Hey there 👋

Welcome to this installment of Pixel Perfect Picks. Here I'm sharing something that I heard, read, and saw. You can subscribe to this newsletter here. I'm additionally publishing a more extended essay about software development, design, and freelancing every month.

Nintendo quietly dropped Star Fox for the Switch 2 last week and I've been very tempted. It's a cinematic remake of Star Fox 64, the classic on-rails shooter from 1997, developed by Velan Studios with co-op, new extended cutscenes, and Joy-Con 2 mouse controls for targeting. I never played the original, which apparently makes me the perfect audience for this one. If you're in the same boat, or just want to see what a Nintendo arcade shooter looks like in 2026, the overview trailer is right here. Might be exactly the right kind of fun in-between sessions game for summer.

I've been reading a lot about how AI changes the way we actually build software, and Compound Engineering from Every is the best framework I've come across. The core idea is that every unit of engineering work should make the next one easier, not harder. You own the beginning and the end: decide what's worth building, hand the middle to the agent, then come back to review and make it genuinely good. Read the full breakdown here. This one has genuinely changed how I approach my own workflow.

This one came from Anthropic of all places. Claude FM is a 24/7 lo-fi and ambient music livestream on YouTube, live since May 9, made and curated by real musicians and described simply as "music for thinking and building." Every track is credited in the top right corner of the stream as it plays. No AI-generated music, no algorithm, just a really well-curated playlist that runs all day. If you use Claude Code, you can open it directly with the /radio command. Otherwise it's right here on YouTube. I've had it on in the background all week and it's become my new default work soundtrack.

Keep Creating Awesome Stuff ✌️

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-Marvin