Latest Features
Community What Are Your Favourite Sidequests On Switch?
Off the beaten path
Ahhh, there's nothing like taking a detour in a video game. From sprawling open-world games to turn-based RPGs, sidequests are an almost essential part of the adventure. After all, can you really say you've saved the world or uncovered the secrets of your friends if you haven't collected all of the magical coins or you haven't...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Donkey Kong Country Returns HD?
Returns returns
Last week saw the Wii's Donkey Kong Country Returns return in HD on Switch. Following the first time it returned on 3DS, the Switch port — helmed by Forever Entertainment this time, with the original devs at Retro getting only a cursory nod in the credits this time — brought the levels of the 2013 3DS port to
Poll Box Art Brawl - Duel: Mario Kart 64
Vroooom!
Welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl, everyone! Last week, Klonoa: Empire of Dreams was thrust into the spotlight, with North America, Europe, and Japan all vying for the top prize (and yes, we mistakenly labelled it as a 'duel' – sorry about that). Ultimately, with its bold, simple design, Europe's offering won the week with 51%...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (18th January)
Wait, we have to play the Switch 1..?!
The weekend is here folks, which means it's time to get cracking with some gaming. Before we put our feet up, however, let's recap what's been going on in this very quiet, unevenful week in the world of Nintendo (chortle!). Yes, in actuality, it's been a ruddy busy one, with Nintendo finally officially...
Talking Point Did All The Switch 2 Leaks 'Damage' Nintendo Or The Console's Reveal?
Nintendo will be just fine
In the leak-filled weeks prior to the Switch 2 reveal, we saw increasing incredulity from die-hard Nintendo fans on social media. We won't link specific examples, but you don't have to scroll far before seeing takes along these lines: All these leaks are ruining the reveal! Why isn't Nintendo getting ahead of this?!...
Reaction Nintendo Pins Hopes On Familiar Fun With Switch 2
The stop-gap generation
And so it begins. Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on its next generation of hardware to reveal... exactly the thing everyone expected. Officially revealed earlier today following months — no, years — of rumours, speculation, and leaks, the Nintendo Switch 2 is, on the face of it, what most people wanted. It's the...
Feature Everything You Missed In The Switch 2 Mario Kart Reveal - Characters, Features, Easter Eggs
Start your engines
Well, folks, the Nintendo Switch 2 is real – finally! In addition to its confirmation via the debut trailer, Nintendo also revealed a brand-new Mario Kart title, which we're going to simply refer to as Mario Kart 9 until Nintendo says otherwise. Footage from the game was pretty scarce, to say the least, but we've still noticed...
Poll Are There Any Good Lord Of The Rings Games On Nintendo Consoles?
Please sir, can I have some Mordor?
The year is 2025 and Lord of the Rings feels very much like it's "a thing" again. We're not sure that it ever really went away, to be honest, but we've got The Rings of Power on TV (and it's actually rather good now), the War of the Rohirrim hit cinemas, a 'Hunt for Gollum' movie is planned, and, perhaps most...
Poll Box Art Brawl - Duel: Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (GBA)
Long live the Empire
Welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl, folks! Last week, we took a look at Crash Nitro Kart for the GameCube, a sequel to Crash Team Racing that never quite managed to step out of its predecessor's shadow. North America sealed the deal this time with 53% of the vote, while EU managed 30% and Japan just 17% (bit awkward -...
Feature 8 Games That Defined The Switch Generation
An era's end
A lot has changed in video gaming since Switch launched in 2017. Beyond all Nintendo's handheld hybrid switching, we now live in a world where a Nintendo game on mobile is a fairly normal occurrence and both Microsoft and Sony publish games on Nintendo's console. Crazy. As we await official word on the next generation of Nintendo...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th January)
Another week without 'Switch 2'
The weekend is here and it's time to play some games, but first, let's recap what went down in the world of Nintendo this week. The big news was 'Switch 2'. No, we still don't know anything about it officially, but accessory manufacturer Genki took to this year's CES with a "replica" model that appears to be the real...
Round Up 'Switch 2' Renders Suggest A Sleek, Classy Successor
Does it come in black..?
Leaks and rumours regarding the upcoming 'Switch 2' have seemingly exploded since the beginning of 2025, with accessory maker Genki in particular causing a stir with its recent exhibit at CES 2025. Not only that, but photos shared via Reddit seem to showcase a genuine Joy-Con from the Switch successor, hinting at a new...
Guide 126 Games You Should Pick Up In The Nintendo Switch eShop Holiday Sale (Europe)
Every game we scored 9/10 or higher
The eShop Holiday sale ends this Sunday in Europe, so here's your last reminder to get spending! Until the next sale, anyway... Nintendo has officially kicked off its Switch eShop Holiday Sale in Europe, bringing beefy discounts to thousands of games until 12th January 2024. And yes, we said "thousands"...
Talking Point Is The Switch 2 Going To Be Too Big?
Size isn't everything, except sometimes
How are we coping, nine days into the year of the Switch 2? It's been an utter onslaught of leaks and rumours and noise as everyone clamours to find out about Nintendo's to-be-officially-announced console. C'mon Nintendo, it's really time to say something. Anyway, let's cut through the noise for a second...
Talking Point Everyone Else Is Busy Revealing Switch 2 - What Gives, Nintendo?
It's the notes you don't play
If you've been browsing social media for the past few days (heck, let's not kid ourselves, past few years) you'll have seen plenty of prognosticating about the arrival of the Switch successor. The latest whispers suggested that Wednesday 8th January was the first sensible day after the holidays for Nintendo to finally...
Poll Box Art Brawl: Crash Nitro Kart (GameCube)
Battle of the Bandicoots
Welcome to another edition of Box Art Brawl — the first of 2025, no less! Last week, we matched up a pair of beauties from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (yep, we were shocked that we hadn't covered it already too), and after a week of voting, the results came back with a clear winner. The classic gold variant from...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (4th January)
I have fury!
Hello folks, and welcome to the year 2025! It's cold, rainy, and there's still no sign of flying cars. Still, it's the year that Nintendo's new hardware will finally be revealed (and hopefully released), so we're inclined to believe that it's going to be a good one. It's been a bit quiet in terms of news, but there have been a couple...
Talking Point Our 2025 Nintendo Gaming Predictions
New hardware smell
This is it, people. This is the year. The smoke and stench from refried rumours is overwhelming but soon it will clear to reveal... new Nintendo hardware. No, not a grainy motherboard pic from a factory backroom or a render someone posted with 'OMG the latest Switch 2 trailer is 🥹🥹🥹!!!!11' slapped on. No, not a...
A chat with Simogo
You walk into a poorly lit, seemingly empty hotel. In desperate need of someone to speak to, you hesitantly wander just a single room farther from the entrance, down a serene walkway. You are funnelled into a similarly poorly lit library. You’re second-guessing why you are in this hotel, and why it even has a library, yet your...
Feature Biggest Nintendo Gaming Anniversaries Of 2025
57 games with big birthdays this year
Throughout 2025, many of gaming's most treasured gems will be celebrating a significant birthday and to remind you of some of the biggest (and of just how old you are!), we've compiled this list of nearly 60 gaming dates for your calendars. What do we mean by 'significant' birthdays? Anything that ends in a...
Feature "I Don’t Want To See It Fizzle Out” - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up
"I feel like I could work on it for the rest of my life"
Back at the end of August we travelled to Seattle to attend PAX West and had the incredible opportunity to spend half an hour with none other than Eric Barone, AKA ConcernedApe. If you don’t know who Eric is, he’s the creator of Stardew Valley; the smash hit farming game from 2016, which...
Feature Child's Play: From Bokunatsu To Natsu-Mon - The Kaz Ayabe Interview
A sit-down with the creator of My Summer Vacation & Attack of the Friday Monsters
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer has come to an end. Fortunately, through the magic of video games — and the video games created by one man in particular — it's never too late to take a little summer holiday... With the recent English-language...
Editorial A Very Happy New Year From Nintendo Life
Twenty-twenty-thrive
Good news, everyone! Having successfully beaten 2024, you're all advancing to the next stage: Happy 2025! With Switch entering its ninth year come the start of March, and a reveal of its successor promised sometime between now and the end of that month, there's an awful lot to look forward to whether you're a die-hard Nintendo...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects & Readers' Choice (December 2024)
Our picks for the best eShop games in December
As we sit upon the cusp of 2025, we're looking back one last time at 2024 — and our eShop Selects for December! Stuffed full of games? Need some more eShop delights? Well, we can help bring you up to date with the best games we reviewed that released on the eShop in December. As always, the rankings...
Feature A Trip To Machida, The Real-Life 'Pallet Town' That Inspired Pokémon
Pokén around
The first generation of Pokémon games features some of the most iconic locations in the entire franchise. The eerie Lavender Town, the winding Viridian Forest, and the quaint Pallet Town where all players start their journey. Pallet Town isn’t just a fanciful creation, but draws real-life inspiration from Pokémon creator Satoshi...
Feature "I Avoided Almost All The Existing Tropes" - Peeling Back The Layers Of Animal Well
"No matter what you put in a game, it will get found"
Who the heck spends seven years making a video game about animals — literally, just animals? The game in question, Animal Well, isn’t a farm game, it’s not a virtual pet game, it’s not even some kind of cosy simulator. On top of that, if you were only handed the back-of-the-box...
Soapbox Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Was The Perfect Goodbye
Please wrap it up
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's reliving Splatoon 3's epic climax... I was a latecomer to the Splatoon series. If you had asked me three years ago what my favourite Turf War stage is, the 45 minutes I had...
Feature That Time I Was Invited To Square HQ To Playtest Final Fantasy VI
I was there 30 years ago…
If you’re reading this on October 11th 2024, then 30 years ago today Final Fantasy 3 (aka VI) was released in North America. A lot of memorable games (Super Metroid, DKC, Earthworm Jim, Ridge Racer, and Doom
Here comes the boom
Lena Raine has so much to say, and she’s figured out a lot of different ways to say it all. Of course, avid game players have been listening to her musical scores for over a decade now, which includes music for Minecraft, as well as the soundtracks for Chicory: A Colorful Tale and the BAFTA-nominated Celeste score. She’s...
Feature The Company You Can Pay To X-Ray Unopened Pokémon Card Packs Speaks Out
"The technology is not going away, and people know what it can do"
The entirety of the trading card community — that is, people who collect, buy, and sell the Pokémon Trading Card game, sports cards, Magic: The Gathering, Disney, or literally any trading card game you can think of — has gradually become aware of what might be an existential...
Feature 15 Best-Looking Switch Games Of 2024
Hello, my pretties
Another year, another set of beautiful-looking Switch games to savour. Even as the Switch is approaching its eighth birthday, we've seen a stunning variety of art styles grace our OLED (or NoLED) screens. We know the Switch 2 is on the horizon, and we can't wait to see what our favourite games look like on the successor, but...
Soapbox Why I Love A Good Map, And That Time I Mapped Yoshi's Melons For Nintendo Power
Worth a thousand words
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nathan goes mapping the pixels... What is your greatest video game pet peeve? That one thing that, when present, ruins your experience, no matter how good the game is...
Feature "I Want You To Be Mad" - Crazy Viking Studios On The Brutality Of Volgarr The Viking II
"We didn't have any intention of ever making a sequel"
The original Volgarr The Viking might have flown under a lot of folks' radar when it launched back in 2013, but it's one of those games where if you know, you know. It garnered a solid 8/10 from us when it landed on Switch and it's cultivated a hardcore, dedicated fanbase whose members are...
Poll Box Art Brawl - Duel: Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link
Second innings
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl! Last time, Capcom's SNES classic Breath of Fire II was put in the spotlight as North America and Europe joined forces against Japan. It wasn't even remotely close either, as Japan absolutely nailed it with 71% of the vote. Well done! This week, we sifted through...
Feature The Famicom Failure That Almost Bankrupted HAL, But Shaped Nintendo's Future
HAL be there
Unless you’re a dedicated Famicom collector, it’s unlikely that you’ve heard of Metal Slader Glory. Released right at the tail end of the Famicom’s life in 1991, the year after the release of the Super Famicom, Metal Slader Glory never made it out of Japan, and it proved to be a massive flop for HAL Laboratory. But the very...
Feature How Lemmings, ChuChu Rocket & Nintendo Inspired Unpacking Devs' Next Game
"When you play it, you feel connected, not judged"
Developer Witch Beam isn't ready to rest on its laurels. After creating two wildly different games — the twin-stick shooter Assault Android Cactus and the BAFTA award-winning, heartfelt puzzler Unpacking — it's ready to move back to the outside and go with something even more relaxing. We were...
Feature 'POCA!' Is A Game Boy Camera Photobook Adventure & A Heartfelt Homage To 'Hip' Tanaka
"I feel like I made the book almost for him"
Sitting down to speak with Jonathan Traynor, a Glasgow-based artist and writer, about his newly-released book, POCA!, we were expecting a few things. Y'know the sort of stuff: how the Kickstarter went; where the idea for the book came from; hopes for the future; picks for the Top of the Pops Xmas #1; and...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (New Year Edition)
Looking forward '2' the new year
This is it, folks - our final WAYP feature for 2024. 2025 is going to be a pretty huge year for Nintendo fans, with the likes of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition all launching within the coming months. Oh, and...
Soapbox The Trauma Of Giygas & Growing Up In EarthBound
EarthBound turns "adults into kids, and kids into adults"
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile celebrates the innocence of youth, the pain of growing up, and the magic of a cult classic SNES RPG, which celebrates its 30th...
Feature Nintendo Life's Alternative Game Awards 2024
Biggest surprise! Most long-winded title! Crappiest Switch publisher!
The end of 2024 is nigh, but before we get there it's time to look back on what has been a surprisingly chonky year for Switch, software-wise, in the eighth year since we first got our hands on the thing. We've listed our personal Switch GOTYs, you've ranked yours - now it's time...
Feature Meet Four Developers Making Brand-New Game Boy Titles In 2024
35 years and stronger than ever
The Game Boy turned 35 years old on 21st April 2024. Today, George speaks with four talented individuals keeping the candle burning for the DMG-001 in the 21st century... The humble Game Boy may be turning 35, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing new to look forward to. Far from it, in fact – the homebrew...
Feature How Can Switch 2 'Fix' The eShop? Devs Share Their Storefront Stories
"It's feast or famine, really"
If you are the proud owner of a Nintendo Switch (and if you're reading this, we'd wager that you are), then it will come as no surprise when we say that the eShop is a wild place in 2024. While gaming may have never been better, Nintendo's storefront has never been worse. Discoverability is a thing of the past with...
Feature Pepper Grinder's Solo Dev Digs Into Scope, Smash Bros. & "Crunchy Feedback"
"I just made a game I always wanted to play"
It might feel like a long time since Pepper Grinder was unearthed for Switch at the November 2022 Indie World Showcase, but it has been even longer for Riv Hester, the game's solo developer at studio Ahr Ech, who first dug up the idea seven years ago. This is Sonic the Hedgehog meets Drill Dozer (by way...
Feature Can We Track Down Every Cart In Our Top 50 Game Boy List In One Week?
Collection Quest GB
The Game Boy turned 35 years old on 21st April 2024. Today, George goes on an epic quest to see if he can acquire the 50 finest GB games — as ranked by you — in physical form with just 100 pounds sterling in his pocket... I’ve been enjoying something of a love affair with the Game Boy recently – or more specifically,...
Feature Meet The Three Brothers Making Their Dream 'Secret Of Mana'-Inspired RPG
"We want to make one of the most accessible and playable RPGs of all time"
Couch co-op and JRPG are two genres you don't often see together. Secret of Mana is one of the earliest examples of the genre, with most of the Tales of series also allowing fans to play together while sitting side-by-side. But outside of those examples, playing JRPGs with...
Feature "It's Fun, So It's Okay!" - Celebrating Takashi Tezuka's Astonishing 40-Year Nintendo Career
A look back at a glittering catalogue
Takashi Tezuka seems like a good laugh, the kind of chap who knows how to have fun. Despite all the Master-Sword-waving and PR-related hijinx from fellow Nintendo luminary Shigeru Miyamoto over the years, you still get the impression he's merciless in the workplace — an exacting, intimidating,...
Feature Open Your Drawers - An Ode To Rummaging Through Houses In RPGs
Tea leaf!
Strolling down the road in a brand new, unfamiliar town, taking in the sights, you stop in front of a pleasant-looking house. Lovely big oak door, ruby red slate tiles, stone brickwork stained by sunlight and mud. It's quaint and cosy, the idyllic village house, perhaps home to a young mother who's just returned home from the local item...
Feature Evolving With Pokémon: How The Games Helped Me Navigate A Confused Childhood
This coping mechanism was super effective!
The Game Boy turned 35 years old on 21st April 2024. Today, Tim thinks back on how Pocket Monsters came to his aid in his formative years, and how the series that started on Nintendo's iconic portable would stay beside him in the years that followed. Pokémon is a clockwork franchise. Its cyclical...
Feature The Best Hidden Gems And Underrated Switch Games Of 2024
Some shinies that may have slipped through your fingers
2024. It was a bit of an odd one for Switch, with the impending announcement of Nintendo's follow-up console. It never materialised, but its shadow has been looming over the entire year. Still, if there hasn't been an absolute avalanche of games to dig into! Nintendo had many first-party...
Feature Why Play Final Fantasy VII Remake When You Could Play FFVII 'Demake'?
"more than just pirate versions"
You’re probably aware of Square Enix’s lengthy and somewhat lavish efforts to remake the 1997 game Final Fantasy VII. The second instalment of this ambitious remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, was released just recently, and we’re still likely to be years away from any sort of conclusion. But you might not be...
