Switchboard <\/strong>is Polygon’s weekly newsletter for all things Nintendo, sent on Thursdays and published on the site on Saturdays. You can <\/em>subscribe here<\/em>. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nintendo\u2019s Switch 2 has passed a lot of tests in its first year (and change) on the market. It has proven that you don\u2019t need a 3D Mario or new Zelda game to sell a system. It has repeatedly shown that Nintendo can indeed make a technically proficient console. And it has won over key third-party publishers like Capcom and Square Enix, winning an existential war Nintendo has been fighting since its Wii days. Now, it\u2019s time for a real skill check.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n All eyes have been on one developer for the past week: FromSoftware. After a delayed arrival into the Switch 2 generation, the acclaimed Dark Souls studio finally made its debut on Nintendo\u2019s new console. That started with a network test for the Switch 2-exclusive The Duskbloods <\/em>last weekend, and it culminated with the long-awaited release of Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition<\/em> this week. Both of those games are a big deal for Nintendo; locking down FromSoftware as a go-to partner would be a cathartic victory for Switch 2.<\/p>\n Long before Dark Souls<\/em>, FromSoftware and Nintendo briefly had a relationship brewing. The studio gave Nintendo two solid GameCube exclusives in Lost Kingdom<\/em> and Lost Kingdom 2<\/em>, a pair of dark action RPGs that, in retrospect, laid some groundwork for 2009\u2019s Demon\u2019s Souls<\/em>. That budding partnership was very short-lived. Aside from developing a few Nintendo DS games, FromSoftware abandoned Nintendo entirely once the Wii came along. That wasn\u2019t much of a big deal at the time considering that FromSoftware\u2019s output was eclectic and inconsistent in the 2000s, but the long-term loss could be felt as soon as Dark Souls mania set in. There was a big hole in Nintendo\u2019s ally list, and it was only growing wider.<\/p>\n For a moment during the Switch era, it looked like the two were ready to reunite. Dark Souls Remastered<\/em>\u2019s <\/em>2018 Switch release felt like the start of a renewed effort to get the studio\u2019s games on a Nintendo platform, but nothing else came of that move. It seemed clear that FromSoftware\u2019s games were just too technically ambitious to play nice with Nintendo\u2019s held-back hardware. That became painfully clear when Elden Ring<\/em> launched in 2022, and Nintendo missed out on a generational moment.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important for FromSoftware\u2019s 2026 Switch 2 debut to go off without a hitch. So far, we\u2019re off to a promising start. Reviews for Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition <\/em>are positive, with critics noting that the open-world game feels right at home on a handheld. The tradeoff, though, is a performance drop that will be noticeable if you\u2019re used to playing on PS5 and Xbox Series X. That\u2019s a little worrying considering that FromSoftware\u2019s games only tend to get bigger and more ambitious as time goes on, but it does seem like the studio has found how to make reasonable compromises for now.<\/p>\n The Duskbloods<\/em>, on the other hand, is shaping up to be a true wildcard. We finally learned exactly how the mysterious multiplayer game works this past weekend, and it\u2019s quite the creative swing. It\u2019s somewhere between Elden Ring: Nightreign<\/em> and Kirby Air Riders<\/em>\u2019 City Trial mode \u2014 a casual-hardcore elimination game where you fight to collect more points than your rivals and survive a final PvP battle. Feedback from the network test is all over the place, with some fans adoring it and others feeling that it doesn\u2019t play to FromSoftware\u2019s strengths enough. It\u2019s certainly shaping up to be the studio\u2019s most polarizing game, which is saying something considering that Nightreign <\/em>wasn\u2019t exactly universally praised upon release.<\/p>\n And so, Nintendo and FromSoftware\u2019s continued relationship hinges on some big questions. Will a technically compromised Elden Ring <\/em>be successful enough to make sure FromSoftware keeps its future games port-able for portable? Will The Duskbloods<\/em> convince the studio\u2019s biggest soldiers to buy the Switch 2? And can Nintendo\u2019s online ecosystem even support something like The Duskbloods<\/em>? (A rough start to the network test raised a few red flags last week.)<\/p>\n If those two launches go off without a hitch, Nintendo may finally nail down an important partner that has fallen through its fingers over the past two decades. At that point, the Switch 2 would feel unstoppable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are plenty of games out there that iterate on Vampire Survivors<\/em>\u2019 winning formula, but Blood Dungeon<\/em> <\/em>might be the best riff yet. Created by Messhof, the developer behind Nidhogg<\/em>, Blood Dungeon<\/em> takes the fundamentals of the \u201cbullet heaven\u201d game and applies it to a 2D platformer that looks like it was made in Microsoft Paint. It\u2019s lo-fi, crude, and joyfully dumb. I dare you to beat my high scores.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whenever I think about Elden Ring<\/em>, with its brutal difficulty and wide-open world, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link<\/em> comes to mind. In retrospect, Nintendo\u2019s polarizing Zelda sequel pioneered a formula that FromSoftware would much later perfect. It\u2019s a tough-as-nails action RPG that gives you a lot of freedom to sniff around for well-hidden secrets. It\u2019s worth revisiting it in the Soulslike era and considering if Nintendo was too ahead of its time in 1987.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All this talk about blood and dungeons has me listening to Golden Sun: The Lost Age<\/em>\u2019s pulse-raising battle themes. \u201cBattle with Sentinel\u201d is my favorite selection from the soundtrack available on Nintendo Music, a song that sounds like a Faith No More track recreated with MIDI. The fierce composition, filled with heavy metal drumming and screeching organs, will really get your blood pumping. (There’s a playlist of all of Switchboard’s music picks here.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brigadine Abyss<\/em><\/p>\n Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Vol. 2<\/em><\/p>\n Lou\u2019s Lagoon<\/em><\/p>\n Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters<\/em><\/p>\n Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition<\/em><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/the-duskbloods-nintendo-direct-_-nintendo-switch-2-1-39-screenshot.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: FromSoftware\/Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n eShop games of the week: Blood Dungeon
\n <\/h2>\n\n Nintendo Classics game of the week: Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
\n <\/h2>\n![\"Link](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/chorus\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/24433328\/link_dungeon.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n Nintendo Music track of the week: \u201cBattle with Sentinel\u201d from Golden Sun: The Lost Age
\n <\/h2>\n![\"Key](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/golden-sun-the-lost-age-key-art.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=1\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Camelot Software Planning\/Nintendo<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n This week’s most interesting releases
\n <\/h2>\n\n
\n
\n
\n