Even though Terraria developer Re-Logic mostly doesn’t use Unity, it’s made a strong statement of condemnation in regards to the engine’s recently announced, controversial install fee policy – and it’s putting its money where its mouth is.

In a statement on X/Twitter today, which you can read in full below, Re-Logic said that the team “has been watching the recent events surrounding Unity with both interest and sadness."

pic.twitter.com/ZqzGMTui0f

— Terraria🌳 (@Terraria_Logic) September 19, 2023

“The loss of a formerly leading and user-friendly game engine to the darker forces that negatively impact so much of the gaming industry has left us dismayed to put it mildly,” it continued. “While we do not personally use Unity (outside of a few elements on our console/mobile platforms), we feel like we cannot sit idly by as these predatory moves are made against studios everywhere."

Re-Logic went on to say they “unequivocally condemn and reject the recent TOS/fee changes proposed by Unity and the underhanded way they were rolled out,” in a “flippant manner” that disregarded the trust of publishers, studios, and gamers alike.

Adding that they “do not feel a simple public statement is sufficient,” they then promised to donate $100,000 each to game engines Godot and FNA, in addition to $1,000/month moving forward, with the condition that “they remain good people and keep doing all that they can to make these engines powerful and approachable for developers everywhere.”

Unity garnered near industry-wide backlash when it announced the new policy, dubbed the Unity Runtime Fee, last week. Per the policy, which would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, Unity would charge $0.20 per install for any game with more than 200,000 installs. This spawned both confusion and derision among developers and gamers alike, and Unity’s attempts to clarify the policy did little to help.

Over the weekend, however, Unity apologized for the “confusion and angst” the announcement of the policy caused, and promised that it “will be making changes” to it in the coming days. While the engine still hasn’t announced said changes, Bloomberg reported yesterday that it's considering capping fees to 4% of a game's revenue for customers making over $1 million, among other tweaks.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Whether it’s the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or even your phone, it’s never been easier to carry an entire library of games while on the go. With Apple’s recent announcement that the iPhone 15 Pro will be able to natively play games like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Death Stranding, it’s safe to say the mobile gaming space is about to receive a major upgrade.

The choices can be overwhelming and, a lot of the time, quite pricey – if you’re already going to buy an iPhone 15 Pro, great! Enjoy Resident Evil 4 Remake. But no one would pay a grand to do it otherwise. The Super Pocket is at the other end of the scale. It’s a no-fuss retro handheld that’s stylish and, more importantly, the basic edition costs less than a newly-released game.

It comes in two versions: the Capcom Edition, which contains 12 games like Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, 1994: The Loop Master, and Mega Man; and a TAITO variation, featuring 18 retro classics, from light gun shooter Operation Wolf, to one of the greatest puzzle games of all time, Puzzle Bobble, and plenty more.

Despite the Super Pocket’s very small form factor – smaller and lighter than a Game Boy Classic – it really stands out. Each has its own unique Capcom or TAITO colour scheme that really pops. There’s also the Super Pocket Limited Edition Bundle, including both the Capcom and TAITO Super Pocket, which has a smart, translucent shell that reminds me of the clear white Game Boy Advance.

After a couple hours hands-on with each model at WASD in London, it’s clear this little device punches above its weight. For the low price, the build quality is great. The colourful plastic shell is tough and sturdy, and the D-pad – which reminded me of the one on the Game Boy, in a good way – is responsive. Thankfully there’s no noticeable wobble either, unlike the Evercade EXP, and the standard A, B, X and Y face buttons feel nice and clicky. The same can also be said for the shoulder buttons located neatly at the back of the unit too.

Despite its size, the Super Pocket packs a bright 2.8” IPS screen. While that sounds small – it’s slightly bigger than the screen as the Zelda Game and Watch released a couple of years ago – I had no issues enjoying the games I played, because its images are sharp and vibrant, and a game like Final Fight is a small but pixel-perfect experience. There’s also the option to tailor the visual experience: the pixel perfect aspect ratio means you get as close to the arcade experience as possible, or you can stretch the image out to fullscreen mode to take full advantage of the display. There’s also the option of subtle or strong scanline effects, if you really want to relive the full arcade experience.

Elsewhere, the single, forward-facing speaker does a good job given its size, allowing you to nicely appreciate the 16-bit tunes of Street Fighter II. It can get surprisingly loud too, but I always prefer plugging in a set of headphones anyway. Disappointingly, Bluetooth connectivity – which was also missing in the Evercade EXP – is still not supported for those who prefer a wireless audio solution.

Unlike the EXP, the Super Pocket is missing built-in Wi-Fi (although potential firmware updates are still possible via USB-C), as well as Mini-HDMI out, so you can’t experience these arcade classics on your TV. Apparently these features were scrapped to keep costs low. Thankfully, it still has the same four-hour long battery life, which is more than enough for short bursts of Street Fighter and Strider action, and recharging via USB-C only takes a few of a few hours.

Like the Evercade EXP before it, the Pocket also features a cartridge slot at the back, completing its Game Boy-like metamorphosis. This enables access to over 500+ games across 45 Evercade cartridges that pop in the back. These include the Delphine Software Collection, featuring Amiga classics like Another World and Flashback, to the upcoming Duke Nukem Collection 1 & 2, which includes 32-bit heavyweight Duke Nukem 3D: Total Meltdown, as well as Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, which was only ever released on the PlayStation One.

Despite having a smaller screen than the EXP, I enjoyed my time with the likes of Codemasters F-16 Renegade and Super Skidmarks, both of which fit nicely onto the small handheld and are reproduced faithfully.

Switching from built-in games to an Evercade cartridge is a breeze, and the menus are simplified compared to the EXP, allowing for faster access to your game library. But one of my favourite features the Pocket has is an ‘Easy mode’, which can be used across all of the in-built arcade games. Unsurprisingly it changes the difficulty of the games, making enemy AI easier, increasing the number of lives and so on. While purists will no doubt scoff at this feature, for someone like myself – who didn’t grow up playing coin-ops of the 80s and 90s, it enabled me to enjoy the game in a less punishing environment. And of course, if you want the difficulty as it was way back when, you just have to re-enable it.

The Super Pocket also lets you take full advantage of Save and Load States for each game. This was particularly handy when trying to perfect my high scores on Space Invaders, Rastan, and other score-chasing titles. Even the guilt of missing a single pick-up is gone, because the process of saving and reloading is so fast. Save states stay on the device even after it’s powered off, so don’t worry if you run out of charge while gunning for a highscore in Capcom's Bionic Commando – it’ll load back up in a couple of seconds.

From what I’ve played so far, the Super Pocket satisfies a mobile gaming itch I’ve been trying to scratch for a long time. I’ve floated between my Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and mobile phone for the last few years: the Switch is obviously home to all of my favourite Nintendo exclusives, the Steam Deck is a great PC counterpart despite its bulk, and my phone is only used for Brotato and Vampire Survivors. The Pocket is the perfect in-between, especially because I have such an affinity for retro games.

It’s a small yet worthy handheld that literally fits in my pocket, offering a tactile, premium experience with a wealth of retro and indie titles that simply aren’t available on my phone. And it costs less than a brand new Switch game. Sometimes simpler really is better.

The Super Pocket is playable at WASD in London from Thursday 14 - Saturday 16 September. It releases on October 26th and is priced at £49.99 for the Capcom, and TAITO versions, and £119.99 for the Super Pocket Limited Edition Bundle.

F-Zero 99, a battle-royale based on the original F-Zero game that will pit 99 players against each other in a high-stakes race where only one racer will come out victorious, was announced for Nintendo Switch. Oh, and it's out today for free for Nintendo Switch Online members!

F-Zero first launched on the SNES in 1990 in Japan and in 1991 in North America, and this new game will feature the original's classic tracks and machines with a twist. In this race, each player will have a power meter that will decrease if you crash into other pilots or guardrails. Once it gets down to zero, you are out of the race.

You can, however, take a bit of a risk by using some of your power meter to get a temporary new boost to get the edge on your enemies. There will also be Super Sparks that will appear when machines collide. When you collect enough Super Sparks, players will be able to jump to a Skyway which is basically another track above the original that will let you bypass other racers.

Players will have the opportunity to complete goals while racing which will then unlock new colors, decals, and boost colors for your machines.

For those who want this F-Zero game to feel just as they remember, Nintendo has also confirmed F-Zero 99 will support its Super NES Controller that is available exclusively to Nintendo Switch Online members.

This will be the fourth battle-royale game that will hit the Nintendo Switch in the 99-line, and follows Super Mario Bros. 35, Tetris 99, and Pac-Man 99.

For more, be sure to check out our Nintendo Direct roundup for all the other Nintendo Switch games that were highlighted in September's big show.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Nintendo has revealed a remake of the original Mario VS Donkey Kong game that originally released on Game Boy Advance.

Revealed during today's Nintendo Direct, Mario VS Donkey Kong is coming to Nintendo Switch on February 16, 2024.

This version of the game is adding local co-op, as we saw Mario and Toad working together to gather the key and reach the goal.

Unlike the later entries in the Mario VS Donkey Kong series that focused on Lemmings-like gameplay with the Mario Minis, the original Mario VS Donkey Kong plays like the beloved Game Boy game Donkey Kong '94, where Mario has a parkour-like moveset he uses to solve puzzles and reach the end of the level.

Mario VS Donkey Kong first came out in 2004, and we awarded it an 8.5 in our review, saying, "All of the well-established gameplay elements of the original have returned in new and fun platformer challenges with a decidedly different theme and flavor, taking advantage of the more powerful GBA platform."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has revealed a new screen from his upcoming game The Haunted Chocolatier, which has some fans convinced a beloved Stardew Valley character is set to make an appearance in the highly anticipated confectionery store simulator.

The scene in question shows an old, white-bearded man in bed, with an unnamed companion standing at the bedside. Both the book-strewn darkened room around the pair and the waking man’s clothes seem to give off a distinctly wizardy vibe, with the only other information coming in a cryptic text box containing eight simple words: "...I was just having the most terrible dream."

here's a haunted chocolatier screne pic.twitter.com/bCVy3NJaMS

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) September 5, 2023

Excited fans in the comments were quick to point out the man in the picture looks a lot like the beloved Grandpa from Stardew Valley, who gifts the player his farm at the beginning of the game, seemingly on his deathbed, and periodically comes back to judge your achievements in etherial form.

GRANDPA AWAKENS

— 🪐Kitt🪐 (@QubitKitt) September 5, 2023

HE’S ALIVE????

— Rebecca Stone (Taylor’s Version) (@forestminish) September 5, 2023

Grandpa? is that you

— Zaydiiem (@Zaydiiem) September 5, 2023

While it's possible the waking man could be a different person to the farm-gifting Grandpa we know, one fan had a particularly interesting theory that potentially links the worlds of Stardew Valley and the Haunted Chocolatier together through this bearded enigma.

“Okay HEAR ME OUT,” began X user Startupwithmads. “Haunted Chocolatier is synchronous with Stardew Valley - Grandpa gives one grandchild the farm, and the other the chocolate shop (Grandpa is a multi-industry mogul). The Stardew Valley character we all play has a sibiling in another town, running another family business.”

Okay HEAR ME OUT: Haunted Chocolatier is synchronous with Stardew Valley- Grandpa gives one grandchild the farm, and the other the chocolate shop (Grandpa is a multi-industry mogul)👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍🍳 the Stardew Valley character we all play has a sibiling in another town, running another…

— Mads (@startupwithmads) September 5, 2023

Elsewhere in the comments fans began speculating about the dream itself, suggesting it had involved the events of the earlier game, while others suggested the appearance of Grandpa may mean The Haunted Chocolatier is a prequel to Stardew Valley.

Naturally, ConcernedApe failed to explain who the man or his mysterious companion are, or the meaning behind the bad dream. However, the developer did reveal there is “plenty more” he has yet to reveal, and that he was sitting on a haul of Haunted Chocolatier images the Stardew Valley creator could release, if the mood so takes him.

“I am working on the [Stardew Valley] 1.6 update right now, but just wanted to share a HC screenshot,” replied the developer to one curious fan. “I'm sitting on a lot of screenshots that I could share, just felt like it." ConcernedApe also recently revealed he is creating a cookbook featuring 50 Stardew Valley recipes, including the Strange Bun, Survival Burger, and Pink Cake, which go on sale spring 2024.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Stardew Valley is set to get its very own cookbook which will allow fans to experience the tastes of over 50 recipes from the beloved farming RPG when it releases in spring 2024.

“I would like to announce the upcoming Stardew Valley Cookbook,” read a post on developer ConcernedApe’s X account. “It'll be out next spring, and includes 50 recipes from the game such as Pink Cake, Salad, and the Strange Bun," it said.

Food is a cornerstone of Stardew Valley experience. Players hoping to get the most out of the short in game day can replenish energy by consuming the pixelated snacks, while those slogging their way through the sleepy town’s monster-infested mines rely heavily on meals to replenish health lost in combat. It is also part of the social fabric of the game. Recipes for new dishes can be given by grateful NPCs, which in turn can be cooked and given to villages to strengthen the bond between them and the player.

I would like to announce the upcoming Stardew Valley Cookbook! It'll be out next spring, and includes 50 recipes from the game... such as pink cake, salad, and the strange bun. Cover illustration by @kee_fry pic.twitter.com/ydEtGzqo6G

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) August 31, 2023

According to the post, and judging by the cover, the Survival Burger, Lucky Lunch, Pink Cake, and the questionable Strange Bun will all likely be featured in the book.

The post announcing the recipe book already has 47,000 likes and almost 10,000 reposts, with many fans taking to the comments to express their excitement at the prospect of discovering the canon tastes of their favourite in-game dishes.

Have always been curious how Sea Cucumber, Tortilla and Jazz taste together! Will definetley buy!

— Mijuki 🌿 (@xMijuki) September 1, 2023

I can't wait to try out all my favorite Stardew foods! <3

— Katy Papercrafts (@MageCakesRUs) August 31, 2023

I tried making the roots platter, so happy i can follow the canon recipe soon

— Lovisa Morin (@LovisaArt) September 1, 2023

If I eat the lucky lunch will I have +3 luck?

— andrew (@plain_cheeri0s) August 31, 2023

In an updated 2018 review IGN gave Stardew Valley a 9.5/10, describing it as a “beautiful, fun game” that has benefit from several major updates that have helped nurture it “into an even greater farming RPG, with a better base for new players, and plenty of new goals for seasoned farmers”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Excitebike 64 is the latest game to join the Nintendo Switch Online N64 library, hitting the subscription service on August 30.

A totally rad trailer for the 23 year old game was release on Nintendo's YouTube showing the fast and furious motocross gameplay.

"How long has it been since you’ve carved a blaze of glory through a pack of dirt, slinging mud into the air as you pull off incredible stunts on a motocross bike?," asked Nintendo. "If the answer is 'too long,' you won’t have to wait to experience these thrills again, because Excitebike 64 roars onto the Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch Online library on August 30."

The game will be available at no extra cost to users who have a Nintendo Switch Online membership and have purchased the Expansion Pass as part of the N64 library.

Excitebike 64 will be the 25th N64 game to hit the service, joining other classics including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokémon Stadium, GoldenEye 007, and more.

In our 9/10 review from 2000, IGN said: "Excitebike 64 not only lives up to the classic it was inspired by, it takes it all to the next level with a fantastic 3D engine and tons of options."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo has confirmed that Charles Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario who has played the character since 1991, will be "stepping back from recording character voices for our games" and will now serve as a "Mario Ambassador."

Nintendo shared the news on Twitter/X, saying fans can also expect a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet to arrive at a later date.

We have a message for fans of the Mushroom Kingdom. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/U1ASicOuTO

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 21, 2023

"Charles Martinet has been the original voice of Mario in Nintendo games for a long time, as far back as Super Mario 64," Nintendo wrote. "Charles is now moving into the brand-new role of Mario Ambassador. With this transition, he will be stepping back from rrecording character voices for our games, but he'll continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario and interacting with you all!

"It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him. Please keep an eye out for a special video message from Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles himself, which we will post at a future date."

Martinet quote tweeted Nintendo's post, saying, "My new adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!"

Martinet won the job for Mario after a friend told him there was an audition at a tradeshow where he'd need to "talk to people as a plumber." He obviously won the job, and first voiced Mario at tradeshows for a 3D version of the character that was meant to be able to converse with attendees.

His first video game appearance as Mario was in 1994's Mario Teaches Typing, but many came to know and love him in 1996's Super Mario 64. He would continue to not only voice Mario for Nintendo, but also Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Metal Mario, Shadow Mario, Baby Mario, and more.

Back in 2021, Martinet said he wants to "voice Mario until I drop dead." While that dream appears to be over, it's reassuring to know he will still be spreading joy and happiness across the world with that iconic voice.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Batman: Arkham Trilogy comes to Nintendo Switch on Friday, October 13, Rocksteady has announced.

A tweet from the developer (below) revealed the release date alongside new artwork of the three games: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight. The trilogy will come bundled in one package alongside all released DLC.

The trilogy marks the first time Rocksteady's Arkham games will arrive on Switch, though not the first time on a Nintendo console as a special edition of City appeared on Wii U.

Experience Gotham City in a whole new way when the #ArkhamTrilogy comes to Nintendo Switch on October 13th!

Special thanks to @cjwardart for this amazing piece celebrating our Dark Knight 🦇 pic.twitter.com/S8mQ249CHl

— Rocksteady Studios (@RocksteadyGames) August 15, 2023

Rocksteady announced the Arkham Trilogy's port at the June Nintendo Direct, showcasing the collection with a montage of footage that showed the series' best and baddest villains including the Joker, Two Face, and more.

All three games were received very well, with Arkham Asylum setting a new precedent for superhero games. "Batman: Arkham Asylum is the greatest comic book videogame of all time," IGN said in our 9/10 review.

It's sequel earned a 9/10 too, as IGN said: "Batman: Arkham City isn't just better than Batman: Arkham Asylum, it's better than most games on the market." The final game received the same score: "Batman: Arkham Knight is an impressive game on almost every level, with non-stop variety and great action."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

The Xbox 360 Call of Duty resurgence has continued as both Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 2 have shot to the top of UK charts.

As reported by GI.biz, 2009's Modern Warfare 2 placed fourth in the list of July's best-selling games while 2012's Black Ops 2 placed fifth. Only FIFA 23, Grand Theft Auto 5, and Red Dead Redemption 2 (which placed first, second, and third respectively) overcame these two decade-old games in the UK.

Though likely helped by an Xbox sale, the wave of renewed interest for these classic titles came as a result of an alleged server update that improved matchmaking.

The two titles, alongside Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops, Black Ops 3, and World at War all shot up Xbox's top paid games list too, outselling the likes of Hogwart’s Legacy, Elden Ring, and even 2022's Modern Warfare 2 reboot.

The interest in classic Call of Duty games comes alongside the reveal of the rebooted Modern Warfare 3, which is due to launch on November 10, 2023. Leaks have revealed a handful of details so far (including some weapons) and a full reveal is set to take place within Call of Duty: Warzone on August 17.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Staff at Genshin Impact developer miHoYo were left in tears by the negative response to the game's reveal, when many accused it of being a The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild clone.

As reported by CBR, miHoYo president Lie Wei said at the Genshin Impact FES event that the team was deeply affected by the criticism and copycat accusations received early on. Breath of the Wild fans even took to a Genshin Impact showcase to protest the PlayStation RPG, with one attendee smashing his PS4 in front of the booth.

Wei didn't mention Breath of the Wild specifically, though did laugh as he brought up the "unprecedented crisis". His speech was shared on Twitter by @tokinohikaru_00 (below).

[for every traveller]
Genshin Impact FES 2023 in Shanghai (English Version)
MiHoYo president Daiwei is deeply moved and talks about his thoughts on Genshin Impact
I feel like crying while watching 😭

・There were difficult times, but he says that he was able to come this far… pic.twitter.com/4H2YLWSaIp

— ときのひかる (@tokinohikaru_00) August 13, 2023

"When I put out the [closed beta] I was pretty proud, but [the closed beta's] response is, it's like it's different from our assumptions, it's completely different," Wei said.

"When we did [the closed beta] we faced an unprecedented crisis. Everyone just saw the video of [the closed beta and said]: 'we don't really understand what Genshin is trying to do.' Not many understood, and there was a lot of misunderstanding. So at the time, [in] our team, everyone was really worried.

"I remember many young colleagues crying and saying to me, 'Why is this happening? What did we do wrong?' But this youthful innocence; you could say we are fearless. We thought and acted."

Wei explained he and the team used the criticism as motivation to prove themselves, and as time went on, and more of Genshin Impact was revealed, they managed to win round fans.

Genshin Impact went on to become one of the biggest live service games available, with its action RPG gameplay and anime-inspired open world setting drawing in millions of fans. Microsoft reportedly passed up the chance to make Genshin Impact an Xbox exclusive, something it now regrets.

The game's also seen a ton of updates since it first launched, adding new characters, quests, items, and more, and has even seen crossovers with other franchises including Horizon: Zero Dawn.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: "An incredible open-world and addictive exploration make Genshin Impact anime-zing adventure."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author behind the Metro books, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

As reported by the Associated Press, on August 7, Glukhovsky was found guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation about Russia's armed forces by the Moscow court. Glukhovsky revealed over a year ago that he was placed on a Russian federal watchlist after being accused of discrediting Russia's army in a post on his Instagram account. While Glukhovsky does not live in Russia, he was tried in absentia, according to the Associated Press.

Glukhovsky is a Russian journalist and author best known for his post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel Metro and its subsequent sequels. In addition to a list of successful novels, the franchise has spawned a video game adaption developed by 4A games, with the most recent installment, Metro Exodus, released back in 2019.

Glukhovsky has been vocal about his support for Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in February 2022. His sentence is one of many as Russia has cracked down on those who speak out against the government due to the ongoing war. Shortly after invading Ukraine, the Russian parliament passed a bill imposing up to 15 years in jail for anyone spreading "fake news" about the war in Ukraine.

Image Credit: ANDRE PAIN / Getty Images

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

From the rising triumph of Snake Eater to the emotional heft of Unshaken in Red Dead Redemption 2, video game music has progressed far beyond the wildest dreams of the bleep and bloop pioneers. But a rare few of those original composers have grown with the medium, demonstrating unquestionable talent throughout the console generations.

David Wise is one of those composers. From humble music store beginnings to the man behind the legendary soundscape of Donkey Kong Country and a dozen other hits, his journey is like no other.

But if you had to highlight just one composition from his incredible 36-year-long journey, it’d be Aquatic Ambience. An unexpected assault of melancholy that humbly started life as underwater-level music in a 90s platformer dreamt up on a bicycle ride, but eventually captured the world’s imagination.

30 years after its creation, Aquatic Ambience has taken on a life of its own. It’s been sampled by superstar artists like Childish Gambino, adored by Trent Reznor, performed in huge concerts around the world and, of course, remixed in every possible direction once the internet got its hands on it.

But what is it about Aquatic Ambience that resonated with a worshipping fanbase? How did something so simple from something so quintessentially 90s end up being referred to as the Eleanor Rigby of video game music?

“I think Aquatic Ambiance obviously changed everything for me,” Wise says. “I wasn't writing for an underwater level at the time, I was just trying to make it sound nice. It was one of those light bulb moments.”

Today David Wise performs his music live to thousands of fans worldwide, and Aquatic Ambience is always a stand out in the set. Despite the reflective and sombre tone of the tune, it consistently receives overwhelming adoration. “For me, it's sad and uplifting at the same time.” shared Wise. “Although it's quite dark, you feel as though things are going to get better.”

Originally composed in 1993, 30 years later fans still flock to watch David perform the emotional masterpiece. But the track was never considered a career-defining hit out of the gate. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“Once you've worked on something for quite a long time, you get a bit bored of it really,” Wise shared. “I didn’t really have an idea of how well-received it was outside of Rare until somebody brought a CD in. Several years had passed at that point and I realized they'd put on an orchestral concert in Japan and they'd been playing it as part of that concert.”

Years had passed with David thinking he’d composed something that’d largely been forgotten, like most of the disposable video game soundtracks from the 90s. But as the internet blossomed the world became smaller, and its impact on an adoring generation started to become apparent.

“I think it was Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails.” recalled Wise. “He was in an interview and he said he'd liked it and that was the first inkling that I'd got that it had quite a big reach.”

David continued. “I went over to Washington to guest in a band at a thing called MAG Fest (Music and Games Festival). I was in this hotel room slightly jet-lagged, and I kept waking up hearing lots of bands doing versions of my music and I thought “This is just bonkers!” It took until that point, probably 15 years later before I realized people liked it.”

Despite its cultural impact, Aquatic Ambience was never meant to happen. In fact, David Wise, the renowned video game composer, was never a career he’d even considered before he got his first big break.

“I was living in Leicester at the time and I'd applied to a music shop.” explained Wise. “ Some guys from Yamaha came in with a CX5 computer and wanted somebody to learn how to use it. I was completely disinterested, I loved playing drums. They came back a few months later and nobody had picked this thing up to learn how to use it. As a bribe to get people to learn how to use it, they'd offered an extra day off a week and that was it, I was sold.” recalls Wise. “Over the course of two or three months, I'd managed to get the MIDI working and I'd hooked it up to JUNO and Korg synth and I'd got things playing like ‘We Close Our Eyes’ by Go West and Duran Duran songs, anything from the 80s. I'd got that little CX5 playing those songs.”

Wise continues. “One day, two gentlemen came in for a demonstration and so, I'd played them all of the Duran Duran, Go West stuff and they asked if I'd got any more. Very apologetically, I said, "I've got some of the stuff I've written," and played it to them and they basically offered me a job to go and work at Rare writing music for their video games.”

In the mid-80s, Rare wasn’t quite the juggernaut we see today - or that we even saw in the 90s. “My first day was looking around this new farmhouse that they'd purchased and realizing that there wasn't an office to work in.” explained Wise. “All they had was a builder who was building walls and they said your first job is to paint your office. It took a few weeks to get the office into some kind of usable [state]. As soon as we'd done that I was given the first Mario [game] and I played that for three weeks.”

After the crash course in Mario, Nintendo and DIY, the true purpose of his employment began to rear its alluring, but challenging head.

“I'd got a Roland sound module, I'd got a Korg sequencer and I was very happy for three weeks writing as much stuff as possible.” said Wise. “It was like a dream come true. Then they said, "You know that Mario game you've been listening to? You've got to get your songs onto that.” That's when the reality of video game development landed on me.”

“On the NES, you've got those four sound chips.” explained Wise. “Noise, the triangle wave and two pulse waves and you've got to try and make something –that sounds like a doorbell at best– sounding like a piece of music. It was a big challenge.”

The simplicity of the NES sound chips created limitations, but that didn’t stop David from composing impressive pieces for dozens of NES games, including California Games, a Nightmare on Elm Street, and Battletoads. But fast approaching was a much-desired tech upgrade in the form of the Super Nintendo.

“I was always frustrated that everything I played sounded like a video game or a doorbell.” said Wise. ”When we went onto the Super NES, we got eight channels, but it was [still] only 64k of memory, which is tiny. By contrast, if you've got a CD playing, you'd be able to listen to it for less than half a second and all of your memory would be gone. [So] I had to learn how to emulate [sounds] using code because everything was typed out in hex and subroutines.

Wise continued “By the time I got to the Super NES, I knew all of the hex codes for the keyboard, I could think hex. A lot of musicians and composers can listen to a piece of music and can turn around and tell you what key it's in, but I'd taken it one step further. I could tell you what the hex codes were and how to program it, and just without even playing anything on the keyboard, I could hear something in my head and I'd be able to sit down and type it.”

With a developed skillset and new technology in hand, David moved on to his biggest challenge yet. A soundscape for a Nintendo mascot character and what turned out to be the headliner of his discography for years to come. Donkey Kong Country.

“I wrote three demos and Tim, the artistic director at Rare said, ‘Can you just put them together and we send it out to Nintendo?’” shared Wise. “I always imagined that Koji Kondo would come in and disregard all the stuff I'd done. I was just doing stuff for a demo, that's the impression I had. I thought, ‘Well, that's fine. I'll do the best I can and somebody will come in and make a much better job of it.’ It never changed, so I just carried on!”

The SNES sound upgrade, despite its own limitations, presented a wealth of new opportunities for David to tinker with. It was these possibilities that allowed his creative juices to flow.

“Suddenly I had all these possibilities, and so with that came a lot of experimentation.” explained Wise.” I was cycling from work home [and it was] that movement, it just gets my brain working. I figured one day that I might be able to do it and it took me five weeks to work out how to code it and get it working. I just [took] eight waveforms and it played them in sequence and that first experiment became the baseline for Aquatic Ambiance.”

Wise continued. “For the arpeggios at the beginning, I could use a vocal sample and add a harp to it and then change that harp sample subtly and it just gave a movement and the fluidity that I just didn't have before and that opened doors.”

It could be argued that Aquatic Ambience didn’t just open doors for David but plotted a path for the industry. Video games were quickly moving away from just being toys to play with and then discard. The soundtrack for Donkey Kong Country, along with some of its peers, ushered in a new wave of art appreciation for the medium. But it’s important to note David was never trying to change what video game music could be with Aquatic Ambience. Did he even understand at the time what he’d created could be so important?

“No, not really,” answered Wise. “for me, it was a nerdy exercise and suddenly, I can make it sound nice. For me, that was enough. When I'm listening to a piece of music that I've done before, which I generally don't like to do, I just hear all the things I haven't quite finished.”

Even after sharing some audience sentiment with David, such as a YouTuber's comment referring to it as ‘the Eleanor Rigby of videogame music’. he still maintained that level of modesty. As if his creation was all just a happy accident that’s since caught fire.

“It's very kind of people to say that, but I don't think it happened immediately after the video game.” shared Wise. “I think it's taken many years of galvanizing opinions for it to get to that almost cult status.

But it has reached cult status, transcended a medium, and become one of the first song titles on people’s lips when they talk about great video game music. So has he ever tried to recapture that magic?

“I'll be a different person tomorrow than I am today and consequently, the type of tune I'd write tomorrow will be different from the one that I'd write today.” explains Wise. ”You've just got to get on with it when the inspiration comes. With Aquatic Ambiance, I was in the zone and in new ground. It was a world of exploration, so that's where I went.”

By David’s admission, Aquatic Ambience could have only been created in 1993, and when the result has been consistently popular for 3 decades and likely beyond, it makes you appreciate how special that moment of magic was. It almost makes you wonder what other great art has been lost throughout the years due to all the moments that have been missed. But we can all be grateful that David didn’t miss his on that cycle home 30 years ago, even though he still to this day can’t pinpoint exactly why people love his masterpiece so much.

“I've got no idea,” said Wise. “no idea at all.”

Dale Driver is an Executive Producer of video for IGN and has a habit of becoming obsessed with video game sounds from the 90s. Be thoroughly bored by following him Twitter at @_daledriver.

As some of you may know, IGN was founded in 1996 and we began handing out our Game of the Year awards in 2001, leaving years of top games uncrowned. We decided to remedy this as part of ’90s Week, and this week’s Game Scoop decided to go year-by-year through the decade to crown a Game of the Year for each year, starting with 1990.

Since IGN wasn’t around at the beginning of the 1990s, we had to be a bit freeform with the science behind our judgment. Some games were awarded based on their historical importance, while others were simply our favorite games to come out that year. Some games, as you’ll see later on, qualified because of both. And while Game Scoop won’t pretend to speak for the entire IGN team, here are our picks for GOTY 90s edition.

1990 – TIE – Final Fantasy and Secret of Monkey Island

The year saw the beginnings of one of the most beloved and important RPG franchises of all time, but also one of the crowning achievements of the narrative-based, point-and-click genre. As such, we gave our Game of the Year in 1990 to both the first Final Fantasy and LucasArts’ Secret of Monkey Island.

1991 – Super Mario World

Was there ever any doubt that Game of the Year 1991 would go to one of the best Mario games of all time, one of the best SNES games of all time, and maybe even one of the best games of all time? Super Mario World was the home console game of 1991 and remains a joy to play decades later. That said, we did have a hard time choosing it over other iconic games such as Sonic the Hedghehog and more importantly Street Fighter 2, which would change the fighting game genre forever.

1992 – The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

A seminal moment for 2D Zelda games, Link to the Past beat out games like Mortal Kombat and Wolfenstein 3D for the timeless qualities that define all the best Zelda games. You’ll find our early 90s picks to be dominated by Nintendo thanks to their classic games like Link to the Past.

1993 – DOOM

Not only did DOOM revolutionize the shooter genre, it defined a generation and changed the popular perception of video games at large. While the panic among parents seems quaint by today’s standards, DOOM codified and distilled Generation X into its most primal, satisfying id with this iconic shooter.

1994 – Super Metroid

If you hear me praise a 90s Nintendo game for being timeless, it’s because the era saw many games that continue on today thanks to their lasting influence and pure fun. Super Metroid is a visually gorgeous game that still holds up today thanks to its sophisticated gameplay and deep exploration. It remains a speedrunner’s favorite as one of the main events of the annual Games Done Quick, and is replayed annually by Game Scoop panelist Justin Davis. Super Metroid isn’t just the best game of 1994, but maybe the most enduring from the ’90s.

1995 – Warcraft 2

Remember when game studios would follow up a game with an even better sequel a year later? Blizzard released Warcraft 2 a year after the first Warcraft, cementing the series’ status as a foundational pillar for one of the most beloved gaming companies of all time. Warcraft 2 improved everything over its predecessor, and set the stage for an even better Warcraft game in the early 2000s, before the series changed gaming forever with the MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

1996 – TIE – Super Mario 64 and Quake

Both Super Mario 64 and Quake revolutionized 3D gaming, dragging the medium from its 2D form into the polygon era. Super Mario 64 was unlike anything else before it and showcased how 3D could transform what was previously a 2D genre. But while Mario’s influence is undisputed, it’s the Quake revolution that we’re still feeling today thanks to the game’s real-time 3D rendering on one of the medium’s most popular genres: the first-person shooter.

1997 – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Runner-Up: Diablo

Our Game Scoop panel chose Symphony of the Night for one very simple reason: it is still an amazing game. While 1997 saw the release of some very good games, including Final Fantasy 7, with the hindsight of time and numerous new games in the series, only one stands the test of time in terms of quality and fun, and it’s not Square Enix’s 3D masterpiece but Konami’s side-scrolling gothic adventure.

1998 – TIE – Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid

It’s hard to overstate just how important Half-Life’s blend of epic sci-fi storytelling and state-of-the-art physics was to games, but also just how mind-blowing it all was when it was first released in 1998. However, go back and play Metal Gear Solid (or play it for the first time) and you’ll be surprised just how modern Hideo Kojima’s 3D opus is in 2023. Not only is the first Metal Gear Solid still fun to play, but the themes it discusses, such as nuclear proliferation and genetic enhancements, are still relevant over two decades later.

1999 – Soulcalibur

Rounding out the ’90s might be a surprise for some, but remains a personal favorite of the Omega Cops. Bandai Namco’s Soulcalibur wasn’t just an excellent fighting game, but a breath of fresh air compared to the relatively serious fighting game offerings like Street Fighter and Tekken. Getting a ring out remains hugely satisfying when playing against friends, and there’s still no character selection as wild and varied as the ones in Soulcalibur.

These are Game Scoop’s picks for the Game of the Year for each year of the ’90s! Let us know in the comments how you feel about our picks or let us know which you’d choose in their place.

Earlier this week, as part of '90s week at IGN, we asked for your help in choosing the greatest video game from that wonderful decade, whether it be Final Fantasy VII, Super Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog, or something completely different. Now, after nearly 2 million votes and countless heart-wrenching 1v1 battles with such behemoths as Goldeneye 007 vs. Metal Gear Solid and Super Metroid vs. Resident Evil 2, the ultimate '90s video game has been chosen.

So, which game from the '90s claimed the top spot and rose above the other 162 games that competed in this face-off? Drumroll please...

While it may not be a surprising outcome, it's a welcome one nonetheless as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been crowned our winner. Tears of the Kingdom may now be our choice for the best Zelda game of all time, but there is no denying the importance of Ocarina of Time and that it reigns supreme in this battle of '90s video games.

"Not only did it redefine action/adventure games, but it completely changed the way the industry thought about 3D combat and exploration," we said of Ocarina of Time in our list of the top 100 games of all time. "An epic tale that introduced new characters, new lore, and an ever-expanding timeline theory, this version of Zelda took what was great about its predecessors and expanded on those themes and ideas exponentially."

Ocarina of Time was a clear winner with a win percentage of 86.5%, but Super Mario 64 gave it a good fight with a win percentage of 79.9%. Much like Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64 changed what we thought was possible with video games and ushered us into the spectacular world of 3D.

The Mario train continued as Super Mario World placed third with a win percentage of 78.7%. We went back to Zelda with A Link to the Past for fourth place and Goldeneye 007 gave us a reprieve from Nintendo's biggest heroes as it rounded out the top five.

Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid followed in sixth and seventh place, respectively, and Mario Kart 64, Super Metroid, and Super Mario Kart fought valiantly enough to secure spots in the top 10.

If we look at the top 10, Nintendo accounts for eight of the games (four from N64 and four from SNES!) and PlayStation snagged two spots. Our first PC game - Half-Life - doesn't show up until 16, and our first SEGA game - Sonic the Hedgehog - placed 21st.

SEGA did have the unfortunate honor, however, of have the game that placed last in our Face-Off in Seaman. Yes, the bizarre game that let players use a microphone to interact and care for a fish with a human face on it placd 163rd with a win percentage of only 9.9%.

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine followed Seaman, and Kid Chameleon, Vectorman, Ultima Online, X-COM: UFO Defense, Comix Zone, Actraiser, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, and Planescape: Torment. A lot of these games are actually quite well regarded, but they just didn't hold up against the test of time as well as others for IGN's readers. Furthermore, some of these are earlier entries in beloved franchises like The Elder Scrolls and X-COM, and those newer entries stand stronger in 2023.

Are you wondering where your favorite '90s game landed, like maybe Pokemon Red and Blue? (They placed 17th!) For all the rankings, you can check out the full list of where all 163 '90s games that competed in this Face-Off ended up.

For more, check out all our other '90s week content, including our look at how the PlayStation changed everything, the best movies from the 90s, how the 90s gave us the golden era of television, how the Dreamcast killed Sega's hardware reign, and some forgotten gems from the PS1 launch.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Nintendo has restored online play for Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, and apologised to fans after taking the servers offline for five months to fix a security exploit.

“In March 2023, Nintendo paused network services for the Wii U games Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 to address a vulnerability related to online play,” reads a post on the Nintendo website. “The issue has now been fixed, and so we will resume online play for these games based on the schedule below. Please accept our sincere apologies for the extended waiting period.”

Nintendo hauled the servers offline for urgent maintenance on March 3, citing “a vulnerability related to online play” without mentioning when the games would be restored.

At the time, dataminer OatmealDome suggested both games could have rendered players open to a netcode vulnerability called “ENLBufferPwn”, which lets malicious actors execute code and take control of another user's console remotely.

Nintendo has yet to confirm whether this exploit was indeed the cause of the scare. Regardless, it took the company a full five months to address the problem, and it seems any further issues with keeping the titles online could see Mario Kart 8, and Splatoon’s Wii U servers permanently shut down.

“If further issues occur which make it difficult to continue supporting online play, we may have to discontinue the online play service for the Wii U games Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 at short notice,” Nintendo warned. “Should this occur, please note that offline play would continue to function normally.”

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

It’s ‘90s week here at IGN and we are celebrating all the wonderful things that made this special decade one to remember. Movies and TV obviously had their standouts, but the ‘90s also saw the release of some of the most important video games and consoles of all time. With key moments, like the epic battle between Nintendo and Sega to the arrival of 3D games like Super Mario 64 and Final Fantasy VII that changed how we played forever, it’s hard to overstate the importance of those 10 years. However, which game was the best of the best? We can’t possibly hope to answer this question alone without your help.

Do you think Super Mario World deserves the top spot? How about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Metal Gear Solid? We’ve selected 163 of the best ‘90s games to “Face-Off” against each other two at a time, and you’ll have to make the difficult choice between them to help us crown the ultimate ‘90s game. Will you choose Half-Life over Unreal Tournament? Resident Evil over Pokemon Red? The choice is yours…

(And don't forget, you can pass on a Face-Off round if you don't know a character by just hitting "skip" at the bottom of the page.)

Click here to start voting in Best ‘90s Video Game Face-Off!

What Is a Face-Off?

Like the name suggests, a Face-Off pits two games against one another and you decide which one is the superior of the two. In this case, you are voting to determine what the best ‘90s video game is. It's possible to see certain games multiple times, so you can keep voting for your favorites to ensure they get ranked higher than the rest. IGN's resident team of ‘90s experts pre-selected 163 games for you to choose from. These get randomly paired up and each time you pick a winner, it's tracked.

How Is the Winner Determined?

When voting ends on August 3, we’ll tally up the total number of "wins" and "losses" each ‘90s video game has and create a ranked list based on your choices that will go live on August 4. The game that won the most match-ups will be crowned the "winner," and in the event of a tied number of "wins," the game with the least "losses" will take the top spot. If you continue to keep voting for your favorite game, they'll have a better chance of ranking high on the list. You can vote as many times as you want until the Face-Off closes.

How Do I Know When I’ve Clicked Through Everything?

It's difficult to know when you've seen every ‘90s video game included because they are matched randomly, and there are many possible match-ups. Playing until you vote for all your favorites or ensuring that certain games don't get in the winner's circle are different options you can take with a Face-Off. By deciding the winner throughout all these match-ups, you're ensuring that your picks for the best ‘90s video game will have a fighting chance to reach the top of the list.

Which ‘90s Games Have You Included?

This list of ‘90s video games has been created without considering limits of console, region, or otherwise. The only criteria was that it had to be released somewhere in the 1990s and it had to be a game we feel deserves the chance to fight for the crown. Are we missing one of your favorite games? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Click here to start voting in Best ‘90s Video Game Face-Off!

For more, check out our welcome to 90s week @ IGN letter and our look at how Dreamcast killed Sega's hardware reign.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

While the 1970s were important for the invention of video games and important modern blockbusters like Star Wars, and the 1980s were significant for establishing gaming as a worldwide phenomenon thanks to Nintendo, the 1990s were when things got really interesting across pop culture. Throughout the decade we saw the foundations laid for many of the conventions we take for granted today, and the building blocks of modern 3D gaming, blockbuster movies, and binge-worthy television were established and refined.

Over the next week, we’ll have stories and videos every day that explore all of this. Not only did we get the PlayStation, SNES, Super Mario 64, Resident Evil, Half-Life, Quake, and Pokémon in the 90s, but we also got The X-Files, the best seasons of The Simpsons, Friends, Buffy, and Twin Peaks. On top of that, some of the most significant movies of a generation hit in this decade, including The Matrix, Toy Story, Jurassic Park, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Seven, and Terminator 2.

There were some hugely significant advances in console hardware throughout the 90s, and we’ll be focusing on two in particular. Early in the week, we’ll be speaking with the team behind Sega’s beloved Dreamcast, which helped usher in the age of online-connected game consoles, and digging into how its short (but incredibly influential) life was ultimately responsible for ending Sega’s reign as a console superpower. Then, on Friday, we’ll be speaking with members of the original PlayStation team as they tell their behind-the-scenes stories about all the drama around the creation of Sony’s gaming business in the lead-up to the console’s Japanese release in 1994 and U.S. launch the following September.

IGN itself didn’t launch until 1996, so we have some gaps in our coverage from the period that we intend to fill in this week. Of particular note: On Friday’s episode of Game Scoop we’ll be going back and picking a game of the year for each year of the 90s. What do you think was the best game of 1990? Or for that matter, given it was such an epic decade with so many must-play games, what was the best game of the 90s?

Given the decade was so rich with releases across all facets of popular culture, we’ll only be able to touch on some of the big events in the coming week – but our goal is to revisit the decade each year and explore more topics that helped shape the current entertainment landscape. Much of the content this coming week is focused on games, but we’re also touching on movies, TV, and comic books. In future 90s Weeks we’ll be able to dig much deeper into these other areas.

There’ll be new content every day this week. Here’s the schedule of some of the biggest things…

John Davison is IGN's publisher and editorial lead, and has been writing about games and entertainment for more than 30 years, so he was there for all this 90s stuff. Follow him on Twitter.

Classic Call of Duty games have shot up Xbox’s top paid games list, fuelled by recent improvements to matchmaking and an eye-catching sale.

2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is currently the top paid game on Xbox, followed by 2012’s Black Ops 2, 2010’s Black Ops, and 2011’s Modern Warfare 3. Treyarch’s World at War and Black Ops 3 are also in the top ten.

These older Call of Duty games are outselling big-hitters such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwart’s Legacy, Elden Ring, and even last year’s Modern Warfare 2.

It’s a remarkable resurgence for a collection of games once thought consigned to the history books, but recent developments have rekindled interest in this golden age of Call of Duty, fuelled by apparent matchmaking improvements made by Microsoft itself.

Reports indicate thousands of people were online over the weekend playing these old Call of Duty games after word of surprise server fixes spread among the community like wildfire. However, reports also indicate lobbies are still afflicted by hackers, boosters, and cheaters.

Interestingly, alongside this supposed Microsoft effort to sort out old-school Call of Duty came a sweeping sale targeting many of the games. Microsoft and Activision have yet to comment on what’s happening (IGN has asked), and the radio silence is fuelling speculation both companies are preparing to drop the Call of Duty back catalogue on Game Pass.

Microsoft is on the home straight of its long-winded $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard, and while Activision has so far resisted the temptation to dump Call of Duty into Microsoft’s subscription service (boss Bobby Kotick isn’t a fan), circumstances can change. Blizzard just announced plans to release some of its games on Steam for the first time, for example, starting with Overwatch 2.

While we wait to find out, thousands are getting stuck into classic Call of Duty, with in-game player counters indicating astonishing concurrent peaks above 100,000. While these last last-gen trackers are unreliable, it’s clear the Call of Duty community is having something of a moment.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

After seeing the massive, three-tiered world of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it’s easy to forget that Breath of the Wild’s map was once considered massive in both breadth and detail. When the game first came out in 2017, players spent hundreds of hours combing its nooks and crannies, and were still making incredible discoveries years later.

Now, one player is revisiting every last inch of that original Breath of the Wild map by reconstructing it to the tree… in Minecraft.

Meet Grazzy

Grazzy is a content creator on YouTube who, prior to his great Hyrule building adventure, filled his channel with videos of the mobile game Geometry Dash, and later, playing Minecraft in Hardcore mode. After a few years, he became bored and felt limited by what he could do in that format. On a whim, he tried an idea he’d been sitting on for a while: building all of Breath of the Wild in Minecraft, starting with the Great Plateau.

Fortunately for Grazzy, this was the exact change he needed. His video blew up, netting him a massive surge of new followers and encouraging him to keep going. Grazzy had just started college, but was already feeling like it wasn’t for him. His YouTube success provided a perfectly timed out.

“I was completely overwhelmed already, so stressed out,” Grazzy recalls. “And even without YouTube, I don't know if I would've been able to keep going. And so I was just thinking, I've got a unique chance on YouTube here. No one else gets an opportunity like this. So I feel like if I don't just go full in on this and try this right now, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. Because I can always go back to college. But this might be my only shot at YouTube. It was the end of my first full week of college, and I decided to skip one of my classes so I could do a live stream, and I just never went back.”

Grazzy had never built anything complex in Minecraft, and certainly nothing on the level of another game’s entire setting. He had only built what was necessary in Hardcore mode. Which is part of why he’d hesitated to build all of Breath of the Wild in Minecraft – he felt intimidated by the idea. But during his experiment with the Great Plateau, he discovered the tool that would help him realize his ambitions.

“I found this software that allowed me to simply import a height map of Breath of the Wild into Minecraft,” he says. “So I had the whole base map done off the start. I just had to add all the extra stuff in. That was the first daunting thing, that was my main hurdle at first, just doing that. So once I found the workaround, it was kind of really easy to get started because I don't think I really understood how big of a project this was. I think my hope was to finish before the end of 2022.”

Brick by Broken Brick

With Breath of the Wild running on a second monitor, Grazzy is meticulously constructing every crumbled wall, decayed Guardian, wooden bridge, and stable in Minecraft. He uses some shortcuts, too, such as making basic trees and structures he can then copy/paste elsewhere. But some big landmarks, like towns and the Divine Beasts, require him to go through one-by-one and build each by hand.

Which is why Grazzy did not, in fact, finish before the end of 2022 as planned. Halfway through 2023, he’s finished the Great Plateau, Necluda, Faron, Zora’s Domain, Lanayru, and the Gerudo Desert. He still has to tackle Hebra and Tabantha, the areas around Korok Forest, Death Mountain, and Central Hyrule. Everything, he says, takes much longer to do than he initially expects – he’ll plan for a month, and then it’ll take two months or more to fully build.

As he explains it to me, I remark that the whole thing sounds very, very enormous and overwhelming, but Grazzy says he’s learned to take it chunk by chunk, focusing on the short-term. He releases new videos slowly, roughly one every month and a half or so, with each video focusing on a massive landmark that he builds up to and around. While such a slow upload schedule might seem unintuitive to those familiar with how YouTube prioritizes content, Grazzy says taking his time has worked out well, and his audience has remained engaged. “If I were to split this up into a 60-episode series, and every week I was uploading, ‘Today we're building this grass field over here,’ it just wouldn't be interesting,” he remarks.

Of all he’s done to date, Grazzy says the section he’s most proud of is Zora’s Domain, which was also the most difficult section by far.

“I thought, based on my productivity, how fast I was building things, that Zora's Domain was going to take me a few days, maximum, and it ended up taking a month and 70, 80 hours or something,” Grazzy says. “The intricacies of the Domain itself were already hard to replicate on their own, but because of where its location is on the map, it was at a slight angle, so I wasn't building on the regular axis. Basically just made it 30 times more difficult than it needed to be. So it took a while, but I do think it's my favorite location on the map, because... Just look at it, just look at it.”

Just look at it!

Through his time building Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, Grazzy has also made some interesting discoveries. One of the most curious, he feels, is that there are some small sections of Breath of the Wild’s map that are copy-pasted from other areas. It’s a detail that regular players are unlikely to ever notice, but when you have to build it up brick by brick, it stands out.

“There are these massive cliffs… between Kakariko Village and Hateno Village. It's just this massive overhanging part of the cliff, and it's got some pillars to hold it up and support it. And they actually just copied that part of the cliff and pasted it down on the beach near Lurelin Village. There's pretty much an entire mountain that's just copy and paste. I built the first one, and seven months later I got to the second one, and I was like, ‘This looks familiar. I feel like I've already built this before.’ And then I realized, ‘Oh, I have actually built it before, because they just reused the same cliff.’”

Another Kingdom

Recently, Grazzy took a break from his Breath of the Wild build to focus on another project: the Great Sky Island from Tears of the Kingdom. He tells me he really wanted to build something from the new game right away, and is glad he did, but isn’t sure just yet if he’ll move on to building all of Tears of the Kingdom once he’s completed Breath of the Wild. Part of the reason is that Tears of the Kingdom’s new areas – the Depths and the Sky – aren’t all that interesting from a construction standpoint.

“I was thinking, what if I split it into three videos?” he says. “I do the Surface, the Sky, and the Depths. But if I do the Depths, there's no big one interesting location. Even if I do all of the Depths in one video, there's no one spot where it's like, ‘Oh, people can't wait to see this.’ And it's kind of the same thing with the Sky. There are a few dungeons, but I've already done the most interesting part of the Sky, I think.”

For now, though, Grazzy is just trying to finish his Breath of the Wild map before the end of the year. He thinks he can manage it in about three videos, but isn’t sure. The remaining space is roughly equivalent to what he’s built so far, but the areas are less dense, so he hopes they’ll be less work. He intends to make Hyrule Castle – including all the detail of the interior areas – something of a grand finale for his last video.

One of the most impressive things about Grazzy is seeing how far he’s come for someone who had never built anything more than a utilitarian hut in Minecraft before he started this project. I ask him what advice he has for anyone who might be intrigued by the idea of building, but is daunted by the complexity of it all, as he once was. His answer? Watch other people build. Then, just bite the bullet and try it yourself, even if it’s rough.

“When I came back to the game and played it – because of all these building YouTubers that I had been watching and just these building videos – I already knew so many techniques to where I was decent already,” he says. “I think watching other people is a good way to do it. People who go really in depth with smaller builds, because the more of them you watch, you're going to notice similarities between the two, these techniques that they use.

“And then, of course, just go build it yourself, essentially. Because of this project, I keep being forced to build things that, if it wasn't for the project, I would never be building it. When I had to build a dragon, I was like, ‘I've never tried to build a dragon, because I suck at it.’ But I was forced to try and improve from this project. So I would say… go try and build a dragon. Go try and build a, I don't know, a magical castle floating in the End. Just keep pushing yourself to do new stuff.”

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.