Tag: First Impressions - Page 5
First Impressions Shinobi Karakuri-den 2
Double the ninjas, double the fun
Retro gaming fans surely enjoyed the first Ninja Karakuri Den (as it's known outside of Japan), playing like a cutsey combination of Ninja Jajamaru Kun and Mappy. This sequel is pretty much the same game with a few tweaks to the formula, as with the other G.G. Series sequels we've seen thus far, continuing the...
First Impressions BIT.TRIP FATE
We take the game for a spin in space
The folks at Gaijin Games have already brought us four amazing BIT.TRIP releases that take many of the classic arcade elements from days gone by and somehow make them relevant again with their unique music/rhythm gameplay twists. We've seen classic influences ranging from the original Pong all the way up to David...
First Impressions G.G Series Chō Hero Ōga 2
This sequel is MIGHTY difficult
Having collected the first wave of G.G Series titles, Genterprise and Suzak have decided to go back to the well and release their sequels. As with ZONE 2, Chō Hero Ōga 2 takes the fundamentals of the original and extends them whilst maintaining the same level of fun. The transition is not unlike moving from early...
First Impressions G.G Series Collection+
The arcade collection you never knew about
Genterprise certainly appears to be a big fan of the Nintendo DSi, having released nearly a score of titles under the G.G Series banner, all of which have been previewed on this very site. Having them collected into a DS retail release to reach a broader audience makes sense, but even if you've already...
Are you trying to read myDiary?
We recently reviewed the application myNotebook Carbon, Pearl and Tan, now out in America and soon to hit the virtual European shelves, and were quite impressed with it. Now the focus is on Nnooo's next release, myDiary for DSiWare. What can we expect from the next instalment of the myLifeCollected series? Our man...
Gaijin gets ready to beat us up again
WiiWare fans already know to associate the Gaijin Games name with a series of top drawer titles, all with unique retro stylings and a heavy emphasis on music. Now the developer has turned publisher, having picked up A Different Cloth's iPhone title Lilt Line for a transition to the big screen. We recently sat...
First Impressions myNotebook Pearl, Carbon and Tan
All the way from Nnooo HQ
Recently we had Brad Long, one of our very own Nintendo Life reporters visit the studios of Nnooo, the lovable blokes behind Pop and the myLifeConnected series. Dr. Nnooo himself, Nic Watt showcased a few of their upcoming titles for DSiWare, including the latest myNotebook apps, Pearl, Carbon, and Tan. First of all the...
First Impressions Gods vs. Humans
Tower power
Fresh from the first footage of in-game action, a preview build of Gods vs. Humans arrived at Nintendo Life HQ for us to get to grips with. Taking in several stages as the Egyptian God Osiris, the demo offers a sneak peek at what to expect from the finished product. Despite some similarities to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life...
Classic Atari rip-off does the business
Silver Star Japan has decided to do with DOT MAN what Atari don't: put one of their 8-bit console classics on the DS. In this case it's the classic 2600 game Dodge 'Em. For the uninitiated, Dodge 'Em had a pretty basic concept: two cars racing in opposite directions around a box-shaped track consisting of...
Podcast Episode 18 - 3DS Report and Gaijin Games!
Take another journey into sound
Another month, another Monday: that can only mean a brand new episode of the Nintendo Life podcast. James Newton will be talking more about the 3DS following his 3DS First Impressions, as well as waxing lyrical about promising party title Wii Party and more. Zach Kaplan returns with a leaner version of This Nintendo...
First Impressions GoldenEye 007 Multiplayer
We've been expecting you
Surely few words cause such excitement and rampant nostalgia in the Nintendo community as “GoldenEye multiplayer”, so it was with great anticipation we sat down to play Activision’s new Bond outing in a split-screen four-player deathmatch. With only one game mode, one map and four characters available – not including...
First Impressions Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
Glory be to Camelot!
This truly is a rich time for DS RPGs: Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy the 4 Heroes of Light and of course Golden Sun: Dark Dawn should ensure we remember 2010 as the Year of the RPG, and Golden Sun could emerge as the best of the bunch. The demo offered two available modes: adventure and battle, and we had time to try both. The...
It’s on fire!
This is truly a golden age fans of remakes of classic gaming titles: Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mario and Sonic are all still rocking 2D like it’s 1994, and EA’s keen to get a piece of the two-dimensional pie with NBA Jam. A throwback to the classic basketball title of old, NBA Jam features the same two-on-two action as its...
First Impressions Kirby's Epic Yarn Co-Operative Play
Cast on for a two-player pearl
Kirby’s Epic Yarn emerged from E3 as a highlight for many people, even winning the much sought-after Nintendo Life Best Overall Game of E3 Award. Whilst Corbie raved about the game’s single-player pursuit, Darren and James got chance to team up in tackling several levels from the game, and like many things in life,...
First Impressions Disney Epic Mickey
How's the rodent romp shaping up?
Disney Epic Mickey was a big hit at E3 2010, atoning for its earlier disappointing screenshots with a more refined graphical style and a gameplay system described as "playstyle matters" by Warren Spector. We got the chance to give the rodent a run-out at a recent event, and came away with admittedly mixed...
First Impressions Wii and DS Round-Up from London
Get the lowdown on Okamiden, Super Scribblenauts and more!
Ace Nintendo Life reporters James and Darren were recently invited to attend a special preview event in London to get hands-on with the 3DS as well as Nintendo's upcoming Wii and DS line-up. We've already posted our impressions of the 3DS and its games, so let's cast our eye to the wider...
First Impressions Heavy Fire: Special Operations
We enlist for Teyon's war shooter
We've been bringing you regular field updates on Teyon's WiiWare lightgun shooter Heavy Fire: Special Operations since its announcement in April, and we recently got the chance to sit down and blast through two missions from the completed game. Played out entirely on-rails, Heavy Fire is immediately reminiscent of...
First Impressions G.G. Series Z・ONE 2
More budget side-scrolling shooting for your Japanese DSi
You might think with the release of the G.G. Series Collection+, Genterprise and Suzak would be done releasing budget games for the DSi. After all, the collection includes all the G.G. Series DSiWare releases to-date, plus another 15 games never released to the DSi Shop, but apparently it's...
E3 2010 First Impressions: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Nintendo's famous ape is back and better than ever!
When Rare developed the original Donkey Kong Country title for the Super Nintendo console, many were in awe of the impressively-rendered graphics they had managed to syphon out of the Super Nintendo's 16-bit hardware. Now with Rare a part of Microsoft, Nintendo needed someone to reignite the series...
E3 2010 First Impressions: Kirby's Epic Yarn
We take Nintendo's newest Kirby title for a spin
In the weeks leading up to the E3 show, we all heard the rumours of a new Kirby game being possibly in development so it should come as no real shock that one actually materialised during Nintendo's Press Conference. What is surprising is that Kirby's Epic Yarn is not only a 2D side-scroller for the...
E3 2010 First Impressions: Nintendo 3DS
Hands on with Nintendo's amazing 3D portable
Any time there's an announcement of new video game hardware, a certain buzz is created. In all truth, you couldn't walk five feet on the streets of Los Angeles on the way to the Convention Center without hearing someone talking about Nintendo's upcoming 3DS system. Even the line for the Nintendo keynote...
E3 2010 First Impressions: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
We got hands on with Nintendo's flagship E3 title.
If there's one first-party game that's getting most of the attention at Nintendo's E3 booth, it's got to be Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with the line to play it snaking around the entire Nintendo booth several times. So you can imagine the dirty looks I received when I was whisked up to the VIP...
Shiny 3D platforming comes to WiiWare
Everyone was impressed by the initial videos of Jett Rocket when they first came out, but they don't prepare you for the experience of playing the game itself. We were lucky enough to play a preview build consisting of the first area and it's probably safe to say that based upon our experience this could be the...
Put those backstage lighting skills to work!
Although some may argue that there are too many puzzle games on the Wii's download service, it's always nice when a developer shows us a fresh concept in the genre. Studio Walljump recently treated us to a near-release version of its upcoming WiiWare title Liight and after a bit of time exploring what it...
Crack cocaine comes to Wii
Popcap Games is a modern internet success story. At a time when it was deemed impossible to make money from selling downloadable content on the web, John Vechey, Brien Fiete and Jason Kapalka managed to build a gaming juggernaut on the back of simple, but addictive games like Zuma and Peggle that have gone on to become the...
First Impressions Dive - The Medes Island Secret
Diving for retro pearls
After Cosmonaut Games' "spot the difference" WiiWare debut, 5 Spots Party, you might not have expected anything exciting to come from them. But after some hands-on time with their latest effort, Dive: The Medes Island Secret, we think that opinion may change. We were lucky enough to get to play a pre-release build...
First Impressions Illust Logic
Downloadable picross? Yes, please!
Although video game versions of nonograms (better known to Nintendo gamers as Picross) were originally controlled with a D-Pad and buttons like any other game, it's clearly a genre that benefits massively from the touchscreen interface of Nintendo's DS family of handhelds. No surprise then that Hudson has seen fit...
First Impressions 10 Second Run
Running on the run
Whilst the Japanese DSi Shop features some fairly robust gaming experiences it has to be said that there's a place for quick games that can be played in a few seconds. G-Mode's 10 Second Run is a perfect example, essentially a collection of dozens of short platforming levels for when you need a quick bit of running and jumping on...
First Impressions Fall in the Dark
Fail in the Dark
Fall in the Dark looks pretty good on paper: take an adventurer and guide him through a series of levels in six different worlds with gameplay that's a mix of Toki Tori and Montezuma's Revenge: difficult puzzling combined with 8-bit visuals and gameplay could be good, right? Well it would be except for some rather bizarre level...
First Impressions at Enter! Block Kuzushi
Brick-breaking fun on the go
Tasuke seems to have been putting out a lot of board game titles recently, which all seem to be broken out from a retail release called Table Game Spirits: Victory; which is itself an enhanced version of Table Game Spirits. Both of them are Japanese DS cart releases that collect various Japanese board games including...
First Impressions Aa! Nikaku Dori
More fun with mahjong tiles
Despite releasing versions of Shanghai on both Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance in Japan (not to mention Wii and WiiWare versions), Sunsoft have elected not to favour Nintendo's current generation of handheld with the classic match-two puzzle game which they seem to have a monopoly on in the Land of the Rising Sun...
First Impressions Katamuku + Action: Katamuction
More camera-motion mini-game madness
It seems a number of developers have been taken with the idea of using the DSi's cameras to simulate motion-based gameplay, but unfortunately many of these games end up feeling like gimmicky tech-demos more than actually fun games. HI Games & Publishing's latest attempt makes for an uneven experience with one...
Dogfight motion demo a go-go
Though the DSi has no native motion-sensing capabilities, it hasn't stopped developers from trying to use the system's built-in cameras to approximate the tilt-sensors of the iPhone. As expected however, cameras are not motion sensors and although the latest effort from Genki Mobile includes a fair collection of...
"Blame it on the (robot) boogie"
Robots pretty much go with everything and afros are no exception. After getting a bit of time with a pre-release build of Fugazo's WiiWare debut, Frobot, we'd have to say the hairstyle is as fresh on a machine as it is a human being. Navigating menus displaying a fun '70s look to the "Single Playa" game,...
First Impressions G.G. Series Exciting River
Burt Reynolds not included
Whilst a game based on Deliverance probably would be very cool, Exciting River is about kayaking to a goal in the quickest time possible, rather than surviving a weekend river-rafting amongst crazed banjo-duelling hillbillies out for blood. Still, exciting it is thanks to good controls and fast-paced gameplay. There are a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Throw Out
Fancy a game of 4-on-4 Cyberball?
Although "proper" sports video games have been more successful at home and in the arcades, there's something to be said for the made up ones that have less focus on player stats and more on just playing the game. Suzak's Throw Out, a more recent entry in the G.G. Series of budget arcade-style games, is...
First Impressions G.G Series: Drift Circuit
Drift on outta here
Nothing is perfect, not even the G.G. Series. We figured there had to be at least one dud in this assortment of budget-priced slices of arcade fun and this is definitely it. From the screenshots you'd think you're going to be playing a fun overhead racer like Moto Roader or Super Sprint – a notion reinforced by the fact that...
First Impressions G.G. Series Dark Spirits
Side-scrolling bullet hell magic
One good thing about the Japanese DSi Shop for retro-gaming fans is the availability of old-school sprite-based shooters, with several decent ones to choose from. The G.G. Series already has a few among its number, but they're all different enough that it cannot hurt to add another one: enter Dark Spirts, of the...
First Impressions G.G. Series Shinobi Karakuri-Den
Mappy Ninja Gaiden
Ninja have been a fixture of video games for a long time, so it's only fitting that Suzak have created a game for the G.G. Series featuring one that bears more than a passing resemblance to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden. Though his inspiration may run around beating up street toughs, the hero of Shinobi Karakuri-Den bounces around like a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Black × Block
For fans of mind-bending only
Most of the G.G. Series previewed to-date have been pretty accessible puzzlers or arcade style games from various genres, but here's the first one that's probably only going to be a hit with a small audience due to the nature and level of the challenge on offer. The gameplay is essentially similar to Toki Tori and...
First Impressions G.G Series: Tetsubou
Arcade gymnastics
You have to give credit to developer Suzak for the work it's done with the G.G. Series. Whilst most of the games are interesting takes on traditional genres, it also likes to throw out the occasional brand-new concept, like Tetsubou: a game which could be best termed a "gymnastic puzzler." Players are presented with a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Conveyor Kombō
A refreshingly novel take on the "match three" puzzler
There have been many variations on the "match three" puzzle game, often involving adding another item to complete a matching set, but it's rare to see a truly new and novel mechanic used in what has become something of a cliched puzzle game style. For this reason G.G. Series Conveyor...
First Impressions 200V Challenge Spirits Mahjong
Challenging mahjong battles at a budget price
Mahjong games have existed on Japanese consoles almost since the first machines were rolled out, and over time certain standards have emerged, to such an extent that having experience with one mahjong game will lead you to expect certain conventions in another. Part of the attraction of Tasuke's 200V...
First Impressions Furry Legends
All the way from Poland!
Recently an intrepid Nintendo Life reporter made the long and arduous journey to visit Polish developer Gamelion, the chaps behind DSiWare hit Extreme Hangman, to check out their upcoming WiiWare roll ‘em up Furry Legends. With the first instalment currently awaiting approval from Nintendo there was plenty to get our teeth...
Carrying the standard for a forgotten genre
Back in the early 80s the "maze" game was a popular genre both in arcades and on home consoles, featuring a fixed screen and expected mechanics of navigating a character around hazards whilst collecting objects. Once platforming and adventure games took off, the maze game all but vanished; even...
First Impressions Sora o Kakeru Shōjyo Shooting
Pretty girls and shooting action: a recipe for success
If you weren't already jealous of the number of old-fashioned shooting games available in the Japanese DSi Shop thanks to the G.G. Series, now you have another one courtesy of I.T.L. Roughly translated as Shooting Space Girls, this is a side-scroller with a difference, though what that...
First Impressions G.G. Series Drilling Attack
Not a mad dentist, just more arcade fun!
It's not hard to see why we keep on downloading G.G. Series games to preview because as many as there are, they all seem to have been made by people who care about delivering a quality slice of simple gaming fun. That they're only 200 Points each is just icing on the electron cake of arcade goodness. Drilling...
First Impressions G.G Series: D-Tank
Tank-tastic arcade fun!
Tanks feature in some of the earliest arcade games, from vector graphics classics like Battle Zone and Armor Attack to "newer" sprite-based games like Vindicators and Tank Force. As with the latter D-Tank sees players controlling a tank and trying to defend a base from attack by incoming waves of enemy tanks: a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Assault Buster
Arcade action the G.G. Series way
The G.G. Series of games in the Japanese DSi Shop really are a little slice of arcade heaven. Not just because they offer some good old-fashioned fun, but because they're such well-crafted titles generally. Assault Buster is certainly one to put into the "pretty good" column, offering an interesting...
News 3D Motion Gaming Debuts on the DSi
Breaking new ground with the DSi camera
Although rumours abound of a motion-enabled successor to the DS being readied for unveiling in the near future, it seems some developers just couldn't wait and decided to attempt the same kind of game mechanics afforded by accelerometers utilising the second camera present on the DSi. The system is known as...
