{"id":37307,"date":"2026-03-18T18:57:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37307"},"modified":"2026-03-18T18:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:57:38","slug":"gale-of-darkness-gets-nintendo-switch-2-launch-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37307","title":{"rendered":"Gale of Darkness Gets Nintendo Switch 2 Launch Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Fan-favorite Pok\u00e9mon series Pok\u00e9mon XD: Gale of Darkness is now available to play again via Nintendo Switch 2. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">We heard last month that the classic would arrive sometime in March via the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and today that day has now come. As ever, though, you&#8217;ll need the pricier Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier to play GameCube titles.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Originally released in 2005, Gale of Darkness is a successor to the Pok\u00e9mon Colosseum (and earlier Stadium) titles, though it is more notable for featuring a fan-favorite story mode featuring the very cool-looking Shadow Lugia. <\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The game&#8217;s story revolves around the corruption of creatures by Team Rocket, and its depiction and usage of Shadow Pok\u00e9mon influenced later games in the franchise \u2014 particularly the appearance of Shadow Pok\u00e9mon again in Pok\u00e9mon Go. (Sadly, Shadow Lugia has not put in another appearance there, though.)<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">At the time, when Pok\u00e9mon mainline games had yet to evolve into the big 3D open-world adventures seen today, Pok\u00e9mon XD: Gale of Darkness was arguably the best-looking game the Pok\u00e9mon franchise had seen. It&#8217;s stuck in the memory of fans since, who have been eagerly awaiting its arrival to a modern aduience. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;Experience The Extra Dimension!&#8221; reads an official blurb. &#8220;Using Shadow Pokemon, an evil organization has unleashed a sinister plot of world domination. With Eevee as your companion, and with the help of numerous friends along the way, you must fight against terrible foes and race against time to snag and purify the Shadow Pokemon and save the world!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">The Best Pok\u00e9mon Spin-off Games<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"When a franchise reaches the hulking size of Pok\u00e9mon, it finds its way into everything. The Pok\u00e9mon Company\u2019s games have touched almost every genre, we\u2019ve seen its characters rendered in almost every art style, and we\u2019ve seen them battle a pantheon of gods and monsters. A universe of Pok\u00e9mon games exists outside of the core series, and this month we\u2019re treated to a new major spin-off from the franchise in Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#10;By moving away from the classic turn-based RPG formula, spin-off games allow us to see different shades of the Pokemon universe and experience it in a new light. While the core Pok\u00e9mon games can be boiled down to the competitive side of things, they\u2019re also about building an emotional attachment to your team, immersing yourself in this strange, utopic universe and, most importantly, being enchanted by the lore of the world and interacting with myths and legends. The best spin-offs focus on those other aspects and enhance that sense of wonder.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#10;With Pokopia having just landed, this is the perfect time to celebrate all the different ways the pocket monsters have deviated from their usual turn-based RPG roots, and rank the top 10 Pok\u00e9mon spin-off games.&#10;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2021719738 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Nintendo will follow up today&#8217;s launch with the addition of Pok\u00e9mon Colosseum to Nintendo Switch Online at some point in the future, though there&#8217;s no word yet on when. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">It&#8217;s a busy time for Pok\u00e9mon fans, who have also been kept busy by the launch of brilliant spinoff Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia. If you&#8217;re already playing that, be sure to check out our list of all the Pok\u00e9mon in Pokopia, and take a look at our Things to Do First in Pokopia guide to make the most of your first few days. To help you get started, we&#8217;ve also got a list of 17 things that Pokopia doesn&#8217;t tell you, plus How to Raise the Environment Level and How to Raise Pok\u00e9mon Comfort Level.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Tom Phillips is IGN&#8217;s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky <\/em>@tomphillipseg.bsky.social<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/gamecube-classic-pokmon-xd-gale-of-darkness-is-now-available-to-play-on-nintendo-switch-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fan-favorite Pok\u00e9mon series Pok\u00e9mon XD: Gale of Darkness is now available to play again via Nintendo Switch 2. We heard last month that the classic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[10960,18428,713,2830,255,155],"class_list":["post-37307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-darkness","tag-gale","tag-launch","tag-nintendo","tag-switch","tag-today","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}