September 26, 2026|

Filed under: Event Report, Highlight Article, News Coverage, Preview

Tokyo Game Show 2026 Previews #1: Professor Layton, Castlevania, Mega Man, and One Piece

We attended Tokyo Game Show 2026 and tried out some exciting new games! In this article, Brando shares his impressions of Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet, and Mega Man: Dual Override. More previews will be posted soon. All release dates and platforms are official as of September 24, 2025.

Professor Layton and the New World of Steam

Professor Layton and Luke face new puzzles in a fresh setting. Solve epic riddles as you progress through the story of this puzzle/fantasy adventure.

Releases December 10, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (Steam).
Official site: https://www.layton.jp/jouki/en/

Playable at TGS for the third year in a row, New World of Steam finally has a concrete release date! Everything I said in 2024 and 2025 still holds. Steam Bison still looks great in action, and the puzzles are the same delightful mix of logical reasoning and creative twists the series is known for.

Like past demos, this one showed an early part of the game, with Layton and Luke looking for the genius inventor Professor Eggmuffin. This year, they finally find him!

Spoiler alert: it’s not this guy.

One puzzle makes slightly interesting use of the game’s newfound third dimension: it’s a straightforward observation-based puzzle, but not all of the information is visible from the default view, so you need to carefully move the 3D model around to see everything.

Another puzzle involved dragging dropping a line segment in a clever way. At that point, I found myself missing the more precise mouse-mode Joycon setup they had last year. This year’s demo was also on Switch 2, but with a Pro controller. Not a big deal, but I still think I’d prefer to play the full game with mouse controls, to make it easier to tap and drag or jot notes on the Memo.

There has been some recent controversy surrounding Level-5’s use of generative UI in their games, but I didn’t see any weird signage or mangled hands in this demo — everything looked just as good as it has in years past. This game has been in development for years, and the demo showed a very early part of the game, so it’s possible this part was finished before the current boom of generative AI tools. Whatever the case, it’ll only be a couple more months before fans can check out the full game!

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

Set 23 years after Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse – A 2D action-exploration game that depicts the growth of Rose Belmont, featuring faster and more fluid gameplay.

Releases October 15, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC. Demo available October 1, 2026.
Official site: https://www.konami.com/games/castlevania/belmonts_curse/us/en-us/

Castlevania is back! Belmont’s Curse sees Rose Belmont, daughter of Trevor Belmont, take to the streets of medieval Paris to battle monstrous creatures.

The setup is classic ~~metroidvania~~ 2D action-exploration. Explore the map while killing monsters to find bosses and new abilities, which unlock new traversal paths, which lead to new bosses and new abilities, and repeat. The graphics are sharp, and the gameplay is smooth, though the official website notes that the Nintendo Switch version will run at 30 FPS while other platforms will be 60 FPS.

In the TGS demo, I beat an introductory boss with Rose’s basic abilities (melee slash, dash, fireball spell), and unlocked the ability to grapple to new places and attack enemies using her whip.

It’s a simple ability, but whipping around multi-directionally to spots in the environment and whipping to enemies and timing melee attacks right before impact was very satisfying once I got used to it. Overall it was a fun demo. If you want to try it out, you won’t have to wait long — an official demo releases October 1st.

Mega Man: Dual Override

Mega Man is overriding his limits and powering up for a new adventure, but this time, he’s not alone! Proto Man joins the Blue Bomber as they take on new dangers in the latest addition to the Mega Man series.

Releases Spring 2027 on PlayStation 5, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PC (Steam and Epic).
Official site: https://www.capcom-games.com/megaman/do/en-us/

The 12th main installment in the Mega Man series, Dual Override doesn’t stray much from the tried and true formula of jumping, shooting, and running to the right! In the TGS demo, I got to play part of the Twinkle Girl stage as Mega Man.

Graphics are slick and colorful, and gameplay proceeds mostly as expected, running through smooth side-scrolling levels, then some screen-by-screen vertical levels where falling sends you back to a lower screen.

You’re able to swap from your basic Mega Buster to more powerful weapons with limited ammo (I had a zoomy drill charge sort of thing pre-equipped in the demo). There’s also a “Custom Chip” system, that lets you pick an ability to go in an additional button. For example, you might prioritize additional firepower, or survivability. I went with survivability, and got a shield ability that would break and then slowly recharge when I got hit by an enemy

The other twist on display was the “Override System”. Once your override gauge is charged up, you can unleash it to power up and deal additional damage. This only lasts for a limited time though. Once Override mode is finished, it leaves you vulnerable for a while, so timing when to use it is key.

Overall this looks like a fun return for the Blue Bomber and Proto Man!

ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet

Hop aboard a delectable management sim in the world of ONE PIECE! Work alongside the Straw Hat Crew to build the greatest floating restaurant of the seas. Collect ingredients, dream up new dishes, and decorate to have familiar faces lining up for more!

Releases October 23, 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam), iOS, and Android.
Official site: https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/one-piece-grand-gourmet

I don’t often go for this type of management sim game, but Grand Gourmet looks so charming I had to try it.

The UI is simplistic, almost like an RPG Maker game, but it gets the job done, and the pixel art is great.

In the TGS demo, I opened restaurant “Baratie No. 2” and tried out each of the gameplay systems, like building, decorating, creating new recipes, and recruiting staff. There are a few other variations and interactions between these systems. For example, you can create a set menu that combines recipes from different categories, or send staff out on side missions.

After some time I was able to send Luffy to Foosha village to find more resources, and Higuma.

There are stats involved and numbers on the screen, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. Honestly I’m not sure if it’s possible to “lose” or mess up in this game — the demo gave me plenty of money to spend and try out different features, and it was nice to just build stuff and see what happens.

If you place a table and surround it with plenty of Skypiea-themed decor (lighting, partitions), the table will transform to fit the Skypiea aesthetic.

New customers eventually showed up at my restaurant, with their own requests and recipes. There are over 400 characters in the game, so it almost seems like a Pokemon-esque “gotta catch em all” challenge to find them.

All the characters you can find in the first area (“Starting Sea”)

You don’t just decide new recipes with your staff; sometimes customers will suggest them. For example, a little girl named Rika will give you an onigiri (rice ball) recipe. Unfortunately, Rika’s onigiri has a 1/5 taste rating… fans who remember Rika’s introduction in the original series will know why! The game is packed with fun references like this.

These things go together, right?

As I kept tweaking my restaurant and clicking on popup menus, more delightful surprises happened, until the demo timer was up. Overall, if you’re a One Piece fan and looking for a cute, low-stress experience, I think you’re eating good here!