Latest Features
Hands On Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Is A Heck Of An Emotional Ride So Far
Fight to live, live to fight
With just a few more weeks to go now until the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, we've been busy getting to grips with the latest entry in Monolith Soft's epic action-RPG series and, you may be relieved to hear, it's more than living up to our lofty expectations so far. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 introduces us to Aionios,...
Back Page Making The Perfect Nintendo Frankenconsole
Sum of its parts
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit in anywhere else. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have (paper) pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes —...
Hands On 'Live A Live' Gives A Unique 16-Bit RPG A Gorgeous New Lease Of Life
We're LIVE from the past, present, and future
If you have any interest in Super Nintendo RPGs, then you’ve likely heard of Live A Live. Released in 1994 for the Super Famicom in Japan, it came out during what many claim is Square Enix's — then known as Square, or Squaresoft in the West — 'Golden Era', launching just under a year after Secret...
Feature What It Takes To Be A Zelda: Breath Of The Wild World Record Speedrunner
BOTW's best 'runners talk tricks and clips
It’s 1 AM and you have just spent the past 12 hours replaying the same segment of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In your mind, there is no stopping until perfection is achieved – or the more likely option – you pass out from sleep deprivation. For the next few weeks, you continue to hone...
Feature 10 Series We'd Love To See Get The Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Treatment
On the game's 10th anniversary
Why haven't there been more games like Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy? We have a particular soft spot for music and rhythm games, and even more so music and rhythm games that put their own twist on the usual beat matching. Theatrhythm is just one of those games. The first game launched in North America 10 years ago today...
Feature 13 Best Seniors In Games
These oldies are very goodies
Think of a game in which you control a character (so no Tetris or anything) — go ahead, any game! Now, chances are, whichever game you've picked, its protagonist is either young or, at the most, middle-aged. You've got the likes of Link, Mario, Samus, Cloud, Joker, Neku, Scott Pilgrim... We could go on, but you get...
Feature Backlog Club: July - If You Haven't Played Hollow Knight Yet, Here's Your Chance
Sorry to bug you
Rule number one of Backlog Club: Work through your pile of unplayed video games one at a time, and discuss them with other people. Rule number two of Backlog Club: Don't talk about Backlog Club. Just kidding! Tell everyone. Please. This article is part of our new experimental series, Backlog Club, where we (Nintendo Life!) pick a...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 2nd)
Take a sip
We're over halfway through the year now — isn't that a scary thought? And our calendars are about to get even busier after that Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase! But outside of that mammoth mini, rumours of a Metroid Prime 1 remaster are swirling once again. Sabotage's
Poll What's Your Game Of The Year 2022 So Far?
Yeah, it's already July, sorry
We regret to inform you that 2022 is half over. You might as well just start buying your Christmas presents now, folks, because from here it's a slippery slope to Winter. But before that happens, let's celebrate the six-month mark of 2022 with our games of the year so far, or GOTYSF! The list is stacked this year,...
Feature Mario + Rabbids Producer Talks Free Movement And Fusing Lumas, Rabbids, And Composers
"It was a kid's dream to do that"
As revealed in Nintendo's June 2022 Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is launching on Switch on 20th October. This afternoon, Ubisoft's dedicated showcase,
Movie Review GoldenEra - A Celebratory Examination Of GoldenEye 007's Creation And Impact
Worth its weight in gold
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." Ah, yes. The classic quote that may or may not have been uttered by Shigeru Miyamoto. With the gaming industry (understandably) experiencing an unusually high number of delays in recent years, the proclamation has been the subject of memes to the point...
Feature Spidersaurs Lands On Switch In July, WayForward Talks Saturday Cartoons And Contra
Everybody walk the spidersaur
Over the past 30 years, WayForward, makers of the Shantae series, has made a name for itself by crafting retro-flavoured gems that combine the best of modern gaming with an unashamedly old-school aesthetic and game feel. Whether it's baked into their own projects (such as the Mighty series or the aforementioned Shantae...
Round Up Every Game And Trailer From The Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase June 2022
What were your favourite announcements?
The June 2022 Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase has come and gone, and left us with a host of fresh announcements, release date news, surprise drops, and other tidbits to feast on. It may not have been the full-fat first-party Nintendo Direct fans have been anticipating all June, but there was something...
Poll What Are You Hoping To See In The Nintendo Direct Mini?
Howdy, Partner
Tomorrow we'll be getting a brand new Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase focused entirely on third-party games for the Switch. That's right, don't get your hopes up for any Mario Kart or Zelda news, as instead, we'll have 25 glorious minutes of upcoming releases from other developers. So not really that mini then! Proceedings...
Gen 9 starter final form predictions brought to life
A new generation of Pokémon is on the horizon and with it comes speculation and anticipation that runs as rampant as a horde of Tauros. During this time, a new generation’s Starter Pokémon take the centre stage, particularly their final forms. With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, releasing on...
Feature Remembering Klonoa's Dreamy GBA Platformers - Empires, Champions, And Puzzles
It's not only a phantasy
The ‘90s and 2000s were a totally different era. I can’t tell you how many times I sat down playing the same demo discs over and over or replaying the same handful of games as a kid. Bandai Namco’s old mascot Klonoa — soon to return in the upcoming Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series — is the first-ever video game...
Feature Backlog Club: Return Of The Obra Dinn - It All Comes Down To Socks In The End
An old-school mystery with older-school roots
This article is part of our new experimental series, Backlog Club, where we (Nintendo Life!) pick a game that's likely to be on our list of "games we should get around to playing", and then we (NL + you!) spend the next month playing that game. This is the finale for June, which was focused on Return of...
Hands On Two Point Campus Offers One Hell Of An Education
Learn more
If there’s one thing we need in life that goes criminally underappreciated, it’s education. Ejucashun kan turns a sentinse lik this into something that can be concise and precise, or eloquent and needlessly protracted. From students to heads of state, veterinarians to loquacious video producers — we all could do with a little more...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 25th)
Preparing for a busy July
Is everyone feeling a bit more chilled out after not-E3? Okay, we're still waiting for a Nintendo Direct, but we did get a Xenoblade Chronicles 3-focused presentation, where a new Expansion Pass was unveiled. The AM2R devs have reunited on a brand new stunning-looking Metroidvania pr
Memory Pak After 20 Years, Eternal Darkness Really Deserves A Second Life
Being stuck on one system is pure insanity
Picture the setting. You’re walking around a grand mansion, testing out keys on locked doors, investigating every nook and cranny, and simply trying your best to figure out where you need to go and what you need to do. The rooms are well-lit and the furniture neatly positioned together. By all accounts,...
Memory Pak Becoming The Very Best In Black & White 2's Pokémon World Tournament
Like no one ever was...
Walking out into the arena of Pokémon Black & White 2’s Pokémon World Tournament (PWT) for the first time, I had chills. The lights were dimmed, the crowd was watching, and the commentary was introducing me – my character – as if I were some sort of celebrity. Well, sure, I’d saved Unova and become the Champion...
Feature 10 Famous Franchises That Would Make Great Warriors Games
Playable characters and killable enemies up the wazoo
We’re in the midst of a Warriors series Golden Age on the Nintendo Switch. Recently, we asked you – Nintendo Life’s readers – to rank each of these Musou games, and games like Hyrule Warriors and Age of Calamity beat out the likes of
Soapbox Why Do We Talk About Games By Comparing Them To Other Games?
It's a Stardew-like-roguelike with Soulsborne elements
"What's in a name?" Shakespeare once wrote. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." He was, of course, talking about the blood feud between two warring families, and the thirteen-year-old daughter of the Capulet family wishing that her crush could be called something other than Montague...
Feature Takashi Iizuka, Head Of Sonic Team, Speaks About Sonic Origins, Sprites, And Future Plans
"Sonic Adventure will always remain very dear to me"
Sonic the Hedgehog fans have had plenty to talk about of late. The staggered gameplay reveals and initial reactions to Sonic Frontiers have been one of the big talking points throughout this not-E3 2022 period, but we've also had the impending release of Sonic Origins to look forward to. While the...
Hands On MADiSON Is A Familiar Yet Effective Horror Tale
Picture perfect or underdeveloped?
After the monumental impact of games like Amnesia, Outlast, and Hideo Kojima’s doomed Silent Hills teaser P.T, horror fans have witnessed somewhat of a resurgence of the genre after franchises like Resident Evil and Dead Space started leaning toward more over-the-top action. While some fans have since taken...
Feature Nintendo eShop Selects - May 2022
The best of the last month's eShop games!
Okay yes, we know we're a tad late with May's eShop Selects, but come on, it was not-E3 season! Nevertheless, we're back again to round up the best offerings of the month; granted, it was a relatively quiet one for the most part, but that doesn't mean there weren't any diamonds lying in the rough (we might...
Feature Need More Turtles After Shredder's Revenge? You Should Check Out These Underrated TMNT Gems
Heroes in a handheld
Hopefully you’re all enjoying the absolutely tremendous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, the latest addition to the TMNT video gaming canon from Dotemu and Tribute games. We know we are. It’s another blistering action game in the tradition of Konami’s NES and SNES beat-’em-ups. And that’s great — we...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 18th)
A turtle-y good weekend
Is it a scorcher where you are, readers? It certainly has been in the UK this week. But the video game news has been pretty hot too! Hollow Knight: Silksong is alive with a brand new trailer! There are details of a rumoured new Fire Emblem game surfacing online.
Feature Capcom Fighting Collection - Every Game, And Why You Should Be Excited
Fightin' in the streets
As great as the Street Fighter series is, pugilism fans with longer memories will tell you that it’s about ruddy time some of Capcom’s somewhat lesser-known games are getting their time in the spotlight. Arriving on Switch on 24th June, Capcom Fighting Collection showcases not just the entire Darkstalkers series, but also...
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 8 – 2019 To 2022
Gen-erally speaking
Six years ago, running up to Pokémon’s 20th anniversary, we did a rundown of each of the generations of Pokémon, and then brought it back three years ago to cover Generation 7. Now, we’re truly in the news cycle for Generation 9's Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, so it’s time to take a look back at the last three years,...
Exclusive Zelda-Meets-Stardew In 'Moonstone Island', The Game That Has It All
Farming, Fighting, And Fishbo
Disclosure notice: In the time since the publication of this article, Nintendo Life staffer Kate Gray has contributed writing to Moonstone Island. She has had no involvement in our coverage since joining the project, and we won't be reviewing the game. Moonstone Island is one of the games we're most excited about this...
Feature Temtem Dev On The Difficulties Of Bringing The Pokémon Rival To Switch
"There were a lot of sacrifices and a lot of difficulties"
First announced back in 2018 before dropping onto Steam Early Access in 2020 and later PS5, Temtem garnered a lot of well-deserved attention as a worthy challenger to Pokémon’s tried-and-true formula, with a focus on developing the online social and competitive elements of Game Freak's...
Feature Backlog Club: Return Of The Obra Dinn Is A Masterpiece Of Deduction And Atmosphere
Dead men tell *some* tales, if you have a magic watch
This article is part of our new experimental series, Backlog Club, where we (Nintendo Life!) pick a game that's likely to be on our list of "games we should get around to playing", and then we (NL + you!) spend the next month playing that game. This is the halfway point, the Part One of two,...
Feature Sonic The Hedgehog Compilations - Every Sonic Collection Before Sonic Origins
Need more ways to play Sonic 1 and 2?
Hurrah for Sonic Origins! The upcoming compilation looks to be a fairly definitive take on the classic Mega Drive and Mega CD Sonic games, with widescreen presentation and various quality of life features. It’s hardly the first time that Sonic has been collected, though, is it? In fact, he’s no stranger to...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 11th)
Bask in the warm glow of not-E3
Well folks, it's been another jam-packed week at Nintendo Life, with plenty of highlights to mention! First up, the excellent Mario Strikers: Battle League launched on Friday and we thought it was a great sports game for the Switch in our review. Similarly, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords...
Feature Which Pokémon Is Tastiest? - Food-Based Pokémon, Ranked
Gotta eat ‘em all
We here at Nintendo Life are always hungry because, while not many are aware, writing about Nintendo everyday works up a massive appetite. So it’s only natural that when the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet trailer revealed another food-themed Pokémon, we couldn’t help but wonder how it would taste.
Back Page So, What Are We Calling This Not-E3 Conference, Anyway?
To E3 or not to E3
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit in anywhere else. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have (paper) pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes...
Hands On Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Is Shaping Up To Be A Belter
Choose House Hack 'n' Slash
It's been five whole years already since Nintendo's Fire Emblem and Koei Tecmo's Warriors series first collided, resulting in the rather magnificent Fire Emblem Warriors, a game we called "one of the best Musou outings yet" that "combines enjoyable combat with re
Feature Inclusivity, Frogs, And Petting Dogs - Wholesome Games On What It Means To Be "Wholesome"
Ahead of June 11th's Wholesome Direct
Wholesome. It's a word that gets tossed around a lot these days when it comes to games. If there's a game with a cat, a tea minigame, a pastel palette, and/or some kind of farming mechanic, you bet your buns it'll be called "wholesome" at least once. Wholesome Direct, a showcase of indie games presented by the...
Talking Point Should Sonic Frontiers Be Delayed? We Discuss Its Bizarre Debut And Fan Reaction
Sonic's latest 3D entry stumbles out the gate
After what feels like a lifetime of waiting, we've finally been treated to a glimpse at what the gameplay for Sonic Frontiers will look like — two glimpses, in fact! Thanks to IGN's month-long coverage deal with SEGA, we now have a better idea of how exploration and combat will work in the game, with...
Feature How 'Wayward Strand' Fights Misconceptions To Give Elderly Characters Agency And Dignity
"They have rich interior worlds"
Wayward Strand is a game set in a hospital — specifically, an aged care ward, where many of the patients are struggling with age-related health issues, like dementia. Ahead of the game's July 21st release, we spoke to the game's narrative co-director, Georgia Symons, about what it's like to write about a sensitive...
Feature How The Quintessential Essence Of Pokémon Games Inspires Gen After Gen
Insight from Pokémon World Champions and Temtem’s Director
In 1998 my Canadian elementary school banned everything to do with Pokémon. The games, the trading cards, and discussions about the anime – all of it was off-limits as Pocket Monster fever swept through North America like a swarm of Rattata, distracting us from our in-class reading of...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 4th)
What're ya playin'!?
It's June, and this month is PACKED with new game releases and lots of summer gaming events! No, not-E3, although that's what we're calling it — "not-E3". This week, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet got a November release date! And it will officially be the first open-world mainline game. We also got a look at
Feature Our Predictions For The-E3-That-Isn't E3 - Bayonetta, GoldenEye, And... Viva Piñata?!
GE3ff KE3ghley's Video Game Bonanza
It's almost E3! Wait, sorry (presses fingers to headset) really? Hm. Okay. It's not E3! But that doesn't mean we won't still get bombarded with video game announcements for the entire week all the same. Hooray! Our team got together to make our own predictions, from potential Zelda news to our wildest, most...
Talking Point Video Game Music Is More Popular Than Ever, So Why Is Nintendo So Behind?
Make it music to our ears!
There’s been a lot of Nintendo-related music news over the past year that has had me more than a little disappointed. I like to boot up a video game soundtrack while I’m working; I’m a big fan of video game music concerts and I have a small collection of albums and vinyl that I want to keep growing. And with access...
Feature Zero Escape Creator Discusses The Cast Of 'AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative'
A deeper look at new and returning characters with Kotaro Uchkoshi
We're just a little under a month away from the unexpected murder mystery, AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative. This sequel to Spike Chunsoft's 2019 original, AI: The Somnium Files, sees the return of everyone's favourite pipe-wielding badass Mizuki, now an ABIS special agent...
Soapbox Chasing The 'Real' Monster Hunter Rise Ending Has Restored My Faith In Online Gaming
Everyone is so lovely and stylish
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've got on their minds. Today, Tom goes online and finds lots of nice, friendly, helpful people... There's a majority of very normal, charming individuals that love video games. Of course, you...
Hands On Drainus Is A 2D Shmup Masterpiece, So Keep Praying For That Switch Port
(Port-begging works, right?)
Japanese developer Team Ladybug is really good at homages. Its output so far has been dominated by titles with a Metroidvania theme, with the excellent Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth drawing massive inspiration from the game that helped coin the genre's name – Castlevania: Symphony of the Ni
Feature 10 Top Metroid Cosplays - The Best Samus Cosplays We've Ever Seen
Plus a handful of villains
The Metroid series has delighted fans for over 30 years and currently spans 15 different games, with Metroid Prime 4 in development. Samus is the main protagonist of the games, and shocked fans when the fact she was female was first revealed back in Metroid on the NES, but her classic suit and the 'Zero' suit aren’t the...
Soapbox Help, I Can't Stop Buying Japanese Games I Don't Understand And Will Never Play
Nintendo sixty-moarrr
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've got on their minds. Today, Gavin ponders why he's spending time and money importing Nintendo curios from the East that he's not even sure he'll play... It all started with Morita Shogi 64. If you're...