Information on that contest, including what the “awesome prizes” are, will come out later.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is readily available on the PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.

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The remake of Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar is on the way, and Marvelous shared a new Japanese trailer going through some of the gameplay elements and showing how Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will look. 

This trailer is rather brief and under six minutes. It begins by showing what Zephyr Town looks like in this installment. This is the first time it appeared in full 3D. It shows the bazaar briefly, a market that’s since fallen out of favor and become rather unpopular. We then see the avatar walk into town. First a male one is shown, and then it shifts to show the female version of the player character. Some of the town’s residents appear after that, including the two new romance options Arata and Diana. 

From there, gameplay on the ranch is highlighted. We can grow crops in fields in front of the house. It’s also possible to raise cows, chickens, sheep, and alpaca. After that, we get to see how the winds in Zephyr Town allow us to process items at windmills to make things like perfume from flowers and cheese from milk. It’s possible to use a glider to more quickly get around the area. After that, we see how the weekly bazaar is the means of selling our produce and products or buy from others. Since there’s no shipping bin, this is our means of getting funds to grow our farms and do more.

Toward the end of the video, we get to see how we can interact with townsfolk. This could also mean finding love with certain bachelors and bachelorettes. It’s also possible to raise a family and have a child once married.

Here’s the full trailer:

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Switch, Switch 2, and PC on August 27, 2025, and the original Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar appeared on the DS worldwide.

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After playing both Islanders and Islanders: New Shores, I can’t help but think the former almost feels like a tech demo for the latter. It felt like a very pleasant strategic simulation about placing elements and buildings in situations that led to optimal point totals and moving forward. However, in almost every way Islanders: New Shores offersmore, introducing elements that make each run feel both strategic and roguelike. At the same time, the game maintains its a low-pressure, enjoyable atmosphere.

Each Islanders: New Shores run that doesn’t involve either a free play situation or loading up a past save from a traditional run to play around with it follows the same sense of progression. You come to an empty island in the ocean. You place different elements, such as resources like hops, seaweed farms, or fields and the buildings tied to them, buildings commonly associated with crafting, more religious ones like a mountain temple or a shaman, or city elements like a town center, homes, mansions, markets, and circuses. Depending on how you place them, there can be different reactions and you can earn (or lose) points. The updated UI makes it very easy to see how buildings and items affect each other, and it clearly shows the sphere of influence and point changes for each placement. To keep playing, you need to constantly fill an ever-growing circle to hit new point tiers. You also need to reach certain hallmarks to move onto new islands in each run. 

All of that should sound familiar, as it builds on concepts from the original Islanders, but Islanders: New Shores expands on the formula in every way. For example, there are far more buildings this time around. Some of these are more special items that might only start showing up in a run if you select them as a Boon or direction after completing an island and moving on to the next. Cliff houses are one example, as they are the standard versions of homes that can be built on vertical landmasses and ruin elements. An aviary with pigeons that continues to accumulate points between islands is another. So is a sort of pyre, with the points you get for the flame’s placement being tied to things like city structures. It makes it feel a lot more strategic, as some elements like the mountain-top temple, shaman, parks, fountains, and jewelers pretty much require you to think ahead and know “okay, this will come if I select this upgrade pack of new buildings after I get enough points to level up this island.” There are even different cosmetic options for some buildings, which is fun when you’re in the free-build mode.

Another roguelike element I love comes up as you accrue enough points to head to a new, fresh island in a run. There will be certain milestones as you wait to reach that point that allows you to choose between one of two kinds of rewards. These can grant you buffs, such as a structure will be smaller in size than usual for easier placement or won’t trigger negative points from being too close to a similar type of structure, buildings, immediate level ups, and other bonuses that make it easier to reach the level up and point milestones to progress. 

Once you do head to a new island in the same run, you also get to make another choice. You can always choose between two options, with each one offering two guaranteed changes. These tend to each offer a different type of biome for the new area and a new structure unlock. So if you want to move away from fishing and seaweed farm-based runs, you can choose one where water is replaced by lava. You can opt for the “fantasy” islands, which can offer bonuses for basically activating certain ruins. It adds more control to everything, which I love. 

And if it goes awry, it genuinely feels like it is no big deal. You can save an island in any point during your run to access in the free-build mode. (It’s also possible to start fresh there.) Free-build offers no restriction or limits dictated by points. Winning just means getting to build more, so needing to stop means you get to start fresh. 

The only downside I found is that RNG played a big part in exactly how well you might do in Islanders: New Shores. With your first two islands in a run during the campaign, you’re practically guaranteed to succeed and be able to continue on. However by the third one in pretty much every run, I noticed that the odds of failure were higher both due to higher point requirements and smaller landmasses. Granted, the more you play, the more accustomed you’ll get to these kinds of curveballs, but it might disappoint someone who played the original and was more accustomed to its gentler nature. 

Islanders: New Shores is, in every way, an improvement from the original Islanders. I found myself continually coming back to it due to the Boons, new array of buildings, and ability to select my “path” in each run. I would sometimes, instead of stepping away after a run, instead save and then immediately go into the free-play sandbox to add more to the island that tripped me up to make it look exactly how I wanted. It’s an incredibly pleasant strategy game. 

Islanders: New Shores will be available on the Switch, Xbox Series X, PS5, and PC on July 10, 2025. 

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The Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories playing cards, which are designed to resemble the cards used to make decks and attack in Chain of Memories and the PS2 remake, will be sold once again. The Japanese Square Enix e-Store listing is live ahead of its November 29, 2025 return. It will cost 3,080円 (~$21). 

This is a standard deck of playing, but they’re designed to look like the cards we used in both Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Re:Chain of Memories to attack. This means that many still feature the same designs of Keyblades and characters on them. In the bottom right corner of each, there’s a circle with the number/rank, and the suit is noted there as well. Each one has a crown shape at the top, just like the cards in-game. You end up with 54 cards total, with two being Jokers.

Here’s how those look:

We’ve seen these Kingdom Hearts playing cards before. They first showed up in September 2023. Those did appear worldwide, though the US Square Enix store doesn’t currently have a pre-order listing for this new run of the deck.

The Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories playing cards deck returns to Japan on November 29, 2025. The original Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories appeared on the GBA, and the remake showed up on the PS2. The PS2 version of the game is also found in Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix.

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During the Tekken Summer Updates trailer, we got to see the free DLC that will be available in both Atelier Yumia and Tekken 8 as part of the promised crossover event. The Gust JRPG’s cosmetics will be in Tekken 8 starting on July 8, 2025. The fighting game outfit and quest will be in the JRPG once July 23, 2025 arrives.

The Tekken 8 items are a bit more subdued. Two accessories will be in the free section and can be used with any character. One is a floating Puni slime that appears behind the fighter’s left shoulder. You can also get the special art for the crossover as a profile background, plates, and an avatar t-shirt. The other is an ahoge that resembles’ Yumia’s hair curl. 

The Atelier Yumia crossover with Tekken 8 seems a bit more involved. The portion of the Tekken Summer Updatesshows the start of a side quest that has Viktor sending Yumia to a certain place for a challenge. He also mentioned she should wear the outfit provided. The outfit is the Tekken Collab Costume that makes Yumia look like Reina. That mission involves facing a Heihachi Puni. 

You can see two screenshots of the additions below:

Here’s the full Tekken Summer Updates showcase. The Atelier Yumia and Tekken 8 discussion comes up at the 29 minute mark.

The last Atelier Yumia crossover involved another Bandai Namco series. A Tales of Graces f costume is available for free for the game.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is available for the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and PC. Tekken 8 is on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

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Square Enix released Final Fantasy IX in Japan on July 7, 2000, and it shared a special movie video and kicked off a 25th Anniversary official Fan Art Project to celebrate. This follows up on other promotions to honor this Final Fantasy title, like Zoff glasses and Adorable Arts figures. The art collection takes place between July 7, 2025 and October 31, 2025, and is divided by region. As an example, folks in North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, Africa, and some regions and Asia submit to one site and people in Japan turn in designs to another one.

First, here’s the Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary Special Movie. This video features major moments from this installment. As it does, the theme song “Melodies of Life” plays. There are some spoilers shown in it, particularly involving Dagger, so keep that in mind if you watch and aren’t familiar with this installment.

In the case of the Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary Fan Art Project, this is not a contest. It is a collection of works for display. If someone submits digital or pictures of non-digital art, it could be highlighted on the official site, during events, and on social media. People can submit on the site for their region. The notice did state “Please note that the presentation of the fan art, including any resizing, partial display, cropping, printing, modifications, or whether or not the nickname is displayed, will be determined at the discretion of SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd. Please submit your application only if you agree to these terms.” Submitted a work doesn’t guarantee Square Enix will use it, but if the company does the artist is granting a license to use it for promotional purposes for free.

Final Fantasy IX can be found on the PlayStation, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices. The 25th Anniversary Fan Art Project works can be submitted until October 31, 2025.

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Nova Hearts is such a fun idea for a game. Superheroes! Love! Feeling like you’re getting to be Sailor Moon finding your Tuxedo Mask! The problem is that while the visual novel mechanics well and it can sometimes be funny, the actual romance isn’t all that great and the turn-based RPG-style battles are the absolute worst. It’s such that I found myself wishing it was a more straightforward VN with no combat and maybe even no romance due to how awkward some relationship elements turn out.

Luce is back in her hometown of Vermillion after terrible experiences at college. A situation happened regarding performance in a class, nothing went as she hoped, and she’s in recovery mode at her mom’s. Except she doesn’t really get a chance. Her childhood friend Will and CJ, who they went to school with as kids, stop by and she’s soon headed to a party planned and executed by the guy behind her first kiss, Sasha. Except while there, strange monsters appear. Luce and CJ transform into super sentai, discover after the fact that Will possesses the same powers, and decide to protect the town as Luck, Chaos, and Wish. 

In general, I really appreciate the execution in Nova Hearts. The story is told through visual novel-style cutscenes and moments in which Luce is in her room texting people on her phone. Relationships develop as a result of responses, with an astrology app letting you see if you’re close to being friends or possible lovers with other individuals. Sometimes, these segments can be quite clever!

The weird thing is that the narrative and characterizations in Nova Hearts are at their most awkward and worst whenever romance is involved. Rather than actually getting to know people and see relationships develop naturally through conversations, such as in some life sims, JRPGs, and Japanese-made otome games, the execution here makes me feel like Lightbulb Crew is in a rush to immediately make things happen. Before you even get to know a person, you can essentially have Luce leering and awkwardly hitting on people. Sometimes the dialogue selections for them come across as such a cringe pickup line that I actually avoided making that choice in-game because it felt inappropriate to say to someone I’d just met. (This happens with Basile, as an example.) 

I felt like it got in the way of the plot too. Yes, we know going into it that Nova Hearts will feature dating sim elements and an opportunity to romance characters. But instead of that coming up as a complement to a story exploring what’s happening in Vermillion, why Luce, CJ, and Will gained powers, and stopping it, it feels like it forces its way into the forefront of everything. Luce just got back to town and very obviously going through a thing, so maybe the first thing her longtime friend shouldn’t be doing is encouraging her to find a hook up at a party? Childhood friend Sacha comes up? Talk about how not only he was Luce’s first kiss, but Will was dating him too. Learning combo moves? One of them is associated with a “romantic” rope-tying class. There is nothing wrong with being sex positive, but the way in which Shoreline Games wrote it makes every relationship come across as incredibly superficial, even with folks Luce is talking to on a regular basis. If I’m going to virtually flirt with someone and shoot for an ending with them, I should at least know who they are as a person. 

While the direction “dating” takes doesn’t exactly make the Nova Hearts romance options incredibly appealing, the turn-based combat system is one of the slowest and worst I’ve encountered. A set number of battles come up as part of the story during certain events. The general enemy designs are repeated throughout each “chapter,” with the boss featuring the only novel design. You’re forced to trudge through fights, selecting from only a handful of commands, though in my experience the only worthwhile options are anything with AOE to hopefully end things as quickly as possible. Even the most basic enemies feel like a slog and potentially a challenge since there’s no real “leveling up.” Your party members remain at a stagnant HP. Attacks will always do a fraction of damage to any opponent. Some of the bosses will involve pretty unfair attacks. It isn’t fun. You aren’t even getting to level up individual abilities in the “fitness” app at a brisk pace, since those will tend to require a minimum of 500 points. Combo attacks mean more waiting, since you need to try and sync up attack timing, and those can be helpful! But you’re limited to four equipped at a time instead of just… I don’t know… allowing me to use any combo I please in a game where combat crawls and a boss fight can be completely unfair at times?

I don’t think the Switch is the ideal platform for Nova Hearts either, as there are a number of technical issues. The biggest issue I encountered involved loading. There are substantial loading times between getting into the game, getting to the text message menu in Luce’s room between story segments and fights, and between fights and story segments again. If you aren’t spending an absurdly long time waiting to get through a battle, then you’re dealing with unexpectedly long loads to get to or from them. 

On the Switch, some bugs come up during those Nova Hearts fights too. During the first boss fight, an instance came up in which Wish fell during the fight to an attack from that foe. When she did, that opponent just… disappeared. Chaos and Luck attacked the enemy as usual, beating the character on their next turns, and then the effect animation for the one falling showed up where the person should have been. When I’d check the Power Up app during a fight to check enemy attacks or set ally combos, it’d often say “Power Name Very Long” instead of an actual opponent’s attack when in the enemy section, which was pretty weird. 

The concept behind Nova Hearts is good and I like some story elements, but I’m not a fan of its romance and hate its combat. The relationships come across as awkward and superficial, with the script never really providing reasons why I should want Luce to end up with anyone besides “they’re hot.” The combat crawls along, is unenjoyable, and doesn’t feel fair sometimes. Top it all off with some issues with the Switch version, and I’d say it’s best to look to other dating sims on the system.

Nova Hearts is available for the Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

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