Retro News
April2011
Review Valet Parking 1989 (DSiWare)
A crash course in parking
The DSiWare service certainly has the ability to surprise with its diverse variety of genres and concepts. Developer Zordix AB is throwing its hat into the ring with Valet Parking 1989. The title is self explanatory, and the concept of valet parking has been envisioned as a time management puzzle game with a distinctly 80s...
It'll take more than a new lick of paint to save this franchise
When High Voltage Software first decided to enter the Wii first-person shooter space, competition wasn’t exactly something they really had to worry about. Sure, there had been a few half-hearted ports of popular franchises, but The Conduit was the first proper FPS developed...
Review Music On: Learning Piano Volume 2 (DSiWare)
Beautiful harmony or sour note?
Abylight has already released seven Music On titles for the DSiWare service that teach basic instruction for such musical instruments as the keyboard and the guitar. While the Spanish studio has already released one title covering the piano, it's obviously decided that the instrument needed a follow-up with the...
Review Hellokids - Vol. 1: Coloring and Painting (DSiWare)
A decent artist's toolbox
With the free title Flipnote Studio available on DSiWare, it's kind of hard to really create anything that would be able to top it. Hellokids - Vol. 1: Coloring and Painting, however, does offer some decent options and might be fun for younger kids. The main draw for the young ones is probably the colouring mode, in which...
Review Mega Man X (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
X-ceptional
Spinoffs in popular franchises have delivered historically mixed results over the years, but when Capcom spun the X series off of Mega Man, not only did they create a new line every bit as intense and engaging as the originals, but arguably even more polished and fun to a certain degree. And now, after a rather lengthy wait, Capcom have...
Review Where's Wally? Fantastic Journey 2 (WiiWare)
Spot the difference
Where's Wally? Fantastic Journey 2 is the second slice of the stripey one's retail appearance, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to you that it follows the exact same template as previous release Where's Wally? Fantastic Journey 1. Sadly, you can't carry your profile over from the first game, though it wouldn't make much...
Review Adventure Island II (Wii Virtual Console / NES)
Higgins returns
The first Adventure Island was nothing more than a copy of Wonder Boy with some redone graphics. While Wonder Boy quickly became more of an Action RPG series, Adventure Island stuck to the platformer formula for a while before eventually following the same path. The general mechanics are still the same. Higgins' girlfriend has been...
Review Successfully Learning English: Year 2 (DSiWare)
Vocabu-scary or the definition of fun?
After four entries in the Successfully Learning Mathematics WiiWare series, Tivola is now turning its attentions to studying English, and this time Freddy the Vampire flies – at night, of course – over to DSiWare instead. It’s time to start a new class, but will this help young gamers learn their ABCs?...
Review Escape Trick: The Secret of Rock City Prison (DSiWare)
Far more frustrating than fun
Despite the system's unique touchscreen feature, we've seen very few point-and-click adventures for the system. Intense Games hopes to remedy that situation with the release of its mystery adventure Escape Trick: The Secret of Rock City Prison on DSiWare. Combining a story full of plot twists with point-and-click puzzle...
Awesome ink
All right, let’s be serious for just a minute. Who here hasn’t dreamed about the glitzy and glamorous lifestyle that comes with being a tattoo artist? Well, now you can finally fulfill your fantasy with the release of Art of Ink from Sabarasa for DSiWare. Though it’s obviously not a completely accurate representation of life in...
Some folks call it a Slingo
Remember Slingo, the popular, fun and highly addictive internet game that had you wasting most of your work hours trying to get the high score? Well, thanks to MumboJumbo, this incredible browser game is now available on DSiWare in the form of Slingo Quest, a reincarnation of the classic with a few extra surprises...
Review Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From The Abyss (DSiWare)
Non-stop grind
There's nothing quite like a good dungeon crawler to waste away an afternoon. All that hacking and slashing and magicking and looting and leveling — when these gel together, why, yes, please. These are all traits found in Anonymous Notes Chapter 1 - From The Abyss, but sadly the glue keeping the game together lacks a very vital...
Feature The SLG3000 and the Glorious Return of Scanlines
How to get that authentic retro look from your modern flatscreen TV
Sometimes, outdated technology has a quality which seemingly defies description. For example, those of you that are old enough may harbour a strange nostalgic affection for the monochrome Game Boy’s blurry LCD screen, even to the point of spurning the updated Game Boy Color...
News UK Museum Celebrates Handheld Gaming with New Exhibition
Full disclosure: it's in Swindon
Nintendo fans have a better grasp on handheld gaming than many, but Swindon Museum of Computing in England is about to plot the history of the portable with a new exhibition. The new 'Gaming on the Go' exhibition charts 35 years of handheld history, starting with Mattel's 1976 Auto Race, a game running on a...
Review 3D Twist & Match (DSiWare)
Not a perfect match
There are quite a few games on DSiWare which started off as part of another title but have been released seperately. However, there's also quite a few games that seem like they really should've been part of something else, and 3D Twist & Match undoubtedly falls into the latter category. The sole objective here is to rotate...
Review Physiofun: Pelvic Floor Training (WiiWare)
Are you sitting comfortably?
On a service practically overflowing with niche games, Physiofun: Pelvic Floor Training is the undisputed champion: a game designed to help prevent postnatal urinary incontinence. 99% of you can stop reading now, unless you really want to know how successfully a video game can strengthen your pelvic floor, in which case...
Review Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 5 (WiiWare)
Your number's up
No sooner did the bell ring to signal the end of Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 4 then it's time to buy a new uniform — figuratively speaking — and sit at the front of the class for Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 5, the final game in this particular series. Continuing to guide you through your numerical...
Review Play with Birds (WiiWare)
Play with Turds
Last year, the revamped WiiWare version of the beloved indie game La Mulana was delayed upon its submission by publisher Nicalis, as it was deemed "not good enough” by Nintendo's quality control team. Nicalis must have sent Nintendo a dirty diaper with the words “La Mulana” scrawled crudely on the side instead of an actual...
A slippery slope downwards…
If there is one thing missing from the video game world, it’s a snowboarding game starring goblins and dragons, and Enjoy Gaming is aiming to fill the void with Trollboarder. It’s been marketed as the ‘craziest snowboard game in history’, but is this zany fun or an experience that will drive you mad? The premise...
News The GameBoy Makes Beautiful Music Even When Switched Off
There's nothing it can't do
Forget about actually having the GameBoy turned on to make music; the video below proves that its components can sing in their own right. While we've seen countless Nintendo beatboxers, it's far less common to see the machine itself take centre stage, but that's precisely what's happened here. YouTube user MrSeberi has...
News Fan-Made Super Mario Bros. 3 in 3D is A Little Bit Awesome
See a classic in a new light
We've already seen hints that Super Mario on 3DS will include the famous Tanooki suit from Super Mario Bros. 3. What would the entire game look like in 3D, though? Let user Kevin Zeeff show you. As part of Zeeff's "Game Cubed" series, Mario's best 8-bit adventure has received a retro 3D makeover, and while it's...
Review Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 4 (WiiWare)
A game you can count on?
This is the third entry in Tivola's educational series, representing another year/grade of maths puzzles to help your youngsters pick up the basics. Previous entries haven't been quite up to par, and that sadly continues with Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 4. Freddy the Vampire returns to help guide players through...
Review GO Series: Captain Sub (DSiWare)
Diving to the murky depths
DSiWare has seen quite a few ‘GO’ titles during its lifespan, and the latest in the series is GO Series: Captain Sub. This title marks another departure in the series with a combination of puzzling, shooting and exploration. The question is whether this game is worth the expedition undersea. The premise of the game is...
Review Absolute Baseball (DSiWare)
Foul balls
What happens when you take baseball, America’s favorite pastime, and mix it with Japan’s favorite pastime, the turn-based RPG? You get Tasuke’s newest DSiWare game, the Frankenstein-esque genre crosser titled Absolute Baseball. While the idea here is nothing less than genius, does an RPG in which you take control of a baseball...
Take the bait
Hey there! Do you want to play some WiiWare game called Planet Fish? Didn't think so. Well then, do you want to play a highly original and puzzle-based spin on the fishing genre that's big on fun and creative problem solving? Ah, well then you do want to play Planet Fish, a game that is able to transcend its unappealing title and...
Review Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (Wii)
“It is but a shadow and a thought that you love. I cannot give you what you seek.”
As a hack-'n-slash game based on the famous movie franchise, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest enters a field that is already well-plowed by earlier releases. But with it's unusual twist on storytelling, is there something here worthwhile to nudge burned-out fans...
Guides Upscaling Your Retro Consoles for HDTV Sets
The quest for the perfect picture
Getting a pin-sharp, colourful image on a modern gaming console is about as hard as falling off a log. Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 support HDMI output for true HD gaming, and although the poor old Wii is still stuck in the land of 480p, it’s still capable of kicking out a pretty decent image via component...
Review Brawl Brothers (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
A marked improvement
Jaleco released several beat 'em ups on the SNES, although you may not know that three of them are actually related. Exclusively in Japan, the games Rival Turf!, Brawl Brothers and The Peace Keepers were all part of one series called Rushing Beat, but for their North American releases they were retitled, and the story and...
Review Dancing Academy (DSiWare)
Uh-oh, I’m dancing with my stylus
Tivola’s ‘Academy’ series of games is becoming a prolific presence on DSiWare. In consecutive months we've had Model Academy and Beauty Academy. These titles have targeted pre-teen girl gamers and the latest entry, Dancing Academy is no different. We’re dusting off our dancing shoes to determine whether...
News This Custom N64 Has a Hidden Secret for Multiplayer
Surprise, a control port!
Custom consoles are all the rage these days, and the Nintendo 64 is particularly ripe for fan-made hardware revisions. The portable machine below might look oddly familiar to those who've seen the iNto64, but it's got an ace up its sleeve: a controller port. The combination of N64, screen and control port means split-screen...
A fairy solid puzzler
We've seen a fair share of puzzlers on DSiWare, so any time a new title from the genre is released, it's generally met with a cautious approach, especially considering the number of mediocre releases we've seen so far. Having initially made its rounds on the PC and Mac, A Fairy Tale makes its way onto DSiWare and brings all of...
News Celebrate 15 Years of Resident Evil With This Special Trailer
According to Wesker, things are just warming up
In celebrating 15 years of Resident Evil, Capcom has released a trailer that takes us back to where it all began, as well as where the franchise will be taking us in the not-so-distant future. Narrated by Albert Wesker, the trailer compiles footage of games both old and new. From the upcoming...
News Fan-Made Metroid Game Miniaturises Our Beloved Heroine
Minitroid tech demo now available
It must be one of those enigmatic laws of the universe, that if you shrink something, anything, then it instantly becomes cute. Thanks to three Metroid fans, that's exactly what they've done in their interpretation of the retro platforming series. The Metroid Database has unveiled the Minitroid tech demo, developed...
News Capcom Brings New Super Mario Bros. Wii to the Arcades
With a twist, or shall we say "spin"?
A Mario game from Capcom? That's what Japanese arcade gamers will be playing, although it's not exactly what you would expect. Capcom has announced its medal machine New Super Mario Bros. Wii Coin World has hit arcades in Japan. Based on New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the cabinet supports four players and the object...
Domo arigato, DodoGo! Robo
With two games already available on DSiWare — DodoGo! and DodoGo! Challenge — you'd be forgiven for thinking that each DodoGo! game is simply a level pack expansion to the previous game. This was true for the second title, Challenge, but things are a bit different here, as while the first two titles were very similar...
Review Where's Wally? Fantastic Journey 1 (WiiWare)
Lite stripes
The world's most famous stripe-wearing recluse is making his first appearance on WiiWare following a trio of outings on DSiWare. Where's Wally? Fantastic Journey 1 (known as Where's Waldo? in North America) is all-but identical to the DSiWare release Where's Wally? Travel Pack 1, with the same stages and objectives, but it works much...
Oooh yeaahh!
There's something undeniably special about a wrestling match. Combining colourful characters, high-flying acrobatics and riveting rivalries, it's an exciting spectacle that too often gets the shaft for being a fake sport than a real piece of theatre. At least, that's the sentiment you might share at a live event, your enthusiasm and...
March2011
News The Brothers Mario 2 Trailer Introduces Us to the New Don
One pastiche you don't want to mess with
When the trailer for the fictitious film The Brothers Mario was released, it gave us a good chuckle at how many video game and cultural references were crammed so beautifully into the space of 5 minutes. How might a sequel turn out? The Country Club shows us how. Another exclusive from The Game Station, The...
Review Simply Minesweeper (DSiWare)
Simply, Minesweeper
Engine Software doesn't exactly have a track record of making amazing games for DSiWare, all of its output has at the very least always been mediocre at worst and average at best. The studio has previously released Simply games for Mahjong, Sudoku and Solitaire, all of which were quite functional, but ultimately all very basic...
Podcast NLFM Episode 19: DS Swan Songs
Not with a whimper, but a bang!
So 3DS is out in places other than Japan now, hooray! But just because its successor is stealing the spotlight, that doesn't mean the DS is content with resting on its two-dimensional laurels. Why, it's not even April yet and it's already seen at least five fantastic games this year with some fantastic music to go...
Review Street Racer (Super Nintendo)
Road to joy?
On rare occasion, a game so revolutionary will appear that not only will it receive the usual much deserved critical acclaim, it’ll become responsible for the creation of an entirely new genre. Take Super Mario Kart for instance — the title single-handedly responsible for the birth of the console kart racer. Following its huge...
Not much of a sequel
A few years ago, MumboJumbo published the Hot Lava-developed 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, a very average Bejeweled clone. Since then, our standards for DS puzzle fare have gotten a little bit higher, and MumboJumbo has updated its previous release to hopefully meet these standards. Enter 7 Wonders II. The formula remains the...
Interviews Richie Knucklez - The Kong Off
"the most important person in video gaming right now"
In the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Steve Wiebe travels to FunSpot Arcade to put a stop to all the naysayers disputing his record-setting Donkey Kong skills. To the amazement of everyone watching, he achieves the first ever kill screen on the Funspot Donkey Kong machine...
News Retro Handheld Games Now Digitised on the Internet
Game & Watch titles included
Fans of the old handheld games like the ones in the Game & Watch series are in for a treat when they find that several in said series ― as well as others not related to Nintendo ― have been "digitised" and put on the Internet for all to enjoy. Games like Donkey Kong Jr., Mickey & Donald, Merry Cook...
A celestial pup worthy of your praise
Back in 2008, a two year old PS2 ‘game of the year’ was ported to the Wii amid much critical acclaim. Okami, an epic adventure boasting a glorious art style, was perfectly suited to the Wii’s capabilities, and Capcom has once again embraced a Nintendo console for a follow-up adventure on the DS. With such...
Review LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (DS)
A little too familiar
For whatever reason, LEGO games on Nintendo handhelds are never as good as their home console counterparts. Rather than harness the handheld's unique strengths from the ground up, they too often opt for creating a more compact version of the larger adventure. LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is no exception, providing an...
Review LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii)
Not just a clone
A long time ago in a development studio not terribly far away, the idea was hatched to combine a beloved children's toy with a paradigm-shifting film franchise to make one of the most innovative licensed games to date. Since then the LEGO train has kept chugging along, claiming series after series as it goes to which to add its...
News Discover Nintendo's 3D Legacy with Our Virtual Boy Coverage
3DS's granddaddy featured
You might be getting all geared-up for the new 3DS, but it's not the first dedicated 3D console from Nintendo: that honour belongs to the good old Virtual Boy, the now notorious machine that launched in the mid 1990s. Now is the perfect time, with 3DS just around the corner, to revisit the machine's creation, games and its...
Podcast NLFM Episode 18: Rageful Streets and Happy Dinosaurs
Missed weeks? What?
Remember when we said NLFM was going to be weekly? Well, we kind of fudged that for the past couple of weeks. Sorry! But we're back with a fiery fever in this episode, where gangsters are punched, pianos diddled and dinosaurs remembered. 1. MONSTER! MONSTER! — Penny Arcade2. Yuzo Koshiro — Go Straight (Streets of Rage 2,...
Review BINGO PARTY Deluxe (WiiWare)
Bing-oh…
Developers Ateam Inc have seen a gap in the download game market: bingo. For those who thought this pastime was restricted to bingo halls and retirement homes, think again. Bingo Party Deluxe is now available on WiiWare; does it succeed and scream ‘house’ at the top of its voice, or frustratingly bemoan the drawing of all the wrong...
Down the rabbit hole
These days, with the recent release of Paul’s Shooting Adventure and Paul’s Monster Adventure, it seems as though Agetec is trying to claim the title of "most bizarre games available on DSiWare". Keeping the tradition alive, now the company's released Rabi Laby, a hybrid puzzle platform game that has players...
The doctor, the teacher and the saucier go head-to-head
1,090,400 points. That's the record to beat, set by the cheerful Dr. Hank Chien just last week. Now the New York plastic surgeon joins the double-decade champion and hot sauce tycoon Billy Mitchell and the mild-mannered schoolteacher who toppled his throne, Steve Wiebe, to duke it out for...
Review 7 Wonders of the Ancient World (DS)
Don't be fooled
There are many ways to play Bejeweled on the go, though when it comes to the DS catalogue, you're mostly looking at clones rather than the real deal. 7 Wonders of the Ancient World is one of those clones. It does more than just imitate the gold standard, however – it attempts to innovate as well. But what it adds to the mix takes...
Review Final Fantasy III (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Still one of the best RPGs to come out of the 16-bit era
What can you say about the Final Fantasy series that hasn't already been said a thousand times before? The titles have become one of the best-selling video game series in history and have been largely responsible for making the RPG genre so popular with fans across the globe. After having...
News Street Gangs Return in River City Ransom 2
NES classic gets sequelised
NES brawler River City Ransom is showing its age a little now, though it's still a fun little title, with fans of the game no doubt hoping the newly-announced sequel will feature the same quality playability. Miracle Kidz has proudly announced River City Ransom 2 is in development for home consoles this summer, with a...
News World's Finest to Compete This Weekend at the Kong Off
Join us for live coverage
You've seen the movies. You've read the interviews. You've designed the shirts. You've cheered for the former champion. And to top it off, the bar just got raised by 20,000 points. This weekend is what it's all been building up to: The Ko
Three in one
With so many puzzle games on DSiWare already, it's kind of hard to invent a completely new concept for your game. So why not combine the concept of several other games into one? Shapo is pretty much a combination of Lonpos, Tetris and Art of Balance, with key elements from each coming into play during the game. There's a classic and...
Review Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 3 (WiiWare)
The numbers game
It's now year 3, and Successfully Learning Mathematics to offer more maths-related madness with Freddy the Vampire. Previous games saw a competent mix of maths puzzles for the younger generation, with some bonus games thrown in. Year 3, for better or for worse, changes little in updating the series. Freddy the Vampire, an avatar...
Iit's veery goood!
Announced as it was all the way back in 2008, gamers can be forgiven for suspecting that Liight might, like so much vapourware before it, never have graced our Wii consoles. But this week, the long-awaited and oft-discussed game finally got its chance to shine. The good news is that the extended development time actually seemed...
Review 5-in-1 Mahjong (DSiWare)
Overlooking this would be mah-wrong
cerasus.media specialises in telling you exactly what you're getting and giving it to you with no frills. It's questionable that they'd apply that strategy to game that already has four versions available in the DSi Shop, three of which are also priced at 200 Points. Yet 5-in-1 Mahjong is probably the best of the...
Review Beauty Academy (DSiWare)
This could get ugly...
Recently, we at Nintendo Life reviewed Model Academy from developer Tivola. As a team with plenty of modelling experience between us, we felt well qualified to judge the merits of this title. Tivola have wasted no time releasing a follow-up title, Beauty Academy, and as regular patrons of beauty salons we once again take it on...
Review Plants vs. Zombies (DSiWare)
Plants vs. Zombies Lite!
PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies has been released on quite a number of platforms already, so it certainly wasn't a surprise to see the game make an appearance recently on Nintendo's DS system. But what does seem a bit surprising is that only two months later the company has now chosen to release a slightly stripped down version...
Review Heavy Fire: Black Arms (WiiWare)
Kill 'em all
Remember Heavy Fire: Special Operations, that on-rails military shooter that was kind of not good at all? Well, it got a sequel. Don't ask us how, but somehow it convinced enough people to plunk down their cash to be worth another go for developer Teyon. While it does delight us to say that there have indeed been a few tweaks for the...
Review Puzzle to Go Sightseeing (DSiWare)
Still no new sights to see here
We originally only got two Puzzle to Go games before the series took a break for about a year, but since its return we've now already very quickly gotten three more of them, including this newest release, Sightseeing. It should now come as absolutely no surprise that this instalment is once again pretty much exactly...
JellyCar or SmellyCar?
JellyCar 2 is a tricky one. It's a quality driving-platforming game with a variety of content; and while that really should be all that matters, the fact is you can download the game for $4 cheaper on an iOS and get more content. Paying more for less stinks. That's obvious. But if the DSi is all you've got, the fact remains:...
News Hank Chien Breaks Previous DK Record, Climbs Further Up the Ladder
The high score just got higher
To be the best you have to beat the best, even if that means beating yourself. On 27th February, current Donkey Kong champion Hank Chien did just that. Nearly a year after he originally broke the record for the highest score on a Donkey Kong arcade machine, the New York surgeon has surpassed his best score, making...
Review Successfully Learning Mathematics: Year 2 (WiiWare)
Do the math
For many years, even before the heady days of Mario is Missing, gaming has given something back to the community in the form of educational titles. Whilst rarely excellent in the traditional entertainment sense, they aim to integrate fun challenges with learning, thus creating the edutainment sub-genre. Successfully Learning Mathematics:...
News Artist Brushes Up on 8-Bit History With Unique NES Paintings
Every English-language game to get its own custom artwork
With the extensive catalogue of games that the NES has to offer, the collectors out there understandably try to get themselves a copy of each and every title. For artist Campbell Whyte, his mission is to paint every single one of them. Based in Perth, Australia, Whyte is in the process of...
News Mario Kart Without Items Isn't Mario Kart, That Includes the Blue Shell
Hideki Konno explains the importance of its inclusion
We can't expect franchises to stay the same forever, but when the crowd-dividing Blue Shell was introduced to the Mario Kart series back in Mario Kart 64, maybe not all of us expected it to stay through to the modern day instalments. Hideki Konno is one of the main players behind the series,...
Review GO Series: Earth Saver (DSiWare)
Simple and fun, though not earthshaking
We've already seen about half a dozen GO Series releases on DSiWare, each offering up an experience that revolves around simplicity from both a visual and gameplay standpoint. While the results from have been mixed, there have been a couple of releases that caught our attention and proved quite accessible and...
Tied to the rail tracks
Rango is a new CGI movie coming to a cinema near you. You gamers all know what that means, a video game tie-in! Rango is a chameleon that becomes stranded as the sheriff of a mini Wild West town populated by animals of the desert; snakes, lizards, rabbits and a mariachi band of owls. So far, so typical of a CGI movie. The...
Review Bomberman Hero (Virtual Console / Nintendo 64)
Bomberman flies solo
Apart from the very first game in the series, Bomberman has always been famed for its frantic, fast-paced, and, above all, fun multiplayer modes. Pretty much every single game starring the little guy has featured support for multiple players, with most of the Nintendo outings allowing four or five, and others like Saturn...
Third time the charm?
When the original PC title The Sims saw release, Maxis treated it as a spin-off of their popular SimCity franchise, the 3000 edition of which included a teaser for upcoming title SimMars. Before Will Wright could say "(insert Sim gibberish here)," though, it proved a sensational success both critically and...
Review Monster Buster Club (DSiWare)
Will the kids win or get busted?
The gargantuan success of the DS and subsequently the DSi has meant that the little handheld has become a prime device for games based on children’s television and film. The latest in the list of games targeting this audience has arrived on DSiWare, Monster Buster Club. Does this collection of mini games bring...
Review My Little Restaurant (DSiWare)
Diner Dash meets... Diner Dash
There's really no point in beating around the bush about it: My Little Restaurant is Diner Dash in disguise. In fact, if it wasn't for the different sprites, the two would be virtually indistinguishable. But while it's hard to sing praises to something so unoriginal, the fact still remains that as of now there's no...
Interviews Scroll's Ray Barnholt Talks SNES and New-Age Fanzines
Former 1UP staffer fills us in on what he's up to now
The humble fanzine harks back to an era when the net didn't exist and the most bits you could possibly hope for from a games console was 16. It's hard to appreciate this now, but back then these crude pen-and-paper creations were the ancestors of sites like the one you're reading right now;...
Features The History of BIT.TRIP, Part 3
In this installment, Gaijin explains their carefully laid plan for game four's runaway popularity, go through BIT.TRIP hell and reflect on the end of the series.
Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2 of our look at the history of BIT.TRIP and Gaijin Games. EYEBALL REVOLUTION: The team somewhat jokingly chalks RUNNER’s popularity, apart from being very...
Ready to score
Football (or soccer to our American readers) and role playing: it's not a combination that instantly springs to mind as the basis for a video game, but that's exactly what's on offer with Level 5's latest creation, Inazuma Eleven. Despite sounding like an odd mix that frankly should never be considered, the concept works incredibly...
Competition Winner Design the Official T-Shirt for Team Chien!
A smashing shirt
Around a month ago, Nintendo Life and Donkey Kong world champion Dr. Hank Chien teamed up to challenge you, the readers, to design the official Team Chien t-shirt. The response was overwhelming, but Dr. Chien was able to cut through the entries with surgical precision and pick a favourite. The winning design was submitted by user...
Review Pokémon Black and White (DS)
Black and White and good all over
Last year’s Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were just stopgap games to tide eager trainers over until the launch of Generation Five: Pokémon Black and White. Now the latest iterations in the series are here to eat up DS gamers’ spare time once again with a stack of new monsters and features. Set in the...
News Retro Gamer Celebrates the N64 with Special Issue
64-bit baby in depth
With Bomberman Hero arriving on Virtual Console today in Europe, the N64 is firmly back in many gamers' minds, while for some it never went away. This month's issue of Retro Gamer magazine is ideal for both, as it's a special collector's edition detailing Nintendo's 64-bit beauty in all its glory. Taking a look through the...
News Lend Your Voice to the Save Our Shining Force Campaign
It could make all the difference
Thanks to the wonders of the Virtual Console, many Nintendo gamers have been introduced to the wonders of Sega's Shining Force and Shining Force II games, but sadly the series hit hard times during the Sega Saturn days, causing developer Camelot to part ways with Sega, and the series has never recovered. Several...
More polarising than magnetic
Magnetic Joe first became popular as a mobile game back in 2006, using its simplistic control scheme and colourful visuals to garner a fairly decent audience over the years. Now the game has come to Nintendo's DSiWare service, and it remains very similar to its original incarnation. However, the "ball rolling"...
Review Arcade Essentials (WiiWare)
We’re gaming like it’s 1979
Before the modern era of electronic entertainment, a major venue for any gamer was the local arcade. These establishments were noisy fun factories featuring enough flashing lights to cause fits, homes to huge game machines that were simple and addictive – the perfect combination for separating you from your pocket...
February2011
News GameCube Tech Demo Shows Banjo Threeie in Action
What could have been...
N64 adventures Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo Tooie made plenty of fans back in their 64-bit heyday, but they never appeared on the GameCube. A threequel was planned but never released, but now unreleased game-finders par excellence Unseen 64 have posted a short video of the project. Shown off at Spaceworld 2000 before the...
Interviews Doctor Kong Director Alexis Neophytides
We catch up with Alexis and Hank at the film's Brooklyn premiere
The saga over high scores in Donkey Kong is no longer a tale of two dudes. While most of us came to know the world of modern day Donkey Kongers through the epic rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchelll, it wasn't long before a third player emerged out of left field. Hank Chien,...
Review Hyper Lode Runner (Game Boy)
An enjoyable and frustrating title
Arriving in 1983 the original Lode Runner was a platform puzzler that appeared on numerous systems of the time including the NES. More Lode Runner games followed on various platforms including Battle Lode Runner for the PC Engine, whilst the Game Boy's entry in the series was Hyper Lode Runner. The aim of the game...
Review Remote Racers (DSiWare)
Ready, set, no
Last year saw the release of both AiRace: Tunnel and AiRace, two fun and highly regarded aircraft racing games from QubicGames. This year, the folks who brought you those two gems are back and have taken to the ground with their latest release: Remote Racers. Taking on the role of miniature vehicles in big environments, does this...
Review My Little Baby (WiiWare)
Needs a time out
Simulation titles have come in all shapes and forms, from home decoration with Home Sweet Home to virtual fireplaces with Cosy Fire and many more. This time around we have My Little Baby, a simplified version of the DS retail title of the same name, where your aim is to raise and care for a baby. While it tries to present this...
News These Target Renders Reveal Gaijin's BIT.TRIP Visions
Get a peek at pre-development mock-ups of the first five games
Seeing how games develop over time is always of interest to us here at Nintendo Life, which is why we badgered BIT.TRIP developers Gaijin Games for an exclusive peek at some of their development documentation and how we wound up with these target renders for the first five games. These...
Review Faceez: Monsters! (DSiWare)
Faceez of evil
After last year's photo-fiddling app Faceez, Neko Entertainment has returned with a sequel of sorts, with a new twist. The question is, is this series worth revisiting? You wouldn't expect this to be anything but a short, fun experience for 200 Points, and thankfully it turns out to be just that, making great use of the DSi camera in...
Review Puzzle to Go Planets and Universe (DSiWare)
Not even if it was the last game on the planet
Tivola has three Puzzle to Go games under its belt already, with almost a year between the second and third instalments. The first two games were, understandably, very similar, but with almost a year between those and the third game, you'd think the team would've taken the time to refine some of the...
Review BIT.TRIP FLUX (WiiWare)
FLUXing good
With the BIT.TRIP series, Gaijin Games has somehow been able to take gamers back to the early days of video gaming while at the same time combining this nostalgic experience with a whole host of challenging and engaging gameplay elements. BIT.TRIP FLUX marks the sixth and final release of the series, and while it might look like little...
Review Arctic Escape (DSiWare)
Like Lemmings, but in formal wear
Arctic Escape revolves around guiding a group of adorable little critters past obstacles and away from fatal hazards, herding them in an orderly fashion through an exit so that the next stage can load and you can do it all over again. Sound familiar? It should: it's the gameplay formula that made the Lemmings series...
Review Pucca Noodle Rush (DSiWare)
Soba, so good
Korean cartoon character Pucca has appeared in two downloadable games in the last few weeks: first there was WiiWare adventure Pucca's Kisses Game and now DSiWare has got its own cutesy noodle simulator with Pucca Noodle Rush. It may not be the tastiest dish on the DSiWare menu, but those with an appetite for restaurant-based time...
Review Natsume Championship Wrestling (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Puts up a fight
It might seem strange that there has not been a single wrestling game on Virtual Console in the West so far, but when you really think about it, it makes sense. Almost every single wrestling title out there features the likenesses of real people, meaning it would take some serious effort and money to rerelease them. Games with...
Review G.G Series: Drift Circuit (DSiWare)
Slow-motion sickness
When it comes to the G.G Series, the plan is simple: choose a particular genre of gaming and produce an entertaining playing experience using not only a simplified musical and visual theme, but also a very basic set of play controls. So far that formula has worked well enough, but now this idea has been incorporated into the...
Feature Retrofitting Your Console for the HD Age
How to give your Wii and classic hardware a new lease of life
While the relentless march of progress ensures that modern gaming consoles — and the televisions upon which they are played — are able to offer pin-sharp HD picture quality, it's worth sparing a moment to consider where this leaves older machines, as well as the humble Wii — which...
Review Cricket Challenge (WiiWare)
Cricket hits the streets! Uh, sort of…
When the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Remote were unveiled, a lot of sporty gamers thought of one thing: Wii Cricket. Unfortunately, despite online petitions and campaigns in the system's early years, the perfect cricket experience on the console hasn't been forthcoming, even with the addition of MotionPlus in...
News Watch an NES Complete Super Mario Bros. All By Itself
Like a robot
Over the years we've seen people play Super Mario Bros. in some crazy ways: you can play Mario with Kinect, play Mario with your eyes and even, believe it or not, play Mario with your hands, like a baby's toy. They've all required some sort of human interaction, but not this latest Mario-related chicanery, which uses a robot to replace...
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