July2023
Poll How Many Of You Have Actually Visited 'Minus World' In Super Mario Bros.?
Minus points
In terms of video game legends, it's up there with the best of them. A secret world accessible in Super Mario Bros.! A gateway to an underwater stage you can never leave! A hidden, secret zone that only the most elite Mario Bros. enthusiasts will ever find!... It was the stuff of playground hearsay back in the '80s and '90s, but...
News Handheld Consoles Will Need Easily-Switchable Batteries By 2027, Says New EU Regulation
Future Switches will likely have to follow suit
It looks like we are about to see a shift in the design of future handheld gaming consoles. A newly-passed European Union regulation has stated that an appliance's portable battery will need to be "readily removable and replaceable by the end-user" by 2027, something that is not currently offered by...
News Microsoft Given All-Clear In The US To Acquire Activision Blizzard
Call of Duty is back on the menu
Update #3 [Sun 16th Jul, 2023 16:30 BST]: Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer today confirmed a binding agreement with Sony has been made to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This is a 10-year deal, as confirmed by Stephen Totilo of Axios. "We are pleased to announce...
News Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Version 2.4.0) Character & Vehicle Performance Balance Changes Revealed
Here's what's been updated
Earlier this week, Nintendo launched the Wave 5 DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch. The patch notes referenced "improved performance of some characters and vehicle customizations" and it's now been revealed what has specifically been adjusted. This is all thanks to the Japanese website Mario Kart Blog (via...
Random Nintendo's Pikmin Short Movies Are Still Blooming Marvellous Nearly 10 Years On
To me, that's Olimar
The year was 2014 and Nintendo was in one of the worst financial pickles that the company had ever seen thanks to the poor sales of the Wii U. You might think that this was no time for joviality, but this is Nintendo that we are talking about, and Miyamoto had other ideas. Taking his favourite child, Pikmin, the legendary game...
News 'Nintendo Magazine 2023 Summer' Showcases Upcoming Switch Releases
54 pages covering all things Switch
Nintendo has today uploaded its Summer 2023 magazine - showcasing some already available titles on the system as well as the upcoming releases for the remainder of 2023. The good news is the 54-page magazine has also been made available in English, so you can not only look at all the colourful pages but also read...
Anniversary Nintendo Famicom, The NES' Japanese Sibling, Is 40 Years Old
History was made
40 years ago today, video game history changed for the better. That might sound a bit hyperbolic, but there's no denying that Nintendo's first home console — or at least the first one with interchangeable cartridges in a form we still recognise as a 'console' today — made a huge impact. Video games would not be where they would...
PSA Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom News Channel Offering Free In-Game Items
"Receive two whole Dazzlefruit"
Nintendo, as you might recall, recently released an update at the start of this month for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - adding a feature that allows users to redeem in-game items from the Switch's news channel. Following on from the free Hylian Shroom and Solider's Broadsword distribution in the...
Soapbox It's Time To Admit That F-Zero X Is The Best F-Zero
You got boost power!
F-Zero X launched on 14th July 1998 in Japan, meaning the N64 entry in this dormant Nintendo racing series is, somehow, inexplicably, 25 years old now. A quarter-century! Blimey. As such, we're republishing this article from 2019 penned by Nintendo Life founder and CEO Ant Dickens to curry favour with top brass celebrate an...
Poll Super Mario All-Stars Is 30 Years Old - Do You Prefer The NES Or SNES Versions Of The Classics?
NES is more?
Video game compilations might feel like a new-ish thing — a bevvy of digital treats all packed into one cartridge (or disc, or download), but they're practically as old as the medium. When we think of classic compilations, one of the first that springs to mind is the SNES's Super Mario All-Stars. This 16-bit collection launched on...
Random These Pikmin Flower Vases Will Soon Bloom Onto My Nintendo Store (Europe)
Pre-orders now open
We are just one week away from the release of Pikmin 4 now. If you have been anticipating this one for the past seven years then we assume that you have already played through the demo and you might even have the preload all set up and ready to go on 21st July. But have you yet acquired all the merch? There have been some...
PSA Pikmin 4 Preload Now Live On Nintendo Switch
Make some space for these little buds
Pikmin 4 is just a week out, and if you happen to have preordered a digital copy of the game from the Switch eShop, you can now preload it. The game download should already be underway unless you need to free up some space on your system or have certain other settings disabled. While the demo was only around...
Japanese Charts Zelda: TOTK And Final Fantasy XVI Battle For Supremacy
Who will claim the throne?
It's time to check out the Japanese charts once again folks, and as expected, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Final Fantasy XVI are pretty much neck and neck this week after Master Detective Archives: Rain Code dropped down to fourth place. Tears of the Kingdom is still beating out the competition and is...
Guide Pikmin Timeline Story Recap - What Happened Before Pikmin 4?
Whocotate?
It has been over seven long years of waiting, but we are finally nearing the official release of Pikmin 4. The game sprouts on Switch on 21st July and there's even a free demo out now, so you can start getting (re)acquainted with the plucking and chucking mechanics that have defined the series for the past 22 years. It was playing...
Random Zelda: TOTK Players Are Tackling The Final Boss With Creative Ultrahand Solutions
What a way to go
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been out for two whole months now, and it seems that every day more and more people are completing the game's main story quest and getting back to the larger job at hand — which is still torturing Koroks, apparently. However, some have not been content to finish the game in quite so...
Feature That Time Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Made Mario Bros. Go Full Inception
Pi’illo fight
The worlds of Mario and Christopher Nolan rarely overlap, and for good reason. Cillian Murphy may make an excellent Oppenheimer, but he’d be a painfully miscast Professor E. Gadd. Yet somehow, ten years ago, that didn’t stand in the way of AlphaDream adding a strong vibe reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s dream heist in...
News Switch Online N64 Controllers Are Back In Stock Now
Go! Go! 64
One of Nintendo's most sought-after Switch peripherals has been restocked in its official online stores in North America and Europe — yes, the Nintendo Switch Online wireless version of the Nintendo 64 controller is in stock at the time of writing: <products id="16036"> <products id="15943"> One of these pads will set you...
Random Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's Sunset Wilds Is Missing One Key Thing
The clue's in the title
The penultimate set of tracks dropped in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe earlier today, and thoughts online are largely positive. Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass' eight courses contains another selection of series classics and a brand new course, but the GBA track Sunset Wilds has been dominating the conversation for all the wrong...
Random Kamek's Horn Sound In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Is A Neat Throwback To Yoshi's Island
Beep beep
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 5 (catchy, right) is now available on Switch, adding in eight new tracks and three new racers. We have been busy playing through all of the add-ons and we were pleased to hear a little nod to the SNES classic Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island as new racer Kamek speeds around the track. If you...
News Minecraft Updated To Version 1.20.10 On Switch, Here's What's Included
Download it today
If you're still enjoying Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch on a regular basis, you'll be interested to know a new update has been released, following the rather exciting Trails & Tales update in June, which added content like camels, a new biome and more. There are definitely some interesting additions in this latest build -...
News Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Has Been Updated To Version 2.4.0, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
New characters and Wave 5 now available
Nintendo has just released 'Wave 5' of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC on the Switch. Today's update comes with three new characters (Kamek, Wiggler and Petey Piranha) and two new cups and eight new tracks. There are also some general adjustments to characters and vehicles, a number of fixes...
Video These Replacement Joy-Con Sticks Fix Drift Issues, But How Do They Feel In Practice?
More Con, less Joy
The Switch Joy-Con is a clever bit of kit. You can clip it into your console and play on the go, take it out and wave it around to mimic bowling, sword swinging or fishing, or slot it into a grip and get an experience closer to a standard controller. Though there is one small issue that has constantly brought them down in our...
Soapbox Getting The Master Sword In Tears Of The Kingdom Is Zelda At Its Best
Once more, with Fi-ling
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Jim gushes over the moment you retrieve the legendary sword in the newest Zelda game... There were several moments in my playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the...
Random Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Devs "Too Occupied" To Play Elden Ring
"Even if we had the time to play games, we wouldn’t reuse ideas from them"
When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom dropped nearly two months ago (it really has been two months), a few comparisons were drawn between this highly-anticipated sequel and FromSoftware's 2022 title, Elden Ring, mainly because of one new — huge — area in...
UK Charts Metroid Prime Remastered Gets A Welcome Boost As Zelda Retains Its Crown
Let the legend come back to life
Another week has arisen and that means it's time to take a look at the UK Charts. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has once again topped the pile with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The biggest surprise this week, however, is that Metroid Prime Remastered has received a much-welcome boost,...