Retro News - Latest News - Page 12

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...

So are we

Last year, Shigeru Miyamoto talked about Link to the Past on 3DS, and he's been at it again on a recent press trip to Paris. Speaking to Edge, Miyamoto said he's still interested in bringing Link's 16-bit adventure to the 3D Classics range, but he has something else in mind: I think the answer would be the same if we're talking about just...

Quite a collection

Like many of us, Campbell Whyte remembers the time when 8-bit graphics were magical, when pixels and tiny sprites evoked wonder and excitement. Unlike us, though, Whyte's also a skilled illustrator, and used his fond NES memories as the basis of the 8 Bit Dreams project. Whyte created an illustration a day for over a year, aiming...

The story of a masterpiece

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 is a definitive game in Nintendo history, though opinions naturally vary on whether it should be regarded as one of the finest games ever produced. Regardless of where you stand on the subject, it undoubtedly revolutionised The Legend of Zelda as a series, bringing it...

Officially confirmed

When it comes to Nintendo-themed April Fools jokes, Google showed plenty of creativity with Google Maps 8-bit. Some of our readers with a solid grasp of NES classics observed that the music and overall theme of the fictional cartridge strongly resembled the original Dragon Quest: accessing the trial version online also involved...

Amazing.

It's that time of year again folks, Google have put something together which should please every single Nintendo Life reader - Google Maps for NES. Google Maps is now available for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES). Availability in Google Store is TBD but you can try it on your browser by going to http://maps.google.com and...

Secret agent

Of all the cheats and secrets tucked away in GoldenEye 007, we never suspected Rare's N64 classic harboured a fully functioning ZX Spectrum 48k emulator. Rare began a coding experiment to see if the N64 could support a Spectrum emulator, even embedding old-school Rare games Sabre Wulf, Jetpac and more in the code. Clearly the experiment...

If you know for sure, let us know

Occasionally, an enthusiastic researcher will embark on a quest to find information on obscure gaming facts, so it's surprising that one of the great unknowns in video game history is the U.S. release date for Super Mario Bros. on NES. Considering the fact that this is one of the most successful and iconic video...

Brandon Cobb explains why retro gaming matters

When we published a news article about a new SNES title on the way in 2013, Nightmare Busters, it attracted a great deal of interest. While many of us spend the majority of our game-time on current-day consoles, there still seems to be an appetite for retro titles and platforms. Few companies represent...

It's good, too

Anyone who loves retro gaming might want to get their chops around Pixel Nation, a new quarterly magazine dedicated to the world of old-school digital entertainment. The first issue of the 100-page, full colour periodical includes articles on topics dear to many Nintendo hearts: famed composer Koji Kondo takes the spotlight, and the...

Free for PC

The God of War series is arguably amongst the best-known franchises on PlayStation 3, and one recent release that has grabbed our attention is an 8-bit re-imagining of these titles' universe. It may seem like an unlikely project, but that's exactly what indie developer Holmade Games has produced. The indie developer decided that it...

On PC, and it's free

There are some things that immediately grab your attention, and we'd classify the following as one of those things: God of War NES version, free of charge. It may seem unlikely, but that's exactly what indie developer Holmade Games has produced. PlayStation 3 owners are likely to be familiar with the God of War series set in...