Games

New Game Releases 03/24/26 – 03/30/26

Top Releases:

  • Life is Strange: Reunion (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 26th
  • Marvel MaXimum Collection (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 27th
  • Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 27th
  • Ariana and the Elder Codex (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Mar. 24th
  • Neopets: Mega Mini Games Collection (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Mar. 26th
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Bellabel Park (Switch 2) – Releases Mar. 26th
  • Borderlands 4: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 26th

I’m a little surprised how much longevity the Life is Strange series has shown, more than ten years after its debut entry. For its latest entry, Reunion, the franchise is now six titles deep and features the return of protagonist Chloe which, I’m to understand, is quite shocking. Pre-release discussion has indicated that Reunion marks the end of Max & Chloe’s story, at least until Square Enix needs this series to make money for them, again.

Life is Strange: Reunion (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 26th

Developed by: Deck Nine
Published by: Square Enix

Life is Strange: Reunion is pretty much the only major, original title coming out this week. The rest of our games are a mish-mash of retro collections, expansions, and smaller titles. First up for discussion is the Marvel MaXimum Collection from Limited Run Games that contains several Marvel video games from the 8-bit & 16-bit era. These are:

  • X-Men: The Arcade Game from Konami (Arcade)
  • Captain America and The Avengers from Data East (Arcade, Genesis, and NES)
  • Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage from Software Creations (SNES and Genesis)
  • Spider-Man/Venom: Separation Anxiety from Software Creations (SNES and Genesis)
  • Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge from Software Creations & Unexpected Development (SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, and Game Gear)
  • Silver Surfer from Software Creations (NES)

Expect all of the bells & whistles you’d expect from a modern retro collection; art galleries, online multiplayer, music player, rewind feature, save states, etc.

Marvel MaXimum Collection (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 27th

Developed by: Limited Run Games
Published by: Limited Run Games

Our other big collection this week is the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection. Featuring all versions of the three Mega Man Star Force games (seven games in total), players will finally be able to check out these very rare, hard to find DS titles for a reasonable price!

In smaller releases, we have Ariana and the Elder Codex, an action/RPG from the team at the Japanese developers, Hyde and Compile Heart, led by Aoki Hiroshi, the developer behind Rune Factory 4 & 5, Dariusburst, and Psychic Force. Already released in Japan back in 2025, the game was positively received by critics, receiving a score of 30/40 from Weekly Famitsu. There’s also a new NeoPets game, Mega Mini Games Collection, if you care about that.

Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 27th

Developed by: Capcom
Published by: Capcom

Ariana and the Elder Codex (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Mar. 24th

Developed by: Hyde/Compile Heart
Published by: Idea Factory

Neopets: Mega Mini Games Collection (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Mar. 26th

Developed by: No Gravity Games
Published by: Sidewalk Games

Closing things out, we have Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and its expansion, Meetup in Bellabel Park. The Switch 2 version of the game comes with the expected lift in resolution and performance, while adding two new playable characters, Rosalina & Luma, and promising some kind of interaction with the seven Koopalings. Meetup in Bellabell Park is a separate game mode where players will compete in multiplayer mingames and take on exciting new challenges that will test their platforming limits to the max.

Last up, we have a new expansion for Borderlands 4, Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned. Players will have the opportunity to play as a brand new vault hunter named C4SH and team up with fan-favorite character Ellie, exploring the new area, Whispering Glacier. Developer Gearbox promises that this is the largest Borderlands 4 expansion to date, featuring tons of new quests, side missions, activities, boss fights, weapons, and gear.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park (Switch 2) – Releases Mar. 26th

Developed by: Nintendo EPD
Published by: Nintendo

Borderlands 4 – Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 26th

Developed by: Gearbox
Published by: 2K

Ports and Expansions:

  • Disney Dreamlight Valley (Switch 2) – Releases Mar. 25th
  • The Midnight Walk (Switch 2) – Releases Mar. 25th
  • Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage (Switch 2) – Releases Mar. 25th
  • Devil Jam (PS4/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 26th
  • ICARUS: Console Edition (PS5) – Releases Mar. 26th
  • New Super Lucky’s Tale (PS5) – Releases Mar. 26th

I’ve already gone over the two major expansions and port, but we do have a bunch of smaller titles hitting consoles this week, particularly on the Switch 2. If you stay away from PC gaming, or don’t have multiple consoles, this is a good time to jump in on a game you’ve heard about but haven’t gotten a chance to play.

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Games:

In notable releases, 2016 gave us Hyper Light Drifter, an action/RPG that is heavily inspired by A Link to the Past. Conceived of by Alx Preston, Hyper Light Drifter was created as a way for Preston to express his thoughts and feelings on a congenital heart disease that had been with him since birth. In the game, players take on the role of the Drifter, a nomadic warrior who wanders a vast wasteland, using ancient technology to protect himself. The Drifter suffers from an unspecified illness and it will, at times, hinder players on their quest, as they battle tough enemies using the Drifter’s energy sword.

Most critics had a favorable view of Hyper Light Drifter, giving high praise to the game’s visuals, sound, and combat. The story was a point of division, however, with some critics really enjoying the purposefully vague story and lack of spoken dialogue, while others found it to be a little too obtuse and confusing, to the point that it sometimes made the game feel pointless (perhaps that, in itself, is a commentary on living with an illness you can’t cure).

At the end of the year awards shows, Hyper Light Drifter was heavily recognized by multiple outlets. While it did not win any trophies at The Game Awards of the DICE Awards, it did pick up wins at GDC’s Independent Games Festival, Excellence in Visual Art and the Audience Award. A prequel, Hyper Light Breaker, was released into early access in January of 2025. A full launch was initially planned for a 2026 release, the studio developing the game, Heart Machine, was hit with financial troubles, putting the future of this release into question.

From 2006, we have the game Kingdom Hearts II. Folks, what can I say about this game that hasn’t already been covered countless times by countless other pundits? A little backstory, I suppose; initially released in Japan in December of 2005, KH2 would come stateside in March of 2006 where it was a massive commercial hit, moving over 1 million copies in just the first week. It was critically acclaimed, earning high praise from just about every video game outlet of the day, though it failed to earn any Game of the Year trophies or nominations. The best it seemed to get was a win at the Spike VGA’s for Rachel Leigh Cook’s voice performance, and two awards from G-Phoria (Voice Acting and Best Soundtrack).

If, for some reason, you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20+ years, Kingdom Hearts is an action/RPG which fuses characters and locations from the Final Fantasy series and the Disney universe (as time went on, however, the Final Fantasy references would take a back seat to Disney). Players take on the role of a young man named Sora who, along with Donald Duck & Goofy, goes on a quest to save his friends, his worlds, and himself, from a group of creatures called the Heartless. With a hack & slash gameplay style, mixed with various command prompts to perform special attacks, Kingdom Hearts has gone on to become both one of the most beloved, and most confusing, video game franchises of all-time.

Personally, KH2 is where I dropped off; hard. The amount of time and effort it took to keep up with all the various storylines and characters was too much for me and I quickly became lost in a sea of oddly named characters and their shifting motives and alliances. That hasn’t stopped the franchise, however, it’s been going strong these last two decades and has, arguably, only gotten more popular. A fourth mainline entry in the series is currently being developed, though new information on the game has completely dried up, leaving fans to wonder just when they’ll be able to answer the question to that thing they need answers for.

From 1996, we’ve got the game Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands, for PC. This was the eleventh game in the series and the first to not feature any marketing in regards to the series’ original developer/publisher, Infocom. Like its predecessors, Zork Nemesis is an adventure game and, like its contemporaries, works in a point & click format as opposed to the text entry style of its early entries. Another way in which Zork Nemesis followed the current gaming trends of the era, the game features several live action, FMV sequences, with a large cast filmed against green screens.

While many of the earlier Zork games featured heavy use of humor in its storytelling, Nemesis went for a more serous, darker tone. In the game, players find themselves in the world of Zork, tasked with locating four missing people and their children. Over the course of the game, the player uncovers a sinister plot at the hands of a being called “Nemesis”, which they must thwart.

Zork Nemesis was mostly well received by critics, who praised its graphics and sound design. While it was recognized by many outlets as one of the best adventure games of 1996, it would often lose that title to other games in the genre, including The Neverhood, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, and The Pandora Directive. Sales-wise, Zork Nemesis did very well for publisher Activision, with it being one of their top selling titles of the year. You can easily pick up a copy today on Steam, if you’re looking to fill out your retro collection, so give it a look!

Movies:

In notable films, 2016 gave us The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the third and final entry in a four part series. “How can the third entry be the last part of a four film series“, you might be asking. Well, that’s because Allegiant was so poorly received that its planned fourth film was never made. Now, Divergent only has three books, so why make three movies? Well just like Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games, Allegiant’s producers thought it would be really cool to split the last book into two parts, because everyone else did! Sadly (or, maybe not sadly, based on the critical reception to the film), Allegiant would not get a proper send off, leaving the story unfinished, making fans turn to a *GASP* book, in order to see how it all ended.

From 2006, we have the film Thank You For Smoking, the debut feature film from writer/director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman). A satirical, dark comedy, Thank You For Smoking tells the story of a tobacco lobbyist (played by Aaron Eckhart), who is kidnapped by a group of anti-smoking fanatics which leads him down a path of public ridicule and self-reflection.

Hailed by critics as one of the best films of 2006, it would receive two Golden Globe nominations (Best Picture – Musical or Comedy & Best Actor for Eckhart), but would fail to get any Oscar nods, or even an Independent Spirt Award nomination. It’s also interesting to note that that the film was financed by several members of the “PayPal Mafia”, including Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Elon Musk. If you’re curious why, it’s likely because the film is based on a novel by notable conservative author Christopher Buckley. At one point, Mel Gibson was attached to star & direct the film, but had to bow out when no studio would agree to distribute the movie.

Thank You For Smoking would go on to gross nearly $40 million, worldwide, a respectable number for a first time director. The success of the film showed the studios that Jason Reitman was competent and worth spending money on. His next two films, Juno and Up in the Air would both do significantly better, financially than Smoking, and would both earn Academy Awards nods (and wins). Reitman’s work output has slowed in recent years, as has his critical acclaim, but I’m sure he’s got some more good work left in him and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

From 1996, we have the film Fargo, arguably one of the greatest American films of all-time. Written and directed by the Coen Brothers, Fargo is a dark comedy/film noir crime caper in which a sad sack car salesman hires two dimwitted criminals to kidnap his wife in an attempt to extort money from his father-in-law. Like all good film noir pictures, the crime does not go as planned, leading to chaos and wood chippers.

Featuring a dynamite cast, including William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare as the crooks, the film is held together by the brilliant Frances McDormand as the small town police chief who cracks the entire case wide open. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning two, Best Actress for McDormand, and Best Original Screenplay for the Coens. It would lose Best Picture (to The English Patient…), Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (for Macy), Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Fargo was a cultural touchstone and is easily one of the best films of the 1990’s. While it would not get any sequel films, it did spawn a spin-off television series in 2014 which has, as of now, five seasons. I absolutely LOVE Fargo, it’s one of my all-time favorite films and, if for some reason, you have never seen it, stop reading this and go watch it!

Albums:

In notable albums, 2016 saw the release of This Is What the Truth Feel Like from Gwen Stefani. The album is a commentary on her failed relationship with Gavin Rossdale and her subsequent relationship with new beau, Blake Shelton. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and had a couple singles that did pretty well.

Moving on, from 2006, we have the album At War with the Mystics from the psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips. The highly anticipated follow-up to their mainstream breakthrough, Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots, Mystics peaked at #11 on the Billboard Top 200. It wasn’t just the success of Yoshimi that brought the album to #11, Mystics was supported by the hit single, “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” which, if you went to a movie from 2006 until 2008, you were guaranteed to hear in at least one trailer.

While the album isn’t as instantly mind blowing as Yoshimi, it does contain a slew of absolutely incredible songs that I listen to weekly, AT LEAST, including “The Sound of Failure / It’s Dark… Is It Always This Dark??”, “It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big… I Am So Small… Do I Stand a Chance?”, “Mr. Ambulance Driver”, “Haven’t Got a Clue”, “Pompeii am Götterdämmerung” and, probably my favorite track on the entire album, “Vein of Stars”.

At War with the Mystics would receive three Grammy nominations, winning two, Best Rock Instrumental Performance (for “The Wizard Turns On… The Giant Silver Flashlight And Puts On His Werewolf Moccasins”) and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. It would lose Best Alternative Album to St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley.

Closing this out this week, from 1996, we’ve got The Coming, the debut album from rapper Busta Rhymes. While Busta was a well respected rapper and producer for nearly a decade beforehand, having appeared on such high profile songs as “Scenario” by A Tribe Called Quest, he didn’t hit the mainstream until the release of his first single, “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check”. The song would rocket to the #8 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and received heavy airplay on MTV through most of 1996.

The album itself would reach #6 on the Billboard Top 200, eventually hitting platinum status, becoming the 105th best selling album of 1996 in the United States. Despite the massive sales and critical acclaim, The Coming would only receive one Grammy nomination, Best Rap Solo Performance for “Woo-Hah”, and would lose to “Hey Lover” by LL Cool J.

Hyper Light Drifter (PC) – Released Mar. 31st, 2016

Notable Film Release: The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz, Maggie Q, Ray Stevenson, Bill Skarsgård, Octavia Spencer, and Naomi Watts
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Gwen Stefani – This Is What the Truth Feels Like
Click here to listen to the album

Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) – Released Mar. 28th, 2006

Notable Film Release: Thank You For Smoking – Starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J. K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics
Click here to listen to the album

Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands (PC) – Released Mar. 25th, 1996

Notable Film Release: Fargo – Starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Harve Presnell, and Peter Stormare
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Busta Rhymes – The Coming
Click here to listen to album

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