July2023
News Marvelous Reveals Opening Anime Movie For Upcoming Action RPG Silent Hope
Digital pre-orders are now available
With all of the Mario-themed news that came out of June's Nintendo Direct, it is easy to forget about some of the smaller titles that will be making their way to Switch this year. One such game is Silent Hope, a dungeon-crawling action RPG from Marvelous Europe which has today caught our eye again after the...
January2023
News Players Are Already Getting Their Hands On Story Of Seasons: A Wonderful Life In Japan
The game is out now on the Japanese eShop
Today, 25th January 2023, Marvelous announced the release date of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life in the west — just as the game came out on the Japanese eShop at 12am on the 26th January in Japan. That means that some players have decided to whip up a Japanese eShop account (
September2022
Poll Box Art Brawl: Duel - Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
"Your dad and I shared the same dream, you know..."
Hello everyone; welcome to another edition of 'Box Art Brawl'! It's kind of mad that another week has passed already, right..? Where is the time going?! Never mind. Last week, we took a look at one of the all-time greats on SNES: Mega Man X. It was a ruddy close one, too! Europe and North America...
December2017
Video We Get Confused By Shinobi Refle -Senran Kagura-
"Is this a boss fight?"
It's fair to say that the Senran Kagura series is something of an acquired taste thanks to its large-chested protagonists and their various states of undress, but plenty of people are "into it", as is evidenced by the rather swift manner in which the franchise has made its way to Switch. Shinobi Refle -Senran...
November2017
News "No Plans" To Localise Shinobi Refle: Senran Kagura, Says Marvelous Games
"We have no news to share regarding a western release"
Shinobi Refle: Senran Kagura launches in Japan today but developer Marvelous Games says that it has no current plans to release the title outside of Japan. Part of the titillating Senran Kagura series, Shinobi Refle makes use of the Switch's HD Rumble for various - ahem - tactile...
May2017
News Sinking Keiji Inafune’s Kaio: King of Pirates Cost Marvelous $3.8 Million Dollars
Glug glug glug
Those of you with good memories will no doubt recall Kaio: King of Pirates. The brainchild of former Capcom staffer Keiji Inafune, this 3DS action title was announced in 2011 and was supposed to the hit the console in the following year. Jointly developed by Comcept and Intercept, Inafune's new studios, Kaio was picked up for...
April2016
News You'll Be Able To Dress Up As Mario And Peach In The Next Story Of Seasons Game
Crossing over
Famitsu has just revealed that Nintendo costumes will be included in the forthcoming Story of Seasons: Good Friends of Three Villages. The sequel - which hits Japan on June 23rd - is confirmed to contain Mario and Peach, and the preview in Famitsu suggests that Luigi and Toad outfits may also be available. The previous Story of...
April2015
News 3DS RPG Lord Of Magna: Maiden Heaven Is Heading West This June
From the producer of Rune Factory and Story of Seasons
Publisher Marvelous has confirmed that Lord Of Magna: Maiden Heaven is heading west this June. The strategy RPG - produced by Yoshifumi Hashimoto, the man behind Harvest Moon, Rune Factory and Story of Seasons - will be getting a physical and digital release in North America, where it launches...
September2014
News Harvest Moon and PoPoLoCrois Fantasy Farming RPG Heading to 3DS in Japan
Dances with turnips
The name Harvest Moon (now Story of Seasons in western territories because of licencing issues) will be familiar to most Nintendo gamers as it's a longstanding series with many titles and spin-offs. The more obscure PoPoLoCrois – originally a fantasy manga series that was later adapted as two anime series and five strategy RPGs...
August2012
News This is Why New Little King's Story Isn't on Wii
Royal pardon
Little King's Story remains a firm Wii favourite here at Nintendo Life. After all, how could you not love a game about a tiny king that deals with unemployment by day and bashes in gigantic mushrooms by night? It made us royal blue, then, that a sequel never came to Nintendo's system; in fact, follow up New Little King's Story chose to...
July2011
News Get Up Close and Personal with Your Lover in Rune Factory 4
See it all in 3D
Marvelous's popular marriage of farming and action RPG battling Rune Factory is coming to 3DS in the well-rounded form of Rune Factory 4. Whereas previous instalments have jumped you from the "we're in love" stage straight to "marriage, now", Rune Factory 4 wants to slow things down. It's been hurt, you know?...
December2010
News Night of the Sacrifice Will Get Hearts Pumping and Feet Walking
A horror game with a twist
Earlier this month it was announced that Marvelous would be bringing a horror game to the Wii that utilises the Wii Balance Board. With the peripheral predominantly used for health and fitness games, the idea of using the board for something as unrelated as the horror genre was both interesting and puzzling. Well, Famitsu...
News Wii Balance Board Gets its First Horror Title Next Year
From Marvelous Entertainment, surprisingly
Fitness, physiotherapy, monkeys: that's largely the array of gaming styles you can play with the Wii Balance Board, but Marvelous Entertainment is about to introduce the horror genre to the board's repertoire with next year's Ikenie no Yoru, or Night of the Sacrifice. Players will be using the Wii Remote...
October2010
News Time to Nurture a Few Animal Resort Game Details
If by chance we raise a camel with no humps, we're calling it Humphrey
Whilst it's easy to get carried away with games we'd like to see on the upcoming 3DS system, let's not forget about the games that are actually confirmed from developers. The 3D handheld has far from failed to get us hyped about action-orientated games, but what of the more...
News Harvest Moon and Little King's Story Creators Join Grasshopper
Suda51, Kimura and Wada create new dream team
Goichi Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture should need no introduction to fans of Japanese gaming: its No More Heroes series has attracted plenty of praise from gamers across the world. Former Marvelous Entertainment men Yasuhiro Wada and Yoshiro Kimura, while not necessarily such familiar names, have both...
News Marvelous "Working to Meet Needs" of Little King's Story Fans
But what does that mean?
Little King's Story may have been our joint Game of the Year 2009 but that didn't translate into massive sales at the tills, and things got worse for fans when co-developer Cing went into administration in early 2010. It looked as though Corobo's story stopped there, but an interview with Tomio Kanazawa, Marvelous...
News Marvelous Willing to Bring Muramasa: The Demon Blade to the 3DS
Company also confirms 3DS Harvest Moon title and zoo life game Animal Resort
There are certain games that we'd love to see on the 3DS purely because playing them on a handheld system is enticing enough. Then there are games that will surely benefit from the extra punch that the 3D effect will provide – and Muramasa: The Demon Blade could be of...
September2010
News Nintendo of Japan Showcases Wii Line-up in New Video
Includes footage of (presumably) a new Rhythm Heaven game
As part of their recent conference, Nintendo of Japan's just released a video showcasing some hotly anticipated games in the upcoming Japanese Wii line-up. Everything from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to Super Mario Collection Special Pack and Mar
June2010
News Marvelous Stops Working on New IP to Stay in Business
Japanese company wants to avoid aping Cing's fate
In a gaming climate where there arguably aren't enough new intellectual properties (IPs) hitting consoles, it's a shame to hear that a talented developer has to scale back its new ideas simply to stay alive, but that's the situation at Japanese company Marvelous. The company's last notable IP was the...
April2010
Nintendo Download 27 & 28 April (Japan)
World Game Parade comes to a close, bountiful VC and lots of DSiWare, next week in Japan
WiiWare: Katamuki Spirits (500pts - Marvelous) – Whilst it may have a fancier sounding name, this is of course DK Games' Equilibrio re-badged as the final entry in Marvelous Entertainment's World Game Parade. We certainly thought it was a fun marble rolling...
Nintendo Download 13th & 14th April 2010 (Japan)
Scribbling and monster fish for Wii, with a bit of zookeeping for the DSi next week in Japan
Japan's release schedule this year has calmed quite a bit from the dozen-plus release weeks seen last year, but even so next week is more akin to some of the droughts seen in Europe and North America in the past with only three downloads across both Wii and...
Carrying the standard for a forgotten genre
Back in the early 80s the "maze" game was a popular genre both in arcades and on home consoles, featuring a fixed screen and expected mechanics of navigating a character around hazards whilst collecting objects. Once platforming and adventure games took off, the maze game all but vanished; even...
March2010
Nintendo Download 30th & 31st March 2010 (Japan)
Bit Boy!! grows up and more MSX on Wii; Sims, role-playing and puzzling for DSi
Marvelous Entertainment continues its World Game Parade this week on WiiWare, and Virtual Console buffs who're into the import scene may want to check out the MSX titles on offer that have come out of nowhere (we do like VC surprises, yes we do). DSiWare is a bit light...
Nintendo Download 16 & 17 March 2010 (Japan)
Racing punch-up, Zombie Wonderland and karate
The Virtual Console Arcade gets a surprise release (always nice) and there's a couple of interesting WiiWare games to tide over Wii owners; add in some intesting titles on the DSi and you get a pretty good week for Nintendo downloading overall. WiiWare: Pokosuka Racing (500pts - Recom) – At first we...
February2010
Games that tug the heartstrings
Valentine's Day is sometimes derided as a "Hallmark Holiday" - a day created for shops to sell stuff like greeting cards and chocolates due to feelings of obligation. Despite this, it must be said that having a day in which you're expected to express love and devotion to those closest to you can't be all...
