Latest Previews

February2010

  • First Impressions Monsteca Corral

    Round 'em up, move 'em out

    So far we haven't been told much about Onteca's upcoming WiiWare title Monsteca Corral, so when the developers offered us to see the game in action for ourselves we jumped at the chance. It's tough to describe Monsteca Corral in traditional genre terms, but it's perhaps closest to a real-time strategy game, although it...

  • First Impressions Rune Factory Frontier

    Growing a beaut

    US readers may scoff at the "First Impressions" title of this article as Rune Factory Frontier has been available in the Western hemisphere for nearly a year, but as always European gamers are left waiting for any Harvest Moon-related titles. However, farming fans need not fret much longer, as Rune Factory Frontier is due...

  • First Impressions Earth Saver

    Dig Dug II: a new action film from Michael Bay

    Tom Create are no strangers to the Nintendo download scene having released a WiiWare "card battle" game and three budget DSiWare games last year. Earth Saver was the last DSiWare game from them in 2009: a puzzle game with a play mechanic very much like Namco's Dig Dug II, but a setting like a...

  • First Impressions Chōkon Chicken Do Shindan

    Test your "Chicken Bird Soul"

    The DS has become massively popular in part due to the number of games on it which claim to test players cleverness in some way. These are typically referred to as "brain training" programs and they've clearly been embraced by a large audience of people that enjoy being tested on math skills and such. This...

  • First Impressions Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

    Tri-Crescendo's brooding adventure comes to life

    You may have already heard some impressions about Fragile Dreams in our recent podcast, but there's still much to tell about Tri-Crescendo's upcoming post-apocalyptic adventure. The game begins with the death of your surrogate grandfather, the only human being you've ever had contact with. The world...

  • First Impressions Panel Renketsu 3 Minute Rocket

    Pipe Mania plus Apollo Space Progam plus Sky TV?

    Whilst Nintendo's Intelligent Systems development team might be better known for the Fire Emblem series, on the download front they seem to be cutting loose with a lightgun shooter on WiiWare and now a puzzle game for the DSi. At first glance it looks like the classic puzzler Pipe Mania, but that's...

  • First Impressions Pinball Attack!

    Pinball and shooters: two tastes that go great together

    ArtePiazza is better recognised for its work on RPGs like Enix's Dragon Quest series and more recently Koei's Wii RPG Opoona, so it's interesting that their freshman effort on DSiWare is a marriage of video pinball and shooter called Pinball Attack! There are currently no other pinball games on...

  • First Impressions Space Invaders Extreme Z

    Space Invaders Extreme 2 comes to DSiWare

    Space Invaders is a video game icon: even people who don't play video games are likely to recognise the bitmap images of the Invaders thanks to Taito's persistence in keeping the brand name alive via product licensing, video game sequels and home console ports. The celebration of the 30th anniversary of...

  • Hardware Review Yobo FC-16 Go Portable SNES

    Attack of the clones

    Those of you with especially keen memories will recall that we reviewed the RetroDuo console not so long ago. One of the growing number of unlicensed clones hitting the market at the moment, this neat machine is now joined by something a little more portable - namely the Yobo Gameware FC-16 Go. This is essentially a portable...

  • First Impressions Monster Hunter Tri

    Nintendo let us get to grips with Capcom's monster offering

    Yesterday we were cordially invited to a guest lecture at the Science Museum in London. The subject? Monster Hunter of course; in fact, it was the very first session of 'Monster Hunter University'. In a lecture led by long-time series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, the assembled masses were...

  • Podcast Episode 12 - Fragile Dreams and Reviews Round-Up!

    Plus first impressions and news too

    Yes, it was but one month ago we all gathered around the soft glow of our audio devices to discover who won the Nintendo Life Game of the Year Awards. This month we look forward, with audio recaps of our recent previews of Art of Balance, Rage of the Gladiator and Calling, as well as a podcast exclusive preview as...

January2010

  • First Impressions Moyasu Puzzle Flametail

    One-third of MaBoShi reborn on DSiWare

    If you've played 3-in-1 WiiWare game MaBoShi, then you'll recognise Moyasu Puzzle Flametail as the "Square" game -- you know, the one that wasn't played with a single button press? The gameplay in Flametail is largely the same as MaBoShi's Square, but there have been some graphical enhancements and...

  • First Impressions Legends of Exidia

    We get to grips with Gameloft's miniature epic

    Earlier this week Nintendo Life was cordially invited to Gameloft's London office for a hands-on of their latest adventure for DSiWare, Legends of Exidia, which has now been released in the European shop. Gameloft is developing something of a reputation as the most ambitious developers in the download...

  • First Impressions Rage of the Gladiator

    Unleash Hell!

    Rage of the Gladiator may not be ready to step into the WiiWare ring just yet, but when Ghostfire Games invited us to a little sparring session with their first-person fighter we accepted immediately. We came away battered and bruised, but still very impressed with how Rage is shaping up. Each of the game’s three control methods...

  • First Impressions Calling

    One call you might want to take.

    For those of you who love a good scare or just enjoy a playful romp through the latest survival horror title, Hudson's got just the game for you. In fact, they were even kind enough to send us over a preview build of their upcoming horror release Calling to check out and we have to say, this is easily one of the...

  • First Impressions Super Meat Boy - Part 2

    We take the latest build for a spin.

    As the agonizing wait continues for Team Meat's upcoming WiiWare release Super Meat Boy, we can't help but turn into a bunch of giddy schoolgirls each time we're fortunate enough to get our hands on a new preview build of the game. We had only just begun to wipe the grin off of our faces since the last preview...

  • First Impressions Art of Balance

    We get to grips with this blocky beauty

    Puzzle games are ten-a-penny on WiiWare, varying from the boring to the brilliant. Attempting to nestle nicely into this overcrowded genre comes Art of Balance, a physics-based block-stacker from the developers of DS shooter Nanostray. Having had chance to sit down with Art of Balance for a few hours it’s...

December2009

  • First Impressions Kentōshi Furi Furi Boxing

    No robots, but plenty of rock-em, sock-em action!

    You might remember a plastic toy called "Rock'em Sock'em Robots" ("Raving Bonkers Fighting Robots" in the UK) in which two robots were fixed on either side of a platform and pressing buttons caused them to punch each other senseless until one of their heads popped up, only to be...

  • First Impressions Phalanx

    Another great old-school shooter for WiiWare

    Most of you will probably remember Phalanx as a SNES game, however that was just a port of a game that was developed for the Sharp X68000, a home computer sold exclusively in Japan from 1987-1993. The Sharp X68k (as it was commonly known) used hardware similar to arcade systems of the time; as a result it...

  • First Impressions Dementium II

    Clean pants recommended

    Renegade Kid are responsible for some of the more innovative and undeniably horrific first-person experiences on DS, having already given us Dementium: The Ward as well as the excellent Moon. Dementium II was recently announced for release in 2010, hitting North America on February 16th and reaching Europe a few weeks later...

  • First Impressions 530 Eco-Shooter

    Recycling - with a vengeance!

    Intelligent Systems has a reputation of being one of Nintendo's better first-party development teams, with an impressive resume including the Fire Emblem games, Tetris Attack, the Paper Mario series, the WarioWare games and Super Metroid. Seeing a WiiWare title from them naturally raised our curiosity, and that...

November2009

  • Impressions Max & the Magic Marker

    We take the unique WiiWare title for a spin.

    The kind folks over at Press Play were nice enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzle platformer Max & the Magic Marker for us to try out. Now that we've spent several hours playing through the game's 15 levels, we'll give you an idea of what you can expect from this rather...

  • First Impressions Super Meat Boy

    We take Team Meat's upcoming platformer for a spin.

    The guys over at Team Meat were kind enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming PC/WiiWare title Super Meat Boy yesterday and we've spent the past few hours putting it through its paces and snapping a few screenshots in the process. The guys at Team Meat did want us to make sure and...

October2009

  • First Impressions New Super Mario Bros. Wii

    Plumbing new heights

    Now we've had chance to play the final version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, it's time to tell you the hard truth about Nintendo's latest plumbing escapades. Well, the hard truth is, it's a lot of fun and impossible to play without a smile on your face. Although a lot of emphasis has been put on the series-first multiplayer,...

  • First Impressions Shadow Walker (Japan)

    Unconventional puzzling for the kiddies.

    This game kind of came out of nowhere, but there does seem to be few WiiWare games concerning shadows on the horizon: Nicalis' Night Game and Hudson's Tower of Shadow being the ones that spring immediately to mind. Shadow Walker's story isn't completely clear seeing as it's relayed storybook-style with a lot...

  • First Impressions Bit.Trip VOID

    Could the third time be yet another charm?

    Gaijin Games has really earned a place in many a retro-gaming fan's heart with their old, old-school Bit.Trip series on WiiWare. It's one of the shining examples of how good download games can really be: updated Atari 8-bit graphics with jazzed-up special effects and a soundtrack that's enhanced by the...

  • First Impressions Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth

    Worth getting your teeth into?

    The Castlevania series of action platformers is widely regarded as containing some of the best games on the Famicom, and indeed home consoles full-stop, with top-notch instalments on Super Famicom, PC Engine, Playstation and handheld platforms to name a few. Needless to say the news that the first GameBoy game was...

  • First Impressions Need for Speed Nitro

    Leader of the pack?

    There are very few serious driving games of note on Wii - the machine is undoubtedly missing its Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo or Race Driver: Grid - and EA's latest in the Need for Speed franchise does little to address this problem. Whilst 360 and PS3 owners can play the generally well-received NFS: Shift, Nintendo gamers are...

  • First Impressions Wheelspin

    Another gaming revolution from Archer Maclean?

    Wheelspin is an unashamedly old-school arcade racer, with exaggerated physics, rollercoaster-style tracks and an emphasis on enormous speed. Its influences are clear - F-Zero and San Francisco Rush 2049 are the strongest - but sadly Wheelspin never feels more than the sum of its parts. The single-player...

  • First Impressions Manic Monkey Mayhem

    How do we like these bananas?

    It's a well-known fact that monkeys like to fling things at each other, so it should come as no surprise that UK developers The Code Monkeys have taken this concept and applied it to their first title for the WiiWare and DSiWare services, in the form of does-what-it-says-on-the-tin Manic Monkey Mayhem. MMM is a...

  • First Impressions Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

    Might and magic and myths and... Meteos?!

    The DS has loads of good puzzle games - Picross, Tetris, Meteos - and some fantastic strategy titles too - Fire Emblem and Advance Wars chief among them. But it could certainly do with more great puzzle strategy games; titles that blend the addictive action of matching coloured objects with the cerebral...

  • First Impressions C.O.P. The Recruit

    Take the beat to the streets

    C.O.P. The Recruit was announced back at E3 in June, and quickly marked itself out as one to watch by promising an open world experience unlike anything on DS. Now we've had chance to grab a few minutes with the title, does it live up to the hype or is it lagging behind Chinatown Wars? The first thing you'll notice on...

  • First Impressions Rabbids Go Home

    Put this in your trolley!

    There's only one possible conclusion to be drawn from Rabbids Go Home - it's mental. Anyone involved in its development should probably be sectioned under the Mental Health Act, such is the scale of the crazy acts featured in this first traditional adventure game for the Rabbids. Of course, if you've been following our...

September2009

August2009

July2009

  • First Impressions Magnetis

    We put the upcoming WiiWare puzzler through its paces!

    The guys over at Yullaby were kind enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzler Magnetis for us to try out. I got to spend a few hours with the game today and I have to say, it's really surprised me. Now I expected it to be a good puzzler, but the game has a very unique...

  • First Impressions Japanese Nintendo Channel Update

    Along with the 4.1J Wii system update, Japanese Wii owners have also received an updated Nintendo Channel!

    The Nintendo Channel has long been a mixed bag: it provides Nintendo with a gateway into player's play habits (though you'd have thought this would be possible from the basic system given that the Wii has built-in networking capability) and...

June2009

  • First Impressions Water Warfare

    We head to the playground to see if there's enough water in its soaker to keep gamers occupied

    Earlier this month, Hudson took a gamble and decided to release a first-person shooter on WiiWare. Due to it being the first of its kind on the platform and a new IP, some thought that Hudson would regret making such a bold decision. In the end, though,...

  • First Impressions Escape Virus

    A fun little mobile game for WiiWare

    Escape Virus is the freshman effort from Peakvox - an iPhone and mobile game developer - with the focus being on pick-up-and-play arcade gaming and ascending to the top of the world ranking in each of five game modes. The menus throughout the game look like metal car number plates which drop onto a titled plane...

  • First Impressions Red Steel 2 Exclusive!

    The game you've been waiting for.

    When Red Steel launched way back in December 2006 it promised so much, with its mix of bullets and blades and intuitive motion controls, but was clearly rushed to meet the Wii's launch date and ended up a disappointment in many gamers' eyes. A few months after release, the development team sat down to create the...

May2009

  • First Impressions Muscle March

    Namco delivers possibly the most bizarre game to come from Japan in years.

    If you've gotten into the Japanese import scene at all you've probably discovered that there's games released in Japan that never see localisation outside of Japan. Japanese game developers have a knack for coming up with some pretty unusual game concepts and Japanese...

  • First Impressions Arkanoid Plus!

    Taito plays it safe in bringing back a classic.

    Whilst Atari's Breakout and Super Breakout pioneered the arcade block-breaking games that are well-worn cliches today, Taito's Arkanoid really took the idea to the next level and no one's improved upon it since. The game concept is pretty simple: a bar at the bottom of the screen is used to bounce a...

  • First Impressions Personal Trainer: Walking

    We take Nintendo's new DS fitness title for a walk.

    We recently got in the upcoming DS title Personal Trainer: Walking and we've had a chance to spend a little time with it and we think gamers who want to increase their fitness level are in for a treat with this interesting new DS game package. Inside the package you basically get the DS game, two...

  • First Impressions Let's Tap

    Tap into a new game experience.

    After the physical exertion of Virtua Tennis 2009, and with the shame of my first-round exit still hanging over me like a dark cloud, it was a pleasure to sit down for a bit with Let’s Tap. As a huge Yuji Naka fan I was dying to find out how his new studio Prope’s first game would play, and as soon as I got my...

  • First Impressions Tsuppari Oozumou Wii Heya

    Su-mo! Su-mo!

    Back in 1987 Tecmo released Tsuppari Oozumou for the Famicom. This was the first (and one of the only) sumo wrestling games to come to home consoles and was basically a button masher at heart where the object, like real sumo, is to force your opponent out of the ring or put him on his back like a fat unruly turtle. A sequel followed...

  • First Impressions Virtua Tennis 2009

    MotionPlus, a full online mode AND curly wigs? It's too good to be true, surely...

    Strawberries and cream, Robinson’s fruit squash and appalling curly hair were all out in force for Sega Europe’s Masters Monday event, an invitation-only tournament with some of the best Virtua Tennis players on the circuit – and me – in anticipation of...

  • First Impressions Mario & Luigi RPG 3

    Mario and Luigi return to the DS in their third humorous adventure.

    Mario and Luigi have been to some pretty bizarre places, but none as weird as where they end up in Mario and Luigi RPG 3. You see, a mysterious epidemic is raging through the Mushroom Kingdom, causing people to inflate many times their normal size. The residents of the kingdom...

  • First Impressions Contra ReBirth

    BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT!

    Remember Contra? After Green Beret (Rush 'N' Attack to Americans) it was the definitive run-and-gun game from Konami which saw two games in the arcade and ports and sequels on home consoles. I cannot say I ever played the latter, but the former I remember well. Despite being punishingly difficult (to me, anyway) there was...

  • News Dead Space: Extraction May Be The Biggest Waggle-fest Yet

    Shake to see anything? Hmmm...

    The recently re-christened Visceral Games, formerly EA Redwood Shores and the developers behind Dead Space: Extraction, don't want to make things easy on you. In fact, they might be trying to kill you. Well, maybe not in the sense of actual death, but a digital demise might be in order as well as accompanying...

  • First Impressions The Conduit Multiplayer Madness

    Tom ventures to Sega’s London HQ to play the game that is on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

    To say that The Conduit is eagerly anticipated would be a serious understatement – this is potentially the title that could be the next best thing since sliced Goldeneye. Imagine then the excitement I felt at the opportunity to visit Sega’s London...

April2009

  • News Conduit Multiplayer Reveal Falls Victim to Server Issues

    Sega's private press event doesn't go quite to plan.

    The multiplayer component of Sega's highly anticipated Wii-exclusive FPS The Conduit was set to finally be revealed to the press several hours ago at a private event. Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as intended, with Nintendo's own servers going down just minutes before the demo began...

  • First Impressions Let's Hitchhike!

    Nippon Ichi delivers an oddball game as only the Japanese can.

    It's literally called Let's Zenryoku Hitchihaiku!!!!!!!!! (yes nine exclamations!), which I guess you could translate as Let's Totally Hitchhike, Dude! (the "Dude" is my personal addition) and it's a recent release to the Japanese WiiWare service which I just had to try out...

  • First Impressions Puzzle Bobble Wii

    Taito delivers another enjoyable update to an arcade franchise.

    For those who aren't familiar Puzzle Bobble is a late-90s arcade puzzle franchise from Taito featuring Baburun and Boburun from Bubble Bobble. Fans in the rest of the world may remember this game better as the ill-titled "Bust-A-Move." It's had five arcade iterations, two of...

March2009

  • News Excite Bots Preview - Not a Truck in Sight

    Excite Bots looking like Trucks. If it ain’t broken just add Robots.

    Is there anyone else out there who still plays Excite Truck for the sheer…excitement? The crazy loose physics that practically have you flying over tracks? Excite Bots: Trick Racing looks like a little more of the same with some added antics in the form of robot machines. This...

  • First Impressions Kimi to Boku to Rittai (You, Me and Shape)

    Nintendo surprises by publishing this off-beat balance game from Fyto.

    When I saw there was a bonus WiiWare update in Japan for some reason I was intrigued to see both games were from Nintendo. I was even more intrigued with the look of one of them: Kimi to Boku to Rittai (You, Me and Shape). The visual style and sparse soundscape reminded me of...

  • Preview Rhythm Heaven

    Taking the Nintendo Channel's new demo for a whirl!

    Nintendo has really unloaded on us today. With a storage solution for the Wii, the announcement of a new Zelda for the DS, and all the other news, it's possible that one might miss one little news item. You may or may not have known that in North America, Nintendo added Rhythm Heaven to its list...

  • News Eyes on DSi - hands-on report

    Earlier today I was fortunate enough to have a little face time with the new DSi, and I came away pretty impressed by Nintendo’s new baby.

    The first thing you notice compared to the DS Lite is the DSi’s matte finish, which makes it easier to hide those troublesome fingerprints. Although you could say it looks a little dull compared to the shiny...

  • First Impressions Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up

    TMNT comes to the Wii in "Smash-Up" a not-so-subtle clone of another fighter you might remember...in a good way

    It’s back to the basics for the new TMNT game on the Wii and this one shows some promising signs of gratuitous coolness in light of their 25th birthday. That’s right - it’s been almost 25 years since that dark, gritty first issue of...

  • First Impressions Rainbow Islands Towering Adventure!

    Rainbow Islands has been selected as the 3rd of Taito's Collection on WiiWare; it seems natural given that it's the arcade sequel to Bubble Bobble, the previous release

    I'm old enough to have seen the arcade game, but I guess I frequented the wrong arcades because I never laid eyes on this game until I bought the Bubble Bobble collection on the...

February2009

  • First Impressions Mr. Driller World

    The plucky arcade star comes to WiiWare!

    The gameplay is so simple you would be right to wonder why a game like this wasn't released for the Atari 2600, and this is a large part of the attraction and part of the novelty: the idea of what is essentially a classic arcade game being released in 1999 when arcade games were almost exclusively lightgun...

  • Hands On MadWorld

    We've played the gorefest MadWorld from Platinum games, but is it all about the visuals?

    MadWorld is a game that I've been wanting to play ever since I saw the first trailer. The "Sin City" comic book style is jawdroppingly cool, I wasn't sure what it'd be like in the flesh but it looks great. Having read other previews I'd heard of people...

  • Hands On The Conduit

    The much hyped The Conduit has been making headlines left right and centre, but is it the FPS saviour for the Wii?

    Maybe. Thanks to SEGA we managed to have a quick sneak-peak play of The Conduit yesterday. Let me start by saying that I do have some pre-conceptions about this title, casting our minds back to "Red Steel", we saw a shed load...

  • First Impressions Bubble Bobble Plus!

    Bub and Bob hit the WiiWare service in style.

    I've got a confession to make, and it's not that I don't like Bubble Bobble, because I do like it and the two arcade follow-ups: Bubble Symphony and Bubble Memories. No, I actually want to confess that I didn't want to buy or play this game tonight. Now, like everyone else I saw the announcement which...

  • First Impressions Overturn

    Whilst many of us are used to WiiWare games consisting of puzzle games and the very odd platformer, we are starting to see some more ambitious games.

    Overturn is one of these, a 3D arena-based robot fighting game which features not only 2-player split screen and a single player story (tournament) mode, but online play with up to four players --...

  • First Impressions Pole's Big Adventure

    I have a confession to make. I hate platforming games.

    I think outside of sports games they must be my least favourite genre. So why would I be interested in a game like Pole's Adventure, which is very much a mishmash of 8-bit platformers? Well, because it takes the piss out of them fantastically of course! I think it's safe to say that if you...

September2008

  • First Impressions Gradius Rebirth

    Gradius Rebirth is out now in Japan and the guys at Konami have done a good job bringing the classic series back for another outing, this time on WiiWare.

    ReBirth isn’t an all new game, more of a remix of past Gradius titles, all presented in a lovely retro style. The first thing that hits you is the charming 16-bit graphics and sound, which are...

May2008

January2008

  • News Sim City DS 2 Revealed In Famitsu

    Long-running Japanese publication has the scoop on this interesting update of the classic city building franchise

    The latest issue of Japanese videogame magazine Famistu carries an interesting news story regarding the next instalment of the Sim City franchise. Dubbed Sim City DS 2, the game appears to be heavily tailored towards younger gamers with...

October2007

  • News Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2 Gets Early Praise

    IGN's Matt C has declared that Heroes 2 "officially beats the pants off Metroid Prime 3 in the FPS control department" - strong words!

    "On another note, I just want to put it out there: Medal of Honor Heroes 2 officially beats the pants off Metroid Prime 3 in the FPS control department. This is the new Wii benchmark, period. Not even close...