Fun concept but who is this for? My son immediately said he wanted this but I don't know I could keep this one more than a couple hours.

The new Super Mario Galaxy movie will come to theaters April 1st and my son and I are excited to check it out. He's excited to see Yoshi on screen and to help get in the Mario Galaxy mood I started replaying Mario Galaxy on Switch 2. The Mario Galaxy / Mario Galaxy 2 Switch game upscales to 4K on the Switch 2 and looks fantastic! In looking more at this trailer it seems there is a mashup of mario games included and yet I'm curious to see how much of Mario Galaxy they incorporate into the film. Rosalina? Luma Star? I guess we'll know on April 1st.

Hearing that the collection of Zork games is Open Source is incredible news and I salute Microsoft for doing this! 🫡

"Today, we’re preserving a cornerstone of gaming history that is near and dear to our hearts. Together, Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office (OSPO), Team Xbox, and Activision are making Zork I, Zork II, and Zork III available under the MIT License. Our goal is simple: to place historically important code in the hands of students, teachers, and developers so they can study it, learn from it, and, perhaps most importantly, play it."

https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-code-that-shaped-generations-zork-i-ii-and-iii-go-open-source

If you look at the Cheerful Ghost coverage of Mewgenics, we've been following this game since 2013. Well, it's come a long way since then and the entire history of the game pre-launch has been captured in a NoClip documentary I've linked. Check it out!

One of my most beloved tech YouTube channels just announced that they are fully independent! This is good news if you are a fan of independent media and don't love large companies buying everything then a little while later shutting it down. With that, Digital Foundry has purchased back IGN's stake in it to be fully independent and are now looking to expand. Digital Foundry reviews video games and it's focus is on the nerdier side of how those games perform on modern hardware. They also have a retro focus which I've shared quite a bit here on Cheerful Ghost.

"Amazing news! Digital Foundry has parted ways with IGN and we've bought their shareholding in the business. What this means is that from now on, all aspects of DF are decided upon by DF. We answer to nobody but you, the audience. We are fully independent, we’re proud of that, we think it’s the future of games media - but how far we push, how ambitious we want to be... well, that's where YOU come in. Rich, John and Alex discuss the news in this brand new episode of DF Direct."

Nightdive Studios is back with an all new remaster, this time of the classic shooters Heretic & Hexen. Folks have been asking for remasters of both these games for quite a while so it's good that they've finally come with a ton of old and news levels to play!

• Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders


• Hexen: Beyond Heretic


• Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel


• Two all-new episodes created in collaboration between individuals at id Software + Nightdive Studios:




• Heretic: Faith Renewed


• Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur

Game also ships with all new Online, Local, Cooperative and Deathmatch Multiplayer – with Cross-Platform play as well as a classic art vault and entirely new soundtrack!

"Step into the definitive re-release of two dark spell-casting shooters that shaped the genre. This enhanced restoration makes Heretic + Hexen available to new audiences and long-time fans with expanded accessibility across more platforms and languages than ever before. "

https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en-US/article/heretic-hexen-release-notes

In my opinion, Mario Paint is one of the best games that came out on the Super Nintendo. It's a hard game to play without original hardware as it requires the Super Nintendo mouse but now that Switch 2 comes with mouse functionality, Nintendo has included Mario Paint in Nintendo Online. It has all the features of the original Mario Paint including the incredible Fly Swatter game, which is a favorite of my son and I. I've loved this game for a long time and I hope now Nintendo finally has the drive to remake this Mario Maker style. A modern Mario Paint game where fans can share art, music and more would be incredible. Plus they could go fairly hard in remaking the Fly Swatter game, which the world needs to heal us all in these difficult times.

Looks like EA is finally giving Plants VS Zombies the long awaited remaster treatment in Plants VS Zombies: Replanted. Looks like the game is coming to all the modern systems including some new stuff like co-op and pvp. Not sure if I'll pick this up on PC or Switch but it's certainly something I will get and I'm hoping it has a physical release.

"The classic Plants vs. Zombies returns in glorious HD. DANG! After years in Crazy Dave’s attic, the original battle between Plants and Zombies is back — bigger, brighter, and crazier than ever before! Experience the game that started it all, now remastered with upscaled HD graphics and packed with new secrets to uncover. Revisit the epic backyard standoffs you remember, this time with new levels, fresh twists, and 15 years of never-before-seen franchise history at your fingertips. Relive the glory days of peashooters, sunflowers, and brain-hungry chaos! Rejoin the ultimate garden defense, and experience the backyard brawl that started a phenomenon — now back for a new era."

"In a special presentation, Alex Battaglia takes a look at Doom past and present, discussing the massive technological leap delivered by John Carmack back in 1993 - and the vastly expensive technology required to get playable frame-rates - through to the extra scope and demands of Doom 2 and the incredible per-pixel lighting of Doom 3. It's a series defined by technological innovation pushing PC hard - as exemplified by our final game in focus - Doom: The Dark Ages.

The Switch 2 has solidly launched and seems to be selling faster than any console in recent times. As part of the Switch 2 launch Nintendo has released some free graphical upgrades to many first party titles including the top down Zelda games Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom. I've linked a Digital Foundry video that side by sides many of the upgrades. Switch 2 being backwards compatible is one of the best features of the system and in some cases, the games are running a lot better with these graphical lifts. I'm personally looking forward to replaying Link's Awakening in glorious 4K 60!

https://mynintendonews.com/2025/07/01/nintendo-has-now-sold-over-5-million-nintendo-switch-2-consoles-worldwide/