It's hard to believe it, but Fire Emblem Heroes is now more than two years old. In that time, the smartphone-based tactical RPG has become Nintendo's most successful mobile venture, dramatically outperforming stablemates such as Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Super Mario Run and Dragalia Lost. The game accounted for a whopping 66 percent of Nintendo's mobile revenue during 2018 (Pokémon GO isn't included in this list, as it's not a wholly-owned Nintendo property), which gives you some indication of how important it is to the company's plans.

Nintendo has continued to develop and evolve Fire Emblem Heroes' core offering over the past 24 months, and to mark its second anniversary, we were lucky enough to chat with the game's directors Shingo Matsushita (Nintendo) and Kouhei Maeda (Intelligent Systems) about its past, present and future.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The latest entry in the popular SteamWorld saga, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is coming to Switch later this year and promises to deliver a fun take on the otherwise well-worn RPG genre.

We were lucky enough to get some quality time with Image & Form's Brjánn Sigurgeirsson and chat about the game, its origins and what we can expect when it launches a little down the line in 2019.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

For those not in the know, Aragami: Shadow Edition is a third-person stealth game that casts you as a restless warrior who is blessed with the ability to control shadows, which must come in very useful at parties and social gatherings. You may have heard of this interesting title thanks to its release on other platforms, but it's now the turn of the Switch to get in on the action.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

It's fair to say that Wargroove has been near the top of many of a Switch owner's 'most wanted' list for quite some time; it was initially revealed way back in February 2017, the same month the console was launched. Right from the off, its eye-catching visual style and turn-based tactical gameplay caught our attention, largely because we're massive fans of Intelligent Systems' Advance Wars and Fire Emblem franchises. However, to say that it's merely a clone of these esteemed series would be doing Wargroove – and the compact but incredibly talented team behind it – a massive disservice; it has plenty of ideas of its own (as you'll know if you've read our review), and when we were offered the chance to visit the company's London HQ to speak with the developer, we understandably jumped at the chance.

It's amazing to note that despite Chucklefish's stunning success as a publisher (it released Stardew Valley and also collaborated with developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone on that game's multiplayer mode), Wargroove is the first console game developed solely by the studio itself (Starbound, the firm's only other home-grown release, remains PC-only). "This is a game we’ve been wanting to play for a long time," smiles Finn Brice, Chucklefish founder and lead designer of Wargroove. "When we found that a modern turn-based strategy game of this style wasn’t really out there, we had to jump in and make one. It’s important to us that we make games we’re truly passionate about."

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in August this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy!

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in July this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy!

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The recent news that one of the UK's most well-known gaming celebrities had returned from the wild to begin a new YouTube channel caused quite a stir recently, but not just for nostalgic reasons.

Dave "The Games Animal" Perry might not be famous outside of the British Isles (and even then, Brits under the age of 35 are unlikely to be familiar with his work), but back in the '90s his face was seen on GamesMaster, the massively popular TV show he helped to create, and he was considered to be one of the best players in the country.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Dark Souls: Remastered may have taken its sweet time in getting to the Switch, but the port was more than worth the wait. Lordran looks just as grim and foreboding on Nintendo's handheld as it does on other platforms, and the fact that you can now play the game on the move is a real bonus.

Porting duties for this version were handled not by FromSoftware itself, but Chinese studio Virtuos, which has also worked on the Switch versions of LA Noire and Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Keen to learn more about the process, we spoke to Dark Souls: Remastered executive producer Lukas Codr and Dark Souls: Remastered producer Tang Mengjia.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Earlier this week, developer Two Tribes (famous for titles such as Toki Tori and RIVE amongst many others) teased an upcoming game. The collective mind of the internet used its almighty brain power to work out that it could be a Switch version of Swap This! - a puzzle game originally designed for iOS that was removed from the store some years ago.

Today, Two Tribes has officially unveiled the project, confirming people's suspicions that Swap This! is indeed coming to Switch, bringing its colour-matching puzzle gameplay along for the ride. The game is said to feature five super-charged power-ups and five distinct play modes to keep you busy, requiring fast reflexes and tactical thinking to be successful. Of course, the developer had previously stated that RIVE would be its last new game as a studio, yet here we are with another release coming to Nintendo's latest console.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Team17 and Fireproof Games have announced that The Room - a BAFTA award-winning puzzler originally released on smartphones in 2012 - is coming to Nintendo Switch.

The game is described as "a physical puzzler wrapped inside a mystery game where you are transported into a unique space". Its blurb tells us that a mysterious invitation leads the player to the attic of an abandoned house. In the room is a cast-iron safe laced with strange carvings and, on top, a note from your distant companion. It promises something ancient and astonishing concealed in the iron chamber, and it's your job to find a way in.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Like a great many retro gamers out there, we've been following developments surrounding the Polymega console closely for quite some time now. Originally announced as RetroBlox, this modular system is built on a single goal: to offer modern-day players access to the original, physical-media libraries of as many vintage machines as possible thanks to interchangeable (and upgradeable) modules which come with their own, authentic controller ports.

The system had its first public showing at E3, and pre-orders recently went live. Well, kinda - the Polymega site immediately turned turtle and many people had to wait a few days before they could pledge their support (thankfully it's all working as planned at the time of writing). Then, there was the furore surrounding the use of arcade Sega Rally footage in the latest trailer, and many weren't pleased with the fact that FPGA support has been shifted out of the main console and into the modules themselves.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

In celebration of the physical Switch release of The Banner Saga Trilogy, which includes all three entries of the series in one edition, we recently spoke to Stoic Studio's Co-Owner and Creative Director Arnie Jorgensen, and Head of Production and Game Operations Andy Johnson, about the design choices during the development of the series. We also found the time to discuss what it's like to publish a retail game on the Nintendo Switch, so make sure to read on to find out more.

Nintendo Life: Could you tell us how Stoic Studio was formed and how exactly The Banner Saga games played a part?

Arnie Jorgensen: Alex Thomas, John Watson and I were all working at Bioware here in Austin when a little-known device called the 'iPad' came out. There was this totally amazing game called SuperBrothers: Sword & Sworcery that I picked up and absolutely loved and moreover, it was done by a small team. Well, I’d been working in large team development for 13 years now and was itching for a change. I’d always loved Alex’s writing so I approached him to see if we could do a children's book for the iPad, he was up for it and thus was Dinoboy born! The book actually got to #11 on the bestseller list, but it didn’t make remotely enough money for us to do it full time.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Side-scrolling shooter hybrid Velocity 2X comes to the Nintendo Switch this week, after receiving critical acclaim when it was initially released back in 2014. Things took an interesting turn last month, however, as developer FuturLab suddenly became very vocal and honest about their publishing struggles in a series of posts on social media.

Keen to know more not only about the game but of the hardship the company had endured, we jumped at the chance to talk to James Marsden, Game Director of the Velocity series and FuturLab's managing director.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

If you’re a millennial – and had an enjoyable childhood whatsoever – you're surely familiar with the Harvest Moon games. Yasuhiro Wada, the original mastermind behind this series, has dabbled in many areas throughout his career – specifically focusing on simulation games. However, his most recent project, Little Dragons Café, is a different beast altogether. Best described as a rhythm-based storybook sim-adventure, Wada-san has once again invented an entirely new genre of video game for fans to enjoy.

He recently answered some of our most burning questions around the title, such as why he chose to create characters that are “a bunch of losers” and “no-good dorks” (his words, not ours). He also divulged how he’s changed as a game designer over the years, where he sees the future of simulation games, and that most personal of secrets: how he would name his very own pet dragon.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Nintendo Switch has already become the place to go for indie games, with the recent prominence of Nindie Showcases maintaining the attention of both players and developers. Furthermore, the announcement that YoYo Games' robust engine GameMaker Studio 2 has been licenced on the console in March was welcomed by all. 

Fast forward to August, and the open beta is in full flow, along with the arrival of hit titles made with the software such as Hyper Light Drifter, Minit and Undertale. This influx of great games will no doubt continue, so we had a chat with James Cox, General Manager at YoYo Games about its inception to the development on the platform going forward.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The popularity of the Monster Hunter series has been spearheaded globally this year by the incredible success of Monster Hunter: World and the release of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on Nintendo Switch. Even with competition from other franchises like Pokémon, Dragon Quest and Capcom's own Biohazard (Resident Evil) or Rockman (Mega Man), Monster Hunter has carved out a huge fan base of its own in its native Japan since its comparatively recent 2004 debut, with a notable highpoint being its migration to the 3DS, starting with Monster Hunter 3G in 2011.

Every Monster Hunter title launch in Japan is an event, and interest has never been higher with the success of World, but what makes the series so popular - and what is on offer for fans besides the games - are two questions we wanted to answer for ourselves. So, with a sense of adventure and an empty stomach, we ventured out into Tokyo's bustling streets to see just how prevalent the series is in its homeland. 

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

With an interesting combination of slapstick humour and dark themes, hilariously bonkers animated adventure Manual Samuel releases on Nintendo Switch today, 16th August. 

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Announced during Nintendo's Nindies Direct in March, side-scrolling action platformer The Messenger has caught our eye by keeping a retro feel but subverting player expectations, using classic graphical styles to compliment a time-travelling narrative. 

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Banner Saga trilogy is almost as epic as the development of the games themselves, from starting out as a Kickstarter campaign six years ago to the series concluding with the release of The Banner Saga 3 at the end of July. With an interesting combination of multiple characters, detailed narratives and tactical role-playing, The Banner Saga 3 looks set to both surprise and satisfy fans and newcomers alike. 

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Plenty of games are getting the re-release treatment on Nintendo Switch, and while some definitely don't deserve a second shot at stardom, one recent addition to the console's library definitely does: the sci-fi adventure that is Another World. It was well ahead of its time when it originally launched in 1991, and it's managed to stand the test of time thanks to various re-releases over the years. So to celebrate its arrival on Switch, we caught up with industry veteran and the game's creator, Éric Chahi. 

Read the full article on nintendolife.com