In Unity 2021 LTS, UI Toolkit offers a collection of features, resources, and tools to help you build and debug adaptive runtime UIs on a wide range of game applications and Editor extensions. Its intuitive workflow enables Unity creators in different roles – artists, programmers, and designers alike – to get started with UI development as quickly as possible.See our earlier blog post for an explanation of UI Toolkit’s main benefits, such as enhanced scalability and performance, already being leveraged by studios like Mechanistry for their game, Timberborn.While Unity UI remains the go-to solution for positioning and lighting UI in a 3D world or integrating with other Unity systems, UI Toolkit for runtime UI can already benefit game productions seeking performance and scalability as of Unity 2021 LTS. It’s particularly effective for Screen Space – Overlay UI, and scales well on a variety of screen resolutions.That’s why we’re excited to announce two new learning resources to better support UI development with UI Toolkit:UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers: The demo is now available to download for free from the Asset Store.User interface design and implementation in Unity: This free e-book can be download from hereRead on to learn about some key features part of the UI Toolkit sample project.The UI Toolkit sample demonstrates how you can leverage UI Toolkit for your own applications. This demo involves a full-featured interface over a slice of the 2D project Dragon Crashers, a mini RPG, using the Unity 2021 LTS UI Toolkit workflow at runtime.Some of the actions illustrated in the sample project show you how to:Style with selectors in Unity style sheet (USS) files and use UXML templatesCreate custom controls, such as a circular meter or tabbed viewsCustomize the appearance of elements like sliders and toggle buttonsUse Render Texture for UI overlay effects, USS animations, seasonal themes, and moreTo try out the project after adding it to your assets, enter Play mode. Please note that UI Toolkit interfaces do not appear in the Scene view. Instead, you can view them in the Game view or UI Builder.The menu on the left helps you navigate the modal main menu screens. This vertical column of buttons provides access to the five modal screens that comprise the main menu (they stay active while switching between screens).While some interactivity is possible, such as healing the characters by dragging available potions in the scene, gameplay has been kept to a minimum to ensure continued focus on the UI examples.Let’s take a closer look at the UIs in the menu bar:The home screen serves as a landing pad when launching the application. You can use this screen to play the game or receive simulated chat messages.The character screen involves a mix of GameObjects and UI elements. This is where you can explore each of the four Dragon Crashers characters. Use the stats, skills, and bio tabs to read the specific character details, and click on the inventory slots to add or remove items. The preview area shows a 2D lit and rigged character over a tiled background.The resources screen links to documentation, the forum, and other resources for making the most of UI Toolkit.The shop screen simulates an in-game store where you can purchase hard and soft currency, such as gold or gems, as well as virtual goods like healing potions. Each item in the shop screen is a separate VisualTreeAsset. UI Toolkit instantiates these assets at runtime; one for each ScriptableObject in the Resources/GameData.The mail screen is a front-end reader of fictitious messages that uses a tabbed menu to separate the inbox and deleted messages.The game screen is a mini version of the Dragon Crashers project that starts playing automatically. In this project, you’ll notice a few revised elements with UI Toolkit, such as a pause button, health bars, and the capacity to drag a healing potion element to your characters when they take damage.UI Toolkit enables you to build stable and consistent UIs for your entire project. At the same time, it provides flexible tools for adding your own design flourishes and details to further flesh out the game’s theme and style.Let’s go over some of the features used to refine the UI designs in the sample:Render Textures:UI Toolkit interfaces are rendered last in the render queue, meaning you can’t overlay other game graphics on top of a UI Toolkit UI. Render Textures provide a workaround to this limitation, making it possible to integrate in-game effects into UI Toolkit UIs. While these effects based on Render Textures should be used sparingly, you’ll still be able to afford sharp effects within the context of a fullscreen UI, without running gameplay. The following images show a number of Render Textures from the demo.Themes with Theme style sheets (TSS): TSS files are Asset files that are similar to regular USS files. They serve as a starting point for defining your own custom theme via USS selectors as well as property and variable settings. In the demo, we duplicated the default theme files and modified the copies to offer seasonal variations.Custom UI elements: Since designers are trained to think outside the box, UI Toolkit gives you plenty of room to customize or extend the standard library. The demo project highlights a few custom-built elements in the tabbed menus, slide toggles, and drop-down lists, plus a radial counter to demonstrate what UI artists are capable of alongside developers.USS transitions for animated UI state changes: Adding transitions to the menu screens can polish and smooth out your visuals. UI Toolkit makes this more straightforward with the Transition Animations property, part of the UI Builder’s Inspector. Adjust the Property, Duration, Easing, and Delay properties to set up the animation. Then simply change styles for UI Toolkit to apply the animated transition at runtime.Post-processing volume for a background blur: A popular effect in games is to blur a crowded gameplay scene to draw the player’s attention to a particular pop-up message or dialog window. You can achieve this effect by enabling Depth of Field in the Volume framework (available in the Universal Render Pipeline).We made sure that efficient workflows were used to fortify the UI. Here are a few recommendations for keeping the project well-organized:Consistent naming conventions: It’s important to adopt naming conventions that align with your visual elements and style sheets. Clear naming conventions not only maintain the hierarchy’s organization in UI Builder, they make it more accessible to your teammates, and keep the code clean and readable. More specifically, we suggest the Block Element Modifier (BEM) naming convention for visual elements and style sheets. Just at a glance, an element’s BEM naming can tell you what it does, how it appears, and how it relates to the other elements around it. See the following BEM naming examples:Responsive UI layout: Similar to web technologies, UI Toolkit offers the possibility of creating layouts where “child” visual elements adapt to the current available size inside their “parent” visual elements, and others where each element has an absolute position anchored to a reference point, akin to the Unity UI system. The sample uses both options as needed through the visual elements of the UI.PSD Importer: One of the most effective tools for creating the demo, PSD Importer allows artists to work in a master document without having to manually export every sprite separately. When changes are needed, they can be done in the original PSD file and updated automatically in Unity.ScriptableObjects: In order to focus on UI design and implementation, the sample project simulates backend data, such as in-app purchases and mail messages, using ScriptableObjects. You can conveniently customize this stand-in data from the Resources/GameData folder and use the example to create similar data assets, like inventory items and character or dialog data in UI Toolkit.Remember that with UI Toolkit, UI layouts and styles are decoupled from code. This means that rewriting the backend data can occur independently from the UI design. If your development team replaces those systems, the interface should continue to work.Additional tools used in the demo include particle systems created with the Built-in Particle System for special effects, and the 2D toolset, among others. Feel free to review the project via the Inspector to see how these different elements come into play.You can find reference art made by the UI artists under UI/Reference, as replicated in UI Builder. The whole process, from mockups to wireframes, is also documented in the e-book. Finally, all of the content in the sample can be added to your own Unity project.You can download the UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers from the Asset Store. Once you’ve explored its different UI designs, please provide your feedback on the forum.Then be sure to check out our e-book, User interface design and implementation in Unity. Download

I wanted Journey Together to hit big. After Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions delivered some real heat, it felt like we were on a roll. But instead of a clean three-hit combo, this set tripped over itself on the way out the gate. Prices were inflated from the start, and now that the market has had time to breathe, this correction is aggressive.N's Reshiram - 167/159 (Journey Together Stamped)Lillie's Clefairy ex 184/159Salamence ex 187/159N's Zoroark ex 185/159Articuno - 161/159Wailord 162/159N's Reshiram 167/159Iono's Bellibolt ex 172/159Lillie's Clefairy ex 173/159N's Zoroark ex 175/159Hop's Zacian ex 176/159Volcanion ex 182/159Iono's Bellibolt ex 183/159Hop's Zacian ex 186/159It’s still a solid set. Great art, fun pulls, some nostalgic hits. But a lot of the single prices were built on hype that couldn’t hold.Collectors thought we’d get another round of rapid value climbs. That didn’t happen. If you're buying now, you're catching cards on the way down instead of riding them on the way up. Just go in knowing what’s worth grabbing and what’s still floating on leftover launch-day fumes.Illustration RaresArticuno had a strong start. Prices hit $55 back in late March, which made sense at the time—it's a fan-favorite Legendary with great artwork. Since then, it’s taken a 36% dip and now floats around $35. Honestly, that’s still a bit high. I’ve seen near-mint listings at $18.69, and that feels more in line with where this card belongs. I think it’s a solid pickup if you just want a great-looking bird without the early adopter tax.Maractus - 160/159Articuno - 161/159Wailord 162/159Iono's Kilowattrel 163/159Lillie's Ribombee 164/159Swinub 165/159Lycanroc 166/159N's Reshiram 167/159N's Reshiram - 167/159 (Journey Together Stamped)Furret 168/159Noibat 169/159Hop's Wooloo 170/159Wailord was one of those early hype Illustration Rares that got pumped fast, mostly because it’s Wailord and people have a soft spot for absurdly large water types. It hit $60 at the end of March, which didn’t last long. It’s now dropped 63.66% to a market value of around $22.49, and I’ve seen copies listed for as low as $14.55. Personally, I think this one’s due for a soft bounce back to $30, but only once the panic listings clear out and the Wailord fans circle back.My favorite Illustration Rare is N’s Reshiram. The artwork is top-tier, and the character pairing actually adds something meaningful to the card. It started at $39.43, which honestly didn’t feel too far off given the demand at launch. Now it’s sitting around $17.44. Even the Journey Together stamped variant, which you'd think would carry some extra value, is undercutting the regular one at about $14. That’s a 79.51% drop, and in my opinion, a steal. If you want a chase card without paying chase prices, this is the one.Special Illustration Rare And Hyper RaresIGN Photo Composite / The Pokémon CompanyLillie’s Clefairy ex SIR was positioned as the face of the set, and for a moment it looked like it might stay there. Prices hit $400, which was wild, considering the only thing more expensive than that in Journey Together was probably regret. Now it’s sitting around $180 and in my opinion, it’s still too high. It’s a gorgeous card, no doubt about that, but I think we’ll see it hit $150 soon. Not a crash but a correction to something a little more in line with what most people are willing to pay.Volcanion ex 182/159Iono's Bellibolt ex 183/159Lillie's Clefairy ex 184/159N's Zoroark ex 185/159Hop's Zacian ex 186/159Salamence ex 187/159Iono's Bellibolt ex 188/159N's Zoroark ex 189/159Spiky Energy 190/159I thought Iono’s Bellibolt ex SIR was going to be the top card of the set. It had the rarity, it had the character, and it looked just chaotic enough to become a fan favorite. Instead, it’s hovering around $80, which is fine. Not great, not terrible. The price feels stable, and I don’t think it's going to tank like some of the other launch-day hype magnets. If you like it, grab it. If you're hoping it doubles in value, maybe take a walk.Salamence ex SIR is probably the best example of what went wrong with Journey Together’s early pricing. At launch, people were paying up to $250 for it like it was the last dragon card ever printed. Now it’s going for about $106, and I think it’ll settle closer to $100. Still expensive, sure, but at least now it’s priced like a high-tier chase card and not a collector’s retirement plan. The art’s strong, and Salamence has always had staying power, so I think this one holds up better than most.Full ArtsIono’s Bellibolt ex is my favorite full art, mostly because I pulled it and immediately convinced myself I was sitting on gold. At launch, it was going for around $80. It's now comfortably sitting in the $7–$8 range. Honestly, if you paid anything above $15, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a great-looking card, though, and I think it’ll stick around this price for a while now that the dust has settled. Just maybe don’t buy it thinking it's the next Supporter-tier Iono. It’s a Bellibolt. Let’s be reasonable.Volcanion ex 171/159Iono's Bellibolt ex 172/159Lillie's Clefairy ex 173/159Mamoswine ex 174/159N's Zoroark ex 175/159Hop's Zacian ex 176/159Salamence ex 177/159Dudunsparce ex 178/159Brock's Scouting 179/159Iris's Fighting Spirit 180/159Ruffian 181/159Lillie’s Clefairy ex had a bizarre start. Prices climbed past $110 before launch, which had me wondering if people thought it was a Special Illustration Rare by mistake. It’s now found its lane at around $17–$19, which is where it probably should’ve been all along. I think it’s a great pickup at that price if you're into Lillie, or Clefairy, or just want something that won’t lose half its value before it hits your mailbox.N’s Zoroark ex started out a little more grounded at around $30, but even that wasn’t safe from the drop. It's landed around $12 now, which honestly feels like a fair deal. The card still looks fantastic, and it’s got some collector appeal thanks to N.But when I say Journey Together prices are crashing, this is exactly what I mean. Remember all those “can’t-miss deals” I was posting at launch? It wasn’t because the cards were underpriced — it’s because they were about to fall off a cliff.Find out more top tips on where to find Pokémon cards with my extensive guide, and check out this weeks latest crashers and climbers article for more Pokémon cards market watch updates.Here's the Pokémon TCG full Release Schedule so far for this year, too, so you don't miss anything. Buying singles is the cheapest way to collect right now, but don't feel like you have to "Catch Em' All!".Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

In an excerpt from the e-book, User interface design and implementation, veteran game designer Christo Nobbs examines the interplay between UI and game design.Our e-book, User interface design and implementation, illustrates how UI artists and designers can build better interfaces in Unity. The guide covers workflows for the two UI systems available in Unity, but the primary focus is on Unity UI Toolkit for Unity 2021 LTS and beyond. Christo Nobbs, the game designer who was also a major contributor to The Unity game designer playbook, shares a section that he provided for this latest guide on how UI and game design can create rich immersion to keep your players captivated.Successful games are immersive. Whether it’s a VR simulation or mobile role-playing game (RPG), a great game transports us to a different world.Immersion requires a delicate balance of UI and game design. The UI needs to be functional – but within the confines of the game’s art direction and overall identity. The trick is using the right UI for the right situation.Should you show an onscreen icon when a player picks up an item or defeats an enemy, or is that too distracting? Could a misplaced pop-up take the viewer out of the action? These are the kinds of questions you’ll need to consider as a UI designer and artist in the larger context of your game.One current trend is diegetic UI. Today’s game players inherently recognize traditional extra-diegetic UIs, such as health bars or menu screens, as conventions of the medium. They’re artificial devices plastered on the “fourth wall” to communicate with the user. But diegetic UIs, conversely, embed themselves into the story and narrative. They make parts of the game world function as a user interface.Imagine a game character that pulls out an empty weapon magazine in a scripted Timeline sequence. That animation can replace a head-up display (HUD)-based ammo counter.The Dead Space series is often cited as a prime example of diegetic interface. Here, the player dons a sci-fi survival suit, which motivates the game’s UI. The suit’s holographic display projects in-game statistics and inventory, as well as colored lights on its spine that double as a health indicator. The result is a built-in UI seamlessly integrated into the story.In iRacing by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, realistic in-car dashboard indicators show damage, which also affects the car’s handling. The player understands there’s something wrong with the vehicle through audio and visual cues, rather than an explicitly flashing vignette or HUD icon.On the flip side, if a game is tooimmersive, the designer can build an “out.” A horror game can give the player a “safe word” with a pause button. This intentionally breaks immersion if scenes become too intense.Experienced designers understand that the UI must fit with the game’s identity. The interface needs to be clean, readable, and appropriate for the situation. With today’s hardware, you can realize advanced UIs that support the story you are trying to tell.At the other end of the spectrum, competitive games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO, Overwatch, and League of Legends depend on UIs that gather information. They use HUDs that must be efficient and assist in gameplay. Diegetic interfaces are less appropriate here. Breaking that fourth wall can actually make for a better game.Since the players have a keen awareness that they are participating in a planned experience, the interface helps them assess the “playing field” – remaining time, team rosters, vitals, minimaps, etc. In some ways, this reflects a sporting event, where the broadcast UI updates its spectators.Whether they’re showing team positions or illuminating players through walls, these UIs have the effect of enhancing strategy and tactics. They can also build suspense for the player and heighten the experience. Thanks to the UI, being a spectator after losing an online match can sometimes be as entertaining as playing.In World of Tanks, the spatial UI elements appear above each player’s tank to relay information about teammates and enemies; things like their name, tier, health, and tank icon. The HUD point bar, navigation elements, and minimap all share a clean and direct visual language.By working with your designer, you can better understand the game’s UI needs. Gameplay is a balance between challenging your players and sharpening their skills. Ideally, this will pass through the Flow channel (see the chart below).Tilt too far to one side and you risk boring your players. To alleviate that, reduce UI elements and increase the challenge level. Then you can force the player to puzzle through the gameplay without too much assistance.Making the game too difficult, on the other hand, can result in anxiety. In this case, adding UIs can lessen gameplay confusion and get your target complexity back on track.Think of UI as a design device meant to steer your game into this Flow channel. An interface shouldn’t waste the viewer’s time. It should clearly communicate its content (e.g., load out, health, etc.), but nothing else. Your designer will likely go through numerous iterations as the product evolves into its shippable form. Let the players – and the gameplay – work out the rest.Tip: UI text You might want to use less text in your interfaces to improve their focus. Small adjustments to icons, fonts, and layout can all impact game pacing. Less text, where appropriate, can also make it easier to localize your game.For more UI text tips, see Joseph Humfrey’s 2018 GDC talk, Designing text UX for effortless reading.Interface designers today have a vast library of game applications to learn from. You can explore them through the Game UI Database. This massive, searchable site allows you to filter by HUD element, type, style, and feature, among other categories. Use it to pore over hundreds of published games and study their in-game menus and screens.Another great resource is Interface in Game. It features video clips of UI elements you can browse. Use this database to search a wide range of titles by platform and genre. Need to polish up some visual effects or UI details? You’re likely to find a reference here.As you examine more game interfaces, you’ll begin to perceive patterns, especially by genre. In a first-person shooter (FPS), for example, we expect to see the health stats at the bottom of the screen. It’s almost an established convention, since so many applications have done it this way.When designing a UI, it’s important to capture the genre’s visual language. If you’re building an RPG, look at how other RPGs handle inventories, skill trees, leveling up, etc. Make something that players are already familiar with, so they can jump right into the gameplay with an understanding of the established style.UI design patterns aren’t random. They’ve evolved over time through a sort of collaborative effort. Designers have already figured out what works, and new designs are simply building on an existing game canon. Learn from these past design decisions. You’ll not only save yourself time, but appease your players as well, who will be expecting certain patterns and visuals in the game.For more information on UI design patterns, read Best practices for designing an effective user interface by Edd Coates, a senior UI artist from Double Eleven.UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers is a demo available to download for free from the Unity Asset Store. This sample demonstrates how you can leverage UI Toolkit for your own applications, and involves a full-featured interface over a slice of the 2D project Dragon Crashers, a mini RPG, using the Unity 2021 LTS UI Toolkit workflow at runtime.You can find more advanced e-books for Unity creators on our How-to hub.

Thousands of people have preregistered and now it’s finally here: Our biggest e-book yet, User interface design and implementation in Unity, is available to download. Get ready to dive into over 130 pages of advanced instruction in UI design.Your game’s user interface is perhaps the most direct way you can communicate with and guide your players – like a folded map you hand to them that reveals clues, key details, and directions as they progress. Whether you’re using more traditional elements like health bars and pop-up messages, or elements completely embedded in the game world, such as showing stats on the back of a player’s survival suit, the UI is integral to immersing players in your game’s story, realm, and artistic style.We’re thrilled to announce that our latest technical e-book, User interface design and implementation in Unity, is available to download for free. Thousands of people have already signed up for it, and just as many have downloaded its companion piece, the demo project, UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers, to date. Now it’s your turn.The interest in this e-book is understandable. As it says in the introduction, “User interface is a critical part of any game… a solid graphical user interface (GUI) is an extension of a game’s visual identity… [and] modern audiences crave refined, intuitive GUIs that seamlessly integrate with your application.”The guide begins by covering UI design and art creation fundamentals, and then moves on to in-depth instructional sections on UI development in Unity. Written and reviewed by technical and UI artists – external and Unity professionals alike – the e-book unpacks both Unity UI, the default solution, and the newer UI Toolkit.The emphasis, however, is on the latter toolset, as UI Toolkit now provides many benefits for projects with complex, fullscreen interfaces. Think of projects that require a scalable and performant system for runtime UI. To help you choose the right solution for your project, please refer to this section of the Unity manual.The e-book is a treasure trove of information for professional UI designers, artists, and other Unity creators who want to deepen their knowledge of UI development. Here’s a snapshot of what’s inside.The first section aims to inspire with foundational tips for making effective UI. It looks at examples of diegetic UIs, where UI elements can be found right in the story, making parts of the game world function as a user interface. It explains how elements can either contribute to or break the immersion that a player experiences. We even turned this section into a blog post that you can read here.The guide then turns to the roles and responsibilities of a UI designer, and what tools and methods they employ such as UI wireframing, art creation through mockups, fonts, and grey-boxing. There’s also a chapter on asset preparation and exporting graphics from Digital Content Creation (DCC) tools. These earlier sections in the guide are helpful no matter what game engine and UI solution you’re using.An extensive chapter is devoted to Unity UI. Unity UI is our longtime system for creating in-game UIs, and currently the go-to solution for positioning UI in a 3D world or using GameObject-based Unity systems.This section outlines Unity UI fundamentals for prototyping and integrating assets in-Editor: the Canvas, prebuilt UI elements, TextMesh Pro, and Prefabs, among others. We recently updated an article on advanced optimization techniques for Unity UI, where you can find tips on related topics.UI Toolkit is made for maximum performance and reusability with workflows and authoring tools informed by standard web technologies. UI designers and artists will likely find it familiar, especially with prior experience designing web pages.Three major sections of the guide highlight instructions for developing runtime UI with UI Toolkit. There’s a thorough explanation of the parts that comprise UIs made with UI Toolkit, including the Unity Extensible Markup Language (UXML) and Unity Style Sheet (USS) using UI Builder.You’ll explore how UI Toolkit positions visual elements based on Yoga, an HTML/CSS Layout engine that implements a subset of Flexbox. Flexbox architecture provides advantages, such as responsive UI, enabling you to adapt your UI to different screen resolutions and sizes. Through both UXML and USS, you can decouple the styles applied to UI layouts (and switch those styles up as needed), while logic and functionality continue to live in code. Workflows for visual elements, the fundamental building blocks of each interface, are also discussed in great detail – from positioning, size, and alignment settings, to margins and padding.The chapter on styling shows you how to define reusable styling for visual elements with Selectors, override styles and define unique attributes with inline styles, and create animations and effects with USS animation and a Camera Render Texture. It also demonstrates how you can thematize UI elements for holidays and other special events.That’s when the e-book gets into UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers, with different sections that depict how the UI was made; from the menus and custom controls like radial counters or tabbed views, to embedded UXML templates and more.Finally, the guide concludes with a mini profile of the studio Mechanistry’s UI migration to UI Toolkit for their new game, Timberborn. This brief study showcases how their lean team managed to scale and keep their game consistent across various menus and screens.At 137 pages, the UI e-book is not a light read. As with the other technical e-books released this past year, use it as a reference on an ongoing basis.Along with the e-book, check out a couple of recently released resources filled with useful tips for leveraging Unity UI and UI Toolkit:The Unite 2022 session, Extending the Unity Editor with custom tools using UI Toolkit, shows programmers how to use UI Builder to create a custom Inspector for real-time Play Mode debug data visualization.The webinar, Best practices for mobile UI design, gathers experts from Outfit7, Samsung, and Unity to share strategies for maximizing the creativity and flow of your mobile games.Bookmark one or both of these pages. They compile all of our technical e-books and advanced content:Unity best practicesAdvanced best practices – Unity ManualWe hope that you enjoy this latest e-book and look forward to your feedback in this forum.

The Pokémon TCG market is moving, and not quietly. With Black Bolt and White Flare coming in hot, many Black and White-era cards are suddenly on every collector’s radar again. We're seeing massive jumps on cards that have sat stable for years, all because Gen V is back in style. If you're looking to trade, cash in, or just gawk at how weird card prices can get, I’ve got you covered.Here are five cards that are flying and five that are faceplanting. Some of these are smart buys. Others? Let’s say I wouldn’t want to be the one who paid full price three weeks ago.Pokémon Card CrashersImage Credit: IGN Photo Composite / The Pokémon CompanyLeafeon ex from Prismatic Evolutions dropped 21% since mid-April, from $467.85 to $369.96. Still expensive, sure, but that's a big chunk of change to evaporate in just a few weeks. If you bought high, I’m sorry. If not, maybe give it a few more dips before you pounce.And then there’s Eevee ex, also from Prismatic. Down 28%, now sitting at $172 after peaking above $240. Honestly, I think Eeveelution fatigue is real. There are just so many of them floating around that even good cards are struggling to keep their value.Salamence ex - 187/159Leafeon ex - 144/131Iron Crown ex - 158/131Lillie's Clefairy ex - 184/159Eevee ex - 167/131Lillie’s Clefairy ex from Journey Together has slid 26% this month, from $212 to $158. I still like this card a lot, but the dip is noticeable. Early adopters probably paid more than they should have, and now the market's correcting like it just remembered what money is.Salamence ex is rough. It's down a staggering 63% since late March, from $242 to $90.50. That’s not a correction, that’s a full-on crash landing. I wouldn’t be shocked if it dips further. Might be worth watching, but I wouldn’t touch it yet unless you’re in it for the art.Lastly, we’ve got Iron Crown ex from Prismatic, down 19% just this month. It was sitting around $84 and is now at $67.75. That’s not terrible, but it’s still part of a clear trend. The set had a big debut and now the shine is fading fast.Did you catch last week's crashers and climbers? Read the most recent updates from our weekly column.Pokémon Card ClimbersImage Credit: IGN Photo Composite / The Pokémon CompanyI’ll start with Reshiram from Black & White, which has absolutely rocketed. It was sitting at a modest $33.92 in mid-March, and now you’re lucky to find one under $240. That’s a 150% leap for a card that’s over a decade old. I’ve seen faster elevators, but not many. With all 156 Unova Pokémon getting fresh prints soon, I think Reshiram’s still got room to climb.Then there’s Zekrom EX from Next Destinies, which has gone from $34.63 to nearly $392 since March. It’s another reminder that Full Art cards from the EX era aren’t just collectible, they’re volatile. In a good way, if you got in early. I’d still grab this if it fits your binder, because it's only going to get more attention once White Flare drops.Zekrom EX - 97/99Reshiram - 113/114Dialga GX - 125/131Sprigatito - 196/193Vileplume GX - 4/236$10.03 at TCG PlayerI’m also watching Sprigatito from Paldea Evolved. The IR version has quietly crept up from $17.98 in January to $21.95 today. It’s not a moonshot, but compared to the general slump of modern IRs, it’s doing surprisingly well. Plus, it’s a smug little cat and people love smug cats.Now for Dialga-GX from Forbidden Light. This one was hanging out around $14 just two months ago, and it’s shot up to $74.99. I wouldn’t call it graceful, but it’s definitely gaining traction. GX-era cards are getting more attention lately, and Dialga's age plus playable nostalgia make it a solid hold in my opinion.Don’t laugh, but Vileplume-GX from Cosmic Eclipse is up too. It was stuck at $6.83 for what felt like forever, and now it’s over $10. It’s not exactly a gold rush, but it’s one of those oddball rares that sneaks up when no one’s looking. You’ll thank yourself later if you pull it out of a bulk box and it suddenly pays for lunch.Pokémon Card Sealed Boosters151 Booster PackDropped by 8% since beginning of MayUnless you're dead set on grabbing the promo cards and poster in the 151 poster bundle, grabbing booster packs from TCG Player is where it's at (Or just the poster and promos seperately). Currently sitting at $10.33 a pack, it's obvious that Amazon is now going above MSRP and secondary market value. If you're not bothered about opening packs and just want 151 chase cards, here's some of my favorites as well.Charmeleon - 169/165Bulbasaur - 166/165Alakazam ex - 201/165Squirtle - 170/165Charizard ex - 183/165Charmander - 168/165Zapdos ex - 202/165Venusaur ex - 198/165Blastoise ex - 200/165Charizard ex - 199/165If you've dedicated your life to pulling chase cards yourself, here's what we can find in stock right now. Just watch out for pricing over MSRP, we're in a weird spot as Pokémon trainers right now, so don't pay more than what you have to. If you're desperate for some big box retailer products, here you go. Just make sure to be savvy before buying, as 9 times out of 10 TCG Player will be cheaper in this climate.151 Poster Collection$40.97 at AmazonPokémon Trading Card Game Classic$290.67 at AmazonTerapagos ex UPC$219.99 at AmazonPrismatic Evolutions Booster Bundle$84.48 at AmazonPrismatic Evolutions Surprise BoxHoliday 2024 Calendar$54.27 at AmazonMimikyu ex Box$49.99 at AmazonAzure Legends Tin$39.77 at Amazon2024 Trainer’s Toolkit$33.50 at AmazonShrouded Fable Mini Tin$16.00 at AmazonHere's the Pokémon TCG full Release Schedule so far for this year, too, so you don't miss anything. Buying singles is the cheapest way to collect right now, but don't feel like you have to "Catch Em' All!".Destined Rivals Sealed Product Preorder UpdatesWith Destined Rivals dropping May 30 and preorders currently sold out everywhere, it's a good time to keep on top of the secondary market to find the best prices. Best Buy will restock on May 23 via a special "Best Buy Drops" preorder event on its app, just like the recent Black Bolt and White Flare expansions preorders. Destined RivalsBooster BundleSee it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsBooster BoxSee it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsElite Trainer BoxSee it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsPokemon Center Elite Trainer Box (Exclusive)See it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsHalf Booster BoxSee it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsBooster PackSee it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsSleeved Booster PackSee it at TCG PlayerDestined Rivals3 Pack Blister [Zebstrika]See it at TCG PlayerDestined Rivals3 Pack Blister [Kangaskhan]See it at TCG PlayerDestined RivalsBuild & Battle BoxSee it at TCG PlayerBest Buy has also confirmed it will have Booster Box stock online on May 30, alongside ETBs, Booster Packs, and more in store for launch.You could also just wait a few months for more solid stock, but like I said in my preview, this set is one of my favorites in the Scarlet and Violet era, and well worth picking up ASAP.Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Image: Austin VoigtAt PAX East, we had a chance to sit down with the lively Nico Papalia and Top Hat Studios - developer of Athenian Rhapsody, and its newly-announced prequel, Tales of Tuscany (releasing on “whatever you play games on,” including Switch, in 2026). We wanted to learn a bit more about what inspired such a mad-cap universe, and where the WarioWare / EarthBound / Pokémon-esque ideas all stemmed from. While it was a bit of a challenge to talk over the raucous laughter coming from the crowd gathered at the demo booth, we managed to get an inside glimpse at Papalia's surprising backstory and his work on both games.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813kWatch on YouTube Here is our interview with Nico, which was just as entertaining and zany as the universe these games are based in... Nintendo Life: So, let's start from the top — what was the inspiration behind the universe of Tales of Tuscany and Athenian Rhapsody? There seem to be some Earthbound vibes in there... Nico Papalia: Honestly, I didn't even play Earthbound until AFTER I started Athenian Rhapsody - fun fact! I bit into it and was like, 'I feel like this meshes with me,' and I felt like it looked like what I was making. Definitely inspired by Pokémon on Game Boy Advance, played a lot of that. I also played a lot of Castle Crashers - The Behemoth are my friends, so I talked to them a lot, and we're actually discussing working on something together too — very slapstick-y, you know — but they're so tight about their IPs, so... we're still talking. I had big ideas - but I never knew programming, I went to school for art, I was doing traditional pencil art and stuff - I didn't know what I was doing. So it built over time, and I'm very fortunate and lucky that I was able to share this at the scale that I did, and turn it into my job. It's very personal. "Slapstick-y" is definitely the right word for these games, they're hilarious. Yeah, it doesn't take itself too seriously, so the inspiration for the world is just basically my life, my friends, and what I think is funny at the moment. I'll just throw funny things in there as I think of them - and the players seem to love it. I'm a solo dev, so I can kind of have the final say and just do whatever I want. It's fun. In the first game, I took some risks and had this 'invisible grilled cheese' in the map, like an item, and I thought nobody was going to find it - but someone found it within eight hours of launch! I crashed out on social, I bugged out. Will there be any secrets or easter eggs to find in Tales of Tuscany? There aren't too many secrets yet - I'm still developing it, and I just finished the main story, so now I have to do the 'evil' story, and I'll kind of just throw some extra stuff in there before it releases, probably around spring 2026. Tell us a little more about how the two games differ. You know, making Athenian Rhapsody was kind of slow. I started with GameMaker, and it just kind of snowballed. So I honestly didn't really know what I was doing, going into the first game. It was in 4:3 ratio, like Game Boy Advance - because I'm a big GBA guy. So at first I was like, "Yeah, this is awesome!" Then, you know, it comes to porting it and I'm like... "Oh no." So, Tales of Tuscany is in the RIGHT resolution. It's also got more control customisations, quality-of-life stuff like that. Round 2: bigger, better, stronger. I like to say, Athenian Rhapsody is like Pokémon Emerald, and Tales of Tuscany is more like Pokémon Black & White - based on the battles and stuff, with the camera movement, sprite work, stuff like that. So you're clearly a big Pokémon fan too! What are some of the different games you played growing up? I played a lot of Game Boy Advance games - Madagascar, Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Minish Cap, and things like that. My grandma would just go buy them for me. Or I played Crash Bandicoot on the PS2, and I would just stay in the starting area and mess with stuff - I never progressed in the game, and that was actually probably what I do with most of these games. I never progressed; I just did things. And I guess it all kind of just formed that inspiration for me. Image: Top Hat Studios Interesting - so are you a bit of a completionist then? Because this game — with all of the different choices and storylines — seems a bit overwhelming for a completionist, like you could never *actually* complete it entirely. You know what, when I was a teenager, I was more of a completionist; I would 100% complete Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze and stuff like that. But a lot of times, I was just kind of a stupid guy who didn't know what I was doing. I couldn't advance through the plots, I never got Rayquaza [in Pokémon Emerald] - so I would just go and do random things. And now, I'm actually kind of the opposite of that. So making Athenian Rhapsody and Tales of Tuscany, I want a kid to be able to just go around and have fun. The games seem to be designed almost like a constant dopamine hit. Players are allowed to just be mischievous and do whatever they want. And there's probably no way you could experience every single choice available to you in the games. That's exactly it! That's kind of what me and my friends like. You kind of have to get in there a few times, and the way it worked out, some players like that, and some don't. Some people are that objective, numeric, "I'm done, check the box" thing - but with these games, the experience is always going to be different, depending on who you have in your party and the choices you make. Another thing is that, it doesn't feel 'perfect', and a lot of people like that. Did you always intend for the game to be a 'choose-your-own-adventure' style like that? Yeah, I always intended for it to be like that, but I didn't exactly know how to do it at first. I couldn't figure it out. So, Athenian Rhapsody was not programmed very well... Tales of Tuscany is programmed much better, I was able to pull it off better. But I just had to start small and build off of it, because I had big ideas - but I never knew programming, I went to school for art, I was doing traditional pencil art and stuff, I didn't know what I was doing. So it built over time, and I'm very fortunate and lucky that I was able to share this at the scale that I did, and turn it into my job. It's very personal. Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube813k As someone who studied art and went to school for it, did that help with the development of the game itself - at least, the art aspect of it? That's actually a sick question - it must have! I went to SUNY Oneonta, awesome school, I had a lot of great teachers. I was all into anatomy — transformational anatomy — and it took me kind of a while to figure it out, using space and character design. So when I started Athenian Rhapsody, my pixel art was very poor - I didn't have these fully-saturated colours yet, I didn't figure that out yet. My sprites, I was doing the pillow shading... so it took me a while to get it. There's some kind of interlink, but that skill definitely wasn't immediate; I had to learn to access that part of my brain, learning the basics of pixel art. Even in Athenian Rhapsody, when you play it, you'll see there are 10 things going on in one room; that's because I didn't know what I was doing with the space! That honestly led to this feeling of extremely hyper pace, things around every corner... But it works! The absurdism is what makes it all so endearing. Part of it sounds like it was accidental, trial-and-error, but that actually became a really cool thing. Exactly! And I was just doing what I wanted to do. I got lucky that people liked it. Some people think it's a little too much, but I've also heard from a lot of players who really like it, saying they love the story. Another publication, the reviewer said he thought the story "changed vibes too much," and that's where he wrote me off for points. But I've got other people — especially younger kids, but a lot of adults, too — saying they love that about the story! And I personally think it's very needed. A lot of times in this industry, people can take themselves a little too seriously, and I appreciate that you're just doing what you wanna do. It seems like people are drawn to that. Yeah, I try and get very personal and show myself as I am. That's how I built this, doing tutorials online and building a following just being myself. I just took my phone and filmed my screen showing "Today I did this," and I was just being real. But I'm lucky, I still just get to do whatever I want. Like for Tales of Tuscany, the team thought it was a little bit of a risk, making the main character a sheep... Lambypoo - it reminds me of my dog's toy, Lambchop! Oh my god, YES! That's exactly it! I have a hundred of those laying around my house, ripped up! That's where it came from, I'm so glad you said that! So I was just like... yo, what if I had a button, where the lamb just started "baaa"-ing? And that's where the idea for the 'Baa' button came from. You know, it doesn't always have to be this "Hold X, charge your sword..." - you can just have fun with it. So the 'Baa' turned into an interaction tool - you can break plants and cars and stuff, because people just wanna do fun stuff, like the dopamine hits we talked about earlier. So I'm trying to hone in on that. Images: Top Hat Studios I'm still shocked you hadn't played the Earthbound / Mother games prior to starting your first game. It feels like such a spiritual successor to those games. Right? And when it comes to the flavour text in those games, like the options are: "Yeah", or "I'm lactose intolerant" - that's exactly how I write, too. It almost unlocked something, when I saw that. I was like, 'Okay, so this is okay what I'm doing, this irreverence.' I watched a documentary on Earthbound, and the director was saying he had a very intuitive approach - he didn't plan it all out, he just did it block-by-block, and that's exactly what I do, too. So I guess it's that same brain type, maybe? And I had friends from my school who were trying to tell me: "Yeah, you have to block the whole game out" and all of this stuff, and I was like: "Dude, but I'm changing it every day?". So there are a lot of differences between the two games and how much I planned out Tales of Tuscany, but they're the same spirit. Speaking of Earthbound, I've heard you refer to your games as "JRPGs" a few times - what does that label mean to you specifically? Honestly, I've been saying "JRPG" lately just because I think of a long-narrative-based game, and "RPG" is too broad. But I don't know... I also call it an "IRPG" sometimes — "Italian RPG" — because I'm Italian, and Italians do like long conversations. For someone who's never heard of either of your games, what's the one thing you would say to get them to take a look at this series? Out of all of the RPGs and JRPGs out there, there are a lot, and a good one that really makes it to the finish line is hard to find. This game has a lot of love in it, there's something to love in it for everybody, that's a big part of how I made the game. I loved Game Freak's early philosophy of trying to strike a balance between 'cute' and 'cool', and how everyone has a favourite pokémon. And with Athenian Rhapsody, I tried to make one follower that everyone could love. It's the game that conforms to what you like, and everyone will get something out of it. The 'rhapsodies' are like Gen 1 trading; I wanted everyone to get something out of it. In Pokémon, you can port your Pokémon across all of the consoles, and that's kind of what I was trying to do. We'll see how that works! So, the 'munchkins' are making a comeback, too, only this time, the weasels are watching you and ruining everything. This new feature seems pretty cruel, and I'm wondering what happened to you as a child that made you want to torture people? HA! So, in the first game, I had a debug option in the 'pause' menu — just a placeholder — and it was called 'munchkins', and all these stupid things. And I was like, eff it, I'm gonna make 'munchkins' a real thing. So basically, you have to wait, like, 8-10 hours to download them, and you have a 50% chance of failing... and if it works, it's just a picture of some art of mine that says like, "Congratulations" - but I didn't realize everyone was going crazy over that! So with Tales of Tuscany, I thought 'Okay, I won't have a random 50% chance of failing at the end... but there WILL be weasels... and the weasels come and slowly go across the screen, and when they tell you, you have to press an input, otherwise they'll corrupt the munchkin.' I thought, 'I can't just do the same thing again', so I changed it up a little bit. Nobody else is doing munchkins! Nobody else is doing something to the player where they're like, 'No, you do it the way I want you to do it, or else you fail, and I'm not making it easier because you're complaining.' @athenianrhapsody Revolutionary new gameplay mechanic. Wishlist Tales of Tuscany on Steam #pixelart #indiegames #undertale #deltarune #earthbound #nintendo #athenianrhapsody #pokemon #indiegame #gaming #jrpg #omori #yumenikki #fearandhunger #lisathepainful #chainedechoes #talesoftuscany #warioware ♬ original sound - Athenian Rhapsody You're just going to make the game you want to make, and purposely live outside of the box. Was there anything too crazy in Tales of Tuscany that ended up getting vetoed yet? Yeah, there are a few things my publishers tell me I have to edit... I know more how to skirt the line now, but there were a few parts that might have to change. There's this character from Athenian Rhapsody called Uncle Billiard, and he's in this one again because he's a great character - and he has this hot dog place, but they all call the hot dogs 'wieners'... and there's this one character who's like, "Oh yeah, my double wiener sandwich..." and looking back on it, I'm like, "I can't just be throwing 'wiener' around like that." Or like, I wanted to have an enemy with a plumber's crack, and a mechanic where you have to throw things in it. And I actually vetoed that for Athenian Rhapsody, because it was kind of disgusting. ...Ask forgiveness, not permission? Yep, that's my motto! Image: Top Hat Studios Do you have plans to add any more to this universe, or do you think you'll go in a totally different direction? Honestly, I think this IP was a good one, it's strong. I did specifically want to do three RPGs. Why three, because of Earthbound? Oh, I didn't even think about that! I just thought it would be a nice number. You should do three, and just never release the final one here. HA, yeah, I'll just say there's a third! You know, I did originally want to do three, but making this game, I'm nearing the end of the creative development, and I kind of want to take a break from RPGs for a bit. We're doing the mobile game, too - it's called Goobie Garden, and Thunder Goober is in it, he obviously hit something, so even if I do decide to take a break with the IP, I'll always come back to it. But I think for my next console game, I'd like to do something a little more simple, mechanic-based... maybe a battler? I'd like to do a roguelike game. Not sure yet though! This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Thank you, Nico Papalia (@AthenianRhapso1 on X) and the team at Top Hat Studios, for taking the time to answer our questions. Tales of Tuscany will be coming to PC and consoles in 2026. Will you be playing Tales of Tuscany when it releases? Did you play Athenian Rhapsody? Let us know in the comments below. Plenty of new Switch (2) offerings See Also Share:0 2 Austin started gaming at 2 years old and has been addicted ever since. Her Zelda, Mario, Pokémon & Animal Crossing obsessions freak people out. She habitually carries a mini projector around to play her Switch in console mode in weird places. Her favorite gaming snack is pizza rolls, because greasy controllers are her bugaboo. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... Related Articles Nintendo Unveils Diddy Kong's Brand New Design Cap's off The First Review For Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Is In A fantasy score? 12 Switch Games Are Getting Free Switch 2 Upgrades, Here's What You Can Expect Nintendo's free updates arrive next month Review: Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (Switch) - A Cracking Collection Of Top-Class Arcade Fighters A Dream(cast) collection