Retro

Suitably epic

The Legend of Zelda is a franchise with immediately recognisable themes and soundtracks, which naturally prompts fans to produce their own arrangements and covers of the iconic music. In an interesting approach, one musician has opted to, in his words, produce a 'post-rock inspired rearrangement of Koji Kondo's music', giving it a new...

Or Rockman, to be precise

About a month ago we told you about the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, which is packed with facts about the series and its characters. The blue bomber is famous in a lot of places, with a new book just released in Thailand to give fans in the region their own comprehensive tome on all things Mega...

SEGA fans rejoice

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise may have lurched from genius to disaster, and back again, but like any series with two decades worth of games it has built up an impressive library of music. Many gamers fondly remember hearing the Green Hill Zone music for the first time, and the blue blur has given us plenty of classic chip tunes...

The only female finalist

Nintendo may be in a battle for supremacy in the gaming industry at the moment, but there was a time when, in North America at least, the company was truly on top. With NES and Game Boy flying off the shelves in 1990, this period of pop-culture dominance was perhaps best represented by the Nintendo World Championships 1990...

The Mega Man Revolution is here

The Mega Man franchise has one of the most loyal fan-bases in the gaming industry, as shown by the Mega Man Legends 3 campaign reaching 100,000 followers recently. Will Capcom cave in and produce Mega Man Legends 3: Prototype Version for the 3DS eShop? It seems unlikely, but we can hope. With the 25th anniversary for...

Soft sell

An NES controller coffee table is all well and good, but we'd rather have something softer in our living room, wouldn't you? Online store Felt Sew Good just opened up and sells a range of cute cushions based on retro gaming consoles and controllers. NES, SNES, Game Boy and more are all represented in adorable form; there's even a Speak...

Music 24/7

One thing that you may think about occasionally is that, unlike characters in video games, movies and TV shows, we don't have a music soundtrack following us through our daily lives. Animal Crossing on GameCube, meanwhile, followed the same clock as us and its characters had an active soundtrack for every hour of the day. Courtesy of a...

Bro-off

Mario marathons are nothing new, but this weekend sees an oft-overlooked entry in the franchise take centre stage — and all for charity. The Bro-Off puts Mario Bros. front and centre, with four world class players battling simultaneously to set a new world record. It all kicks off tomorrow at 12 midday Eastern (9am Pacific, 5pm UK, 6pm...

Before they were famous, of course

Many of you probably know the drill with 'before they were famous' shows, where long-lost advertisements or TV appearances featuring well-known stars are put on display for our amusement. Video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson has compiled a collection of video game commercials featuring some celebrities in...

Time for some celebratory cake

We celebrated the ten year anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube last year, including a rather fond retrospective on the console with the coolest handle. That was the North American anniversary, but today the console turns ten in Europe. Although the GameCube wasn't Nintendo's greatest success in the home console...

A bit better than Mode 7

The Star Fox franchise hasn't had a great deal of love recently, the only recent glimmer of hope being Star Fox 64 3D, a remake of the highly regarded Nintendo 64 title. Will Wii U revive the franchise, or was the N64 remake a warmup for a new title on 3DS? Who knows, but we'll always have the power of nostalgia. YouTube...

An epic montage

For gamers of a certain age that grew up in the era of 2D pixel-based platformers and action titles, there are a lot of happy memories of one simple activity: running to the right. Yes, a lot of games did involve some backtracking in the other direction, but the main task was to keep moving right until you'd reached the goal or...

Music to your ears?

SNES classic Pilotwings had a pretty good soundtrack, and it sounds better now it's been remixed. Pilotwings: Take Flight is a seven track project from OCRemix-ers halc and group Insert Rupee, available for free download now. We'd recommend it on the strength of its track names alone — You Don't Talk About Flight Club and The...

You decide

Many of us know The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Hyrule like the back of our hands, but did you ever stop to consider what the Great Deku Tree might look like Link to the Past-style? Zelda Fan Game Central member MaJoRa has spent the past two years recreating Hyrule with sprites and tiles from Link's SNES adventure, wrapping up the...

Like a boss

There are a number of tests that determine the degree of your NES mastery, such as beating Contra without using the Konami code, or speed running Super Mario Bros. without using any power-ups. Alternatively, you can beat Super Mario Bros. by using your coffee table as a controller: that'll take some real skill. Thanks to furniture maker...

So many Robot Masters

The Mega Man series is loved by many not just because of its tight controls and blasting action, but possibly because it has such a diverse range of quirky characters and enemies. For those who follow every intricacy of the Mega Man universe, it's a big ask to keep up. Thankfully for those fans, and others who just love playing...

Politics and gaming team up at last

It may seem unlikely, but French Presidential candidate François Bayrou, who is undoubtedly an underdog in the upcoming election, has embedded the famous Konami code into his campaign website. As reported by The Telegraph, all you need to do is visit www.bayrou.fr and enter the famous code with your keyboard —...

Perhaps Shigeru Miyamoto would like one

Last week Shigeru Miyamoto shared his admiration for Angry Birds, even mischievously suggesting that it would be better on DS. Even better though, what if it had been on the NES? The idea is crazy and technically impossible, but perhaps that adds to the charm of the pictured NES cart produced by 72pins.com, a...

Free two-disc album already available

Last year was packed full of Nintendo anniversaries, including 25 years since the original Metroid arrived on the NES. While Mario and The Legend of Zelda enjoyed celebrations and special anniversary game releases, Metroid was restricted to the appearance of Metroid Fusion on 3DS, and that was only for...

Everyone likes a marimba

You're probably thinking you've heard every imaginable variation on every single Super Mario theme, jingle and ditty, but this Super Mario World overworld theme contains a marimba and a melodica. It's also pretty good. The list of instruments in Adam Mormolstein's video might even eclipse the number of levels in Mario's...

It actually works, you know

One thing that technically-minded gamers occasionally indulge in is creating unique versions of their favourite consoles. Thankfully for us these creations are often shared with the world on YouTube, and courtesy of CKmods we can take a look at a portable GameCube. The original GameCube console, famously, had its own...

A leader of gamers

The video game industry has a very short history, significantly more so than other mediums such as film, yet many gaming figures that were popular in past times are now unknown. Take Donn Nauert, for example. In the first video of a planned series, video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson is compiling footage of prominent...

Making beautiful music

You can play a lot on an NES, but you know what you can't play on it? Stairway to Heaven. You could end all that injustice with an NES guitar. Get Lo-Fi (via This Is Why I'm Broke) makes and sells various configurations of the guitars — single coil pick-ups and rosewood or maple neck will set you back $155, while humbuckers...

Start Friday right

The talented folks at long-running webcomic Brawl in the Family have used their 400th strip to celebrate Nintendo's life and times in a catchy tune. From hanafuda cards to Wii U, it crams some good detail into its 3:42 running time and will no doubt get stuck in your head for a good few hours. It also scores bonus points for...