Anniversary News, Anniversary Features

Alas, still no "proper" game for the big anniversary

With this being the 25th Anniversary year of the Mega Man franchise, Capcom has released a free PC crossover game — Street Fighter X Mega Man — which in many respects was a slightly polished fan effort, and has given us some celebratory laptops and USB drives in different regions. Plenty of...

Let's play "why isn't x here?"

Last week we celebrated the two year anniversary of the 3DS by finding a picture of a cake based on the handheld. It's been a fascinating journey so far for the portable, enjoying a bumper launch weekend, before tanking to worrying levels, and then rising like a Phoenix — courtesy of excellent games and a price...

Time to celebrate, it's been four years

Some of our long-term readers might remember that on this day four years ago we merged our three Nintendo sites — VC Reviews, WiiWare World and the original Nintendo Life — together to form the new and improved "Nintendo Life". Since then we've grown our readership to an unprecedented level, and according...

Still going strong

Two years ago, on 25th March 2011, the Nintendo 3DS arrived in Europe; its North American release was on 27th March. As the follow-up to the DS family of systems — the biggest selling series of handhelds in history — it arrived with plenty of expectation. After an excitable launch — it landed in Japan in late February —...

Blow into the mic to put out the candles

Eight years ago today, Europe became the last major territory to get its hands on the original DS, that now known as the "phat". It can be easy to forget that it was a handheld that truly innovated the concept of mainstream handheld gaming, incorporating a clamshell two screen design famously pioneered in the...

If you played the SNES original, you're officially over the hill

As pointed out by Kotaku, Capcom's seminal Street Fighter series is now 25 years old. The first game - which is also known as Fighting Street and ironically, isn't very good - launched in arcades in 1987. Of course, it was the sequel

How the time, and kart, flies

Today is yet another Nintendo anniversary, in this case the 20th anniversary of Super Mario Kart's release in Japan. That's 20 years of powering around tracks and making other mascot's driving lives miserable, while infuriating their masters in multiplayer. It's a series with enduring appeal that has evolved into one...

Celebrate with a fake 3DS Zelda image

Yesterday brought a major anniversary for The Legend of Zelda, as it was released in the U.S. on 22nd August 1987, making it another 25th anniversary. Of course, Nintendo has already celebrated the series a great deal with orchestral concerts, a free download of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary...

The original gaming behemoth

Current-day gamers are familiar with just three game console manufacturers at the top of the tree: Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Some who are older may remember when SEGA was in its pomp and challenging Nintendo in the 1990s, but for those that care to go even further back, Atari comes into the picture. Atari is 40...

Finally a grown man

SEGA's loveable blue mascot reaches another milestone today, celebrating his 21st anniversary. On this day in 1991 SEGA unleashed Sonic the Hedgehog on North America. His speed and spectacular stunts made him an original, and players took him to their hearts. Nearly 50 games and over 80 million sales later, Sonic's still here...

Time for some celebratory cake

We celebrated the ten year anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube last year, including a rather fond retrospective on the console with the coolest handle. That was the North American anniversary, but today the console turns ten in Europe. Although the GameCube wasn't Nintendo's greatest success in the home console...

The quest for tickets begins

The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert tour, organised to celebrate 25 years of the franchise, got into full swing in Dallas on 10th January. After the initial run of concerts we were promised additional events, and these are now confirmed. A range of new concerts have emerged on zelda-symphony.com, with...

Dream land

The pinkest hero around, Kirby, celebrates 20 years of sucking this year. To celebrate with him, Nintendo's putting together a 20th anniversary compilation of his most popular adventures for Wii. Granted, Nintendo hasn't specified which of Kirby's games will feature on the disc — is it too much to hope for Kirby Air Ride? — but...

Lessons for Wii U

Now that the 3DS is one-year old in most territories – its Australian anniversary hasn’t quite arrived yet – it’s safe to say that Nintendo can look at the handheld’s progress and be reasonably happy. It’s unlikely to be ecstatic and popping open the champagne, however, as the road to the current good times has been...

Celebrate good times

3DS hit its first anniversary in Europe on Sunday, and today marks the machine's first steps onto North American soil one year ago. 27th March 2011 saw the 3DS launch across North America for $249.99 and got off to a flying start, securing the best first day sales of any Nintendo handheld. We all know how it went from there:...

One year of 3D gaming

Nintendo’s 3DS has experienced a dramatic first year, no doubt far more eventful than Satoru Iwata and his team could have imagined. Despite all of the twists and turns that the handheld has experienced, it’s nevertheless been a source of some terrific and varied games. The 3DS may have evolved into more than the sum of...

It's come a long way

Today is a big day for Nintendo's latest bid for continued handheld gaming dominance: the 3DS is one year old in Europe. Its North American anniversary arrives on 27th March, so there will surely be plenty of high-fives and Mario style 'wahoo' whoops coming from the famous old company's regional teams. It's been a rather...

Our card was delayed in the post

Nintendo probably had a bit of a party yesterday, as its 3DS celebrated being one-year old in Japan. Released on 26th February 2011 to much hype, the handheld has since had an eventful first year, though has been burning up the charts in its homeland in recent months. It's being reported, meanwhile, that 3DS owners...

Population: glowing

Here's a fun game next time you're at a boring social occasion: try explaining the point of Animal Crossing to an elderly family member. Nintendo's genre-defying life series first appeared in Japan in April 2001 as Dobutsu no Mori ("Animal Forest") on Nintendo 64, but it was the enhanced Animal Forest+ for GameCube —...