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Better than monkey nuts

The night is finally here: Halloween is upon us. At the time of writing the world isn’t being taken over by zombies, werewolves or ghosts. Instead, the main horrors are the legions of children in cheap masks ringing the doorbell and demanding treats. Many can look forward to bags full of toffee apples, loose sweets and a pile of monkey nuts from less generous victims..

Moments of gaming horror

Halloween is almost upon us, with many gamers making plans for a night of terrifying gaming. Whether these are modern titles or retro, old-school goodness, there are plenty of scary games to enjoy. In the first part of our Fun and Frights feature, we gave a brief outline of how horror games have developed through the...

How horror has evolved

At this time of year, it’s no doubt common practice for many gamers to find their favourite scary game, turn off the lights and get into the Halloween mood. There’s something about frightful gaming experiences that's unique in the entertainment industry. Unlike horror movies or tense, nerve-wracking books, video game fear...

25 years of memories

This week has been Castlevania features week. We’ve picked our top ten games from the series, reviewed an awful novelisation of Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest, and provided some tips for wannabe Dracula hunters. One thing that has become clear amongst the team is that this series is packed full of memories and nostalgia, as...

The old-school way

So far this week we’ve listed our top 10 Castlevania games, while also launching the Nintendo Life Book Club with the horrific Simon’s Quest novel. A common theme across the series is the quest to defeat Dracula, mostly by trekking through his unfeasibly huge castle. Should the unlikely ever occur and the world looks to you to hunt down the Prince of Darkness, who better to..

For all you bookworms

Here at Nintendo Life we do our best to keep you entertained with a diverse range of news, reviews, features, podcasts and music shows. We've been missing one thing, though: a Nintendo Life Book Club. There's a lot of game-based literature out there, so we thought that the bookworms out there would like to chill out with a novel when gaming becomes too much. Opening the doors..

Our favourite Dracula quests

As the dreaded night of Halloween continues to loom ever closer, we are now turning our attention to the Castlevania franchise, which recently celebrated its 25th Anniversary. All of this week there'll be features looking at the series, as we join the hunt to take Dracula down once and for all. In previous features...

Undead on the big N, past, present and future

The claustrophobic darkness. The creeping undead. The hideous monsters. The Resident Evil series has brought such thrills and chills to our TVs since 1996, and it’s taken quite a unique path when it comes to Nintendo consoles. With the month of All Hallows’ Eve upon us, we decided to take a look at...

Let's-a go

You might consider yourself a Nintendo expert, with innumerable facts and figures at your disposal, but even the most knowledgeable follower of the Kyoto company will find hitherto unknown realms of information in The History of Nintendo: Volume 1 — 1889 - 1980: From playing-cards to Game & Watch. The book made waves last year in...

A colourful entry in the Game Boy family

The original Game Boy was a big hit when it launched in 1989, thanks to a winning combination of portability and some cracking games. One thing it did lack, however, was colour. Whilst rival handhelds the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx boasted colour back-lit displays, Nintendo's portable was limited to four...

Check out the polygons!

This week we have been celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Nintendo 64, looking at memorable games, the revolutionary aspects of the system, the let-downs and disappointments, as well as the possible 3D future for N64 titles. Now it’s time to relax and get into some good old retro reminiscences, scouring our aging...

Classic games for a new audience

It's no secret that Nintendo has been having something of a tough time of it in regards to the 3DS. Since its launch in late March of this year, Nintendo's newest handheld has battled through a significant price drop, a shaky start as far as its online functionality is concerned, complaints about poor battery life and relatively low sales, that can arguably be..

Analogue stick scars and unrealised Crystal Dreams

When the Nintendo 64 entered our living rooms for the first time, most of us couldn't help but marvel at its power and dream of the possibilities. But with great power comes great responsibility, and not all of those dreams ended up coming true. We already explored the system's most memorable...

The Big N’s gift to modern gaming

Looking back on the Nintendo 64, there are plenty of subject areas that warrant exploration. As a console, the N64 was a trend-setter that pushed the boundaries and expectations of gaming experiences. This status as a technologically advanced and experimental console was both a blessing and a curse, as it enjoyed...

Get N, to the Nintendo Life Poll

It seems like the year of major anniversaries in all things Nintendo, as this week we celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Nintendo 64. The good old N64 was released on 29th September 1996 in North America and introduced 3D polygon graphics at a level that hadn’t been seen before. Throughout the course of this...

Remembering the last ever Game Boy

This week we have been celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Game Boy Advance. It was the last handheld of the Game Boy era, and is fondly remembered for vivid graphics, multiplayer gameplay and for the portable gaming experience that it offered. To round off our GBA celebrations, we’ve invited some of our writers to share their memories of the handheld..

The end of an era

For many years, the Game Boy brand was as synonymous with Nintendo as Mario and, perhaps, it still is. Have you ever been playing on your DS or 3DS and had someone who’s not particularly games savvy refer to it as a Game Boy? After all, the Game Boy was a worldwide brand phenomenon, penetrating the public consciousness and...

We’re a bit late to the party

Back in June, the Game Boy Advance was celebrating its 10 year anniversary. We’re sure there was a party, with lots of balloons and a GBA shaped cake, but we weren’t there. We were a bit tied up with the excitement of E3 and the unveiling of the Wii U, while also looking ahead to what was next for the 3DS. Now we...

No longer the other brother

It may not be grabbing the headlines at the moment, but a notable anniversary has just passed: September 14th was the 10th anniversary of the release of Luigi’s Mansion in Japan. With the sequel due to arrive on 3DS in 2012, Downloads Editor Corbie Dillard and writer Jacob Crites have taken up the challenge of exploring...

The continuing appeal of retro

In the midst of lively, colourful menu tiles that spin with a blow into the microphone and play charming tunes when selected, many 3DS's are littered with other tiles that are glaringly less interesting. They don't play charming animations on the top screen, and when selected, the greeting is nothing more than a little “ping” sound and a grainy monochromatic..

Shoot everything in sight

This week sees the release of Star Fox 64 3D. As you're no doubt aware, it's a remastering in the same vein as Ocarina of Time 3D, so updated visuals are naturally present. Given the updated hardware, Fox McCloud and the team will be appearing in true 3D for the first time. On the 3DS, a true sensation of depth should...

It's time to decide

It's 20 years ago today since the Super Nintendo saw official release in North America, and over the following years it amassed a truly incredible library of games still thought of today as some of the finest ever. But what really was the top dog on Nintendo's 16-bit wonder machine? Did the 96 levels of Super Mario World do it for you? Are you wowed by the speed of F-Zero to..

Samus got lost

As a week of Metroid Anniversary celebrations draws to a close, we thought we’d look back at a Metroid game that never was. We’re not talking about Metroid Dread, which could still happen, but Metroid 64, which will obviously never see the light of day. We’ve made the title up, but in light of the trend of adding ‘64’ after...

We take a look at that famous female and her effect on the virtual playing field

Historically, just about every form of media has seen itself dominated by men, and gaming is as guilty as the rest. You could chalk it up to the playing population remaining largely scant of females for reasons too complex and debatable to delve into here, but that's...