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Feature Pokémon TCG Community Engulfed In Potential Fraud Scandal
Conflicting details have been shared online
The Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) community is knee-deep in the biggest scandal it has ever known. Over the weekend, a picture was posted on the subreddit r/PokemonTCG by user GuavaWave, along with the caption, “Saw this on a (Facebook) group.” The image depicts what appears to be an unruly amount...
Guide Super Nintendo World: Is It Worth It? Survival Tips, Budget Advice, How To 'Play' The Park
Get the most from your visit to Hollywood, CA
Super Nintendo World in Hollywood, California is finally open to the public, and we've been exploring the park to uncover its secrets. Today, Alan will be your guide as he proffers essential tips for making the most your visit, including basic info concerning entry and queue times and the like, plus...
Feature "Unfinished Business" - Why Gilbert & Grossman Returned To Monkey Island
Working with Disney, Devolver, and fans
Does Guybrush Threepwood still want to be a pirate? This, after all, was the Monkey Island protagonist’s very first proclamation 32 years ago: “My name is Guybrush Threepwood, and I want to be a pirate!” But given the fact that he’s only set sail in five previous Monkey Island adventures sprinkled...
Soapbox I Somehow Bought Over $800 Of Animal Crossing Crap In One Year
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, stop foolin' me.
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. Today, Alan grabs his accountant visor and tots up how much money he wasted wisely invested in the Bank of Nook over the past year. On the...
Feature The Legend Of Zelda Is The Robinson Crusoe Of Video Games
We start our 35th anniversary feature series at the beginning... and the end?
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, we're running a series of features looking at a specific aspect — a theme, character, mechanic, location, memory or something else entirely — from each of the mainline Zelda games. Today, Alan looks back at the...
Soapbox If The Smash Community Wants To #SaveSmash, It Needs To Start From Within
The community needs to deal with the abuse scandals of 2020 first
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this piece, Alan Lopez discusses the recent online campaign to "save" Super Smash Bros., and why it's papering over a far more...
Do Luna, Stadia and Project xCloud mean the end of unique gaming experiences?
This week, Amazon, the world’s biggest online company, launched a new cloud-based gaming service called Luna. For $5.99 a month (to begin with, at least), anyone will be able to play over 100 popular video games streamed directly from an app you can install on your...
Talking Point What Do Abuse Scandals Say About The Smash Bros. Community, And Its Future?
Where now for Smash, and esports as a whole?
Before we begin, we'd like to point out that this article discusses sexual coercion, sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse of minors, and links to stories of these accounts. We appreciate this might be outside of our usual remit but we feel very strongly that this is a topic we simply could not ignore...
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Miitomo
Yes, really
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Alan sums up what made Nintendo's short-lived mobile experience so gripping... Miitomo is not just my Nintendo Game of the Decade, it’s Nintendo’s...
Feature One Year In, What do the Pros Think of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?
"We need developer support. I can’t stress this enough"
Traditionally, a one year anniversary is celebrated with paper. That definitely won’t be a problem for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s own one year anniversary; with a couple of months to spare, Nintendo’s mascot fighting game is already the best selling fighting video game of all time...
Feature How Super Smash Bros. Became The Ultimate Fighter
The path of a champion
What do you do if you’ve been fighting with the same people for 20 years? If you’re Nintendo, you hand out some weapons, get an announcer, and invite your friends over to watch. The Super Smash Bros. series, Nintendo’s perennial Saturday-morning-cartoon take on how fighting video games can work, turns a whopping 20...
Feature How Fangamer Changed The World Of Video Game Merchandise Forever
"We created the merchandise that Nintendo never made for us"
Before the turn of the century brought with it online communities, before the standard for monetary transactions became digital, and not to mention, before good old-fashioned globalism, being able to officially declare your super fandom for almost anything you can think of meant frequent...
Feature The Best Nintendo Switch Games Of PAX West 2019
Luigi's Mansion 3! Super Meat Boy Forever! Haven! Windjammers 2!
The Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle is one of the biggest expositions of gaming on the planet, and we were there, hunting out the best Nintendo-related games for your viewing pleasure. The only stipulations were that it couldn’t have already been released before PAX, and it had to be...
Hands On Overland Is A Game Where You Don't Always Get To Save The Dog
"We broke most strategy game rules"
Overland has been in development for a long time now. Developer Finji – which began life back in 2006 when it was founded by Adam and Rebekah Saltsman – has been involved in several major releases over the years, including (deep breath) Canabalt, Gravity Hook, Hundreds, Feist, Panoramical, Runaway Toad and...
Hands On The More We Play Streets Of Rage 4, The More We Like It
Dust off your knuckles
Boy, the streets sure have been quiet the last 25 years. That’s roughly the length of time since Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Big McLargehuge roamed the streets taming, titulary speaking, the “rage”. Streets of Rage 4, similar to retro franchise revivals like Mega Man 9 and Sonic Mania before it,
Hands On The Most Fun Game At PAX Was About Helping People Move Out
Making the move
Here are the most dreaded five words in the English language: “Can you help me move?” So hey, why not make a video game about it? Australian developer SMG is doing just that with its upcoming Switch game, titled Moving Out. It takes the concept of helping people move and puts it on its head... and its side, and its face, and...
Hands On Trust Us, You Guys Are Really Going To Dig Shovel Knight Dig
It rocks, honestly
You know what Shovel Knight needs? More digging. At least that’s what developers Yacht Club Games and Nitrome (developer of Bomb Chicken) seem to have on their minds with their recent announcement of Shovel Knight Dig, a Shovel Knight spin-off game for the Nintendo Switch, promised to fans early next year. Unlike the spry...
Hands On Sayonara Wild Hearts Is Pop Perfection In Video Game Form
Say goodbye to your eShop credit when this launches
“Sayonara” is Japanese for “goodbye". Alright, you probably didn’t need help with that one. On the other hand, with Sayonara Wild Hearts, a new video game on the Nintendo Switch developed by Swedish developer Simogo, you’ll probably need some help, both to understand it and to master it...
Feature Dragon Quest XI S Developers On Bringing The Definitive Edition To Switch
"The entire history of the series is packed into this game"
On the 27th September Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition arrives on Switch after debuting on other platforms over two years ago. Japanese gamers were lucky enough to get the game on Nintendo 3DS (with a special feature that had both 3D and classic 2D views of...
Preview Astral Chain Mixes Bayonetta, Wonderful 101 And Metal Gear Rising, And You'll Love It
Trust us on this one
You’d think it’d be a little easier to relax when you’re lounging inside a hotel suite playing a video game, Platinum Games’ Astral Chain, to be exact. High above Comic-Con, Seagulls were flying face level to the glass panes of the room, while sailboats were lazily drifting off in the San Diego bay; yet all anyone could...
Feature Meet Axe, The Smash Bros. Underdog Who Changed The Competitive Scene Overnight
"I see myself as an underdog every time"
There must be something in the water lately at Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments. A few weeks ago, Melee player Wizzrobe, real name Justin Hallett, won Smash’N’Splash 5, a major Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament with over 800 entrants. His character of choice was Captain Falcon, a mid-tier staple...
Hands On Creature In The Well Is The Most Beautiful Game We Played At E3
Stick with us on this one
You read that title right. Creature In The Well is indeed the most beautiful game we played at E3. Yes, we're aware of the shiny, toy-box wonderland that is the Link’s Awakening remake. We all know Cyberpunk 2077 is next level. Mosaic, the upcoming, multi-platform indie game that transforms
Hands On Mosaic Is A Game That Wants You To Feel Insignificant
Rage against the machine
There’s this split moment right after you wake up where you aren’t completely awake, but you’re not totally asleep. Mosaic, an indie game by Krillbite Studio, wants to take you there. In fact, it strongly suspects you’re probably living that moment right now. Mosaic is a single player, semi-linear narrative game...
Hands On Empire Of Sin Is A Complex Crime Caper Created By Video Game Royalty
"Prohibition strategy" is a genre now
During one of our E3 appointments, we sat in a tiny, packed room to observe a 20-minute gameplay demo for Empire of Sin, the upcoming 1920s-themed strategy game slated to release Spring 2020. Surrounding us were no fewer than five developers, including John Romero, famed creator of the original DOOM and Quake...
