Nintendo eShop Weekend Guide: Castlevania, Tales of Eternia and It Takes Two Lead a Loaded Switch Lineup

THE GAMES DESK

If your Nintendo Switch 2 has been waiting for a reason to stay docked all weekend, Nintendo just handed it several. The October 16 update to the Nintendo eShop — covering both Switch 2 and the original Switch — is one of the fuller weekly drops of the fall, headlined by a beloved co-op adventure, a brand-new Castlevania, and a remastered classic RPG that launched Friday. It is the kind of lineup that makes the eShop's weekly bulletin, Nintendo's official What's New on Nintendo eShop roundup, worth reading top to bottom.

The framing here is simple: this is a what-to-play-this-weekend guide. Some of these games are brand new, some are catalog favorites arriving on Nintendo hardware for the first time, and one very famous adventure game is reportedly getting its store page ready ahead of a November date. Here is what matters, and what can wait.

The Headliner: It Takes Two Arrives

The biggest name in the update is It Takes Two, the co-op adventure from Hazelight that won Game of the Year honors on its original release and has been a fixture of "best two-player games" lists ever since. Its arrival on Switch 2 and Switch gives Nintendo players the definitive couch co-op experience: two players, one screen or two, working through a story about a divorcing couple shrunk to doll size and forced to cooperate their way back. For Switch 2 owners especially, it is the kind of showcase — colorful, inventive, constantly changing its mechanics from level to level — that the new hardware's first year needs more of.

Also landing for families this week is Bluey's Happy Snaps, bringing the world's most popular animated dog to Nintendo consoles in a photo-snapping adventure aimed squarely at younger players and the parents who play alongside them. Between It Takes Two and Bluey, the family shelf of this week's drop is unusually strong, and both titles fit the Switch's identity perfectly: games designed to be shared in the same room.

Castlevania Returns, and a Classic RPG Is Remastered

The week's most interesting release for longtime players is Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, priced at $29.99. Per GameBeacon's coverage of the launch, the new entry follows Trevor Belmont and his daughter Rose in Paris in the year 1499 — a father-daughter pairing that gives the series' whip-cracking, gothic exploration a fresh emotional engine. Castlevania has lived mostly on nostalgia for years, sustained by collections and re-releases; a new chapter built around two Belmonts is a genuine event for the franchise, and the price point makes it an easy weekend recommendation.

Sharing launch day is Tales of Eternia Remastered, which arrived October 16 at $29.99 across PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch. Bandai Namco's Tales series has been steadily remastering its catalog, and Eternia — a fan-favorite from the PlayStation era with the series' signature real-time Linear Motion Battle System — is one of the entries fans have asked about most. For RPG players, a $29.99 remaster of a 40-plus-hour adventure is the best dollar-per-hour proposition on this entire list.

The Rest of a Busy Week

Beyond the headliners, the October 15–21 release window is stacked. Toy Story fans get a double helping with Toy Story Retro Roundup and Toy Story 3 Complete Edition. The LEGO Harry Potter Collection brings both brick-built Hogwarts adventures together. House Flipper 2 arrives for the renovation-game crowd, Once Upon A KATAMARI rolls Katamari's joyful chaos back onto the release calendar, and Jackbox Party Pack 12 continues the annual tradition of party games built for a room full of phones. Horror fans are not left out either: Tenebris Somnia launched October 16 on Steam, bringing its retro-styled dread to PC players looking for a seasonal scare.

That breadth is the real story of the week. Nintendo's bulletin covers two generations of its own hardware at once, and the third-party support around it — from LEGO to Katamari to Castlevania — suggests publishers are treating the Switch 2's first fall as a window worth fighting for. For more on the month's subscription-side drops, see our coverage of Game Pass's October additions and the Battlefield 6 Game Pass news, and browse the full games section for what else is playable now.

One More Page to Watch

Finally, a note of caution on the week's most tantalizing item. Secondary coverage has reported that Nintendo has opened an eShop page for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ahead of a November 5 date. That is reported, not confirmed by Nintendo in the bulletin itself, and we are treating it accordingly — but an eShop page appearing at all is usually a reliable sign that an announcement is close. If the most celebrated adventure game ever made is about to get a new Nintendo release window, expect it to dominate next month's conversation. For now, it is a page to watch, not a date to circle in ink.

So the weekend plan writes itself: It Takes Two if you have a partner on the couch, Belmont's Curse if you want something new with old bones, Tales of Eternia if your weekend is measured in dozens of hours. The eShop does not always deliver a week this balanced — when it does, it is worth saying so.