September2014
Review Hyrule Warriors (Wii U)
Warriors, come out to play
There's a very good reason why Hyrule Warriors is the first major Zelda release not to have the "Z" word in its title. As we've suspected since that surprising reveal in December of last year, this is much more a Warriors (or Musou, if you prefer) outing than it is a Zelda one, and that news will trigger mixed feelings for...
It’s a wonderful Life
Fantasy Life, Level-5 and Brownie Brown’s life sim and action RPG, is a game with a long and storied history. Originally announced in Japan for the Nintendo DS/DSi generation of consoles back in 2009, it spent three years in development, seeing a platform upgrade to the Nintendo 3DS, finally releasing in Japan-only on 27th...
Review Super Mario Ball (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Balls to the wall
It's no secret that Nintendo's iconic red-wearing plumber has had a number of vocations. From referee to painter to kart racer to hotelier, Mario's been through a lot and shows no sign of actually doing some plumbing. Keeping that in mind, let's take a look at a game where he becomes a pinball. Super Mario Ball's plot revolves...
Review Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip & Kipper: Vol. 2 (3DS)
The next step
While your little one may be performing well in school, when learning to read there are those tricky hurdles that manage to trip up countless a child. It is those troublesome times that are covered in Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip & Kipper : Volume 2. Featuring the characters from the Oxford Reading Tree curriculum books your child...
Review Kirby Fighters Deluxe (3DS eShop)
Popstar wars
Ever since Kirby’s Adventure introduced the pink puffball’s trademark copy abilities in 1993, they’ve been at the heart of his every hobby, from Dream Course’s mini-golf to Air Ride’s racing. With Kirby Triple Deluxe, players were given the chance to use those powers in Kirby’s newest pastime — all-o
Review Mario Golf: Advance Tour (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Like Golden Sun, if all the weapons were golf clubs
Mario is a surprisingly active fellow. We've said it before and we'll say it again — the doughy little guy is a total sports nut, and he owes much of this to the kind developers at Camelot, who have a gift for creating really solid titles that allow him to strut his stuff. Like previous titles in...
Review Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip & Kipper: Vol. 1 (3DS)
Learning with friends
Every parent wants the best for their child, but sadly trying to coax them away from their toys and towards something educational can be a feat of itself, especially with young children. Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip & Kipper: Volume 1 features characters from the Oxford Reading Tree curriculum books in a title that they will...
Review Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe (3DS eShop)
Hammer time
Though he might be best known for his platforming antics, Kirby is no stranger to spin-offs – from racing and pinball to madcap mini-golf, the pink puffball and his friends have been genre-hopping happily since 1993. Lately, Dreamland’s semi-benevolent King Dedede has spent some time in the spin-off spotlight himself, with his...
Review Donkey Kong Jr. Math (Wii U eShop / NES)
Summin' it
In among the Excitebikes, Super Mario Bros., and Ice Climbers of the NES’s North American launch sat Donkey Kong Jr. Math, an edutainment title seemingly designed so that hopeful tots could point to it on the shelf and Trojan-horse Nintendo’s new Duck Hunt-playing powerhouse into the family home, parents unsuspecting, under the guise...
July2014
Review Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Full of promise, or just hot air?
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is in fact a remake of Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's first outing on the NES from 1993. While it isn't his original adventure (that honour goes to Kirby's Dream Land), it is the first instance in which he was able to use his now classic copy ability. The remake — which originally...
Review Mario Power Tennis (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Raising a racquet
Originally released on Game Boy Advance in 2005, Mario Power Tennis is unusual in that it takes the tennis simulation genre and embeds it into a role-playing game experience. It’s a combination that works surprisingly well, with the biggest success being a player progression system which allows you to level up your character and...
Review Wii Sports Club (Wii U)
Wii Sports Club Assemble!
Wii Sports Club began life as a rather interesting eShop initiative by Nintendo, as sports from the original Wii pack-in were gradually released with multiple purchase options — timed passes for a small amount or a permanent pass for fairly standard download price. With the set of five now complete it's hard to say how...
Review Wii Sports Club: Baseball + Boxing (Wii U eShop)
Swing and a miss
Wii Sports Club has had a rather odd history to date. Released in increments that have been surprisingly spread out, it's attempted to recapture the magic of the Wii bundle title while throwing in Miiverse, MotionPlus controls and GamePad features. Online play has also been a vital inclusion, yet the piecemeal distribution and...
June2014
Review Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old is Your Brain? (Wii U eShop / DS)
Brain food
It seems like only yesterday that we got Game Boy Advance games on the Wii U Virtual Console, but now DS games have also joined the party. Curiously enough, Nintendo has chosen not to start off with one of their classic franchises, like Mario or Zelda, but has instead opted to go with one of their best-selling titles, the original Brain...
Review Pokémon Art Academy (3DS)
Make Smeargle proud by sketching Fletchling
Since we first put stylus to touchscreen on the original DS, Nintendo's handhelds have made full use of the unique interface by allowing us to interact with games in a whole new way. Some ideas have worked better than others, but the natural act of scribbling or doodling shapes, in particular, has never...
Review Soccer (Wii U eShop / NES)
A well timed blast from the past
Just in time for the World Cup this week, Intelligent Systems' Soccer arrives on Wii U Virtual Console – but all is not well. One of the early titles in Nintendo's "Sports Series" on NES, Soccer seems to garner boatloads of hate from players compared to companions like Golf and Ice Hockey. These detractors are not...
Review The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Capcom pulls a hit out of the hat
If it weren't for the fact that the Capcom logo appears each time you boot up The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it was in fact developed by a third-party company. That’s because this particular Legend of Zelda title – which originally released on the Game Boy...
Review Inazuma Eleven GO: Light & Shadow (3DS)
Shiny new kit
In Japan, Level-5 is one of the masters at maximising franchises through games — typically on portable systems — and TV shows or films, continually keeping the storyline going and producing regular content. Yo-kai Watch is the current craze, while Professor Layton had some film content to accompany six main-series games and more...
The meaning of life
During the many hours you can potentially spend lost within Tomodachi Life, you'll find yourself wondering if this new 3DS outing can actually be called a game in the traditional sense. It's certainly addictive and almost universally appealing thanks to its savvy combination of humour, social sharing and Mii-related activities,...
Review Pushmo World (Wii U eShop)
Mo Push Mo Problems
Intelligent Systems' Pushmo World (known as Pullblox World in Europe) is exactly what you'd expect it to be: a Wii U sequel to the popular 3DS eShop puzzle titles Pushmo (Pullblox) and Crashmo (Fallblox) that predictably adds shinier graphics, more modes, and way more puzzles. It's a very safe sequel that doesn't take
May2014
8th Wonder of the World
Since the Super NES every Nintendo system — apart from the Game Boy Color and the doomed Virtual Boy — has been boosted by an entry in the iconic Mario Kart series. Despite its drastic evolution throughout the generations of hardware it nevertheless feels familiar each time around, while other entries in the kart racing...
Review Wario Land 4 (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Someone should write a 600-page book about this game!
Wario Land 4 has seen a revival of sorts lately. Although Wario's core platforming series has been overshadowed for years by the surrealist microgames of WarioWare, last December journalist Daniel Johnson published Game Design Companion: A Critical Analysis of Wario Land 4, a staggering 600-page...
Review Mach Rider (Wii U eShop / NES)
Groovy little motorbike
If you were lucky enough to pick up a shiny new NES way back in 1985, you would have had your pick of several future classics from a legendary launch-day lineup. If your idea of a digital good time happened to involve motorcycles, you were particularly spoilt for choice, with Excitebike and Mach Rider representing two-wheeled...
Review Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Egg-ceptional platforming
When you take into account just how much of a landmark title Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was when it released back in 1995, it’s absurd to think that it’s only just being re-released on one of Nintendo’s Virtual Console services – well, that is if you exclude the exclusive 3DS release under the guise of the...
April2014
Review Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
The pink puff goes for the hat trick
Kirby, Nintendo’s pink puffball of concentrated cuteness, arrives on 3DS with a big bumper of a package, promising a trifecta of portable happiness. And it’s sure tough to not smile at the game’s chirpy demeanor and cheery world as the little guy floats and bops his way along his first 3DS adventure. But...
