Retro Features
Feature Our Favourite Memories Of The Original Game Boy
Nostalgia for Nintendo’s most humble of handhelds
The Nintendo Game Boy turns 30 this Sunday, and to celebrate this amazing occasion we'll be running a series of related features this week, right up to the big day. As the 30th anniversary of the Game Boy’s Japanese debut approached, we here at Nintendo Life Towers were thinking a lot about the...
Feature What Developers Really Think About The Nintendo Game Boy
"It was literally a game changer"
The Nintendo Game Boy turns 30 this Sunday, and to celebrate this amazing occasion we'll be running a series of related features this week, right up to the big day. The Game Boy turned 30 at the weekend, marking three wonderful decades of portable brilliance. Released in 1989, this monochrome marvel is arguably one...
Feature The Handheld Rivals Which Tried And Failed To Beat The Game Boy
A Game (Boy) of Thrones
The Nintendo Game Boy turns 30 this Sunday, and to celebrate this amazing occasion we'll be running a series of related features this week, right up to the big day. Context, they say, is for kings, and history can easily be misunderstood if we gloss over the specifics of how things relate to the time they're from. It’s...
Feature The Konami Hyperboy Is A Dumb But Loveable Throwback To A Bygone Era
Turns your Game Boy into an arcade machine! Kinda!
The Nintendo Game Boy turns 30 this Sunday, and to celebrate this amazing occasion we'll be running a series of related features this week, right up to the big day. Whenever a new piece of gaming hardware is successful, it naturally attracts a lot of attention – both in terms of games (because...
Feature Behind The Scenes On Sensible Software's Unreleased SNES Bomberman Beater
Da bomb
Sensible Software is a studio embedded in gaming history for many reasons outside of the admittedly immortal Sensible Soccer. Along with the Canon Fodder games – the destructive sibling of Sensible's popular football sim – the company's commitment to the 16-bit Amiga proved that, sometimes, you can achieve impossibly addictive gaming...
Hardware Review Insurrection Industries Carby - GameCube HDMI Support On A Budget
Yet another HDMI adapter, but this one doesn't cost the earth
Keen readers of the site will know that we're always on the lookout for ways to make vintage hardware look as good as possible on modern-day TV sets. Years ago, we dabbled in the world of scanline generators such as the SLG3000, and more recently we sang the praises of the OSSC, a device...
Hardware Review EON GCHD Mk-II GameCube HDMI Adapter - The Best Just Got Better
New and improved
When it comes to getting the best possible image quality out of your retro console of choice, you usually have to jump through a few awkward (not to mention expensive) hoops. That was certainly the case with the GameCube until very recently; the best way of running the system in the past was via Nintendo's own SCART (if you're in...
Talking Point It's A Pretty Sweet Time For 'New' Retro Games, But What Does It Mean For Collectors?
Are you a fan of 'official' repro releases?
One of the most annoying things about collecting and playing vintage games is the cost. While a great many classic carts are available at cheap prices on the second-hand market, the most desirable examples are rising in value all of the time, which means many people simply don't bother with physical games...
Feature 20 Years After The Release Of Banjo-Kazooie, We Speak To The Guys Who Made It
The N64's beloved duo celebrate two decades
No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in June this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy! Here is a sobering thought. It’s been twenty...
Feature The Day I Met Donkey Kong On Live TV
Alex Norton talks of TV fame and people in ape suits
No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in August this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. In this special one-off piece, reader Alex...
Feature How One Nintendo Christmas Shaped The Rest Of My Life
Chris Scullion recounts how the NES altered his destiny one festive morning
It was the summer of 1987. My aunt had fallen in love with an American chap and moved to the States to marry him and live there. And so, my family – including a 4-year-old me – flew out from Scotland to Parma, Ohio to visit them during the summer. That was when I saw...
Feature The Real Wizard: A Nintendo World Champion's Tale
Jeff Hansen talks about his past life as a gaming superstar
No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in June this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy! Nintendo – perhaps more so...
Feature Creating The Ultimate Game Boy
The DMG-102 is the handheld of your dreams
The humble Game Boy is probably older than many of the people reading these words right now, but it nonetheless remains an utterly iconic piece of consumer tech. Since the start of the Game Boy line way back in 1989, the range has undergone several revisions and has sold millions of units all over the...
Feature SNES Classic Edition Vs. PlayStation Classic - Which One Should You Choose?
16-bit or 32-bit?
Nintendo wasn't the first company to wake up to the idea of repackaging its games in tiny versions of classic consoles – Sega and Atari (from a licencing perspective, at least) were there a long, long time ago – but its entry into this previously niche sector certainly made an impact. The NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic...
Hardware Classics Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
The genesis of Sega's superstardom
To mark the 30th birthday of Sega's 16-bit system, we thought you might like to reacquaint yourselves with this feature, which was originally published back in March 2013. It's fitting that the first non-Nintendo entry in our Hardware Classics series should be the Sega Mega Drive. This sleek 16-bit powerhouse...
Hardware Review EON GCHD GameCube HDMI Adapter
Another mod-free HD option for Nintendo's famous box
While the world waits for Nintendo do something - anything - constructive with its enviable back catalogue of games on its latest console beyond giving us a few dusty old NES titles, there's a burgeoning community which aims to harness the power of vintage hardware to experience the best titles...
Feature Remembering Super Mario 128, The Groundbreaking Masterpiece That Never Really Existed
When is a game not a game?
The Super Mario series has been responsible for some pretty amazing forward strides in the video game industry; the NES original arguably triggered a 2D platforming goldrush which would dominate the ‘80s and early ‘90s, while Super Mario 64 did the same for 3D gaming in general. Later, Super Mario Galaxy would allow...
Soapbox Why I'm Not Excited About Playing NES Games On The Nintendo Switch
All NES'ed out
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this piece, Nintendo Life Operations Director Darren Calvert admits that he's not in the least bit excited about the prospect of playing NES games again in 2018... They say that...
Hardware Classics Exploring Luigi's Debut, The Mario Bros. Game & Watch
Everyone has to start somewhere
Luigi may not be quite as famous as his illustrious sibling, but there's a fair chance that you could stop a random person on the street and they'd still be able to identify him or at the very least acknowledge his association with the Super Mario Bros. series. Keeping this in mind, it's an odd sensation to play the...
Feature As Team17 Launches Its 100th Game, We Look Back On Its First Nintendo Outing
"My monitor did go zipping across the office in a moment of rage"
Recently, UK publisher Team17 passed a significant milestone - it released its 100th game. Since the company was founded in 1990, the firm has gone from being a developer to a fully-fledged publisher and has been behind classic titles such as Alien Breed, Superfrog, Body Blows and -...
Feature Wild Gunman And The Unlikely Story Of Sega And Nintendo's Early Coin-Op Alliance
Before they were enemies...
They didn't call it a 'console war' for nothing; the titanic struggle for domination of the living room that took place between Sega and Nintendo in the 1990s has gone down as the stuff of video gaming legend. The two companies fought tooth and nail during the 16-bit era, with the SNES and Mega Drive (Genesis if you're in...
Feature What Does Nintendo's Shutdown Of ROM-Sharing Sites Mean For Video Game Preservation?
Is gaming history in danger of being lost?
The recent news that Nintendo is taking legal action against two sites which illegally distributed ROMs has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response, and rightly so. The individuals sharing these files online care little for the intellectual property rights of the developers who slave away to make...
Gallery Unboxing Retro-Bit's Incredible R-Type And Holy Diver Limited Editions
Limited to 2,900 copies each
Retro-Bit is doing an excellent job when it comes to keeping the past alive, and has already released a couple of welcome compilations for the NES and SNES. However, the company has really outdone itself with its latest project, which features limited edition versions of Irem's R-Type and Holy Diver, for the SNES and...
Feature Meet The Man Who Gave Nintendo Tetris And Got Hiroshi Yamauchi Gaming
"Let me put it this way: we were banned from a Nagoya hotel"
Everyone will know Henk Rogers as the businessman who brokered the Tetris deal for the Nintendo Game Boy. But what you may not realise is how he helped define the RPG genre in Japan; gave a start to Squaresoft's president; battled against sabotage by Koei; fought piracy and smashed...
Hardware Review The Shōnen Jump 50th Anniversary Famicom Classic Mini Is Gorgeous, But Pointless
Nintendo loves gold, only gold
Nintendo may have fixed the supply issues which plagued the launches of the NES and SNES Classic Editions, but many will still be haunted by the devilish degree of difficulty they exper
Feature This Unreleased SNES Super FX Racer Could Be Getting A Physical Rebirth
Elite's PowerSlide might be coming back from the dead
1994 was the year that 3D gaming truly came of age in the console arena. While both Nintendo and Sega had dabbled in the three-dimensional realm prior to this – with titles such as Star Fox and Virtua Racing – '94 marked the point where real-time 3D visuals were the expected norm, rather than...
Feature Freedom Fighter: Paul Cuisset On The Making Of Flashback
As the 16-bit classic comes to Switch, its director reflects
This month sees some potentially special games come out for the Nintendo Switch. From Wolfenstein II to Lumines Remastered via the arcade sports action of Mario Tennis Aces, the console’s not wanting for attractive offerings. Yet perhaps the most interesting of the month’s new releases...
Soapbox Why A Nintendo 64 Classic Edition Might Not Be Such A Good Idea
Not so 'Ultra' this time round?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this piece, our 'Man in Japan' Jon explains why Nintendo continuing the ‘classic mini’ line of retro consoles with the N64 may be one step too far... First...
Feature How One Man Is Turning Dead DS Lites Into Gorgeous Game Boy Advance Systems
Say hello to the Neon Advance
Humanity has been troubled by many great questions during its time on Earth. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Where do all those bloody odd socks go? However, none of these perplexing quandaries is more troubling than the ultimate question: which is the best Nintendo handheld for playing Game Boy Advance...
Feature The Making Of Night Trap, The World's Most Famous Video Game Nasty
"I thought the whole witch hunt was ridiculous"
Nintendo of America's Howard Lincoln makes an example out of Night Trap during the 1993 Senate Hearings on Video Game Violence Ever since its inception, the video game industry and controversy have gone hand in hand. Custer’s Revenge, Death Race, Grand Theft Auto, Sam Fox’s Strip Poker… these...
Feature It's Time For Former Tetris Champion Steve Wozniak To Reclaim His Throne
The best there is, the best there Woz, and the best there ever will be
There’s been a lot of news as of late about some famous high scores and the shaky stories behind them. While we're on the topic, we thought it might be a good idea to take the headwinds and revisit another famous video game record, perhaps the most famous Nintendo-related...
Hardware Classics Unpacking The 32X, Sega's Most Catastrophic Console Failure
"It was like watching the death of the Hindenburg in slow motion"
How do you take half a decade’s worth of critical and commercial success and flush it down the toilet? Easy – you release a device like the Sega 32X. At the start of the 1990s Sega was arguably at the height of its powers; the dawn of the decade saw the western launch of the...
Feature Game Bar Space Station - Osaka's Gaming Paradise
Cocktails and controllers to cater for all tastes
While Tokyo may be the first stop on many gamers' lists due to its numerous arcades and the famous Akihabara area, other parts of Japan also have their own little pockets of gaming heaven for locals and tourists alike. Located in Amemura - just a few minutes walk from the Dotonbori river and...
Hardware Review GameCube HDMI Adapter - GC Video Plug 'n Play 3.0
So long, component cable
You might think that when Nintendo started offering games from classic systems on its various Virtual Console platforms that interest in original hardware might fall away. However, over a decade later we're instead seeing a strong reassurance of new products supporting ageing original hardware, often aimed at getting the...
Hardware Review The Hyperkin SupaBoy SFC Is A Portable SNES For Under £100
Third time lucky?
It's fair to say that the SupaBoy handheld is one of Hyperkin's most successful products; it initially hit the market in 2012 and has been revised once already in the form of the SupaBoy S. We're now on the third iteration of the same model, and we can imagine this fresh SKU will do the business just as well as its forerunners did...
Soapbox With Microsoft Playing Ball, It’s Finally Time For Banjo-Kazooie To Return To Nintendo
And we know just the studio that could pull it off...
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on hot topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In today's article, editor Dom tackles a subject very close to his heart - his rabid love for a certain seminal platformer from Rare, and...
Hardware Review Shika Arcades SOZU.S1 Isn't Just The Ultimate SNES Stick, It's A Work Of Art
Bamboo-zled
The humble video game controller is one of the most important elements of interactive entertainment; it is your interface to an immersive virtual world and any shortcomings it may have (Kinect, we're looking at you) impact massively on your overall enjoyment. It's equally true, however, that not all controllers are created equal, and as...
Hardware Review Hyperkin Supa Retron HD: Time To Dust Off Those SNES Carts
UPDATE: UK launch now confirmed for March
For a wide range of reasons, the public's interest in retro gaming has arguably never been higher. New players are being drawn into this fascinating corner of the industry to explore the origins of characters like Mario and Sonic, while veterans who still bear the scars of the '80s and '90s console wars are...
Feature Getting The Best Picture Out Of Your Nintendo 64: The RGB Edition
Soupy visuals, begone!
You'll have to forgive us, but we're a little obsessed with getting the best picture quality out of dusty old game hardware here at Nintendo Life. Those of you with long memories may recall our early experiments with upscaling and scanline-generating devices many years ago, and more recently we've looked at the benefit of HDMI...
Hardware Review Does The Retro-Bit NES Power Stick Give You The Advantage?
Microswitched marvel
These days, gamers are pretty comfortable with the fact that there are multiple control options available when it comes to playing on their console of choice. The basic, in-the-box pad isn't always the best that's on offer, and there are myriad official and unofficial controllers doing the rounds, each claiming to hold a...
Video The 26 Best Game Boy Advance Games of All Time
Advance to the next level
Every Nintendo system has its gems, but to say we were a bit spoilt with the Game Boy Advance is an understatement. Game after game after game kept being released, and there were so many incredible ones our original list was well over double the size of this one. For the sake of brevity and my own sanity, we cut it down...
Movie Review King Of Kong Meets Spinal Tap In Going For Golden Eye
"Rule no. 1: Absolutely no use of Oddjob"
Video games and movies often make uncomfortable bedfellows; just look at the Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993 and Jean-Claude Van Damme's equally risible Street Fighter flick. However, sometimes the combining of these two mediums can yield positive results; King of Kong is one notable example. Jim...
Feature Rare's Local Game Shop Faces An Uncertain Future, Like Many Indie Retailers
"It can only continue with local support"
Those of you with long memories will recall that we ran a feature some time ago about Extreme Gamez, a small UK indie video game store. This particular shop might not seem especially noteworthy at first glance, until you realise that it is situated in one of the most historically important towns in the UK,...
Soapbox Why You Should Consider Catching Big Air With Wii's Excite Truck
If you still have access to a Wii or Wii U, that is
Soapbox features enable our individual writers to voice their own opinions on a wide range of topics, opinions that may not necessarily be the voice of the site. In this edition, Dave Letcavage discusses his somewhat recent introduction to the divisive Wii launch game Excite Truck, and makes a case...
Feature Homebrew Experts Mega Cat Studios On Surviving A Coffee Crisis And Coming Out Stronger
"We're really, really excited to be part of this retro renaissance"
Mega Cat Studios might not be a household name at present, but the company has been doing some incredible work in the realm of homebrew games development and has produced multiple physical NES carts over the past few years. We say down with Zack Manko, Mega Cat co-founder, to...
Feature Testing The Best RGB SCART Cables Known To Humanity
These ones pack-a-punch
Not all retro gaming AV cables are created equal, despite what you may have read or heard. Unlike HDMI – which is a digital signal – the analogue realm is subject to wild variances when it comes to quality, and the pursuit of the perfect audio visual setup has become the lifelong objective of many a retro gamer. Some will...
Hardware Review Retro-Bit Super Retro-Cade: A Treasure Trove Of Vintage Gaming Goodness
Finally, a legal way to play Boogie Wings in your home
It's fair to say they we weren't all that impressed by the Retro-Bit Generations, 2016's attempt to bring a selection of classic Data East, Capcom and Jaleco titles to the home. An odd library, terrible emulation and general sloppiness made it a product to avoid, despite the tantalising promise...
Random You've Seen The NES Classic, Now Check Out The CoolBaby HDMI HD Video Game
Cool, baby!
While Nintendo's U-turn on discontinuing the NES Classic Edition means that the thousands of people who missed out last year will now get a better chance of owning one, for a time it seemed like the Japanese company really was going to walk away from a profitable revenue stream. In that void came the clones; cheap knock-off replicas of...
Hardware Review 8Bitdo SN30 Pro Gamepad: The Best Switch Pro Controller?
One pad to rule them all
If you take your video game controllers seriously, then chances are you won't need any introduction to 8bitdo. This peripheral maker has been crafting superb pads and accessories for some time now, many of which take more than a little inspiration from Nintendo's own controllers. Over the years we've seen excellent...
Hardware Review Hamy NES And SNES HD Classic
The best of both worlds?
Love them or loathe them, clones of retro systems are here to stay. Over the past few years we've seen numerous unofficial attempts to replicate the performance of vintage systems, some more successful than others. In recent years the arrival of authentic takes on this concept – such as the NES and SNES Classic Editions...