Feature Articles
Sunday11th Feb 2024
Back Page 15 Superb Owls On Nintendo Switch
What a hoot
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit in anywhere else. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes — so welcome to...
Saturday27th Jan 2024
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 27th)
Capturing those 'mons
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Playing?, where we find out which games we're going to be chilling out with this weekend. Before we get into that, though, let's go over what's been happening this week. Naturally, there's been a lot of Palworld discussion, and perhaps the most noteworthy event was when The Pokémon...
Saturday28th Jan 2023
Talking Point Where Should The Next Pokémon Legends Game Take Place?
And who should be the 'legend'?
It's hard to believe it, but Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a year old today. This Pokémon game took us back to the distant past and completely shook up the formula of what we all expected from a mainline Pokémon entry. And, quite frankly, we want more of what it gave us. Legends: Arceus sees you get thrown back in...
Wednesday21st Dec 2022
Feature Game Of The Year 2022 - Nintendo Life Staff Awards
Our personal picks for the best Switch games of 2022
Another year has come and gone (almost) and once more we're looking back over all the games we've played, along with those we wish we had played. It's been a great year for Switch releases, with a crop of excellent first-party Nintendo games joined by some great third-party offerings (Square Enix,...
Wednesday3rd Aug 2022
Soapbox For A Jaded Pokémon Fan, Scarlet And Violet Is Exactly What I Need
Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in
For many years now, I've been buying the mainline Pokémon games primarily out of some twisted sense of obligation. Back in 1999, Pokémon Red and Blue launched at the perfect time for me; I was ten at the time of its release and had already gotten a good sense of what Pokémon was all about...
Thursday16th Jun 2022
Feature A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 8 – 2019 To 2022
Gen-erally speaking
Six years ago, running up to Pokémon’s 20th anniversary, we did a rundown of each of the generations of Pokémon, and then brought it back three years ago to cover Generation 7. Now, we’re truly in the news cycle for Generation 9's Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, so it’s time to take a look back at the last three years,...
Saturday28th May 2022
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 28th)
Pre-summer doldrums?
We're almost at the end of May, and the "E3" build-up is beginning to kick in, which means that things have been a little steady in the world of video games. Three new NES and SNES games have appeared on NSO this week. A dancing Psyduck toy took the internet by storm. And
Thursday12th May 2022
Feature Just How Accessible Are Switch Games Like Xenoblade, Pokémon, And Mario Odyssey?
Seven Switch games from an accessibility perspective
When it comes to accessibility features in video games, things have improved somewhat in recent years, with many developers now consciously providing elementary options that tweak the gameplay experience to better suit players of different abilities and with specific impairments. There remains...
Saturday23rd Apr 2022
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 23rd)
It does matter
Phew! It's been a heck of a week, hasn't it? It actually feels like springtime now at least, but our eyes are poised towards the summer with the slate of new release dates we've been handed. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been brought forward from September to July! Unprecedented stuff. Splatoon 3 also finally has a release date — a
Saturday19th Mar 2022
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 19th)
Fancy a trip to Coconut Mall?
We've needed a calm week here at Nintendo Life, and it sure seemed that way until the release of Wave 1 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass. If you're not a Mario Kart Tour fan, then this DLC is for you! Plus you can check out what
Monday7th Mar 2022
Feature 7 Reasons For Picking Starter Pokémon, But How Do You Pick Yours?
What's love got to do with it?
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have finally been shown to the world and in spite of all the important debates whirling around the internet right now about the development team's enormous workload, concerned speculation over exactly how we're going to catch all of the new Pokémon this time around after Arceus' welcome re
Sunday13th Feb 2022
Feature Which New Hisuian Pokémon Are Viable For Competitive Play?
Gotta rank ‘em all
Pokémon Legends: Arceus raises a lot of questions about the future of the official competitive Pokémon format, VGC. Will Frostbite replace the Frozen status condition? Will Drowsy supersede Sleep? How will overpowered new moves such as Stone Axe and Victory Dance translate into a ‘typical’ Pokémon game? Will there even be...
Saturday12th Feb 2022
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus Is A Reminder That It's Never Too Late To Change
*click
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Stuart thinks back on decades of trying to get into Pokémon, and his joy at finally coming in from the cold... Back in the misty vales of 1999 and at the frankly silly age of 12, I must...
Sunday6th Feb 2022
Feature Pokémon Legends: Arceus Has Made Pokémon Downright Disturbing Again
Putting the monsters back in your pocket
There's not a person alive who doesn't know what Pokémon is these days, not a single soul who couldn't correctly point out Pikachu in a line up of every pocket monster there has ever been. The series' success has seen it spread its easily merchandised charms to all corners of commercialism, from Funko Pops...
Wednesday2nd Feb 2022
Soapbox I'm Looking Forward To Going To The Past With Pokémon And Ace Attorney
Super-nostalgia
My knowledge of "the past" is relatively limited to specific periods of history. I have a degree in Ancient Greek and Latin, so I could tell you all about Suetonius' account of Claudius' imperial reign in excruciating depth, although I doubt you'd want me to. I know a lot about the Tudors, because I went to school in England, and...
Monday31st Jan 2022
Talking Point A Poképro And A Pokénoob Discuss Pokémon Legends: Arceus
It's a Tom and Kate debate!
As we all know by now, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has taken the well-trodden Pokéformula of the last 20 years and turned it on its head. For fans who've been playing the games for years, it's an exciting reinvention of the series — but what about people who are completely new to Pokémon? And what about people who really...
Friday28th Jan 2022
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus Raises The Question - How Much Do Janky Graphics Matter?
THE TREE TEXTURES! THEY'RE BURNING MY EYYYEEEEESSSSSS
I have a secret to admit. I am... a little bit bored of Pokémon. If I'm completely honest with myself, I have been for a while. I've played almost every mainline game, but I started losing momentum around the time of Sun and Moon. It just seemed so overwrought and complicated, with the...
Wednesday26th Jan 2022
Talking Point Do You Consider Pokémon Legends: Arceus To Be A Mainline Title?
It doesn't even have two parallel versions!
Let's get this out of the way, first: Pokémon Legends: Arceus is, canonically, a mainline Pokémon game. Serebii master Joe Merrick confirmed as much late last year: As he puts it in another tweet, "it is not a spin-off... It's no more a spin-off than Super Mario Galaxy is to Super Mario World." He's...
Sunday16th Jan 2022
Feature Our Totally Infallible Predictions For Hisui Forms In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
60% of the time, we’re right every time
Few Nintendo franchises ignite as much speculation as a new Pokémon game. Leading up to release, dozens of new ‘mons are trickled out, making headlines and setting Pokémon communities ablaze. Pokémon Legends: Arceus, while not the beginning of a new generation, sparked a similar fervor when they showed...
Saturday8th Jan 2022
Soapbox After 25 Years, Pokémon Legends: Arceus Will Be My First Pokémon Game
Can it be the Dark Souls of Pokémon (nah, probably not)?
Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it's the turn of Tom Whitehead to make a confession. We all have our hidden shames and gaming gaps, and it's time to share one of mine. Despite writing words about Nintendo for nearly 8 years I've always...
Friday31st Dec 2021
Feature Where Does Competitive Pokémon Go From Here?
Aaron “Cybertron” Zheng on what the future holds
Two years have passed since Pokémon Sword and Shield inaugurated the eighth generation of Pokémon games. With it came indignation from some fans, though most agreed Sword and Shield didn’t flounder when it came to its competitive scene. Pokémon tournaments are played under the Video Game...
Friday26th Nov 2021
Feature 10 Pokémon That Deserve A Hisuian Evolution In Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Scyther shouldn’t get all the love
With Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl releasing last week, we’re now all aboard the Pokémon Legends: Arceus hype train, and we don’t expect it to stop chugging along until the game drops early next year. From the Pokémon Presents last August, where we learned of new evolutions for the oft...
Saturday21st Aug 2021
Talking Point Which Pokémon Legends: Arceus Starter Are You Going To Pick?
Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott, oh my
Rowlet. Wait, sorry, I have to write more words than that? Fine. The 2022 release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus was shown off earlier this week, during the latest Pokémon Presents, but we already knew that the game would feature three returning starters: Oshawott for the Water type, Rowlet for the Grass type,...
Friday28th May 2021
Soapbox Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Release Date Worries Me, But Hopefully I'm Wrong
A potential Poké-hit, if it's treated with respect
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics or random stuff they've been thinking about, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. Today, Ryan talks about the surprisingly early release date for a big-name Pokémon title. Pokémon...
