I was in the gift shop of a small art gallery the other day when I bought a postcard depicting a bunch of different keys. The postcard turned out to be a reproduction from the six-volume dictionary and encyclopedia Larousse du XXe siècle (me neither) and the keys come in a gorgeous range of shapes and sizes. The Roman key is broad and boot-shaped. The Merovingian looks like part of a crank.
Hello and Happy New Year - is it okay to say that now? I'm not sure where the cut-off point is. Some people still have their Christmas trees up. We had ours out before New Year. Welcome back to What We've Been Playing! Or as I like to call this particular edition of it: What We Played Over Christmas, because it's been a couple of weeks since we've talked.
Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing. This week it's not about what we've been playing, but what we hope to be playing on Christmas Day (you're reading this now, but we wrote this back in June or something as we plan ahead).
Where the Wii was one of Nintendo’s biggest, money-printing successes of the modern era, the Wii U was something of an ugly duckling. I’ve heard various reasons for its less-than-stellar performance; casual gamers didn’t see the point of the expensive game pad, and hardcore gamers had been alienated by the Wii’s family-friendly vibe. I also heard that some people didn’t even realize it was an entirely new console, believing it was just a peripheral for the Wii they didn’t need.
Just this very moment, the first official photos from The Legend of Zelda live-action film were shown on the Nintendo today app.
Alongside its latest financial results, Nintendo has also released a dedicated app for the Nintendo Store that’s free to download.
Although it’s appeared to wean off making new mobile games (aside from that new Fire Emblem one it randomly dropped in September), Nintendo has shown a vested interest in releasing new apps for its most dedicated customers.
In the past 13 months, it’s launched its own music streaming service, Nintendo Music, and the Nintendo Today app, where it shares daily news updates, fun factoids, artwork, and even surprise game announcements like the Switch 2 port of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Now, there’s a Nintendo Store app so you can always browse and purchase new games even when away from your Switch or Switch 2. However, it’s become popular with fans because it also offers a breakdown of all your activity on Nintendo hardware.
It obviously doesn’t cover every Nintendo console, only stretching back as far as the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, but it’s surprisingly comprehensive, detailing literally every single game or app you so much as used once, even demos.
Aside from charting when you first played each game and when you last played them, it provides estimates for how many hours you’ve spent on them. In some cases, the app even tracks how long each of your play sessions were.
For 3DS and Wii U games, though, it does cut things off after February 2020. So, if you’ve ever gone back to those consoles in the past five years, that playtime won’t be included.
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Even so, this has prompted many Nintendo fans to share their own play activity on social media so they can look back on their habits and see which games they spent the most time on.
I guess I didn’t have 3DS on this account ;~; y’all would have seen some disgusting Monster Hunter numbers lol
— Mareep 2: Electric Blue Wooloo (@m2ebw.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T13:47:42.082Z
What can I say? I like gaming. 🤭 This is from the new Nintendo Store app. 🎮
— GeekOutGirl 🐈🐾🍂 (@geekoutgirl.posts.games) 2025-11-05T11:44:59.919Z
Real ones played this
— Ge-O-Lantern 🎃 (@bombosmedallion.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T14:44:51.625Z
Now with the new Nintendo Store app I can forever be reminded that I got my 3DS early before the price drop. Lol
— Gavin Astra~☆🔜 ANE 2026 (@gavinastrawolf.bsky.social) 2025-11-05T19:08:40.114Z
If you’re interested in seeing a record of your play activity, the Nintendo Store app is completely free to download on both the Apple and Google Play stores. You don’t need a Nintendo Switch online subscription, but you do need to link it to your Nintendo account to use its features.
Once you’ve linked your account, just tap on your profile picture in the bottom right corner of the home page, then scroll down to the bottom to find the play activity tab.
If you want to see your play activity for 3DS and Wii U games, you’ll also need to link your Nintendo Network ID to your Nintendo account. Nintendo has a guide on how to do this on its website.
Interestingly, this app isn’t actually new. Nintendo launched it back in 2020, but it was exclusive to Japan and called My Nintendo. It also wasn’t strictly just an online store and doubled as a news app, sharing updates and live showings of any Nintendo Directs, but it lacked the activity tracker.
For its international launch, Nintendo’s given it an overhaul, though it still shares news on upcoming releases and lets you manage a wishlist for any games you’re interested in.
The app’s launch comes alongside Nintendo’s latest financial results, which further cement the Switch 2 as a huge success for the company. So much so that Nintendo’s shifting its ‘primary development focus’ to the new console.
As such, it’s unclear if there’ll be any further cross-gen releases for both the Switch 1 and Switch 2. At the time of writing, the only cross-gen game on Nintendo’s schedule is Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on December 4.
Nintendo does still have a few Switch 1 games still to come in 2026. Aside from the new Rhythm Paradise and Tomodachi Life sequels, there’s Pokémon Champions, a digital exclusive that’ll also launch for mobile.
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