News Classic Controller Support Comes to Android Wii Remote App
Finally, SNES games play like a dream
Review Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
Treasure's cult classic returns for a second helping of laser death
News - May, 2010
Monday31st May 2010
News The Nintendo Era is Over, Tweets Former Final Fantasy Scribe
Ex-Square writer says the iPad marks the beginning of the end for Nintendo's handheld dominace
Although Nintendo's position in the home console market has been contested numerous times over the past few decades, it has always held court over one sector of the video game industry: the humble handheld. With the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy...
Bad mojo
Developed by Exkee, the guys behind the rather average ColorZ, Voodoo Dice is a puzzle game in which you control a large yellow die, attempting to reach the end of every stage in order to earn gemstones used to proceed further into the game. Of course, it's not a matter of simply rolling over to the exit: each level has various dice-related...
News NHL Slapshot Includes Wii's First Dinky Hockey Stick
See Wayne Gretsky hold it and smile
In a move that's caused someone, somewhere to curse why they didn't think of it first, the next NHL Slapshot game is coming to Wii complete with a very fetching mini hockey stick peripheral, as modelled by Wayne Gretsky and family here. As EA's first foray into Wii ice hockey you'd expect it to take on the more...
News Music On: Electronic Keyboard Puts a Keyboard in Your DSiWare
Abylight's newest tool hits Europe on Friday
The music software scene just keeps on snowballing: we've already had the announcements of Rhythm Core Alpha and Mix Superstar, not to mention the already-available and rather good Rytmik, and now Abylight is joining the party with Music On: Electr
We chat to the Pocket Pack developer about its download-focused future
Mere Mortals probably isn't a name you instantly recognise, but UK readers have experienced more of the company's output than they might realise. The multi-talented team produced the animations for Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe, had a hand in the CG for Danny Boyle's Sunshine and...
Nintendo Download 31st May 2010 (North America)
Tanks, blocks, sudoku and SPARTA! on DSi whilst Ben-10, Dice, Beavers and Wild Guns grace the Wii
It's a pretty good mix of new and catch-up titles this week in North America, so hopefully everyone will find something that takes their fancy. DSiWare: X-Scape (800pts - Nintendo) — A sequel to game that was released on the Gameboy a million years...
Sunday30th May 2010
Review Lead the Meerkats (WiiWare)
The meerkat sim you've been waiting for?
Meerkats have long suffered the reputation of being lazy sods who just lay around in the jungles of Africa eating bugs all day thanks to a certain film from a certain company with a certain round-eared mascot. Of course people who actually have an interest in wildlife (and form their impressions of the world...
Review Viral Survival (WiiWare)
Fun with viruses that doesn't involve Mario or vomiting
Viral Survival is a compilation of five single-player arcade games with a loose petri dish theme tying them together. In each game you control a little chunk of DNA (that looks an awful lot like a magnifying glass) as you zip, wind, shoot and jump your way to a top score, which is then...
Review World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em (DSiWare)
Nice try
For a portable poker game, World Poker Tour: Texas Hold 'Em could've been great. It uses probably the biggest licence in the game in a faithful way to how the tournaments are shown on TV along with a pretty meaty single-player component and a few nice touches. Unfortunately, it also makes some really dumb mistakes that drag it down. Like,...
Feature The Great and the Good in WarioWare DIY
Get some inspiration for your creations
We love WarioWare: DIY here at Nintendo Life Towers: its ample array of game creation tools is enough to inspire even the most stunted imagination to create a gameplay masterpiece. When placed in the hands of the truly talented, however, some unbelievable microgames are possible: here's a selection of some of...
News Dennis Hopper Passes Away
King Koopa loses battle to cancer
It may not be fondly remembered by many gamers, but the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie certainly had some big name acting talent. Sadly, Dennis Hopper, who played the role of King Koopa, passed away yesterday from complications of metastasised prostate cancer. In honour of the late actor, here's one of our favourite...
Interviews Mateusz Makowiec & Piotr Łatocha - Heavy Fire: Special Operations
We catch up with Teyon to find out more about its latest WiiWare game
Teyon has been a pretty big supporter of both WiiWare and DSiWare lately and with a new war-themed arcade shooter approaching release we thought we'd find out a bit more about the company, its newest WiiWare game and plans for the future. Mateusz Makowiec, the VP for Sales and...
Saturday29th May 2010
News Foxconn's High Suicide Rate to be Investigated by Nintendo
Outsourcing company has raised concerns that Nintendo are looking into
If things like Greenpeace eco-surveys don't appear to be on Nintendo's attention radar, it's very clear that employee working conditions are. High suicide rates at a facility operated by one of its outsourcing companies, Foxconn, has prompted Nintendo to start an investigation...
News Get Ready for More 3D Sonics: Sega Will Invest Heavily in 3DS
Console is "landmark hardware" says Sega top man
Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham recently spoke out saying he believed Western third-parties would get behind the 3DS after being put off by the lack of success on DS and now, from the other side of the world, Japanese giant Sega has confirmed its intentions to support 3DS fully. Speaking to Japanese...
Nintendo Download 1st & 2nd June 2010 (Japan)
Download drought for Japan next week
It's hard to remember a week like this in the Japanese download scene, much less a second consecutive week without a WiiWare release, but here we are. To top it off there's only one DSiWare game and it's the third in a series we had two of last week. On the bright side there's a Virtual Console release for the...
Friday28th May 2010
News Charles Martinet Shares Your Pain, Waluigi
Voice actor wants a game for the purple one
Wario, Luigi, Peach: they've all had chances to strike out on their own with games where they play the lead, but one character missing from the line-up is lanky misfit Waluigi, who's yet to receive his own game. At least one person sees the injustice in this situation: voice actor Charles Martinet, who...
News Mario Jumps Over Flag, Ends Arguments Forever
It's real: see it with your own eyes
Yes he can; no he can't. Yes he can; no he can't. Anyone who grew up with the NES will know this as the sound of the playground's "is it possible to jump over the flag?" argument that ran all over the world. Now those who were on the "yes he can" side should pick up their phones and ring old enemies to rub salt...
Review Telegraph Crosswords (DSiWare)
Box clever
Last year Nintendo took a stab at the handheld crosswords market with Nintendo Presents Crossword Collection, and it did a decent job, with plenty of variation and a decent interface drawing in gamers who like to dabble in the occasional crossword. If Crossword Collection was the tutorial, Telegraph Crosswords is the final boss; every...
News Get Your Travis Touchdown Clothes on in Carnaby Street
No More Heroes tie-in with British fashion label
No More Heroes and clothing go together like beams and katanas: Australian gamers can look forward to an exclusive Bizarre Jelly t-shirt, last week saw the announcement of No More Heroes lingerie and now a British fashion retailer has had a complete makeover to become a real-life Airport 51. Chateau...
News Catch Pokemon Black and White in North America Next Spring
Update: European release also Spring 2011
It might be nearly a year away but Nintendo clearly wants to get the bandwagon rolling early for the next Pokémon game, announcing it's going to be released in North America in Spring 2011. Not only that, we also know two of the legendary Pokémon that'll feature in the game: Black owners can capture...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - June 2010
More Neo Geo support
There's not much of note for Japan next month on the Virtual Console. Nintendo's only title is a Super Famicom game we'll likely never get. Aside from that, there's just two NES and Neo Geo games to pick from. The full list for June is as follows: Famicom: Meta Fight (The original Japanese version of Blaster Master. The...
News Lucky Australians, You Get Mega Man Zero Collection Before Europe
Only a day earlier, though
The great Gods of Australian game releases are a picky bunch: with one hand they taketh away Bejeweled 2, with the other they giveth Mega Man Zero Collection on June 10th. Yep, Capcom is bringing the Z-busting compendium over just two short days after the North American release and one day before its European launch, far...
Thursday27th May 2010
Review The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii)
Here comes the fun
We've seen the market quite saturated with numerous Rock Bands and Guitar Heroes, and at this point we’d need something extra special to pique our interest in the genre. The Beatles are happily just the right thing. They’re the perfect band for a music emulation game to take as its focus, their repertoire being one of the most...
News Pokemon Returns to European Wiis in July with PokePark: Pikachu's Adventure
Yellow mouse and friends in cutesy adventure shocker
You wait ages for one Wii game starring a gaming icon set in a theme park and before you know it, a second one has come along. Yesterday we found out about Sonic Colours, today we get confirmation that PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure is heading to European Wii consoles on July 9th. It's almost...
Interviews Ty Roberts - Bejeweled 2
We talk to producer Ty Roberts about PopCap's upcoming WiiWare debut
Though PopCap is no stranger to Nintendo platforms, having already released several retail and download games for the DS and DSiWare, Bejeweled 2 marks their first foray in the lounges of Wii owners. After a bit of hands-on time with the final release candidate, we thought we'd...
News Embark on a New Adventure With Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
The DS has an entirely new chapter of the Final Fantasy saga to conquer
With the HD consoles getting the main series in the Final Fantasy franchise and the with the Wii having its own Crystal Chronicles series to tuck into, DS owners might be getting a bit tired of getting old ports and updated versions of past Final Fantasy games. Well, now you can...
News First Details of de Blob: The Underground Revealed
Nintendo Power gets first look at sparkly sequel
De Blob was pretty special: smart design, a great atmosphere and a huge amount of fun mark it out as one of the Wii's finest titles. When THQ announced it would be bringing the title back for a release in 2011 we all had a smile on our collective faces, and now the first small details have surfaced...
Nintendo Download 28th May 2010 (Europe)
The Virtual Console returns in style, WiiWare gets arty and DSiWare gets a bunch of random stuff
There's plenty to pick from this time. You can either go with one of Kirby's best outings or a new Art Style game on the Wii, or Picross and God of War knock-offs on DSiWare. The choice is yours! WiiWare: Art Style: Penta Tentacles (600pts - Nintendo)...
News Get Fired Up Over Jett Rocket's New Gameplay Trailer
World 1 of the planet Yoroppa
It's rare to see a WiiWare game push the graphical boundaries of the format to an extent where you forget it's a download title, so when a game does exactly that, it's enough to turn heads. That's the kind of impact Jett Rocket has created and the latest trailer shows the game in action, centred in the Atoll Region. The...
News Steve Wiebe to Participate in Mario Marathon, May Jump Barrels for Charity
Legendary gamer signs up for latest Speed Gamers crusade
With everyone and their dog being on a legal Mario high at the moment, the team over at The Speed Gamers has announced its next marathon will be taking in all the plumber's greatest titles – yes, including Hotel Mario – when it kicks off on June 11th. The plan is to take in a week's worth...
Wednesday26th May 2010
Review Robin Hood: The Return of Richard (WiiWare)
Another porting disaster
WiiWare has already seen a few ports of iPhone games, but this one in particular has to take the cake as the laziest of all. A shooting gallery game based around the legend of Robin Hood, you must protect the people of Nottingham from the seemingly endless hordes of knights running around. As this is a Wii game we're talking...
Review Real Crimes: Jack the Ripper (DSiWare)
This is how criminology used to work?
Don't be misled by the title of Real Crimes: Jack the Ripper. Neither the notorious serial killer nor crime solving itself really serve as anything more than a framework for I Spy -esque seek-and-find puzzles. Nevertheless, once you realise what this game's all about, you might end up having a lot of fun while...
News Sonic Colours to Brighten Up DS and Wii
New hog outing announced!
We at Nintendo Life Towers had mixed feelings recently when Sega announced it was delaying the promising Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 for WiiWare as we were looking forward to getting stuck into the hog's latest. Still, always one to bounce back from his disappointments – let's face it, he's had enough practice –...
News Nintendo is Clearly Not in Greenpeace's Good Books
The company has come last again in the Guide to Greener Electronics survey
For all the positive achievements that Nintendo has earned with its current generation of game systems, it seems that it could be doing more to keep itself as green as possible. In Greenpeace's latest Guide to Greener Electronics survey, Nintendo has not performed so well and...
News Lufia Returns to DS with Curse of the Sinistrals
Natsume bringing RPG over later this year
It's been a long old time since we last played a translated Lufia game on a Nintendo platform: around seven years ago, in fact. Natsume's never been one to let a good IP lay dormant though, announcing it's going to bring the latest title, Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, to North America later this year. Not...
News Find Out More About Super Mario Galaxy 2's Creation
Yoshiaki Koizumi reflects on latest outing
That didn't take long: Super Mario Galaxy 2 producer Yoshiaki Koizumi was interviewed by Famitsu Magazine about his feelings towards the newly-released sequel and its production. Covering everything from the game's conception as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5 to their awareness of not alienating Mario veterans,...
News Sorry Antipodean Gamers: No Bejeweled 2 For You
PopCap confirms download title staying away from Australia and New Zealand
Fans of WiiWare in Australia and New Zealand are used to seeing titles face long delays or not make it across at all, but it still stings every time. Sadly there's more bad news: we recently interviewed PopCap's Ty Roberts who confirmed to us that Bejeweled 2 won't be heading...
News Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap - Get Practising with 16-Shot Shooting Watch for DSiWare
Hudson's tap trainer on the way to the US
It's been available on the Japanese DSiWare market for a few weeks now, but a recent ESRB rating has revealed the 16 Shot! Shooting Watch is on its way to North America in the near future. Although it sounds like a rather James Bond-esque gadget, the Shooting Watch is a device to help you find out exactly...
Tuesday25th May 2010
Review Art Style: light trax (WiiWare)
Racing takes a puzzling turn
After a year-long DSiWare detour, the Art Style series has returned to WiiWare with one of the series' most action-oriented entries so far. It may look like a simple racer, but as the Art Style series has proven time and time again that looks can be deceiving. light trax is an updated version of the Japan-only bit...
Review Star Trek: Tactical Assault (DS)
Tactics, but not as we know them
Developer Quicksilver Software is no stranger to the Star Trek licence, having developed the well-regarded Starfleet Command for the PC, which is itself an attempt to deliver a computerised version of the venerable board game Star Fleet Battles. Tactical Assault is essentially a stab at a port of Starfleet Command to...
Review Advanced Circuits (DSiWare)
A puzzler that keeps chugging along
There's certainly no denying that, a year in, the DSiWare service has quickly filled up with puzzlers, maybe even more than we originally expected, so the sight of yet another making an appearance isn't too surprising. The developers at BiP Media have taken a familiar formula and woven a very challenging puzzle...
News Marth Returns as New Fire Emblem for DS Announced
Looks like a remake of the third title
Tactical battling on the go is a big win for us here at Nintendo Life Towers: many's the hour we've spent on Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, so the opportunity to get more of either is something we welcome with open arms. We already knew about a new Advance Wars, but today the Japanese Fire Emblem site has been...
News Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the Second Highest Rated Game Ever
Ocarina of Time still number one
It seems the plumber's latest adventure can do no wrong, scoring top marks at many well-respected publications around the world. In fact, it's got so many high scores that reviews aggregator Metacritic places it at second spot in the list of the highest-rated games of all time with a score if 98, level with Grand...
News Now You Can Buy That Goomba Head You've Always Wanted
"But Goombas don't really have heads," you say
You know Goombas, right? Mushroom things from the Mushroom Kingdom that get flattened very easily. Well, yes, but you may remember they looked a little different in the classic Super Mario Bros. movie: in fact, you'll probably never forget that unbelievable film. Now you can keep a piece of that...
News Sony Doesn't Want Failed Wii Games on Move, Thank You Very Much
VP of publisher relations puts foot down
Reaction to Sony's PlayStation Move controller has been a little mixed among Nintendo fans, not to mention the response to its initial launch line-up which looks to repeat some of the Wii's success in bringing motion control to the masses. Sony aren't interested in making another Wii though, going out of its...
News Nintendo of Australia Sends DS to School But Don't Get Any Ideas
"We're not Santa", they may have said
Here's a heartwarming story for you: a young girl, frustrated at not being bought a DS console by her parents, wrote a letter to Nintendo as part of a school project, praising the company and explaining her situation. Signing off with a polite – if somewhat cheeky – request for a console, she was...
Monday24th May 2010
Dancer in the dark
The hotly-anticipated sequel to Flashlight, Discolight is the next big thing to hit DSiWare. Not familiar with it? Well, wait until you hear what it can do. It flashes different colours. In different patterns. Oh yes. Naturally there aren't many screenshots available, so here's a short video that should give you a better idea of...
News Super Mario Galaxy 2 Players Already Super-Skilled and Super-Fast
Debate opens: is this a glitch or just a skill?
This one will probably divide opinion, but this video of a Super Mario Galaxy 2 speedrun exploits a trick for extending Yoshi's flutter jump to previously unheard-of lengths. It doesn't appear to be a glitch but rather a combination of moves that allows Yoshi to repeat his hover ability, but we'll let...
News Conduit 2 to Big Up Offline Multiplayer with Four-Player Splitscreen
Also includes free arm-punching ability for screen-peekers
In the clamour to get as many titles online as possible, the simple pleasures of sitting down with a few friends to blast each other to smithereens has been lost on Wii somewhat. Josh Olson, senior producer of shooter sequel Conduit 2, wants to bring those days back by promising offline...
News Man Who Sold Modded Wiis Was In It for the Money
Not a story from The Onion, we promise
It may not be a huge deal but Japanese police have arrested a 52-year old man for selling modified Wii consoles and copied games after he made over £20,000 (about $28,000) selling the units over a two-year period. Selling the consoles for around ¥32,000 – ¥12,000 more than a standard Wii – the man...
Nintendo Download 24th May 2010 (North America)
Games!
Metal, Poker, "Saucy Jack" and Circuits for DSi and Art Style, Viruses and Monkeys on the Wii this week in North America DSiWare: Metal Torrent (500pts – Nintendo) – Nintendo dips its toes into the bullet-hell shooting arena via developer Arika's latest DSiWare game. This has been out in Japan for a while and was published in Europe...
News Get Behind the Scenes at Grasshopper this Friday
Chat live with developers online
It's not every day you get the chance to have a nosey around barmy Japanese developer Grasshopper Manufacture, home of Suda51's No More Heroes, but this Friday you'll get just that chance as the company is hosting a live web broadcast to celebrate the European and Australian release of No More Heroes: Desperate...
News Renegade Kid Excited by 3DS's Potential for Original Games
Dementium developer thinks new machine could reignite third parties
When it comes to creating superb DS-exclusive titles, nobody rivals Nintendo: we know this, you know this and developers certainly know this, resulting in a marked decrease in DS boxed releases as publishers look to distribute their funds elsewhere. Jools Watsham, founder of...
Sunday23rd May 2010
News Suda 51 Interested in Killer7 Sequel, No Plans for NMH3
Travis's story done but perhaps Harman Smith's isn't
Our good friends over at Cubed3 recently snagged an interview with Suda51 of No More Heroes fame, probing him about any upcoming projects on the horizon from his Grasshopper Manufacture team. Although he didn't confirm any new projects he did lay down some tantalising hints, including his desire...
News Chicago Blackhawks Prepare for Stanley Cup with a Little Mario Kart
Blue shells part of team's mental readiness
Competitive team sports are all about bonding as a unit: maximising each other's unique abilities, communicating well and working together towards a common goal. Pretty much the opposite of Mario Kart Wii then, but tell that to the Chicago Blackhawks who like to chill out with the game as part of their...
Saturday22nd May 2010
Review Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
Absolutely spectacular!
Where do you begin when talking about the Super Mario franchise and what it's brought to video gaming over the years? The series has single-handedly defined Nintendo and its consoles over the past 25 years and is showing no signs of slowing down at this point. The original Super Mario Galaxy introduced so many new gameplay...
News Rhythm Core Alpha to Turn DS "Into a Musical Instrument"
Music synth coming to DSiWare
Rhythm Core Alpha is the latest announcement in the recent batch of musical creation tools, this time from SoftEgg Enterprises. It will feature "powerful editing features," including freedom to customise drum patterns, basslines and melodies, and gamers can even use the stylus to play solos along with the...
News Miyamoto Loves it When Games Resonate
Latest Iwata Asks translated
It's been well-documented that the development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 posed a few tricky decisions for the team: starting out as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5, the role of the story was much-discussed inside Nintendo, with different team members arguing for more or less story. All this led Shigeru Miyamoto to a realisation: he...
Nintendo Download 25th & 26th May 2010 (Japan)
Virtual Console for Wii; board games, soccer and language practice for DSi, next week in Japan
The lack of any updates for the Wii last Tuesday in the absence of any public holiday was a bit ominous and this week's WiiWare-less update makes us wonder if this means that developers are turning away from Nintendo's service in its home country – or it...
News Get Heard on the Nintendo Life Podcast!
What are your hopes for E3? Let us know!
It's just over three weeks until Nintendo's big E3 show on June 15th when we'll finally get our first look at the new Legend of Zelda, the 3DS and plenty of other surprises too. We'll be starting to get into the E3 spirit from Monday June 7th when the next episode of the Nintendo Life podcast will be...
Friday21st May 2010
Review Frogger Returns (DSiWare)
Guess who's back... again
He may not have gone anywhere in the hearts of classic gamers, but Frogger is apparently back again. This DSiWare edition of Frogger Returns is essentially the same game as on WiiWare, albeit without the underwhelming multiplayer of that version. The stages, modes, power-ups and graphics are largely all the same (although...
Review A Topsy Turvy Life: Turvy Drops (DSiWare)
Tetris D.I.Y.
A Topsy Turvy Life: Turvy Drops puts an interesting spin on a classic puzzle game and presents a fairly bare-bones package thereof, resulting in an entertaining little release. Its basic conceit is Tetris with a twist – as opposed to waiting for the right pieces to drop, you'll draw those pieces with the stylus, clicking empty...
News Hiroshi Yamauchi Gives Millions to Cancer Treatment Hospital
Former Nintendo president opens new centre in Kyoto
Under the fifty-year reign of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo went from a tiny company to the multi-billion pound giant we know today, so it's no surprise to hear Mr Yamauchi is still pretty well-off when it comes to cash. He's not buying solid gold race cars and diamond-encrusted TVs though: he's...
News New Making of Jett Rocket Blog Opens
Go behind the scenes with Shin'en's platform beauty
Anticipation around these parts for Shin'en Multimedia's WiiWare platformer Jett Rocket is pretty high at the moment, with everything released on it so far pointing to a quality platforming title on the way. How did they make it so shiny, though? The official behind the scenes blog should answer...
News Some Sort of Wii Remote Gets a Recent Approval From the FCC
What could this mean?
Three years after the launch of the Wii, Nintendo updated its control method by introducing the MotionPlus accessory with its near 1:1 motion replication. Apparently, it took a few years to get the technology compact enough to work ergonomically as a discreet add-on and with the peripheral's first birthday over the horizon, a...
News Nnooo's Next Game Makes You a Spirit Hunter
Don't be afraid of no ghosts
Aussie developer Nnooo has given you the joy of bubble popping and helped you collect your life, and next they hope to help you get a handle on all those meanie spirits floating around. Titled Spirit Hunters Inc. and coming in both Shadow and Light flavors, it's an augmented reality game centered around capturing and...
News Digital Leisure Gets on the WiiWare Decks with Mix Superstar
New music production tools incoming
Everyone's after a slice of the music gaming pie these days, with the latest – and arguably one of the most impressive – titles being the pocket studio Rytmik. Now Digital Leisure is aiming to do for WiiWare what Cinemax did for DSiWare with the announcement of Mix Superstar. With over 1,000 royalty-free loops...
News X-Scape Launches on DSiWare on May 31st
North American release confirmed, European launch still up in the air
Q-Games' revisit of classic title X-Scape, aka 3D Space Tank, is set to land on North American DSis on May 31st. As captain of the VIXIV, a highly advanced space tank, you’ll roam the surface of dozens of alien worlds, battling the forces of an empire that is out to destroy...
News New Sonic 4 Trailer Almost Makes Up for Delay
Game pushed back for surprising reason
We reported yesterday that Sega's great white Sonic hope, WiiWare 'hog platformer Sonic the Hedgehog 4, has been pushed back from its Summer release date to a late 2010 date now instead. Why is that? It turns out that Sega wants the extra time to take onboard fan feedback about the game, though predictably it...
Thursday20th May 2010
Review Kirby Super Star (Wii Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
Suck on this!
Kirby Super Star made its debut on the Super Nintendo console in 1996, and although the game came late in the system's lifecycle, it's gone on to become one of the most sought-after games in the series. Now with the release of the game on the Virtual Console, Wii fans can enjoy the classic in all of its original glory. The gameplay of...
News These Pearl Harbor Paper Planes are Confusingly Cute
Legendo's WiiWare shooter gets cut, folded and thrown
If there's one way to get your WiiWare game on the news page of every Nintendo site going, it's clearly papercraft: last week's Bit.Trip Runner set may not have been as difficult as the game but it looks just as awesome, and now Legendo is following up with foldable paper versions of the planes...
Total misfire
Usually when a game is released with so little marketing it's enough to raise suspicions about its quality, but enough excellent WiiWare titles have emerged seemingly from nowhere over the years to make us reconsider those age-old presumptions. Then along comes a title like Blood Beach to remind us exactly why they existed in the first...
Review Looksley's Line Up (DSiWare)
Great idea marred by a crap camera
Lookskley's Line Up should be a near-perfect game. It's beautiful, immersive and inventive. It fails, however, to perfect the area in which it innovates, and the experience suffers as a result. The game does something quite creative with the system's hardware, and that's to use the camera to track the player's...
Interviews Ryozo Tsujimoto - Monster Hunter Tri
We chat monsters, quests and gamers clocking 8,000 hours
Initially scheduled for the week of the game's launch in April, ongoing issues with the Icelandic volcano dust cloud situation meant we had to postpone our interview with Monster Hunter Tri producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, but we're now able to bring you the interview in full. Nintendo Life: Why do...
Crack cocaine comes to Wii
Popcap Games is a modern internet success story. At a time when it was deemed impossible to make money from selling downloadable content on the web, John Vechey, Brien Fiete and Jason Kapalka managed to build a gaming juggernaut on the back of simple, but addictive games like Zuma and Peggle that have gone on to become the...
News Monster Hunter 3 Online is Staying Region Locked
Capcom producer Ryozo Tsujimoto breaks the bad news
Recently we got chance to interview Monster Hunter Tri's producer Mr Ryozo Tsujimoto and had to ask him about the continent-specific servers that prevent monster hunters from opposite sides of the Atlantic from playing with each other. Although there was initially hope that the region lock-out...
News Lords of Shadow to Feature Classic Nintendo Castlevania Music
Super Castlevania IV's brilliant soundtrack is coming back from the dead
Castlevania producer David Cox has tweeted that the upcoming PS3/360 title Lords of Shadow is to feature classic tunes from older instalments of the series - more specifically the fourth title, which appeared on the SNES in 1991. Here's the tweet: Today I heard the waterfall...
News Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Speeds Past Summer Release Date, Into Late 2010
Delay for WiiWare platformer for extra polish
Nobody likes being made to wait, especially Sonic himself, but Sega has just announced its upcoming return to the hog's 2D roots, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, is going to miss its Summer release slot and will now be available in "late 2010." SEGA has decided to extend the development of...
News Bit.Trip Runner is About "What it Means to be Human"
Alex Neuse reveals game's story and influences
Have you played Bit.Trip Runner yet? It's rather good and, as we said in our review, "cements Gaijin's reputation as a developer that has repeatedly shown it has a firm grasp on the craft of gaming." You might not actually understand what the game's about though: like previous Bit.Trip titles,...
Nintendo Download 21st May 2010 (Europe)
The Virtual Console takes a break, while WiiWare and DSiWare get a total of six games.
It's that dreaded time again - The Virtual Console is skipping another week in Europe. WiiWare and DSiWare don't exactly make up for the lack of retro goodness either, because there seems to be nothing truly special available this time. WiiWare: Phoenix Wright:...
News Zoo Disc Golf Proves That Animals are Competitive When it Comes to Sports
New WiiWare game from Sonalysts
Like with many other art-forms, when you're known for creating something that almost becomes a category that hangs over your head, a change of direction may seem like the order of the day. That's what Sonalysts seems to be doing as it prepares for its upcoming new title for WiiWare download. Having already developed...
News Play the Spook in Capcom's Ghost Trick Phantom Detective
Latest gameplay video shows a mother and daughter conversation interrupted by strangeness
You may remember when Capcom announced that its DS-exclusive puzzle game; Ghost Trick Phantom Detective was in development, its description was attention-grabbing. Since then, game details have slowly been released and the screenshots have undoubtedly marked...
Wednesday19th May 2010
News Classic Controller Support Comes to Android Wii Remote App
Finally, SNES games play like a dream
We few days ago we covered the release of Ryan Frawley's excellent Wii Controller IME app for Google's Android mobile platform. The app allows Android users to connect a Wii Remote to their phone via Bluetooth and play games on with it. Frawley hinted at Classic Controller support when he launched the first...
There will be panic when you buy this game!
A simple, fast-paced, arcady DSiWare game that costs only 200 DSi Points. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a few things, actually. There couldn't possibly be any less to Fire Panic's objective. Fires are breaking out all over the city, so the mayor has given you the task of sending out two fire trucks...
Review Flips: More Bloody Horowitz (DSiWare)
More bloody Flips
A 14-year-old boy and his mysterious octogenarian neighbour he can't seem to get out of his head. A murder gone horribly, horribly, horribly, laughably, horribly wrong. The whiniest family of reluctant tourists ever to visit New York City. All of these tales, a "horror" soundboard and more await in EA's latest Flips entry...
News You're Probably Not Good Enough to Beat Sin and Punishment 2 on Hard
So say the game's developers
In a recent interview with Official Nintendo Magazine, Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies producer Masato Maegawa claims his new game is so unrelentingly difficult that he doesn't expect anybody to finish it on the most difficult setting. I think that the Easy Mode is the perfect difficulty for anybody to be...
News New Shots of Xenoblade Look Awesome
Japanese RPG epic is a real looker
When the best teams get to work on Wii games, the machine's graphical muscle really shines through: check out Monster Hunter Tri, Endless Ocean 2, Fragile Dreams or Sin and Punishment 2. Pretty, no? Well get ready for the next Best-Looking Wii Game, Nintendo's upcoming RPG
News Advanced Circuits Rolls into North America on May 24th
DSiWare automotive puzzler out on Monday
There aren't enough train games on DS: this is a fact. With the exception of the terrible Lionel Trains and Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, there's barely a good choo-choo title for the console. With that in mind, we're rather looking forward to BiP Media's upcoming DSiWare puzzler Advanced Circuits, pledging...
News Hey Everyone, Get Your Dragon Quest IX On This July
Nintendo announces release dates for Europe and North America
Those waiting breathlessly for news of when Square Enix's upcoming DS epic Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies will be arriving on Western shores can stop turning blue now, as Nintendo has announced that the game will be hitting on July 11 in North America, exactly one year...
News Space Invaders: Infinity Gene is Going Multi-format
The Office of Film and Literature Classification says so, but which ones?
Those Space Invaders have been around for 30 years now and are still going strong. New adaptions are keeping the series fresh yet recognisable, and it seems the latest instalment could be making an appearance on home consoles and/or handheld systems. A recent
News What Does Suda51 Want to Make for the 3DS?
New handheld giving the unconventional game designer plenty of ideas
Goichi Suda, the crazy person responsible for killer7, No More Heroes and Flower, Sun and Rain, welcomes the unconventional with open arms. He's got some stuff brewing in the back of his mind for the Vitality Sensor, and now, with another mysterious and unconventional piece of...
Tuesday18th May 2010
Review BIT.TRIP RUNNER (WiiWare)
Running down a dream
The BIT.TRIP series is one of the shining stars of Nintendo's WiiWare service. The simplicity of the game mechanics would work well on the 30-year-old 8-bit consoles to which they pay homage, but it's the intelligence of design and music-rhythm aspect that makes them so addictive. BIT.TRIP RUNNER is the latest entry in the...
News Australia, Only You Can Own this Awesome Travis Touchdown T-Shirt
The rest of the world will stare on enviously
Suda51's No More Heroes 2 is hands-down one of the most stylish titles on any format, and our lucky antipodean readers can clothe themselves in a little bit of that style with this awesome t-shirt. Preorder Travis Touchdown's new adventure over at GAME and you can grab this Bizarre Jelly t-shirt as worn...
News Red Steel 2 Met Ubi's Sales Expectations
More accurate figures sadly lacking
It may have failed to set the charts alight but Red Steel 2 still performed in line with Ubisoft's sales estimates. In its end of year financial report, the company failed to give more exact sales figures but did say it had performed in line with revised estimates, a reference to the halving of expectations just...
News Nintendo Trademarks 3DSWare, DSMovie and Other Intriguing Phrases
But why, when the 3DS name isn't final?
One day it's possibly leaked testing hardware, the next it's a list of trademarks: the Internet Rumour Mill is operating at full steam ahead these days. According to a list discovered by forum members over at NeoGAF, Nintendo has registered trademarks including DSMovie, DSMagazine and DSCinema. The most...
News Wii Fit Helped Injured Soldier to Recover
University study finds balance board works out
It may not be quite the exercise package some had come to expect, but it appears Wii Fit may have benefits in other applications. A recent study by Kansas State University found that use of the game in the recovery programme of an injured soldier helped to improve his balance after a serious brain...
News Mario's Second Galaxy Romp Coming to Australia in July
Bringing along the helpful DVD as well
We just got word from Nintendo of Australia that gamers in the land down under will have to wait a little bit longer for their dose of Super Mario Galaxy 2 goodness. Instead of hitting store shelves on June 10th, the game will now make its Australian debut on July 1st. The good news is that the helpful DVD that...
News Struggling With Your Rytmik Masterpiece? This Video Wants to Help
Let Cinemax take you through the basics
DSiWare music production tool Rytmik is surprisingly powerful for a portable package costing less than a tenner, but learning its intricacies can be a little daunting at first. That's why we thought we'd share with you this introduction to Rytmik from Cinemax, showing you how to craft an annoyingly catchy bass...
News Microsoft Manager Gives 3DS the Thumbs Up
Takashi Sensui also reveals Microsoft's own preparations for the 3D realm
It's always professional of rival companies to give credit where it's due, but it's even more respectable when it seems genuine. It seems that Nintendo's first steps into the 3D gaming world have garnered positive comments from a Microsoft big-cheese. Speaking to the Nikkei...
News Iwata Asks for Super Mario Galaxy 2 Reveals Many, Many Informative Nuggets
Too many for this tagline to contain
Always informative and surprising, the Iwata Asks series of articles is a treasure trove of Nintendo experience and and information, so you won't be surprised to hear that the latest article, covering Super Mario Galaxy 2, is chock-full of interesting facts. Yoshi was originally planned for the first Super Mario...
News Odenis Studio Shows Interest in Returning to Its Glory Days
Hoping to turn those award nominations into wins
There's something quite appealing about playing strategy games on a handheld. Maybe because they're on a portable format and resemble more of what a high-tech 'battle device' might feel like in the hands of a war general. Maybe it's something else. Either way, DS owners might want to ready themselves...
News Sharpen Your Stylus as Telegraph Sudoku & Kakuro Approaches Its Launch
Includes the classic way of playing, and more
Want more Sudoku? You got it. Telegraph Media Group is working together with Sanuk Games to bring DSi owners more puzzling fun as Telegraph Sudoku & Kakuro is nearing its American release on the handheld's download service. Get ready to kill more brain cells in the name of critical-thinking. The game...
Monday17th May 2010
Cerebral bore
A version of Brain Drain has already released on WiiWare in North America, and now it's Europe's turn to sample its item-moving action on DSiWare. They both share the same basic principle: rearrange objects into a specific pattern displayed on the top screen as quickly as possible. The best reference is a sliding block puzzle, only you...
Nintendo Download 17th May 2010 (North America)
Running, blood and Kirby for the Wii; frogs, rabbits, upside-down blocks and more blood on DSi
Microgame creator WarioWare D.I.Y. and the hosts of the Nintendo Channel show "Nintendo Week" collide in the Big Name Game for this week, as Allison and Gary each unleash whatever crazy microgame their host brains have done thunk up. WiiWare:...
News Need Help in Monster Hunter? Consult the Encyclopedia Trigantica
Very long name for a very big resource
Struggling to make much headway against some of the monumental beasties in Capcom's stunning Monster Hunter Tri but don't fancy shelling out for a strategy guide? Soak in the beauty of this, then: the game's official, and online, encyclopedia. Taking its cues from Monster Hunter Freedom Unite's Encyclopedia...
Space, monsters and boss battles, oh my
It's been a while, space cats, but NLFM is back with another mighty handsome selection of the finest chip and game music around. This time we're splitting chip tunes and swirling epics right down the middle, with equal parts fantastic on both sides. NLFM generally focuses on music from games playable on...
Rumour Curious DS Motherboard May Reveal 3DS Widescreen
Hold those horses, however
Vague registrations for patents, trademarks and age ratings power the Internet Rumour Mill, particularly when there's a big announcement around the corner, and a recent filing over at the Federal Communications Commission may have the first photograph of a 3DS test kit. Why jump to the 3DS conclusion when the image title...
News New Zelda Aims for Easier Controls, Big Surprises
Miyamoto surprisingly clarifies neither
There's still a sleepless four weeks between us and the new Zelda game for Wii, set to be unveiled at E3. We don't know what it'll look, sound or play like, but a recent interview with Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed it should control more simply than previous Link outings. For us, it is important to the to...
News See the New Pokemon Starters in Bright, Beautiful Motion
Hamferno, Smugleaf and the other one in action
We initially said the new starter Pokémon for the upcoming Black and White releases probably aren't the prettiest monsters we've ever seen, but in light of this first footage of them in battle we may have to chow down on our words. With fully animated monsters and new camera effects the battles are...
News Nintendo and American Heart Association Team Up to Promote Healthy Living
Collaboration intends to get more people active through physical play
Nintendo and the American Heart Association have announced a new partnership to help people become more physically active through play. The collaboration aims to get people "motivated, empowered and active." What this means on a surface level is that Nintendo's...
Nintendo Download 19th May 2010 (Japan)
Earth Saving, Sengoku strategy and Kanji training on DSi next week in Japan
Although we're unaware of any holidays in Japan this week, it appears the Wii is taking a download break. The DSi is still getting a few titles on Wednesday, so importers still have something new to look forward to. DSiWare: Earth Saver Plus: Inseki Bakuha Daisakusen (500...
News Scribblenauts Sequel is Officially Super
First images of the duper sequel show further shenanigans
So, 5TH Cell's fun but flawed DS game Scribblenauts is getting a sequel. Makes sense after selling 1.1 million copies across the globe. Slapping a "2" on the end of the name would be all well and good, but hardly the most creative way to show off how much improved the new game is...
Sunday16th May 2010
Review Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations (WiiWare)
Phoenix Wrong
Capcom's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series on DS has become a popular staple of the system over the past few years, combining a novel-style courtroom presentation with many of the unique gameplay functions of the DS system itself. The end product has been a very engaging gaming experience that allows players to feel like a part of an...
News Preorder Sin and Punishment, Get Bonus Points and Poster
That's a sweet deal
Although Treasure fans the length and breadth of Europe are already enjoying the company's latest blasterpiece, those of you across the pond in North America are probably cursing Nintendo's decision to delay to Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. It might be time to reconsider however, as Gamestop is giving not one but two...
News Soccer Bashi is Breakout with Soccer
Or perhaps it's soccer with Breakout?
Whichever way you slice it, Icon Games' next project Soccer Bashi combines the skill and satisfaction of breaking bricks with the showmanship and balls of soccer and is closing in on the WiiWare goal as we speak. With 90 levels spread over different game modes there should be plenty of variety, but Icon is also...
Saturday15th May 2010
News Plan Your Life with this Monster Hunter Event Calendar
Never miss an important quest again
Capcom is certainly sticking to its commitment to support Monster Hunter Tri with post-launch DLC, so much so that it's devised a calendar tool to help you organise your sessions in advance. Detailing the dates, minimum HR and reward – hey, you can get the Tenebra from the end of the month – you can...
News Primrose to Bring Colour and Relaxation to DSiWare
New puzzler from Sabarasa
As if the opportunity to Save the Turtles wasn't enough, soon you can colour in the squares with Sabarasa's upcoming puzzler Primrose, just announced for DSiWare. Taking inspiration from classic puzzler Othello and perhaps a dash of Wakugumi, Primrose also includes a thoughtful colourblind mode and has already been rated...
Friday14th May 2010
Another Capcom classic
With various versions of Street Fighter II, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, a bunch of Mega Man games and two exclusive Final Fight sequels, the SNES was a good machine to own for Capcom fans. They also released many other games on the platform including U.N. Squadron, a frantic side-scrolling shooter originally released in arcades in...
Review Chess Challenge! (WiiWare)
The “challenge” must lie in making a good chess game
From the makers of Sudoku Challenge comes Chess Challenge in all of its public domain glory. In our earlier review of Silver Star Chess, the first chess game on Wiiware, we advised to wait “until a better version of the game comes along later.” Is Chess Challenge that gold star chess game...
Review Chess Challenge! (DSiWare)
Chuck, mate
Chess is over two thousand years old and still hasn't gone out of style. It's arguably the perfect game of strategy, enjoyed the world over by countless bright adults, reflective retirees and nerdy youths. Just about every city has a hub, a certain coffee shop or public park, at which one can go to watch two competitors going at it, the...
News Pokémon Black & White Set in Megalopolis Where Nature and Man Co-exist
See the game's protagonists and where their adventure will take place
A couple of days ago, we showed you a glimpse of the weird and wonderful creatures that gamers will encounter in Pokémon Black & White as images of the starting-three made their way to Coro Coro Magazine. The Pokémon Company has now updated the game's site with additional...
First Impressions Dive - The Medes Island Secret
Diving for retro pearls
After Cosmonaut Games' "spot the difference" WiiWare debut, 5 Spots Party, you might not have expected anything exciting to come from them. But after some hands-on time with their latest effort, Dive: The Medes Island Secret, we think that opinion may change. We were lucky enough to get to play a pre-release build...
News Nintendo's New Redmond HQ is Rather Spiffing
But they won't let you see inside
Nintendo's Seattle HQ has been doing them proud for years now, but you know they love to tinker with a good thing. Their new headquarters, built next to their old building, is less of a slight upgrade and more of a next-generation revelation, though. With an energy-efficient data centre, recharging stations for...
Interviews NBA Jam Producer Pete Trenouth
Yes, the announcer is back
The upcoming NBA Jam revival for the Wii has been music to the ears of gamers wanting to taste that nostalgic goodness that will see them slam dunking like beasts as if it's easier than breathing, all to the enthusiastic commentary of the in-game announcer. The NBA Jam series is long overdue for a return and with the...
News Make Beautiful Music, Win Nintendo Points with this Rytmik Contest
Get those toes tapping, Europe
After a lot of tinkering with Cinemax's Rytmik we came away with a pocket full of awesome songs and gave the game a deserved 9/10 rating. Hopefully those of you who've used it agree it's something pretty special, but the time has come to put your money where your mouth is with Cinemax's competition. With a total prize...
News Nintendo "Happy with Virtual Console Pricing"
No plans to cut costs just yet
There's been countless discussions on the pricing structure for Nintendo's Virtual Console service, but the company itself has confirmed to Eurogamer it's satisfied with the way things are. We're currently pleased with the uptake of WiiWare and DSiWare in the UK (including the Virtual Console service) and believe the...
News Nintendo Swashes Even More Pirates' Buckles
After giving them fair warning, too
Nintendo filed a lawsuit on May 11th against the owner of Queens-based NXPGAME, the company behind a website that gave its customers access to illegally copied DS and DSi software. Not that the Big N didn't give them a chance - after repeated communications between their legal department and the defendant, the...
News Art Style: light trax Smoothly Glides to North America on May 24th
Ladies and gentlemen, start your Nintendo Points!
It seems like ages since the last Art Style game hit WiiWare as the series' focus shifted to DSiWare, but the drought will soon be over as the next entry is due to hit North America in just ten days' time. European fans itching for some stylish arty Tron-style racing will be disappointed that light...
News And Gods vs Humans Said, "Let There Be Screenshots"
And we saw that they were good
The announcement of Gods vs. Humans was more than a little bit cryptic, with only some rendered artwork and a short trailer to accompany it. Thankfully now we have some in-game screenshots and a press release giving more detail into the gameplay, and it sounds like it could be quite interesting. From the description...
Thursday13th May 2010
News Sticking a Laser Projector to a Wii Zapper Brings us Closer to Virtual Reality
Odd combination creates very cool effect
Remember those first Wii trailers showing people jumping across their living rooms, blasting at the screen, so immersed in the game it's like they were actually in it? Their minds would be blown by this video, as were ours. Strapping a laser projector to the Wii Zapper and harnessing the power of a gyrometer,...
Nintendo Download 14th May 2010 (Europe)
Bit.Trip, Phoenix and Ghouls on the Wii, fire-fighting, platforming action and brain busting on the DSi this week in Europa
WiiWare: Bit.Trip RUNNER (800pts - Aksys Games) -- Europe gets the first try at the latest entry in the minimalist, retro-rhythm game series from Gaijin Games. We loved the time we spent playing the final release version, so if...
News Nintendo Ranked World's Most Bankable Game Studio
Miyamoto rumoured to plan purchase of monocle, cane
Up from last year's runner-up ranking on the Develop 100 list of the most successful game developers, Nintendo this year took the top spot while former titleholder Blizzard Entertainment plummeted to number 80. The current champ's most profitable release this past year was Wii Fit. Eating the big...
News Mark Ronson Mixes Legend of Zelda with New Video
Spot the references in this one
Mark Ronson's made a bit of a name for himself remixing and revamping other artists' tracks, so it's no surprise to see the video for his new track Circuit Breaker take inspiration from other sources. Nobody expected it to borrow so heavily from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, though. With a...
News Necromancer 2 Lurches onto DSiWare in Japan Next Month
Western release currently uncertain
Hudson Soft's Necromancer probably isn't on your list of Top Ten Games for a DSiWare Revival. Released on the TurboGrafx-16 over twenty years ago, it's a decent RPG that received a sequel for mobile devices last year. Guess which version DSiWare is receiving? Titled Necromancer: Nightmare Reborn, it's a beefed-up...
News Tournament of Legends Trailer Smacks Us With a Multi-hit Combo
See High Voltage Software's beat 'em up in action
Beat 'em up gamers will be glad to know that Sega has released another gameplay trailer for the upcoming Tournament of Legends, developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii. Looking slick and action-packed, feast your eyes on it below. Using characters with a mythical undertone, players can wield...
News Hudson Enlightens Us with Lost In Shadow Teaser
Lose yourself in this intriguing new video
Hudson Entertainment recently debuted a teaser for its upcoming Wii title Lost in Shadow (otherwise known as Tower of Shadow and A Shadow's Tale), starring a shadow and his Sylph companion. The latter will manipulate the light source and the former will utilize the dynamics of luminescence to climb a...
Wednesday12th May 2010
Review Metal Torrent (DSiWare)
Bullet hell with training wheels
Most gamers are familiar with "bullet hell" shooters: shoot-'em-ups with so many enemy projectiles that over half the screen is covered in them at most times. Despite this, however, many Western gamers haven't actually played any (as a lot of them are Japan-exclusive) and only know them from YouTube videos...
News Pokémon Black and White Starters are Disappointingly Ugly
Faces only a trainer could love
Want to see the Pokémon who'll be accompanying you on your next journey to become the world's greatest trainer? If the answer is "no", look away now. Revealed in Coro Coro Magazine, the three starters do not yet have Western names but are known to fit into the well-established fire, water and grass...
Music to your ears
It's tough to know how to approach Rytmik: it has no game elements whatsoever, only existing to allow you to create beautiful (and sometimes not-so beautiful) music. Although its complexity is initially off-putting, spend some time with it and you'll realise it's a very competent and enjoyable music studio. One of the most...
News Build Your Own BIT.TRIP RUNNER Papercraft
Print, cut, fold and tape
With the official soundtracks to the first three titles in the BIT.TRIP series already rolled out, Gaijin Games has another treat for fans in spirit of the upcoming release of BIT.TRIP RUNNER on WiiWare. Gamers now have another reason to be excited about the game's European release this Friday because the developers have a...
Review Flips: Silent But Deadly (DSiWare)
You get the picture
The range of Flips books available on DSiWare keeps on growing, with Silent but Deadly the latest in the Too Ghoul for School range released. With the same interface and style as previous entries in the series, you won’t be surprised to hear it “plays” as well as the other entries, with a smooth page-turning system making...
News Complete Your Living Room: My Fireplace Stoking up WiiWare
It burns, it burns
You've had an aquarium, a dolphin and a zoo in your Wii so far, but how about something even more sedate? How about... a fireplace? That seems to be the thinking over at Korner Entertainment as it's just sent over the press release and first screenshot of My Fireplace, and what a screenshot it is too. Can you see all that virtual...
News Kid Adventures: Sky Captain Has Lift-Off
Jude Law nowhere to be seen
It seems that flying games for Wii are going to hit us pretty thick and fast in the coming months, with Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 just announced and now the decidedly more kid-friendly Kid Adventures: Sky Captain heading to Wii this Summer. Doesn't the titular Capitan look pretty happy in his plane? That's because he's in: An...
News Mikami and Suda51's "Mad Genius Horror" Game 50% Complete
Collaboration still working hard, but secretly
A few years ago, the creators of Killer7 and Resident Evil got together and decided to start work on a game. But what genre should this new game enter into? Well, according to EA's David DeMartini, it's "mad genius in the horror genre." Although Mr DeMartini didn't reveal much else about the...
News Flight Control Cleared for Landing on WiiWare
Firemint title rated for release
The world and its dog can't get enough of Firemint's air traffic 'em up Flight Control, as witnessed by its appearances on iPhone, DSiWare and even on iPad. Anyone who's not yet succumbed to its path-plotting charms could get one more chance to try it out, as Australian body the OFLC has rated the game for release on...
News Monster Tale Picked Up and Swung Around by Majesco
Henry Hatsworth team's new game gets a publisher
There aren't enough DS games with "monster" in the title, so when Project Monster was revealed our ears pricked up in anticipation of more news. Now it has arrived in the form of Monster Tale, a 2D platform adventure game from most of the team behind everyone's favourite bemonocled gentleman...
Tuesday11th May 2010
News Don't Get Too Attached to 3DS Name, says Iwata
Real name still under wraps
Even though the name seems to fit the upcoming console like a snug glove, apparently 3DS isn't the formal name for Nintendo's next handheld. No, it seems Iwata and company have an official title all lined-up, presumably waiting to unleash it at E3 in just over one month's time. As we can't think of anything that would...
News Five Minutes of Super Mario Galaxy 2 Better Than Five Minutes of Most Other Games
Extra-terrestrial epic nearly here!
The footage of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is flooding out of Nintendo lately, with regular transmissions showing off new elements from the upcoming adventure. If all this spectacular footage still hasn't given you Mario on Wii ennui, this five minute trailer will have you bouncing off the walls and gnawing your...
News Call of Duty: Black Ops Confirmed for Wii
Latest update in massive series is heading Wii-ward
Whew, we were worried there for a minute. Activision's upcoming entry in the Call of Duty series, the currently-mysterious Black Ops, wasn't initially confirmed for a Wii release, leading to some consternation and brow-furrowing amongst the machine's owners. Now you can relax those brows: it is on...
News Don't Worry, You May Get More 2D Metroids
"Certainly possible", says Yoshio Sakamoto
As promising as Metroid: Other M looks, not everybody is happy with the direction the series has taken: some would be happier with a straightforward 2D Samus adventure like the days of old. Their prayers may not be falling on deaf ears either, as Metroid overlord Yoshio Sakamoto has hinted the flat...
Gameloft's new DSiWare title exposed
You can't knock Gameloft's commitment to DSiWare, with a constant supply of titles since the format launched in April 2009. The publisher's newest outing Hero of Sparta was originally a mobile title but is receiving the DSi treatment with all-new features and some pretty good graphics. There's not much...
News MadWorld Director's Tango Appointment Has Nothing to Do with Dancing
The Capcom vein runs deep
It's always sad when a developer leaves a company responsible for giving us one of the more original and much-needed shake-ups in the Wii's library of games, but it's also interesting to see where they end up going. Shigenori Nishikawa, director of MadWorld, is to leave Platinum Games for a position at Tango, Shiji Mikami's...
Monday10th May 2010
News Wii Controller App For Android Goes Live
We put the new app through its paces in an exclusive video
Last week we reported that developer Ryan Frawley had released a "proof of concept" demo which allowed Android phone users to interact with a Nintendo Wii Remote. There's barely been enough time to get fully excited about this tantalising prospect because Frawley has launched the...
News This is the Greatest Wii Controller You'll See Today
Dragon Quest kicks it up a notch
Versatile though it is, the Wii Remote sometimes just doesn't – excuse the pun – cut it when it comes to game input. Monster Hunter Tri was built around the Classic Controller Pro and Wii Sports Resort obviously revolved around MotionPlus, but neither of those add-ons were anywhere near as outlandish as this...
News Monster Hunter Tri, Sin and Punishment Nowhere to Be Seen in UK Charts
Disappointing results for great white hopes
Although it got off to a flyer with a top-five position in its first few days on sale, Monster Hunter Tri is sadly absent from the latest UK sales charts. More disappointing – though of absolutely no real surprise to anybody – is the total lack of Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies, failing to...
News Software Pirates Beware: No 3DS Booty For You
Security tougher than a chastity belt... maybe
Nintendo takes a hard stance on piracy, using cartridge-based games for its systems way past their use-by-date. Whilst more difficult to produce illegal copies of their intellectual products, it also imposes a certain limit to how much data the console had access to. With the upcoming 3DS, Nintendo is...
News Experience Cowboy Antics on WiiWare
Western adventure game coming soon to Wiiware
No, we're not talking about our reviewers; rather developer Revistronic has just informed us about its upcoming WiiWare debut The Westerner, the latest entry in a series of adventure games that got its start on the PC over a decade ago. This isn't the first time an adventure game franchise has made the...
Nintendo Download 10th May 2010 (North America)
Fighting with fists and wits and a little reading on the side this week in North America
The Big Name Games part of WarioWare D.I.Y. keeps on growing, with a new addition from Jason Schreiber of Powerhead Games, the studio behind the excellent DSiWare release Glow Artisan. DSiWare: Photo Dojo (0pts - Nintendo) – As a treat to compensate for...
News Nintendo Unlikely to Invite Apple to Parties Anytime Soon
Satoru Iwata apparently singles out iPhone & iPad as 'enemies'
In the world of console gaming, we've gotten used to the status quo that has Nintendo competing against the likes of Sony and Microsoft, with only the former in possession of any experience and success in the portable market. Now it can no longer be denied that Apple has bagged itself a...
Tuesday11th May 2010
News Soon You May Be Able to Enter the MegaMan Universe
Cryptic trademark and internal document hints at Blue Bomber MMO
Bear in mind before you get all excited and jump into your handmade MegaMan outfit that this is just a rumour for now, but it's interesting enough to report on. A few weeks back, Capcom filed a trademark for MegaMan Universe, with no clue as to the game's content. In a recent finance...
Monday10th May 2010
News Capcom Will Give You 22 Games Before April
16 for DS, 6 on Wii
Capcom's had a pretty good start to this financial year, with Monster Hunter Tri for Wii and Super Street Fighter IV and Lost Planet 2 on the HD consoles. Hopefully you haven't had enough of the blue-and-yellow publisher yet, as they have a boatload of titles for you over the next year. Aiming to bring half a dozen Wii titles to...
Sunday9th May 2010
News La Mulana Developers Discuss Religious and Rating Issues
How do you like your Goddess breasts?
It's long been known that many Japanese releases undergo a certain amount of censorship when they're localized for release outside of Japan. It's been a fairly common practice for years and with Nintendo's rather touchy stance on violence and religious symbolisms in games released on their consoles over the...
News Cave Story Confirmed for Australia
Spelunker down under
Attention: Australians! Put that boomerang away and throw some shrimp on the barby! Cave Story was just confirmed by its developer / publisher Nicalis via their Twitter feed. Also, apparently the company thinks that your country is a part of Europe. According to their post: Australia WILL have Cave Story on WiiWare along with...
News OFLC Rating for Shadow of the Ninja Sneaks In
Classic Natsume title recently rated
Europeans may know it better as the Taito-published Blue Shadow, but North American readers will recognise Shadow of the Ninja from its 1990 NES debut. OFLC, the ratings board for Australia, recently granted the game a PG certificate listing Nintendo as the publisher, all-but guaranteeing the game is on its way...
News These Games Sold Over a Million Copies Last Year
But which sold more, Mario or Nintendogs?
Crunching numbers from financial reports isn't just for accountants and financial consultants: when a company like Nintendo releases its figures, even the humble gamer sits up to take notice. A list of the top-selling Nintendo games for the past financial year, then, is like sweet nectar to numeric nerds...
Saturday8th May 2010
News Nintendo's Next Winning DSiWare Combination: Monkeys and Music
Mickey Dolenz not included
This one may have got lost in the recent maelstrom of financial reports and Kirby sightings, but a new DSiWare game featuring monkeys playing instruments deserves your full attention. Titled Make and Sing: Monkey Band, it's a pseudo-music creation game that writes songs for you based on certain themes and musical styles...
Feature The Making of Furry Legends - Video 3
Get the lowdown on the game's programming
It won't be long before Furry Legends: Chapter One is unleashed upon WiiWare gamers everywhere, so you may be interested in this Making Of video giving more information about how the game was actually programmed. We've already given you videos on the game's design and production, and will bring you more...
Friday7th May 2010
Miniature golf, billiards and marbles all rolled into one
We've already seen a few attempts at golf on DSiWare, some obviously better than others, but we haven't seen one quite like Crazy Golf yet. Instead of merely sticking with a simple miniature golf gameplay theme, the developers have instead tossed in some marble and billiard influences to...
News 3DS Will Let You Play in 2D Too, If You Want
Third dimension will be optional
Worried the upcoming 3DS will ruin your eyesight or generally be a bit tiresome? Nintendo is way ahead of you, with President Satoru Iwata confirming the 3D mode won't be compulsory. He promised it will be easy to turn off the 3D function on the new machine, allowing people to play games, with or without 3D. Iwata...
Review Bounce & Break (DSiWare)
Slowpoke
When you think "zen," odds are your mind goes to little bonsai trees and smooth rocks littered about. There might even be a small frog hanging out on a water lily as cherry blossom petals sprinkle the pond. When applied to a game you'd expect a slower pace and possibly some cherry blossom petals, but Enjoy's Bounce & Break...
News Hey Now, Kirby Wii Might Actually Be Happening This Time
Mythical platformer shows signs of life
It's been a long time coming, but it looks like a Kirby adventure might actually make it onto Wii yet. According to Official Nintendo Magazine UK, a list of upcoming Nintendo releases attached to the company's Financial Results Briefing document includes the elusive Hoshi no Kirby, or Kirby of the Stars as the...
News Galaxy 2 Bonus DVD Detailed, Definitely Won't Play on Wii
It's like a manual, only it moves
Although early reviews suggest that Super Mario Galaxy 2 could well be the best thing since Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo is well aware that some players didn't enjoy the original as much, finding it confusing and tough to control. That's why, as we previously reported, the highly anticipated follow-up will release...
First Impressions Illust Logic
Downloadable picross? Yes, please!
Although video game versions of nonograms (better known to Nintendo gamers as Picross) were originally controlled with a D-Pad and buttons like any other game, it's clearly a genre that benefits massively from the touchscreen interface of Nintendo's DS family of handhelds. No surprise then that Hudson has seen fit...
News Miyamoto: Nintendo May Need to Rethink its Online Approach
Says a pay service isn't out of the question
Compared to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, the Wii's online service is...somewhat lacking. While functional when put to use by capable hands, the Wii's free online is undoubtedly in last place when it comes to services, ease of use and capabilities offered. But hey, it's free, right? For now it is, at...
News Nintendo Hardware Sees Significant Sales Slump in UK
Wii sold 45% less than previous year, DS down 36%
We already know that Nintendo's profits were down last year – although it's worth repeating it was still the company's third most profitable year ever – but one surprising fact is just how much British hardware sales dropped off compared to the previous year. The biggest dip was Wii, which saw a...
News Nintendo's 2010 Release Schedule is Predictably Vague
Zelda, Golden Sun for 2010, Famicom Wars DS 2 and Kirby there too
Some of the recent doom and gloom surrounding Nintendo's recent and projected sales results may have put some fans in a melancholic state, but the company's upcoming release schedule should provide a welcome bit of optimism, though as always it's tempered with calls for caution. Big...
Nintendo Download 11th and 12th May (Japan)
Catch-up week for Japan
After the Golden Week break it looks like Nintendo is mostly offering up titles that we've already seen elsewhere around the world. WiiWare: Sekai no Omoshiro Party Game 2 (500pts - Sims Co., ltd.) – The sequel to last month's Fun World Party Game offering five new games in five new countries: bullfighting in Spain,...
News Ivy the Kiwi Story - Chapter One
It's story time!
Xseed have just sent over some more information on their upcoming Ivy the Kiwi releases for Nintendo Wii and DS due to hit store shelves this summer. They've also sent the first part of their ongoing story for the games that will be released in parts between now and the official release date. You can check out Chapter One below and...
News Fan-Made Fighter Video Shows Classic Characters' Violent Sides
Nintendo, Hudson Namco and Konami all get in on the act
A good fan-made video brightens up the dullest of days, but one that sees Kirby digest a monkey, Link fire a bazooka and Michael Jackson appear as the ultimate end boss? It's like your birthday and Christmas all at once. That's The King of Famicom for you, a fan video showing classic characters...
News MySims Head Ever Skyward with SkyHeroes
Copter no longer necessary
Those MySims sure do get into some scrapes, and their latest adventure MySims SkyHeroes is set to debut on Wii and DS. According to Scott Evans, General Manager of the The Sims Studio: We are thrilled to have many firsts with MySims SkyHeroes, like introducing epic boss battles, cooperative gameplay missions and online...
News New River City Title May Appear on Consoles
Employee's remark sparks speculation
A comment from a representative of Arc Systems Works hinted at an appearance of a Kunio game coming to consoles in the future: I often find myself wanting to play Kunio games on TV, like I used to as a child, but there’s been a rumour going around the office that a secret project has been launched, so although...
News Sales Charts, Meet Your Future King: Wii Party
Marquee game coming sometime before March 2011
In a presentation to investors this week, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata filled in the blank for the next marquee "Wii ____" game with the word "Party." As the next entry in the barn-burning series – whose previous games include million-sellers Wii Sports and its follow up Resort,...
Thursday6th May 2010
Review Sin and Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
Treasure's cult classic returns for a second helping of laser death
When the original Sin and Punishment was passed over for Western release back in 2000 it marked one of the cruellest injustices video gaming has ever experienced. Thankfully this crime has now been partially rectified by the release of Treasure's gloriously chaotic cult classic on...
Review 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection (DSiWare)
Chump's challenge
Every so often a developer realizes a concept so simple and fun that for as long as games are made, other developers will replicate and modify its formula again and again. Sokoban is one such game, and 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection is one such replication. Not that copying a classic design is inherently bad; Windows users of old...
News Buy Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, Take Home a Horse
Enticing deal for all
There's a couple of Harvest Moon fans on the Nintendo Life team in Europe, now staring enviously at their counterparts across the pond as the latest plush toy preorder giveaway has been revealed for the upcoming Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar. If you preorder the title at GameStop you'll receive a lovely horse toy as a memento of...
News 71 Million Wiis Sold Worldwide
Question mark block still full of coins
Though Nintendo's seeing its first profit decline in six years as we previously reported, their fiscal report isn't all bad news. Their home console hit a worldwide total of 70.93 million sales in its lifetime. Compare this to the 21.72 million units of GameCubes that sold before its time passed and just how...
News E3 Promises Over 30 Nintendo Titles
Surprises not included
The run-up to E3 is almost as exciting as the event itself, with half the fun in predicting exactly what Nintendo will show. Not every company is as secretive however, as a recently published list reveals the show will play host to at least fifteen DS games and twenty titles for Wii. That may not seem like a huge amount, but...
News Cave Story Confirmed for European Release
Cult platformer getting prepped for overseas launch
We've just had word from Tyrone Rodriguez at Nicalis that the PAL version of Cave Story has started testing internally (not yet submitted to Nintendo) and has had some changes made that will be announced closer to release. We know Nintendo Life staffers based in Europe are keen to get their hands...
News Nintendo DS Now Best-Selling Handheld
Record-setting Game Boy drops to second place
Nintendo recently released its current earnings report, and it's now safe to say that the Nintendo DS system has become the best-selling handheld video game system of all time. According to Nintendo, the DS line of systems sold approximately 27.11 million units worldwide this year, bringing the total...
News Super Mario Galaxy 2 Gets Bundled
Edge magazine gives 10/10, UK preorder bonus too
Despite pretty much universal acclaim for the first Super Mario Galaxy, it wasn't the biggest-selling game in the Wii's library, its sales eclipsed very early on by New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Clearly Nintendo thinks the upcoming sequel will shift more units, as stories have appeared on the Internet...
News Guinness Appoints Zelda the Third-Best Game Series Ever
Halo, Call of Duty top Link's legends
World Records authority Guinness doesn't just spend countless hours meticulously assessing record attempts, it also recently invited gamers from around the world to submit votes for their favourite video game series of all time before meticulously counting them and publishing the top 50. In a result likely to...
News Animal Color Cross coming to DSiWare
French based developer Little Worlds Studio announces upcoming 'draw-em-up' scheduled for release this 'Spring'
Animal Color Cross offers accessible and addictive entertainment for gamers, nongamers, and sharp-witted puzzle solvers alike! The goal of the game is to reconstruct a mysterious animal image that lies beneath the grid. Players simply need...
Nintendo Download 7th May 2010 (Europe)
Darts and Fantasy on the Wii; stories, shooting, bricks and music for DSi this week
Virtual Console: Final Fantasy (600pts NES - Square Enix) --The one that started it all and was never released in Europe has finally arrived on our shores. Of course as a Hanabi Festival release it's 100 Points dearer than what our North American and Japanese cousins...
News Indies Join Forces to Bring Advanced Circuits to DSiWare
Vehicle-based puzzler now full steam ahead
French publisher Zallag is a hotbed of download activity recently, having announced Gods vs. Humans and Racers Island: Crazy Racers within the last month or so. Now the company has announced its Creatips marketing tool will be put to good work marketing the upcoming Advanced Circuits from BiP Media. The...
Wednesday5th May 2010
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Bloons has already made an appearance on WiiWare, where it didn't exactly bowl us over. Now it reaches DSiWare with a few much-needed improvements, and in places it's quite the fun little puzzle game: it's challenging enough to captivate fans of the genre and other serious gamers, but might be a bit too difficult to...
News Unreal Famicom Games are... Well, Unreal
Famicase project shows off 2010 line-up
The humble Famicom cartridge may not seem like the perfect canvas on which to create art, but every year Japanese game shop Meter hosts Famicase, a project aiming to prove just the opposite. Artists are asked to create artwork for a fictitious game and display it on a Famicom cart, and predictably the results...
News Lead the Meerkats Through Europe on May 28th
North American date still to be announced
As the press release quite rightly states, "Finally a Meerkat game for the Nintendo´s WiiWare Service!" Those Europeans awaiting this auspicious day have but three short weeks to wait, as Lapland Studio's Lead the Meerkats has just been announced for a release on May 28th. Not only can you enjoy...
News Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 Will Buzz Wii Owners
The next best thing to Top Gun
If you dream of flying virtual modern-day fighter jets, the Wii probably isn't the console for you, but its line-up just got a little bit brighter with the announcement that a follow-up to last year's mega-selling Tom Clancy's HAWX will arrive on Wii later this year. Although little is known about the game, it's...
News Dive: The Medes Islands Secret "Like an Underwater Metroid," Says Developer
Comparison holds water, no multiplayer due to size limits
Intriguing concepts on WiiWare are ten-a-penny – or, in US dollars, a dime-a-dozen – but the idea of setting a platformer entirely underwater is a new one on us, and new comparisons to classic Nintendo platform-shooter Metroid pretty much earmark Dive: The Medes Islands Secret as one to...
News Kick Back and Relax with Some Super Mario Kart Jazz
The OneUps take guitars, organs, flute to classic soundtrack
Since Super Mario Kart launched on the European Virtual Console just a few weeks ago we've had those catchy ditties stuck in our heads all over again. Imagine our joy, then, when we stumbled upon a fully re-recorded and rather lovely-sounding soundtrack from The OneUps. Taking ten classic...
News Team6 Reaching for the Finish Line With FlatOut Wii
FlatOut (working title) racing along with four play modes announced
Team6 has brought many racing games to the Wii in the past, such as Monster Trucks: Ultra Mega Extreme!!!, Glacier 2 and the aptly-named Speed. It seems the smell of petrol fumes is too difficult to walk away from, as the game studio has announced that it will be bringing a brand...
First Impressions 10 Second Run
Running on the run
Whilst the Japanese DSi Shop features some fairly robust gaming experiences it has to be said that there's a place for quick games that can be played in a few seconds. G-Mode's 10 Second Run is a perfect example, essentially a collection of dozens of short platforming levels for when you need a quick bit of running and jumping on...
News BIT.TRIP VOID Soundtrack Unleashing a Sonic Attack
Ten slices of retro bits
Gamers interested in the gradual release of the BIT.TRIP audio gems will be glad to know Gaijin Games has announced that the official soundtrack to BIT.TRIP VOID can now be purchased via download on the CD Baby Web site, and soon to be on Amazon and iTunes. Alex Neuse, founder of Gaijin Games, goes to describe the soundtrack...
Tuesday4th May 2010
Review Ferrari GT Evolution (DSiWare)
Drivers may want to exercise caution
Ferrari GT Evolution is a decent arcade-esque racing game. It looks quite good, handles well and has enough gameplay variety to keep things interesting, but you'll have to return to certain tracks far too many times before progressing to warrant a stronger recommendation. The meat of the game is Career mode, in...
Review 2010 FIFA World Cup (Wii)
A semi-final runner-up
FIFA used to be the console equivalent of a 0-0 draw, but the past few years have seen it emerge again as the dominant football game on the market. Last year's FIFA 10 was an enjoyable arcade-style take on the sport, and 2010 FIFA World Cup is a very similar game but featuring all the teams, arenas and pageantry of the...
Definitely worthy of a rewind
Whether you like them or not, the Guitar Hero series has done a lot to popularise the rhythm genre in contemporary gaming, and although the premise of hitting buttons to the beat isn't exactly new, you have to give them credit for the success they have garnished. However, after years of seeing essentially the same game...
Kung Fu Fail
No wonder people hate the Wii. It's been four years since the world's first real stab at a motion-based console launched, bringing the excellent Wii Sports along to define the grammar of the innovative controller. It didn't take long for me-too developers to begin pumping out cheap minigame compilations that totally ignored why Wii...
News Unfinished Virtual Boy Game Bound High Finally Released
Unfinished title sees the red light of day at last
There's nothing we love more here at Nintendo Life than a good story of triumph against the odds: a plumber defeating a fire-breathing lizard; a hedgehog stopping the plans of an evil genius; and the continued hard work of ardent fans that finally saw Bound High, an unreleased Virtual Boy game, to a...
Review Simply Solitaire (DSiWare)
Here we go again
It seems that barely a week goes by without a card game being released for DSiWare, and chances are if you were after a virtual solitaire you would have bought one of the previous releases by now. However, Engine Software is hoping to tempt the undecideds with this deck of solitaire games, following the same style as its recent...
News Mega Man 10 DLC Round-up Part Two
We take a look at what was added this time
As of last week, Mega Man 10 is now "complete": all announced DLC has been released, and it doesn't look like we should expect more. This second and last update came with three extra stage to play as Mega Man only – two additional Special Stages and an Endless Stage, which was also downloadable...
News Sid Meier's Pirates! Sets Sail in Autumn
Avast ye mateys!
The ESRB outed this title just a few weeks ago, but 2K Games has just sent over the official announcement and first screenshots for Sid Meier's Pirates!, heading to Wii this Autumn. Promising all the danger and adventure of the classic original as well as – batten down the hatches! – two Wii-exclusive minigames, there's also the...
News Nintendo Profits Fall for the First Time Since 2004
Still made a few billion, though
Associated Press recently reported the Big N's earnings for the fiscal year, which ended on March 31st. The company forecasts their first drop in profit in six years, at 230 billion yen (2.4 billion USD) profit, down from 279.1 billion yen (2.96 billion USD) profit in 2009. Analysts say that this is most likely due...
News DSiWare to get Hacked and Slashed by Zenonia
New OFLC rating reveals iPhone RPG on the way
It may not be a rare occurrence these days, but a recent rating reveals that an iPhone title is heading over to DSiWare in the near future. Action RPG Zenonia, a blend between Legend of Zelda and Secret of Mana, is a pretty decent romp that features the classic elements of swords, oddly-named characters...
News BIT.TRIP RUNNER to Race Across Europe on May 14th
Out in the US three days later
Each of Gaijin Games' previous releases in the BIT.TRIP series have taken at least a month to make it across the pond, with the last release, BIT.TRIP VOID, taking three months. Seemingly stricken with deep regret, Gaijin's making amends by bringing BIT.TRIP RUNNER to Europe first, even if only by a few days. In just...
Podcast Episode 15 - This Nintendo Life
Brand new segment debuts!
It's been a longer gap than usual between podcasts but May's episode is now available, fresh from the oven and made with only the freshest ingredients. Chop up a delicious arrangement of news and reviews, add a dash of Kim Wild's Wii Fit Plus and mix in Zach Kaplan's new retro feature This Nintendo Life. Bake for thirty...
News Puzzle Agent to Inspect WiiWare
New Telltale pilot on the way
When done right, episodic adventure games on Wii can be fantastic: brimming with intrigue, plot twists and great characterisation, they're up there with the Wii's best. Nobody knows this more than Telltale Games, responsible for bringing us the Tales of Monkey Island games as well as the not-quite-so-good Strong Bad...
Feature The Making of Furry Legends - Video 2
Learn more about the game's production
A week ago we brought you the first making of video from our exclusive series behind the scenes at Gamelion Studios in Poland. This time we're taking you deeper into the production process with producer Lukasz Szczepanski, as he talks more about the planning that went into the game and the importance of the...
News Chillingo Contaminating Our Download Services with Sneezies
Uh oh, we're in trouble...something's come along...
It seems the relatively compact nature of a Nintendo download game is proving to be an enticing prospect for developers who have worked on titles for the iPhone (and the plethora of electronics that begin with a lower-case 'i'), and the publisher of the WiiWare and DSiWare versions of Dracula:...
Monday3rd May 2010
Review Scrabble Slam! (DSiWare)
More of a slap, really
Scrabble Slam! is a different take on word puzzles for DSiWare. Instead of searching out pre-determined ones or collecting letters to spell elaborate words for maximum pointage, Slam! gives you a hand of cards with letters, puts four starter cards on the table and yells "go!" The goal is to play one of your cards on...
News Racers' Islands: Crazy Racers Zooms to WiiWare
A whole island of crazy characters awaits
Zallag recently announced its upcoming WiiWare title, Racers' Islands: Crazy Racers, to support play by up to eight competitors at a time with a focus on colourful characters and weapons. Each racer favours a specific tool of destruction, which from their descriptions we gather means that specific tools are...
News Monster Hunter 3 a Roaring Sales Success in UK
Enters the charts at number five
For all the hype, hands-on experiences and glowing reviews, the success of Monster Hunter Tri always rested with the buyers: could such a hardcore and still relatively obscure title sell on Wii? For UK owners, the answer is yes, as the game has entered the UK All-Format Charts at number five. That might seem a...
Nintendo Download 3rd May 2010 (North America)
Zombies, funk, but sadly no funk zombies for WiiWare; and five more for DSiWare. Virtual Console, where art thou?
WiiWare brings the funk and sees some long-awaited zombie killing action, and DSiWare has a bumper week with five titles full of crazy, balloons, mazes and other stuff we're not entirely sure of. Virtual Console fans can resume the...
News Yuji Naka's Ivy the Kiwi? to XSEED Expectations
The storybook-style aims to enchant Wii and DS gamers this Summer
Following on the Japanese retail and download release a couple of weeks ago, the creators of Let's Tap and Let's Catch are about to bring their latest title to an American audience. Yuji Naka – one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog – has unveiled more on the rather
News Nintendo Brings Black Wii to North America on May 9th
All Wiis to include Wii Sports Resort too
We first brought you this news the other day, but now Nintendo has followed-up with the first official announcement that North American gamers will soon be able to enjoy their Wii consoles in a darker shade, with the machine heading to stores on May 9th. As we saw in Europe last year, the basic Wii package...
News Swords Announced, Supports MotionPlus, Content Remains a Mystery
Early rumours suggest swordfighting contained
You have to hand it to Majesco and its knack for coming up with le mot juste when it comes to naming games. A Boy and His Blob hit the squishy nail on the head, and now comes Swords, a brand-new swordfighting game for Wii. With MotionPlus support included this is in admittedly well-worn territory, with...
News Game Sales in UK Hit Lowest for Four Years
Lack of releases, good weather blamed
Those Brits love a good game, but lately it seems they don't like buying them so much: the week ending April 23rd was the slowest sales week the UK's seen in four years. That said, there was still £13.5m ringing through British tills, which some might say is quite a decent amount, though it represents a 23%...
Sunday2nd May 2010
Review The King of Fighters '95 (Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
For those who like having their asses handed to them
After having some solid success in arcades with the inaugural game in the series The King of Fighters '94, SNK wanted to try to address some of the complaints players had with the game in the sequel. Two of the biggest complaints were the inability to customise your own team lineups and the...
News Call of Duty: Black Ops for Wii in Doubt
GameStop pre-order listing omits Nintendo's console
Those who have enjoyed the Call of Duty franchise's previous outings on Nintendo platforms will surely be disappointed to learn of retail outlet GameStop's omission of the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops' Wii incarnation on its pre-order listing. Activision has yet to officially announce which...
News Teyon Releases A-Maze-ing Trailer for 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection
Richard O'Brien nowhere to be seen
Teyon recently announced a May 3rd release date for its upcoming 500 Point DSiWare puzzler, 1001 Crystal Mazes Collection, which predictably promises a collection of over a thousand crystal mazes. The company also published a trailer for the game, which you can watch below. The full press release is as follows:...
Saturday1st May 2010
A drain on your brain... or on your lifespan?
Brain Drain asks you to look at a pattern of objects, then scrambles those objects and tasks you with the job of unscrambling them. It's rather like having your Mom throw all of your stuff on the floor and then tell you to pick it up. Some people enjoy this sort of treatment, masochists and puzzle fans...
News Super Mario Galaxy 2 Lands with Bonus DVD
Learn advanced tricks with second disc
Counting down the days until Super Mario Galaxy 2? Although the game is reputedly much more difficult than its predecessor, Nintendo still wants everyone to enjoy it, so the European release will contain a DVD containing helpful videos and tutorials of advanced moves. Assuming it's a standard DVD, the disc of...
News Lifting the Bonnet on TrackMania's Track Editor
Wii racer that lets you create as well as race
When a game allows you to edit and create your own levels, it's perhaps its most enticing selling point. A feature that is more commonly found on PC games, the number of console titles that offer this level of customisation is understandably lower in comparison. Firebrand Games' upcoming racing game...
News Japan to Cool Off with Mario and Animal Crossing Fans
Club Nintendo Japan gets all the cool stuff - literally
While the rest of the world can satisfy itself with tiny cards and Wii Remote baskets, Japan just got an item to once again pique the rest of the world's envy – Mario and Animal Crossing themed handheld fans for 150 coins a pop at their local Club Nintendo. This is especially distressing news...
News Teyon Releases Teaser for Heavy Fire: Special Operations
A special treat for on-rail shooter fans
We previously reported Teyon's announcement of upcoming light-gun WiiWare shooter set in the Middle East, Heavy Fire: Special Operations. Now Teyon has released a teaser for the game that you can watch below, with more information available if you head over to the official site. The site describes it as...
First Impressions Fall in the Dark
Fail in the Dark
Fall in the Dark looks pretty good on paper: take an adventurer and guide him through a series of levels in six different worlds with gameplay that's a mix of Toki Tori and Montezuma's Revenge: difficult puzzling combined with 8-bit visuals and gameplay could be good, right? Well it would be except for some rather bizarre level...
