Retro - News
October2010
You got Franken in my Castlevania
There is some common confusion surrounding the tale of Frankenstein, namely the fact that Frankenstein is not really a monster, but rather the mad scientist who creates the bolted-neck creature. Developer MotiveTime avoids this common misstep in their game by simply combining the scientist and monster into the same character. The end result is a pajama-laden doctor..
News Read About the Birth of the Famicom in Latest Iwata Asks
Go right back to the start
Nintendo's Famicom is a piece of gaming history. The company's first cartridge-based gaming system, it set the revitalised the industry and set the standard for what was to follow. Satoru Iwata sat down with two of Nintendo's behind-the-scenes heroes for his latest "Iwata Asks" feature: R&D advisor Masayuki Uemura and former manager of the Corporate..
News Charity Marathon Sees Every NES Game Played Back to Back
Over 750 games in total
Mario, Zelda, Pokémon: these are all good themes for charity marathons, and have raised countless thousands of dollars for a range of charities. Playing every game in a particular series back-to-back is a big accomplishment, but how would you feel about playing every game available for a single console? If that console's the NES and you're Pat the NE
News Retro Computer Museum Event Incoming
UK-based retro gamers take note
Those of you with above-average memories will recall that we attended a Retro Computer Museum event a while back, and were blown away by the sheer magnitude of the vintage gaming hardware on display. If you gazed upon our coverage with envy, you'll be pleased to learn that another event is taking place at the end of this month. The venue is once again the sleepy..
The very definition of Boomshakalaka
Released amid a surge in the popularity of professional basketball during the early 1990s, NBA Jam rode the wave along with many other basketball video games. In spite of all the competition, it became a legend in its own time and is still remembered fondly today. Often sport-based games become obsolete a year...
Podcast NLFM Episode 9: Halloween Hootenanny
You don't need to be the master of unlocking to access these horror treasures
Boo! It's a regular fright fest in this episode of NLFM as we queue up some of our favorite horror game tracks. BEHOLD! the wonders of mad science gone wrong! GASP! at the children of the night! WONDER! how Chuck D. Head doesn't need more painkillers! RUN! from the Scissorman! Dare you listen? Dare you not? In case you've..
News The First Nintendo Console to Play DVDs was the NES
Well, sort of
The humble Nintendo Entertainment System has been everything from a lunchbox to a guitar, but for those who like the classic experience of putting media in and getting entertainment out will be intrigued by this latest mod that turns the console into a fully functioning DVD player. A little more complex than simply putting a DVD player...
A super-sized side-scrolling McVenture
The time from 1990 to 1994 was the golden age of games as starring vehicles for junk food mascots. Few remember, but some will never forget, the convoluted, hyper-caloric brilliance of Yo! Noid, Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool, and Cool Spot. Of the myriad snack-hocking titles, however, the super-sized, special sauce-soaked, Big Mac-Daddy of them all is..
Some things, it seems, never change
In Japan in 1996 a craze started; by the turn of the century, it had worked its way around the world capturing the hearts and minds of gamers as easily as a level 3 Rattata is caught in a Master Ball. That craze was Pokémon: Nintendo’s pocket monster catching/training/battling powerhouse. The two Game Boy...
Review Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality to see those who dwell behind
When Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was released, there was a glut of Mature-rated horror games on the market from which to choose. Between the endless sequels to Resident Evil, Silent Hill and others, it was easy to overlook this newcomer. But...
September2010
News October is Spook Month on Nintendo Life
Frightful Fridays and Scary Saturdays ahead
As we all know, October 31st is All Hallows Eve, popularly known as Halloween. It's a night when some of you will dress up in your favourite fear-inducing garb and haunt the town, others will dress up as well but instead go to screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and others still will stay home and watch Ernest Scared Stupid. It's also a month..
You won't get board of this one
Although Atlus is undoubtedly best known for its expertise in the field of RPGs, the Shinjuku-based company does occasionally try its hand at other genres. One such example is Snowboard Kids, released on the Nintendo 64 back in 1998 in cooperation with Japanese development studio Racdym. Best summed up as Mario Kart on snowboards, it's a cartoony arcade racer..
News Next Year Will See 750 Metroid Prime Gunships Landing on Desks
First 4 Figures continuing its Metroid Gunship Series
If the recent listing of the life-size Samus Aran promotion statue was too big for you to handle, then you might be interested in First 4 Figures' latest model in its Metroid Gunship Series as it's considerably smaller and won't be a nuisance when it comes to vacuuming. The Metroid Prime Gunship, as featured in Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime:..
News Miyamoto and Itoi Discuss Mario, Rubik's Cubes, TV and More
Top Nintendo designers shoot the breeze
Nintendo's Iwata Asks series has provided us with plenty of fascinating insights into the creation of the company's games, the minds of its creators and the creative spirit that defines its output. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo legends Shigesato Itoi (creator of the EarthBound games) and Shigeru Miyamoto sat down to speak..
News Super Mario Bros. was Gaming's Big Bang, says Kojima
"One of mankind's greatest creations," says great man
It's been 25 years since Super Mario Bros. hit the world of gaming, and its influence is still felt widely around the world. Konami legend and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is just one individual whose life was altered by the plumbing adventure. Kojima has said: With the creation of Super Mario Bros., Shigeru Miyamoto not only altered..
News Nintendo Turns 121 Years Old Today
That's old
It was on this day in 1889 that a playing card company opened up in Kyoto, Japan, headed up by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Its name was the Nintendo Playing Card Company – catchy, right? – that went on to become one of the world's biggest entertainment companies. If you want to know more about Nintendo's history, the excellent The History of...
The original Rayman
A few years before Rayman hit the scene, there was another lesser known platforming hero with floating hands and feet that he could throw at enemies. Created by John and Ste Pickford, two fairly well-known British video game designers, Plok is perhaps one of, if not the best, examples of a cult classic Super Nintendo platformer...
Interviews Brian Provinciano - Retro City Rampage
Vblank Entertainment's open-world game looks set to hijack your 8-bit heart
Grand Theftendo may have started out as a pet project of Vblank Entertainment's Brian Provinciano, but eight years later it's turned into one of the most intriguing games slated to hit WiiWare in the form of Retro City Rampage. The novelty of an 8-bit open-world game was...
News Catch a Live Stream of Symphonic Legends This Thursday Evening
Orchestral arrangements of classic Nintendo games
If you've not got any plans this Thursday night, then be sure to tune into a live stream of Symphonic Legends' orchestral renditions of classic video games. Produced by Thomas Boecker with Jonne Valtonen taking lead composer duties, the WDR Radio Orchestra will be performing at the Cologne...
News Aussies Can Share Their Favourite Mario Moments to Win a DSi XL
Red, blue or yellow up for grabs
North America's Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary site opened recently, and now Nintendo of Australia has launched its 25th Anniversary competition website offering one misty-eyed gamer the chance to win a brand new DSi XL. If your entry is selected as the best Mario memory, you could win a red, blue or yellow DSi XL as well as a copy of New Super Mario Bros.. Need..
News Steve Wiebe Reclaims Donkey Kong World Record
The high score merry-go-round keeps turning
Billy Mitchell, Hank Chien, Steve Wiebe: these men are the giants of Donkey Kong, throwing the world record around like a numerical barrel. Chien bested Mitchell, then Mitchell topped Chien, and now long-time underdog Steve Wiebe has reclaimed the top spot by a whisker. Mitchell's previous best stood at 1,062,800, with Wiebe's new world record reaching..
News Nab a Life-Size Samus Statue on eBay
Auction site sells heroine
Ever wonder what happens to all those amazing life-size statues and installations in game shops after they're taken down? They usually end up on eBay, of course. That's the fate of this Metroid statue created to promote celebrated first-person adventure Metroid Prime, currently on sale for a measly £65. Standing 190cm tall and weighing some 50kg, as you'd expect the..
A bumpy ride for Team Star Fox
Star Fox has an active history on the GameCube, first appearing on the console in the form of Star Fox Adventures back in 2001. It took on a whole new direction and saw Fox McCloud out of the cockpit for the first time in an on-foot adventure across Dinosaur Planet, and while the game received acclaim in some quarters,...
News Nintendo Declares Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Website Open
Due to be updated in coming weeks
First a logo, then a collector's edition pack; now the Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary celebrations get even wilder, with Nintendo of America rolling out website for the portly plumber's quarter-century. At the moment there's not really a lot to see other than a trailer and some pixel art, but Nintendo promises to make the website the centre of information for..
Feature How ColecoVision Became the King of Kong
How a trip to the toilet resulted in video gaming's greatest coup
When you think of the early '80s video game scene one name instinctively springs to mind: Atari. This pioneering firm had practically invented the concept of the interactive television experience, and its all-conquering VCS (also known as the 2600) was incredibly popular. Naturally...
Review Super Smash Bros. Melee
Better than Brawl?
We live in a world of advanced communication. We can be sitting in our living room in Columbus, Ohio and play a game of Call of Duty with our friends in Vietnam. We could even put a headset on and have a conversation with them while we do so. We can whip out our Nintendo DS consoles and play a game of Mario Kart against complete...
News Metroid 64 Was This Close to Existing
Not that close, actually
There was no Metroid game on Nintendo 64, Samus Aran skipping the console altogether save for a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Series creator Yoshio Sakamoto has revealed in an interview with UK magazine GamesTM that the heroine's history could have been very different, as Nintendo approached a third-party to develop...
News Game Over for Nintendo of America's Former Redmond Headquarters
The birthplace of Mario is no more
It's always sad to see something with so much history behind it get demolished in order for it to continue to progress. With the positive vibe that the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. has generated, it's a shame to see Nintendo of America's old Redmond, Washington offices; the birthplace of Mario, get bulldozed to the ground. A reader at CVG sent in pictures..
News Jonathan Ross's Ceiling Lights Up with Mario Sprites
Video of presenter's home shows sparkly ceiling
Jonathan Ross loves many things, not least of all Twitter and controversy, but he loves gaming as well. As part of this month's Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary the presenter has thrown open the doors to his gaming lair, showing not only his lack of progress on Super Mario Galaxy 2 but also his pi
News Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Means Euro Club Nintendo Gets Updated
Share your love for Mario and enter Nintendo's video competition
Anniversaries are wonderful and joyous occasions to celebrate with loved ones. What makes them better is if you can win prizes in the process too, and that's exactly what you can look forward to as Nintendo celebrates one of the biggest NES titles continuing to entertain having...
News Super Mario Collection Special Pack Revealed
Game details, box art, promo video and more
We've been bringing you all the news regarding the enticing yet vague announcement of the Japan-exclusive Super Mario Collection Special Pack, including a posting from an online retailer somewhat obliquely detailing its contents. Now comes the definitive announcement regardin
Features We Want Your NES Stories!
Tell us your 8-bit bits
October 18th marks the 25th birthday of the NES's North American debut, then only to a select number of cities, and we're celebrating by bringing you a veritable coin box of features and treats. And we want to make you, our beloved readership, a part of the celebration. We'll be running a feature that puts the spotlight on...
News Billy Mitchell Was Never the Donkey Kong Jr. Record Holder
Score was beaten before he started
Last month, Billy Mitchell beat Hank Chien's Donkey Kong score to reclaim his place at the top of the game's scoring girders. On the same day, he also felt like setting a new high score on Donkey Kong Jr., something we reported on last month. Now it transpires the latter record is not really a record at all, Mitchell's score having been beaten before the bearded..
News Nintendo Rolls Out Logo For Mario's 25th Anniversary
Most likely coming soon to a retro enthusiast near you
So Super Mario Bros. released on the NES in 1985. We ran out of fingers and toes trying to figure out how long ago that was, but our theory is 25 years. We feel pretty good about this theory in light of a recent trademark filing by Nintendo of this here image. It doesn't say "25"...
Podcast Episode 19 - So Long, Farewell
Full of audio treats you simply will not believe
The Nintendo Life podcast is taking a break for a little while, but this final-for-a-while show is crammed full of quality items. Terrible accents, anonymous listeners pretending to host talk shows about genitals – yes, really – and the culmination of Sean Aaron's interview with Gaijin Games's Chris Osborn, there's never been a more varied or..
Far less fiddly than magnetic travel chess
As all the cool kids know chess is a centuries-old strategic board game for two players, played on a eight-by-eight grid. You have 16 pieces that move in different ways, and you may have to plan several moves ahead if you are to successfully checkmate your opponent’s king. The Chessmaster offers fans a portable version of the game to enjoy with the..
News iFixit Tears the Virtual Boy Down to Prevent Gamers from Tearing Their Hair Out
All you need to know should you attempt to fix one
Why call out a plumber when you can fix the problem yourself? Why buy a sandwich when you can make your own for less? Perhaps more annoying than blocked u-bends and fancy lunches where the bread costs more than the meat is when electrical goods breakdown. Machines are supposed to just work – and when they don't, some of us consumers want to be..
News Rare Reveals Nintendo Wanted to Cancel GoldenEye
The Bond title nobody wanted but everybody loves
Ahh, GoldenEye 007: so many wasted hours, so many headshots, so many arguments over Oddjob. It all could have been so different had Rare acted on a letter sent by Nintendo that pulled the plug on the shooter. Speaking to British magazine EDGE, Studio Director Mark Betteridge revealed the team's initial trepidation when approached by Nintendo to..
August2010
News Twilight Princess with High Res Textures Looks Fantastic
Fan project shines the game up
Zelda: Twilight Princess is knocking on four years old now: a venerable granddaddy in the Zelda line, it's only natural it's starting to show its age. Talented chap AaronLite has injected the game with some virtual Botox in the form of high resolution textures that turn the blurry bridges, grass and rocks of Hyrule into sharp detail. Sadly as the project uses the..
News Show Your Love of Super Mario Bros. by Wearing It on Your Sleeve
Knitted tops officially licensed by Nintendo
T-shirts of things you like are ten a penny, but what about something a bit more warming? The Teami 2010 clothing catalogue has entered its first season and the range includes some retro-looking Mario sweaters; although the price-tag might having you tugging at your collar. Apart from being officially...
News Gunpei Yokoi Gets The Legacy Treatment
The father of handheld gaming gets remembered in a hands-on tribute
Gunpei Yokoi pretty much created the handheld gaming market. His line of Game & Watch systems eventually paved the way for Nintendo's full-fledged portable gaming system, the Game Boy, also created by Yokoi. Before making video games though, he created a slew of toys that helped...
Podcast NLFM Episode 8: Have You Heard Captain Falcon's Theme Song?
If you haven't then you're in for a real treat
Some video game themes are so iconic that it's impossible to not recognize where they're from, even if you haven't touched the game in years. Tetris. Super Mario Bros. Captain Falcon? While we're not saying his theme song is up there in the annals of game music legend, after this episode of NLFM, we're pretty confident that you won't look at the..
News Wanted: Your Memories of GoldenEye N64
Care to share your rose-tinted memories of the fabulous GoldenEye and become a video star?
Do you remember playing Goldeneye on the N64? Were you the sharpest shooter among your friends? Do you still think playing as Oddjob is cheating? Kream London is filming a new media project and is looking for outgoing groups of friends to talk about one of the best shooters of all time. For more information..
News Fifteen Years On, Chrono Trigger Collectables Emerge from the Portal
They're called Formation Arts, apparently
While Square Enix's other main RPG series have received countless merchandise tie-ins over the years, Super Nintendo RPG Chrono Trigger has always been a little thin on the collectables front. Fans of Crono and friends can soon bolster their collection with a range of new figures on the way later this year. Launching across North America in October and..
News Super Mario Bros. Movie Re-released on DVD, Spot the Difference
Clue: it's not the quality of the film
Feel like your DVD collection is missing something, but you're not sure what? Here's the answer: the newly re-released Super Mario Bros. Movie, available once again in glorious DVD-o-vision. First released on DVD back in 2003, the disc contained no extra features so surely a re-release would sort that, particularly considering the abundance of archive..
Simply out of this world
Poor old Lester Knight Chaykin (Les to his mates), an unwitting physicist, innocently went to put in some overtime in the lab during a thunderstorm one night. Who’d have thought that playing with a particle accelerator could magically teleport him to a strange alien planet when his lab gets struck by lightning? In the...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
Heroes on your handheld
Turtles, turtles everywhere. By 1990, you could find the four reptile ninjas not only in comics but on TV, t-shirts, toy store shelves and in theatres. Like the majority of the available products, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan was based on the popular cartoon and sees you battle across five levels to rescue captured reporter April O’Neil. All four of..
News Developers Make Famicom Games from Unreal Famicom Cartridges
It'll make sense soon
You might remember a story back in May about a Japanese art project where artists created fictitious Famicom cartridges to display their work. Here we are, three months later, bringing you news that some enterprising developers took the cartridges as inspiration to create games. Taking in cat-touching adventure Neco Touch, sloth simulator Namakemono – translated as..
News Planet Earth, Meet Your First Classic Tetris World Champion
It's Jonas Neubauer, and he's good
They came, they saw, they rotated and dropped and rotated again. The first-ever Classic Tetris World Championships took place in Los Angeles over the weekend, and 29-year old Jonas Neubauer walked away with the crown, statue and novelty-sized cheque. Beating over 200 players under the watchful eye of former...
News Start Saving as Famicom Box Surfaces on eBay
Rare machine up for grabs
Back in 1980s Japan, Nintendo's Famicom was doing the business, but the company wanted to get more gamers to experience what it could offer. The answer was the FamicomBox, a machine used by retailers to allow customers to try out a selection of Famicom games, with some models even featuring a coin slot to allow gamers to...
F-Zero is the name of the game, but will it also be the score?
In 2003 Nintendo’s premier racing series returned in superb style on the GameCube: F-Zero GX came out of the gate lightning fast, brutally hard and, rather oddly, developed by Sega. Made by Sega studio Amusement Vision, it marked the company’s first collaboration with Nintendo after...
News Billy Mitchell Back on Top of Donkey Kong
And Donkey Kong Jr for fun, too
You may remember a recent article about former Donkey Kong world champion Steve Wiebe's induction into the International Video Game Hall of Fame, which took place yesterday. The event will likely be remembered for another reason though – the return of Billy Mitchell as the Donkey Kong world record holder. Setting a...
Review Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy
Oh, we laugh at this game! Gradius is fine but this is nicer!
A fiendish giant octopus by the name of Zeo and his intergalactic mutant penguin mates are up to no good, wreaking havoc on the inhabitants of the Parodius Zone. Thankfully, help is at hand as Vic Viper, Pentarou the penguin, Twinbee and a gun-toting octopus have come to save the day. As a parody of Konami’s famous Gradius series, this..
News Clean Yourself with Retro Nintendo Carts
Zombies Washed My Neighbors
Many of you likely have collections of old Nintendo cartridges lying about; boxy relics of gaming's yesteryears great for some nostalgic fun. Still, there has always been one core functionality that these old carts lack: they don't clean dirt off your body. Well, Etsy shop DigitalSoaps aims to change all that with its...
News NES-Style DJ Hero is Bleeping Cool
It will rock you
DJ Hero may not be quite as iconic as its guitar-toting stablemate, but consider how different things might have been if the title had originated on the NES. Well imagine no longer, as the talented Eric Ruth has put together Pixel Force: DJ Hero to show exactly what it would look and more importantly sound like. Wondering when you...
Krud
Back, back, B. That’s the command that you need to enter to perform Scorpion’s spear move – but you have to do it slowly. Forget the quick tapping that you’d expect for a beat ‘em up, this is something with which you must take your time. It’s the same for all the special moves in the game, an irritant that’s just one of the many...
News Science Makes Another Huge Leap Through Super Mario Bros.
Control the plumber with only your eyes
We've had NES consoles controlled by peculiar pads in the past, one notable example being the Castlevania fan who used a dance mat, but what if you could play a similarly legendary, groundbreaking game without any controllers at all? No, we're not talking about Kinect, we're talking about Super Mario Bros. and...
News New World Record as Earthbound Completed in a PK Flash
6 hours, 38 minutes and 16 seconds, to be precise
Earthbound is highly regarded, and rightly so: even to this day it captivates gamers the world over (apart from many in Europe, where it was never released.) One gamer who loves it more than most is speed runner Chris Corsi, who just set the Twin Galaxies-approved World Record for the fastest...
Holy platforming joy!
Gotham City is not a safe place to live. Goons and robotic drones roam the streets shooting anything in sight, gun turrets fire on people and heavy objects randomly fall from the sky. If the citizens of Gotham somehow manage to survive all that, they have to contend with the fact that the city was designed and built by prats,...
News These Nintendo Demakes are Adorable or Awesome or Both
You decide
Remakes are big business these days – NBA Jam and GoldenEye 007 are just two on the way later this year – but demakes are growing in popularity. These old-school versions of modern franchises are often mocked up just to look awesome, and talented Way of the Pixel member junkboy has a skill to top most. Created for Swedish gaming...
July2010
Transform and tear your hair out
The magical mystery core has been stolen and taken away. The Aki-Do forces are the ones responsible and naturally they've split it in to five parts and scattered them across the galaxy. But forget that cobblers, the cool part about Vortex is that you take control of the Morphing Battle System which as the name...
News Get Immortalised in a Tetris Tournament Documentary
If you're good with blocks, that is
Tetris is as iconic and highly-regarded now as at any time during its twenty-year lifespan, and a new World Championship and related documentary is set to keep the classic lines-and-blocks title fresh in the mind. If you want to put your money where your blocks are, the Classic Tetris World Championship will take place in Los Angeles on August 8th, with entry a..
News Swedish Chiptune Organ Sounds as Awesome as Can Be
Even better thanks to awkward commentary
If you listen to our chip and game music podcast NLFM you've not only proven yourself to be a gamer of outstanding taste, you'll also appreciate how intricate and enjoyable chip music can be. Despite severe technical constraints, many gamers' favourite tunes stem from those 8-bit days, and one such dedicated gamer is Linus Åkesson, inventor of the..
News Not Tetris Looks Like Tetris But is Not Tetris
Got it?
With its 90-degree turns and grid-based gameplay, Tetris takes a few liberties with the laws of physics (not to mention why these blocks are dropping and disappear once adjoined.) But what if its physics were a little more fluid; a little more unforgiving? That's what Not Tetris is all about. A free PC download, Not Tetris is all about smooth movements and watching as your blocks hopelessly..
Podcast NLFM Episode 7: User-Generated Content
Listener contributions, confusing homophones and Team Fortress 2 secrets revealed!
Oh hi, didn't see you come in there. Stay a while, and listen! Turns out we've got some fine musicians in the audience as we take a look to some listener-created tunes. We've also got a few select choices from The Megas, The World Ends With You, and the song that Akira Yamaoka would like blaring as he leaves this..
Review Atari Anniversary Advance
A nice sampler of classic greatness
When you open the arcade gaming history books to the early years, they should feature the name "Atari" in big, bold letters. Though strongly associated with home consoles in later years, Nolan Bushnell started this gaming empire in the arcades with games like Pong and Breakout (the assembly of the latter...
News This Zelda Paper Animation is Awesome, Hilarious, Frightening
Run the gamut of emotions
A slice of Zelda humour that doesn't play on the well-trodden "it's dangerous to go alone" joke is worth a hundred Rupees, so this series of paper animations that portray Link as an unruly creep is worth about ten times that amount. From smashing up a man's house to exacting his revenge on Navi at last, Link's adventures in 2D are well worth watching right..
News Thirty Years of Nintendo Handhelds Stem from Make-Up Cases
Clamshell design inspired by compacts
The most recent Iwata Asks article is a fascinating insight into the development of the Game & Watch series, showing off unseen design documents and now revealing the origins of the system's iconic style that lives on through Nintendo's current and next-gen handhelds. But where did the folding feature originate? In the gaming world's most natural partner of..
News Steve Wiebe to Enter the Video Game Hall of Fame
DK master honoured
Former holder of the Donkey Kong World Record and Nathan Fillion lookalike Steve Wiebe is about to receive another accolade by being inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame. Mr Wiebe, who once held the score record that now rests with Hank Chien, is being recognised for his arcade accomplishments and will join 28...
News These Game & Watch Documents are All Kinds of Amazing
Black and white and oh so right
Currently enjoying a resurgence due to many rereleases on DSiWare, Nintendo's portable Game & Watch consoles are the subject of the latest Iwata Asks over at Nintendo Japan's site. Most of the development team, minus the late Gunpei Yokoi, dropped by on Mr Iwata to chat about these seminal titles and hardware and brought along some unseen documents detailing..
News Hey Square Enix, Let Obsidian Develop a Chrono Trigger Sequel
Western developer up for a sequel
Square Enix's Super Nintendo RPG Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece of storytelling and revered by Nintendo fans around the world, and Western developer Obsidian Entertainment thinks it could do a good job of updating the series. The studio behind Neverwinter Nights 2 and the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas has recently signed up to develop a new entry in Square Enix's..
June2010
News Brace Yourself for the Best Super Famicom T-Shirt You'll See Today
Japanese Super NES shirt all kinds of cool
If you like your gaming t-shirts, there's no finer feeling than finding fancy new threads, and thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of Nintendo you're never likely to be short of choice, and here's another one to add to your shopping list. Based on the classic Super Famicom, the "Ultimate 16-Bit Machine", the shirt looks fairly ordinary from..
Magic is on the cards
FTL's seminal RPG Dungeon Master kick-started an entire genre when it was released at the tail-end of the '80s; the gaming public fell in love with the concept of immersive, first-person adventures and developers fell over themselves to replicate the same atmospheric feel witnessed in the Atari ST classic. It wasn't just...
News This Beatboxer Has Clearly Played A Lot of Mario Games
Japanese musician performs some impressive beat-coin-boxing
We've seen some interesting 8-bit musical adaptations before, but Japanese beatboxer Hikakin has done the reverse, emulating classic Mushroom Kingdom melodies with nothing more than his mouth / throat combination. It's Rahzel meets Miyamoto in this incredibly impressive display of vocal...
News Optimus Prime Talks About Being the First Voice of Mario
Peter Cullen reminisces about lending his vocal talents to the world's most famous plumber
Legendary voice actor Peter Cullen - who has recently lent his talents to Activision's upcoming Transformers title War for Cybertron (also known as the slightly less threatening Cybertron Adventures on Wii) was interviewed by Wired.com the other day and revealed some interesting insights into providing..
News Cezkid Puts a New Spin on Retro Characters
Watch your favourite 8-bit sprites do the 360
It's always nice to see programmers recreate retro gaming in some way or another and Jay Pavlina's 'reinterpretation' of the iconic Super Mario Bros. was easily one of the coolest things we'd seen in a while. Cesar Enrriquez (cezkid) has taken a slightly different approach as he has steadily been recreating various video game characters from the 8-bit..
News Iwata's 3D GameBoy Advance is in a Drawer Somewhere
Prototype console hidden amongst socks
Nintendo's interest in 3D graphics stretches far back in time, from the days of the Virtual Boy to the newly-unveiled 3DS. They may have been the only two 3D machines to reach consumers, but that doesn't mean they're the only ones Nintendo cooked up, as an interview with CEO Satoru Iwata reveals. During development of the GameBoy Advance the company added a..
News Turns Out Shigeru Miyamoto Does Like Donkey Kong Country
Miyamoto clears things up once and for all
Following on from the E3 announcement of Donkey Kong Country Returns, it seems that something Shigeru Miyamoto had said in the past about the SNES original has re-surfaced. In a recent interview with IGN, Miyamoto cleared up the situation surrounding claims that he didn't like Donkey Kong Country, despite his involvement in the game's development. The..
Go Go!! 2D Treasure Makers
With a US release in 1997 Mischief Makers, or Go Go!! Trouble Makers in Japan, was not only an early example of a N64 centric side-scrolling 2D platformer, it also successfully made its mark in gaming history by being the first Treasure game to land on a Nintendo platform. However, it would be shallow to describe Mischief...
This being a great game is no illusion
In the early days of the SNES, Enix made the beloved action RPG Soul Blazer. A strange but incredibly effective mixture of RPG and very light town-building elements resulted in one of the system's most underrated games. Although the game itself did not sell too well, Enix decided to try again, making a spiritual sequel with very loosely linked gameplay and..
Feature Hyperkin Retron3 Console Review
The unholy three-in-one
Those of you with sharp memories will recall that we reviewed the Retro Duo console a few months back and were quite impressed with the system's power to grant new life to dusty old Nintendo cartridges. We've since been sent yet another of these "clone" systems to take a look at, but this time there's a twist - instead of just playing SNES and NES titles, the..
Feature The Making of Jet Force Gemini - Part Two
In the second and final part of our N64-themed making of, we look at the critical and commercial impact of one of Rare's best action titles
One of the most refreshing aspects of Jet Force Gemini was the way in which the player’s progression throughout the various levels was handled; initially, the only character available is Juno, but eventually other heroes are added to the roster, each faced..
News Gawp at these First Ever Screenshots of Sonic the Hedgehog
All the way from 1990
Twenty years ago, Sega showed off its bold new mascot for the first time at the Tokyo Toy Show. He may only have been two months old, but Sonic the Hedgehog was already walking and wagging his finger as these scans from 1990's EGM 13 show. Even with twelve months of its development cycle left, it's remarkable how much of the game's iconic graphical style was nailed-down:..
News Rare Confirms It is Not Working on Activision's Rumoured GoldenEye Game
Not what fans want to hear
Rare was undoubtedly one of the brightest stars back in the Nintendo 64 era and with two top-quality first-person shooters alone tucked under its belt, a selection of compelling 3D platformers and of course, the much-loved Donkey Kong 64; it must have been difficult for Nintendo to let go and eventually sell its stake in the company. It must have been even more difficult..
Feature The Making of Jet Force Gemini - Part One
In the first of a two-part feature, we go behind the scenes on what is regarded by many as the N64's finest action title
Back in the late ‘90s being an N64 owner was a testing experience. Having to listen to your Playstation-owning chums constantly droning on about Lara Croft and Solid Snake was enough to put any Nintendo devotee in a bad mood, but the general lack of quality software towards the..
May2010
News Mario Jumps Over Flag, Ends Arguments Forever
It's real: see it with your own eyes
Yes he can; no he can't. Yes he can; no he can't. Anyone who grew up with the NES will know this as the sound of the playground's "is it possible to jump over the flag?" argument that ran all over the world. Now those who were on the "yes he can" side should pick up their phones and ring old enemies to rub salt in the wound: Mario, in fact,..
News Lords of Shadow to Feature Classic Nintendo Castlevania Music
Super Castlevania IV's brilliant soundtrack is coming back from the dead
Castlevania producer David Cox has tweeted that the upcoming PS3/360 title Lords of Shadow is to feature classic tunes from older instalments of the series - more specifically the fourth title, which appeared on the SNES in 1991. Here's the tweet: Today I heard the waterfall music from Super Castlevania 4 fully orchestrated..
Space, monsters and boss battles, oh my
It's been a while, space cats, but NLFM is back with another mighty handsome selection of the finest chip and game music around. This time we're splitting chip tunes and swirling epics right down the middle, with equal parts fantastic on both sides. NLFM generally focuses on music from games playable on Nintendo consoles and handhelds, which, thanks to the..
Another Capcom classic
With various versions of Street Fighter II, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a bunch of Mega Man games and two exclusive Final Fight sequels, the SNES was a good machine to own for Capcom fans. They also released many other games on the platform including U.N. Squadron, a frantic side-scrolling shooter originally released in arcades in...
News Mark Ronson Mixes Legend of Zelda with New Video
Spot the references in this one
Mark Ronson's made a bit of a name for himself remixing and revamping other artists' tracks, so it's no surprise to see the video for his new track Circuit Breaker take inspiration from other sources. Nobody expected it to borrow so heavily from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, though. With a distinctive-looking overworld, green-capped hero and what looks..
News MadWorld Director's Tango Appointment Has Nothing to Do with Dancing
The Capcom vein runs deep
It's always sad when a developer leaves a company responsible for giving us one of the more original and much-needed shake-ups in the Wii's library of games, but it's also interesting to see where they end up going. Shigenori Nishikawa, director of MadWorld, is to leave Platinum Games for a position at Tango, Shiji Mikami's Tokyo-based development studio. Mikami was one of..
News Fan-Made Fighter Video Shows Classic Characters' Violent Sides
Nintendo, Hudson Namco and Konami all get in on the act
A good fan-made video brightens up the dullest of days, but one that sees Kirby digest a monkey, Link fire a bazooka and Michael Jackson appear as the ultimate end boss? It's like your birthday and Christmas all at once. That's The King of Famicom for you, a fan video showing classic characters squaring off with some rather unusual powers to..
News Kick Back and Relax with Some Super Mario Kart Jazz
The OneUps take guitars, organs, flute to classic soundtrack
Since Super Mario Kart launched on the European Virtual Console just a few weeks ago we've had those catchy ditties stuck in our heads all over again. Imagine our joy, then, when we stumbled upon a fully re-recorded and rather lovely-sounding soundtrack from The OneUps. Taking ten classic...
News Unreal Famicom Games are... Well, Unreal
Famicase project shows off 2010 line-up
The humble Famicom cartridge may not seem like the perfect canvas on which to create art, but every year Japanese game shop Meter hosts Famicase, a project aiming to prove just the opposite. Artists are asked to create artwork for a fictitious game and display it on a Famicom cart, and predictably the results range from the brilliant to the bizarre. If you're..
News Unfinished Virtual Boy Game Bound High Finally Released
Unfinished title sees the red light of day at last
There's nothing we love more here at Nintendo Life than a good story of triumph against the odds: a plumber defeating a fire-breathing lizard; a hedgehog stopping the plans of an evil genius; and the continued hard work of ardent fans that finally saw Bound High, an unreleased Virtual Boy game, to a playable status. A few years ago, the game's..
April2010
News Fancy Playing Super Mario Bros. With Other Nintendo Characters? Now You Can
Mario gets by with a little help from his friends
Overly-creative gamers may, from time to time, wish that protagonists from different games would swap roles and see if the grass is indeed greener. We've often wondered what it would be like to have a Mario-centric GTA-style game, complete with unsavoury weapons and potty mouth. Well now it seems that a keen gamer has done his own 'mash-up' of..
News A $50,000 Cure for Virtual Boy Headaches
Play it on the TV with this handy accessory!
3D gaming is on the cusp of being cool again after some of the remarkable damage done to its reputation by Nintendo's less-than stellar Virtual Boy machine. The onset of eyestrain and headaches did the machine no favours, but if you've picked one up and fancy playing it on a more comfortable surface, such as your prize gaming TV, your time has come..
News The Real Mario's Yearbook Photo is Unearthed
Along with details of his past
Back when Nintendo was still trying to gain a foothold in the US market the company rented a warehouse owned by a fellow called Mario Segale. Legend has it that NOA President Minoru Arakawa was taken aback by the similarity between Segale and the lead character of Donkey Kong - an arcade title which Nintendo was preparing to launch at the time. With the character..
News Dedicated Castlevania Fan Beats NES Version With Dance Mat
Virtual Console port is bested using some smooth moves
Those of you brave enough to have downloaded the Virtual Console port of the original NES Castlevania will be aware that the game is hard. As in tough-as-old-boots hard. Here at Nintendo Life Towers we've lost count of the number of NES pads we've broken over the years attempting to put Drac...
News NES Autographed by Miyamoto Sells for Just $1000
And not a penny more
How much would you pay for a working Nintendo Entertainment System signed by Shigeru Miyamoto? $1,000? More? If you answered the latter, you've missed your opportunity to bid on this item, sold today on eBay for just a cool thousand. Of course, the buyer may just put the system up for auction again, as surely someone would be willing to pay more. If you're that person, keep..
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