Guide Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2020
A great year for games, at least
Feature The Dark Secrets Of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Stalk Market
What kind of turnip trader are you?
News - 2020, Week 52
Sunday27th Dec 2020
Soapbox I've Been Playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons Wrong All This Time, But No More
Take a walk on the (re)wild side
Do whatever you like, however you like – that’s the Animal Crossing: New Horizons mantra. There’s no big bad boss to defeat, and no final destination to struggle towards. Instead, New Horizons offers players complete freedom to create and develop their island paradise however they like. Or so it might seem...
Random Nintendo Had To "Politely Decline" The Chance To Work With Kanye West, Says Reggie
"Oh my gosh"
Collaborations with musicians aren't uncommon in the video game industry (we still shudder when we're reminded about the likes of Kris Kross: Make My Video and the Aerosmith-heavy Revolution X) and it seems that we very nearly had a similar team-up between Nintendo and good ol' Yeezy himself. Former Nintendo of America president Reggie...
Feature Creating The Ultimate Game Boy
"I don't like anything less than perfect and I am always striving for that"
Nintendo's Game Boy family of consoles has, in total, sold around 200 million units during its lifespan, which stretched from the release of the original monochrome system in 1989 all the way up to 2005's Game Boy Micro, the final console to showcase the name. While...
Video Uncovering The WorkBoy - The Long Lost Nintendo Game Boy Add-On
"Found after 28 years"
Video game historian and Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson has uncovered the long-lost peripheral and unreleased device known as the WorkBoy. The WorkBoy - for those that don't know - was an add-on for the Game Boy that turned Nintendo's famous handheld device into a PDA - essentially a small personal computer...
Review Collection Of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend (Switch) - A Nostalgic Curiosity, But That's About It
Not quite legendary
The SaGa franchise has always been the odd one out in Square Enix’s deep vault of RPGs. Not only has the series gotten a somewhat infamous reputation for its weird, open-ended progression systems and high difficulty, but most entries came out years after their Japanese debuts, if they made it to the west at all. The first three...
Feature The Making Of Streets Of Rage 4, By The People Who Made It Happen
"With that reality came pressure, but so much joy and excitement as well"
It took twenty-five years, but Streets of Rage 4 finally delivered a cracking sequel to Sega's beloved pugilism series, no small feat given just how many gamers hold the franchise in enormously high regard. Nintendo Life caught up with the teams at DotEmu, Guard Crush Games...
News Celebrate New Year In Animal Crossing With Some Yummy Seasonal Food Items
"Get those orders in ASAP!"
If you've been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons over the past week, you'll already know how exciting this time of year can be in the game with Toy Day celebrations and even thick snow falling in the northern hemisphere for the first time. As the animals
Poll What Was Your Favourite Animal Crossing: New Horizons Event Of 2020?
Event Horizons
Contrary to previous games in the series, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was very much 'incomplete' when it launched back in March. In a move that upset time travellers the world over, Nintendo made the decision to roll out annual events in the game via updates throughout the year. While this had the benefit of keeping buzz about the...
News Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night Gets A Free Classic Mode Update In January
Revives "old-school gameplay"
As we get closer to the end of the year, you might be starting to wonder what there is to look forward to early on in 2021. One game that might be worth revisiting in the month of January is Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. This Castlevania tribute has been updated repeatedly since its arrival on the Switch last...
Video Sega Shares Eggman Holiday Short
"Can Eggman learn the true spirit of Christmas?"
If you've been rushed off your feet over the past few days, you might not have seen this "Eggman Carol" short by Sega. It's just in time for the holiday season and is all about Dr. Eggman learning about the true spirit of Christmas... Late at night on Christmas Eve, after refusing to attend a...
Poll Box Art Brawl #73 - 1080° Snowboarding
What's the ALT key shortcut for degrees again?
Welcome to the Box Art Brawl, our weekly (well, most of the time) vote to decide which of two or more regional retro box art variants is the best. Last time, we sized up Tuff E Nuff, one of the latest additions to the Nintendo Switch Online SNES catalogue. The
News Development Of Disaster Report 5 Is Already Underway
Granzella teases next project
The Switch might have only got Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories in April, but series' developer Granzella has seemingly already begun work on the fifth game. In a 2020 retrospective article on its official website, the end of a section about the fourth game discusses the fifth title. It's mentioned how "planning and...
Saturday26th Dec 2020
Feature The Dark Secrets Of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Stalk Market
What kind of turnip trader are you?
If you’re anything like millions of other global-pandemic-lockdown Switch gamers, you’re on a vicarious head-in-sand holiday in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Strolling the beach, shopping windows, listening to chirping insects and lapping waves… you’ve seen this “Stalk Market” thing – interesting,...
Feature Perfect Dark Turns 20 - The Definitive Story Behind The N64 Hit That Outclassed James Bond
"We had a lot of ideas, and lots of clever people working out how to do them"
How do you follow GoldenEye 007? In the summer of 2000 – that's 20 years ago this month – Rare presented its answer: Perfect Dark, a sci-fi spy shooter centred around an alien conspiracy. It delivered a cool, competent heroine, a single-player campaign bursting with...
Feature Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 10 Years Of Nintendo's Straightest, Greatest Sequel
So much more than Wii DLC
Nintendo doesn’t make straight sequels. That’s the received wisdom, anyway. Kyoto's premier game designers need a really good reason—a jump in technology, or a novel new control input, for example—to warrant revisiting a franchise. They're apparently not interested in churning out more of the same for mere profit...
Feature The Game That Starred Mickey Mouse, Ghostbusters Or Garfield, Depending On Your Region
Navigating Kemco's Crazy Castle series
Three huge licences. One average game. Every weekend here at Nintendo Life we take a look at regional box art variants for retro video games and run a poll on which one is best. It's a fun, light-hearted exercise; really just an excuse to look at fantastic (and some not-so-fantastic) old-school cover art,...
Feature Nintendo Life's Alternative Game Awards 2020
Best Switch Icon, Most Long-Winded Title, Best Late Arrival and more!
It's GOTY time, people! Yes, as 2020 draws to a close, the internet is flooded with customary lists touting the best whatever of the year (with Hades rightfully being at the top of most of them). We've had our say — and so have you — but today we're going to have some
Review Space Invaders Forever (Switch) - One Great Game Does Not A Great Package Make
We'd rather have a packet of Space Raiders
It’s probably a contentious thought, but does Space Invaders really need to keep coming back? We get it, the game was important. Is it fun to play Space Invaders in the year of our lord 2020? God, no. Not in the slightest. The game, in anything close to its original form, simply doesn’t hold up. But...
Feature Fallout Creator On The Outer Worlds, Working Partnerships, And The Games He Plays These Days
"I’m playing a lot of Minecraft. I find it very relaxing."
Eleven years is a long time. As the last few months have proved, an awful lot can change in a short period, and that's doubly true when it comes to game development. Following over a decade of working on separate projects as different companies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that 'getting...
Feature Switch Developers Open Up About The Impact Of COVID-19
We speak to Dotemu, Image & Form, SMG Studio and Playtonic Games
Most of you reading this will have encountered some sort of social restrictions over the past month or so due to the COVID-19 pandemic the world is currently experiencing. While security measures designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus vary on a per-country basis, necessary...
Feature How Nintendo And A Band Of Teenage High Score Obsessives Created The Idea Of The Pro Gamer
Investigating Nintendo's surprising role in the birth of esports
Esports is old. Its origins stretch back to the very first days of video games as a medium. Was competitive gaming born with the invention of Tennis for Two in 1958, the very first video game? Or in 1972 when Rolling Stone hosted the first Space War! competition in a university...
Feature Sam Barlow On Bringing Telling Lies To Switch, His Directing Style, And His Next Project
"Being an intense, memorable experience up front is more important than replayability"
For many gamers the term 'FMV' may still be loaded with memories of shlocky 'cinematic' clips crammed into games in the early 1990s. The memory space of the CD-ROM enabled developers to 'wow' people who had invested in their first personal computer with compressed...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (Christmas Special)
Here are our picks, but what are yours?
With our Game of the Year decided and our bellies gratefully full of Christmas dinner, we're here to chat about our weekend gaming plans for one last time in 2020. Members of the NL team have done exactly that below, and we'd love for you to join in with your own entries via our comment section. Enjoy! Oh,...
Friday25th Dec 2020
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2020
A great year for games, at least
2020 is now but a distant, if persistent, memory and we can now look back and survey the gaming battleground it left behind. Despite the year being a particularly ugly one for practically everyone, we were lucky enough to enjoy some incredible games that year, several of which helped restore spirits in our down time,...
Feature 6 Things My Three-Year-Old Taught Me About Video Games, Via Animal Crossing
Moo.
When a cutie-bunny-hedgehog-kitty game comes out alongside Doom Eternal and Doom 64, it’s a test of self-confidence for a grown man to take it to the shop counter. Failing that test despicably, I invented the weak and unnecessary excuse that I could play Animal Crossing: New Horizons with my little boy. Working at home during the UK's...
Feature How Nintendo Killed The Best Version Of Tetris
"Heartbroken is a good summary"
Ed Logg knew a thing or two about lines. He’d co-created Asteroids at Atari, a game where players piloted a ship and blasted the eponymous space rocks into smaller and smaller bits. Released in 1979, Asteroids was in black and white, but the animation was slick and fluid thanks to vector graphics, a technique that...
Feature Zelda: Majora's Mask At 20 - The Enduring Appeal Of Nintendo's Strangest Game
No fate but what we make
There are many things The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is not. It is not the prettiest Legend of Zelda game. Exactly 20 years since its Japanese debut, the discernible polygons that make up the world and characters of Termina locate the game squarely in the fifth console generation. While we respect its Expansion...
Feature Nintendo Console Codenames And Product Codes
Do you know your DMGs from your DOLs?
If you happen to have any official Nintendo console or peripheral to hand, turn it over and hidden in the legalese and small print on the underside you'll find a code which typically begins with three letters. Flip over your Switch, for example, and you'll find the code HAC-001, with an extra (-01) if you've got...
Review When The Past Was Around (Switch) - The Perfect Video Game Tonic For 2020
The last of something bright burning, still burning
It’s particularly affecting to play a game like When The Past Was Around as the most devastating year of many of our lives comes to its chaotic close. A lot of us have experienced personal loss in 2020, which makes this game's tasteful, cleverly-constructed exploration of the subject both welcome...
Feature The Twelve Games Of Christmas - A Dozen Festive Memories
The games of Christmas past
As we're often told, Christmas is a special time of year, a season of goodwill, generosity and gift-giving. For gamers, festive memories are often tied in with the excitement of receiving a brand new game, perhaps something that released months ago that we had been waiting for, and sliding that lovely cart or disc into...
"It’s very much like being in quarantine and lockdown all the time"
Last month music label Materia Collective put out the original soundtracks to both Yooka-Laylee and its sequel Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair on a host of digital storefronts and streaming platforms. The music from both of Playtonic Games' love letters to platformer
Editorial Merry Christmas And Happy Holidays From Nintendo Life
What a year it's been...
When we wished you many happy returns this time last year, we had no idea we'd be typing the same message in 2020 during a global pandemic. Despite assurances that it would "all be over by Christmas," the world is still gripped by the COVID-19 outbreak, with little sign that 2021 is going to be much different. (Wow. This is...
Feature Now Is A Great Time To Support Your Local Retro Computer Museum
Preserve And Protect
In 2020, the majority of our interactions with video games is virtual – games are easily accessible and available online 24/7. However, there are plenty of people who have fond memories of the more physical side of games, whether that be browsing racks in dedicated video game shops, visiting sensory-overload arcades or getting...
Thursday24th Dec 2020
News Zelda Fan Recreates Breath Of The Wild Map In Minecraft
Mine-ish Cap
If we could really have anything we wanted for Christmas, we'd ask for Santa to go into our brains, Eternal Sunshine-style, and erase all traces of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not in a bad breakup, "I never want to see you again" way, but so we could play it all over again, and remember what it was like to be happy. (Just...
Reminder What's The Best Switch Game Of 2020? It's Time To Rate Your Favourites
Switch GOTY 2020 incoming!
Update: Thanks to everyone who has participated so far! We'll be publishing the full top 50 tomorrow, but there's still time to rate your favourite games of 2020 beforehand. We've tinkered around behind the scenes and the not-very-shortlist below now only includes 2020 games we've reviewed on Nintendo Life. If you want to...
Feature Nintendo Life's Switch Game Of The Year 2020
NL's staff picks for the Nintendo Switch GOTY 2020
As 2020 draws to a close (finally!) and the fresh-faced 2021 peeks at us from over the horizon, it's time to look back at the best Switch games to release over the past 360-odd days. In what ended up being an extremely tough year for many people, there were positives to be found — at least in the...
Random The Pokémon Company Has Spotted A Slight Print Error With One Of Its Trading Cards
And it's changing it right away
There are already five different sets of Pokémon Sword and Shield trading cards, with a sixth expansion arriving early next year. With the sheer volume of cards The Pokémon Company is pumping out, it's no surprise there is a printing error from time to time. With this in mind, an error on a Cinderace card (p
News This Pokémon Christmas Crossword Will Test Even The Most Dedicated Of Fans
Crossword used Confusion. It was super-effective
Think you're one of the world's biggest Pokémon fans? Think you know everything there is to know about the world of Pocket Monsters? Then why not prove it with this super-hard, ultra-challenging Christmas crossword? We're having nightmares just looking at it... As has become a Christmas tradition,...
Feature Best Nintendo Switch Ports Of 2020
The 10 most remarkable ports to come to Switch this year
For nearly four years now, we'd estimate there's one question more than any other that developers and PR people of the world's cutting edge video games have heard and perhaps come to dread: "Is it coming to Switch?". Those responsible for delivering the latest and greatest video games must be...
News Super Nintendo World: New Photos And Official Park Map Released
A closer look at the food and gift shop items
Following on from Miyamoto's Nintendo Direct tour of Super Nintendo World last week, new images – including the park's map – have now been shared online by Japanese outlet Famitsu. Let's start with that all-important map. Immediately after the park's grand entrance, it appears that you can head one...
Review Super Meat Boy Forever (Switch) - A New Formula That Takes Away More Than It Adds
Beat the Meat
Some ten whole years after the original Super Meat Boy first took the indie gaming scene by storm, fans of the original game's brutally difficult action finally get the chance to return to Team Meat's gloriously bloody world in a sequel that decides to make some pretty big changes to the series' core platforming mechanics. Super Meat...
Feature The Minds Behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons
And all the other Animal Crossings
We recently we took a brief look at the history of Animal Crossing, from Japan's Animal Forest for Nintendo 64 and its GameCube conversion up to and including the latest entry on Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Obviously there are many unsung heroes when it comes to the development of any video game, with...
News Smash-Like Brawler Indie Pogo Is Coming To Switch With All DLC Included
And Meat Boy joins as a new fighter
Platform brawler Indie Pogo is heading to Nintendo Switch early next year, it's been confirmed. The news arrives alongside a very timely new character reveal in the shape of Super Meat Boy Forever's Meat Boy. The game is a Smash-like arena fighter for one-to-four players which stars a number of indie favourite...
Reminder Today Is Toy Day In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The most wonderful time of the year
In case it had slipped your mind, here's a friendly reminder that today is the wonderful, magical time of year known as Toy Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If you're not the sort who jumps into the game every single day regardless, you might want to make an exception today to see all of the festive fun...
News The Wii U's Getting A New Game Today, Just In Time For Christmas
Although it's not exactly 'new'
Loading up the Wii U eShop doesn't tend to result in many new games or exciting updates these days, but thanks to a release arriving on the system's digital shelves today, owners of Nintendo's discontinued system can finally get stuck into something new. Well, we say new, but the game in question is Commander Keen in...
Video Square Enix Releases New Trailer For Switch Exclusive Bravely Default II
Introducing the country of Wiswald
Following on from the release of a 'final demo' last week, Square Enix has now shared a new clip for Bravely Default II. Although the entire video is in Japanese, the source Gematsu gives us some insight about the location on show: "Wiswald is a country established by mages. Mages have dedicated themselves to...
News Ubisoft's Online Store Lists The Prince Of Persia Remake For Switch (Again)
Really, Ubisoft?
Ubisoft, it's time to own up...is the Nintendo Switch getting the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake or not? In today's update about the rumoured Nintendo version of this game, Ubisoft's official online store has a page where you can pre-order the game right
News Konami's Gradius III Blasts Onto The Nintendo Switch eShop This Week
"Enjoy playing the best game in the series"
Just over a month after Hamster's release of Gradius II on the Switch eShop, we've now got Gradius III to top it off. The third entry in the scrolling shoot 'em up series was released by Konami in the arcade in 1989 and followed with a SNES port in 1990. Here's a bit about it: "The story of Planet...
Nintendo Download 24th December (North America)
Wingspan! Bit.Trip! Cube Life!
The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it's bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy! Switch eShop - Highlights: WINGSPAN (Monster Couch, 29th Dec, $19.99) -...
News Knuckles Will Reportedly Appear In Sonic's Second Movie Outing
Get to know the guardian of the Master Emerald
There's a new rumour that Knuckles the Echidna will be appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog's second big-screen outing. It's not exactly a surprise considering he's been such a big part of the video game series since first appearing in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and when taking into account certain scenes in the...
News Nintendo And Game Developers From Around The World Share 'Happy Holidays' Messages
Sega, EA, Konami and many more...
Well, here we are at the end of what has been one heck of a year. It's safe to say that we've all faced some mighty challenges this year, and while video games can't exactly fix what's going on in the real world, they can at least offer some much-needed respite. As we get ready to sign off for a few days, hoping to...
Wednesday23rd Dec 2020
News Get Serious About Fun With A Nintendo Of America Internship
18 positions are up for grabs
Ever wanted to work at Nintendo? Nintendo of America is currently advertising a page of internships on its careers website. At the time of writing, there are a total of 18 job openings - with the majority located at Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Two other positions are located in Redwood...
News What Are Your Most-Played Switch Games This Year? Find Out With Nintendo's Year In Review
Update: Emails begin distribution in Europe
Update: While Switch owners in Europe haven't been able to get in on the fun with Nintendo's Year In Review website, emails from Nintendo have now started to be sent out to fans with the same information included. If you happen to receive one of these emails, it'll be sent to the address that's linked to...
News Your Animal Crossing Island Could Be In A Museum As Part Of A COVID-19 Exhibit
Blathers-ception
The National Videogame Museum, located in Sheffield, England, is a magical wonderland of retro and vintage gaming stuff saved from the basements of former children across the world. Unlike most museums, however, it lets you touch the stuff, as they explain in their mission statement: Videogames are meant to be played, and that is...
Review Football Manager 2021 Touch (Switch) - With Patience, This One's Got Great Potential
It's got a Silva lining
Well, it’s that time of year again. Quite literally, in fact, as it was on this very date last year that we published our Football Manager 2020 Touch review. Here we now have the 2021 edition, and to Sports Interactive’s credit there have at least been some attempts made to mix things up a bit. Whereas EA’s FIFA series...
Video Are People Still Playing Wii U Games Online? Let's Find Out
Can you still get games on Smash, Splatoon and more?
It's December 2020, almost four whole years since the Wii U was discontinued due to poor global sales and the incoming Nintendo Switch, but we have one burning question on our minds: are people still playing this thing online? Yes, our newest lovely YouTube star Jon has taken the Wii U and its...
News Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Version 10.1.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Sephiroth joins the battle
Nintendo's latest update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which includes Sephiroth, is now live. Apart from the antagonist from Final Fantasy VII, there are new spirits, a bunch of DLC outfits including Geno from Super Mario RPG and various other changes and fixes to improve the overall game experience. There are some...
Feature NES Creator Masayuki Uemura On Building The Console That Made Nintendo A Household Name
"Back then, we didn’t know if it was going to be popular or not"
There's no denying that the NES – or Famicom as it was known in its native Japan – is one of the most important pieces of video game hardware ever made. Not only did it turn Nintendo from an outsider player to industry leader, it laid down the foundations of an industry which...
Random Among Us On Wii? Sounds Kinda Sus
Impostor-ble!
Dust off your nunchucks and grab your wrist straps, because it's time to get suspicious old-school style: Among Us is on the Wii! Well, sort of. "I got Among Us working on the Nintendo Wii," declares Reddit user BurritoSOFTWARE on the unofficial Among Us subreddit, along with a video proving his claim: he is, indeed, playing A
News Capcom Shows Off More Footage Of Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection
And it's looking really promising
The announcement of Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection certainly came out of the blue. While the franchise was once one of Capcom's most famous efforts, it has fallen by the wayside in recent years, so it was a nice surprise to see the Japanese veteran dust this one off for another adventure. The hosts of the Japanese...
News This New Game Boy Game Is 21 Years In The Making
All it took was a global pandemic to finish it
2020 has changed things for a lot of people. While the video game industry has generally done well out of the fact that everyone has had to remain indoors for most of the year, the coronavirus outbreak has had a massively negative effect on other business sectors, with many companies having to lay off...
News Shadow Gangs Is Like Shinobi, But With Freddie Mercury As An End-Of-Level Boss
And yes, it's coming to Switch
Back in the '80s and '90s, you couldn't move for side-scrolling action platformers packed with ninjas. Shinobi. Shadow Dancer. Bad Dudes. Taking inspiration from Hollywood's late-'80s obsession with all things ninja, these titles became arcade smash hits and captivated a whole generation of players. Ninjas in 2020,...
News 1999 Neo Geo Fighter Fatal Fury: First Contact Has Just Surprise-Launched On Switch
Terry's back with another '90s classic
Fatal Fury: First Contact, a fighting game that released on the Neo Geo Pocket Color back in 1999, has just appeared out of nowhere on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Merry Christmas! Heavily based on arcade fighter Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, which launched just a year before it in 1998, the game features the likes of...
News Nordisk Games Acquires 40% Of Metroid: Samus Returns Developer MercurySteam
"we are entering a new era of consolidation and growth"
Denmark-based company Nordisk Games has announced it has acquired 40% of the Spanish-based developer MercurySteam. MercurySteam is best-known in recent years for its outstanding 2017 3DS release, Metroid: Samus Returns. It's also previously worked on series like Castlevania, including the 2013...
News Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Getting A 'Dark Reunion' Tournament On Christmas Day
Bah humbug!
If you end up getting a copy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Christmas, or if you're really not in the festive mood and have a copy already, you might want to spend a bit of time jumping into the game's next tournament event. Starting on 25th December, a new Tourney called 'Dark Reunion' will be taking place in-game, exclusively...
News "Steamy" Otome Visual Novel Bustafellows Is Coming To Switch Next Year
Dangerous romance and murder mystery collide
UK-based publisher PQube has revealed that it is bringing Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Extend's Bustafellows to Switch in 2021. Originally released in Japan in 2019, the game is described as "a gripping Otome visual novel with an incredible urban noir aesthetic" and features "stunning character and...
News Cube Life: Island Survival Comes To Switch On 26th December
Making Boxing Day even boxier
Ah, December 26th. The one day of the year when it is fully acceptable to lie on the sofa all day, playing video games. (What do you mean, that's every day?) When we're all pickled from booze, rounder than a Christmas pudding, and totally gifted out, there's nothing we love more than... more shopping? Well, get used to...
News Pokémon GO Is Kicking Off 2021 With A Bang - New Year's And January Events Detailed
Including next month's Community Day star
Pokémon GO developer Niantic has shared lots – and we mean lots – of details surrounding the game's upcoming events for its new year celebrations and January, including that month's Community Day star. Let's jump right in with the New Year's celebration, which starts on 31st December at 10pm local time...
Tuesday22nd Dec 2020
News Pokémon Sword And Shield Version 1.3.1 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
More fixes
Have you played through Pokémon Sword and Shield's Part 2 DLC yet? If not, now might be the perfect time to return - with Game Freak rolling out version 1.3.1 right before Christmas. Here are the full patch notes, courtesy of the Nintendo UK website: Ver. 1.3.1 (Released 22 December 2020): Fixed a number of issues so that gameplay is...
News Stardew Valley's 1.5 Update Will Arrive On Consoles Early Next Year
"This is Stardew Valley’s biggest update yet!"
Following on from another minor update on the weekend, ConcernedApe - the creator of Stardew Valley - has now announced version 1.5 of the game is out now on PC and will come to consoles early next year. "we’ve been really busy this year preparing another big free update for Stardew Valley… the...
Random Looks Like You Have No Control Over Mario Party Dice Rolls After All
Timing means nothing
Ah, Mario Party – a series full of bright colours, charming characters and absolute, rage-inducing gameplay that can make even the strongest of friendships end in tatters. Lots has been said about the series' dice rolls in the past, with some players believing that you must have some control over the rolls you make, others...
Review Dicey Dungeons (Switch) - A Raucous Roguelike Adventure Which Everyone Should Try
You feeling lucky, punk?
Terry Cavanagh is known for making some tough games. If you’ve played the likes of VVVVVV or Super Hexagon, you’re no doubt familiar with his unique brand of simplistic and punishing game design. That design is on full display, albeit in a completely new form, with his latest project, Dicey Dungeons. Here, instead of...
Feature 10 Nintendo Games We'd Love To See Finally Come To The West
Nintendo games that never officially left Japan
These days there are very few first-party or Nintendo-published titles that don't get an international release, but back in the day it was common for games to remain in their Japanese homeland for months or even years, if they ever came overseas at all. No, we're not just talking about the countless...
Random Epic Games Apparently Still Needs Your Help To "Free Fortnite"
"Spread the word"
Back in August, Epic Games declared war with Apple (and Google), when the tech giants removed Fortnite from their stores for violating the terms of service. In case you forgot, Epic introduced a more direct way to pay in its battle royale game - essentially bypassing the payment system on these digital stores. Epic followed this...
News Stardew Valley 1.5 Update Full Changelog
May contain spoilers
ConcernedApe has just confirmed Stardew Valley's 1.5 update is coming to consoles early next year. It's also out today on PC. That means the "full changelog" notes are viewable right now! If you don't want to spoil the surprise for yourself before the release of this update on Switch, get a more basic rundown in our previous...
Random KFC Made A Console, For Some Reason
Fowl play
The console war is heating up once again with the addition of a new contender: the KFConsole. Yeah, really. It's not the first time we've seen fast food turn to gaming: we've seen Arby's partner with Cuphead, McDonald's getting into
News Switch Owners "Most Likely" To Own A Rival Console, 2020 Study Shows
Console also scores highly in 'bestselling' and 'worst game' categories
Our friends over at GamesIndustry.biz love crunching the numbers and turning them into lovely charts, and we love reading them. Their "Year In Numbers" for 2020 shows a pandemic-fuelled frenzy of video game spending, with a 21% increase in the value of the console market,...
News Dataminers Uncover Donkey Kong Stickers In Super Nintendo World Mobile App
You know him well
Where would Mario be without his old pal Donkey Kong? With this in mind, dataminers have supposedly uncovered evidence of DK stickers within Universal Studios' Super Nintendo World mobile app. There have been rumours circulating for some time now about a possible DK ride, so could this latest discovery be a sign of things to come?...
Video New Pokémon Sword And Shield Trailer Explores Galar Attenborough-Style
A wild trailer appeared
Just in case you hadn't yet explored the wonderous environments of Pokémon Sword and Shield's Galar region, Nintendo's here with a brand new trailer which explores everything it has to offer. Centring around the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra – the two areas added to the game via the DLC Expansion Pass – the video...
News Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart Of The Forest Brings The Tabletop RPG To Switch
Launching early next year
Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest has scored an early 2021 launch on Nintendo Switch, it's been confirmed. Inspired by the fan-favourite tabletop RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Heart of the Forest launched on Steam just a couple of months ago to 'very positive' user reviews. It's said to be a "beautifully...
News Play Ubisoft's Free Browser Game To Unlock Rewards And Store Discounts
Get an extra 21% off already-reduced games
Ubisoft has launched a Google Chrome Dinosaur-like minigame to play online, rewarding those who do with some nice little freebies and store discounts. You can go ahead and play the game here; you simply tap the space bar to jump (double-tap to double jump) and try to stay alive for as long as possible...
News Story Of Seasons And Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin Helped XSEED Games To A Record-Breaking Year
And 2021 looks bright, too
XSEED Games, a publishing arm of Marvelous USA, has announced that the company has this year surpassed previous highest-sales and fastest-selling records worldwide. The company has launched a new video showcasing what it describes as one of its "strongest years," with a diverse range of farming sims, RPGs, action games...
Made of extra-soft, fluffy material
The Pokémon Company has launched a new line of plush toys that promise to be "extra soft" and "extra huggable" – something we could all probably do with right now. We found nine designs in total, all available to purchase as we speak from the Pokémon Center online store. There's Ditto, Snorlax, Pikachu,...
News River City's Kunio And Riki Join 3D Arena Brawler Mighty Fight Federation
"New warriors approaching"
If there weren't already enough brawlers, one other upcoming release you might want to keep an eye on the 3D arena game, Mighty Fight Federation. If you've played anything like Capcom's Power Stone, you'll probably be familiar with the concept. In the latest update, developer Komi Games announced a collaboration with Arc...
News $2 Puzzle Game Kolumno Will Help You Pass The Time On Christmas Eve
Cheap, but challenging
Launching on the Nintendo Switch eShop on 24th December is Kolumno, a simple yet challenging puzzle game. As you can see from the trailer above, the idea itself is pretty straightforward – players must wait for the right moment before making a ball fall through a series of intricate moving columns. There's more to it than...
News Platforming Shooter Gravity Heroes Comes To Switch In January
Won't have to weight too long for this
Gravity Heroes is a 2D retro-styled arena shooter with a twist: not only do you control the little guy with a gun, but you also control gravity itself. By switching up the gravitational pull of the room, you can walk on the walls and the ceiling, and even dodge incoming hurt. You'll also have the option to...
Monday21st Dec 2020
News Zelda Voice Actress Patricia Summersett Speaks Out About Online Negativity And Criticism
"One has to build a thick skin, I think"
The inclusion of voice acting in The Legend of Zelda series has been a point of contention amongst fans for years now; in the past, some players have criticised Nintendo for favouring the series' traditional grunts and mumbles over fully realised voice acting, while others would suggest that giving the main...
Review Among Us (Switch) - The Lockdown Hit Finally Comes To Switch
Don't be sus
Innersloth's Among Us has become something of a gaming sensation in 2020, some two whole years after it first quietly released as a free-to-play title on iOS and Android devices. Due to a combination of factors – which no doubt include huge Twitch popularity driven by its unique social dynamics and a captive lockdown audience looking...
Feature Star Trek On Nintendo Consoles - Where Are The Great Star Trek Games?
Live long, and prosper
Whether you're a final frontier fan or not, you've probably noticed the onslaught of advertising for the latest entry in CBS' ever-growing catalogue of Star Trek series. The impending return of Jean-Luc Picard to television screens this week is a massive media event and seeing the iconic captain once again going boldly in the...
News Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Version 10.1.0 Update Arrives Later This Week
Save those replays ASAP!
Nintendo has confirmed that the next update scheduled for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be launching later this week, urging players to convert any saved replays before it arrives. The update, of course, coincides with the full launch of the game's latest character, Sephiroth; if you haven't been lucky enough to unlock...
News Minecraft Gets Rural With Free 'Farm Life' Mod
Corn on the cube
Mining in Minecraft is so 2020. We're all about farming, now. Put aside your pickaxe and pick up your shovel; it's time to get agricultural up in here. As part of Mojang's lovely Community Celebration, they've been showcasing the very best that Minecraft players have to offer by making a bunch of fan-made content totally free. This...
News Miyamoto "Not Concerned" About Who Will Replace Him At Nintendo
Has full faith in the "younger generation"
Shigeru Miyamoto is unquestionably one of Nintendo's key staffers, and one of the most important figures in the video game industry, full stop. His creations have sold millions of copies, and he's been involved in almost every aspect of Nintendo's business for decades. However, at 68, he's no spring...
"We used to be the only band with a computer on stage"
Almost anyone can hum the original NES theme of Super Mario Bros., but if you asked them what genre of music it fell into, most probably wouldn't know what to say. Sure, one could just describe it as video game music, but it could also be described as chiptune. The word chiptune is used to...
News Miyamoto's Kids Played "A Lot" Of Sega Games, But That Just Inspired Him To "Try Harder"
"They’ve always had a good relationship with video games"
Having Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto as your father must be quite the experience, being constantly reminded of his success and fame wherever you go, but it also means you've probably had countless Nintendo games to play over the years, right? Well, as it happens, Miyamoto's kids aren't...
$2.2 million taken in its opening weekend
The movie adaptation of Capcom's best-selling Monster Hunter series hasn't had the smoothest route to market. Following concerns from fans that the film would deviate too much from the source material, it had the misfortune of launching during a global pandemic which has seen cinemas closing all over the...
News Miyamoto Wants Us To Understand The Motives Of Enemies We Kill In Video Games
"Even monsters have a motive"
Wholesale slaughter has been a central theme in video games since the industry began, with titles like Spacewar! and Space Invaders rewarding the player for taking out as many enemies as possible. As you might imagine, legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken out about such reductive game design in the past,...
News Dead Cells January Update Brings Festive Outfits, New Mutations And Cheese-Only Diet
More like Dead Smells
Prepare yourself, folks: it's time to go deep-diving into the patch notes for Dead Cells' upcoming 'Update 21', destined to hit consoles (including the Nintendo Switch, obvs) in January 2021. You would be forgiven for thinking that 2021 is still a few months away, but apparently there are only ten days left in the year. Smell...
News Fortnite Adds Free 'Wakanda Forever' Emote
A tribute to Black Panther actor, Chadwick Boseman
Starting today, Fortnite has issued a bunch of "Wakanda Forever Challenges" to all players, and the prize is the badass Wakanda Forever emote - a tribute to the actor who played the Wakandan King, Chadwick Boseman, who died earlier this year. Players who complete the challenges before January 12th...
UK Charts Assassin's Creed Valhalla Takes Christmas Number One, Four Nintendo Games Hit Top Ten
Animal Crossing still Nintendo's highest-placed exclusive
UK physical chart data is now in for the week ending 19th December, revealing that four Nintendo titles have managed to cling onto top ten positions over Christmas. It's Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla which takes number one this year, fending off last week's chart leader Cyberpunk 2077...
News Check Out These Lovely Christmas Cards From Some Of Gaming's Big Names
Game cards that you CAN lick
Christmas is a time of cheer, of merriment, and of brotherly love, right? Well, that includes love between consoles. We might be a Nintendo website, but we can enjoy good work when we see it, and these gorgeous Christmas cards come courtesy of the PlayStation blog, where they're featured a selection from a few of the...
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