Nintendo News

Nintendo celebrating an all 3DS top five

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D has only just made it over to Japan and the 3DS title has swung right into number one position in the sales charts after shifting 104,569 units. It takes the place of Tomodachi Collection: New Life, which has been a consistent seller for Nintendo in the Land of the Rising...

There's simply not enough time

The Super Smash Bros. series has had a fair few characters join the fight over the three released titles. However, while some characters, such as Mario, Donkey Kong and Pikachu have been in all games, some of the new Melee additions did not make it over to Brawl, with the likes of Mewtwo, Roy and Dr Mario all falling...

A recurring theme for the company

While Nintendo is, to most of us, simply a games company that gives us entertainment products, it's also a global corporation that's often put under pressure to guarantee standards in the treatment of manufacturing workers and to ensure appropriate sources for raw materials. Last year it fell foul not only of a...

A perfect storm of platform and software?

Something peculiar is happening on social networks at the moment; lots of people are talking about a Nintendo game. We see bursts of activity on sites such as Twitter when a Nintendo Direct is taking place, of course, but there's a sustained focus on this particular title among various gamers. Whether it...

Holiday season will put Nintendo in a "very good position"

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has been speaking to Kotaku about the current state of the Wii U, and has delivered some typically bullish predictions — as well as admitting that the console has struggled to satisfy core gamers. Talking about the "next-gen verses current...

What could it be?

Were you one of the people left slightly underwhelmed by the announcement of Super Mario 3D World at this year's E3? Then you should be interested to know that Nintendo's Tokyo EAD team might be hard at work on a second title. Super Mario 3D World Producer Yoshiaki Koizumi was asked by Spain's El País what his next project would...

And double coins, too

New Super Luigi U arrives in this week's Nintendo Download update, arriving on 20th June — at midnight in some regions — as DLC for New Super Mario Bros. U. An update for the retail title will arrive in time for Luigi's arrival, which will allow you to access the new content — a copy of Mario Bros. U is mandatory for this...

So, when's it happening?

Back in March this year, word got out that Grasshopper Manufacture was hard at work on a brand new game. Rumour spread across the internet that the studio was set to revisit the No More Heroes franchise after its CEO Goichi Suda - know to many by the name of Suda51 - teased the developer's new game. Suda put a stop to the...

Putting an end to Redd's 'crazy' ways

We've all been there before. You spot the infamous green tent in the town square with the words 'Black Market' hastily crossed out above the entrance. Inside, you also spot - no, it can't be - the Mona Lisa?! For a mere few thousand Bells you obviously buy it, and wait anxiously for the package to arrive in the...

An interesting choice

We doubt that Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two will go down in the gaming history books as a release to remember, as it fell short of its predecessor's success (despite being released on more platforms), received various poor reviews and saw to the closure of the Warren Spector-led development studio Junction Point. It was a...

They're doing this on porpoise

Sega has confirmed that the next entry in its 3D range will be Ecco The Dolphin. A port of the Mega Drive / Genesis original, the game will feature a 3D effect, save states, international editions of the game and some custom screen filters. Ecco will splash into the Japanese 3DS eShop on June 26th, with a retail price...

Nintendo CEO owns up

With sales flagging and third-party support very thin on the ground, the Wii U is certainly having a hard time of late. It's only been on the market for half a year, yet many within the industry are ready to write it off completely. Coming off the back of the incredible success of the original Wii, the new console's failure to...

Art attack

Marketed as "16 Days of music, art, comedy, spoken word, film, workshops, debates and performances", the Switch Fringe Festival is a UK-based event which aims to promote local artists and performers. In a pretty awesome move, artist The Decibel Kid has created a map covering all of the venues which is based on The Legend of Zelda...

Honesty is the best policy

It's fair to say it's not been an easy ride for Rayman Legends and the Wii U. Starting off with the delightful news last year that the game would be a Wii U exclusive, to the unfortunate announcement in February this year that it was no longer confined to Nintendo's latest console, but being released on the PlayStat

DirectX 11 seems to be the key

The teaser for Kingdom Hearts III shown at this year’s E3 sent a tingle down many fans’ keyblades. The title was confirmed for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, but unfortunately appears to be another bust for the Wii U. Director Tetsuya Nomura was asked at Square Enix’s recent Future of Final Fantasy E3...

Consumers don't understand the asymmetric gameplay of Wii U

When Nintendo released the Wii U last year it focused the majority of its messaging on what the all-new GamePad could bring to gaming. Of course, there's off-TV play but one of the biggest selling points is asymmetric gameplay, which allows one player to use the GamePad while others use Wii...

It should arrive before March 2014

During E3 Nintendo revealed it would be releasing its first free-to-play game by March 2014 but didn't give any details as to what game it would be other than it wouldn't be a Mario and Pokémon title due to both of these franchises' having such a positive relationship with consumers. Nintendo has since...

The Blue Bomber confirmed for the 3DS adaptation

During last week's E3 Nintendo Direct, Mega Man was revealed as a new challenger in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. title and we even got to see him in action. However, while we saw what the likes of Mario, Link and Pikachu battle in out the 3DS version of the game, we only got to see what the Blue...

Christian Svensson makes no promises but says it's possible

Last month Capcom announced Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies was coming to the West later on this year. However, it will only be released as a digital download on the 3DS eShop, while Japan will receive a fully fledged boxed copy. This was naturally good news for fans of the...

Still one of a kind in the franchise

The Legend of Zelda is a franchise that has typically come in two stylistic flavours — top-down 2D/2.5D or fully 3D worlds. The latter began with Ocarina of Time while the former was common on older systems and notably on handhelds, with the DS entries shifting the top-down camera angle slightly. With that in...

The great social app is now tiered

StreetPass may not have been a technical marvel when included in the 3DS hardware, but it was a typically charming Nintendo move. The idea of simple data exchanges had already been utilised in the original Nintendogs on DS, but the built-in StreetPass Plaza app is accessible to everyone with a 3DS, while the...

"They've probably got a plan, and you should never underestimate Nintendo"

Former Bullfrog, Lionhead and Microsoft Games Studios boss Peter Molyneux has once again voiced his opinion on Nintendo's place in the industry, directly contesting Shigeru Miyamoto's assertion that working with both hardware and software offers advantages to the Japanese...

Squashing the bug

Today, Nintendo issued an update to the StreetPass Plaza application which allows you to download and purchase four additional games. Unfortunately, many 3DS owners have been reporting system crashes when attempting to purchase one of these mini-games. From what we can gather, this only seems to impact European users — we tested...

Bringing E3 to the masses

This year’s E3 has come and gone and the Nintendo Life team made it through the coverage mostly unscathed. We brought you all of the latest and greatest news from Nintendo, and our man on the street Anthony John Agnello even brought you our first impressions from games that he got a taste of on the show floor. What...