Game Buoy Podcast Episode 193A – We All Live in a Pokemon World! (Pokemon Pokopia Side A)

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Ahoy, mateys, and welcome to the GAMEBUOY.ORG video game podcast – your port of call for gaming news and views that maybe aren’t on your radar, but most definitely should be! On this episode, recorded Sunday, May 10, 2026, Captain Spike and First Mate Slaggy McWaggy discuss recent news!

This episode is the A-side of a two part episode. The B-side will be a discussion on Pokemon Pokopia! (Watch this space.)

HOT TOPIC IS THE WAY THAT WE RHYME

• Nintendo Raises Switch 2 Console Prices in Japan, U.S., Canada, Europe (Anime News Network)   
• Switch 2 sales reach nearly 20m almost one year after release, but Nintendo has lowered the console’s forecast for 2027 (Eurogamer)  
• Nintendo Apologizes For Raising The Price Of The Switch 2 Less Than A Year After It Launched (Kotaku) 
• Nintendo To Counter Switch 2’s Global Price Hikes With Robust Software Lineup (Nintendo Life)
• Pokemon Pokopia Switch 2 Bundle Heads to Australia (Siliconera)
• Microsoft CEO Says Xbox Needs To ‘Win Back Fans’ (Kotaku)
• Microsoft Kills The Copilot AI For Xbox Nobody Wanted (Kotaku)
• PS5 sales expected to decline due to generative AI memory drought and rising prices (Eurogamer) 
• Sony hasn’t decided on PS6 release date or price yet, and may even “change business models” in response to the memory crisis (Eurogamer)
•  Yuji Horii: Dragon Quest live stream planned for May 27 to announce next game (Gematsu) 
• Nacon and crea-ture Studios announce Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Rageborn for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC (Gematsu)
• Hell is Us coming to Switch 2 on September 24 (Gematsu)
• Yakuza and Like a Dragon developer RGG Studio finally gives Stranger Than Heaven a release window (Eurogamer) 
• Snoop Dogg & Tori Kelly Collab on ‘Stranger Than Heaven’ Theme Song (Billboard)
• Star Fox 64 Game Gets Remake on Switch 2 on June 25 (Anime News Network)
• Star Fox Switch 2 Soundtrack Songs Already on Nintendo Music (Siliconera)

RELEASE UPDATES

• Mina the Hollower Release Date Falls in May 2026  (Siliconera)
• New River City Saga: Journey to the West Game Heads West on June 4 (Anime News Network)  
• Culdcept The First Saturn Tribute launches July 30 for PC worldwide, September 8 for PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch in the west (Gematsu) 
• Steins;Gate Re:Boot Game Reveals August 20 Release (Anime News Network)  
•  Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches October 6 (Gematsu)

RETRO RELEASE UPDATES

• Console Archives 4-30-26 – Rohga: Armor Force (PS1, Data East, 1996)
• Arcade Archives 4-30-26 – Cyber Commando (Arcade, Namco, 1994) yes
• Console Archives 5-7-26 – Mag Max (NES, Nichibutsu, 86)
• Arcade Archives 5-7-26 – Arkanoid (Arcade, Taito, 1986)

CULTURE CLUB

• Sekiro: No Defeat Anime’s Theatrical Version Screens in Japan for 3 Weeks Starting on September 4 (Anime News Network)
• Pragmata Game Crosses 2 Million Units Sold Worldwide (Anime News Network)     
• Pac-Man Gets New ‘Snack Breaks’ Animated Shorts on May 22 (Anime News Network)
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Game’s Trailer for Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S Reveals Demo (Anime News Network)  
• Legendary Zelda director and Nintendo designer legend Takashi Tezuka is retiring after more than 40 years (Eurogamer)
• Leon Must Die Forever in Free Resident Evil Requiem Mode (Siliconera)
• Studio Behind EVE Online Changes Name To Avoid Confusion With Chinese Communist Party (Kotaku)  
• Pricing and censorship complaints be damned: Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen sold over 4 million units in six weeks (Eurogamer)
• Months after Halo Infinite’s final major update, Halo Studios releases a surprise PvE mode and the game’s hardest challenge ever (GamesRadar+)
• Psychonauts Maker Double Fine Just Became The 14th Gaming Team To Unionize At Microsoft (Kotaku)  

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

• FFXIV The Maiden’s Rhapsody Event Back for FFXI Anniversary (Siliconera)
• Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, Trails to Azure Games Get Switch 2, PS5 Releases (Anime News Network) 
• Melty Blood:Twi-Lumina 2D Fighter Game Revealed for Release in Early 2027  (Anime News Network)
• Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Game’s Trailer Introduces Fighting Avengers  (Anime News Network)     
• Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game ‘Sokka’ trailer (Gematsu)
• Civilization 7’s huge ‘Test of Time’ update arrives this month, and it’s full of deep changes to the divisive 4X game (Eurogamer)
• “We got it wrong” with Civilization 7, Take-Two boss admits, and he takes “responsibility” for the strategy game’s failures: “What we tried to do was a bridge too far” (GamesRadar+)
• After 3 years, Diablo 4’s secret cow level is finally uncovered following Lord of Hatred, immediately labelled “boring” compared to Diablo 2 and 3’s versions: “Needs more cows” (GamesRadar+)
• Atari acquires rights to first five Wizardry games [Update 2] (Gematsu)

SO CONTROVERSIAL

• NTE: Neverness to Everness Game’s Staff Confirms Use of Generative AI (Anime News Network)
• Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Initial D Home Lookalikes Spotted in NTE: Neverness to Everness Game (Anime News Network)
• PlayStation Boss Embraces AI To ‘Unleash Creativity” In Gaming (Kotaku)
• Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered used PlayStation’s new AI animation tool, and Naughty Dog and San Diego Studio are both following suit (GamesRadar+)
• New Yakuza Prequel Game Uses The Likeness Of An Actor Who Died 12 Years Ago (Kotaku)  
• Blizzard’s First New WoW Housing Exterior Is A Whopping $40 (Kotaku)
• EA Sets A New $8 Billion Sales Record Just Months After Laying Off Battlefield 6 Developers (Kotaku)

DOOM AND GLOOM

• GreedFall developer Spiders shuts down (Gematsu)  
• Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Spin-off Mobile Game Shutting Down (Siliconera)           
• Shooter From Imagine Dragons Singer Wrapping Up After Just 3 Weeks 
• Paranormal Activity game dead after Paramount refuses to give legendary Mortuary Assistant dev more time to make it “the best it could possibly be” (GamesRadar+ 
• Marathon and Destiny developer Bungie underperformed last year, causing a $765 million impairment loss for PlayStation (Eurogamer)
• Bungie Confirms It Has Marathon Story Plans for ‘the Next Few Years’ But Nothing Is Completely ‘Locked in’ Yet (IGN)

RUMOR HAS IT

• Valve Just Imported Thousands Of ‘Game Consoles’ As Fans Wait For Steam Machine News (Kotaku)
• Reggie Fils-Aimé Says Amazon Asked Nintendo To Break The Law (Kotaku)
• Tales of Eternia Remastered rated in Europe (Gematsu)
• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition rated for Switch 2 in Taiwan (Gematsu)

WHAT’S UP

Captain Spike has been playing Pokemon Pokopia, Vampire Crawlers, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Final Fantasy XIV. First Mate Slaggy McWaggy has been playing Pokemon Pokopia and Final Fantasy XIV.

EXITLUDE

SHOUT OUTS – “FRIENDS OF BUOY”

• Orange Lounge Radio IIDX, where every geek has a voice
• Aftermath, an independent, worker-owned website about video games, other media and internet culture
• Game Mechanics, where TTRPG designers “kick tires and run diagnostics on tabletop experiences”
• Walloping Websnappers! A Spider-Man Podcast, a dive into every Spider-Man cartoon ever made
• Neo Geo Go!, a show that takes on the Neo Geo library chronologically and quickly.
• The Bobby Blackwolf Show, a weekly internet radio show and podcast discussing the latest news in gaming as well as sometimes reminiscing about gaming’s history
• Video Game Realness, a dose of gaming chit chat among friends
• Nintendo Pow Block, a dive into the week that was in the world of Nintendo
• Standard Issue Computing, retro and modern computer games, hardware, software, and history
• Sasha’s Retrobytes, “bytes” of vintage gaming including magazine scans and photographs
• Defunct Games, your daily source for modern video game reviews, exciting trivia competitions and old school magazine analysis
• Thomas Game Docs, where each video covers “a different aspect of video game history”
• Craig, Slaggy McWaggy’s robot boyfriend a multi-track voice channel recording bot for Discord