Latest Features
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Super Mario Galaxy 2
Another dimension, new galaxy
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, PJ takes us right back to the start of the decade... Being asked to choose your favourite game of the decade should, in theory, be a...
Feature Nintendo Switch Ports We'd Love To See In 2020
We ain't beggin'
Last year we let our imaginations run wild and picked 30 third-party ports we'd like to see come to Switch. Despite our wishes, Cuphead still surprised us when it arrived on Switch with Microsoft's blessing (along with Ori And The Blind Forest later in the year), but there are still a large number of games - some of them far more...
Feature HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Developer On Raiding The Toy Box To Fill Switch's FPS Gap
"We had to share this with other Switch gamers who are just as FPS-starved as we are"
The Switch has been blessed with a multitude of great games of all sizes and sizes since launch, although there are a couple of genres which were lacking until relatively recently. Racers, for example - especially more realistic ones - were thin on the ground for a...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Splatoon
Woomy
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Alex recalls the growing pains of his first major step into his career, and how one squid and/or kid-based shooter made all the difference... “These controls...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 11th)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
Yet another week has flown by, this time full of Pokémon Direct revelations and Animal Crossing pre-order goodies, but it's finally time to sit down and chat about our weekend plans. Members of Team NL have done just that below and we'd love for you to join in via our poll and comment sections, too. Enjoy!...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Pokémon GO
Ryan's personal pick for GOTD
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Ryan looks back at how a smartphone title took the world by storm and proved him completely wrong - in a good way... Hold it, let me...
Ninterview Super Mario Faker - The Man Behind An Unobtainable Dream Factory
If you can think of it, Tim can fake it
It's been a little while since our last Ninterview, but we're bringing back our series of articles which see us interviewing people with unique and shining a spotlight on their interesting roles within the gaming community. This time, we meet Tim aka Super Mario Faker from Instagram, a graphic design artist...
Talking Point Why Pokémon Sword & Shield's Expansion Pass Changes The Rules For The Series
No more $40 makeover sequels as Game Freak voyages into new territory
Since Pikachu took the starring role in Pokémon Yellow, the expectation has been that every Pokémon duology will be followed by a third, slightly revamped edition. This strategy has actually changed somewhat over the past decade, with Black and White each getting a direct...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Wahoo! You're number one!
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Darren looks back at the golden age of the Wii U era in 2014 and beyond... Ah, the good old Wii U. While it was a bit of a commercial flop,...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Dark Souls
Praise the sun!
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Damien tries his hardest to remember where the nearest bonfire is before he runs into another angry skeleton... Games are supposed to be fun,...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Fire Emblem: Awakening
Gavin's personal pick for GOTD
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Gavin looks back nearly seven years and tries to remember the name of his kid... Picking one's favourite game from a decade’s worth...
Hands On Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Could Give The Game The Second Chance It Deserves
The Kingdom Hearts of Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei
What started out originally as a strategy RPG crossover of the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei series ended up taking quite a dramatic twist early in development and ended up forging a more unique identity in the form of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a Persona-style turn-based RPG that has it
Poll What Other Wii U Games Do You Want To See On Switch?
The pickings are getting slimmer, but some still remain...
Given the amazing success of the Switch – and the relative failure of its forerunner, the Wii U – it was almost inevitable that Nintendo would use its current console as a means of giving some of its better Wii U games a second chance at fame. So far, we've seen the likes of Mario Kart...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects - December 2019
December's best Switch eShop games!
We may well have safely arrived into 2020, but there's one last thing we need to do to wrap up 2019. That's right, it's the 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...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 4th)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
Not only has another week passed us by, but an entire year has been and gone quicker than a Toad with a Golden Mushroom. We've been celebrating in style with a look back at Nintendo's 2019 - and Nintendo's whole decade - as well as all sorts of Game of the Year
Feature New Year Resolutions For Nintendo In 2020
5 things for Nintendo to strive for in the coming year
As we head back to work after the holidays, many of us will have heads filled with freshly made New Year resolutions for 2020. The new year is the perfect time for a fresh start; a chance to forge new paths or redouble our efforts towards goals that eluded us last year. Whether it involves...
Hardware Review C-Force Is Back With Another Portable Switch Screen, And We've Had A Go
A step-up from the C-Air?
Last year, we took a look at C-Force's C-Air portable monitor, a 4K panel which was light and thin enough to carry around in your rucksack. While there were a lot of things we really liked about the screen, it suffered from some unfortunate issues, such as being tethered to a dongle the entire time and image ghosting...
Feature Nintendo's 2019 - A Cracking Year In Review
2019's biggest games and events, plus our most popular reviews and articles
A simple scroll through the menu on our Switch is enough to show that 2019 has been a great year for Nintendo and its console. The handheld hybrid has gone from strength to strength, gaining a non-hybrid member of the Switch family along the way, as well as more games than...
Talking Point Witcher 3 Gave Switch Fans Fresh Hope For Multiplatform Releases In 2019
What can we hope for next?
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. The power gap between the Switch and its home console rivals is notable, yet Nintendo's system has played host to some amazing conversions since 2017, such as Skyrim, DOOM, L.A. Noire, Wolfenstein II,
Feature Our Most Anticipated Nintendo Switch Games Of 2020
2020 vision
2020. Twenty-twenty - the future. There's something about that number which sounds impossibly advanced to anybody born in the 20th century, but we're almost there. By now we were supposed to be wearing silver jumpsuits, piloting flying cars and ingesting nutrient pellets in place of food, but it seems we can't even get hoverboards right...
Talking Point Astral Chain Proved That New IP Can Still Succeed In 2019
One of the year's biggest releases was a brand-new game
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. Just as Hollywood studios will bank on a beloved franchise rather than take a risk on the unknown, video game publishers are becoming increasingly reliant on established series when it comes to...
Feature In Praise Of Save States, Rewinds And Walkthroughs
A personal journey to make peace with gaming's mod cons...
The year was 1991. My dad had gone to now-defunct UK electronics retailer Dixons and purchased a Sega Mega Drive with Castle of Illusion for the princely sum of £144.99; I know this because I still have the receipt stapled in the console's manual. Beyond a dusty Atari 2600 which resided at...
Talking Point Nintendo Switch Online Took A Step Forward In 2019, But It's Not There Yet
NES and SNES games are great, but let's not stop there
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. When the Switch was released in 2017, Nintendo made its online services entirely free – positioning the system as the odd one out when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One, both of which require...
Feature 2010-2019 - Nintendo's Decade In Review
The highs and lows of the past 10 years
So, that's it then – another decade is over. The past ten years are perhaps a little unusual in that they've been a reverse of the ten that preceded them; in the year 2000, Nintendo was struggling to keep pace with Sony in the home console arena and was facing competition for the handheld market thanks to...
Talking Point Cadence Of Hyrule Showed An Exciting New Side To Nintendo In 2019
It was music to our ears
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. Of all of the games released during 2019, the superb Cadence of Hyrule was perhaps the most surprising. While Nintendo has allowed the Zelda franchise to be handled by external parties in the past – such as the deal with...
Feature The Best Nintendo Moments Of 2019
Memories are made of this
2019 may have tested many of us with varying trials and tribulations outside the world of video games, but it's been a pretty wonderful year for gamers all round, and especially Switch owners. Nintendo's hybrid handheld has gone from strength to strength, with a huge amount of excellent games, a nice little internal...
Feature The Best Hidden Gems And Underrated Switch Games Of 2019
Great games that might have passed you by
It's been a busy couple of years since Nintendo Switch first launched back in 2017 and Switch gamers have been spoiled for choice when it comes to great games to play. In stark contrast to the lean years of Nintendo's previous console, it's been hard to keep up with the excellent Switch titles coming from...
Feature Prepare To Meet The Light! Where Is Kid Icarus: Uprising On Switch?
And does Nintendo’s 2019 hint at an answer?
Kid Icarus: Uprising on 3DS was one heck of a game. A bombastic shooter inspired by Greek mythology, the game still has a devoted fanbase. In fact, a good number of Nintendo heads have always been a bit miffed that such an ambitious, explosive game from one of the industry’s all-time greats (Smash...
Feature Why You'll Never Get To Play Your Favourite Retro Game On Switch
Companies really do want your money, but at the right price
A few weeks ago while scrolling through Twitter, a particular video clip caught our eye. It showed Slipstream, a 1995 F1 arcade game from Capcom. Using Sega’s System 32 board, it was produced in very limited quantities for the Latin American market and never saw wide release. As you can...
Feature The Worst Nintendo Switch Games Of 2019
The worst Switch games we've played this year
Christmas is over, Boxing Day's been banished for another year and now you're left combining three-day old scraps of turkey with whatever other leftovers and condiments are lying around the house. Yes, the inter-holiday lull has set in, and while it's not quite up there with the January blues, it's easy...
Feature One Year In, What do the Pros Think of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?
"We need developer support. I can’t stress this enough"
Traditionally, a one year anniversary is celebrated with paper. That definitely won’t be a problem for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s own one year anniversary; with a couple of months to spare, Nintendo’s mascot fighting game is already the best selling fighting video game of all time...
Talking Point Even Dexit Couldn't Derail The Pokémon Hype Train In 2019
But will the negative reaction change the future of the series?
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. 2019 was a big year for Pokémon fans, with the arrival of Gen 8 in the form of Sword & Shield. However, for many players, the game was something of an anticlimax; for the first time in...
Talking Point Switch Lite Expanded The Console's Reach In 2019
The Switch that can't switch
In this series of end-of-year features, we're summing up some of 2019's biggest talking points. 2019's biggest talking point from a pure hardware perspective was the release of the Switch Lite, Nintendo's first major revision of the popular Switch system. While it removes some of the console's core features – such as...
Feature How David Lynch’s Twin Peaks Influenced The Legend Of Zelda Series
Games both wonderful and strange
As many of you will have been reminded by playing the recently released remake on Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a surreal little adventure with an odd cast of characters which give Koholint Island a very specific feel. The first portable entry in the celebrated series, this diminutive adventure...
Feature Nintendo Life's Alternative Game Awards 2019
Most Long-Winded Title, Best Britishism and more!
It's Game of the Year season everyone! Take a cursory glance around the internet and you'll be sure to find huge goaty lists of games ranked according to their relative qualities. It's fun - and hey, what else are you going to do while you're sat at home with the family watching the telly over the...
Feature Nintendo's 130th Birthday Comes During A Golden Age For The Company
A look at Nintendo’s changing fortunes over the last few years
T'was Monday 23rd September in the year 1889 - a fateful day in Kyoto, Japan - when Ian Nintendo woke up and decided to form a video game company... Okay, there may be a couple of minor discrepancies in that opening statement, although the date and the founding of the company we now...
Feature 30 Weird And Wonderful Peripherals From Nintendo's History
Playing with power... and a whole lotta plastic
Nintendo’s history as a manufacturer of playing cards and toys means the company has always been very comfortable with expanding out from with video game console under the TV into the wider world of peripheral accessories and novelties. These extra lumps of plastic and electronics that interface with...
Feature From Astral Chain To Zetman: The Story Of Masakazu Katsura
Get to know the man behind Astral Chain's art
Although he's a famous manga artist in Japan, there's a good chance you've probably never heard of Masakazu Katsura – and if you have, it probably wasn't until very recently. He’s the character designer for Astral Chain, the latest action title from PlatinumGames. In anticipation of Astral Chain’s...
Feature I Think My Game Boy Predicts The Future
“What evil might this forbidden technology unleash?”
The Game Boy turned 30 last month – to the shock of those of us realising we are therefore well over 30. Where did the past go? I think it went into a nook at the end of my bookshelf – at least that’s where I found my old DMG-01, the original Game Boy. Like many reading this, I’m sure,...
Editorial Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays From Everyone At Nintendo Life
So this is Christmas
It's been an amazing year for Nintendo fans, it's fair to say. The dark days of the Wii U are long behind us and the arrival of the Nintendo Switch – now entering its third holiday season – has resulted in a tidal wave of interest in all things Nintendo. Not only has that meant that we've seen a flood of amazing games come...
Feature The Most Important People In Nintendo History
The key figures who got Nintendo to where it is today
In September 2019 (Monday 23rd, to be exact) Nintendo celebrated its 130th anniversary. Founded back in 1889, it famously started out as a manufacturer of playing cards. Eventually, the company went into the toy market with the Ultra Hand, an extendable arm developed by an employee in his spare...
Feature Nintendo Life's Switch Game Of The Year 2019
Team NL's picks for the Nintendo Switch GOTY 2019
As we look forward to what 2020 holds, it's that time of year to take stock and to look back wistfully on 2019. It's been a busy one, that's for sure, and on reflection it's clear that the past twelve months have been particularly fine ones for Nintendo fans. But which were the absolute tip-top...
Feature What Developers Really Think About The Nintendo Switch In 2019
"Switch is the system to be on right now and everyone knows it"
By all accounts, the Nintendo Switch had an amazing 2019. Its sales momentum hasn't shown any signs of slowing and it has been blessed with some truly amazing video games. If you're a Switch owner, then you have plenty of reasons to be cheerful as we head into 2020 – but what about...
Feature GoldenEye Dev David Doak On Shaking (And Stirring) The FPS Genre On Console
"All we could see were the bad things"
You couldn’t escape it. It was here, rife and potent. It ploughed a path through conventional gaming conversations from the casuals to the parents of gamers that had to put up with the noise, the screaming and the not going to bed because if you didn’t kill John with thirty-seven remote mines stuck to the...
Feature Best Nintendo Switch Ports Of 2019
The best ports to arrive on Switch in the past year
We're all keenly aware that the Nintendo Switch isn't as powerful as the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, but that hasn't stopped it playing host to some incredible conversions throughout 2019. Some of these are ports which, when you really think about it, have absolutely no right whatsoever to be on a...
Feature Uncovering The Story Behind Nintendo's Most Bizarre Tie-In
‘90s Mario mania, posthumous endorsements and White Knuckle Scorin'...
Uncanny, no? It’s Saturday morning and we’re relaxing on the sofa with a coffee, idly scrolling through Twitter while MTV Classics plays in the background. The 1992 video for Roy Orbison’s posthumously released track 'I Drove All Night' plays. Now, we’re partial to...
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 7 - 2016 To 2019
We take a look back at Alola
Three years ago, as we approached the reveal of Pokémon’s seventh generation and its 20th anniversary, we looked back on all previous six generations of Pokémon. Now, three years later, as we approach the end of the seventh generation and the inevitable reveal of the next generation, it’s time to look back over the...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Christmas? (Special Edition 2019)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
As regular visitors will know, every weekend, we share our gaming plans for the next couple of days and read through all of your entries in the comments. This time, though, we're switching things up a bit, getting together to chat about our plans over the holidays instead. That's right, Christmas is (nearly)...
Feature Peter Molyneux On Never Underestimating Nintendo, And Why Switch Is His Dream Console
"It really is a console for the 21st century"
Peter Molyneux has been called a lot of things during a career which has now spanned four decades, and as we sit down for our chat it's easy to tell he's keenly aware of his reputation. "This is the first press thing I’ve done in quite a long time, I think," he says, before thanking us for our patience...
Feature How Super Smash Bros. Became The Ultimate Fighter
The path of a champion
What do you do if you’ve been fighting with the same people for 20 years? If you’re Nintendo, you hand out some weapons, get an announcer, and invite your friends over to watch. The Super Smash Bros. series, Nintendo’s perennial Saturday-morning-cartoon take on how fighting video games can work, turns a whopping 20...