Welcome, one and all. We're back for another festive rifle through the Nintendo Life Mailbox.
Yes, it's time for our monthly letters page feature. Got something you want to get off your chest? We're ready and waiting to read about your game-related ponderings.
Each month we’ll highlight a Star Letter, the writer of which will receive a month’s subscription to our ad-free Supporter scheme. Check out the submission guidelines at the bottom of this page.
So, grab yourself a warm beverage and maybe a sweetmeat from under the stairs and let's kick back with some correspondence before the king's speech, shall we?
Nintendo Life Mailbox - December 2025
"a lot of stick" (***STAR LETTER***)
Greedy Nintendo! Time and again we hear it, Nintendo are greedy! It is a line that gets repeated so often, I wonder if people actually consider what it means. Shareholders? Nintendo's dividend payments place them just behind Microsoft, as well as many other companies in the gaming sector like Koei Tecmo, Square Enix and Capcom. Executives? In 2024 Shuntaro Furukawa was paid just over a fifth of what Phil Spencer earns at Microsoft. But Nintendo charge too much, especially for older games! Maybe that is true, but they pay their staff quite well and have really high retention rates, they also seem to reinvest what they earn from their popular titles in more niche titles, so maybe the latest release of Super Mario Galaxy will pay fro a new Famicom Detective Club, Another Code or Advance Wars. I also don't think that Gameshare is a feature that screams greed. Nintendo are getting a lot of stick at the moment, and they do make some wrong headed decisions at times, but as far as massive corporations go, they seem ok. We've all gotten used to low prices in gaming, but low prices, high development costs and a fandom that is often reluctant to compromise on quality, is not a recipe for a sustainable industry.
Andrew Mcleod
I don't disagree that Nintendo, generally, seems to focus on the right things when it comes to experimenting with new ideas, respecting employees, and doing things that other companies wouldn't or couldn't do. That's why we're all here.
It would be great if everything were cheaper, but again, generally Nintendo does a decent job of threading the needle on pricing - although a $50 Kirby amiibo feels like a real ask. Welcome Tour should absolutely have been a pack-in, too, so I get the frustration, especially in this economy.
Ultimately, though, I don't think the company needs us defending it from a little childish name-calling. - Ed.
"sweaty"
Hey there Nintendo Life!
I wanted to shout out a franchise that I think doesn't get enough credit: Just Dance. I feel like Just Dance is often seen as just that one yearly Ubisoft release that nobody bats an eye at. But this year reestablished for me what a powerhouse it is for social and energetic fun.This feeling came to me at Comic Con. There was a huge Just Dance setup and it was constantly packed with people. Joining these crowds for the first time was an experience. There's nothing quite like being in cosplay, standing in a crowd of other con-goers and cosplayers, and jumping around to Boney M.'s Rasputin or teaming up with a stranger for Lady Gaga's Abracadabra. No other game there generated the kind of loud and mass fun that Just Dance did, and that's an achievement.
Its appeal is nearly universal. I've enjoyed the game with all kinds of people and in all kinds of places, including in gamer spaces. There's this lovely gaming space I frequent, stacked with consoles and games, so we can play just about anything we want there. Yet a bit ago I booted up Just Dance, and it was a smash hit. We had a blast waving our arms and stepping around the room, with wide grins and loud cries of energetic joy. (Also, shoutout to the accessibility filter and accessible dance routines, so people that can't stand or jump could also join in.)
And speaking of moving around, that's another thing I have to praise Just Dance for. I don't exercise nearly enough: I find it very hard to push myself to do so and I feel deeply uncomfortable and unsafe at gyms. But Just Dance is fun, motivating and accessible enough for me to get up and move with it at least every couple of days. With Just Dance+ there's more than enough songs to keep things fresh, and trying to learn the difficult expert routines to songs like Dua Lipa's Houdini or Britney Spears's Circus and Toxic is genuinely a really fun challenge. I'm not going to act like it's a substitute for proper exercise, but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing and I guarantee you that some of these routines will get you sweaty. You try doing Rasputin or Lady Gaga's Judas without your breathing intensifying, I'd love to see it.
Just Dance is a high quality game with lovely visuals, fun and varied choreo's, and appeal everyone including many hardcore gamers. I know it's not for everyone, nothing is, but in so many groups it's been a guaranteed good time for many years, and it deserves more credit for that. Love you Just Dance!
Zander
Yep, it suffers from being the known-est of quantities in 2025, but Just Dance is decent and I've had fun with it over the years.
Honestly, "You try doing Rasputin or Lady Gaga's Judas without your breathing intensifying" is prime bonus letter material, Zander. But we're staunch Boney M defenders in this household, and I wouldn't be able to embed this video in the bonus section. Wunderbar. - Ed.
"throw my hat"
With all this talk about animal crossing I've seen a lot of debates about whether new leaf or new horizons is the best. I'd figured I would throw my hat in the ring. I grew up playing new leaf so I have a very strong emotional attachment to that game. I think neither is better than the other. When I play new horizons there are things I wish it had that new leaf, and when I play new leaf there are things I wish it had that new horizons had. For those at the NL towers who have played both what do y'all think?
beltmenot
Wild World was my first, so the impact of anything afterwards is lessened - in my brain, WW is still peak. New Leaf and New Horizons are pretty much on a par. For all the improvements, NH has gotten unwieldy with items accessible in too many different places for my taste, and more to come in the January update. And I'd give anything for an icon that shows if you already own an item on sale in Nook's Cranny!
We have discussed this before, and most of the team are off on their hols now, but let me see who I can find ransacking the office fridge for party leftovers... - Ed.
- "NL is way better. Too much crafting in NH, it felt like a chore – NL was honed to near perfection." - Ollie
- "NL - love NH, but the fiddly island customisation, the more homogenous villager personalities, and the huge focus on decorating gets away from what I adored in NL. NL felt a lot more compact and impactful to me." - Alana