Retro - News
December2015
News Tsunekazu Ishihara on How Iwata Helped Bring the Pokémon Series to the West
Good guy Iwata
Though it seems to have levelled out somewhat in recent years, there's no denying that Pokémon is one of the most recognised and prolific Nintendo brands around. It seems that this almost wasn't the case, though, as Tsunekazu Ishihara recently revealed in an interview with 4Gamer. Apparently, Pokémon was initially going to stay...
Weirdness Gamer Keeps Super Famicom On For 20 Years To Preserve Umihara Kawase Save Data
That's over 180,000 hours
Back in the days when cartridges used batteries to store save data, your precious save files would only remain in existence as long as the battery itself had juice - when the power ran out, the data was lost forever. Collectors of retro games will know this fact all too well; many RPGs from the '80s and '90s are now...
Random Here's Where All the Koopalings Got Their Names
Another mystery solved
The Koopalings are a colorful and varied cast of characters that add a nice layer of personality to the Super Mario series. The seven characters are all wacky in their own way and, oddly enough, they technically aren't Bowser's children. Nonetheless, they have nothing but mischief on their minds and they offer up some pretty...
Feature Why We're Still Playing... Metroid Fusion
Mitch Vogel on how this portable title improved upon its predecessor
This is a series of features focussed on games that we keep playing again and again, either over an unhealthy number of hours or those that keep getting return visits long after they first graced our systems. After the release of Super Metroid on the SNES, it seemed that the...
Video Check Out This Substantial Breakdown of The Legend of Zelda
Delving into the detail
Though we didn't have a full new Legend of Zelda adventure to enjoy this festive season - unless you just started Tri Force Heroes - such is the depth and history of the franchise that there are plenty of titles to take on when on holiday. It's one of Nintendo's most treasured IPs, and a definitive part of pop-culture around...
Feature What If The SNES PlayStation Had Actually Happened?
We idly speculate on what could have been
From now until the start of the new year we're going to be republishing some of what we feel are our best features of 2015. Hopefully this will offer the chance for newer readers to catch up on content they might have missed and allow long-time fans to reacquaint themselves with features they enjoyed the...
News Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection Pre-Orders Go Live Next Month
Starting 2016 with a bang
Back in October, we delivered the happy news that Stuart "Super Famicom Guy" Brett's Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection had found a publisher and would be coming to store shelves in the near future. Bitmap Books has now revealed that pre-orders will open on January 2nd, giving you something to look forward to early in...
Video Ghostbusters, Batman, Police Academy Toys And Nintendo - Say Hello To Christmas, 1989 Style
iretrogamer.com's Tyler Esposito shares another home movie
1989 was a vintage year. Not only did it give the world Tim Burton's Batman and Ghostbusters II, it saw the release of the Sega Genesis and Game Boy in North America. It was also a big year for iretrogamer.com founder and occassional Nintendo Life contributor Tyler Esposito - then a...
Video Rare Shows Off Footage of Dream, The Banjo-Kazooie Predecessor That Never Saw Release
No, you're not dreaming
Though it's now owned by Microsoft and far removed from its days of dominance developing exclusives for SNES and Nintendo 64, Rare has a special place in the hearts of many Nintendo fans. It's an iconic studio and, as a result, its story has various facets and mysteries that remain the talk of retro gamers. One game that's...
Video Fans List Their Favourite Star Wars Games, Nintendo Titles Feature Heavily
Memories from the premiere
Those of you who have been living under a rock for the past month might be shocked to learn that a new Star Wars movie has just hit cinemas. Our friends over at iretrogamer.com attended a special showing at the Alamo Drafthouse in Houston, and decided to ask some fans which Star Wars video games they held closest to their...
Video Behind The Scenes On The GameCube Star Wars Rogue Leader Games
Stay on target
The world is going Star Wars-mad at the moment, what with The Force Awakens hitting cinemas this week. To mark the event, Nintendo Life contributor Gonçalo Lopes has uploaded the behind-the-scenes documentaries which were included on Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike as...
News The Retro VGS Is Reborn As The Coleco Chameleon
Industry veteran behind the Colecovision reenters the console market
Remember the Retro VGS? It was a console that looked a lot like the Atari Jaguar and aimed to bring back the glory days of cartridge-based gaming. However, its crowdfunding campaign faltered and the project was effectively put on ice - although the team of industry veterans behind...
Random Turok Remaster on PC Opts for a Prehistoric Look
More fog required
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on the Nintendo 64 is an interesting title in the history of the FPS genre; it played its part, alongside much-loved contemporaries like GoldenEye 007, in pushing first-person shooters onto another level. It arrived early on the system - when its library was still tiny - and generated a lot of buzz. Modern...
Video Your Washed-Up Parent Can't Handle Modern Games So Get Them A NES This Christmas, Says eBay
"THIS is a video game!"
eBay may primarily be about the buying and selling of second hand goods, but that doesn't mean the company is going to sit back and miss out on the retailing frenzy that is Christmas. With that in mind, the firm has published a commercial which focuses on how it can enliven the festive period of gamers, but in our eyes it's a...
Video Check Out the Super Mario Bros. 3 Port That Never Was
What could've been...
For those of you that have been playing video games for several decades, you probably remember the glory days of id Software. Beginning its work on the PC, the studio is arguably responsible for the modern shooter genre, with games such as Quake, Wolfenstein, and Doom all being products to emerge from the studio. While shooters...
Feature Wrestling On The Cube: A Complete History
From WWE to Ultimate Muscle, and Beyond
Ah, wrestling… one of our oldest guilty pleasures. That peculiar sport / reality show / soap opera is filled with ups and downs and this pattern is somewhat mirrored by its video game counterparts. After dusting off the trusty GameCube and taking a look at the extensive number of wrestling games of its...
Video Take a Look at the Famicom 3D System
Surprisingly cool for the time
The 3DS has now been on the market for over four years, in that time making use of auto-stereoscopic 3D in a lot of games. After the original models suffered from a narrow viewing angle the New 3DS has delivered more stable 3D, so in this time of Nintendo's improved and solidified the technology it can be interesting...
Random Disney Engineers Play NES Classics In Innovative Fashion
8-bit, 8-player, 8-projector madness!
Disney has always been known for its innovative flare, including within the videogame industry through its licenses and Disney Infinity titles. However, Disney Infinity is not the topic of discussion here, for the Disney Research team has revolutionised a way of revisiting NES classics in the form of...
Hardware Review Cyber Gadget Retro Freak
Freakishly good?
You should never underestimate the power of old games. When the Retro Freak was announced earlier in the year it triggered quite a stir online - a remarkable feat when you consider that the company behind it, Cyber Gadget, is a tiny and largely unknown Japanese outfit. The system's retro-gaming potential ensured that it set many...
Video Catch Up on Some Glitches, Trivia and Easter Eggs for Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda
Some may even surprise you
As another weekend draws to a close it can be nice to catch up with some retro classics and fascinating facts. With Super Mario having its 30th Anniversary this year and The Legend of Zelda due to hit the same landmark in 2016, they seem like good topics. Once again the Did You Know Gaming? YouTube channel has been...
Feature The Making Of Red Alarm, The Virtual Boy's Answer To Star Fox
"It seemed the game had drawn a lot of attention within Nintendo"
This piece appears in full in John Szczepaniak's Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 2, and is republished in part with kind permission. This interview signifies how unpredictable journalism can be. I was sitting in the Agatsuma office interviewing Yasuo Nakajima, and...
Random The Super Mario Bros. Ground Theme Has Actual Lyrics
You don't have to just hum it anymore!
Super Mario Bros. was a trailblazer for video games in numerous ways, one of which was the iconic soundtrack that backed the whole game. Particularly, the original "World 1-1" theme has passed on into legend at this point; arguably one of the most recognizable tunes in gaming and one that has been remixed...
News Console Modder Zoki64 Is Back With Another Super Mario-Themed SNES
To mark 25 years of Super Mario World
This year marks 3 decades of Super Mario goodness, and famed console modder Zoki64 decided to celebrate that fact with a gorgeous custom SNES system. This year is also the 25th birthday of Super Mario W
November2015
News Music Producer Hardwell to Perform a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remix at The Game Awards
"There are similarities between dance music and video games"
The Game Awards are coming up this week, and in addition to world premieres - of which we're hoping there'll be some for Nintendo fans to enjoy - there'll be the actual giving of awards and some musical performances. Prior to now both CHVRCHES and deadmau5 have been confirmed, and now we...
News Shigesato Itoi on the Mother Series' Popularity, Denies Mother 4
Apparently, making Mother 4 would be like running a marathon with no breath
The Mother series is perhaps most notable for breaking from JRPG tradition by telling a tale led by children in the modern day. The quirky humor present is an additional bonus, setting the whole experience in a rather bizarre and somewhat dry tone. At any rate, there are...
News This Limited Edition Luigi's Mansion Game Boy Horror Has Been Reanimated For A Good Cause
"Hello...?"
If you're a fan of collectable custom hardware and like the idea of helping a worthy cause, then you might be interested in purchasing one of ten limited edition "Game Boy Horror" handhelds from 8-Bit Evolution - the same talented people who created the fantastic Smash Bros. N64 we featured a while back. Mimicking the handhe
Video Did You Know Gaming? Covers Golden Sun
Still waiting on part 4, Camelot
As a few of you are likely aware, Nintendo has a small JRPG franchise called Golden Sun that's actually pretty good. It's developed by Camelot, a studio that also works with Mario sports spinoffs. Though there's only three entries in Golden Sun (technically two, due to how the first two were initially one game), the...
News 8 Bit Music Power is a New Famicom Release, Due Out 31st January
The first release in 21 years
The Famicom was a trailblazing console in many ways, virtually paving the way for a successful game industry after many thought it would fade away. Nonetheless, the console is a product of the early 80's and has since been succeeded by numerous consoles that have gone on to achieve bigger and better things. Although the...
Weirdness Someone Has Created A Real-World HUD For Super Mario 64
Just because they can
The rebirth of Virtual Reality in the games industry is blurring the lines between the real world and fantasy, offering an immersive experience which - as time goes on - could become indistinguishable from reality. But that's not the only way that video games and real-life can mix with one another - electronics hacker James...
Video This Is What An All-3D Version Of Chrono Trigger Could Look Like
Fan-made in Unreal Engine 4
Chrono Trigger is one of the most beloved RPGs of all time, but aside from DS and smartphone re-releases, Square Enix has been curiously reluctant to leverage the popularity of the game. The prospect of a totally remastered edition of the time-travelling fantasy epic will have most fans drooling with anticipation, and...
Book Review The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 2
"I hit my head against the monitor hard enough to make the screen crack"
The term "labour of love" is often bandied around in media circles, usually relating to a personally important project by an artist writer, and while it's possibly overused in some cases, it most certainly applies to John Szczepaniak's quest to chart the hitherto unseen history...
Video Hands On With The Revo K101 Plus, The Ultimate Game Boy Advance Clone
Clone in the dark
Veteran members of the site may recall that we reviewed the Revo K101 Plus a few months back, and found it to be an excellent means of playing old and dusty Game Boy Advance software on more recent hardware. The system has been tinkered with and improved of late, with better controls and a fancy new transparent case design - so we...
News The NES Joins The High Definition Era With This Awesome HDMI Mod
Back to the future
A HDMI mod is already in the works for the N64, and allows you to get the best possible picture out of the vintage system. However, that's not the only modification which brings retro hardware bang up to date - there's a similar mod available for the older NES which performs the same trick. Available via Game-Tech, the Hi-Def NES...
"Oh, what, Mega Man 3's out? Yeah, we don't have that one yet."
Before the internet came along and made sure that every possible hint, tip and cheat was just a Google search away, players relied on magazines and telephone lines for their gaming wisdom. In North America, Nintendo's Powerline game play counselors became almost God-like thanks to...
News The Super Famicom is 25 Years Old
16-bit beauty
The 21st of November, 1990, was a day of commotion in parts of Japan; namely those that were around electronics shops. This was the day Nintendo launched the Super Famicom, a 16-bit system that has since found its place within gaming history and atop many's lists of greatest consoles. Only two games launched with the Super Famicom,...
"The next thing I knew Blast Processing was born"
Those old enough to recall the bitter 16-bit console war of the early '90s will be all too aware of how heated the battle got between Sega and Nintendo. The two firms were scrapping for domination in the burgeoning home console arena, and used every possible marketing weapon available to them to gain...
Retro Classic NES, SNES And N64 Controllers Get Stripped Down For Inspection
The evolution of play
Nintendo's story could be seen as the story of the games industry as a whole, certainly from an interface perspective. The company's NES console introduced domestic players to the D-Pad (first used on the 1982 Game & Watch Donkey Kong) and more than one action button, while the SNES a
Video Remembering Bubsy The Bobcat, The 16-bit Mascot Nobody Asked For
"What could possibly go wrong?"
Remember Aero the Acrobat? Awesome Possum? How about Wonderdog? The 16-bit era was flooded with such me-too mascots from a wide range of publishers, largely spurred on by the incredible success of Sonic and Mario. As is the case when a single idea takes over the market, there simply wasn't enough of an audience to...
Art If Nintendo Did Resurrect The Game Boy, We'd Want It To Look Like This
Past and present
The Game Boy line may be effectively retired in Nintendo's eyes, but the name itself still carries a lot of weight with gamers all over the world - including German designer Florian Renner, who has put together a cool concept which resurrects the classic brand for the modern era. The Game Boy 1up is of course nothing more than a fe
Hardware Review Gamepad Digital GPD XD
That design reminds us of something
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when you're creating mass-market electronic devices, slavishly cloning the work of others usually lands you in costly lawsuit - just ask Samsung and Apple. However, there are a multitude of hardware makers working out of China which are small enough to operate...
Video Learn a Little More About Chrono Trigger
Courtesy of Did You Know Gaming?
When any conversation turns to the 16-bit era and classic RPGs, Chrono Trigger naturally gets mentioned. It's a stone-cold classic, undoubtedly, and turned 20 years old this year. As a fondly regarded SNES title - which also had a DS release - it's now been given the treatment by Did You Know Gaming?, the YouTube...
Random Check Out This Saxophone Cover of the Link's Awakening Overworld Theme
Looks like this guy found the Ninth Instrument of the Sirens
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was certainly one of the weirder entries in the Legend of Zelda franchise. What started as an off the books side project by a few developers on the team quickly turned out to be one of the most memorable entries in the series, with the mysterious...
News Unseen64 Reveals Information on Game Zero, a Sandbox GameCube Game from Former Rare Staff
Looks kind of like a Minecraft precursor
Unseen64 is always digging up interesting facts and trivia about games that never got released and they've recently followed through yet again with another cool project that unfortunately didn't get to see the light of day. The project was to be developed by Zoonami, a studio composed of ex-Rare staff, but...
News SNES Title Super Star Wars Coming to PS4 and Vita
Blasphemy!
Well, it's happened. The PS4 and Vita may have a cooler Virtual Console release than Wii U and 3DS this week - well, sort of. Super Star Wars, the extremely tricky but fun SNES action platformer is coming to the PS4 and Vita in this week's North American PSN update, though it'll have some neat extras. From the PlayStation Blog:...
Woodn't you like one of these?
There aren't enough consoles made out of wood, in our opinion. Sure, the Atari VCS had pretend wood on its front and the guys over at Analogue Interactive have spoiled us rotten with their range of wooden Neo Geo systems, but there's still room in the market for more of this kind of thing - and thankfully the...
Video This Guy Has Found What Could Be The Rarest Nintendo Game Ever
Say hello the little-known 1981 coin-op, Sky Skipper
Donkey Kong might be one of the world's most famous arcade games, but it wasn't Nintendo's only stab at making a smash-hit arcade - the company had produced many other coin-ops around the same time, few of which could match the mighty Kong's commercial success. As a result, many of these early...
News There Was Once an Open World South Park Game Planned for GameCube
Dude!
South Park has had its share of dodgy games, including that rubbish one with snowballs as weapons on Nintendo 64 - c'mon, you know it sucked, admit it - though some reckon The Stick of Truth is a decent effort; not that Nintendo gamers had a chance to play that one. It seems, though, that a particularly ambitious project bit the dust in a past...
News M2 Has The Source Files For Aquario, The Lost Arcade Title From Wonder Boy Studio Westone
"Only the sound data is missing"
Wonder Boy studio Westone is sadly no more, but that doesn't mean that the company's legacy is doomed to be forgotten. In a recent interview with video game journalist John Szczepaniak for his book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2, Westone founder Ryuichi Nishizawa revealed that the source...
News Cybernator Creator Talks Destructible Environments, Cut Ideas And Missing Stages
Nonlinear stage progression was mooted at one point
Cybernator - or Assault Suits Valken as it is known in Japan - is one of the finest action titles on the SNES, boasting awesome visuals, inventive levels and one of the most authentic representations of military mecha yet seen in gaming. What's even more amazing is that the game was designed almost...
News Britsoft: An Oral History Charts The Birth Of The British Games Industry
Packed with exclusive interviews
While the exploits of Japanese and North American games makers are well documented, the considerable contribution that the United Kingdom has made to the global gaming scene is perhaps less well known. Thankfully that appears to be changing; last year's From Bedrooms to Billions documentary took an extensive look...
Video Here's The Moment The SNES PlayStation Gets Turned On For The First Time
"Thanks to the haters, too"
Last week we reported on the news that the legendary SNES PlayStation has been turned on and played, proving once and for all that the system is the real deal and not an elaborate fake, as some people had claimed. Dan Diebold - son of Terry, who unwittingly purchased the system when the company he worked at went bust -...
Feature Why We're Still Playing... Pokémon Gold / Silver / Crystal
The revolution of a revolution...
This is a series of features that focuses on games that we keep playing again and again, either over an unhealthy number of hours or those that keep getting return visits long after they first graced our systems. In this entry Arjun talks about his favourite Pokémon games. The beginning: There's no doubt that the...
News SNES PlayStation Prototype Gets Turned On, Opened Up
It's really real, you guys
Earlier this year, a prototype SNES PlayStation was discovered in the wild and caused quite a stir among fans and collectors alike. The system - which was supposed to be start of a beautiful friendship between Nintendo and Sony but the former left the latter at the altar - never saw release and what images existed were...
News 1993 Kirby's Adventure Interview Reveals Cut Content, Alternative Names And Why Kirby Is Pink
"Normally a character like Kirby would have been yellow"
Kirby is now a firmly-established member in Nintendo's vast catalogue of intellectual properties, but back in 1993 he was very much a newcomer looking to prove himself - as this fascinating interview from the period attests. Freshly translated by Shumplations.com, the feature originally...
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 3 - 2002 To 2006
A period of evolution
As we build up to the 20th anniversary of Pokémon in February 2016, and look hotly ahead towards brand new things including the new Zygarde forms, we're continuing our monthly journey through each generation of Pokémon, this month we cover the generation that many ignored, the one that came after the Pokémon "fad" ended, but...
News No, SNES Super FX Title Vortex Was Never A Transformers Game
Despite the rumours of the past few decades
1994's Vortex might not have been a smash-hit, but it was arguably one of the most technically impressive uses of Argonaut's Super FX chip - the hardware which made games like Star Fox and Stunt Race FX possible. Featuring a transforming craft known as the Battle Morphing System which could shift between...
News The Starforce Pi Is An Arcade You Can Fit In Your Rucksack
Coming to Kickstarter this month
A new Kickstarter project is looking to resurrect classic arcade gaming in a more portable form via the power of the Raspberry Pi chipset. Starforce Pi is a tabletop gaming machine which offers a full-sized Sanwa-supplied microswitched joystick and buttons, powerful stereo sound, authentic video playback and support...
Video Teens Discover That Finding A Weapon In GoldenEye 007 Is Harder Than You Think
"Bro, where's my gun at?"
GoldenEye 007 has been in the news lately thanks to comments from designer Martin Hollis regarding changes proposed by Shigeru Miyamoto, so this latest Teens React video is quite timely. You know the drill by now - the guys at the React YouTube channel take an old game, locate some willing teens and make them play it,...
News Bertil Hörberg Releases Playable Game Boy ROM of Gunman Clive
You feelin' lucky, punk?
We're big fans of both Gunman Clive games, which are among the finest releases on the 3DS eShop and are also available as a collection on Wii U. Developer Bertil Hörberg has certainly demonstrated his design flair and ability to create tight platformers with some retro feel. Hörberg has taken his degree of homage to retro...
Feature Why We're Still Playing... Super Metroid
Mitch Vogel on why it’s just as good 20+ years later
This is a series of features that'll focus on games that we keep playing again and again, either over an unhealthy number of hours or those that keep getting return visits long after they first graced our systems. I believe that the true test of a game's value is found in how well it stands...
October2015
News CyberGadget's Ridiculously Well-Equipped Retro Freak Console Begins Shipping Tomorrow
All-in-one wonder machine finally coming to market
We covered the news of the Retro Freak quite a while ago, and since then we've been waiting expectantly for more information about this potentially amazing system. With support for 11 different consoles - Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Game Boy, Game Boy...
Feature The Making Of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
"Getting Nintendo to sign off on game elements was difficult"
Out of all gaming genres, horror is the one that few would directly associate with Nintendo. After all, its flagship titles largely use brilliantly chirpy and loveable characters in settings that maintain a family-friendly approach and mass appeal. But throughout its history, Nintendo has...
Weirdness This 1983 Short Movie Combines Horror With Donkey Kong
Can you find the Treasure of the Haunted House?
Long-time readers of the site will be familiar with the work of Tyler Esposito - not only have we covered his excellent videos in the past, he's also contributed to Nintendo Life with an amusing look at one of the most bizarre NES games ever made. He also runs the excellent YouTube channel iretrogamer...
News Masayuki Uemura on How the NES Controller Came About
Thank God it didn't have a joystick
When you really get down to it, the NES controller is the granddaddy of all modern game controllers. Granted, they didn't have thumbsticks, triggers, or tilt controls back in the 80's, but it doesn't take a terribly observant eye to note the design principles that are still evident in today's controllers. This is...
News Street Fighter II: The Definitive Soundtrack Releases by the End of This Year
The first in a series of soundtrack remasters
A strong argument could be made that Street Fighter II was the game that led to the meteoric rise of the fighting genre. The simple controls, yet incredibly deep gameplay gave gamers a taste of competitive gaming like they'd never seen. Couple this with the excellent art style and the classic soundtrack...
News Don Bluth And Gary Goldman Want Your Help To Make A Dragon's Lair Movie
Not an interactive one this time
Dragon's Lair will forever have a place in video game folklore for offering an experience which - at the time of release - was simply mind-blowing. Back in 1983 gamers were used to crude and blocky visuals with beeps and chirps for sound, but Dragon's Lair offered movie-quality animation and audio. The catch was...
Random Someone Loved Super Mario Bros. Special Enough to Recreate it in Super Mario Maker
From when licensed Mario platformers were a thing
It's interesting that we often talk of Nintendo being cautious in licensing its IP - a trait it's currently moving away from - when considering some of the quirks in its history. For example, between Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels on NES there was Super Mario Bros. Special...
Video Watch This Amazing Nintendo 64 HDMI Mod Banish Smeary Visuals Forever
I can see clearly now
We've covered RetroActive's promising N64 HDMI project in the past, but the guys over at My Life in Gaming now have exclusive footage of the mod in action, and it's amazing. As anyone who has owned an N64 will know, the video output is the wrong side of average. Because the machine lacks RGB output as standard there's no easy...
News Nintendo Wanted A GoldenEye Sequel On N64 But Rare Turned It Down
And Nintendo gracefully accepted the decision
1997's GoldenEye 007 was a massive commercial and critical success for Nintendo, selling 8 million copies worldwide and generating an enormous amount of revenue. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo wanted a sequel and even asked developer Rare to make one - but the UK company, which was at the time a second-party...
Weirdness Miyamoto Wanted A Murder-Free GoldenEye Where You Made Friends With Enemies At The End
"Close-up killing - he found it a bit too horrible"
In your average James Bond flick the suave British secret agent dispatches countless goons and bad guys without batting an eyelid, but if Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto had had his way, the best Bond video game of all time wouldn't have contained a single death. Speaking at the ongoing GameCity event...
News Lost NES Title Wonderland Dizzy Made Available For Free
My head is spinning
Famous games dev siblings The Oliver Twins have just released a NES title which was assumed lost many years ago. Wonderland Dizzy - an entry in the beloved platforming series the brothers originally created for the likes of the ZX Spectrum and C64 - was produced during the early '90s but never saw the light of day on Nintendo's...
News A Different Mother 2 Cartridge Has Recently Surfaced Online
What could it be?
Mother 2 – known in the West as Earthbound – was arguably one of the most unique RPGs to emerge from the fourth generation of game consoles. Eschewing the well-trodden swords and sorcery theme of games such as Final Fantasy, Earthbound was about the adventures of a group of children in the modern age. Additionally, it featured...
An evocative and surprising look at Nintendo's uncharted history
It's common knowledge that Nintendo has been around for over a hundred years, and that the company started out producing playing cards many decades before finding fame as a purveyor of interactive entertainment. However, the years in between are often overlooked by even the staunchest...
Video Speedrunner Sets New World Record for Super Mario Bros.
Clocking in milliseconds quicker than the previous record
The competitive speedrunning scene makes you look at games you thought you were familiar with in a whole different light. It can be remarkable to see the kinds of exploits and techniques that certain people have discovered and employed in order to shave just a few more milliseconds off of...
News Nintendo Marks Back To The Future's 30th By Releasing Wild Gunman On The Virtual Console
"You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy"
The NES isn't the only thing that hits the big Three-O this year - the legendary Hollywood movie series Back to the Future also began 30 years ago, and in a neat bit of anniversary fusion, Nintendo is acknowledging the fact by releasing Wild Gunman on the Wii U Virtual Console. As any...
News The NES is Now 30 Years Old
The game changer
The NES is 30 years old today, at least based on its widely agreed - albeit historically debatable - North American release date. Not to be mistaken with the Famicom release - which is way back in 1983 - it was nevertheless the Nintendo Entertainment System rebranding and a certain Super Mario Bros. that catapulted Nintendo further...
News NES Designer Explains the History of the Console's Release in North America
The one that started it all
The game industry was a very different place back in the early 80's, teetering just on the edge of extinction. Market saturation and poor quality games were major contributing factors to this, leading many to believe that video games were just another passing fad that would vanish as quickly as they appeared. It got to...
News This Custom SNES Console Is The Perfect Way To Mark Three Decades Of Super Mario
Sadly one of a kind
We've featured the superb custom console mods of Zoki64 in the past, but this latest one seems especially timely when you consider that Super Mario reaches 30 this year. Boasting artwork from Super Mario All-Stars and coming in a fetching yellow colour (for once that has nothing to do with the plastic changing over time), this...
News These Limited Edition Analogue Nt Consoles Will Make Your Bank Account Weep
Gold LE and Famicom LE limited to 50 units each
We've been keeping a keen eye on the Analogue Nt since it was first announced as we're massive fans of the Analogue Interactive CMVS systems released in the past. By the sound of things this highly-refined NES system has been a real hit with fans, as the first production run is totally sold out...
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 2 - 1999 To 2002
Talking 'bout a generation
As we build up to the 20th anniversary of Pokémon in February 2016, and look hotly ahead towards brand new things including the new Zygarde forms, we're continuing our journey through each generation of Pokémon; this month we cover the much beloved second generation. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and...
News Celebrate Super Mario World's 25th With These Stylish Prints
Available in poster or postcard form
Super Mario World launched alongside the Super Famicom on November 21st 1990, which makes this year the game's 25th birthday. Arguably one of the greatest video games ever made, this iconic platformer certainly deserves a bit of birthday celebration, and with that in mind Arkotype's Dan Clarke has created some...
News The Team Behind Earthworm Jim Would Like to Make a Sequel
"I think everyone would be up for it sometime"
Arguably one of the most memorable titles to grace the Sega Genesis in the 16-bit era was Earthworm Jim. Starring a worm in control of a super suit that fell from the sky, the crazy intergalactic adventure became famous for its bizarre sense of humour and fluid animation techniques. The classic received...
News Sega Will Be Bringing a Game Gear 3DS Theme West Soon
Gear up
Arguably one of the greatest things to be brought to the 3DS in an update was the concept of themes. This addition allowed gamers to personalize their 3DS home menu as they saw fit, with a diverse range of themes based off of popular games and characters available for a cheap price, or even free in some cases. Sega has contributed...
News Super Mario Advance 4's e-Reader Levels Get Resurrected Thanks To Super Mario Maker
e-Reader attachment not required
When Nintendo launched Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Game Boy Advance under the rather misleading title Super Mario Advance 4, it included 30 secret stages - all falling under the banner "World-e" - which could only be unlocked by using the optional e-Reader accessory and a set of special cards. Given that both of...
Random UK MC Jme Produces Pokémon Season One Theme Song Remix
Complete with full animation!
UK MC Jme has made a remix of the Season One (Indigo League) theme song of Pokémon, entitled 'The Very Best'. For those unaware, Jme is a popular music artist (specialising in Grime) from the UK who has been creating music since 2003, and has become well-known worldwide due to his unique style, impressive lyrics, and...
Video Gain Some Insight Into How Retro Game Music and Sounds Were Made
Musical memories
It can often be emphasized how important music is to any gaming experience. In the current day that can often mean professional live band performances and orchestras, though on retro systems this was focused on far more primitive sound chips and coding. There are gamers of all ages that get particular enjoyment from retro style game...
Hardware Review BitBoy Lets You Back Up Your Game Boy Camera Snaps With Ease
Digital photography, 1998 style
In 1998 Nintendo launched the Game Boy Camera, a tiny (at the time) digital camera that sat in the Game Boy's cartridge slot and took simple monochrome photos that could be edited and printed via the link cable and an optional Game Boy Printer, using a roll of thermal printing paper similar to a till receipt. In the...
News Lost Game Boy Color Banjo-Kazooie Game Unearthed In Design Documents
An early look at the game which would become Grunty's Revenge
When Rare was purchased by Microsoft many assumed that there would be no more titles from the famed UK developer on Nintendo formats, but such fears proved unfounded - Rare continued to release titles on both the Game Boy Advance and its successor, the Nintendo DS, although in recent...
News A Prototype Cartridge For an Unreleased N64 Shmup Recently Sold for $3,000
Buyer shares first footage of the game since Space World 1999
It seems that game collectors will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that their collection is virtually peerless. Be it traveling across the world or spending an enormous sum of money for an obscure piece, it's somewhat inspiring to see someone who's so absolutely dedicated to the...
Video Learn How to Clear The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in Under Two Minutes
The Japanese version, anyway
Speedruns of retro games can be pretty entertaining, especially as we see the end result of many hours of experimentation and work. Quite how some of these workarounds are discovered is beyond us. In recent months we've shared a few videos from the A+Start channel, as it demonstrates and explains classic speedrun tricks...
News Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection Is Back, And Better Than Ever
Book returns with publisher backing, Steve Jarratt editing
This time last year we reported on a book which look certain to adorn the coffee tables of Nintendo fans the world over. Stuart Brett's Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection was a glorious celebration of the lush Japanese artwork found on 16-bit Nintendo game covers of the period, and a...
September2015
News Shiny Founder Dave Perry Wasn't Keen On The N64 From The Start
"He was declaring quite loudly that he was never going to support N64"
The Nintendo 64 is one of the most beloved consoles of the '90s, and played host to some truly amazing games, such as Goldeneye 007, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64. However, compared to the incredible commercial succe
News Retro VGS Crowdfunding Campaign "Dead In The Water" But Work Will Continue
"The good news is we aren’t giving up"
Remember the Retro VGS we reported on last week? It was supposed to be a throwback to the good old days of cartridges, and was up on crowdfunding site Indiegogo with a target goal of $2 million. Sadly, the campaign wasn't exactly a success - only $61,755 had been raised in 11 days - and has this forced the...
News Super Nintendo Classic Chrono Trigger Gets Digital Audio Support
Orchestral Time Traveler
In an alternate universe not entirely dissimilar to our own the Super Nintendo got a CD add-on made by Sony, much like the Mega Drive's Mega CD. This would bring full motion video and Redbook audio to the SNES games you know and love. In fact, some games would have been completely different in that universe. Secret of Mana...
News Updated Sega Mega Drive Arcade Ultimate Handheld Features Save State Support
Fixes the big issue with the original system
AtGames' Sega Mega Drive Arcade Ultimate Handheld was the dream machine for hardcore Sega fanboys. Not only did it allow you to play 16-bit classics on the move, it featured SD card support so you could load up even more games - although the rather shady nature of ROM distribution did cause some to frown...
Random Conduct Interviews in Retro Style With a Famicom Voice Recorder
Hopefully isn't 8-bit sound
A number of the UK-based Nintendo Life crew spent four days at EGX in Birmingham recently, an expo with all of the noise, fun and shenanigans you'd expect. Your humble writer wasn't to be found out in the wilds of the main hall, however, but conducting interviews with plenty of Indie developers; the burden of...
Video Learn The Full Story Behind the Power Glove Courtesy of the Gaming Historian
It deserved a better fate
"The Power Glove. It's so bad." It's a line of dialogue familiar to many retro Nintendo fans, delivered in a non-ironic way in The Wizard, a movie that isn't exactly critically acclaimed but is fondly regarded by some. The peripheral itself was hugely fascinating at the time yet, ultimately, failed to achieve significant...
Video Genesis Power Team Volume 2 Has A Distinctly Nintendo Feel To It
Lots of lovely imports, too
Long-time followers of this site will know the name Tyler Esposito - not only have we covered the excellent video content he has created in the past, he's actually contributed to Nintendo Life as well. Esposito's latest project is iretrogamer, a YouTube channel which he hopes can become a resource for all kinds of retro...
Spoilers... obviously
Speedrunning remains as one of the most fun yet niche areas of gaming, with highly skilled enthusiasts achieving amazing things in classic titles, mostly of the retro variety. They can be great to watch, though it's also pleasing to be shown how it works on occasion, too. The hugely popular A+Start channel has been running a...
News HyperPlay RPG Is A Glorious Throwback To The Pre-Internet Days Of Homemade Fanzines
We go hands-on with issue zero
If you're old enough to remember the days before the internet took over everything then you may recall the vibrant and active video game fanzine community. Before the web arrived the only way for non-professional writers to get their words in front of others was by making black-and-white photocopied magazines and...
Retro - Features
Forum Topics
NES classic and Street Fighter
1 reply |
Most Read
Random Remembering When One Company Ruined Christmas For Some NES Owners
News Introducing The 64Mate, A New All-In-One N64 Storage Add-On "Launch...
Random Reggie Probably Had A Bigger SNES Collection Than Most Nintendo Fans
News Polymega Slips Into Early 2020, But It's Bringing Some Cool Stuff With It
News The Amazing Story Of How One Man's Fib Created A Nintendo Empire
News Hundreds Of Fake NES Mini Consoles Seized By Anti-Counterfeiting Taskfor...
Video Legend Of Zelda Fan Spends 24 Hours In Ocarina Of Time VR
Gallery Unboxing Metal Storm, The NES Hidden Gem That's Getting A Second Chance
Popular Retro Games
- 21st Apr 1989 (JPN)
- 31st Jul 1989 (NA)
- 28th Sep 1990 (UK/EU)
- 6th Jun 2011 (NA)
- 7th Jun 2011 (JPN)
- 7th Jun 2011 (UK/EU)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES
- 21st Nov 1991 (JPN)
- 13th Apr 1992 (NA)
- 24th Sep 1992 (UK/EU)
- 2nd Dec 2006 (JPN)
- 22nd Jan 2007 (NA)
- 23rd Mar 2007 (UK/EU)
- 12th Dec 2013 (UK/EU)
- 30th Jan 2014 (NA)
- 12th Feb 2014 (JPN)
- 10th Mar 2016 (UK/EU)
- 14th Apr 2016 (NA)
- 29th Sep 2017 (JPN)
- 29th Sep 2017 (UK/EU)
- 29th Sep 2017 (NA)
- 26th Jun 2007 (JPN)
- 10th Aug 2007 (UK/EU)
- 27th Aug 2007 (NA)
- 10th Jul 2013 (JPN)
- 5th Sep 2013 (UK/EU)
- 5th Sep 2013 (NA)
- 6th Oct 2016 (UK/EU)
- 24th Nov 2016 (NA)
- 19th Mar 1994 (JPN)
- 18th Apr 1994 (NA)
- 28th Jul 1994 (UK/EU)
- 20th Aug 2007 (NA)
- 20th Sep 2007 (JPN)
- 12th Oct 2007 (UK/EU)
- 15th May 2013 (JPN)
- 15th May 2013 (NA)
- 16th May 2013 (UK/EU)
- 10th Mar 2016 (UK/EU)
- 14th Apr 2016 (NA)
- (NA)
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap GBA
- 12th Nov 2004 (JPN)
- 12th Nov 2004 (UK/EU)
- 10th Jan 2005 (NA)
- 16th Dec 2011 (UK/EU)
- 16th Dec 2011 (NA)
- 30th Apr 2014 (JPN)
- 29th May 2014 (UK/EU)
- 5th Jun 2014 (NA)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64
- 21st Nov 1998 (JPN)
- 23rd Nov 1998 (NA)
- 11th Dec 1998 (UK/EU)
- 23rd Feb 2007 (UK/EU)
- 26th Feb 2007 (NA)
- 27th Feb 2007 (JPN)
- 2nd Jul 2015 (UK/EU)
- 2nd Jul 2015 (NA)
- 20th Mar 2009 (UK/EU)
- 30th Mar 2009 (NA)
- 7th Jul 2009 (JPN)
- 26th Dec 2013 (NA)
- 9th Apr 2014 (JPN)
- 12th Jun 2014 (UK/EU)
- 28th Apr 2016 (UK/EU)
- 30th Sep 1998 (NA)
- 10th May 1999 (UK/EU)
- 27th Feb 2016 (UK/EU)
- 27th Feb 2016 (NA)
- 13th Oct 2009 (JPN)
- 17th May 2010 (NA)
- 28th May 2010 (UK/EU)
- 1st May 2013 (JPN)
- 23rd May 2013 (UK/EU)
- 23rd May 2013 (NA)
- 8th Jun 2007 (UK/EU)
- 16th Jul 2007 (NA)
- 13th Nov 2007 (JPN)
- 22nd Aug 2012 (JPN)
- 22nd Jan 2013 (JPN)
- 23rd Jan 2013 (UK/EU)
- 23rd Jan 2013 (NA)
- 2nd May 2013 (UK/EU)
- 1993 (NA)
- 4th Nov 2009 (JPN)
- 1st Mar 2010 (NA)
- 26th Mar 2010 (UK/EU)
- 13th Jul 2017 (UK/EU)
- 13th Jul 2017 (NA)
Interplay / Shiny Entertainment
- 3rd Oct 2008 (UK/EU)
- 27th Oct 2008 (NA)
- 16th Dec 2008 (JPN)
- 6th Aug 1986 (JPN)
- 1st Aug 1987 (NA)
- 15th Jan 1988 (UK/EU)
- 20th Jul 2007 (UK/EU)
- 13th Aug 2007 (NA)
- 4th Mar 2008 (JPN)
- 29th Feb 2012 (JPN)
- 1st Mar 2012 (NA)
- 15th Mar 2012 (UK/EU)
- 11th Jul 2013 (UK/EU)
- 14th Aug 2013 (JPN)
- 23rd Oct 1988 (JPN)
- 12th Feb 1990 (NA)
- 29th Aug 1991 (UK/EU)
- 5th Nov 2007 (NA)
- 9th Nov 2007 (UK/EU)
- 11th Dec 2007 (JPN)
- 1st Jan 2013 (JPN)
- 25th Dec 2013 (JPN)
- 26th Dec 2013 (UK/EU)
- 17th Apr 2014 (NA)
- 27th Aug 1992 (JPN)
- 1st Sep 1992 (NA)
- 21st Jan 1993 (UK/EU)
- 9th Jun 2009 (JPN)
- 23rd Nov 2009 (NA)
- 2nd Apr 2010 (UK/EU)
- 19th Jun 2013 (JPN)
- 27th Mar 2014 (UK/EU)
- 6th Aug 2014 (NA)
- 17th Mar 2016 (UK/EU)
- 24th Mar 2016 (NA)
- 19th Nov 2006 (NA)
- 2nd Dec 2006 (JPN)
- 15th Dec 2006 (UK/EU)
- 23rd Oct 2013 (JPN)
- 24th Oct 2013 (UK/EU)
- 24th Oct 2013 (NA)
Capcom / Capcom Production Studio 4
- 9th Jun 2005 (JPN)
- 7th Aug 2005 (NA)
- 15th Aug 2005 (UK/EU)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior SNES
- 15th Jul 1992 (NA)
- 2nd Dec 2006 (JPN)
- 25th Dec 2006 (NA)
- 19th Jan 2007 (UK/EU)
- 22nd Aug 2013 (UK/EU)
- 22nd Aug 2013 (NA)
- 25th Jun 2014 (JPN)
