Retro News, Retro Features - Page 23 of 48

Seth Gordon talks directorial influences

Seth Gordon's The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters documentary about Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe ― two gamers on a quest for a world record-breaking high score on Donkey Kong ― is still on course for a remake, but the style in which the film will be presented might in some ways end up being a pastiche of The King of Kong. Speaking to The Playlist,..

Samus it ever was

Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Metroid, and dedicated fan community ShineSparkers has just released a preview of remix album Harmony of a Hunter. The OCRemix project contains tracks spanning Samus Aran's gaming history, from 8-bit to today, with styles ranging from electronic to choral. The snippets provided so far certainly sound good, with the full album due for..

Needs to raise $30,000

In the UK, the Retro Computer Museum just moved to a new home, and now the Videogame History Museum over in Silicon Valley needs to raise funds for its own bricks-and-mortar initiative. The non-profit charity needs to raise $30,000 to build itself a permanent building in which to house its classic coin-ops, consoles and gaming...

Block-bashing beats

We love a bit of Nintendo-inspired music, and it's testament to the company's creativity that it inspires artists over a wide range of genres, from Japanese beatboxers to Mario Kart jazz. Hip hop artist Heath McNease is a new favourite here at Nintendo Life Towers, waxing lyrical about Tanooki suits, the Konami code and everything in between. McNease's 19-track album Straight..

Now that's successful learning

Were you ever curious where Miyamoto picked up his English skills? It turns out the responsible party is Dylan Cuthbert, creator of Star Fox, president of Q Games and one of the best-known Westerners to get in good with Nintendo. When he was featured in the most recent Iwata Asks, he revealed that the two taught each other their native languages when he first started..

Life before Metroid

Before there was Metroid Prime, Retro Studios hadn't had a bona fide hit, and several of the studio's games were cancelled before seeing the light of day. One such title was this unnamed American football game, recently featured by prominent site Unseen64. The animation shown below is undoubtedly impressive, particularly considering this game was intended for release on..

It's not just blasting, you know

Playing the Mega Man series is cathartic in many ways. You get to listen to great music, appreciate the impressively cartoony visuals Capcom wrung out of the NES hardware, and experiment with many unique and varied abilities. But overall, we tend to like it because it's mindless. It's a platformer with clear...

Rooted in Leicestershire

The Retro Computer Museum just recently celebrated its third birthday on Sunday, and along with the anniversary announcement came the news that the museum now has a permanent home in Leicestershire. Now the museum has a fixed address, it should hopefully mean events and exhibitions will be more frequent. The exact location has yet to be announced but the building itself is..

We speak to Super Fighter Team's Brandon Cobb about its latest retro resurrection project

If you're the kind of person that appreciates vintage gaming then chances are you're already familiar with Super Fighter Team. Formed in San Diego, California with the express intention of giving long-forgotten games a new lease of commercial life, the group has already successfully localised and published a..

Could have turned out very different yet still familiar

One of the things that we love about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is how easy it is to just take Epona out for a ride; whether it's a quick boost from point A to B, or just making prints in Hyrule Field to past the time, horse riding has now become a staple of main Zelda games. As the...

Spin-tendo

One of the few good things about being old is that sometimes you can glean satisfaction from being in the right place at the right time, where you were lucky enough to have first-hand experience of something special. Nostalgia is the bread-and-butter of retro gaming and throughout its history there will always be moments that stick in a...

Spill it

We've gone all-out to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 20th anniversary this week, bringing you Staff Memories of Sonic the Hedgehog, a look at unreleased Sonic the Hedgehog games and Sonic's Nintendo games too. With 20 years of rich history behind him, we want to know how Sonic's affected you, the gamers. What memories do you have of the

We reminisce about the blue guy

Today marks 20 years since the very first time Sonic the Hedgehog burst onto TV screens around the world, kicking off a genuine phenomenon that continues to draw in new gamers to this day. As experienced gamers ourselves, naturally the team at Nintendo Life has plenty of memories of the spiky blue one's glory days, so we invited our staff to share their fondest..

A Rare treat, or will it drive you bananas?

For fans of Nintendo kart racers, 1997 has to go down as one of the greatest years in the history of the genre. Not only did it witness the European and North American release of the iconic Mario Kart 64, but Rare also introduced their own challenger to the karting crown with Diddy Kong Racing on the same...

The second instalment of our look back at gaming's favourite blue dude with attitude

Sonic: The Nintendo Years — Part One detailed the hedgehog's first few years on Nintendo consoles, but by the end of 2005 it was clear that Sonic games had changed very drastically, and nowhere was that more evident than in the next two 'hog-related outings. First...

Time flies

On 23rd June 1991, SEGA released Sonic the Hedgehog in Europe and America and changed the world forever. The now-iconic hero captured the imagination of millions around the world, igniting the Nintendo vs. SEGA battle for console supremacy. Nowadays the two companies are far friendlier of course. In fact, thanks to Wii's Virtual Console service and backwards compatibility with GameCube..

As Sonic the Hedgehog reaches 20 years old, we take a look at the spiky one's past.

Sonic’s career is as chequered as those famous green hills; since his runaway success in the first half of the 1990s he’s struggled to reclaim those glory days. Luckily if you’re a Nintendo console owner you can play all the best Sonic games extremely easily,...

Perfect powder

As you curl around a banked corner, the lip of a large ramp of snow appears in the distance and your mind begins to race at the possibilities for gnarliness that lie ahead. Slamming the boost and tucking your body forward, you scorch towards the precisely constructed mound, pre-winding your hands, arms and shoulders for maximum...

The "Retro Game Master" finally goes English

If you're a retro gaming fan, you might be familiar with Shinya Arino. Part of a Japanese comedy duo called Yoiko, he began presenting a show called GameCenter CX in 2003, in which he attempts to complete one generally difficult retro game in each episode, as well as visiting a different arcade in Japan every time. Recently, Arino has even partnered with..