Author Profile

Username
Sean_Aaron
Articles
350 (105 reviews)
First Article
Sat 20th, December 2008
Avg. Review Score
6.3
  • First Impressions Sakutto Hamareru Hori Hori Action Mr. Driller

    Portable Driller action is Go!

    Namco's Mr. Driller is certainly one of the greatest arcade puzzle franchises ever, and has even surpassed its arcade heritage on home consoles in the the past decade of its existence. Whilst Drill Land remains the franchise pinnacle, subsequent releases on WiiWare and DS have still been fun entries in the s

  • Review WarMen Tactics (WiiWare)

    Shockin' awful

    Here at Nintendo Life we pride ourselves on reviewing every downloadable game and application released for the Wii and DSi. As a reviewer this may mean reviewing games in genres you might not regularly play, and there's also the risk of playing a bad game; sometimes a really bad game. WarMen Tactics is one of the latter, a game that...

  • News Nintendo Download 15th February 2010 (North America)

    Phoenix Wright, Art of Balance, Spaceball, Sonic and more in another big update!

    Nintendo of America is certainly putting out a lot of original content for the Wii and DSi this year. This week we have four downloads for Wii and five for the DSi, so hopefully you'll be able to find something of interest. WiiWare: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: JUSTICE...

  • Feature Gaming from the Heart

    Games that tug the heartstrings

    Valentine's Day is sometimes derided as a "Hallmark Holiday" - a day created for shops to sell stuff like greeting cards and chocolates due to feelings of obligation. Despite this, it must be said that having a day in which you're expected to express love and devotion to those closest to you can't be all...

  • Review Nacho Libre (DS)

    Luchador's lament

    Lucha Libre has an interesting history and place in Mexican culture and luchadores can be viewed in the same light as Japanese sumo (unsurprisingly Lucha Libre has a strong following in Japan as well): real-life super-heroes. Like super heroes, most luchadores wear masks and go to great lengths to maintain an air of mystery about...

  • Interviews Bplus - Bit Man!!

    We chat about Bplus' Japanese debut: the evolution from Bit Boy!! to Bit Man!!

    Bplus games seem to be the Marmite of WiiWare, invoking strong feelings of love or disdain from gamers in our forums, but whichever side of the fence you're on, you have to be impressed that they've been selected as one of the first participants in Marvelous...

  • Nintendo Download 16th & 17th February 2010 (Japan)

    Japanese downloads go on a diet

    There's still something being offered in each category next week, but this has to be one of the lightest Japanese download weeks we can remember with only four games on offer across both platforms. WiiWare: Diner Dash (1000pts - Hudson) — Hudson is pretty good about doing worldwide releases close together so you...

  • News Bit Museum Episode 5 Coming Soon

    Nintendo's classic Game & Watch handhelds get the spotlight

    As retro-gaming fans it's no surprise we have a soft spot for Robotube Games' fantastic series of Bit Museum videos showcasing forgotten gaming consoles and handhelds. Nintendo's early gaming consoles from the 1970s featured in the first episode and we've gotten word that the latest episode...

  • Review The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (GameCube)

    Incredible destruction; incredibly satisfying

    It's practically a truism that video games built on film and book licenses suck; probably due to the motivation for using a license from another medium being more about attempting to cash-in on name recognition than actually delivering a compelling gaming experience. Of course there are exceptions to the...

  • News Rising Star Confirms European Release of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

    Return to the Gardens of Madness in April!

    Today Rising Star games confirmed what many had suspected, but had never officially been announced: namely that they're handling the publication of Grasshopper Manufacture's eagerly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed 2008 release, No More Heroes. Naturally we just couldn't wait and had to review...

  • Review Hubert the Teddy Bear: Winter Games (WiiWare)

    Teddy bear Christmas comes early

    WiiWare has seen a surprising number of mini-game collections come its way, probably due to the simple nature of the genre and the greater likelihood of standing out as part of a weekly download release than on a store shelf crowded with such titles. Hubert the Bear: Winter Games makes a decent addition to the genre...

  • First Impressions Earth Saver

    Dig Dug II: a new action film from Michael Bay

    Tom Create are no strangers to the Nintendo download scene having released a WiiWare "card battle" game and three budget DSiWare games last year. Earth Saver was the last DSiWare game from them in 2009: a puzzle game with a play mechanic very much like Namco's Dig Dug II, but a setting like a...

  • News Marvelous Entertainment Announces World Game Parade

    Western indie games heading for the Land of the Rising Sun

    Marvelous Entertainment is launching a new "World Game Parade" label for WiiWare in Japan, bringing over indie games from Western developers which might not otherwise have seen the inside of the Japanese Wii Shop. The release dates haven't been announced yet, but the first four...

  • Review Bloons (WiiWare)

    Floats like a lead bloon

    Balloons have a proud history on game consoles, stretching all the way back to Circus Atari on the venerable Atari VCS and Nintendo's Joust clone Balloon Fight. There's just something about popping balloons that tickles a part of our inner children it seems and it's an activity that generally translates well to video games...

  • Nintendo Download 8th February 2010 (North America)

    Another big update for North America: blasting, dancing, balloons, rockets and more this week!

    The big North American updates keep on coming. This week there's four new WiiWare releases, five new DSiWare releases and a quirky NES adventure game. WiiWare: Blaster Master: Overdrive (1000pts - Sunsoft) -- The announcement of the original NES classic...

  • First Impressions Chōkon Chicken Do Shindan

    Test your "Chicken Bird Soul"

    The DS has become massively popular in part due to the number of games on it which claim to test players cleverness in some way. These are typically referred to as "brain training" programs and they've clearly been embraced by a large audience of people that enjoy being tested on math skills and such. This...

  • News Art of Balance Coming Soon to North America

    Release date and pricing set.

    Shin'en Multimedia have informed us that their upcoming WiiWare title, Art of Balance is coming to the North American Wii Shop on the 15th of February and will be retailing for 800 points. Naturally we'll give it a full review at that time, but for now you can read our first impressions and feast your eyes on a new...

  • Nintendo Download 9th & 10th February 2010 (Japan)

    A revamped PC Engine game comes to WiiWare, more Mega Man on the VC and a DSiWare gaming assault next week in Japan!

    The Wii only has two downloads next Tuesday, but they're both hotly anticipated releases for strategy and retro fans. DSiWare is where the real download action is though, with no less than seven releases - all of which appear to be...

  • News The Grinder Gets a Release Date, Goes Multi-Platform

    No longer Wii exclusive, coming next year

    High Voltage software has revealed a lot of information about anticipated team-based horror FPS The Grinder including a new trailer and the announcement that it will be shown off at this year's Game Developer's Conference. No publisher is mentioned in the interview, but there's some other interesting new...

  • First Impressions Panel Renketsu 3 Minute Rocket

    Pipe Mania plus Apollo Space Progam plus Sky TV?

    Whilst Nintendo's Intelligent Systems development team might be better known for the Fire Emblem series, on the download front they seem to be cutting loose with a lightgun shooter on WiiWare and now a puzzle game for the DSi. At first glance it looks like the classic puzzler Pipe Mania, but that's...

  • News THQ Announces de Blob Sequel for 2011

    Latest earnings report drops reference to franchising of critically acclaimed original IP.

    de Blob was one of THQ's most critically acclaimed new IPs when it was released in the second half of 2008, but despite past rumours of a sequel we've not had anything concrete said on that score until now. There's not much specific about the Wii in THQ's...

  • Review Geometry Wars Galaxies (DS)

    A near-perfect translation of the console classic

    Bizarre Creation's Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is something of a modern classic. The wireframe graphics and gameplay consisting of firing at enemies in every direction on a closed 2D playfield are like a marriage of arcade classics Tempest and Robotron, making for some addictive gameplay. Sierra...

  • First Impressions Pinball Attack!

    Pinball and shooters: two tastes that go great together

    ArtePiazza is better recognised for its work on RPGs like Enix's Dragon Quest series and more recently Koei's Wii RPG Opoona, so it's interesting that their freshman effort on DSiWare is a marriage of video pinball and shooter called Pinball Attack! There are currently no other pinball games on...

  • First Impressions Space Invaders Extreme Z

    Space Invaders Extreme 2 comes to DSiWare

    Space Invaders is a video game icon: even people who don't play video games are likely to recognise the bitmap images of the Invaders thanks to Taito's persistence in keeping the brand name alive via product licensing, video game sequels and home console ports. The celebration of the 30th anniversary of...