Feature Articles
Wednesday31st Aug 2022
Feature 12 Nintendo Games That Deserve An HD-2D Remake
Pretty in pixels
HD-2D has become the new lofty bar for retro-inspired RPGs or remakes of our favourite Super Nintendo RPGs. Square Enix's new trademark visual style started with 2018's Octopath Traveler and has also been used in this year's strategy RPG Triangle Strategy. But, arguably, its true potential has been realised in the stunning remake of...
Saturday27th Aug 2022
Feature Super Mario Kart At 30: How 16-Bit Limitations Created A Franchise-Defining Mechanic
The gift of the drift
The landscape of the Mario Kart series looks very different today than it did back in 1992 when Super Mario Kart was released for the Super NES. Of course, there is a clear improvement with respect to visuals and we now have new characters, karts, and courses dropping all the time thanks to the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster...
Saturday15th Feb 2020
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (February 15th)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
The end of yet another busy week is upon us, and after all the Pokémon Sword and Shield leak drama, news of more NES and SNES games, and review bomb shenanigans, it's time
Saturday21st Dec 2019
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Christmas? (Special Edition 2019)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
As regular visitors will know, every weekend, we share our gaming plans for the next couple of days and read through all of your entries in the comments. This time, though, we're switching things up a bit, getting together to chat about our plans over the holidays instead. That's right, Christmas is (nearly)...
Saturday7th Sep 2019
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (September 7th)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
Well, that's another week down, and this one was full of Metacritic review bombing drama, SNES games galore, and only a bloomin' Nintendo Direct. Phwoar. So, it's absolutely time for us to sit b
Saturday13th Oct 2018
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 13th)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
It's Saturday! And that means it's time, once again, to discuss our weekend gaming plans. Team Nintendo Life has the usual range of games on the go this weekend, from RPGs to party antics and everything in between, so make sure to read through our lovingly crafted words and join in the fun with our poll and...
Saturday20th May 2017
Video The Complete History Of Mario Kart
From SNES to Switch in 25 years
In light of the recent launch of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, we at Nintendo Life have been reminiscing about the celebrated history of the Mario Kart series. From the SNES to the new Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart has provided players around the globe with countless hours of shell-tossing entertainment. In this...
Thursday20th Aug 2015
Mario History Super Mario Kart - 1992
The start of something beautiful
In this series of articles we'll write about one Mario game every day for 30 days, each representing a different year as part of our Super Mario 30th Anniversary celebrations. With the exception of our 1987 entry, this series of articles on Mario titles for each year since 1985 has been all about main-series...
Friday26th Dec 2014
Poll Which is the Best Mario Kart Game?
Will you go retro, HD or portable?
It's a time of year in which plenty of time is spent with friends, family and fellow web gamers debating all manner of topics. Is Kirby Nintendo's cutest mascot? Has Mario's moustache become bushier in the HD era? Will F-Zero ever return? It's a time of opinions, and having checked out the Game of the Year results...
Tuesday3rd Jun 2014
Mario Kart Month A History of the Mario Kart Series - Part One
From pixels to polygons, then back to pixels
As June begins and our Mario Kart Month celebrations throughout May draw to a close, the build-up and expectation surrounding Mario Kart 8 has transitioned into mass play sessions and hands-on racing time. This is the moment on which memories are built, as competitiveness and hilarity ensues from...
Saturday31st May 2014
What about those other items?
Whilst core items such as the banana, shell and mushroom have carried the traditions of the Mario Kart series over the past 22 years, there are many other forgotten, reinvented, and even untouched items that arguably contin
Mario Kart Month What Mario Kart Means To Me
Dave Letcavage shares his experiences with the series
In this personal reminiscence, Nintendo Life contributor Dave Letcavage explains how important the Mario Kart franchise — and gaming in a broader sense — are to him, recounting events of his life in which they've been invaluable sources of entertainment, fun and escape. You don’t need me...
Friday30th May 2014
Mario Kart Month The Developers Who Tried To Beat Nintendo At Its Own Game
Improving On Perfection
Veterans of the 16-bit era will vividly recall the first time they played Super Mario Kart. Nintendo's seminal racer was a genuine revolution; it took what had previously been quite a staid and serious genre and turned it into something light-hearted, yet immensely challenging and addictive. While Super Mario Kart had an...
Wednesday28th May 2014
Mario Kart Month A Brief History Of Mario Kart Item Evolution: Mighty Mushroom
There’s a shroom for every occasion
You wouldn’t normally associate a mushroom with speed, but just look at Toad with his white and red polka dot head – he’s always zipping about. Clearly he’s got a need for speed after excessive use of the mighty mushroom out on the track. Actually, it’s hard to imagine what’s even under that...
Friday16th May 2014
Mario Kart Month A Brief History Of Mario Kart Item Evolution: The Shell
When spiny blue shells grow wings
If you thought Donkey Kong’s banana-throwing antics were foul play out on the circuit, Koopa Troopa is probably worthy of mention as well – no doubt coming under fire from various animal rights groups for the exploitation of his own species. Although shells have been one of the many foundations of Mario Kart...
Tuesday13th May 2014
Mario Kart Month A Brief History Of Mario Kart Item Evolution: The Trusty Banana
Plenty of slip-ups contained within
Since the very beginnings of Mario Kart in the 1992 Super Nintendo original, items have been a truly defining aspect of the series. Little did we – and perhaps even Nintendo – know various themed items and effects originally extracted from the traditional Mario universe would go on to become such an integral...
Saturday10th May 2014
Play Let's Race Through Mario Kart 1-7, Live!
Let's do this...
As you're hopefully aware, we announced earlier this week that we're running a marathon live stream of Mario Kart 1-7, in which two courageous souls from the Nintendo Life team will sacrifice their Saturday for your entertainment. We'll also be hoping that the elaborate setup of cables for the broadcast won't spontaneously combust;...
Thursday8th May 2014
Play We'll Be Blasting Through Mario Kart 1-7 in a Twitch Marathon
Not a ROM in sight
Not long ago we took our first tentative steps into the world of Twitch when we played a bit of Mario Kart Wii live for your amusement. Now we're planning to go a step further and marathon the first seven titles in the series; before any of you say "what about the arcade cabinets", we'll have feature content about those this...
Sunday4th May 2014
Mario Kart Month An Outsider's View Of Super Mario Kart
Kerry sees if the 16-bit classic is still in pole position
Mario Kart 8’s release is now just a few weeks away and everyone here at Nintendo Life is so excited about the game that they can’t sit still without applying superglue to their chairs first. Well everyone except me; I honestly haven’t been anywhere near a Mario Kart game for at least...
Saturday3rd May 2014
Ninterview Sami Cetin On His Journey To Super Mario Kart Success
The UK Super Mario Kart champion shares his experiences
With Mario Kart 8 now around the corner, it's an ideal time to begin looking both forwards and to those predecessors that made the series such an integral part of our gaming lives. Super Mario Kart on Super NES started it all, with its Mode 7 visuals and terrific design winning over millions of...
Friday28th Mar 2014
Feature A Look At the Super Mario Kart (SNES) World Championship 2014
Start your engines
With the arrival of Mario Kart 8 soon this year, the franchise has come a long way; yet while plenty of gamers look ahead to what's next in the series, competitive gaming on its predecessors is still going strong. An example is the original Super Mario Kart on the Super NES, just recently released on the Wii U Virtual Console...
Monday27th Aug 2012
Feature 20 Years of Mario Kart
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...
Saturday26th Nov 2011
Feature Keeping Mario at the Top
A never-ending icon
Mario is the face of Nintendo, a fact that is clear to most. As a character, however, he lacks any depth or back-story. Although some titles, such as the Mario & Luigi RPG titles on the Game Boy Advance and DS, apply a simple and humorous story to Mario and his world, he is often simply rescuing a Princess from a giant turtle...
Thursday15th Apr 2010
Talking Point The Virtual Console's PAL Problem
60Hz and the confusing state of Virtual Console emulation
“Many people don’t know what the difference between 50Hz and 60Hz is, but since most modern TV models support 60Hz it’s definitely worth finding out.” This interesting and illuminative statement, plucked readily from any number of Nintendo Wii game manuals, is fascinating in its...
