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"I'm kind of a Nintendo geek"
From now until the start of the new year we're going to be republishing some of what we feel are our best features of 2015. Hopefully this will offer the chance for newer readers to catch up on content they might have missed and allow long-time fans to reacquaint themselves with features they enjoyed the first time...
Feature The Poor Career Choice of Super Smash Bros. Professionals
"A game like this can't survive forever with no institutional support"
From now until the start of the new year we're going to be republishing some of what we feel are our best features of 2015. Hopefully this will offer the chance for newer readers to catch up on content they might have missed and allow long-time fans to reacquaint themselves with...
Talking Point Nintendo's Dismissal of Chris Pranger Highlights Issues With Company Culture
"I've failed you. I've failed me."
If I were fired from making games at Nintendo, I would feel cataclysmically heartbroken in such a way that I might never recover. This is the imagined story I have just now constructed in my head, but for former Nintendo localization editor Chris Pranger, this heartache is more than a pained hypothetical. Pranger...
"I want to get the tone, the mood, the mystical elements right"
Marked by dreamlike brushstrokes and an uncanny mind for fan service, Orioto's artwork is the type to stick with you after you've seen it. For years, this Paris-based digital artist has created moving portraits of a who's-who in the fictional gaming sphere: Link, Ryu, Sonic, and many...
Interview Warren Spector Discusses Game Choices, Development Leadership and Shigeru Miyamoto
"I'm a Link to the Past guy. It's maybe my favorite game."
If you only began telling Warren Spector's history by the time he joined the game company Origin in 1989, you will have glossed over a career that already included professional film critiques, his time producing tabletop games for the ubiquitous Steve Jackson Games, and a thesis about Warner...
First Impressions Getting Into the Fold With Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
A crossover aiming for the funny bone
The world has seen its fair share of monumental crossovers: DC vs. Marvel, Jetsons meets the Flintstones. And now, Mario meets Mario in a game of the same genre but technically in another universe because one is made of paper and, uh… The specifics of how this all happens in the story likely doesn't matter,...
First Impressions Our Maiden Flight In Star Fox Zero Prompts Mixed Emotions
You okay over there, Fox?
One of our men on the E3 floor, Alan Lopez, had a first run on Star Fox Zero in a short session. We'll aim to have a longer playthrough - to tackle the GamePad control scheme, in particular - in a separate media session later this week. When I got to the Star Fox Zero kiosk inside the Nintendo media room, the Nintendo rep...
Interview Lilian "Milktea" Chen Talks Smash Bros., Sexism and a Brighter Future
"Strides regarding social inclusion in Smash can be seen for themselves"
An inescapable reality within the eSports world, regardless of the game in question, is the stark contrast between male and female participants. Whatever the culprit, the stories of many female professionals are often squashed, missed or, even worse, stunted before they even...
Rumour Code Digging With amiibo Raises Potential for a Future of Pokémon Cards and Mii Fighters
The door has been opened
While there are many opinions regarding the ongoing challenges of successfully collecting amiibo, the continually expanding range - there'll even be a Chibi-Robo figurine - suggests that it's a major part of Nintendo's plans. The possibilities for expansion are certainly vast. Clues to Nintendo's intentions can be found in...
Feature What the Heck is Puzzle & Dragons? - A Brief History, and Why Mario Got Involved
Match three with a difference
YouTube recently released a presser in anticipation of its 10th anniversary. Listed in acknowledgement of the milestone were several "top 10's", including the top 10 most viewed video game videos, as ranked by watch time: Minecraft Grand Theft Auto (series) League of Legends Call of Duty (series) FIFA (series) Garry's...
Feature A Day With The Biggest StreetPass Group in the US
Hits, games and cake in San Diego
In this special feature Nintendo Life contributor Alan Lopez shares his experience of a day with the San Diego StreetPass group. What do you get when you Google "StreetPass groups"? If you're searching in the land of Nintendo of America, Facebook pages for "StreetPass Chicago", "StreetPass NYC" and other cities...
"Shovel Knight, Meat Boy, and CommanderVideo would hold their own"
Choice Provisions remains one of the most admirably eclectic yet successful developers currently plying their trade in the download scene. After coming to prominence with the BIT.TRIP series on WiiWare and other platforms, the studio changed its name from Gaijin Games and has begun...
Feature A Day in The Future Life of a Nintendo Gamer
When smartphones and new systems take over our days
Imagine this. When you check your phone in the morning, the Nintendo app is marked with a red dot. After you check your text messages and Facebook notifications, you click the big red "N" and get to work. Inside the app, your notifications let you know you have some extra lives for the Animal...
Interview Yacht Club Games Talk Drawing in 8-bit and Aspirations for Shovel Knight 64
Game's "success is due to the brilliant designs of the 8-bit generation"
In this short interview Nintendo Life features contributor Alan Lopez caught up with David D'Angelo of Yacht Club Games, who spoke on behalf of the entire Shovel Knight creative team. Shovel Knight is a download-only 8-bit platformer. Alone, these qualifiers hardly separate...
Feature Tales From the Front Line of amiibo Collecting
The good, the bad and the ugly
Nintendo's amiibo have been a hit at retail, with around 5.7 million sold through January, and counting. Yet that sales success doesn't mean that supply is plentiful, and for the most eager of fans collecting some of the toys - particularly those that are a little most niche - have been a tale of endurance. This wasn't...
