Latest Features
Feature Our Verdict On Splatoon 3's Chill Season 2022 Update - New Stages, Weapons, And Modes
A splat in the right direction
Splatoon 3 came out back in September and we've been having a great time with it ever since. While the list of tweaks and additions in this threequel was long, and the mechanics have never been smoother, there were some out there (us included, to an extent) who felt that the series' third entry was good, but...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 3rd)
Splatting, catching and slashing
"How many different franchise can we feasibly hear news about this week?" We might have asked on Monday here at Nintendo life. The answer: all of them. The past seven days have seen us reporting on the new Mario movie trailer, breaking down the intricacies of Splatoon 3's new update, reporting on Nintendo Switch...
Feature Which Characters Are Next For Disney Dreamlight Valley? Every Hint From The Game
Who's next to be welcomed into the valley?
We now have confirmation that the next update for Disney Dreamlight Valley will bring Toy Story characters, clothing, furniture, and a themed realm to the game. We've also seen very strong hints at Stitch from Lilo and Stitch coming to the game as part of a winter update
Soapbox Xenoblade Chronicles X's Influence Is Bigger Than You Think
So why is it *still* stuck on the Wii U?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, on the 5th anniversary of Xenoblade Chronicles 2's release, Alana wants to celebrate the influence of its predecessor and series spin-off... Xenoblade...
Soapbox Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Is The Most Friction-Free Pokémon Yet
We can go where we want to
I often tell people that I am not a Pokémon fan. I say this while sitting in a Pikachu-branded chair, with my handmade Snom figurine hanging out on my desk next to my my off-brand plastic Swinub figurine, having played 90% of the available Pokémon games out there (I didn't bother with Black and White 2 and I didn't like...
Feature 14 Things That Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Get Absolutely Right
It's not all jank and bugs!
Let's get this out of the way: The technical state of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is pretty shocking. It's buggy, it's broken, and sure, it makes for very funny glitch videos, but for what a full-price Nintendo Switch game costs these days, it should have launched in a much better state. But we've already written...
Soapbox The Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Remake Doesn't Look Weird Enough Yet
What have they done to my boy Gustafa
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate's not impressed by what she's seen of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life so far... My very first Harvest Moon game was A Wonderful Life on the GameCube,...
Feature 30 Changes We'd Like To See In The Next Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Update
Customisation, better settings, and little hats for Koraidon
Let's start this off with a big old disclaimer: We are not game developers. We are not good at programming. We don't really know why Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were broken and buggy on release. And also, we definitely don't just want to join the pile-on of hate aimed at Game Freak right...
Feature "We Received Many Requests To Bring Back The Puzzle Bobble Series"
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble's director on Bub and Bob's upcoming return
We're big fans of Taito's Bubble Bobble spin-off series Puzzle Bobble around these parts. We used to know it as Bust-A-Move in the West, and news that a new entry in the series was coming to Switch next year courtesy of publisher ININ got us rather excited. Puzzle Bobble...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 26th)
The reign of Pokémon continues
After last week's release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you might have thought that it would have been a slightly quieter one for Nintendo Life this time around - well think again! To say that it has been a week of Pokémon would be an understatement. We have discussed the games' best new 'mon designs, noted
Feature 25 Things We'd Love To See In The Next Disney Dreamlight Valley Update
(that aren't just new characters and bugfixes)
We've finally been given a date for the next Disney Dreamlight Valley update, and it's pretty soon — December 6th! The game, which is still in early access, has a long way to go before it can be a full release, with all the content required to make it feel busy and lively, plus the promised...
Talking Point What's The Best New Pokémon Design In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?
Gotta judge 'em all
There are 107 new Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet, including all new evolutions, forms, and legendaries — and we're here today to pick the very best of them. Our writers (the ones playing Pokémon, anyway) have sat down to decide their favourite Pokémon designs out of those 107 — and even though our picks are sometimes...
Feature Poké Ball Onigiri: A Review - Which Poké Ball Tastes Best?
Made with real Pokémon!*
Pokémon – both the games and the anime – have always featured food prominently. Moomoo milk, sodapops, slowpoke tails, and more recently curry mixes and sandwiches – there’s no end to the edible and drinkable in the Pokéworld. We’ve even covered Pokéfood before on Nintendo Life, both reviewing Japan-exclusive...
Feature 30 Things You Might Have Missed In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Go to school, make some eggs, and take off that hat
Alright, so you've got Pokémon Scarlet and/or Violet, and you're making your way through Paldea. But this game can be a little hands-off when it comes to tutorials. In one way, that's great — you get to discover things for yourself — but it can also leave you feeling a little bit lost. Fear...
Soapbox How To Improve Pokémon Scarlet And Violet's Open World
We have some ideas
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, our video host Alex Olney has some ideas on how to make Pokémon Scarlet and Violet better... The Pokémon series is slowly, painfully evolving its games into open-world...
Feature Missing In Action - What Happened To These Switch Games?
Genshin Impact, Silksong, Metroid Prime 4, and Outer Wilds
Note: Having heard (finally!) about Pikmin 4, we've updated and added to this article (first published back in June). Enjoy! The media cycle that exists around video games these days can be quite punishing. After all, if you announce a game before it's ready, and then realise that it needs...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Pokémon Scarlet And Violet?
Colour us intrigued
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are out now and fans have had a lot to say about the new generation of Pokémon. We've all now had a weekend to get acquainted with the world of Paldea and its inhabitants, and we've already seen a whole bunch of hot takes around the internet, ranging from folks professing this to be the greatest new...
Hands On Demonschool Is A Love Letter To DS Games And Italian Horror Movies
Persona, Stranger Things, and Suspiria, together at last
Every now and again, the world seems to collectively decide that the way things were X number of years ago was the peak of culture. This happens everywhere: Fashion, movies, makeup, and even language tend to rely on this ever-revolving cycle of nostalgia, fuelled by a yearning for the...
Feature Every Metroid Prime Location, Ranked
From Phazon to Phendrana
Note: the YouTube embeds featured in this article will naturally contain footage of some of the boss encounters within Metroid Prime, including the final boss. If you've never played the game, take this as your spoiler warning! (Also, you've never played Metroid Prime!? *tuts and shakes head for several minutes*) The...
Soapbox After 10 Years I Finally Got A Wii U, Here’s What I Thought
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, following up on his piece from a few weeks back, Jim delivers his verdict on the ten-year-old console and how it holds up in 2022 ... Picture the scene. The year...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 19th)
ScaViikend
It looks like we are just about there folks, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is finally here which surely means there are no more trailers, 'mon reveals or surprise announcements for the next few weeks, right? This week has been a busy one here at Nintendo Life. Aside from the release of Scarlet and Violet (for which we discussed the pros...
Feature Wii U Memories - Our Pre-Launch Thoughts On Nintendo's Charming Misstep
You Wii-n some, U lose some
It's the 10th anniversary of the Wii U's North American launch and to mark the occasion we invited erstwhile Nintendo Life editor and all-around thoroughly nice chap Thomas Whitehead to reminisce about the machine, the time he first got his hands on it, and the hot takes he had pre-launch... The Wii U is now 10 years...
Feature Wii U Vs. Switch - How Did Those Nintendo Hardware Reveal Trailers Compare?
A lesson in the importance of first impressions
With the Wii U turning ten years old (crikey, we're really starting to feel old now), it's only natural that we're finding ourselves looking back at the console that's graciously gifted so much of its previously-exclusive software to its successor. Where did things really go wrong? What did we like...
Poll What Was The Best Wii U Launch Game?
What do U reckon?
We have arrived at the eve of the 10th anniversary of Wii U's launch. Yes, it was a decade ago when the hardcore Nintendo fans began queuing outside stores across North America at midnight (12 days later in Europe, and 8th December in Japan) to pick up and take home a shiny new piece of Nintendo hardware. It's always a special...
Feature The Top 15 Legend Of Zelda Dungeons Of All Time, Ranked
The very best bosses, puzzles, and music
Isn't it terribly boring that so many ranked lists of Zelda games, whether it's "best music" or "best hairstyle for Link" or something else, end up dominated by Breath of the Wild? Well, not this one, because today we're ranking the very best dungeons in the Legend of Zelda series, and for once, BOTW doesn't...
Feature From 'Retro Bowl' To 'Retro Goal' - How New Star Games Returned To Its Grass Roots
"it’s not just a quick and simple port over from mobile"
Earlier this year we became enamoured by Retro Bowl, a simple, addictive American football game inspired by '90s arcade classics from the team behind the hugely popular 'New Star' mobile series. While it may have been New Star Soccer which brought the team at New Star Games to our attention...
Feature The 10 Best Ace Attorney Cases, Ranked
Are we Phoenix Wright, or Phoenix Wrong?
It's been a long time since we've last seen Phoenix Wright's pointy-haired shadow darken our door — six years, in fact — and although we do love the old-timey antics of his predecessor Ryunosuke Naruhodo, we have to wonder if we'll ever get another new Ace Attorney... and if we do, how it'll hold up to...
Soapbox Resident Evil Zero's Train Scenario Is Still One Of The Franchise's Best
Choo choo, zombie express
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, as RE0 turns 20, Ollie remembers one of the series' best openers... Resident Evil Zero gets a pretty bad rap. When it launched on GameCube on 12th November 2002 —...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 12th)
Ladies and gentlemen, The Weekend
With yet another trailer dropping for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, an Indie World showcase and the Nintendo financial report getting released, it has been quite the week here at Nintendo Life! We covered all of the great indie titles that will be heading to Switch in the coming months - including sitting down with...
Soapbox Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
A good idea on paper
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. On the 10th anniversary of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Kate throws a very grumpy birthday party for a 3DS game she found pretty disappointing... There is a good game hidden inside...
Hands On Want To Feel Like A Real Pokémon Trainer? Try This Premium Poké Ball Replica
Just don't throw it, ok?
If there's a single object which instantly calls to mind the massively popular Pokémon series of video games, it's the iconic red-and-white Poké Ball. Sure, there are more powerful and accurate balls to use in the game, but the original version is the one that everyone remembers – and it has become a symbol of the...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Sonic Frontiers?
Sonic boom
So then, Sonic Frontiers. The hedgehog's latest 3D adventure launched earlier this week and Sonic fans have been able to spend a good chunk of time with the game. Reviews for the game across all platforms really run the gamut, with some critics hailing it as a stirring success and the beginning of a new era for 3D Sonic games, while...
Exclusive "There's Always A New Mess!" - Turning Real Life (And A Real Cat) Into A Tidying Up Game
An interview with developers Max Inferno
It's not often we get to do in-person interviews these days. It's even less frequent that we get to travel to a game studio to do them. But this might be a first, because for this interview, we actually got to go to a developer's house. It turns out that Max Inferno, the two-person studio making upcoming...
Feature "We Had A Lot To Learn" - Sloclap Talks Bringing 'Sifu' To Switch
"There’s always doubt regarding the reception of a game"
Having launched earlier this year on a couple of non-Switch platforms (yeah, apparently they exist!), Sloclap's Sifu has garnered much praise in the months since. A punishing 3D beat 'em up with roguelike elements and other genre ingredients, it struck a chord with PC and PlayStation-owning...
Feature Every Pokémon Starter Evolution Trio, Ranked From Worst To Best
Except for Kanto because come on – they’re obviously the best
While The Pokémon Company reveals the adorable starters at the beginning of a new Generation’s media cycle to feature them prominently in trailers, merch, events and whatever else the juggernaut of a franchise puts on, the final evolutions of these cute critters remain a carefully...
Talking Point What's The Best Use Of Licensed Music In A Switch Game?
(No, it's not Mad World)
You know that feeling you get when you're driving down a highway at sunset, and the perfect song comes on the radio? All of a sudden, it feels like you're in a music video, or that bit at the start of a '90s teen movie, where everything is sparkling and perfect. The music becomes a soundtrack, and your life becomes a story...
Feature Nintendo eShop Selects - October 2022
Nintendo Life's picks for October's best eShop games!
October has been and gone, and the spooky season is now over. Many are looking ahead to the Holiday season, spending time with family and — hopefully — playing a lot of games with them. But not us. We're looking back at the best eShop games of October. It's time for our eShop Selects! Last...
Guide Best Simpsons Games On Nintendo Systems
Every Simpsons game, as ranked by you
If you've been playing video games for a while, then it stands to reason that you have probably stumbled across one or two games based on The Simpsons in your time. A whole bunch of these have been made available to Nintendo systems throughout the years (19 to be exact) and they range in quality from yeah,...
Ah, but did that stop Joker?
Crashing onto the scene back in 2017, NieR:Automata was a breakthrough moment for Yoko Taro. Though the director gained infamy for the Drakengard series — including the original NieR on PS3 and Xbox 360 — and his unusual interviews, Automata is the game that truly put him and his team on the m
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 5th)
Bonfire Night gaming
Remember, remember the 5th November, gunpowder, treason and gaming. It's something along those lines, right? While we can't really comment on the first two of these, we have had a week filled with the third here at Nintendo Life. The week kicked off with Halloween, and we got into the spirit by chatting about the gaming moments...
Feature 17 Things You Might Not Know About Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Brush up on your knowledge before Tears of the Kingdom!
Oh, you think you know everything about Zelda, do you? Name all six sages. Juuuuust kidding, we're no gate(of time)keepers here — but we do have a bunch of facts for you about Breath of the Wild, which is somehow a game that just keeps giving. Not a week goes by without us learning something...
Feature Backlog Club: Limbo Is A Can Of Beans Full Of Gleeful Boy-Murder
I'm too hungry for all this murder
This article is part of our experimental series, Backlog Club, where we (Nintendo Life!) pick a game that's on our list of "games we should get around to playing", and then we (NL + you!) spend the next month playing that game. This is the finale for this month, after we played Inside earlier on. So, now that...
Feature It Takes Two Devs "Confident" The Switch Port Will Exceed Expectations
"At the time when we signed on, it wasn’t a GOTY title"
When developer Hazelight Studios launched It Takes Two back in March 2021 in partnership with Electronic Arts, it's safe to say that the co-op action-adventure title took everybody by surprise. By combining split-screen gameplay with a narrative that's both hilarious and poignant in equal...
Feature The Best Moustaches In Video Games Ranked
Let's-a MO
It's November. You know what that means. The nights are longer, the weather is colder and, just to top it all off, a whole bunch of people who should really know better are going to spend the next four weeks growing out a moustache to varying degrees of success for perhaps the weakest portmanteau ever contrived, Movember. As the...
Talking Point Which Scary Video Game Moments Gave You Nightmares As A Kid?
Mummy!
As one moves into adulthood, it's possible to look back and laugh at things that once terrified you. Sure, the adult world contains more than its fair share of horrors worth recoiling from, but at least we gamers can look back at the digital scares of our youth with a satisfied smile, knowing we've conquered our childish fears. Right? Well,...
Feature The Spookiest Levels In Non-Spooky Games
Melloween
Aside from costumes, big bowls of sweets and the impending fear that I'm A Celebrity will soon dominate TV again, if there is one thing that you can bank on over Halloween, it's lots, and lots of scary video games. The spooky season has an annoying habit of seeking out those of us — this writer included — who are not the best with...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 29th)
BAEonetta
After two weeks of back-and-forth drama, we are pleased that Bayonetta 3 is finally out to rave reviews. We are never going to have to talk about another VA dispute ever again, right? Yes, the gun-slinging, crowd-winning Umbra Witch is back and (not to spoil the following feature) we are excited to play. While we awaited the game's...
Talking Point Would You Prefer 'Super Mario Odyssey 2' Or A Totally New 3D Mario?
And can you believe Odyssey launched five years ago today?
It's kind of scary to think that Super Mario Odyssey is now five years old; that's half a decade! Launched back on October 27th, 2017, Nintendo was already firing on all cylinders at that point, having released the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and...
Soapbox After 10 Years I'm Finally Getting A Wii U, But Where Should I Start?
What would U suggest for Mii?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, as the Wii U approaches its tenth anniversary next month, Jim is trying to make amends for missing out on a misunderstood Nintendo console, with your help and ours...
Guide Best Licensed Games On Nintendo Switch
Got a licence for that?
Just recently we saw the anniversary of The Mummy Demastered, an example of a great game based on the most mediocre of movies. Historically, licensed games — usually movie tie-ins — haven't enjoyed the best of reputations due to them often being rush jobs thrown together on a shoestring by an under-resourced developer...
