Retro News

March2016

  • Random Runner Injects Flappy Bird Code into Super Mario World

    An interesting work of sacrilege

    The ability to practically program code into Super Mario World through the use of glitches opens up all sorts of possibilities, some definitely more bizarre than others. Just look toward speedrunner and tinkerer Sethbling, who managed to turn Mario into a Flappy Bird clone. Sethbling injected the code using...

  • Review Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun (SNES)

    16-bit barf

    If you were to ask kids in the late '80s and early '90s for iconic NES video game characters, alongside the usual gang of Nintendo, Konami and Capcom regulars, you would often hear the name "Alex". No, not our own Alex "Lovely People" Olney - this Alex was none other than the western version of Kunio, the short-tempered high school...

  • News TT Games Wanted To Include Mortal Kombat In The Lego Dimensions Midway Pack

    "We had to take into account the typical age of our players"

    The expansion of the core Lego Dimensions experience is continuing nicely, with the recently-released Midway pack granting access to an incredible selection of arcade classics. These include such coin-op hits as Gauntlet, Joust, Spy Hunter and Defender, but developer TT Games has revealed...

  • Feature Batman V Superman In The Battle Of The Nintendo Games

    Which superhero comes out on top? Find out within...

    This article was originally published on 25th November 2014, and has been re-posted to celebrate the cinematic release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Things are really heating up in the world of superhero movies, thanks to both Marvel and DC revealing their cinematic hands like two Texan...

  • Video Anki Overdrive Update Apes GoldenEye 007's One Shot Kill Mode

    The car with the Golden Gun

    If you've not seen it already, Anki Overdrive is a little hard to get your head around. It's a slot car-style game with no slots that's controlled via an app. The racing happens on the clip-together track but is augmented with the app that steers, shoots and triggers weapons. In the latest update t

  • Review City Connection (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Missed Connection

    If you don't remember City Connection, we wouldn't blame you. In 1985, arcades in the U.S. and elsewhere were booming in popularity, and as a result that particular industry was rather strong. This title came to NES owners a little later, however, releasing in the middle of 1988. It looks and feels like a relic of a bygone era, and...

  • Review Super Mario Kart (New 3DS / SNES)

    Classic karting on the small screen

    Many Mario Karts later it can be a little disorientating to go back to where it all began. Each cup has five races. Laps are short, but there are five of them. Item boxes are squares laid flat on the ground and put out of use after you've run over them. The CPU characters don't collect items at all, but have a...

  • Feature Ten Game Boy Advance Games You Should Play

    Puzzle games, RPGs, action, platforming...

    The Game Boy Advance just recently turned 15 years old, with that first model kicking off what would be the last Game Boy 'family' or systems, at least so far. It would be a platform that would take Nintendo's portable offerings forward in leaps and bounds, not just in terms of raw power but also...

  • Random Fan Ports Super Mario Kart to HTML5

    Not exactly perfect, but it works

    Though it can seem a bit basic by modern standards, Super Mario Kart was an innovative racer for its time, and it kicked off one of the most successful racing game franchises to date. It did have some unique mechanics that haven't completely been translated to the newer games, and there's certainly still a fan...

  • Review The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (New 3DS / SNES)

    A gem from the past

    With A Link Between Worlds, 3D versions of the Nintendo 64 games and a number of other titles available via the Virtual Console and backwards compatibility, 3DS owners are not exactly short of main series Zelda games to play on their machine. For those with one of the New Nintendo 3DS models The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the...

  • Video Looking Into The History Of Nintendo's Longest-Serving Video Game Character

    Is this Nintendo's first mascot?

    Nintendo's library of characters is the envy of the gaming world, with a history that stretches all the way back to the dawn of the industry. While many might assume that the company's first mascot is Mario, there have been several other individuals who can lay claim to being the Japanese firm's leading character...

  • News The Game Boy Advance is Now 15 Years Old

    The last of an iconic family

    The Game Boy brand was one of the most powerful in gaming during the 1990s with the original system and its iterations. Though the Game Boy Color offered some enhanced power, it nevertheless took an exceptionally long time for a true successor (aside from the ill-fated Virtual Boy) to arrive. The Game Boy Advance made...

  • Review Hyrule Warriors Legends (New 3DS / 3DS)

    A Link in your pocket

    The original Hyrule Warriors was a solid if slightly forgettable attempt at fusing the worlds Zelda and Koei Tecmo's Musou series, and despite its occasionally repetitive gameplay managed to alleviate fears that it would be little more than a shameless cash-in. Now, with the 3DS badly in need of top-drawer software as it...

  • Review Super Metroid (New 3DS / SNES)

    Superb Metroid

    Nintendo has certainly brought out the big guns for the opening salvo of SNES games on the New Nintendo 3DS, with classic game after classic game arriving on the portable. It won't last and there may even be mediocre spin-offs or complete dross in the future, but for now New 3DS owners should enjoy the brilliance that is Super...

  • News Tsunekazu Ishihara on the Difficulty of Naming Pokémon for Different Regions

    Guess what Pikachu means in Japanese?

    One of the aspects of the Pokémon games that gives them so much character is the creative names that many Pokémon are assigned. The name can make or break a Pokémon's reception, yet Game Freak has consistently managed to nail the naming with clever puns and plays on words that indicate attributes of the...

  • News Miitomo Continues Strong Run in Japan

    Tops iPhone overall chart and climbs to second on Android

    Just recently we reported on the first two days of download results for Miitomo in Japan. It made a storming debut across iOS on 17th and 18th March, and now we have information on more results and the earliest Android chart placings. Once again we've been checking up on App Annie, and what...

  • Weirdness Jackie Chan Backed A Motion-Controlled Fitness Console That Pre-Dated The Wii

    Say hello to the XaviX Port!

    The Wii was revolutionary in that it introduced the mainstream gaming market to motion controls and the concept of "keeping fit" through gameplay. However, it was by no means the first gaming platform to achieve this - in 2004, Japanese firm SSD Company Limited released the XaviX Port alongside a range of sports-focused...

  • Review Advance Wars: Dual Strike (Wii U eShop / DS)

    War has twice before been this much fun

    Intelligent Systems' long-running Famicom Wars series didn't arrive in the west until the release of Advance Wars on the Game Boy Advance, but the colourful turn-based tactical gameplay quickly acquired many fans. A GBA sequel arrived, followed by this DS entry. Like the two proceeding GBA instalments Advance...

  • News Meet The Famicom Machine Gun Peripheral That Never Made It Out Of Japan

    Complete with realistic recoil system

    It's easy to forget just how massive the NES was back in its glory days, but even that system paled in comparison to the near-domination that its Japanese counterpart - the Famicom - enjoyed in its homeland. Simply put, the Nintendo "Family Computer" was the only real game in town if you were a Japanese player,...

  • Review Fire Emblem: Mystery Of The Emblem (SNES)

    ​All Hail Prince Marth! (Yes, that Marth)

    Ask any western gamer who Marth is and they will quickly reply something along the lines of "That cool sword-wielding guy from Super Smash Bros." - something that is understandable since the Fire Emblem series that began all the way back to 1990 on the Famicom only reached the West in 2003. But behind his...

  • News Renegade Kid Once Pitched A GBA Port Of Demon's Crest To Capcom, But Was Rebuffed

    Poor sales of the SNES original to blame

    Demon's Crest is one of the true underrated gems of the SNES library, yet it sold terribly upon its initial release back in 1994. In issue 100 of Nintendo Power it was even reported that the game had registered negative sales one week, as more people returned it for a refund than bought it. Thankfully, Capcom...

  • Review EarthBound (New 3DS / SNES)

    This game smells lovely

    Well here's a treat for New Nintendo 3DS owners: EarthBound! Back on the SNES, this second instalment of Shigesato Itoi's much-loved Mother series only received a western release in North America (where it sold poorly). Buying a second-hand copy for silly money was most people's only option until the Wii U came to the rescue,...

  • News Shigeru Miyamoto on the Development of Yoshi's Island

    An oldie, but a goodie

    Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was definitely something of a gamble for Nintendo when it launched back in the days of the SNES. The Super Mario series was only four (technically five) games long, and instead of making a safe sequel to the popular Super Mario World, a game was made starring his dinosaur companion, Yoshi...

  • Review Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2 (SNES)

    ​Just Saiyan

    Dragon Ball Z fever was very much a real thing in the '90s, but this blonde hair, Kamehameha-throwing insanity hit the UK and America much later than the rest of Europe. As such, it might still not be common knowledge that all four of Super Famicom's Dragon Ball Z one-on-one fighting games received PAL localization and distribution -...

  • Weirdness Minor League Baseball Team Is Making Its Players Wear Game Boy Jerseys

    Knocking it out of the park

    Minor league baseball team Frisco Roughriders has something of a habit of getting its players to wear unique shirts based on pop culture icons, and this year the team is harnessing the power of Gunpei Yokoi's finest creation, the Nintendo Game Boy. The Roughriders - who play at the amusingly-named Dr Pepper Ballpark -...

  • Feature Poster Children - Your Guide to Collecting Nintendo Power's Awesome Classic Posters

    A blast from the past

    If you were a kid growing up at the end of the '80s and into the late '90s, you very well may have known that home console gaming was in its prime glory in the Bush Senior and Clinton era. The new and as-of-yet unexplored frontiers of companies like Nintendo and Sega were fertile planting ground for now-classic and beloved...

  • Weirdness You Can Now Play 3D NES Games In Your Web Browser

    Wonders never cease

    Next time you're bored at work you might want to try out this pretty incredible piece of programming which runs NES games via your browser in - wait for it - 3D. 3DNES only runs in Firefox and isn't operating at full speed at present, but as a technical feat it's pretty impressive. It takes original NES games and presents them...

  • Review Pokémon Ranger (Wii U eShop / DS)

    Gotta circle ‘em all!

    Welcome to the Fiore region, a relaxed place where Pokémon are free from Poké Balls, able to roam around in the wild or stay as someone's pet if they've taken a liking to a particularly snug blanket. You are the newest recruit to the Rangers, a group of dedicated (but often dull) individuals who provide help to citizens or...

  • News The Original Mega Man Gets a Fresh Coat of Paint with Mega Man Redux

    If only Capcom loved this series as much as the fans

    Mega Man was the game that started it all, catapulting the Blue Bomber to fame and kicking off what would be a long and rich line of action games. Though the Mega Man games have all but screeched to a halt in more recent times, Capcom did decide to throw fans a bone and put out the Mega Man Legacy...

  • News Takashi Tezuka Began Development On Zelda: Link's Awakening Without Nintendo's Permission

    Director wanted to "defy Zelda conventions" with Game Boy outing

    The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening might seem like the pint-sized sibling of the sublime Link to the Past, but many regard it as the superior release, despite the cruder visuals and sound. The 1993 Game Boy release was one of the first titles for the handheld which showed it could...

  • Review World Driver Championship (N64)

    The N64's Gran Turismo?

    Boss Game Studios off-loaded sequel duties to their dumb-fun hit Top Gear Rally in order to commence work on what would be an altogether more serious, authentic project – 1999's World Driver Championship. It would be the last significant output from the assured Redmond-based team, but remains amongst only a handful of truly...

  • News Synthwave Artists Celebrate N64's 20th Anniversary with Free Music Compilation

    Two decades "synth" Nintendo's 64-bit powerhouse released

    This June marks an important occasion in Nintendo history: the 20th anniversary of Nintendo's first 3D home video game system, the Nintendo 64, which released in Japan on 23 June 1996. To mark this momentous occasion, a group of artists has released a free unofficial synthwave compilation of...

  • Review Pokémon Red and Blue (3DS / GB)

    Twenty years ahead of their time

    When these games were released back in the late nineties, the air around younger Game Boy owners was one of excitement and rivalry. Nintendo is clearly trying to capitalise on the nostalgia factor for all of us who were within the target age group (and some who weren't) when these titles were originally released,...

  • Video Learn Some Fun Facts About Conker, His Descent to Badness and Nintendo's Naughty Side

    Not cute and cuddly

    Conker's Bad Fur Day is undoubtedly a cult classic on Nintendo 64, as Rare evidently decided all bets were off and turned a previously 'cute' project into a rather mature outing on the system. That history and transformation into one of the few mature Nintendo-published games - though there have been a handful over the years -...

  • Video Here's What A DJ Battle On Game Boys Looks (And Sounds) Like

    Live from the Niche Nights ChipBattles event

    Game Boy modder and chiptune master Joe Heaton is here to give us an official on-the-floor report from an amazing musical event - enjoy! On February 12th 2016, Niche Nights hosted the first ever ChipBattles event at Fab Cafe in Manchester. This is a brand new event within the scene of "Chiptune" music,...

  • Video Check out this footage of the SNES Super Disc Boot Software

    Witnessing gaming history

    It's a fairly little known fact that Nintendo was, at one point, working with Sony to develop a console. Back when CDs were all the rage, Nintendo was in the market to develop a CD add on with Sony, which was not affiliated with games at the time. It wasn't to be, unfortunately, and there was a falling out between the two...

  • Review Front Mission (SNES)

    ​Crows of Metal, Soldiers of Sorrow

    War never changes. Unless someone replaces tanks with giant walking robots, then it looks much, much cooler yet is still quite tragic. That is exactly the point of Squaresoft's 1995 mech tactical RPG Front Mission. How does a man survive on the battlefield of the future? Canny strategy, pots of money and making...

February2016

January2016