DS - News

July2016

  • Review Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (Wii U eShop / DS)

    New features and more circle-capture adventures

    The Oblivia region has tidy beaches, clear seas and lots of sunshine; it's a pleasant place to be whether a human or one of the many free-roaming Pokémon. Things have changed recently, however, with many Pokémon abducted by a villainous gang known as the Pokémon Pinchers (no, really) and it's up to...

June2016

May2016

  • News The CEO of Level-5 Had a Hand in Dragon Quest IX Appearing on the DS

    Who would've thought?

    The Professor Layton series made its grand entrance on the Nintendo DS and quickly made a name for itself as one of the great franchises on the portable. Of course, the widespread sales success of the DS likely had a hand in propelling the series to popularity, so there was something of a mutually beneficial relationship...

  • Anniversary New Super Mario Bros. is Now a Decade Old

    Forever 'New' thanks to clever (or not) branding

    When you put 'New' in the name of something, it's inevitable that around a decade later someone will smarmily say "it's not new any more", and you just have to accept that putting an adjective like that in a name isn't a long term solution. Yet, when New Super Mario Bros. was released on DS it was...

April2016

March2016

  • News Natsume May Bring Some of its DS Games to Virtual Console Soon

    Keep your eyes peeled

    Though it maybe doesn't get updated nearly as often as many would like, the DS library on the Virtual Console continues to grow at a fairly steady pace. Naturally, there are plenty of holes in the lineup thus far, but the process for making games available on the service is supposedly much more difficult than it seems on the...

  • News Akira Tago Passes Away at Age 90

    The Professor Layton series' "Puzzle Master"

    The Professor Layton games form a popular portable series that's spanned across the DS and 3DS, famous for their puzzle-based gameplay. Though fans still await the coming of the mysterious 'Layton 7', the series recently lost a great contributor on its development side. It was recently reported that...

February2016

January2016

December2015

  • Review Animal Crossing: Wild World (Wii U eShop / DS)

    Why this world?

    The very idea of a portable version of Animal Crossing filled this reviewer with glee when he first read about it back in the days of magazines and routers without wi-fi as standard. Animal Crossing: Wild World has always been a very special game to fans as it expanded upon the original GameCube title (for this region at least) but...

  • Review Kirby: Power Paintbrush (Wii U eShop / DS)

    Time has passed

    Kirby: Power Paintbrush – also known as Canvas Curse in North America – was originally released on the Nintendo DS in 2005. Following the trend of many other franchises during this new generation of handheld gaming, the HAL Laboratory-developed title moved away from traditional platform game conventions by utilising the defining...

  • Review The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Wii U eShop / DS)

    An epic sail

    When thinking about the best games from the Legend of Zelda series, many automatically jump straight in at the deep end with the big, home console releases; games such as Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker always seem to make it to the top of peoples' lists. Games often overlooked are those that have appeared on Nintendo's portable...

November2015

October2015

September2015

  • News Metroid Prime: Hunters Arrives on Wii U Virtual Console in Japan

    Yes please, NoA and NoE

    When Nintendo announced DS games for the Wii U Virtual Console quite some time ago, many reacted with variations of "huh", "erm" and "that's weird". Yet it has worked reasonably well in many cases, with the GamePad screen and TV having various configurations to get the most out of these previously portable titles. It also...

  • Review Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Wii U eShop / DS)

    Emerging from the shadows

    Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a Nintendo DS remake of the first Fire Emblem game (originally released in 1990 for Famicom in Japan) that's now available to download in Virtual Console form for Wii U. The series staple of strategic turn-based gameplay along with the perma-death possibility for characters would form the...

  • Video Allow This Gentle Electroplankton Opus To Soothe Your Ears

    Symphony of the plankton

    We must admit we'd forgotten all about Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS, that was until Nintendo Life reader Marco Menzler from Germany dropped us a line to bring back those musical memories. Marco shared with us a 3 part symphony which he created using 5 Nintendo DS systems playing Electroplankton. In op.2, Marco uses a...

  • Mario History New Super Mario Bros. - 2006

    The 'New' new

    In this series of articles we'll write about one or more Mario games per day, each representing a different year as part of our Super Mario 30th Anniversary celebrations. Assessing 2D Mario games in the 'New' series in 2015 naturally features arguments of repetition, frequency of releases and some calls for fresh ideas. Those...

  • Mario History Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Arcade GP - 2005

    When snaking shook the world

    In this series of articles we'll write about one or more Mario game per day, each representing a different year as part of our Super Mario 30th Anniversary celebrations. 2005 was a busy year in terms of Mario releases, with a whole host of options across portable and home console systems, all in the form of spin-offs...

  • Mario History Super Mario 64 DS - 2004

    3D Mario on the go

    In this series of articles we'll write about one or more Mario game per day, each representing a different year as part of our Super Mario 30th Anniversary celebrations. If you'd have said that one day it would be possible to play Super Mario 64 on a handheld console back in 1996, you'd likely have been laughed out of the room...

  • Review Wario: Master of Disguise (Wii U eShop / DS)

    Master of Mediocrity

    After WarioWare took off, it seemed like that was all everybody's favourite antihero was up to, save for a Wii instalment of the Wario Land series. In truth, there was also an attempt at a Wario platformer on the DS, though it is quite easy to see why not many seem to remember this outing. Developed by Suzak, the company...

August2015

July2015

June2015

  • News There Are Now Over 600 DSiWare Games And Apps

    Not dead yet

    The 3DS may be entering its twilight years but that doesn't mean that DSiWare - the downloadable software service which launched with the 3DS console's forerunner, the DSi - is completely dead. In fact, thanks to the large helping of DSiWare games in this week's Download Update, there are now 604 games and apps available for DSiWare...

  • Review Big Brain Academy (Wii U eShop / DS)

    So keep on playing those mind games

    The advent of the Nintendo DS into the handheld arena back in 2004 ushered in a fresh experience for many gamers, made possible by the system's many new features and abilities. This brand of entertainment was often referred to as "Touch! Generations" by Nintendo, and ran throughout the Nintendo DS and Wii era...

May2015

April2015

February2015

January2015

December2014

November2014

September2014

  • Video Here Are Some Cool Facts Around the DS

    Thank goodness it wasn't called City Boy

    The DS family of systems is a fundamental part of Nintendo's history for multiple — and obvious — reasons: it is the company's most successful hardware and the second highest-selling in the industry's history, it introduced a new brand that lives on with the 3DS family, and it sidelined the iconic Game...

August2014

  • Art Controller Evolution Photo Series Hammers Home The Nintendo Factor

    A visual record of how Nintendo has pushed the industry forward

    Nintendo has been responsible for some major innovations when it comes to controllers — the NES D-pad, the N64 analogue stick, the Wii Remote — and Spanish artist Javier Laspiur has put together a photographic whistle-stop tour of the evolution of the game pad which shows just how...

July2014

June2014

May2014

April2014

March2014

February2014

January2014

December2013

November2013

  • News Rune Factory Developer Neverland Closes Its Doors

    Where now for Rune Factory 5?

    After a sluggish financial performance due to business changes, Rune Factory developer Neverland has announced it will be closing its doors. The Japanese company made the announcement via its official website, explaining that its financial status had deteriorated considerably in recent times. After failing to raise the...

  • News Activision Rolls Out Transformers Combo Packs For Wii And DS

    Just in time for Christmas

    While it's easy to get excited about the new games coming to the Wii U and 3DS, it's worth remembering that there are an awful lot of Wii and DS consoles out in the wild, and plenty of people still rely on these superseded formats for their interactive entertainment — hence Activision's recent announcement of...

  • News Famitsu Reveals Japan's Best Selling Games Of The 21st Century

    New Super Mario Claims Top Spot

    Japanese video game publication Famitsu has just unveiled the top 100 Best Selling Video Games in Japan for the 21st Century (the period 1st January 2001 until 29th September 2013), and as expected Nintendo games feature heavily, with nine of the top ten games being for Nintendo platforms — seven of which are for...