Back Page "My Uncle Works At Nintendo" - The Man, The Myth, And The Mendacity
It’s all lies… until it’s all true
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 (paper) pages on the internet, but we still...
Review Gotta Protectors: Cart Of Darkness - An Inventive, Hilarious Action-Strategy Blend
Cowabunga!
Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness starts as it means to go on — with a warm-hearted parody of something only gamers of a certain age are likely to remember. Ancient's logo appears and then… nothing happens — not until you hammer the 'A' button on the side of the screen as though your Switch is a temperamental CRT TV that's seen...
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
Review Taito Milestones - An Oddly Meagre Collection Of Coin-Op Classics
A muted celebration of an important developer
A small "Powered by Arcade Archives" message sits in the corner of Taito Milestones' dual-purpose title/game select screen, a subdued seal of quality there to let players know the emulation within is of the same standard we've come to expect from Hamster's prolific series, with all the usual features...
Feature Is It Worth Importing A Japanese 3DS For These Virtual Console Games?
Save money on import classics before it's too late
As we all know the 3DS and Wii U eShops are closing down, taking with them countless classics in all genres. It's a decision that's understandably left many of us scrambling to find our old passwords and make those last minute purchases, finally turning those 'Maybe next time' purchases into a...
Review GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon - A Dead Ringer From Konami That Struggles To Succeed
Packed with potential — and not much else
It takes mere moments to notice that GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon, the welcome revival of Konami's Famicom-exclusive action/RPG hybrid GetsuFumaDen, is the once-respected publisher's uncomfortably close take on Dead Cells' excellent 'action roguelite' gameplay. There's the opening room containing a visual...
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...
Feature Game Boy's Perfect Pixel Art And Our Obsession With Reclaiming It
Grey and green never looked better
The Game Boy is an iconic piece of gaming hardware, but the quest to elevate and celebrate its games has continued over the course of more than 30 years. Backwards compatibility with the later Game Boy line enabled us all to replay the OG library on updated, improved screens and the quest to present 8-bit retro...
Feature Japan's 'G-Mode Archives' - The Retrogame Series You've Never Heard Of
A great way to play some more old games on Switch
If you're a retro game enthusiast, you're likely aware of Hamster's excellent Arcade Archives and ACA NEO GEO lines which both boast sizeable catalogues on Switch eShop. There is, however, another predominantly Japanese set of retro releases that might have passed you by completely: the G-Mode...
Feature 10 Overlooked GameCube Gems You Must Play
Small(ish) library, BIG surprises!
The North American 20th anniversary of Nintendo's cube-y console is upon us and we’ve come to realise that two entire decades is long enough for people to either forget the GameCube’s charming boxy shape or even grow to adulthood without ever handling Nintendo’s handled hardware. "0 years is also plenty of...
Feature Seriously, What The Heck Is Going On Inside Samus’ Morph Ball?
5 theories to solve an armour-plated mystery rolled up in an enigma
The Metroid series is now in its 35th year, and over that lengthy period of time Nintendo has happily elaborated on everything from its star’s childhood to flappy parent-killing nightmare Ridley, Metroids, Chozo, and even creepy Phazon-created evil clone. In short, virtually every...
Feature Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, Or That Time Mario Got Movin’ To Mozart
The funky rhythm comin’ at ya!
On the surface Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix appears to be the ordinary and obvious by-product of Konami and Nintendo continuing to operate in the same creative space. After all, by the time of the game’s 2005 release, Mario had already been doing non-Mario things for a very long time — he could paint, ride...
Feature Treasure Games That Need Switch Ports Or Sequels
We’re going on a Treasure hunt
The aptly-named Japanese studio Treasure — in spite of its fondness for focusing on less popular formats and its infrequent and occasionally Japan-only releases — has long been a developer famed throughout all of game-dom for the consistent originality and sheer quality that runs through its work. Formed in 1992...
Feature 'Arcade Perfect' Be Damned: R-Type DX Is Still Portable Perfection
Bydo To The Future
R-Type may be 34 years old but the beyond-enthusiastic reception for R-Type Final 2's Kickstarter proved Irem’s long-running series is much more than a nostalgic memory held close by a few greying fans, or vintage shmup still hazily respected from a great distance. R-Type can still generate hype and open up wallets; the thought...
Guide The Switch Gamer’s Holiday Survival Guide For Festive Family Multiplayer Sessions
Tidings of comfort and Joy-Con
‘Tis the season of enforced family gatherings, far too much of every food imaginable, and TV schedules filled with unnecessary modern remakes of old favourites. It’s also the perfect opportunity to stuff a controller in granddad’s hands and demonstrate the joys of gaming with those who might normally avoid it,...
Feature Clammy Consoles, Humid Horrors, And Retro Regrets
Don't try this at home
A few years ago a clever, witty, and shockingly beautiful Nintendo Life writer had to spend a few boring days trawling numerous websites searching for a brand new and eye-wateringly expensive wafer-thin HDTV with which to replace their ageing and sadly then only semi-functional slightly less wafer-thin HDTV. This new triumph...
Feature How Takara Brought SNK's Arcade Fighters To The Humble Game Boy
Battery-powered brawlers
Between 1994 and 1998 Takara Co., Ltd. brought some of SNK's most successful Neo Geo arcade hits — Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and Fatal Fury 2 — to the humble Game Boy via a series of 'demakes'; streamlined and simplified releases of the infinitely more powerful arcade originals rebuilt from the ground up...
Where's our diploma in slime-slicing?
Ancient — the family company of VGM composer Yuzo Koshiro and developers of everything from Sonic The Hedgehog’s debut Game Gear outing to Gotta Protectors for the 3DS — released Royal Anapoko Academy in Japan on 16th December 2021. Like much of its output in recent years, this light-hearted RPG is an...
Review Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection - An Incomplete Compilation Of Cult Classics
Not so fantasmic
You’d struggle to find a set of games better suited to a convenient retro compilation than Valis: The Phantasm Soldier. The late '80s/early '90s platform-shooter Castlevania-ish hybrid series spans at least half a dozen formats from esoteric Japanese computers to the Mega Drive, each release — even when they’re supposed to be...
Deed-lightful
Team Ladybug has something of a reputation of turning famous licensed properties into compelling Metroidvanias. After the opening PC-exclusive freebie Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue starring series mascot Jack Frost came Touhou Luna Nights, another ‘exploration action’ title featuring the endlessly popular Gensokyo...
Feature 9 Switch Games Guaranteed To Get You On The Naughty List
Definitely not sugar, spice, and all things nice
It turns out there can be such a thing as too much Christmas cheer, especially during the week before the big day when we’re sick of the sight of the cute snowmen shops have been hawking since October and rag-tag bands of singers are prowling the streets, vocally murdering every carol you thought...
Mini Review DoDonPachi Resurrection - Same Great Game, Same Old Problems
Bee-rilliant, bee-witching, bee-ry annoying
Another day, another prestigious arcade shmup finds a happy new home for itself on the Switch. This may sound like we’ve skipped straight to the end of this review a few paragraphs early but as it’s been a full decade since DoDonPachi Resurrection’s English Xbox 360 release, more than that since it...
Review Clockwork Aquario — A Short And Oh-So-Sweet Arcade Platformer Rescued From Oblivion
Definitely better late than never
Back in the early '90s Westone, best known as the creators of the Wonder Boy / Monster World series, were supposed to release a cute and colourful arcade game — Clockwork Aquario. Unfortunately for them the cutting edge polygonal thrills of Virtua Racing were busy setting the arcade world alight at the time,...
Mini Review Heaven's Machine - Short, But Unfortunately Not Sweet
A bullet hellish experience
Heaven's Machine is the first of Super Rare Games’ ‘Super Rare Shorts’ series; brand new indie games only released on the Switch in physical form and only available to buy during a short open preorder window. It's certainly an unusual idea but, unfortunately, this is probably not the start they were hoping for...
