Latest Features
Reaction Shadow Drops & Surprises - A Stuffed Direct With Something For Everyone
How did you find the Indie World & Partner Showcase?
Have we all recovered yet? On the surface, today's Nintendo Direct Indie World & Partner Showcase wasn't as show-stopping as the main June 2024 Direct. It was never going to be: by name and virtue alone, this is a Zelda and Mario-free presentation. And we're slowly approaching the end of the...
Round Up Pokémon World Championships 2024 - Is The Competitive Event At A Turning Point?
Pokémon came home
It has been 20 years since the first Pokémon World Championships took place in Orlando and in what may be a move to celebrate, the Pokémon World Championships returned to a place where it has frequently been held: Hawai’i. However, this time rather than being on the big island, it went to the island of O’ahu and the city of...
Soapbox The Trauma Of Giygas & Growing Up In EarthBound
EarthBound turns "adults into kids, and kids into adults"
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile celebrates the innocence of youth, the pain of growing up, and the magic of a cult classic SNES RPG, which celebrates its 30th...
Hands On Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind - A Simple Brawler With Promising Enemy Variety
The hour for morphin' is upon us
The beat ‘em up genre has had a grand resurgence in recent years. We've been treated to genre-defining entries like Streets of Rage 4, River City Girls, and the fantastic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. And now, following the success of the heroes in a half-shell, Atari 50 developer Digital...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Let's Rocket!
We are back, back, back for another edition of Box Art Brawl! Last week, we took a look at a trio of Contra: Hard Corps covers for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. Despite three rather sweet designs (by our eye), the vote wasn't even close. You lovely lot crowned the North American variant the clear winner with 64% of the vote, leaving...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (24th August)
All the water
Right, the weekend is here again, which means it's time to see what we're all going to be playing over the next couple of days. Before we do so, however, let's recap some of this week's more interesting goings on the in the world of Nintendo. First off, Nintendo held a new Direct broadcast, but perhaps not the one that many would...
Feature Nintendo Life's Switch Summer Survey 2024
There's still time to have your say
We published this survey call-out at the start of August and, with the end of the month fast approaching, we're flagging it one more time before we start tabulating the data into pie charts, bar graphs, and moral alignment tables separating the Lawful Evils from the Chaotic Neutrals. And, you know, how many...
Hands On Epic Mickey: Rebrushed - A Fresh Coat Of Paint For A Once-Flawed Platformer
Dis-ney mess around with the upgrades
Even almost 14 years after it was first released, it still hasn’t really set in that Deus Ex creator Warren Spector’s first game after a six-year break was not only a Mickey Mouse platformer, but one exclusively made for the Nintendo Wii after years of being a PC-only developer. To make matters even wilder,...
Round Up Every Switch Game Reveal & Trailer At Future Games Show @ Gamescom 2024
Strategy, RPGs, and penguins galore!
The Future Games Show returns once again for its third showcase of the year, which as always, takes place at Gamescom. Hosted by Alex McKenna (Sadie Adler from Red Dead Redemption 2) and Ned Luke (Michael De Santa from Grand Theft Auto V), there were over 50 games on show. And while Switch offerings were on the...
Talking Point Would $499 Be Too Much For 'Switch 2'?
Money where your Meowth is
We know that the 'Switch 2' is real. We know an announcement is coming this fiscal year. We know "Switch successor" is the most accurate description of it. All of the other big details — what form it will take, how big it will be, whether it will finally give us that flipping Wind Waker port — are all up to speculation...
Round Up Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 - Every Nintendo Switch Game Reveal & Trailer
A quiet show for Switch
Gamescom: Opening Night Live 2024 has been and gone, and it was a pretty eventful show... if you have multiple consoles! We knew going in things would be light for the Nintendo Switch — it's in its eighth year, after all! But Nintendo is also skipping the event. Zelda is coming soon folks, don't worry... It wasn't a...
Hands On King Of Meat - Fun And Foolish Hack-And-Slash With A Side Of Mario Maker
Felled Guys
It's safe to say that King of Meat has sprung out of nowhere. Developed by Guildford-based studio Glowmade and published by Amazon Games, it was one of the genuinely new announcements in Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase, and you may be wondering what exactly it has in store. We were in the same boat when we were invited by the...
Hands On Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club - Rated M For 'Murder'
Prologue + Chapter One impressions
As an M-rated game being published by Nintendo, there's certainly been a lot more interest in Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club in the lead-up to its release than there might have been with a more...well, Nintendo-esque content rating attached. Whether it deserves the full-blown adult treatment, we've...
Feature New Attacks, More Speed, Bigger Challenge - Good-Feel On Bringing 'BAKERU' To The West
"We've made adjustments to improve the overall gameplay experience"
Some of you may have seen earlier this week that BAKERU, the previously Japan-only 3D action platformer from Good-Feel, was announced to be coming to Western shores for a fresh English release in just a few short weeks. We loved the original Japanese release, and in anticipation of...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Contra: Hard Corps / Probotector
Lock n' load
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition Box Art Brawl! We had a doozy of a brawl last week as we looked at The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords for the GBA. You folks really surprised us with this one, though: we weren't too keen on the Japanese box art for this, deemed it to be fairly busy in comparison...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (17th August)
Lucky, lucky star
Wheeeeey, the weekend's here again, which means it's time to pop on our most comfortable slippers and get some gaming done. Looking back on this week, the most interesting piece of news (well, "interesting" in an oh-god-when-will-it-end kind of way) was that the 'Switch 2' likely won't be launching until after the current fiscal...
Book Review Perfect Organism - A Must-Read For Fans Of Alien: Isolation
Fit for an Alien Queen
Toward the beginning of Perfect Organism: An Alien: Isolation Companion, author Andy Kelly asks a question that, to an outsider, might seem particularly pertinent: why write an entire book about one game? However, to those who have ever held a deep passion for a piece of pop culture, whether it be a film, a book, or a game,...
Feature Here’s How Trading Card Companies Could Stop CT Scanning In The Future
"They really want to fix it"
Collecting trading cards, especially vintage cards, has gotten considerably dicier — seemingly overnight. Over the past month, multiple people have come forward to demonstrate how various X-ray technologies can reliably see inside unopened trading card products. The concept of X-raying packs has been rumored for as...
Feature The Company You Can Pay To X-Ray Unopened Pokémon Card Packs Speaks Out
"The technology is not going away, and people know what it can do"
The entirety of the trading card community — that is, people who collect, buy, and sell the Pokémon Trading Card game, sports cards, Magic: The Gathering, Disney, or literally any trading card game you can think of — has gradually become aware of what might be an existential...
Feature Catch-Up Crew: F-Zero X - "In First Place I Just Yeeted Myself Off The Course"
Join our mission to seek out 'Games of Shame' and make first contact
We've all got them. Brilliant, much-celebrated video games — sometimes ones boasting a huge lineage of excellent sequels — which, for some reason, we never got around to playing. It might have been unfortunate timing, with another game arriving to swallow up our time and...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Zelda: A Link To The Past And Four Swords (GBA)
Portable magic
Welcome back to another edition Box Art Brawl! Last time, we were back with the Mega Man franchise to look at Mega Man Zero 3, the, uh, third entry in the Zero sub-series for GBA. As expected, the beautiful Japanese design won by a landslide, scoring 73% of the vote. The US variant bagged 17%, while the ghastly European design...
Guide Every Game In The Switch eShop 'Play Together' Sale (North America)
Update: Sale ends this weekend
This is your friendly reminder that the North American 'Recollection Collection' eShop sale ends this Sunday (11th August) at 11:59pm PT, so this is your last chance to save on all the wonderful games listed below. Nintendo of America has unveiled yet another tantalising sale, slashing up to 50% off select...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (10th August)
We're DOOM'd
Well folks, another week has come and gone, which means it's time to reveal what we're all going to be playing this weekend. Before we do, however, let's see what's been going on this week. First up, Monolith Soft is recruiting for what it simply describes as a "new RPG"; chances are it'll probably be a new Xenoblade title for...
Preview In Ys X: Nordics, Adol And Boats Prove To Be A Match Made In Heaven
Sail the high Ys
If you've played an Ys game before, you know that our red-haired hero Adol Christin is pretty partial to a boat. He's also partial to a shipwreck or three. Adol's very first adventure in Ys I starts off with his boat being destroyed by a storm; Ark of Napishtim opens with Adol washed up on the beach; and in Lacrimosa of Dana, his...
Feature The Next Splatfest May Decide Splatoon 4's Future, So We Make A Case For Every Team
Are you a Deep Cut, Off The Hook, or Squid Sisters fan?
Debates over the best Splatoon idol group are dime-a-dozen but never have the stakes been higher than in Splatoon 3's upcoming second anniversary celebration: Grand Festival. Starting on September 13th and ending on 16th of the same month (or 12th to 15th, depending on your region), this...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects & Readers' Choice (July 2024)
Our picks for the best eShop games in July
Pinch yourselves, it's August, summer's end is approaching, and we're here to talk about video games gone by. Yep, it's time to look back at last month and talk about July's eShop Selects. Nintendo has had another fairly quiet month on the Switch — Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was the big...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Mega Man Zero 3
Third time's a charm
Welcome back to another edition Box Art Brawl! Last week's bout saw us chucking Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS into the ring. The designs for this one were pretty similar, all told, but Europe ultimately lost out with its lack of supporting characters and, uh, copious stickers. North America and Japan bagged an...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (3rd August)
It's the weekend, thank goodness!
Good grief, is that August already? The passage of time may have left us spooked, but the promise of a more densely-packed Switch release schedule in the months to come is exciting! Anyway, back to this week. We saw a rather dry Nintendo financial report with declining year-on-year software and hardware sales after...
"I fear I may have dad jokes syndrome"
Can you believe it, Ace Attorney fans? We're almost at the end of the incredible journey that has been the AA Switch remakes, and honestly, we never thought we'd see the day – let alone so soon. The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, comprising the first and second games in the Edgeworth-focused...
Poll Which Is Your Favourite Nintendo Game Cartridge Design?
Works of cart
We love video games in whatever form they're delivered. Give us a disc or a stick or a digital download - if the game's a good'un, we'll be happy whatever the format. However, around these parts, we're undeniably partial to the heft and clunk of a good old cartridge. Perhaps it's because we're gamers of, ahem, a certain vintage who...
Talking Point Will The Switch Ever Get A 'Nintendo Selects' Range?
Discounted delights
Before the June Direct came along, we were starting to think that 2024 would be the year of remakes and remasters on Switch. We had Another Code: Recollection, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD already banked and that
Feature "I Want You To Be Mad" - Crazy Viking Studios On The Brutality Of Volgarr The Viking II
"We didn't have any intention of ever making a sequel"
The original Volgarr The Viking might have flown under a lot of folks' radar when it launched back in 2013, but it's one of those games where if you know, you know. It garnered a solid 8/10 from us when it landed on Switch and it's cultivated a hardcore, dedicated fanbase whose members are...
Soapbox Why I Love A Good Map, And That Time I Mapped Yoshi's Melons For Nintendo Power
Worth a thousand words
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nathan goes mapping the pixels... What is your greatest video game pet peeve? That one thing that, when present, ruins your experience, no matter how good the game is...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow
BAT!
Welcome back to another edition Box Art Brawl! Last week, we matched up two covers from Capcom's Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness and oof, it was a close one! Japan's action-packed cartoony take just about walked away with the win, taking 53% of the vote and leaving Europe and North America's shared design with the remaining 47%. We're...
Feature The Famicom Failure That Almost Bankrupted HAL, But Shaped Nintendo's Future
HAL be there
Unless you’re a dedicated Famicom collector, it’s unlikely that you’ve heard of Metal Slader Glory. Released right at the tail end of the Famicom’s life in 1991, the year after the release of the Super Famicom, Metal Slader Glory never made it out of Japan, and it proved to be a massive flop for HAL Laboratory. But the very...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (27th July)
What a horrible night to have a curse
It's been a pretty quiet few days in the world of Nintendo, but as we're all gearing up for a another weekend of gaming, let's take a peek at some of the highlights of the week. First up, there's a new Nintendo Lego set incoming! Hooray! This one looks spectacular and is essentially a replica of the Mario &...
Soapbox 20 Years After His Last Mainline Appearance, Tingle Deserves A Comeback
Yes, TWENTY years
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Jim is manifesting a comeback for Zelda's most iconic NPC... If you have made it past the headline, chances are you fall into one of the following camps. One: You believe that...
Poll Do You Prefer Fire Emblem: Three Houses Or Engage?
Fight fire with fire
Believe it or not, today marks five years since Fire Emblem: Three Houses launched on Switch. We'd imagine that most of you SRPG fans out there have polished it off by this point — we'd go even further to wager that you have likely done the same for its successor, Fire Emblem Engage, which is now a little over a year old...
Poll Are You Ready To Move On From The Switch?
It's not you, it's me
Earlier this year, Nintendo finally caved under the overwhelming weight of customer and shareholder expectations and announced that the successor to the Switch would be revealed "within this fiscal year", aka before the end of March 2025. For many, it marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter in gaming. Although fans...
Hands On Zelda, But With Mind-Bending Perspective Puzzles - We Take 'Cassette Boy' For A Spin
Giant cube-shaped cat fights and "The Schrödinger System"
BitSummit, held in Kyoto every sweltering hot summer, plays host to an incredible amount of indie developers from across the globe. As you might expect, it can be rather hard to stand out – so much so that it was even difficult for us to curate a list of impressive Switch games down to...
Feature 10 Switch Games We've Played At BitSummit 2024 - Here's What We Thought
The indie darlings of the future, today!
BitSummit 2024 has been and gone, and we've got the details on all of the best games we saw at the sure. If you’re unfamiliar with BitSummit, it’s a gaming convention dedicated to indie developers from around the globe. Taking place in the heart of Kyoto every July, there’s no better place to get a...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition?
Championship score?
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has been out on Switch for a few days now, bringing with it plenty of fast-paced retro delights and highlights. Inspired by the Nintendo World Championships and acting as a sort of spiritual follow-up to the NES Remix games, it was a bit of a surprise announcement back in May. Yep,...
Soapbox New Roots - How Pikmin 4 Made My Move Abroad Bloom
Pik up your life
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, on Pikmin 4's first anniversary, Alana thinks the half-plant, half-animal creatures known as Pikmin helped her move across the globe... I define many of the biggest moments in my...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness
Demonic
Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl! Last time, we looked at Kirby's Pinball Land for the Game Boy (jeez, how many Kirby games are there..? Don't answer that), pitting Europe and North America against Japan in a good ol' fashioned duel. It was closer than we were anticipating, though as expected, Japan won the...
"Having a ceiling on any sort of media will always be seen as a negative"
It's been over four years since this writer last spoke to George Perkins of Super Rare Games, the boutique publisher of limited-run physical Switch releases which set up shop back in 2018. Since then the firm has branched out into both physical PS5 releases and digital...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (20th July)
What are Yooka playing?
It's time to check out everyone's gaming plans as we dive into another edition What Are You Playing! This week in the world of Nintendo, we got the announcement of a suspicious new Joy-Con charging stand, we finally found out who Emio is (he's the start of the new
Talking Point Could Ganondorf Ever Be The Star Of A Zelda Game?
Gerudo or Gerudon't?
After decades of patiently explaining to elderly relatives, "No, Zelda is the princess", 2024 is going to be the year that Grandma is finally right. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is boldly going where no mainline series entry has gone before by putting the titular princess in the driver's seat. How shocking! How bold!...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Kirby's Pinball Land
Pinbrawl
Welcome, one and all, to this week's edition of Box Art Brawl! Wait, are we... poets?? Last time, we pitted two covers for the NES' Urban Champion against each other and after a weekend of voting, it was North America that came up with the win. The classic pixel art cover took 59% of the vote, while Europe and Japan's colourful alternative...
Guide Every Game In The Switch eShop 'Recollection Collection' Sale (North America)
Sale wraps up this weekend
This is your friendly reminder that the North American 'Recollection Collection' eShop sale ends this Sunday (14th July) at 11:59pm PT, so this is your last chance to save on all the wonderful games listed below. Nintendo of America has unveiled its latest batch of discounts, with the 'Recollection Collection' sale...
Soapbox Metroid’s Mother Brain And The Rewind Dilemma
Mother pain
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile deliberates whether or not the time has come to push the (rewind) button... Last month, Nintendo announced it was adding Metroid: Zero Mission to the Nintendo Switch Online...
