Nintendo News

Here comes the Sun (doo-doo-doo-doo)

As we glance out of Nintendo Life Towers we see something a little unfamiliar — there's an enormous ball of fire in the sky, and it's bathing us in warmth. We would go and bask in its magnificence, but we've got some video games to play. Of course, as our team is scattered around the world — like...

Pure pixelated madness

When Project X Zone was announced for Japan, we could barely contain our glee. Here was a game with retro-styled visuals, rocking music and popular characters from Capcom, SEGA and Namco Bandai all rolled into one — oh, and Monolith Soft was one of the developers. And then, it underwhelmed in the Japanese charts. It...

"Whaddaya think of this happy face my husband is making?"

Japanese star Mari Yaguchi used to be in the band Morning Musume, and is no stranger to the world of video games — she starred (virtually) in Sega's Yakuza 4. She's also a regular columnist in the popular Japanese video games magazine Famitsu. Her most recent column was based around the...

"3DSreasons" campaign hits YouTube and other social networks

The 3DS is having a bumper 2013, with titles like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate thrilling fans all over the globe. However, killer software isn't the only reason to love Nintendo's popular portable —

Lucky, lucky Europe

European 3DS owners are currently getting their hands on the recently-released Lethal Surprise demo for Project X Zone, which showcases characters from Sakura Wars, Cyberbots, Space Channel 5 and Valkyria Chronicles and offers a glimpse of what the final game will look like when it launches in the region on July 5th (the North...

Remember when console designs actually mattered?

We hate to keep going on about it, but Microsoft revealed the Xbox One to the world this week. We're obviously biased, but we happen to think it looks a little underwhelming in purely physical terms — Nintendo Life Operations Director Darren Calvert said it best when he described the console as...

Hardly the "definitive version"

Sniper Elite V2 has arrived in stores in Europe and North America with next to no fanfare. When little is said about a port landing on Wii U, and its publisher hasn't even arranged a downloadable eShop version, alarm bells should ring. Yet there's no escaping Miiverse, and it's quickly emerged — thanks to early...

One of Amazon UK's biggest movers and shakers

It’s no secret that the Xbox One reveal did not go as smoothly as Microsoft might have hoped. For some, the idea of buying a giant Betamax-styled brick that blocks used games and requires the Kinect camera to function was a big turn-off — even if it does make changing the TV channel a fraction of a...

Classic anime series is getting the video game treatment

We reported back in February that Neko Entertainment revealed during an interview that the studio was developing a new game for the Wii U, but no specific details were given on the subject. The developer has announced that it's bringing The Mysterious Cities of Gold to the Wii U and 3DS this...

You cannot grasp the true form of Amazon’s listing

We already know that the kooky SNES RPG EarthBound is making its long overdue appearance on the Wii U Virtual Console in Europe and North America sometime this year. Then what’s up with this odd listing for the game on Amazon UK? It may just be a placeholder for a download code, but the £44.99...

Expect lots of new information

Earlier today, Nintendo announced that a new Nintendo Direct broadcast will take place on 11th June, before the E3 Expo opens; the broadcast will focus on future Wii U releases. That isn't all that Nintendo has to offer, as it will also be holding a one-and-a-half-hour developer roundtable / Q&A on upcoming 3DS...

Those little scamps

The announcement of Sonic Lost World's Wii U and 3DS exclusivity, as part of an agreement between Nintendo and SEGA, was possibly the biggest news to come out of the most recent Nintendo Direct. Sonic may have struggled to live up to his glorious 16-bit days, but he has had his good moments recently, one of which we'd argue was...

Wii U hype mode... ENGAGE!

After promises and statements about a Wii U-centric Nintendo Direct around the time of E3, the big N has now confirmed that a global broadcast will take place just before the expo opens. Both Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe have stated that the subject matter will be future Wii U releases; this backs up a...

Xbox creator claims only 5% of players make use of the feature

Always online. Games tied to a single console. Indie developers can't self-publish. Just when you thought Microsoft couldn't have made a bigger hash of its Xbox One announcement, along comes the company's head of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick to attack backwards compatibility...

It's Kirby week, with some portable fun and reduced Denpa Men joining in

So it's Nintendo Download time once again, North America, and what this week lacks in volume it makes up for with some quality and a lot of Kirby. Wii and DSi miss out, so you'll have to be rocking Nintendo's current hardware to enjoy some downloadable goodies. All of the...

Because... why not?

Capcom Unity is a fun resource for fans of the company's franchises, and useful for those that get utterly confused by the many intricacies of something like Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. It's also a site where the company's community mods aren't shy of self-parody, which is worthy of some credit. Often happy, it seems, to amuse...

Time to get jealous?

In case you hadn't noticed, Microsoft lifted the lid on the Xbox One this week. The new system is the successor to the popular 360 console and will be getting plenty of support from the company's stable of internal developers — one of which is former Nintendo partner, Rare. The UK-based studio was purchased by Microsoft over...

Bizarre promotional event pulled following suspected terrorist killing

At the start of the month we reported that Capcom UK was planning a grisly and macabre PR stunt to mark the HD release of Resident Evil: Revelations. The plan was to fill a swimming pool with blood-coloured water and dismembered body parts, as well as employ "zombie" lifeguards...

8-bit classic is punching its way to the 3DS eShop in Japan

Nintendo has confirmed that the popular side-scrolling fighter Double Dragon II: The Revenge will be coming to the Japanese 3DS eShop on 29th May, priced at 500 Yen. Once again, the heroes of the hour are Billy & Jimmy Lee, who must avenge the brutal murder of Marian at the hands of...

Ultimatum spurred the developers on

Fire Emblem: Awakening has been a commercial and critical triumph, gaining positive review scores and bringing a whole new generation of fans to the series. However, had sales been lower, it could have been the final entry in the franchise. Producer Hitoshi Yamagami was told that if the game sold less than a...

"There was a lot of unfinished material for Pokémon Conquest"

The Pokémon Company and Tecmo Koei recently collaborated to make a strategy RPG crossover called Pokémon Conquest that took the Nobunaga's Ambition style of gameplay and threw in a flurry of Pokémon to do the battling. Even though the 3DS had been out a while at the time of the...

PETA would choose the "ideal environment theory"

Video games are often silly, fantastical things, which is one of the reasons that we love them. Still, that silliness can sometimes be fun for theoretical nonsense, such as the real estate value of Hyrule Castle. The same group that came up with that theory has now asked that all-important question...

Microsoft, Sony and others start to show their cards

Yesterday, as we're sure most — possibly all — of you are aware, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One, the company's offering for the "next generation" of gaming. And so we finally have a situation where, piece by piece, the rumours, leaked design documents and outright fibs are making way for...

Tomodachi Collection: New Life knocked off top spot

This week's Japanese chart results are in, and show that the slow software release schedule in the past couple of weeks is causing a hit on hardware sales across the board. Only the PSP enjoyed a small boost, which can be attributed to the fact that this week's number one is for Sony's ageing...