December2021
Feature How Takara Brought SNK's Arcade Fighters To The Humble Game Boy
Battery-powered brawlers
Between 1994 and 1998 Takara Co., Ltd. brought some of SNK's most successful Neo Geo arcade hits — Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and Fatal Fury 2 — to the humble Game Boy via a series of 'demakes'; streamlined and simplified releases of the infinitely more powerful arcade originals rebuilt from the ground up...
February2019
News The Zoids Are Back In Town On Switch This Month, In Japan At Least
There's always the import option
If you remember the Zoids craze from the ‘80s, then you might be interested to learn that a new game is releasing in Japan at the end of the month: Zoids Wild: King of Blast. If your memories don't stretch back that far, Zoids are large mecha-animals which began life as a toy line and then grew into a franchise...
February2018
News Takara Tomy Is Building A New Zoids Game For Switch
Let's hope it doesn't lose all those little rubber bits
Hey, remember Zoids? Well they're back, in Nintendo Switch form! That's right, the popular '80s toy line is getting a brand-new interactive outing on Nintendo's console, thanks to Takara Tomy. It will be based on the new anime series Zoids Wild, which airs this year in Japan. While Zoids hit...
January2016
News Splatoon Watches Hit Stores In Japan
*Sigh*, in Japan...
With Splatoon's ink-redible (apologies) popularity, it's only inevitable that Nintendo has been capitalising on the merchandise machine with its hottest new franchise. While the West has been treated to a few things here and there, Japan has certainly had its share of Splatoon spoils since the game's launch in May, such as...
October2010
Nintendo Download 12th and 13th October 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare and DSiWare together again
It looks like the heady days of surprise Japanese Virtual Console releases are well and truly behind us as there's only one VC release scheduled for the rest of the month and it's not happening next week. Instead there's a pair of WiiWare titles, which were starting to get as rare as hen's teeth. DSiWare is sparse...
January2010
Nintendo Download 26 & 27 January 2010 (Japan)
More Phoenix Wright, more N64, more DSiWare anime photo frames!
It's still a small update, but after a mini-break WiiWare has returned along with the first new N64 game in nearly a year on the Virtual Console. Not to be left out there are five new releases for Japanese DSiWare -- though only two are games; one being a new puzzler from Nintendo...
December2009
Nintendo Download 5th & 6th January 2010 (Japan)
A quiet start to the new year.
The Japanese Wii and DSi shops have seen some massive updates this past year much to the envy of 'net-reading Wii owners in other territories, but Nintendo are taking it easy at home with a mere handful of releases to start 2010. WiiWare: Boku wa Plarail Untenshi (1000pts - Takara Tomy) -- This is an example of a...
September2009
News Nintendo Download 29-30 September 2009 (Japan)
Things are back on track with a 2-4-7 week!
After another download holiday Japanese downloaders (and their importing compatriots) are having a week that's more VC than WiiWare and more DSiWare than anything else. WiiWareHamekomi Lucky Puzzle Wii Returns (500pts - Tryfirst) -- This is the sequel to the game known as NEVES Plus elsewhere: a puzzle...
July2009
Nintendo Download 28-29 July 2009 (Japan)
2 arcade classics, 3 new WiiWare titles and a bumper crop of DSiWare next week.
Looks like we're back to a more familiar release schedule in Japan, but the number of new DSiWare releases is more than normal with 9 new titles (though it has to be admitted two of these are guidebooks). The Virtual Console releases include Tecmo's second offering for...
June2009
Nintendo Download 30th June - 1st July 2009 addendum (JAPAN)
Two more WiiWare titles coming Tuesday aimed at younger gamers and an extra DSiWare title on the 1st.
Looks like the mock tears for Japan were premature last week as some additional releases mean Japan has a 3-2-2 week it turns out. Thanks to Nintendo Life reader Ratengo for noting that the Japanese Shop news item for this week's releases had two...
