Latest Features
Feature Pokémon Legends: Arceus Has Made Pokémon Downright Disturbing Again
Putting the monsters back in your pocket
There's not a person alive who doesn't know what Pokémon is these days, not a single soul who couldn't correctly point out Pikachu in a line up of every pocket monster there has ever been. The series' success has seen it spread its easily merchandised charms to all corners of commercialism, from Funko Pops...
Memory Pak Star Fox 64, My Incredible Introduction To The World Of Nintendo
Not Mario or Zelda, and my affection for the series will never end
Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it's the turn of Tom Whitehead to talk about the 64-bit game that sparked his love affair with Nintendo... I'm old enough to say my first gaming system was a ZX Spectrum, which is a big yikes. We had...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects - January 2022
January's best Switch eShop games!
2022 has been off to a fun start in gaming, with the Switch eShop serving up some darn good titles throughout January. If the rest of the year keeps up the standard it's going to be a hoot. These awards aim to celebrate the best of Nintendo's digital store, giving some love and attention to the games that could so...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 5th)
Time, sweet time
Another fun week in the Nintendo Life is finished, and it had some interesting bits and pieces of news. The highlight was probably Nintendo's Q3 financial results, which generally showed that Nintendo is making a lot of money; even shareholders are relatively happy, crikey. For you NFT watchers, multiple projects were
Soapbox Dear Konami, Please Do Something Decent With Castlevania
Fangs very much
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Damien laments the fact that we've not had a 'proper' new Castlevania game since 2014... Those of you who have visited this site regularly over the past decade or so might be aware...
Talking Point Nintendo's Mastery Of Physical Game Sales Hides Limited Digital Growth
Download revenues lag behind rivals
Nintendo's Q3 financial results have been shared and an overall take could probably be a simple "yep, business as usual". Arguably it's a little better than that, though, with an exceptional Q3 (driven by strong sales in the Holidays) allowing Nintendo to increase its projected profits (albeit while shaving a...
Hands On 'Mina The Hollower' Mixes Zelda, Castlevania, And Plenty Of 'Git Gud'
Death is coming
When Yacht Club Games formed way back in the distant sepia-toned past (2011), there was a good amount of buzz around a studio predominantly staffed by WayForward veterans. The prospect of outstanding pixel-art gaming was then fulfilled when Shovel Knight was unveiled in 2013, with the game going on to have a hugely successful...
Soapbox I'm Looking Forward To Going To The Past With Pokémon And Ace Attorney
Super-nostalgia
My knowledge of "the past" is relatively limited to specific periods of history. I have a degree in Ancient Greek and Latin, so I could tell you all about Suetonius' account of Claudius' imperial reign in excruciating depth, although I doubt you'd want me to. I know a lot about the Tudors, because I went to school in England, and...
Talking Point Who Is Nintendo Going To Buy? Don't Be Shocked If The Answer Is "Nobody"
That's not how Nintendo usually does business
The big news of 2022 is industry consolidation – with Microsoft buying Activision and Sony snapping up Bungie, it's all about big fish gobbling up the smaller fish. As we discussed yesterday, this isn't necessarily something
Soapbox Don't Cheer For Corporate Takeovers - It's Not A Game
Monopoly isn't just for fun when it's real money
Back in September 2020 when Microsoft announced its acquisition of Bethesda for around $7.5 billion, it was a big move — one that some fans would have been excited by, and others less so. It was a huge deal at the time, with that purchase giving Microsoft Gaming / Xbox a number of new studios and...
Talking Point A Poképro And A Pokénoob Discuss Pokémon Legends: Arceus
It's a Tom and Kate debate!
As we all know by now, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has taken the well-trodden Pokéformula of the last 20 years and turned it on its head. For fans who've been playing the games for years, it's an exciting reinvention of the series — but what about people who are completely new to Pokémon? And what about people who really...
Talking Point Triangle Strategy Is A Bad Name, Which Hopefully Won't Matter
Looking forward to the next Mario title, Platform Jumper
Nintendo is starting off the year rather strongly on Switch, with exciting games to keep us busy towards Summer. Despite fierce opposition the Nintendo-distributed game at the top of this scribe's list is Triangle Strategy, which is coming to us thanks to Square Enix and continuing the visual...
Feature Game Boy's Perfect Pixel Art And Our Obsession With Reclaiming It
Grey and green never looked better
The Game Boy is an iconic piece of gaming hardware, but the quest to elevate and celebrate its games has continued over the course of more than 30 years. Backwards compatibility with the later Game Boy line enabled us all to replay the OG library on updated, improved screens and the quest to present 8-bit retro...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 29th)
Hm, let's take a guess...
It's been another interesting week in this Nintendo Life, culminating in a rather big release. Yes, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out and is causing plenty of excitement; we enjoyed it a lot in our review. Though there were a good number of game announcements - particularly for the eShop - and it was also a week full of fun...
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus Raises The Question - How Much Do Janky Graphics Matter?
THE TREE TEXTURES! THEY'RE BURNING MY EYYYEEEEESSSSSS
I have a secret to admit. I am... a little bit bored of Pokémon. If I'm completely honest with myself, I have been for a while. I've played almost every mainline game, but I started losing momentum around the time of Sun and Moon. It just seemed so overwrought and complicated, with the...
Feature Zero Escape Creator Talks 'AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative'
Kotaro Uchikoshi discusses the upcoming sequel
Detective adventure AI: The Somnium Files released on Switch back in September 2019, one of a wave of excellent adventure games and visual novels to come to the system over the last few years. Written and directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi, creator of the excellent Zero Escape series, the game put you to work...
Talking Point Do You Consider Pokémon Legends: Arceus To Be A Mainline Title?
It doesn't even have two parallel versions!
Let's get this out of the way, first: Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, canonically, a mainline Pokémon game. Serebii master Joe Merrick confirmed as much late last year: As he puts it in another tweet, "it is not a spin-off... It's no more a spin-off than Super Mario Galaxy is to Super Mario World." He's...
Feature 8 Things We'd Love To See In Zelda: Breath Of The Wild 2
Not just more, more, more
Warning! Some spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are included in this article. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gave the Switch a perfect start in March 2017, and depending on your perspective also gave the Wii U an extraordinary send-off. It was a breakthrough for Nintendo and the Zelda team in...
Feature Nintendo Life's Biggest Gaming Regrets
Forgive us, Reggie, for we have sinned
Here's some news: We are not infallible human beings here at Nintendo Life. Hard to believe, but true. We don't all sit on a throne of priceless Spice Orange GameCubes and rare SNES games, although a fair few of us have been known to collect a few
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 22nd)
The week before you-know-what
Another week has passed, which brought some interesting news in the world of Nintendo and the wider games industry. A lot of attention fell on the planned Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, of course, and its potential impact on the industry. Back in the Nintendo Life, it was confirmed that Switch was the...
Feature Japan's 'G-Mode Archives' - The Retrogame Series You've Never Heard Of
A great way to play some more old games on Switch
If you're a retro game enthusiast, you're likely aware of Hamster's excellent Arcade Archives and ACA NEO GEO lines which both boast sizeable catalogues on Switch eShop. There is, however, another predominantly Japanese set of retro releases that might have passed you by completely: the G-Mode...
Feature Someone Did An AGDQ Speedrun Of Legendarily Awful CD-i Game, Zelda's Adventure. Why?!
"Radical dude, totally!"
Speedrunner Douggernaught almost exclusively plays bad games. With world records in Ripened: Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love (the Japan-only sequel to Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland) and legendarily awful CD-i game, Zelda's Adventure, Doug's self-described hobby is "Bad Games Fast". Awesome Games Done Quick is an...
Talking Point Don't Worry, Microsoft Probably Isn't Going To Buy Nintendo - Here's Why
It's not just about money
With this week's unprecedented news that Microsoft is kickstarting the process to acquire Activision Blizzard for a little under $70 Billion, there's been a lot of talk about what the company could do next. The likelihood is not very much for the next 12-18 months; like with the Bethesda deal the process will have...
Back Page After Spending $70B On Activision Blizzard... What If Microsoft Buys Nintendo Next?
We don't talk about Bobby
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 pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes —...
Talking Point How Does Microsoft's Purchase Of Activision Blizzard Impact Nintendo?
The latest extraordinary power move by MS
Microsoft caused a stir last year when it confirmed that its intended purchase of Zenimax had gone through, known better as the Bethesda deal. For over $7 billion Microsoft picked up Bethesda and a range of talented studios, with lots of discussion at the time over the impact of franchises like Fallout,...
Feature Our Verdict On The LEGO Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Set
Nothing but blue skies
Ever since Sonic's last brush with the world's most famous Danish plastic (as a Level Pack set for Lego Dimensions) fans have been clamouring for a 'proper' Sonic Lego set. The release of the Super Mario line of knobbly bricks gave Nintendo aficionados plenty to spend their money on — with the excellent Lego Super Mario 64...
Feature Our Totally Infallible Predictions For Hisui Forms In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
60% of the time, we’re right every time
Few Nintendo franchises ignite as much speculation as a new Pokémon game. Leading up to release, dozens of new ‘mons are trickled out, making headlines and setting Pokémon communities ablaze. Pokémon Legends: Arceus, while not the beginning of a new generation, sparked a similar fervor when they showed...
Feature These Incredible Game Boy Mods Are All By The Same Guy
He is the 'Game Boy' Boy
Some people are blessed with all the talent, and one of those people is Andy Sexton, who's not only content with being the Creative Director at Hi-Rez Studios (Smite, Paladins) — he's also a very good Game Boy modder in his free time. We can't be too mad, though, because he also takes wonderful photos of those mods and...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 15th)
What are your gaming plans?
Another week down in this new and mysterious year of 2022. This week we got a new trailer and a March release date for the lovely-looking Kirby and the Forgotten Land, news hit of Among Us getting a manga, the fifth anniversary of the very
Talking Point What Could NFTs Mean For Gaming, And Why Are They So Divisive?
We try to make sense of blockchain technology in games
If there's a topic that's led to consistent debate and occasional toxicity in online gaming discourse over the past few months, it's NFTs. Non-fungible tokens aren't actually particularly new to early adopters of blockchain technologies, but 2021 was the year when they broke into mainstream...
Random Remember Those AI-Generated Pokémon? Now You Can Catch One Of Your Own
Ultra Beasts ain't got nothin' on these
A few weeks back, as 2021 was coughing and spluttering to its final days, we wrote about a Buzzfeed data scientist named Max Woolf, who had created a Pokémon-inventing AI algorithm. The results ranged from "awww, look at that... pile of limbs and eyes" to "oh dear lord, does anyone have a flamethrower?" But...
Poll Kirby And The Forgotten Land Looks Mighty Impressive - How Hyped Are You?
A whole new world
There's little doubt that when Nintendo announced Kirby and the Forgotten Land last year, the reveal trailer caught the eye and imagination. It needed to, as well, with the franchise very much in danger of becoming overly predictable and safe. There had been some experimentation in recent-ish times, such as Kirby and the Rainbow...
Feature 14 Nintendo Switch Ports We'd Still Love To See
So many have arrived, but we can still dream
As soon as the Switch was revealed, attention swiftly turned to "ooh, do you think this and that game will be on it, I want to play that one while riding in a hot air balloon / sitting in a park / on the loo". Since that day dreams have been fulfilled as some iconic games have been available in portable...
Feature Aya Neo Next Review: Could This $1,300 Switch 'Rival' Hold The Answer To Joy-Con Drift?
Aya Neo Next uses 'Hall Effect' sensors for its analogue inputs
Remember the Aya Neo 2021 Pro, the super-powered and super-expensive portable PC we covered a short while ago? Well, the company behind it is releasing a new handheld this year which boasts a feature that should be very interesting to long-suffering Switch owners. The Aya Neo Next is a...
Talking Point As Lifetime Switch Sales Jostle With The Mighty Wii, Can It Possibly Catch DS?
Well, it depends...
The benefit of hindsight makes it easy to declare that the Switch was a masterstroke in design that could not fail. That'd be revisionism, of course, as Nintendo released the system against a rather challenging backdrop in early 2017. The Wii U had been a failure, and that's not hyperbole — it managed lifetime sales of just...
Hands On 'Infernax' Blends The Best Of Zelda II And Castlevania II While Skipping The Flaws
Gifting gore and irreverence this Valentine's Day
The eShop is not short of retro-styled titles that show due reverence to iconic games of the 8- and 16-bit eras. From feisty ninjas in the likes of The Messenger and Cyber Shadow, to high profile efforts like Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and its sequel, there are plenty of titles that are both...
Talking Point Could 'Mario Kart 9' Be The Smash Bros. Ultimate Of Racers?
Rarely does a project have so much time to simmer
Optimism is a wonderful state of mind, especially if it's rewarded. Around all of the recent renewed talk about Mario Kart 9 being in 'active development' we've definitely succumbed to giddy positivity about its prospects, and with some very good reasons. Nintendo rarely has so much time to work on a...
Poll How Can Summer Game Fest And E3 2022 Improve On Previous Years?
More streams, fewer streams? More Sonic Symphony?
The last two years have been rather strange in various ways, with game expos being a particular casualty in the game industry. The norm previously was for a number of expos throughout the year packed with big crowds of gamers, media and stressed game developers; the loss of these events has had a...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects - December 2021
December's best Switch eShop games!
Rounding off 2021 in style, December was yet another cracking month for downloadable delights on the Switch eShop. These awards aim to celebrate the best of Nintendo's digital store, giving some love and attention to the games that could so easily be missed in the Switch's ever-growing library. So, let's get...
Soapbox After 25 Years, Pokémon Legends: Arceus Will Be My First Pokémon Game
Can it be the Dark Souls of Pokémon (nah, probably not)?
Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it's the turn of Tom Whitehead to make a confession. We all have our hidden shames and gaming gaps, and it's time to share one of mine. Despite writing words about Nintendo for nearly 8 years I've always...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 8th)
New year, new(ish) games
The first week of 2022 has passed, and it was relatively quiet as everyone settled back into their routines. That said there were still some interesting bits and bobs, such as the revelation that producing the grass was a bit of a pain for the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity team. Elsewhere we had Metacritic listing...
Hands On Knobs, Bums, And 4D Armrests - Getting Comfy In Secretlab's New Pokémon Chair
Well, it's more like "bums on"
If a person's life story can be told through the state of their office chairs, then mine would be near-unpublishable. I have left a trail of destruction in the wake of my sedentary lifestyle: hard-wearing workhorses passed down from my parents, a fancy Herman Miller at my former job, and the peeling faux-leather...
Poll It's The Year Of Splatoon 3 - Are You Excited?
It's keen to make a splash
Cast your mind back to the original concept trailer for Nintendo Switch (or watch it above, up to you). Nintendo had shown photogenic people playing Switch in the park, on a plane, at rooftop parties, and also in esports. Though Nintendo has generally gone for a relatively low-effort approach to pushing its role in...
Talking Point Nintendo's Lining Up A Huge Year Of Gaming In 2022
Setting its stall early
Even in more 'normal' times Nintendo would often head into a new year with a lot of its big hits still under wraps. A 3-6 month turnaround from announcement to release isn't uncommon from the company even for its most important games, and it still follows this template for some titles - Metroid Dread being a good example in...
Soapbox Sonic Frontiers' Open World Has The Potential To Deliver On An Old Promise
Boom or bust
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Stuart takes a look at the upcoming open-world Sonic game and ponders the promise it has, and pitfalls it has to negotiate... The Game Awards were a double-header for us Sonic fans. A...
Feature 10 Overlooked GameCube Gems You Must Play
Small(ish) library, BIG surprises!
The North American 20th anniversary of Nintendo's cube-y console is upon us and we’ve come to realise that two entire decades is long enough for people to either forget the GameCube’s charming boxy shape or even grow to adulthood without ever handling Nintendo’s handled hardware. "0 years is also plenty of...
Feature Masayuki Uemura, The Nintendo Engineer Who Helped Define The Modern Games Console
A look back over the career of the NES and SNES' lead architect
The sad news broke today that Masayuki Uemura, the lead architect on the NES and Super NES consoles, died on 6th December at the age of 78. Uemura was an instrumental figure in the formation of Nintendo as the video game company we know and love today — his hardware design credits...
Soapbox 8 Times I Ugly Cried At Kingdom Hearts
Gawrsh!
SPOILER WARNING! In the following article Stuart discusses some rather whopping spoilers as he takes us on an emotional and tearful Kingdom Hearts journey. If you haven't played the games and you're sensitive to spoilers, we recommend coming back in a year or so once you've played the lot. Otherwise, be warned that certain unfortunate events...
Feature 14 Wii Games That Deserve Switch Ports
Swiitch ports
It's now 15 years since Wii launched and the world was introduced to the inclusive delights of Wii Sports, waggle gaming, and Wii elbow. That little three-DVD-case-sized box of tricks delivered some real gems over its long life — many of which were tailor-made for the system's innovative remote-style motion controller and nunchuk and...
Feature Nintendo Hotliner Life 1990–93: Manning The Phones During The Console Wars
The curious tale of a Nintendo UK Hotliner
“Video Game Enthusiasts Wanted!” teased the advert in the Portsmouth Evening News. Other than a phone number, this mysterious call to arms offered no further information. But as a gaming obsessed 18-year-old looking for a job after finishing a BTEC in Computer Studies, I was mesmerised by the...