Nintendo of Canada Holiday 2025 Event – Playing Unreleased Games
Over the weekend, my family and I were lucky enough to attend the Nintendo of Canada holiday party to celebrate some of the greatest games already available, and those yet to be released. During our 3 hours at the event we got to enjoy some amazing treats and drinks, colour our own Nintendo themed buttons, fill out a bingo-like card, and of course play a ton of games!
A few of the games we’ve had the chance to play and review already. Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 were both available for folks to play. We’ve already reviewed both those games and were impressed with the experience, although less impressed by the price. We also got to play EA Sports FC26, a review of which will be coming soon! Hades II was also available, which we also will be reviewing in the next week or so. And then of course we had the chance to play some of the Nintendo Switch 2’s earlier titles like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.
I was most excited about three experiences, though, and while the demo times were a bit limited to help with the flow of people, I got a good sense of what each game was offering.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
We will have a full article on my Pokémon demo thoughts, but overall I was pretty impressed with what I was able to play. The idea of real-time battles is still pretty fresh for me, and it will take hours of gameplay to decide whether I like this experience or not.
Pokémon Legends Archeus is one of my favourite Pokémon games of all time, so I know I like the idea behind the Legends series; it’s just whether or not the brand new real-time mechanics will work with what I prefer in Pokémon games, that is turn based battles. 20 minutes was not nearly enough time to really get a feel for the game, and despite playing both day time and night time phases, I still think I’ll need a few hours to make any concrete comments on what I experienced.
As I said, we will explore the demo further in a full article, so stay tuned for that!
Metroid Prime 4
Time for a bit of honesty – Metroid games in general are not generally something I’ve gravitated to before. I prefer the Prime series if I was to play a Metroid game, but even then my experiences with previous games in the series are minimal at best. I have really been loving the Nintendo Switch 2 mouse controls when they are implemented well in games, so for that reason alone I was excited to try Metroid Prime 4.
The mouse controls here just work, as I was expecting them to. When this was first announced by Nintendo, I figured the mouse control gimmick was just that – a gimmick that would rarely get used despite the promise it shows. It seems, however, that companies are willing to dive deep into that side of development, adding in mouse controls wherever they make sense. And for Metroid Prime 4, they make a lot of sense. Using the mouse to move around and aim was fantastic, smooth, and easily my preferred way to play. The one thing I worry about is how well my couch setup will work with the mouse. When playing at a demo station which is obviously built for the mouse experience, it was phenomenal. But at home on my couch, or on my pant leg? I’m not sure how that will translate.
I personally hope it will be fantastic, but without trying that yet I cannot comment on how well it will work in a more personal setting. At the demo station, though, it was fantastic.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
Hyrule Warriors definitely feels like a Warriors game with that Zelda twist, and for me I think the story is what’s going to drive me to play this game, rather than the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, my 10 minutes with the games was a blast, and I enjoyed swapping characters, using special abilities, and mowing down swarms of Constructs.
However, I want to know more about the story and what that’s going to show us about the Legend of Zelda story. I think a lot of Zelda fans are in the same boat, whether fans of the Warrior franchise or not. I have enjoyed the past Hyrule Warrior titles, although wouldn’t call myself a huge fan. I’m excited for this one none-the-less!
Article By Adam
