Amazon has restocked a pair of Nintendo Amiibo figures that it hasn’t had in its inventory in more than seven years. Super Mario fans can add Koopa Troopa and Goomba Amiibo to their collections for $16 each. Both characters are shipped and sold by Amazon, so we wouldn’t expect Mario’s iconic punching bags to remain in stock for very long. Goomba and Koopa Troopa are part of the long-dormant Super Mario Amiibo series.

Both figures released in the US in October 2017 and were sold out at Amazon by time the calendar flipped to 2018. The regular price of Nintendo Switch Amiibo recently increased to $20, so you’re technically saving 20% on Koopa Troopa and Goomba. The same could be said about Sora from Kingdom Hearts, which launched in early 2024 and is in stock for $16.

Nintendo Switch Amiibo at Amazon

Super Mario Amiibo series – Koopa Troopa and Goomba

Splatoon fans can get the Pearl & Marina 2-Pack for $25, but you’ll need to move fast; the combo pack is $10 below MSRP and almost out of stock. Randomly, the European edition of Robin from Fire Emblem is also in stock, though for the peculiar price of $20.90.

• Koopa Troopa (Super Mario) — $16
• Goomba (Super Mario) — $16
• Sora (Kingdom Hearts) — $16
• Pearl & Marina 2-Pack (Splatoon) — $25
• Robin (Fire Emblem) — $20.90
• Switch 2 Amiibo deals at Amazon

You can find many other Switch Amiibo figures on Amazon, but the five listed above are the only characters sold/shipped by Amazon at this time. Check out the Koopa Troopa and Goomba Amiibo below. Nintendo Switch 2 owners should also take a look at the deals on the new Zelda and Street Fighter Amiibo before they’re gone.

Goombas and Koopa Troopas have been franchise fixtures since the original Super Mario Bros. debuted in 1985 on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In World 1-1, the first few obstacles Mario encounters are the ever-grumpy mushrooms with feet. After flattening a handful of Goombas by jumping on their heads, Mario meets the perpetually smiling tortoise for the first time. There’s only one Koopa in World 1-1, but that’s enough to introduce players to the more efficient method for eliminating Goombas. Over the past 40 years, Super Mario fans have hurled countless Koopa Shells at groups of Goombas.

Nintendo has iterated on Bowser’s original henchmen on many occasions, but you can still count on seeing regular Koopas and Goombas in the vast majority of Super Mario Bros platformers and spin-offs. When you encounter one, there’s a good chance the other is nearby, so it’s only fitting that Amazon has both of these Amiibo in stock at the same time.

Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo at Amazon

Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo

Amazon has seven of the eight Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo figures in stock, and four characters are on sale for $20 each. Two of the four Legend of Zelda Sage Amiibo–Tulin and Sidon–are eligible for Amazon’s $10 discount. Amazon is offering $20 discounts on Luke and Jamie Amiibo from Street Fighter 6.

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo
  • Tulin — $20 ($30)
  • Sidon — $20 ($30)
  • Yunobo — $30
  • Riju — $30
• Street Fighter 6 Amiibo
  • Luke — $20 ($40)
  • Jamie — $20 ($40)
  • Kimberly — Sold out
• Donkey Kong & Pauline — $30

Amazon’s deals will likely end when GameStop’s Amiibo promotion expires this weekend. Unlike Amazon, GameStop has all seven Zelda and Street Fighter Amiibo for $20 each; GameStop is also offering a 50% discount on the retailer’s exclusive Street Fighter 6 Amiibo Card Starter Set.

The next big PS5 exclusive game, Ghost of Yotei, launches on October 2. To celebrate the open-world action game’s imminent release, Sony announced a limited edition Ghost of Yotei-themed PS5 console and accessories that will launch alongside the game. The lineup includes two PS5 Slim models featuring faceplates with traditional Japanese Sumi-e ink illustrations inspired by the game. There are gold and black ink versions of the console, which will be available in bundles that include special edition DualSense controllers featuring matching color schemes. The Ghost of Yotei-themed faceplates and controllers will also be available separately from the console bundles. Preorders for the lineup start September 4 at 10 a.m. The gold version of the Ghost of Yotei limited edition PS5 gear will be available at multiple online retailers, including PlayStation Direct, while the black versions are exclusive to PlayStation Direct.

The full Ghost of Yotei Limited Edition PS5 gear lineup

Since the bundles do not include a copy of Ghost of Yotei, you’ll probably want to preorder a copy of the game while you’re at it. The game is available in a $70 standard edition you can pick up physically, as well as an $80 Digital Deluxe Edition that includes a selection of in-game items, and a massive $250 Collector’s Edition that comes with several physical collectibles, including replica’s of Atsu’s Ghost Mask, sash, and katana tsuba guard, a foldable origami ginkgo tree, and more. Preordering any version of the game gets you a bonus in-game mask and PSN avatars of Atsu and the Yotei Six villains she hunts down throughout the game. Be sure to check our Ghost of Yotei preorder guide for more information. Ghost of Yotei launches on PS5 on October 2.

Ghost of Yotei Preorders

Every time Hello Games is readying an update for No Man’s Sky, studio founder Sean Murray tweets out cryptic emoji that send the community’s head spinning. For the Voyagers update, he posted a waving emoji, followed by a group of three waving emoji to hint at the major feature of the update: ships big enough to travel around in with your friends.

The Voyagers update brings Corvette-class ships to the galaxy. Where the one-seater ships we’ve piloted thus far are pretty limited in customization, you’ll build your Corvette “piece by piece” with full customization, meaning that your ship will be truly unique. You’ll be able to customize both the inside and outside, designing the ship through a ship-designer menu that doesn’t seem that different from Starfield’s version. The update even includes different interior styles and cockpits, so that you can make your ship feel like the Millennium Falcon, filled with readouts and switches, or go for something more streamlined like Star Trek. There are a bunch of working ship modules that will enhance the functionality and stats of your ship, too, so this isn’t purely cosmetic.

Once built, you can get out of your chair and walk around the inside. If you hop on with friends, you can travel the galaxy together, all in one ship.

There’s even a new spacewalking mechanic to let you step out the airlock of your Corvette, to float around in space or jump from your Corvette to your friend’s.

The update also adds graphical enhancements to glass, to player lighting, and more, along with DLSS 4 compatibility.

And of course, Hello Games also saw fit to add an Expedition to the game to speed up initial ship building.

No Man’s Sky Voyagers Update Patch Notes

Corvette-class Starships

• Added a new class of starship, the Corvette. Corvettes are large, fully bespoke ships with furnished interiors, capable of accommodating multiple passengers.
• A lightweight tutorial for assembling your first Corvette will activate upon first collecting a Corvette module or interacting with the Corvette Workshop.
• A large catalogue of snappable structural and decorative modules is available for Corvette assembly, including habitation modules, hulls, wings, engines, windows, accessways, weapons, reactors, shield generators, connectors and decorative peripherals.
• Corvette modules can be unearthed from salvage containers buried on worlds across the universe, as well as discovered in Derelict Freighters.
• Modules can also sometimes be retrieved from defeated pirates, freighter cargo pods, crashed freighter crates, frigate expeditions, or received as rewards for completing missions.
• Structural Corvette modules are collected individually in the inventory and spent directly when assembling a Corvette.
• While standing within a Corvette, specialised furnishings and a selection of base decorations can be installed in the ship’s interior. Internal modules can be installed without limitation, but require resources to construct.
• Habitation modules (“habs”) form the main living area for Corvette-class starships. Habs are available in three distinct classes: Titan, Thunderbird, and Ambassador, each with its own sci-fi aesthetic. Installed furnishings reflect the style of their hab, and multiple habs placed adjacently are automatically linked with doorways.
• Multi-storey Corvettes can be assembled with the installation of internal stairways.
• Several installable Corvette modules have practical functionality, such as the Living Wall, Nutrition Unit, Refiner Unit and Mission Radar.
• A number of Corvette modules are linked to technology upgrades, automatically improving the Corvette’s stats alongside its appearance.
• Corvette Workshop terminals can be found aboard the Space Station. These terminals provide an interface through which collected Corvette modules can be assembled into a pilotable, habitable starship.
• The terminal also provides access to a shop for purchasing basic Corvette modules, and a barter interface for trading advanced Corvette modules.
• The Corvette Workshop can store a draft Corvette, allowing work-in-progress edits to be saved and returned to at a later time.
• A nearby cache will collect any overflow of refunded Corvette modules if there are too many to store in the player’s inventory.
• The Corvette benefits from an especially powerful pulse drive, which moves faster than single-occupancy ships.
• Corvettes can autopilot to space stations, discovered planets, and mission destinations.
• Corvettes can also be set to autopilot along the current flightpath.
• Corvette accessways are accompanied by a specialised teleporter, allowing the ship to hover above especially mountainous or difficult terrain, while passengers beam themselves to and from the planetary surface.
• Added support for multiple physics worlds, enabling players to travel stably and walk on foot around fast-moving Corvettes.
• Spacewalking is now a fully supported mode of navigation, allowing players to leave their ships (or freighters) and use their jetpack to fly among the stars.
• Added a number of Corvette-specific visual effects for engines and landing.
• Added new audio effects and ambient environments for Corvettes.
• Added specialised camera handling for piloting Corvettes and navigating their interiors.

Corvette Multiplayer Missions

• Added a Corvette-based mission board, allowing players on board the Corvette to register as mission crew to co-operatively complete objectives in the local system and earn rewards and standing.

Corvette Expedition

• Expedition Nineteen, Corvette, will begin shortly and run for approximately six weeks.
• Rewards include new posters, decals and titles, the vigilant jetpack trail and plasma starship trail, an exclusive deadeye cannon module for Corvettes, and the unique Mecha-Mouse robotic companion.

Skyborn Exosuit and Jetpack

• Added the 5-piece Skyborn Exosuit to the Appearance Modifier, including armour, gloves, boots, legs and torso customisations.
• Added the Skyborn Jetpack to the Appearance Modifier.

Twitch Drops

• A new package of Twitch drops will begin shortly. Sign up and connect your platform accounts on the Twitch Drops page, then tune in to Twitch to earn exotic base parts, high-tech starships, fireworks, appearance modifications, and more.

Gameplay and Quality of Life

• Implemented support for rebinding controls on console.
• Rearranged a number of input bindings in the controls menu for improved usability.
• Added a graphics option to adjust the strength of blurring / light scattering on distant objects in underwater environments.
• On PC and MacOS, added text translations for system-level dialog boxes (for example, when the operating system reports a graphics driver error).
• Improved the visibility of the “Switch Base” control, for selecting which base to edit while within the perimeter of multiple planetary bases, or within both a planetary base and a Corvette.
• Added the ability to copy and paste No Man’s Sky Friend Codes on PC and MacOS.
• Improved the appearance of several dialog boxes on the boot and pause screens.
• Added “scroll on hover” functionality to a number of UI buttons that could overspill in non-English languages.
• Improved the mouse scroll speed in the base building menu.
• Increased the number of planets featuring buried ancient bones.
• Increased the number of planets featuring buried salvageable scrap.
• Salvageable scrap containers are no longer guarded by corrupt Sentinels.
• Prevented Echo Locator hint notifications from appearing when a harmonic camp was already locally marked, or while within the perimeter of a camp.
• Improved the system for displaying the estimated remaining time to a destination on HUD markers, resulting in much more accurate time estimates and tick-down speed.
• The landing pad readout at the Space Anomaly now indicates where your ship is docked, and accurately reflects landing space availability.
• Robotic creatures now lay metal eggs.

Rendering

• Added support for NVIDIA DLSS4. Deep Learning Super Sampling is a revolutionary suite of neural rendering technologies that uses AI to boost FPS, reduce latency, and improve image quality.
• Added support for PlayStation® Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), improving image clarity using AI-enhanced resolution, for ultra-high definition and incredible detail.
• Added support for Intel Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) 2, which uses machine learning to deliver higher performance with exceptional image quality.
• Implemented moment-based order-independent transparency (MBOIT), improving the appearance of translucent surfaces, especially when overlapping.
• Added localised “hero lighting” for the player character, improving their appearance in darker environments.
• Improved the rendering and lighting of 3D objects such as the player’s ship, Multi-Tool and jetpack on the inventory screen.
• Improved the appearance of glowing distant objects.
• Improved the rendering of semi-transparent mesh particles.
• Improved the appearance of cloud shadows, making them denser and more dramatic.
• Improved the visual stability of heavy air effects, resolving some flickering issues.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue that could cause multiple NPC ships to land at the same dock.
• Fixed an issue that could cause creatures to teleport onto terrain when navigating underground caverns.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some sections of Autophage staffs to remain visible when the player entered a short-range teleporter.
• Fixed an issue that caused the “Open Building” button on a Settlement building to be incorrectly greyed out, even when available.
• Fixed an issue that could cause some frigate fleet log entries to be omitted from the final list if the frigate expedition was very long.
• Fixed a rare timing-specific issue that could cause uploaded cross-platform saves to be displayed in the wrong UI style when backing out of the Cross-Save Manager.
• Fixed an issue that caused some Station Core text to appear in the wrong dialog box style.
• Fixed an issue that could cause terrain to appear visually corrupted on lower-end systems.
• Fixed an issue that could cause distant objects to flicker in Virtual Reality.
• Fixed an issue that prevented fishing lines from rendering correctly in multiplayer.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause player names to appear as “…” in multiplayer.
• Fixed a number of rare multiplayer crashes.

Abandoned Mode

• Added the Mech Hardframe parts to the technology research trees in Abandoned Mode.
• Fixed an issue that prevented learning the Creature Pellets recipe in Abandoned Mode.

Optimisations

• Implemented occlusion culling on Xbox Series, PS4, and PS5, significantly increasing framerate in indoor environments (such as in caves and planetary buildings).
• Implemented multi-threaded rendering on PC, significantly improving CPU performance, notably in VR.
• Implemented a significant performance optimisation on mature saves with a large number of completed or active missions.
• Implemented a large number of performance optimisations across multiple game systems, including the handling of HUD markers, the physics of static objects such as buildings and rocks, audio, the Analysis Visor, particles, and components that trigger animations or state changes in response to player actions.
• Improved the CPU performance of planetary creatures navigating across terrain.
• Implemented several memory-saving optimisations related to large textures and data table loading.
• Significantly improved load times when loading saves near large planetary bases.
• Further reduced the number of shaders used by the game, improving load times.

Cult filmmaker John Carpenter seems to have been having a moment at Gamescom 2025. Not only does his name grace the title for Toxic Commando, Saber Interactive’s fun evolution of the zombie co-op FPS, but his sci-fi horror, The Thing, is also a key influence of the upcoming Directive 8020. Topping it off, it was during the show where the previously announced Halloween, based on the horror classic with Carpenter himself attached as executive producer, had its first trailer it was announced that his defining slasher horror classic Halloween is being turned into a game, with Carpenter himself attached as an executive producer.

Given it’s being developed by Illfonic–the studio behind other licensed horror or horror-adjacent games like Friday the 13th, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Predator, and Ghostbusters–in collaboration with Gun Media, Compass International Pictures, and Further Front, it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that this will consist of asymmetrical multiplayer. But this isn’t just going to be Friday the 13th: The Game swapping out Jason Vorhees for Michael Myers. For one, the announcement confirms that Halloween will be both a single-player and multiplayer horror experience.

Although Friday the 13th did technically feature single-player content, these were essentially challenge missions that featured no narrative. Sitting down with design director Jordan Mathewson, he explains that this is very much a story mode experience that the studio is working on with Pollard Studio, the Shanghai-based studio behind Karma: The Dark World. “It does have narrative and cinematic components to really give it a lot of story and exploration into what it is doing,” he says. “But we’ve also been building a lot and iterating in a way that allows us to build a type of experience that stands apart from multiplayer and give you a completely different look at what this type of game can be.”

Unfortunately, apart from the announcement trailer, there has been no further reveal of the gameplay–not even behind closed doors–and so it’s still too early to have a clear idea of what to expect from Halloween’s story mode, apart from that it will put you in the boots and behind the mask of Michael Myers. But from what I’m able to learn from Matthewson, it sounds deliciously like a serial killer’s version of Hitman.

As Halloween will be using the 1978 movie as its blueprint, that means the setting is in the sleepy rural and suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois. “All the decorations, the characters, the clothing are all from the 1970s,” he explains. “It’s been a lot of fun exploring what that means, and everything that comes with having that kind of technology back then when it comes to actually making the single-player is a big portion of this compared to our previous titles.”

Halloween

While Haddonfield may have you just thinking of the iconic suburban neighborhood, its grounded and familiar setting being what elevates the horror when a terrifying killer is let loose in it, Matthewson also assures me that there will be a variety of maps that go beyond that neighborhood. “There’s a lot more to Haddonfield that you see throughout the movie that we’ll be exploring and making sure there’s different types of maps that have different sizes and different types of play styles associated, so it does lend itself to different experiences as you get set on these different maps.”

Having what sounds like large sandbox maps is going to be crucial to Halloween’s more slow-paced and stealth-based gameplay. Whereas Friday the 13th boiled down to Jason trying to kill as many counselors as possible within a time limit, Halloween’s Haddonfield isn’t just a map but a simulation of ’70s suburbia, so there will be a lot of NPCs also going about their own routines on Halloween night. The twist is that any one of these can be targets for Myers.

This is where the Agent 47 comparison comes into play, as Myers needs to bide his time, observing an NPC, staying in the shadows, until the opportune moment to kill comes. What this means is that rather than playing as targets trying to escape, the goal of other players is to prevent the massacre from occurring by rescuing the targeted townsfolk, such as convincing them to leave their homes.

Halloween

“It’s very stealthy on both sides since Michael of course doesn’t want to be seen and he has a more methodical approach, but the civilians are obviously trying to stay out of sight until they have the means to try and combat him,” explains Matthewson. Just as it is that assassinating a target out in the open can have everyone coming after you in Hitman, so too it seems that Michael’s massacre can be more difficult to pull off if he gives himself away. It will also be possible for the civilian players to escalate things. “You can try to call the cops and convince them there’s a murderer on the loose. If the cops come to investigate and start finding evidence, they’ll send more and more that create a much more difficult challenge for Michael. He’s very powerful, but at the same time, the authority figures will challenge him.”

But without seeing this in action, I can’t quite picture in my head how this plays out. Is the bogeyman seriously going to be deterred by a bunch of smalltown cops? If Michael Myers is such a foreboding presence, I also can’t imagine his stealth options are going to involve crouching in a bush, but if not then how does he stay stealthy? And given that this game is sticking to just the 1978 movie, which was arguably his most grounded depiction, does that limit the kind of powers he will have when facing both other players as well the rest of the town?

Alas, those are details we’ll have to wait for Illfonic to reveal at a later date. Nonetheless, Matthewson assures me that the studio has been doing a lot of research and working directly with IP holder Compass to explore what Michael is truly capable of. “It retains that grounded nature because it is meant to exist in a reality where you feel vulnerable and you feel like you’re in a familiar setting,” he says. “It’s been really fun to explore that side of it, and making sure we stick to it but then also getting to jump back to Michael’s perspective and expand on it in a way that makes it a really interesting, fun, powerful experience.”

Halloween will be coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.

Supermassive Games has already proven itself as one of the most popular storytellers in interactive cinematic horror–since Until Dawn’s release a decade ago, more than half a dozen similar titles that focus on different monsters have been released. Directive 8020 is the latest of these as part of its anthology series The Dark Pictures, and sees the developer charting new territory in space.

Alien is one major cornerstone, the film that really showed us how terrifying space can be, while you also play as a crew on board the ship Casseopeia who are due to awake from cryosleep. There’s even a touch of 2001: A Space Odyssey, given the presence of a talking supercomputer called Oracle, though playing through the first episode, I don’t have enough reason to be suspicious. The grave threat instead is a meteorite that’s breached the ship’s hull, which has also brought some kind of alien fleshy matter on board that can mimic the appearance of the crew. This is essentially The Thing in space.

While that will no doubt open up to paranoia among the crew when you’re going to question who is or isn’t human, at this point the ship only has two monitoring crew up and about, Tomas Carter and Sims, so when the latter suddenly starts behaving murderously aggressive, it’s no surprise that something’s not right.

The formula for Supermassive’s interactive horror typically involves making choices and reacting to quicktime events, with the occasionally awkward moments of actually controlling a character in third-person. But given that there are times you’re going to be hunted, creative director Will Doyle explains that this has meant that Directive 8020’s control systems couldn’t just follow on from its past Dark Pictures titles.

“The way the character moves, and the way the camera works [has been] rebuilt from the ground up, and that’s to support some of the stealth gameplay that we’ve put in,” he explains. “We’ve got these real-time threats, who will hunt you down and kill you. So that complete overhaul is new to this game.”

Directive 8020

At the same time, a more traditional third-person adventure format also allows for more exploration and puzzles, as you can turn on a flashlight to navigate the creepy, dark corridors of the ship, and also have a scanner that’s used for interacting with certain objects. I’m not fully convinced that these sections of gameplay will prove enjoyable–when I play a cinematic horror game, it just feels plodding to be walking around and handling very mundane interactions that any good film editor would have left on the cutting-room floor. It also doesn’t help that the build I played also had some awkward moments when the prompt wouldn’t come up if you were standing too close to an object–a bug the team had already warned me about in advance.

Nonetheless, Doyle insists that this is intentional in the game’s design philosophy. “A lot of traditional action-adventure games have these design loops where you’re getting ammunition, and we see story as the reward in those loops,” he explains. “We have a load of stuff hidden around the world, but they’re advancing the story all the time. So within our discovery sections, where you’re moving around in control of your character, as well as evading threats, you’re also unraveling pieces of this mystery, so the story gets driven throughout.”

However, the new mechanic that intrigues me the most is Turning Points, which essentially breaks down every narrative decision into a story beat that you can not only chart on a menu screen but also return to. In past games, when a decision occurs or a character dies, the story continues and there’s no way to undo it. While this way of playing the game still remains in Survivor mode for those who want to live and die by their decisions, I also wondered if the ability to rewind is due to there being more direct character control that can lead to potentially more frustrating mistakes, especially for a more casual audience not used to playing with a controller.

Directive 8020

Doyle recalls that there have been players of the studio’s past games who have actually stopped playing when a favorite character died because they couldn’t be bothered with trying again. And while he admits that Turning Points alleviate this frustration, and helps make the game more approachable for a player worried about their skill level, he says the mechanic is really there to enhance the game for narrative-focused players. Meanwhile, a range of accessibility settings also allow you to effectively reduce the enemy AI to a ghost-themed train ride, where they may be scary but won’t ever catch or kill you.

“[Turning Points are] a save system, but within each individual beat, you can go back to characters who are alive or dead based on decisions made,” he explains. “If you rewind to a decision point, you can explore different paths. You can pass anywhere you’ve been in the story. So when you see the [narrative] tree, you can explore all the way down on the tree. We want people to play the game however they want to play.”

So rather than a rewind mechanic like say, Max’s power in Life Is Strange, it’s actually better to think of Turning Points as more like a fast-travel system in a narrative game, and a more elegant way to explore different decision paths than save-scumming.

“You can rewind all the way back as far as you want to go, so even at the end of the game, I can jump right back to any point,” Doyle adds, and it’s here that the system feels like it’s going to be the most beneficial for both completionists who want to comb through every secret or piece of content in the game without having to replay from start to finish. Think of it like being able to skip to any chapter of a DVD, but a lot more interactive. “For [Trophy/Achievement] hunters, there’s still a challenge to seeing everything, but the Turning Points [allow] you to whizz back to where you need to get to make those changes. And that’s kind of the magic of what we do.”

Directive 8020 releases for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.

It’s been an extremely eventful start to Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4, with Epic already pulling this season’s medallions from circulation for being too overpowered and ridiculous after two weeks of backlash. Fortunately, Fortnite is always introducing new ways of being absurd and over-the-top, and this week’s update is proof of that, as it added two very silly new vehicles: the Roly-Poly bug, and Hammerhead Choppas.

The Roly-Polys are extremely easy to find since they’re just lying on the ground all over the place. If you see bugs running around, then there are some Roly-Polys, too. There are enough of those for everybody, more or less. But that’s not the case with Hammerhead Choppas, of which only a handful spawn each match.

It makes a lot of sense for there to be more Roly-Polys than Hammerhead Choppas. The Choppas, which are new, much cooler-looking versions of Fortnite’s old helicopters, have enough room for a full squad of players and a hired NPC. Roly-Polys, by contrast, can only fit a single player each–they’re essentially new, bouncier versions of Ballers. So, while there are dozens of Roly-Polys that spawn around the island each match, there are only a few Hammerhead Choppas.

Where to find the Hammerhead Choppas in Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 4

There are five guaranteed Hammerhead Choppas at four main spawn locations–one of the spots actually has two of them. The Hammerhead Choppas spawn at each of the three OXR outposts, which is where the “push back the bugs” events happen, and there are two that spawn at OXR HQ to the north of the center of the island. All five of these Choppas appear to have a 100% spawn chance.

That said, there are also a few other spots where Hammerhead Choppas have some unknown chance of spawning. You can see the spawn locations in the handy map we’ve provided below. Black stars indicate a spot where a Hammerhead Choppa may spawn, red stars indicate a guaranteed Hammerhead Choppa spawn, and red with a black outline indicates two guaranteed Choppas.

There are five guaranteed spawns (red) and three other potential spawn locations (black) for Hammerhead Choppas.

The guaranteed Hammerhead Choppas won’t just be on the ground, of course. The reason they spawn in these locations is that OXR has all the helipads. So when you’re in one of those places trying to nab your fun new method of air transportation, look for it on platforms like this.

For those locations where there’s only a chance of a Choppa spawn, however, they’ll be parked on the grass.

How to use the loudspeaker on Hammerhead Choppas

Fortnite is celebrating the arrival of Hammerhead Choppas to Battle Royale by adding two weekly quests, neither of which is particularly complicated. The first is to damage players from 50 meters or more away while in a Choppa, and while the Choppa itself has no weapons, you presumably would–all you have to do is switch to a passenger seat and fire away. You don’t have to kill anybody. You just need to hit a few shots. And shots on the bugs counts, for the record.

All five guaranteed Hammerhead Choppas spawn on platforms like this.

But while anybody who plays Fortnite has shot some enemies before, the other Choppa quest involves a non-standard mechanic that is completely unique to Choppas: the ability to blast music over a loudspeaker while you fly around. There’s a quest to do just that within 100 meters of an enemy player. It’s not a difficult task, but since it’s only something Choppas can do, and Choppas aren’t in the game very much, most folks probably don’t know about it.

Fortunately, this quest is as easy at they come, because you can turn on the loudspeaker by pressing the emote button–that’s down on the d-pad on a controller, or B on a keyboard. If you didn’t immediately complete the quest when you fired it up, just fly around until you find somebody. Considering that a 100-meter radius is pretty large, it’ll probably happen by accident.

The Mesa update in Peak introduced the Scout Cannon, and with it, the infamous cannon glitch. As the name implies, the Scout Cannon allows players to shoot themselves a great distance. The glitch, however, makes it possible to skip entire areas altogether, potentially getting to the peak without dropping a sweat.

The glitch was discovered shortly after the Mesa update, which introduced the namesake biome. The developers acknowledged it in patch 1.25.a, and applied some changes to the game. If you’re wondering how to do the Scout Cannon glitch in Peak and whether or not it still works after the patch, we’ve got you covered.

How to Do the Cannon Glitch in Peak

The cannon glitch in Peak requires a few pieces to fall into place. Since every new run is randomly generated, meaning that the items are always different, it might take you a while.

For starters, here’s what you need for the glitch:

• A Scout Cannon, which is one of the items added in the Mesa update.
• A flare.
• A backpack.
• And, last but not least, speedy hands.

The Scout Cannon has a chance to appear in suitcases, albeit the rate is quite low. As a reference, I restarted the game about 20 times, and only saw the Scout Cannon three times.

It will take a while, but make sure to open all nearby suitcases and see if you’re lucky with the drop.

The glitch works best if you do it from the starting point of a run in the Shore biome, meaning that, if you want to save time, you should only open any suitcases that are close to the start. If you don’t see the cannon in any of them, go ahead and restart and try again.

Doing the glitch from this location is also beneficial since there’s always a flare and a backpack nearby–you can get them from inside one of the crashed planes and the shore, respectively.

Now, it’s time to prepare the cannon. A good reference spot is behind and to the right of one of the broken plane wings on the shore, which is set on fire. Make sure the cannon is pointing toward the peak. In terms of angle, I didn’t adjust it, and just left it as is. Moreover, make sure that there aren’t any palm trees nearby that might cause a premature collision.

Make sure the backpack is inside the cannon before attempting the glitch.

The second step involves the backpack. After grabbing it, head to the Scout Cannon and jump inside. Your character must be standing in it. Then, select the backpack and drop it. The idea is that the backpack needs to be inside the cannon. Then, go ahead and exit.

Stepping outside the cannon after dropping the backpack is admittedly a bit buggy–we’re prepping a glitch after all. If you’re having trouble exiting, grab the backpack and repeat the steps. Also, the position of the backpack itself doesn’t matter, but it needs to be inside.

Use the broken wings as a reference point when placing the cannon.

Now comes the fun part. Make sure to have the flare with you, and once ready, light the back of the cannon to start the explosion. As soon as you do this, run around and jump inside with the backpack.

The explosion will trigger shortly. Now, as soon as you’re in the air, you have to spam the Play Dead emote. Using a mouse and keyboard, this requires opening the emote wheel with R and moving the cursor toward the emote. You must repeat this multiple times and in quick succession.

If you’re successful, you’ll start skipping entire levels. You’ll know this because you’ll see the title screens appear rapidly. Depending on the achievements that you’ve gotten so far, you may also have a few new ones pop up–for me, that was the Cool Cucumber Badge for climbing past the Mesa biome without ever having more than 10% heat.

If successful, the glitch will lead you to an empty version of the peak.

You’ll eventually stop flying and be at the peak, which will look, well, glitched. You’ll be surrounded by light blue walls, which will slowly give you the cold debuff. As soon as you stop moving, go ahead and light the flare. This is so you can trigger the helicopter, which you can then use to escape and finish the run. Try not to take too long, or the cold might overtake you.

As one last note: it’s likely that you won’t make it to the peak on the first try. It’s a tricky glitch to pull off. But I was able to do it on my third attempt, so keep on trying.

Can You Still Do the Cannon Glitch in Peak After the Patch?

The short answer is, yes, the cannon glitch in Peak still works after patch 1.25.a, which was issued in late August.

One of the major fixes made fog walls taller, which are the walls that separate biomes from each other, in order to prevent people from exploiting the glitch too often. That being said, I can confirm the glitch still works. It took me three tries to pull it off, as the first two attempts had me colliding against a surface and killing me on the spot. Your mileage may vary, of course, but the patch itself didn’t outright remove the glitch.

Best of luck skipping all levels using the cannon glitch in Peak. If you’re looking for more guides, we’ve also covered how to find the Scoutmaster and the different methods to encounter him.

Finding the Scoutmaster in Peak is a tough endeavor for multiple reasons. It requires patience, playing the game in an odd way, and most of all, the fortitude to go face-to-face with a horrifying enemy.

The Mentorship Badge achievement requires you to have a one-on-one encounter with the Scoutmaster, who might sound familiar, as he’s the instructor who has penned the guidebook you find at the start of a run. If you’re wondering where to find the Scoutmaster in Peak to unlock the badge, we’ll be detailing the methods below.

Funnily enough, the first rule of the guidebook is an important clue for the achievement.

Where to Find the Scoutmaster in Peak

If you want to find the Scoutmaster in Peak to unlock the Mentorship Badge achievement, note that you first need to summon him. He’s not a random encounter, and there are specific steps to follow beforehand.

There are two methods for the Scoutmaster to appear in your game. These depend on whether you’re playing solo or with others online, and are noted below:

• In single-player, you must use the Scoutmaster’s Bugle, which is a rare item in Peak.
• In multiplayer, you have to defy Scoutmaster Myres’ advice and actually leave a friend in need by deviating from teammates.

For the first method, the Scoutmaster’s Bugle is a rare item, meaning that it has a very low chance to appear in the game. You have a chance of getting the item from either Ancient Luggage–which are the suitcases that have the red emblem on them–or from the Ancient Statues that appear at the summit of each biome. Note that for the latter, all players must be alive when you interact with it. Otherwise, the statue will revive any fallen climbers, instead of dropping an item.

It’s indeed possible for the Scoutmaster’s Bugle to appear in multiplayer matches as well. In either case, the chances of encountering it are quite low. In over 26 hours of playing Peak, I’ve only seen the item twice–but again, there were several instances where the statue didn’t drop an item since one of our teammates had died in the biome, so your mileage may vary.

The Scoutmaster is not messing around.

If you’re playing Peak in multiplayer, encountering the Scoutmaster is somewhat easier. You need to distance yourself from your co-op buddies, whether that’s just one more person or several of them. A way of ensuring you trigger the encounter is by having everybody else but you stay at the starting point of the Shore biome. Then, head over to the opposite side toward the peak and start climbing.

After a few minutes of gaining latitude, you’ll begin hearing a different music than the usual background environmental track, similar to bells in the distance. The Scoutmaster is designed to chase whoever splits from others, so you’re likely to see him get close to you. A good way of knowing when he’s nearby is a film grain effect on the screen, which will gradually obscure your visibility the closer he is.

If the Scoutmaster is in your vicinity, get close and you’ll see the Mentorship Badge achievement appear. There’s a chance of him falling off a ledge and interrupting the chase, but he’ll likely climb back up again shortly. From here, you can either attempt to escape–the Scoutmaster is quite fast, mind you–or let him trap you. When tackling this myself, the Scoutmaster grabbed me and promptly threw me off the mountain.

That’s all you need to encounter the Scoutmaster. Bear in mind that there’s a chance of triggering the encounter by accident if you stray from other players. It’s a punishing and quite terrifying way of ensuring that you’re lending a helping hand whenever possible.

For the first time since 2021, new installments in the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises are releasing in the same year, and this has prompted the inevitable comparisons between the two long-running multiplayer first-person shooter franchises to resurface.

Early impressions of Battlefield 6 from its open beta suggest that Electronic Arts and Battlefield Studios have a hit on their hands, but Battlefield 6 is unlikely to dethrone Call of Duty this year, even if the sentiment around Black Ops 7 is not tracking so highly. While EA would like to take some market share from Call of Duty, and it’s possible that happens, Call of Duty’s reign as the No. 1 paid FPS franchise will likely continue.

“While Battlefield 6 has the potential to perform better than any Battlefield game ever has– financially and critically–it almost certainly won’t outsell Call of Duty,” said Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics.

Elliott said Call of Duty has a core audience that buys in every year, and that isn’t expected to change in 2025 “just because Battlefield 6 is rad and tracking incredibly well.”

EA’s Battlefield boss Vince Zampella, a former Call of Duty higher-up, and others like Battlefield GM Byron Beede (also a former CoD boss), have said games like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 are the inspiration for Battlefield 6. That’s resonating with fans who are looking for a return to form for the series that strayed too far, in their eyes, with Battlefield 2042.

The last entry into the Battlefield series made a number of changes to the franchise’s underlying formula, like abandoning its player class system for selectable characters who each had unique, specific abilities. It also had an infamously rough launch that turned away many longtime fans. In a lot of ways, Battlefield 6 is a return to the old way of doing things, and players are responding well so far.

In short, at this stage, EA and Battlefield Studios appear to be saying and doing all the right things to get Battlefield back on track. The recently concluded Battlefield 6 open beta reportedly had a player base of 20 million people, and apart from some negative feedback around Rush mode and map sizes, the sentiment was largely positive.

But even if Battlefield 6 launches to solid reviews, positive sentiment from fans, and big-time sales numbers, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 may remain on top given the sheer size, scale, and momentum of the Call of Duty brand.

“For many gamers, Call of Duty is an annual ritual,” Elliott explained. “Tens of millions of players, many of them casual gamers, buy the newest CoD every year without hesitation. This ‘autopilot purchasing’ habit is decades deep, and breaking it requires more than one awesome Battlefield release/”

The masses love Call of Duty, even if they complain

Battlefield 6 may appeal to the “hardcore FPS crowd,” but the masses of casual players will show up for Call of Duty year in and year out, Elliot said that’s not expected to change.

“CoD’s muscle memory in the market is so strong that players will buy it even if they complain about it,” he said.

Also helping Call of Duty’s mainline annual releases is the perennial battle royale game Call of Duty: Warzone, which exists in the Call of Duty HQ launcher alongside each year’s new release. Elliott said this is a key point because, even if Warzone engagement is dipping, it still has a gigantic player base that will see Black Ops 7 ads every time they log in.

“Battlefield simply doesn’t have that scale of cross-promotion,” Elliott said.

For what it’s worth, Battlefield Studios is building its own Battlefield battle royale game, but it’s early days and there is no word on how EA plans to support, grow, and promote it over time. To be sure, we don’t even know if it’s a game, a game mode, or something else.

“CoD’s muscle memory in the market is so strong that players will buy it even if they complain about it” — Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics

To put things further into perspective, Elliott cited some data points that speak to the enormity of Call of Duty relative to Battlefield.

“The reality is that CoD’s sales floor is higher than Battlefield’s sales ceiling so far, for the year anyway,” he said. “Even in Battlefield’s highest highs (BF1 in 2016), Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare–a widely disliked entry–still outsold it by millions of copies. That’s brand inertia at work.”

Game Pass muddies the waters

Kade Barr, an equity research associate for Wedbush Securities, told GameSpot that Black Ops 7 being on Game Pass and Battlefield 6 only being available to purchase complicates any direct sales comparisons between the two. (For what it’s worth, Battlefield 6 will be on a subscription service via EA Play Pro, but it’s a much smaller service than Game Pass.) Barr believes the fact that Black Ops is on Game Pass and Battlefield is not could actually help Battlefield 6 perform better.

“Black Ops 7 is bound to have more unique players within its first year of launch, but sales of each game will likely be close should each launch go smoothly,” Barr said. “There is obvious overlap in the player bases, but Call of Duty’s inclusion in Game Pass could actually result in a net benefit to Battlefield. With a large portion of Call of Duty players not having to pay $70 for the game, it leaves room to purchase other games like Battlefield.”

In total, Barr said Wedbush is modeling Battlefield 6 to become the second- or third-best-selling Battlefield game of all time, trailing Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 3. Barr believes Battlefield Studios has to really “nail it” with the planned battle royale mode, capitalize on the user-generated content that will come from its Portal mode, and deliver post-launch content successfully to make a dent in Call of Duty’s massive share of the premium FPS market.

“All in all, I think Battlefield’s ultimate success hinges on a stable launch,” Barr said. “The hype is there, but any inkling of a buggy launch will turn people away. I do think this game’s launch needs to be exceptionally smooth given a lack of trust following Battlefield 2042. Any sort of large-scale issues will likely result in a meaningful decline in sales.”

Historical data

In 2021, the last time new Call of Duty and Battlefield games were released in the same year, Call of Duty: Vanguard was the No. 1 best-selling game overall in the US, followed by 2020’s entry, Black Ops Cold War, at No. 2. Battlefield 2042, meanwhile, ranked No. 5 overall in 2021 for US sales, meaning it was outsold not just by its main competitor that year, but also by 2020’s Call of Duty game (along with Madden NFL 22 and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl). EA stated that Battlefield 2042 missed the mark critically and commercially, while Activision said Vanguard, too, failed to sell up to expectations.

Meanwhile, 2018’s Battlefield V ranked No. 16 in the US, whereas Black Ops 4 that year landed at No. 2. For 2016, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was No. 1 for the year in the US, with Battlefield 1 coming in second. Battlefield 6 has been called a spiritual successor to Battlefield 3 and 4, two fondly remembered games. When those games came out in 2011 and 2013, Call of Duty’s latest releases were No. 1, with Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 ranking No. 4 for each year. A Battlefield game has never ranked higher than No. 2 on the US sales charts for a given year.

Come year’s end, many will be watching with keen eyes how high Battlefield 6 can go on the charts, even if that won’t tell a complete story.

But didn’t someone say Battlefield 6 will “boot stomp” Black Ops 7?

Former Xbox executive Mike Ybarra, who now heads up the sports betting company Prize Picks, published a social media post recently in which he said, “Battlefield will boot stomp CoD this year.” He said sentiment around Call of Duty has been trending down in recent years as Activision leans into the wacky licensed skins and other features fans don’t universally enjoy.

A lot of commentary you may read online about Call of Duty is negative, but that also raises the question of how much stock one should place in online conversations when algorithms today incentivize stirring things up to drive engagement, and, in the case of X, direct payments go to people who post the most extreme takes. Despite the negative rhetoric, the numbers show that Call of Duty is still a juggernaut. And while online comments may not always lead to real changes, sometimes that can happen. After all, Activision just recently announced that it was cancelling the Carry Forward program for Black Ops 7, which means the oft-criticized wacky and outlandish Call of Duty skins from Black Ops 6 may not appear in Black Ops 7. Activision also said it’s listening to fans who want Call of Duty to feel more grounded, and acknowledged their concerns that Call of Duty has “drifted” from its core.

In any event, Elliott had some words for Ybarra: “Chill out, son.”

To be fair, Ybarra did not say Battlefield 6 would outsell Black Ops 7. As a 19-year Microsoft veteran who worked on development and publishing initiatives at Xbox, he is no doubt aware in some capacity of the sales volume of Call of Duty relative to Battlefield. His second point was that Battlefield 6 coming to market with fan-focused design choices could end up helping Activision make a better product with Call of Duty, due in part to increased competition in the marketplace, and that’s something Call of Duty fans would surely like to see.

For Activision’s part, Black Ops 7 associate creative director Miles Leslie was recently asked to comment on Battlefield 6’s successful beta. He said he’s played it and found it to be fun, but he is focused on his own product.

“We’re fans of the FPS genre,” he said. “We’re fans of lots of games. Let’s all have fun.”

The Legend of Zelda and Street Fighter 6 Amiibo figures that launched alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 are steeply discounted at Amazon and GameStop. All four Tears of the Kingdom Sages are on sale for $20 each, down from $30. The trio of Street Fighter 6 characters are also available for $20, but these are 50% discounts, since each one retails for an eye-watering $40. Fans can also snag the GameStop-exclusive Street Fighter 6 Amiibo Card Starter Set for $20 (was $40).

At the time of writing, GameStop had all seven Zelda and Street Fighter Switch 2 Amiibo for $20 each, but Amazon only has four figures for this price: Tulin and Sidon from The Legend of Zelda and Luke and Jamie from Street Fighter. That said, we’d recommend checking the store pages for all seven figures, because Amazon’s prices have changed a couple times already. It’s likely Amazon will soon price match the other two Sages from Zelda.

Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo Deals at Amazon

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo
  • Tulin — $20 ($30)
  • Sidon — $20 ($30)
  • Yunobo — $30
  • Riju — $30
• Street Fighter 6 Amiibo
  • Luke — $20 ($40)
  • Jamie — $20 ($40)
  • Kimberly — Sold out

Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo

Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo Deals at GameStop

• Street Fighter 6 Amiibo Card Starter Set — $20 ($40)
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo
  • Tulin — $20 ($30)
  • Sidon — $20 ($30)
  • Yunobo — $20 ($30)
  • Riju — $20 ($30)
• Street Fighter 6 Amiibo
  • Jamie — $20 ($40)
  • Luke — $20 ($40)
  • Kimberly — $20 ($40)

The $20 offers align with Nintendo’s recently updated prices for Amiibo released prior to the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch. For instance, Nintendo is reprinting the King K. Rool Amiibo, and you can preorder the Donkey Kong villain for $20 at Best Buy. You can pair original Donkey Kong big boss with the Donkey Kong & Pauline Amiibo, which released alongside Donkey Kong Bananza in July. Because the DK and Pauline figure is in the Nintendo Switch 2 line, it carries a $30 MSRP and has yet to be discounted at a major retailer.

• See Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo at: Amazon | Walmart | Best Buy | Target | GameStop

Check out our gallery below for a closer look at all seven Nintendo Switch 2 Amiibo figures on sale right now.