Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
Good day, Nintendo Lifers. We’re here once more to carefully open your digital missives as we open the door and put the little flag down on the Nintendo Life Mailbox.
Got something you want to get off your chest? We’re ready and waiting to read about your game-related ponderings. Each month we’ll highlight a Star Letter, the writer of which will receive a month’s subscription to our ad-free Supporter scheme. Check out the submission guidelines at the bottom of this page.
It’s November, which means games are being launched at us like T-shirts from one of those cannons we’ve only ever seen on The Simpsons. So let’s crack on quickly so we can get back to cramming for GOTY a month from now…
Nintendo Life Mailbox – November 2025
“gramers” (***STAR LETTER***)
Okay, real talk. Grammar talk for grammar-conscious gamers: gramers.
Where do you stand on the use of ‘release’ as an intransitive verb? As in, “the game releases next month.”
It feels like it’s become increasingly popular over the last few years, even in official advertising, though I could just be growing more sensitive to it.
Most dictionaries list only the transitive use (“the game _was_ released (by Nintendo)”/“Nintendo released the game”), but that doesn’t seem to be holding people back from using the verb sans object.
Is this a new thing, or has it been around for as long as video games have been… releasing?
I consider myself to be more of a descriptivist than a prescriptivist, so try not to object to the lack of object. But I want to here you’re professional opinions on this mater as experiensed righters with a cute sence off prefect grammer & speling, ect.
Maxz
Very good. That last sentence got me twitching.
I don’t care for it. However, ‘it releases’ is so common, I gave in and use it myself these days. It doesn’t sound unnatural to my ear anymore, and mixing it up with ‘launches’ gives some lexical variety.
Anyhow, the grammar police have larger problems with which to concern themselves. I’m currently playing whack-a-mole with ‘addicting’. And let’s not start on the true grammatical evil of our times, ‘I could care less’… *retches, weeps, withers* – Ed.
“boulder-falling”
With “Close to You” as Nintendo Picture’s first in house produced short film, I wonder if we’ll see dormant Nintendo franchises rise from the ashes in the form of animations. It’s a lot less of a time and monetary investment to make an animation, than it is to make a new AAA game. Nintendo could make short animations of dormant franchises to truly gauge interest on if a new game would be of interest to them. Imagine an F-Zero race fully animated to be as cinematic as possible or the Golden Sun boulder-falling intro animated like a Miyazaki film.
These are just a few ideas off the top of my head, but what would you like to see, and more importantly, do you think positive reception to animations could result in new games?
Kazman2007
It’s a nice idea, but I don’t see it happening. A cinematic F-Zero race would be awesome for four minutes, and then talk would immediately turn to the reason behind the short. “We just wanted to do something neat!” wouldn’t be good enough for diehard fans. They/we would feel snubbed, duped, trolled, despite the cool F-Zero thing.
Pikmin is a going concern for Nintendo; they just updated Pikmin 4, all the other games are on Switch, and Pikmin Bloom is still trucking along. Even if they’re essentially training exercises for Nintendo Pictures, they’re not going to waste their marketing potential on IP you can’t buy.
Fingers crossed for a Rhythm Heaven short next year, then. – Ed.
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
“every single box”
Hey, Nintendo Life!
Recently, due to its appearance on this site, I picked up Trails in the Sky 1st chapter, and I absolutely adored it. I’m on the next game in the series (on my PC, unfortunately.) and I really do feel like I found a franchise that checks every single box of what I love in a game. Fantastic OST, a giant focus on character interactions, a JRPG, general more cozy vibes, and I just love the characters and the world. The only other game I’ve felt like is made expressly for me isn’t even out yet! (Hazuki Dies: She Has No Name on steam, check out the demo)
Two things. First, thank you for featuring Trails the 1st on your website Nintendo Life! I really do appreciate it. Second, have any of y’all found that “perfect game series” for yourself? I’m curious.
Regardless, thanks for what you do! I really appreciate it.
Bluelink45
And we appreciate you, Bluelink! If it’s done well, I can’t think of a genre I flat-out don’t like, which, conversely, makes picking out a ‘perfect’ series tough. Pikmin, perhaps? That has a brilliant mix going on, but really it’s variety that keeps me going.
‘This is a game about trauma’ in the PR blurb is a personal red flag right now – I’m looking forward to when I’m not noping outta there for self-preservation purposes. Fortunately, variety is Switch’s greatest strength, and Nintendo’s forte is upbeat vibes and playful locomotion. Speaking of which… – Ed.
“good guesses”
Hi Nintendo Life,
Been a member of this fabulous community for a good while now and this is the first time I’m writing to you folks.
I know you folks aren’t Nintendo themselves, but any good guesses on when the next 3D Mario game would get announced/released for the Switch 2? The mainline Super Mario series is my favorite game series of all time and I’d love to see what kind of adventures await Mario on Nintendo’s newest console. And yes I did play Donkey Kong Bananza – it’s a good game for sure. But I really want that next 3D Mario!
Hope you’re all having a lovely day.
D-Star92
We’re all waiting for the next proper 3D Mario, but trying to predict Nintendo is a fool’s game. Fortunately, I am that fool, so let’s say *peers into the middle distance while opening a tab on the laptop and looking at decades of Nintendo Direct dates*…
Wednesday 10th June announcement for a Thursday 10th September release. You heard it here first, folks! Pulled that one right out of my… mind. – Ed.
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
“lukewarm”
Mario Kart World Appreciation
(Sorry if this letter is too long!)I continue to be surprised by the lukewarm reception for Mario Kart World. The dismissiveness seems to come from people who aren’t aware of the high skill ceiling and depth of gameplay. In a way, I understand the opinion, because I agree that plodding along the main path through a track like Salty Salty Speedway is pretty boring. The thing is, people who love Mario Kart World don’t race that way. We are lining up for wall rides and rail combinations that often allow us to skip over entire sections of the track. Eventually, a racer starts to see water as an obstacle to be avoided (because it’s slower than other surfaces) instead of as the inevitable path. Add in the strategic decisions about when and where to most effectively use items and which of the multiple routes is best for the moment and you have a game with a ton of depth and replayability.
Even though Mario Kart is a classic for casual gaming, I wish more people would take the little next step of really learning a track in Time Trials. First, watch the included Nintendo staff ghost to see the main shortcuts and understand how it looks to race a clean line. Once you can beat the staff ghost, if you dare, look at the ludicrous world record ghost to see just how high the skill ceiling goes. You start to see that you’re losing time with slightly sloppy corners and by overlooking creative turbo boost opportunities, not to mention the truly advanced moves like jumping off the track on turns to wall ride along the skinny edge of the road instead and chaining shortcut combinations that emerge where genius Nintendo track design meets ridiculous skill. (Did Nintendo design that crazy shortcut intentionally? You never really know!) There are levels to the skill ceiling and you start to see just how much risk and difficulty you are willing to take on in Time Trials and then also out in your other favorite game modes, too.
By the way, count me in among the fans clamoring for updates. I absolutely am hoping for more tracks, a dedicated mode for classic 3-lap races, and 200cc. The idea I’ve seen about more elaborate missions in Free Roam for things like unlocking new characters or tracks could be pretty neat, too. But goshdarnit, I love Mario Kart World already! It’s given me stretches of gaming bliss that are becoming rarer as the years go by (to the point of nearly activating parental controls on myself after staying up playing until 2:00 AM for a third night in a row). Happy racing everybody!
Scott
I agree there’s oodles of depth and World will be my default Mario Kart for years to come – I just haven’t played it in a while because of everything else!
And we’re definitely going to be getting updates. I hear they sold quite a few copies of this. – Ed.
“a level of fun”
I’m at the point where I feel I need to stop buying Pokémon games. I was looking at the flat, N64-level wall textures in Legends Z-A and finally, the veil has been lifted.
I’ve been loyally buying Pokémon games as a habit throughout the whole series, and having a level of fun with them. Generally though it’s more just to play the new one because I played the old one. They have had very little innovation over the decades. This is the most profitable entertainment franchise in the world and comparing the love and effort put in to Zelda, Mario, and many others – not to mention indie games with thought and love put into every frame – frustrates me to no end. We expect so little from them and they respect their loyal fans so little.
At this point, I won’t lose much by missing the next entry in Pokémon and I’ll be voting with my dollar.
Barton
I agree that ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough for games like this. There’s no shortage of software out there, and given the last generation of Pokémon games, you’ll probably survive sitting the next one out and investing that dollar in a good handful of indie gems instead.
Or just wait a few months and see how things pan out. Being there day one to be part of the conversation is nice, but the games aren’t going anywhere. – Ed.
“excited for a Bubsy”
You know, I’m always a fan of a good redemption arc. Bubsy 4D is coming soon (that demo was actually fantastic) and it leaves me baffled I’m excited for a Bubsy game, but here we are.
Then again it’s being made by Fabraz, who made the amazing Demon Turf (easy recommend btw) and are also making its sequel, Demon Tides, which looks gorgeous.
To a lesser extent, Yooka Replaylee just came out and the general consensus is pretty glowing.
Any good gaming redemption stories you can think of? Cheers lads. Happy gaming!
Lewis
Cyberpunk springs to mind immediately. No Man’s Sky, definitely (thanks, Jim). It can happen! There’s still hope for Mighty No.9! Maybe when I get my 3DS code… – Ed.
Image: Alex Olney / Nintendo Life
Bonus Letters
“Please Nintendo, Navi says “Listen!” But will you?” – YoshiTails
*takes out Airpods* Sorry, what was that? – Ed.
“Just wanted to check in and see if you had a chance to consider our idea on enhancing home environments for better health.” – Dennis
Nah, you’re alright, Dennis. – Ed.
“Hey there! Just popping back into your inbox to see if you’re ready to unlock the secrets of stellar data collection.” – Randall
As in data from the cosmos or just really top-notch data collection? Dennis might have been off-topic, but at least he was clear. Please be more specific with your spam, Randall. – Ed.
Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
Blockity, block, block, block. Okay, that’s enough for this month. Thanks to everyone who wrote in, whether you were featured above or not.
Got something you’d like to get off your chest? A burning question you need answered? A correction you can’t contain? Follow the instructions below, then, and we look forward to rifling through your missives.
Nintendo Life Mailbox submission advice and guidelines
- Letters, not essays, please – Bear in mind that your letter may appear on the site, and 1000 words ruminating on the Legend of Heroes series and asking Alana for her personal ranking isn’t likely to make the cut. Short and sweet is the order of the day. (If you’re after a general guide, 100-200 words would be ample for most topics.)
- Don’t go crazy with multiple correspondences – Ideally, just the one letter a month, please!
- Don’t be disheartened if your letter doesn’t appear in the monthly article – We anticipate a substantial inbox, and we’ll only be able to highlight a handful every month. So if your particular letter isn’t chosen for the article, please don’t get disheartened!
How to send a Letter to the Nintendo Life Mailbox
- Head to Nintendo Life’s Contact page and select the subject “Reader Letters” from the drop-down menu (it’s already done for you in the link above). Type your name, email, and beautifully crafted letter into the appropriate box, hit send, and boom — you’re done!
Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy.