Latest Features
Feature Turning 'Peaceful' Into 'Frantic' With Animal Crossing's Speedrunning Scene
Legging it through New Leaf
There’s an entire generation of players who hold dear fond memories of dipping their stubby toes in the coarse sand of Animal Crossing: New Leaf’s beaches. There was a calm warmth that came with the villagers that called your slowly built-up town home. The game was a beacon of creativity where you could let the...
Feature The Origins Of BAFTA-Nominated 'Before I Forget' And Its Approach To Dementia
"One of our goals has always been to tell stories that aren’t often told within video games"
The Nintendo Switch, through its popularity and also its extremely varied and diverse gaming audience, has attracted some fascinating video games to the eShop. The system is a home for experimental and challenging games, and Before I Forget - a title that...
Feature Why Do Games Get Removed From Switch eShop? It's Surprisingly Easy
Ratings are both simple and iffy
This week another eShop game seemed to fall victim to a surprisingly common issue: age ratings. The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark is temporarily removed from the North American eShop, with the developer stating that they hope to get the issue resolved in 'about a week'. A member of the development team...
Feature Developers Respond To The Recent Twitter Furore Over The Definition Of 'Game Dev'
A little more context than 280 characters can cope with
Last week, a Twitter debate broke out over the exact definition of a 'game developer' and to whom that term can be ascribed. Should the title be extented to anyone contributing to the development of the game or be reserved solely for those with direct creative input? Are QA staff 'developers'...
Jörg Tittel on ambitious ideas and striving to do cool things on Switch
Recently, publisher Wired Productions unveiled its own ‘Direct’ in which it revealed a sizeable number of games, five of which are coming to Nintendo Switch. One that caught the eye, in part because its teaser was also visually arresting and rather vague, was The Last...
Feature The Exquisite Liminality Of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The disorientation of a space-between-spaces
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, we ran a series of features looking at a specific aspect (a theme, character, mechanic, location, memory or something else entirely) from each of the mainline Zelda games. Here, Kate compares Skyward Sword to a corridor, or something... Skyward...
Talking Point Nintendo And The Industry Needs To Get Serious About Game Preservation
Lots of catching up to do
For those following the general chat around video games, one topic that has generated debate recently has been Sony’s announcement of the upcoming closures of digital stores on PlayStation 3, PS Vita and PSP. As news, it wasn’t necessarily surprising, for reasons we’ll expand upon, but it did bring the whole subject...
Memory Pak Looking Into The Light In Super Mario 64
You know, that level where Mario blinds himself?
My dad used to tell me that, when he was young, the world was in black and white. For a long time, I didn't think to question it - after all, every shred of historical evidence we had from the 1950s and before was in black and white, too. Unfortunately, I grew up, and realised that my dad - as all...
Feature We Worked Out The Best Zelda Game Once And For All, Using Maths
...and it took a really long time
We could argue all day about which Zelda is technically the best. In fact, we often do, especially with the 35th Anniversary of the series this year. But no matter how many times we yell at each other that Majora's Mask is better than Ocarina of Time, or that Oracle of Ages and Seasons a
Feature A Tribute To Bobby "The Nintendo Guru" Pauls
"A truly special person who can never be replaced"
The Nintendo community is a tight community. It is a community of joy that is shared online and at events. One of the community's most loving, energetic, and hard-working members was Bobby Pauls – also known as The Nintendo Guru. After a long-fought battle in the hospital with COVID-19, Bobby...
Feature We've Ranked All 151 Gen 1 Pokémon And It Nearly Killed Us
Brother, can you spare two hours?
The term 'genwunners' gets thrown around a lot in the wider Pokémon community, but when forced to actually rank all the original 151 we think many fans would think twice about at least a few of the original 'mon. That's not why we decided to subject ourselves to ranking all 151 of them, but it was an adequate...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 25th Holiday Special)
What's cookin'?
So, this is Christmas. And what have you done? Well, not a great deal to be honest — as is typical at this time of year, it's quiet out there in the world of video games as everyone settles down for a well-earned holiday break. We're into the very final stretch of 2021, but a few things have been occurring nonetheless. Not...
Feature Takaya Imamura - The Man Who Named Majora's Mask And Created Nintendo's Coolest Characters
And Slippy Toad
On 20th January 2021, Nintendo artist, designer, producer and director Takaya Imamura posted his first ever tweet announcing that he was leaving the company after 32 years. Imamura isn't retiring — he's only 54 — but his departure signals the end of an impressive Nintendo career spanning the 16-bit era to Switch. While mascots...
Editorial Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays From Nintendo Life
The mood is right, the spirit's up
Ho ho ho! Yes, the most wonderful holiday of the year has officially arrived and it's time to start cracking out the sweetmeats, beverages, and — if you're reading this — video games. It's Christmas! Following on from an all-round miserable 2020, this year has been... well, not a whole lot better really...
Soapbox Retro Nintendo Games Cost Too Much, But Nostalgia Is Expensive
Second-hand Nintendo games are notoriously pricey, but why?
The year is 1999. I'm in a GAME, in Loughborough town centre. The grey carpet is sticky, the awful fluorescent lights are so dim I can barely see, and everything sort of smells like stale sweat. I'm standing in the N64 section with my brother, both of us clutching a small fortune in pocket...
Feature Clammy Consoles, Humid Horrors, And Retro Regrets
Don't try this at home
A few years ago a clever, witty, and shockingly beautiful Nintendo Life writer had to spend a few boring days trawling numerous websites searching for a brand new and eye-wateringly expensive wafer-thin HDTV with which to replace their ageing and sadly then only semi-functional slightly less wafer-thin HDTV. This new triumph...
Feature Game Of The Year 2021 - Nintendo Life Staff Awards
Our team's picks for the year's finest games
As 2021 comes to an end there's plenty of gaming to reflect upon. It was a relatively busy year from Nintendo as it kept up momentum for the Switch, which added the OLED model and continues to be a top-seller. The year started with Nintendo's first-party slate looking relatively quiet, but that was...
The legendary developer talks wrestling, Switch and dealing with critics
While Wrestling Empire is no critical darling, sole developer Mat Dickie is used to that reception, having been making his own professional wrestling games since 2000. Despite unusual visuals and unpredictable gameplay, these titles have achieved a cult following – it's not a...
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...
Where's our diploma in slime-slicing?
Ancient — the family company of VGM composer Yuzo Koshiro and developers of everything from Sonic The Hedgehog’s debut Game Gear outing to Gotta Protectors for the 3DS — released Royal Anapoko Academy in Japan on 16th December 2021. Like much of its output in recent years, this light-hearted RPG is an...
Feature Best Nintendo Switch Ports Of 2021
Our picks of the 10 best ports on Switch this year
Another year down, and another set of games making the unlikely jump to Nintendo's diminutive hybrid console. We say 'unlikely', but at this stage we're well aware that practically anything is possible given the appropriate time and resources — although those two commodities are typically in short...
Feature Best Nintendo Switch Ports Of 2021
Our picks of the 10 best ports on Switch this year
Another year down, and another set of games making the unlikely jump to Nintendo's diminutive hybrid console. We say 'unlikely', but at this stage we're well aware that practically anything is possible given the appropriate time and resources — although those two commodities are typically in short...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Camera Games - Photo Modes And Photography In Switch Games
Say cheese
Photo modes are so hot these days! But, well, not so much on Switch. Search "Best Photo Modes" and you'll get a bevy of PlayStation and Xbox games, probably — like The Last of Us, God of War, or Death Stranding. And sure, those games are lovely and pretty and photorealistic... But you don't need a fancy 4K game console to take good...
Feature Nintendo Switch Year In Review - Our Stats And Most Played Games
That's a lot of hours
Just recently Nintendo gave us an insight into our gaming years on Switch; it provided a reminder that Mario is always watching when we play, and that we've devoted many days of the year to this lovely hobby of ours. Depending on region you get a neat page of information that covers your most played games, handheld / docked...
Feature 9 Switch Games Guaranteed To Get You On The Naughty List
Definitely not sugar, spice, and all things nice
It turns out there can be such a thing as too much Christmas cheer, especially during the week before the big day when we’re sick of the sight of the cute snowmen shops have been hawking since October and rag-tag bands of singers are prowling the streets, vocally murdering every carol you thought...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 18th)
Because it's cold outside...
Another week finished as we get very close to the holidays. This week's highlight was undoubtedly the latest Indie World showcase, the Analogue Pocket got some retro gamers very excited, Super Mario Bros. 3 still has some secrets,
Soapbox Pokémon Journeys Is Like The Original Series, But 151 Times Better
Ash made a friend his own age!
Life's been difficult lately. As much as I want to catch up on all the heart-racing tension of all the TV shows that everyone else is watching — Squid Game, Succession, the new season of The Witcher — I just don't have the energy for it. If I only have an hour or two after work, I don't want to spend it on edge,...
Random These Bot-Generated Pokémon Might Be Better Than The Real Thing
This is what happens when the Pokémon nozzle gets clogged
You know we love bot-generated content. We've used various bots to create front-page stories, and to write a better Ace Attorney script than Shu Takumi, but we haven't dabbled too much in the wild and wonderful world of Pokémon. But Max Woolf has. Woolf is a data scientist at Buzzfeed, and...
Reminder What's The Best Switch Game Of 2021? It's Time To Rate Your Favourites
Switch GOTY 2021 incoming soon!
Update: Thanks to everyone who has participated so far! We'll be publishing the full top 50 soon, but there's still time to rate your favourite games of 2021. And yes, Chicory fans, we have a review in the works, but you can still rate the game now by heading to its game page (click the title above or use the search...
Soapbox Nintendo's Game Awards No-Show Proves It Simply Doesn't Need Anyone Else
More Direct-to-you than ever before
Last week was The Game Awards 2021, an event organised and hosted by Geoff Keighley that's supposedly designed to bring together the entire industry for a general celebration of video games — and some awards, too (after all, it's there in the name). Opinions will vary, of course, but perhaps for Nintendo fans...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 11th)
Ever feel like you're in a loop?
Another week down as we roll towards the holidays. This week we've seen a bunch of games, a few performances, and even an award or two at The Game Awards. Elsewhere, Paper Mario came to the NSO Expansion Pack, some wag hacked Chris Pratt's voice into
Talking Point What Did You Think Of The Game Awards 2021?
Hours of games
The Game Awards — Geoff Keighley's pet project that's a bit like the Oscars and a lot like a three-hour advert with the actual awards hastily shoved in the cracks — took place last night, and although a lot of things happened during those three hours (plus the 30-minute pre-show), not much of it was destined for the Nintendo...
Feature Our Verdict On Minecraft's Caves & Cliffs Update, Parts One And Two
Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low
After diving deep into the new Minecraft Caves and Cliffs Part II update (all the way down to Y-64), our resident Minecraft expert Kate Gray is ready to declare her verdict on the whole thing. Do new caves and cliffs make that much of a difference to a game that's all about caves and cliffs? Read on to...
Feature How One Small Company Is Making The Switch Joy-Con You Always Dreamed Of
"There’s kind of something for everyone"
If there's one aspect of Switch which has allowed players to truly make the console their own, it's the ability to chop-and-change the Joy-Con which ship with the system. Many different colour combinations are available thanks to the various packs Nintendo sells, and the company has even gotten into the...
Talking Point Are Nintendo's Exclusives Enough To Win A Next-Gen Handheld War?
The 'next Switch' will need to match the current system's all-round strengths
When it comes to the world of entertainment technology, everyone likes to get ahead of themselves. Everything is 'the next big thing', until about a year later, that is, when it's evident that the tech isn't ready yet. Augmented reality and virtual reality are good...
Feature The Best (And Worst) Of Nintendo At The Game Awards - Zelda, Smash, And More Zelda
Two Nintendo franchises are top of the Keighley tree
Nintendo often marches to the beat of its own DK bongos, hoarding its own first-party announcements for sporadic Nintendo Direct presentations – bar one exception, that is: Geoff Keighley’s yearly awards bash, The Game Awards. Over the years we’ve seen some surprising announcements and...
Talking Point Should The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Library Expand Faster?
Paper Mario is the first addition after nearly two months
It's fair to say that the announcement and launch of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack could have gone better. The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription service wasn't exactly blessed with a spotless reputation prior to the reveal of the premium tier, either. Though some of the YouTube...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects - November 2021
November's best Switch eShop games!
Yet another month of very decent Switch eShop releases has flown on by, so it's time once again to bring out the trusty Nintendo Life eShop Selects! 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...
Back Page We Fed The Ace Attorney Scripts To A Bot, And It Wrote Its Own Court Case
"Your Honor! Please tell me why you want justice!"
A couple of weeks ago, we enlisted the help of a bot (or two) to help us imagine the Nintendo news headlines of tomorrow. After all, AI is probably going to be the new frontier in journalism some day, and we might as well get on board early. However, the results were... mixed at best, with the bot...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 4th)
Will you be putting your brain to work?
It's been another interesting week in the Nintendo Life as we all head towards the Holiday season. We learned that you can pump iron in Animal Crossing, there was a welcome new look at Triangle Strategy, someone
Talking Point What Can The $1200 Aya Neo Tell Us About The 'Switch Pro'?
We go hands-on with the Aya Neo 2021 Pro
Next year, the Switch will be five years old – a fact which makes the continued demand for the console all the more remarkable. Despite being powered by technology that, even back in 2017, could hardly be described as cutting-edge, the hybrid system has shifted over 90 million units worldwide and shows no...
Poll What's The Worst Legend Of Zelda Game?
Whisper it
The Legend of Zelda has celebrated its 35th Anniversary this year, with Nintendo releasing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD along with the rather handsome Game & Watch. Interestingly, those releases alone have included two titles that can certainly be described as 'divisive' — we're thinking Skyward Sword's arm-waving controls...
Talking Point Great Game, Poor Performance - When Does A Bad Frame Rate Not Really Matter?
Shh, don't tell Digital Foundry
It seems that no game release is safe nowadays without frame rate graphs and resolutions being counted. That is fair enough, as games should ship in a competent and playable condition, but it's easy to forget that we're often spoiled in this modern gaming era. We gasp if gameplay regularly dips below 30fps, and with...
Talking Point Mario Kart 7 And Its Infamous Course Skip Are Now 10 Years Old
One of the earliest Nintendo game updates we can remember
We're in a gaming era of plentiful patches, where it's common for games to get frequent updates starting on day one. There are some rare releases even today that receive either no updates or very few — unless there are frequent DLC additions — and one of Nintendo's selling points is its...
Talking Point How Do You Feel About Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl's Affection Rates?
STOP LOVING ME SO MUCH
How can your pets loving you ever be a bad thing? Well, in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it can very easily ruin your strategies. In the Pokémon games, there is a statistic that's often called "friendship" or "affection", which can affect a few different mechanics in the game. It tells the player how close...
Feature Psychologists Talk Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 And Keeping Fun Ahead Of FOMO
Keep the "happy" in Happy Home Paradise
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was supposed to be just a game. Through a series of weird coincidences, it instead became a cultural phenomenon, and a record of the first few months of a global pandemic. It’s not surprising that a lot of us have complicated feelings about it. Granted, a lot of those feelings...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 27th)
Playing some freshly acquired bargains?
It's the end of another week, and there've been plenty of quirky developments and storylines in the world of Nintendo. GTA Trilogy stayed in the headlines to an extent and had its first notable update, sequence breakers struck again in Metroid Dread, Mario Golf: Super Rush
Feature 10 Pokémon That Deserve A Hisuian Evolution In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Scyther shouldn’t get all the love
With Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl releasing last week, we’re now all aboard the Pokémon Legends: Arceus hype train, and we don’t expect it to stop chugging along until the game drops early next year. From the Pokémon Presents last August, where we learned of new evolutions for the oft...
A complete round
When Mario Golf: Super Rush launched it was enjoyable but a bit 'b-tier', as we argued in our review. While it's still not matching the quality set by some other first-party titles on Switch, three major updates have greatly enhanced the content on offer. Online play is much improved, and there have been multiple new courses and...
Are we in the best timeline, or the worst?
If you could hop into a time machine and fly back to the early '90s and tell a young gamer that one day, Nintendo would make a piece of Sega hardware, they'd probably spit out their sugary Sunny D and laugh in your face. "Sega and Nintendo are mortal enemies," they would retort; "what planet on you from,...