THE FUSE

In the middle of 2025, I decided to take a step back from the grind of playing the latest releases and carve out time for something I’d wanted to get around to for years: Earthbound. I had just gotten my Switch 2 and—knowing I would enjoy a lengthy honeymoon phase in which my brand new console would be all I’d want to play—decided to boot up the legendary SNES role-playing game thanks to Nintendo Switch Online. And I’m so glad I did, because playing Earthbound for the first time was one of the most joyful experiences of 2025! There are likely dozens more surprises like it waiting for me in my constantly growing backlog.