Shark Dentist, a new PC game from developer Alice Games, is exactly what it sounds like: you are a shark dentist who must perform dental work on anaesthetized sharks, but if you mess up, they might wake up in pain and rip your head off.

There's a lot more to it than that, though. You'll have to manage anasthesia doses and oxygen levels; monitor the shark's pulse; administer drugs; work on teeth with circular saws, drills, and mirrors; and more – all the while the deadliest creature on earth hangs suspended from the ceiling just inches from your face.

There will also be randomized events to deal with that will keep you on your toes, like pain spikes and tool malfunctions as well as debuffs. Be sure to watch the trailer at the top of this page to see what happens when things go badly, and be sure to wishlist Shark Dentist on Steam if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

It wouldn't be Amazon Prime Day without some steep discounts on gaming peripherals. While there are plenty of amazing deals to take advantage of right now, Razer currently has dozens of gaming mice on sale for the four-day event, with some models nearly 50% off.

This is a great time to upgrade some of your aging gaming gear, but don't wait too long. Prime Day ends on July 11, and at these prices, some of these mice are likely to sell out.

Razer Gaming Mouse Deals at Amazon Today

Razer makes some of the best gaming mice around, so anytime you can catch them on sale it's worth checking out. One standout deal this year is the DeathAdder V3 Pro, which is currently on sale for less than $90. That's only about $10 more than its smaller brother, the DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed (which we gave a 9 in our review, by the way). The DeathAdder V3 Pro is a standout gaming mouse that features an ultralight design and auto-calibrates to work on nearly any surface – including glass.

For FPS players, the Viper V2 Pro Hyperspeed is nearly half off its regular price of $150 and one of the best options around for competitive play. At just 58 grams, it's an ultra lightweight mouse that features optical switches for incredibly fast and accurate clicks. It also boasts a 90-hour battery life, ensuring you don't run out of juice during a crucial moment.

The standard DeathAdder V3 and Cobra wired models are also on sale if wired mice are more your speed. These mice include many of the same features as their wireless counterparts without the added hassle of remembering to recharge batteries.

Save an extra 30% off Amazon Resale items

If you're looking to upgrade additional PC components, Amazon currently has an additional 30% off thousands of resale items, including graphics cards, M.2 SSDs, processors, and more.

Matthew Adler has written for IGN since 2019 covering all things gaming, tech, tabletop games, and more. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.

Amazon’s Prime Day has been a goldmine for gaming deals, and that includes gaming-adjacent deals like LEGO’s The Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree set, a nostalgia-packed 2-in-1 build that’s now down from £259.99 to £212.40. That’s nearly 20% off the usual price.

With anticipation for Fallout Season 2, fans are wondering if Bethesda will capitalize on the smash hit Amazon show in a more significant way this time around.

Fallout Season 1 hit Prime Video in April 2024 and was an instant breakout hit. While the show’s popularity sparked a flood of new players across all Fallout games, Bethesda — and by extension parent company Microsoft — failed to make the most of it with, for example, the release of a new Fallout game.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer ended up insisting that everyone involved benefited from the show’s success, and that not having a new game lined up for the launch “gave us some creative liberty that [we] wouldn't have had if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time.”

That mention of “creative liberty” is a reference to the Fallout TV show’s canon status within the Fallout timeline, and the fact it takes place after all the existing Fallout games. While this has meant Fallout lore fans have analyzed the TV show to within an inch of its life, its creators were able to move on from what’s gone before and tell a brand new story. If a new post-Fallout 4 video game had come out at the same time, Bethesda and the TV showrunners would have faced a tricky job ensuring all their Fallout timeline ducks were in a row.

But will Microsoft and Bethesda fail to capitalize on Season 2 of the Fallout show? When it comes to Fallout 76, at least, it sounds like tie-in content is indeed planned.

Speaking to Variety, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush said the development team is “always focused on the game,” but confirmed the two teams (TV show and video games) do talk to each other about “lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show.”

“I think a distinct trait of the Fallout 76 game is that we’re the furthest back in time,” he said. “And it’s kind of funny, because the show’s the furthest into the future. So there’s a lot of room where we don’t necessarily need to overlap. There are some things that we could overlap the stories, that could exist, but we largely try to keep those pretty simple.

“So the show is very effective storytelling, great storytelling, very Fallout, being made by folks that are big fans of the game and the series, and so are we. The two go together really well. So folks see the show and want more of that same kind of story, and they’re going to come into 76, they’re going to come into Fallout 4, or come into Fallout 3.

“Lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show, it’s stuff that we talk about all the time, and we do have plans for things here and there. I’m not going to go into detail on any of those now, but the two teams do talk to one another.”

So, we don’t know what exactly Bethesda is planning for the launch of Fallout Season 2, but we do know something is in the works for Fallout 76. There are still a lot of unanswered questions. For one, we don’t have a Fallout Season 2 release date yet. Could Bethesda have a new Fallout video game in the works to go alongside the show? There is about as much anticipation for a new Fallout game as there is for Fallout Season 2 — and the speculation to go along with it as remaster and remake rumors swirl.

But perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath. In June last year, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard said he wasn't interested in rushing the next Fallout game out the door.

"For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76... we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that," he said. "The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling."

Of course, a brand new Fallout game is coming down the pipe, with Howard confirming Fallout 5 is in the long-term plan, potentially after The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out. As for Fallout Season 2, it's off to New Vegas, the setting of Obsidian's much-loved Fallout: New Vegas.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

ARK: Aquatica — the new expansion for ARK: Survival Evolved — finally has a release date, and it's soon: July 15, to be precise.

Snail Games announced its "in-house developed new expansion map, Ark: Aquatica" at GDC in March. The studio described the expansion as a non-canonical side story to Ark in “an ambitious underwater setting featuring 95% of gameplay taking place beneath the surface." However, the Ark: Survival Evolved expansion trailer released alongside the announcement was resoundingly condemned after fans discovered evidence of generative AI imagery.

OG developer Studio Wildcard immediately distanced itself from the discussion, clarifying on social media that Ark: Aquatica was not being developed by its team. It also revealed Ark: Lost Colony, a new expansion for Ark: Survival Ascended that will lead into the sequel, although since missing its previously planned late 2024 release window, the future of Ark 2 remains unclear.

ARK: Aquatica introduces the first submerged ARK with above-water islands, "challenging players with new survival mechanics, extreme environmental hazards, a huge explorable map area, and unique gameplay elements".

The underwater biome adds 21 new tameable creatures, 74 new Engrams — including seven tek Engrams — and underwater survival thanks to features like air pockets and propulsion vehicles.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latest teaser has been under intense fan scrunity, with some going as far as to implore others to report it to Steam if they suspect anything is generated by AI. Some are also questioning the purpose of the trailer posted to Snail Games' YouTube, with one asking of the 11-second teaser: "Okay, so what the f**k does this tell me about the expansion?"

"I am 200% sure that this update was created to kill all existing mods and plugins," added another YouTube commenter.

ARK: Aquatic is in development by Studio Sirens to "commemorate the 10-year anniversary of ARK: Survival Evolved" and will be available exclusively on PC. A price has yet to be confirmed.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

When Donkey Kong Bananza was first announced, speculation immediately set in that it was being made by the same team that made Super Mario Odyssey. That turned out to be true, which led to further speculation that the game had originated as Super Mario Odyssey DLC or a sequel, only later going on to star Donkey Kong. That part, we’ve just learned, is not true.

In an interview with IGN, Donkey Kong Bananza producer Kenta Motokura, who also served as director on Super Mario Odyssey, shared Bananza’s origin story. As he explained, it was Nintendo executive Yoshiaka Koizumi who approached the Odyssey team and asked them explicitly to consider working on a 3D Donkey Kong game.

When Motokura told me this, I asked if he knew why Koizumi had done this, as there hadn't been an internally developed Donkey Kong game since Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat over 20 years ago. Motokura didn’t want to speak for Koizumi, but he did suggest: “Because Nintendo does have a lot of characters to choose from, we're always considering what would be good timing to create a new game with a certain character to most pleased customers. But of course, that's just my best guess. You'd really have to ask Mr. Koizumi for the real answer.”

Regardless of reasoning, the Odyssey team had its mission. To start, they approached Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto to get some ideas.

“For him, a lot of things that came up were the unique actions that a really strong character like Donkey Kong can engage in, things like the hand slap or blowing his breath,” Motokura explained.

“And I also spoke to Mr. Koizumi who had served as the director on Jungle Beat. And for him, one thing that was a really important distinguishing characteristic from a character like, say, Mario, is that Donkey Kong has these longer, stronger arms. So we took all of these distinctive features of Donkey Kong as a character and tried to think about how we could bring them to play in a new game.”

While all this was going on, a programmer on the Odyssey team was experimenting with voxel technology. Voxels are essentially the 3D equivalent of pixels, and this programmer was playing around with ways to let players manipulate their environment using them. As an example, this tech was used on a smaller scale in Super Mario Odyssey in the Luncheon Kingdom, where Mario can dig through cheese, and in the Snow Kingdom to crunch through snow drifts. But this programmer was taking it a step further, finding ways to let players throw voxels around, or dig holes through them.

It was this, combined with discussions about DK’s strength and abilities, that led to the core destructive mechanics of Donkey Kong Bananza, Motokura said.

“When we realized the compatibility of Donkey Kong's distinctive characteristics, being strong and having these large long arms, and the possibility of voxel technology, we saw that this was a good match that led us to the idea of pursuing destruction as core gameplay in this title.”

We spoke to Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi about a number of topics related to Bananza, including the game’s place in the Donkey Kong “canon” and the necessity of releasing on the Nintendo Switch 2. You can read our entire interview in full right here, and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Donkey Kong Bananza, launching next week, is a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. But that wasn’t always the case. According to the game’s developers, it was originally conceived as a Nintendo Switch 1 title.

Speaking to IGN in a new interview, producer Kenta Motokura told us that the game began its development cycle on Nintendo Switch 1. However, as the team developed the “voxel” technology that lies behind Bananza's destruction mechanic, it became clear that the best implementation of that tech would be on Nintendo Switch 2.

Director Kazuya Takahashi continued the explanation by referencing something called “continuity of destruction,” essentially a philosophy behind Donkey Kong Bananza where players are led to destroy a portion of the environment and receive a reward, which then reveals another area that can be destroyed for another reward, and so forth. Takahashi said the team felt they could expand on that philosophy on the Nintendo Switch 2.

“This allowed us to engage in creating a really extremely rich variety of materials and very large scale changes in the environment on that new hardware,” he said. “And when destruction is your core gameplay, one really important moment that we wanted to preserve was when a player looks at a part of the terrain and thinks, can I break this? Because that creates a very important surprise that has a lot of impact for them and that was something that was best done on Switch 2.

“But it's not really even just the processing power of the Switch 2 that I think attracted us and gave us some interesting possibilities. There was also the device itself that offered things like mouse control, which you can use in co-op play for a second player to control Pauline's vocal blasts or DK Artist, a mode where you can sculpt a large set of voxels.”

Notably, another first-party Nintendo Switch 2 game, Mario Kart World, had a similar path to release. We learned ahead of its launch that Mario Kart World also began on Nintendo Switch 1, but was moved to Nintendo Switch 2 during development to better accommodate the open-world gameplay and 24-player multiplayer.

We spoke to Motokura and Takahashi about a number of topics related to Bananza, including how the game was first conceived, and why Pauline is 13-years-old. You can read our entire interview in full right here, and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

A few weeks ago, Nintendo confirmed an unusual piece of lore: Pauline is 13-years-old in Donkey Kong Bananza.

This is an odd thing for Nintendo to have done. Historically, it doesn't include exact information about character ages in official communications. Heck, it won’t even say whether or not Waluigi is Wario’s brother, friend, rival, or enemy.

So when we spoke to the game’s producer Kenta Motokura and director Kazuya Takahashi, we had to ask. Why did Nintendo specify her age? And why is she so young in the game, when she’s clearly an adult in Super Mario Odyssey and other appearances?

We didn’t get a straight answer out of the pair, but Takahashi did explain a little bit about Pauline’s role in the game, and why she isn’t just a continuation of Pauline from Odyssey.

“One of the important roles that we knew we wanted this character to accomplish was in accompanying Donkey Kong on his travels and acting in some cases as a bit of a narrator,” Takahashi responded.

“And considering we would probably have both new players who are experiencing a Donkey Kong game for the first time, as well as people who are long-time fans of Donkey Kong, we had the opportunity to offer a character that was familiar to long-time players, but had a new appearance that might be interesting for new folks as well. And so we're always thinking about the setting of not just the world but also each character itself and how that's going to impact player enjoyment in the end.”

He ended on a bit of a tease: “Now as to why 13-year-old in particular was the choice, I think that's something that we want players to, in the course of enjoying the game, start to puzzle out, think for themselves.”

This was curious, so I asked a few more questions, which proved not much more enlightening unfortunately. I asked if the team would confirm Donkey Kong’s age, to which Motokura said, “I think that's another one that maybe is good fodder for player theories.”

Okay, fine, it was admittedly a bit of a joke question. But here’s a real one: does this mean there’s an official Donkey Kong series canon timeline? Is this a Super Mario Odyssey prequel?

“Certainly because a lot of team members also worked on Super Mario Odyssey, there are some similarities in terms of how they think about the setting of the characters for both games, but it's something we really can't explain all of for now because we need to leave something for people to consider as they're playing the game,” Takahashi cryptically replied.

So it sounds like Pauline’s age is story-relevant, which means Nintendo’s keeping quiet and letting the game tell the story. We’ll just have to wait and find out next week.

We spoke to Motokura and Takahashi about a number of topics related to Bananza, including how the game was first conceived and the necessity of releasing on the Nintendo Switch 2. You can read our entire interview in full right here, and check out our hands-on preview of the game here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Donkey Kong Bananza launches next week, and we only just learned who the developers are behind Donkey Kong’s big, new 3D adventure. It’s the same team that made Super Mario Odyssey, which a number of savvy fans picked up on based on various UI and other context clues from the trailers.

But now that we know who the creators are, it’s time to bombard them with a banana hoard’s worth of questions.

I spoke with Kenta Motokura, producer on Donkey Kong Bananza, and Kazuya Takahashi, director. You might recognize Motokura’s name as the director of Super Mario Odyssey, and he’s also been a part of a number of other Nintendo games since he joined the company as a 3D character artist in the GameCube era, working on the likes of Super Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, as well as Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Land, and Super Mario 3D World on Wii U. As for Takahashi, he’s newer to Nintendo, only arriving at the company in 2020, but has a background in open world game design that he says gives him some “interesting” carryover from past experiences into Bananza.

We’ve covered some of the highlights from this interview elsewhere, such as how the game was conceived, where it lands in relation to other Donkey Kong games, and why it’s a Nintendo Switch 2 title. But there are plenty of other golden nuggets (or bananas) in the full interview, which we’ve published below.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

IGN: Can you both tell me about the conception of Donkey Kong Bananza? What idea or mechanic or theme was at the core of this game's development when it was first started?

Motokura: Well, I would say the very original impetus for the development of Donkey Kong Bananza was when my boss, Mr. Koizumi, approached our team and asked us to consider working on a 3D Donkey Kong game. And that's when we realized we really needed to know more about Donkey Kong, so we went and spoke to Mr. Miyamoto, the original creator of the character. And Mr. Miyamoto has experienced not only working on the Donkey Kong games that he was directly responsible for, but also worked alongside Rare on the Donkey Kong games that they created. And for him, a lot of things that came up were the unique actions that a really strong character like Donkey Kong can engage in, things like the hand slap or blowing his breath.

And I also spoke to Mr. Koizumi who had served as the director on Jungle Beat. And for him, one thing that was a really important distinguishing characteristic from a character like say, Mario, is that Donkey Kong has these longer, stronger arms. So we took all of these distinctive features of Donkey Kong as a character and tried to think about how we could bring them to play in a new game. Around the same time, we had a programmer who was experimenting with voxel technology. We actually had used this voxel technology in some areas of Super Mario Odyssey previously where for example, you could dig your way through cheese in the Luncheon Kingdom or you could plow through snow in the Snow Kingdom. So this programmer was engaging in various technical experiments where you might even throw voxels or make a hole having done so.

When we realized the compatibility of Donkey Kong's distinctive characteristics, being strong and having these large long arms, and the possibility of Voxel Technology, we saw that this was a good match that led us to the idea of pursuing destruction as core gameplay in this title. Sorry that answer went a little long, but that's how we went from the opportunity to work on this project initially all the way through to developing the concept that carried us through to the end.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time a Donkey Kong game has been made in-house at Nintendo in, I think, 20 years. I was wondering if you knew why the decision was made to develop a new Donkey Kong game internally instead of having someone like Retro Studios make it?

Motokura: So because Nintendo does have a lot of characters to choose from, we're always considering what would be good timing to create a new game with a certain character to most pleased customers. But of course, that's just my best guess. You'd really have to ask Mr. Koizumi for the real answer.

What sorts of things inspired you all while you were working on Donkey Kong Bananza? I know I've seen a lot of people remarking that someone on the team maybe liked Wreck-It Ralph a lot.

Motokura: No, I wouldn't say that we drew inspiration from any one particular source like you're describing, but rather because Donkey Kong has such a long history, we had a lot of different Donkey Kong titles to look at and consider places that we could receive inspiration. So when you mentioned in particular the comments on social media about Wreck-It Ralph, was it some similarity of Pauline to one of the characters in that movie?

Yes, it's Pauline riding on the back of Donkey Kong who's big and strong and Pauline's kind of a small, younger character. In Wreck-It Ralph, you have Vanellope riding on the back of this big strong fellow who can smash through things.

Motokura: Yes, as it turns out, from a very early stage in development on Donkey Kong Bananza, the team was discussing what kind of character would be best to accompany Donkey Kong on his travels. And as early as that stage, I do recall that someone had suggested Pauline might be a good choice, but Pauline was not implemented directly into GameSpec at that time. I think the moment we actually realized we would go in that direction came about as a result of an artist who created some concept art of the zebra transformation. We saw that image and thought it was really fun, so we immediately prototyped it to try it out in the game. And when our composer saw that, they decided to create specific music just for that transformation.

And the music for it was so good, we thought we could expand on this and turn it into a song and maybe Pauline would be a good choice to sing that song. And so we then asked the composer to create songs for each of the transformations and I think that's what really cemented Pauline's place. I think a lot of ideas really fell into place after we had decided on Pauline as the accompanying character, so I'll let Mr. Takahashi describe those.

Takahashi: I think one of the things that really works very well for us in choosing Pauline is that she's human so she speaks in a language that the player will understand. And our setting is a strange underground world where you're interacting with animals and even rocks that speak in some cases, so it's a lot to take in. I think it's really good for the player to have another human that they can see on-screen who is reacting to these strange things, noticing stuff, pointing them out, even giving hints. And in a game where you take destruction as its core gameplay, there's a lot of objects that are hidden waiting to be discovered. So it's really helpful to have information coming to the player as audio cues so it's not getting in the way of visual information on screen.

And we also wanted to emphasize the power of Pauline's song in this game. And so she has the ability to make music that shows the route the player could follow or even opens up new routes to go see. And we have a co-op play that allows a second player to control Pauline's vocal blasts that can interact with both the terrain and with enemies. Sorry, that was a rather long answer, but I really do think that a lot of ideas came out from this choice of Pauline as an accompanying character. So looking back, I think it was a choice we're all very happy with.

I think a lot of people were surprised when you confirmed a specific age for Pauline, that she's 13. Why did you specify her age and why is she young in this game?

Takahashi: Well one of the important roles that we knew we wanted this character to accomplish was in accompanying Donkey Kong on his travels and acting in some cases as a bit of a narrator. And considering we would probably have both new players who are experiencing a Donkey Kong game for the first time, as well as people who are long-time fans of Donkey Kong. So we had the opportunity to offer a character that was familiar to long-time players, but had a new appearance that might be interesting for new folks as well.

Motokura: And so we're always thinking about the setting of not just the world but also each character itself and how that's going to impact player enjoyment in the end.

Takahashi: Now as to why 13-year-old in particular was the choice, I think that's something that we want players to, in the course of enjoying the game, start to puzzle out, think for themselves.

Can you confirm Donkey Kong's age?

Motokura: I think that's another one that maybe is good fodder for player theories.

Seeing a young Pauline and knowing that you all worked on Super Mario Odyssey, I start to think story-wise, this is maybe a Super Mario Odyssey prequel. Is there an official Donkey Kong timeline? Is there a canon timeline that explains where all the Donkey Kong games go?

Takahashi: Certainly because a lot of team members also worked on Super Mario Odyssey, there are some similarities in terms of how they think about the setting of the characters for both games, but it's something we really can't explain all of for now because we need to leave something for people to consider as they're playing the game.

When you were creating Donkey Kong Bananza, at what point in development did you learn that Donkey Kong was going to be receiving a visual redesign?

Motokura: So we're always thinking about what sort of in-game expression of the character would be appropriate. You want to make sure that you have a character that can be very expressive, very emotive. And so from the very beginning of the project we were considering over the long history of Donkey Kong, what elements could we pull into in terms of creating this appearance that would be fun for fans. And as a result, we spent a lot of time thinking about distinctive visual features of Donkey Kong as a character among the developers. Even going all the way back to Mr. Miyamoto's original designs. We found a lot of expressive features in that character design as well. But also, in games like the Country series, you see him adventuring in a jungle where he has more of a cool and wild side. And so we wanted to pull together a lot of these different elements of the character over its long history, to come together for the design of Donkey Kong Bananza.

I think there's a perception that the new design of Donkey Kong exists because of the movie. Did it originally come from you all and then was reflected in the movie and Mario Kart World and everywhere else? Is that right?

Motokura: It's true that sometimes there is a base for the model that will be used as the fundamental structure for different types of content, yes.

[Author's note: Following the interview and prior to publication, Nintendo PR reached out to offer the following additional context to Motokura's response: "Mr. Miyamoto’s original design for Donkey Kong serves as the fundamental baseline that can be used for different types of content, including in Donkey Kong Bananza but also the movie and Mario Kart World. The recent Donkey Kong as seen in Donkey Kong Bananza has roots in the original design created by Mr. Miyamoto with the element of Donkey Kong Bananza."]

I know a lot of people identified very quickly that your team, the Super Mario Odyssey team, was behind Donkey Kong Bananza because of certain elements like the menus and the open world design. What do you feel distinguishes Donkey Kong Bananza the most from Super Mario Odyssey?

Motokura: I think one of the biggest differences is that in the case of Donkey Kong Bananza, the entire world is made up of this voxel technology. And the reason for that is we wanted to create an arena that would make the best use of Donkey Kong's physical strength as a character. So I think for me, that's the biggest difference.

Takahashi: And I think you can see this come across in the level design where we had to consider the importance of the continuity of destruction. And on one level, similar to Super Mario Odyssey, each level has to be fun just if you're playing through it the normal way without doing a lot of destruction. But the makeup of this game also allows for the kind of destruction that keeps connecting to new discoveries. If you see something in front of you and you pick it up and you throw it and it brings down a wall and there's something interesting behind it, but then you also start to destroy the wall in that back area and it leads to another new item or area. That's what we mean by the continuity of destruction.

Also, you may even encounter a Banandium Gem, which is different from the Power Moons in Super Mario Odyssey. In Donkey Kong Bananza, Donkey Kong actually eats the Banandium and gets a skill point that he can use to power up his skills. So you also might have different playstyles where experienced gamers are using these skill points to enhance or embellish their skills, whereas relatively new players or less experienced, might want to add to their life bar, for example, for survivability. We also have a gameplay cycle that I think differs from Super Mario Odyssey in that you can also go collect a lot of gold through your various explorations and use these to buy things which then allows you to experience different things in the game, creating a virtuous cycle that is different from what you would see in Super Mario Odyssey.

You mentioned the Banandium Gems. Are Banandium Gems bananas or are they rocks?

Takahashi: So yeah, what we're talking about is a material that only exists in the Donkey Kong Bananza universe, which we refer to as Banandium. And so that material makes up a lot of what you're encountering, whether it's a Banandium Gem or a Banandium Chip for example. And so when Donkey Kong engages in a Bananza transformation, he uses Bananergy. I know it may sound kind of silly to be explaining all of this in such a serious voice as we're talking about Banandium, but that's the setting that we've created for the game and that's what powers his transformations. But you'll also find that Banandium as a material has a deep connection to some story elements that I hope you'll enjoy.

I'm going to imagine that Donkey Kong is eating banana-flavored rocks.

Takahashi: Yeah, that sounds pretty good actually.

Why was this game best suited to release on Nintendo Switch 2 as opposed to Nintendo Switch or both?

Motokura: So this game originally began its development cycle on Nintendo Switch 1 and at the time, we were still using voxel technology and thinking of lots of different ideas for applications. But when we learned about the Switch 2 development, we realized that the best implementation of these ideas and technology would be on Nintendo Switch 2.

Takahashi: And when I was previously talking about the importance of the continuity of destruction, that was something that we could expand on and have a longer continuous play experience with that kind of concept on Nintendo Switch 2. So this allowed us to engage in creating really extremely rich variety of materials and very large scale changes in the environment on that new hardware. And when destruction is your core gameplay, one really important moment that we wanted to preserve was when a player looks at a part of the terrain and thinks, can I break this? Because that creates a very important surprise that has a lot of impact for them and that was something that was best done on Switch 2. But it's not really even just the processing power of the Switch 2 that I think attracted us and gave us some interesting possibilities. There was also the device itself that offered things like mouse control, which you can use in co-op play for a second player to control Pauline's vocal blasts or DK Artist, a mode where you can sculpt a large set of voxels.

You mentioned earlier drawing inspiration from all the different Donkey Kong games there have been in the past. In what ways was it important for you to honor Donkey Kong's history and make reference to past games? And in what ways did you want to tread new ground with who Donkey Kong is in the future?

Motokura: I think that balance comes from us taking the core gameplay of destruction of voxel technology, but also thinking about past game elements and which will be the best match for this style of gameplay that we have now. We wanted to make sure that we were drawing elements from past titles that would be really fun for long-time fans of the series once they were implemented into Donkey Kong Bananza, especially considering the voxel destruction that makes up the core of our gameplay. But we didn't just want to rely on nostalgia alone, we wanted to make sure that these came together and blended into a new experience altogether.

Takahashi: So for example, we're bringing forward some familiar gameplay elements like barrel cannons and mine carts, but we're thinking about what is different and interesting about voxel technology that allows you to do something new that people haven't seen before. And that's also kind of thinking that we did in bringing forward animal companions like Rambi for example. But really, there's a lot of these kinds of elements for people to discover, so I hope you really enjoy finding all of those.

What am I not asking you about that you're really excited to talk about?

Motokura: So one thing that I do want to mention is that when we first considered making a new Donkey Kong game, we really wanted to think about how we would pull in lots of new players. So we have a lot of interesting gameplay elements here, but also we wanted to give people some flexibility in terms of choosing a difficulty level that they feel comfortable with. We wanted to find a way to please those fans of really hard stages in past Donkey Kong games, as well as welcome people who may be somewhat new to the genre of action games. And so as we said before, giving people the chances to make the decision about whether they want to raise different skills. For example, if it's someone who is experienced in action games, they may choose to enhance or embellish an exciting skill. Whereas if it's someone who's somewhat new to action games, they might want to raise their life for survivability.

Takahashi: And for those who have found Donkey Kong games in the past to be really difficult, we also want to mention assist mode, which allows you to adjust the difficulty as well. And if I were to bring up something that I just wanted to mention specifically in answer to your question, it would be talking about how many different prototype experiments we did testing out different kinds of voxel destruction. I'm really fond of the approaches that we found in terms of finding stages where you have to cool down lava using ice to proceed or find a way to negate the properties of a damaging material to move forward. And I think that's really created a lot of very interesting and unique gameplay that can only be found in Donkey Kong Bananza. I hope people have fun enjoying different types of new destructive gameplay.

Motokura: We also have a co-op play mode that allows for two players to play at the same time. And I think this is something that also allows for adjustment of difficulty as well. So we're hoping that people could either play with a friend or if you have a child that really likes Donkey Kong but maybe wouldn't be able to play out the game on their own. We hope this leads to some really good experiences.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

IGN can exclusively debut 10 new character posters for The Long Walk, featuring the cast of the upcoming survival thriller.

Based on the first novel written by Stephen King (under his then-pseudonym Richard Bachman), The Long Walk is set in a dystopian near-future where a group of young men join a televised competition to walk as far as they can for as long as they can without stopping. The last one standing wins.

What about those who can’t keep walking? Three warnings are given before they're shot. No matter the pain, no matter how grueling the journey, you walk or you die.

View the character posters by scrolling through the slideshow below.

IGN can also announce that The Long Walk will be at San Diego Comic-Con. The film’s panel will be held Friday, July 25th from 3-4 PM in Hall H. Panelists include cast members David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot, Garrett Wareing, Charlie Plummer, and Mark Hamill, producer Roy Lee and screenwriter JT Mollner.

The Long Walk stars Cooper Hoffman as Raymond Garraty and David Jonsson as Peter McVries, while Star Wars icon Mark Hamill goes to the dark side as the sinister Major, the leader of the competition’s military escort.

The ensemble playing the young contestants include Ben Wang as Olson, Charlie Plummer as Barkovitch, Tut Nyuot as Baker, Garrett Wareing as Stebbins, Joshua Odjick as Parker, Jordan Gonzalez as Harkness, and Roman Griffin Davis as Curley.

All the aforementioned characters are referenced on their posters by their contestant numbers. Hamill’s villain also gets his own poster.

The movie is directed by Hunger Games franchise veteran Francis Lawrence, who previously told IGN that The Long Walk is “one of my favorite, if not my favorite, Stephen King book.”

“Stephen King wrote this when he was very, very young, but those relationships [between these young men] and that dialogue still holds up today. I think it's so timeless and the relationships are timeless,” Lawrence said.

“I just found it to be a really beautiful story, which is a weird thing to say with how intense it is and how violent it is. I think it actually is quite beautiful because of the relationships.”

Lionsgate will release The Long Walk in theaters on September 12th.

Nintendo will discontinue its Switch Game Vouchers scheme, which currently allows Nintendo Switch Online subscribers to buy Switch 1 games at a discount.

Detailing its plans in a lengthy FAQ page published today, the company said Switch Game Vouchers would be ditched as of January 30, 2026 — meaning fans still have six months should they still wish to buy more.

No reason has been given for the scheme's ending, though it follows Nintendo's decision not to allow vouchers to be redeemed for Switch 2 software, and after the launch of Nintendo's first-ever $80 game, Mario Kart World.

Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers were first introduced in 2019, and offer a flat purchase price for two Nintendo Switch games bought within a 12-month period. In the UK, this price is set at £84, meaning you pay an average of £42 for a game.

This typically represents an £8 saving per game from the standard £50 Switch game RRP — and an even greater saving on the select games that Nintendo prices at £60: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

And while Nintendo has not extended the scheme to Switch 2 games, fans have realised they can still use vouchers to buy the original, Switch 1 versions of games with paid Switch 2 upgrades, such as Zelda: Breath of the Wild, offering a cheaper method of obtaining those too.

For example, Switch 2 owners can currently buy a pair of Switch Game Vouchers and redeem them to play cross-generational games such as Metroid Prime: Beyond, or the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which is due for launch in October. Z-A is priced at the usual £50 for Switch 1, or £60 for its Switch 2 Edition. Buy it using a Game Voucher, and you can still get the £8 saving for Z-A's Switch 1 edition, before simply paying the £10 upgrade fee to access the Switch 2 Edition.

As ever, Switch Game Vouchers must be redeemed within 12 months after purchase, though Nintendo has said that additional Switch titles will continue to be added to the Game Voucher catalogue throughout 2026.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently suggested that the company was now exploring shorter game development cycles for some projects to help keep its costs down, and avoid pricing games too highly.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

GameStop is auctioning off its infamous stapler that damaged numerous consoles on Nintendo Switch 2 launch night. Money raised from the stapler's sale will go to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals — and bidding is now over $100,000.

Along with the stapler and a certificate of authenticity, the eBay listing also includes the first Switch 2 to have its screen stapled — now refurbished and in working condition — plus its original box, with puncture marks still present.

"While the incident itself was unfortunate, we hope its legacy serves a greater purpose," GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen said in a statement. The lucky owner of the stapler will also now receive Cohen's underwear, after the CEO promised to include it should the auction reach six figures.

The chain hit the headlines last month when dozens of customers reported their Switch 2 console screens had been punctured by a stapler, used by an employee to affix receipts onto the console's box.

GameStop replaced the now-punctured consoles, the majority of which were damaged at a single store located in Staten Island, New York, and also has since used the incident for a bit of social media fun when advertising new Switch 2 stock being available.

Still, aside from one GameStop employee's over-zealous use of stationary, concerns have been raised by fans that Nintendo's new console should be better protected in its box. As it is, the Switch 2's screen sits directly against the console's thin cardboard box in just a flimsy plastic sleeve. IGN has asked Nintendo for comment on the Switch 2's packaging, but has not heard of any changes.

The infamous Switch 2 Stapler is now available for auction. Proceeds benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.https://t.co/n7LMqFzKjz pic.twitter.com/XPqjijM1WE

— GameStop (@gamestop) July 9, 2025

If this reaches six figures I will include my underwearhttps://t.co/RCUlyiVpfa

— Ryan Cohen (@ryancohen) July 9, 2025

GameStop's certificate of authenticity describes the stapler as an "authentic relic from the now-infamous 'Staplegate' incident".

"The black stapler used by a GameStop associate who, in a moment of launch night excitement and misjudged enthusiasm, stapled a recept directly to a customer's new Nintendo Switch box," its description reads. (In reality, this stapler was responsible for doing this numerous times.) "Features authentic field-use wear throughout and retired immediately from service, the stapler now stands as a retail legend born from a half-second decision."

At the time of writing, bidding on the stapler currently stands at $108,895.

Image credit: GameStop.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Amazon Prime Day 2025 is on its third day (of four), and the online retailer has dozens of books, movies, toys, and more on sale. Some of our reader's favorite books are the Tolkien Illustrated Editions of his beloved Middle-earth series. And if you have Prime, right now you can get super low prices on The Lord of the Rings Illustrated Edition, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, all of which are discounted to at least 60% off. That's lower than you're likely to find these books anytime outside of maybe Black Friday.

Lord of the Rings Illustrated Editions on Sale at Amazon

All of the Lord of the Rings illustrated editions are included in the sale, but it's the collection of Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and Return of the King that is the easiest to recommend. It is a 1,248-page collection of the iconic fantasy saga and features over 30 color illustrations and sketches from J.R.R. Tolkien himself. It also includes two full size fold-out maps by his son Christopher Tolkien, exploring the layout of Middle-Earth in great detail. This oversized tome is hardcover with a premium feeling gray and gold slip cover, and the page ends are printed in red with Elvish text across its length.

As an added bonus, pages from the Book of Mazarbul are included, which are a great companion when you reach one of the most popular chapters in the book, the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. If you haven't had the chance to read The Lord of the Rings yet, I highly recommend it with this edition. Then, you can catch up on Prime Video's Rings of Power before season 3 releases... eventually.

In our review of Rings of Power season 2, which IGN's Samanthan Nelson gave a six overall, stating "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 offers some dramatic action and deep pathos, but is dragged down by extraneous plots and characters."

The Lord of the Rings movies are also included in the sale