Tokyo Game Life

Mario Kart World stickers at Nintendo Tokyo! If only they would let me use more than one sticker in the game.

Was the Virtual Boy ahead of its time? @akfamilyhome.com joins to chat about the revival of Nintendo’s most unusual hardware on NSO! And I take you inside the retro museum/merch shop, Parco Game Center!

Tokyo Game Life on all podcast apps: tokyogamelife.com/episode/virt...

The extensive Resident Evil family tree at the Capcom Creations exhibit. These are my three sons: Dinosaurs, Samurai, and Stylish.

Retro games behind glass at Lashinbang in Shinjuku. Gotta love the sheer randomness of titles.

Pokemon Pokopia is legit. It’s impressive how it blends town building, exploration, puzzle solving, and creativity into a single package. I only stopped because my Swirch 2 battery is more drained than Peakychu.

Interior design idea: a giant Capcom logo on your ceiling

Yup, these are my screenshots and I picked it up on launch!

Was the Virtual Boy ahead of its time? @akfamilyhome.com joins to chat about the revival of Nintendo’s most unusual hardware on NSO! And I take you inside the retro museum/merch shop, Parco Game Center!

Tokyo Game Life on all podcast apps: tokyogamelife.com/episode/virt...

Pokemon Pokopia is now available in Japan! The Age of Ditto has begun!

Koei Tecmo has a few Pokemon games under their belt, but did you know Square Enix developed one? Pokemate for Japanese phones let you catch Pokemon and message friends. Japanese phones are really a treasure trove for these types of oddities.

The Age of Virtual Boy continues as Mario’s Tennis and Mario Clash hit NSO on March 10! And the GBA version of Mario vs. Donkey Kong! I wonder if that’s all the Mario Day announcements… 🍄

This was actually at the Hard Off pop up shop in Parco Game Center in Shibuya. I have to imagine these will only be at Hard-Offs though, though I have seen Book Offs sell Book Off specific merch.

You can build your own tiny Hard Off by buying mini junk bins at 770 yen a pop.

While the NA Indie World ended with Blue Prince, the Japanese one closed with Homura Hime, a 3D action game from Playism. It hits Steam tomorrow, but Switch 2 later this year.

Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dztA...

Tama Art University will once again host the Thinking With Pokemon exhibit in Tokyo Midtown Design Hub from 3/26! It features Pokemon sculptures made from every day objects to promote environmental education. Hopefully Trubbish is there.

More: www.designhub.jp/exhibitions/...

Kirby Air Riders is now on Nintendo Music, and Nintendo also published an interview with Sakurai and composers Noriyuki Iwadare and Shogo Sakai! I’m loving these more niche interviews.

More: www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/...

I’ve never seen four more beautiful colors

Pokemon Pokopia currently stands at 90 on MetaCritic (before I just jinxed it)! Turns out all the Dragon Quest Builders fans were right. I expect this game to have very long legs throughout Switch 2’s life.

Preorder boxes for the upcoming Culdcept games on Switch! Will you begin with Culdcept The First, or will your first game be Culdcept Begins?

The Hanzomon subway line in Tokyo will be Ditto themed until 3/15 to celebrate the launch of Pokemon Pokopia! The line’s color is similar to Ditto and the name is also close to the Japanese name (Metamon), so it’s been waiting for this moment for decades.

More: www.tokyometro.jp/news/2026/22...

Is the world too harsh on the Virtual Boy? @akfamilyhome.com joins the podcast to chat everything about the Virtual Boy’s revival on Nintendo Switch Online! And I take you inside the retro game hotspot, Parco Game Center!

Listen now: tokyogamelife.com/episode/virt...

Capcom Store Osaka and Tokyo have Ryu out front, but the new Ikebukuro store is repped by Juri! We have to wait for Capcom Store Istanbul for a Hakan statue.

It’s March! This should be a big months for Switch 2 owners:

- Pokemon Pokopia
- SMBW - NS2E + MIBP
- Gale of Darkness on NSO
- Monster Hunter Stories 3
- Fatal Frame II remake
- Mega Man Star Force Collection
- VF5 REVO
- Shadow Tactics
- Games I forgot
- Nintendo Direct (if you believe enough)

✨ NEW EPISODE ✨

Featuring:
🟥 Virtual Boy - Nintendo Switch Online w/ @akfamilyhome.com
🕹️ Parco Game Center

Listen now! 👇
tokyogamelife.com/episode/virt...

I always enjoyed the “previously on your quest” summary in Pokemon FireRed / LeafGreen. Maybe some find it redundant, but I think it’s a useful feature if you haven’t played in a while and it’s interesting to see what the game decides to update you on.

Some Atari games at Parco Game Center in Shibuya. It’s always an honor to be in the presence of E.T.

Pokemon Center Yokohama requires timed entry tickets today and there’s a four hour wait. But that’s not going to stop me from poorly taking a photo of the new plushies from outside the store.

Rare image of the Virtual Boy kiosk at Super Potato Ikebukuro actually working. You could play Panic Bomber!

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen are now available on Switch! Bulbasaur… let’s run it back.

Pokemon Winds and Waves, coming to Switch 2 in 2027. Definitely shocked it’s not this year, a five year gen is wild. I’m leaning Gecqua though…