Retro News
June2013
Video A History Of Nintendo Controllers in Less Than 30 Seconds
The N64's is still the strangest...
Nintendo has often played the role of innovator with its control schemes, particularly in more recent times. When not innovating it's been satisfied with simply producing the best controllers of their kind — in the NES and Super NES variants — with the Nintendo 64 starting a trend for curious designs and fresh...
Weirdness Someone Is Planning On Digging Up Atari's Buried E.T. Cartridges
Could this urban legend be true? We'll soon find out
Before Nintendo came along and revolutionised the video game industry with the NES, American company Atari was the undisputed king of the home gaming arena — right up to the point where low-quality software and catastrophic mismanagement resulted in a massive video game crash. One of the most...
Review Mega Man X (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Marks the spot
By the time Mega Man X was released for the SNES, gamers and critics were already expressing concern about the classic series feeling stale. Mega Man had become formulaic and predictable, and while the NES games were still a lot of fun, there was no denying that they didn't evolve much from title to title. Mega Man X felt like a firm...
Review Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo (Nintendo 64)
Tour de Force
While it wasn't quite the workhorse that Rare was during the Nintendo 64 era, Factor 5 developed a handful of third-party games that arguably matched Nintendo's own efforts in terms of technical quality. The studio had a knack for getting underneath the hood of the system and exploiting its raw power to create fascinating visual...
May2013
News Happy 15th Birthday, Banjo-Kazooie!
Guh-huh!
It’s hard to believe now, but before 31st May, 1998, no one believed that a bear in yellow shorts and a bird in a backpack could ever make an effective team. A spunky little Twycross-based company called Rare, however, set out to prove the world wrong, and did so with quite admirable results. Today marks the 15th anniversary of the North...
Hardware Classics Nintendo Virtual Boy
Nintendo's nadir, or misunderstood masterpiece?
According to the history books, the Virtual Boy is Nintendo's biggest failure — both commercially and critically — in the hardware arena. Launched in 1995 to almost complete consumer apathy, it bypassed Europe entirely and was discontinued the following year. It is also thought to be the reason...
News Donkey Kong 64 Required Expansion Pak to Prevent Game-Breaking Bug
Game would crash when using the N64's standard setup
When Donkey Kong 64 released all the way back in 1999, it was the first Nintendo 64 game to require the system’s 8MB Expansion Pak add-on in order to work. Advertising at the time suggested that the game was just so big that it couldn't possibly work without it. However, Chris Marlow, one of the...
Feature A Brief History of Pokémon - Part One
Contracting Pokémania
In the mid-nineties, an epidemic spread across the world. First discovered in Japan, it soon spread across the pacific, consuming vast areas of America. We were powerless to stop it. No cure was to be found. Before long, it broke America's shores and hit Europe with similarly devastating effect. The worst affected were...
News Super Mario Bros. Movie Sequel On the Way, as a Webcomic
You know you want it
Earlier today we shared John Leguizamo's thoughts on the Super Mario Bros. live-action movie, as a special screening celebrated the movie's 20th Anniversary. It divides critics, but does enjoy a cult-status and loyal following. Scripted by Steven Applebaum and Ryan Hoss, with the story by Parker Bennett, a new webcomic will...
Review Kirby's Dream Land 3 (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Third time's the charming
Kirby’s Dream Land 3 is the epitome of a lovable gaming experience. Carefree and popping with irresistible charm, this SNES platformer builds off the two previous Game Boy entries in the series and fulfills the potential they introduced. That doesn’t mean the core mechanics have suddenly become nuanced or up to par with...
Weirdness Pokémon Fusion Fan-Site Remixes Your Favourite 'Mon
We like the Hypbat
With Pokémon X & Y coming later this year, many fans of the franchise are no doubt enjoying every second of the buzz and hype. Part of that fun is learning about new evolutions or, when we're lucky, all new creatures, which makes fan-site Pokémon Fusion worth a look. It's the work of Alex Onsager, and he's currently working...
Review Kirby Super Star (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Dedede-lightful
Kirby Super Star is a smorgasbord of creativity, as if the developers at HAL Laboratory had a game jam for two weeks straight and came out on the other side with a beautifully disheveled collection of Kirby’s best. Nine sub-games, ranging from one-button tests of reflex to multi-hour adventures, are stuffed onto the SNES with no...
News John Leguizamo: We Were Pioneers With The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The actor who played Luigi gives his 20th anniversary speech
As you may or may not be aware, the Super Mario Bros. live-action movie is now two decades old. Attacked by critics and gamers alike when it originally hit cinemas, the film has nonetheless gained a cult following in the past twenty years. LA's Nuart Theatre played host to a special...
Review The King of Fighters '99 (Wii / Neo Geo)
Different, but still impressive
The King of Fighters is a series that's long been a staple of the Neo Geo platform. But with a few new twists and added bells and whistles, the developers have kicked things up a notch. While not as revered as its predecessor, considered by many to be the pinnacle of the series, King of Fighters '99 still adds enough...
Review Banjo-Kazooie Symphony by The Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra
A Rare treat
Rare is a company that is fondly remembered by many Nintendo fans. While it had success on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with the Donkey Kong Country series, it was during the years of the Nintendo 64 that the development studio truly came into its own. It produced hit after hit, arguably saving the 64-bit system from the...
News This Custom Twin Famicom Is The Stuff Hardware Dreams Are Made Of
Remember when console designs actually mattered?
We hate to keep going on about it, but Microsoft revealed the Xbox One to the world this week. We're obviously biased, but we happen to think it looks a little underwhelming in purely physical terms — Nintendo Life Operations Director Darren Calvert said it best when he described the console as...
Review Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Bring fresh underwear
There’s a school of thought which argues that modern gamers have it too easy, and that this generation of players has grown soft thanks to the fact that developers are all too happy to provide helpful tutorials and short-cuts intended to reduce frustration. You only need to spend a few painful minutes in the company of Super...
Review Mega Man 5 (3DS eShop / NES)
Super fighting robot
Capcom has been very fast with releasing the original Mega Man series on 3DS Virtual Console, and now we're already up to the fifth entry. As you might expect, Mega Man 5 is quite similar to the four games before it; eight new Robot Masters have appeared, and it's up to Mega Man to stop them and their leader, who appears to be...
News New Mega Man Graphic Novel Lands in North America on 22nd May
Order now for a pre-order discount
If you like Mega Man and if you also like comics/graphic novels, then chances are you know about the Archie publications on the franchise. The graphic novel releases combine multiple comics into one juicy bundle, with the story-lines covering enough lore and background to the many games to satisfy the most ardent...
News Mega Man 5 Soundtrack Rocks Onto Capcom Store
Tsk, it only has 57 tracks
If you're a Mega Man fan that simply has to buy every re-release that graces Nintendo Virtual Console platforms, chances are you may have just recently downloaded Mega Man 5 onto your 3DS. Coincidentally — or not, we suspect — Capcom has updated its gradual release of the Blue Bomber's soundtracks with the fifth entry...
Review Super Metroid (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Superior Metroid
It’s undeniable that 1994 was an extremely memorable year of videogame releases. Sonic 3, Earthworm Jim, Doom II, and the original Donkey Kong Country were just a few of the critically acclaimed games that had us chatting profusely on the playground. However, there was one game in particular that terrified and mesmerized us so...
Review Star Wars Episode I: Racer (Nintendo 64)
Watto way to go
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace may have been panned by film critics and audiences alike when it released back in 1999, but not everything borne out of it was as big a disaster as Jar Jar Binks. One of these truly rare exceptions was Star Wars Episode I: Racer, a sci-fi racing game developed by by LucasArts. The game was a...
Review California Super Sports (DSiWare)
A bad sport
To understand what California Super Sports is, start with Wii Sports. Do you have the handful of mini-games fixed in your mind, complete with simple rules and bobble-headed athletes? Good; now trade in your Wii Remote for a DS stylus. Next, systemically break every intuitive gameplay system and control scheme in sight. Then sabotage the...
Review Xevious (Wii U eShop / NES)
An early vertical scrolling classic
When Xevious hit arcades in 1982 it represented one of the first vertical shoot 'em ups of its kind. Not only that, but the game introduced a second bombing mechanic to give it a little more flare. After seeing a handful of home releases, it sprang upon the NES system with a vengeance and once again showed that...
Review Super Mario Bros. 2 (Wii U eShop / NES)
The stuff dreams are made of
By now we all know the story of Super Mario Bros. 2: concerns about the Japanese sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. kept it from release in North America and Europe. Different reasons have been given over time, from the game being too difficult to it simply not demonstrating enough creativity to keep gamers...
News Capcom Open To More Retro Remakes, Reveals Fan Demand For Aliens vs. Predator
Company looking to the past for potential projects
This year, Capcom will be bringing DuckTales Remastered and Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara to the Wii U, as well as other systems. Remakes of two beloved past classics, these titles are apparently just the tip of the iceberg. Speaking to
News Banjo-Kazooie Symphony On the Way From The Synthetic Orchestra
Licensed and released on 31st May
Not so long ago, you may remember us drawing your attention to the Super Metroid Symphony, which is the work of talented composer and sound engineer Blake Robinson, the man behind the Synthetic Orchestra. If you like the music from the iconic Super NES title but want to hear it with a fully orchestrated sound, it's...
Review Solomon's Key (Wii U eShop / NES)
One door closes, another one opens
In Solomon’s Key – an action / puzzler from Tecmo – you take command of a wizard named Dana as he searches for a magical formula that’s said to banish all evil from the world. The game began life in arcades back in 1986, finding its way to NES a year later, and now it’s resurfaced on Wii U Virtual...
News Time to Rock Out With Some Chiptunes, Thanks to Diad
Could have been called "Super Mosh Bros."
Occasionally we like to direct your attention to some awesome music or videos that we come across, and today we bring you a rock chip-tune album called Diad. As that description suggests, this seven track album aims to produce 8-bit chiptunes that, given the right instrumentation, could very easily be...
News Capcom, Take Note: This Is How You Mark Mega Man's 25th Birthday
Shame this custom Game Boy is just a fan mod
Mega Man is 25 this year, and while Capcom has at least acknowledged this fact, there seems little chance of fans getting an all-new Blue Bomber outing before 2014 rolls around. Still, if Capcom isn't prepared to go the extra mile to mark the event, then the fans can show their respect in their own way...
Review Pac-Man (Wii U eShop / NES)
Pac is back!
When Pac-Man hit arcades in 1981, it was a phenomenal success. Spawning clothing, cereals and even a hit song, the game took the world by storm. It saw a rash of home console and personal computer releases during the 80s — some better than others — but it wasn't until the NES release in 1985 that the game finally saw a replica close...
Weirdness Own The Manual To ClayFighter Sculptor's Cut? You Could Be Sitting On A Grand
Super-rare game has an even rarer instruction booklet
We'll forgive you for not being aware of this — because we certainly weren't — but ClayFighter Sculptor's Cut was a Blockbuster-only rental in North America. The 2D fighting title is therefore pretty rare already, but it's near-impossible to find with a mint instruction manual, mainly because...
News This Famicom GamePad Skin is a Thing of Beauty
A retro reminder every day
So, who is it says that the Japanese market gets all of the coolest limited edition Nintendo hardware and accessories? Well, lots of people, including us at Nintendo Life — because it's often true. The latest example is the pictured Famicom skin on the way to lovingly cover Wii U GamePad controllers in Nintendo's...
Review Publisher Dream (DSiWare)
This game development biz is confusing...
CIRCLE Entertainment has published a good variety of games on DSiWare, covering almost any genre that can feasibly work on the ageing service. Its own take on the sim style began with Bookstore Dream, which while owing much to similar smartphone games was a solid effort. Unlike that book publishing title,...
Review Balloon Fight (3DS eShop / NES)
Balloons don't float forever
In Balloon Fight you manipulate a little fellow who can flutter through the skies thanks to a pair of balloons strapped to his back and vigorous arm flapping. The world is a dangerous place for the intrepid defier of gravity, particularly when it comes to jealous birds — also illogically equipped with balloons — who...
Video Super Mario Slug X - It's As Crazy As It Sounds
Explosions, fireballs and madness
YouTube can be a funny, strange and at times silly place, and video game culture delivers some of its quirkiest videos as talented animators and directors mess around with gaming conventions. With such a prominent history in the industry, Nintendo naturally features in plenty of cameos and mash-ups, occasionally to...
Hardware Review Retro Duo Portable V2.0
NES, SNES and Mega Drive on the move
Clone systems are growing in popularity with each passing year, with several different companies all producing consoles which ape the performance of vintage hardware and aim to satisfy the needs of retro-lovers everywhere. We've already seen Hyperkin's SupaBoy bring portable SNES gaming to the masses, and now...
Review Mario's Super Picross (Wii U eShop / SNES)
The in-game tutorial, the greatest puzzle
The early batch of Wii U Virtual Console games have followed a bit of a trend, in that they serve up familiar retro goodies with a few Wii U specific extras. For Europeans there's been the extra treat of getting these classics in their 60Hz variety, but in the case of Mario's Super Picross the treat is...
News Abandoned Pixel Perfect Punch-Out!! Book Has a Knockout Ending With Mike Tyson
Public release failed due to licensing issues
While we cover a fair share of Kickstarter development fundraisers, one that's worth a mention is the Pixel Perfect: Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! book project, which was to raise money to enable public distribution for a limited run of 200 copies. The book itself was finished, an unofficial encyclopedia for...
Review Armageddon Operation Dragon (DSiWare)
Armageddon outta here
The year is 2037 and there's an asteroid as large as the moon headed directly for Earth. Since there is no weapon known to man that is powerful enough to eradicate such a massive rock, salvation can only be achieved by harvesting an all powerful energy that resides outside of the solar system. No need to call Bruce Willis,...
Review Mega Man (Wii U eShop / NES)
Fight, Mega Man, for everlasting re-release!
By now, if you want to play Mega Man you probably already have it. It's been previously released for the Wii and 3DS Virtual Consoles, after all. But if you've somehow managed to let the game pass you by — or just aren't sure if it's worth upgrading your old Virtual Console version — we're happy to...
Feature Celebrating Ten Years of The Wind Waker
A decade under the ocean
This week marked the 10th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s European release, a title that’s equally one of the most beloved and controversial titles in the entire Zelda franchise. Launched on the GameCube between 2002 and 2003 worldwide, The Wind Waker had a troubled launch, due largely to a backlash...
Review Donkey Kong Jr. (Wii U eShop / NES)
Son of a Kong
We recently reported that a Mr. Mike Kasper set the new world record with his high score on an original Donkey Kong Jr. arcade cabinet. Now, all thanks to the recent official Wii U Virtual Console going live, Wii U owners can save their quarters and work on their Donkey Kong Jr. high scores right from the comfort of their own homes in...
News Check Out These Spectacular NES Cartridge Rings
There are plenty to choose from
There's a feeling you get with a cartridge that you just can't find with a boring compact disc. They may be a thing of the past but there are many people out there who still appreciate their charm. One person who clearly has a love for NES cartridges in particular is Etsy artist Jess Firsoff, who is making and...
News F-Zero Go Fast! Celebrates The Music Of Nintendo's Futuristic Racing Series
Shiryu's latest 4 EP series is racing to your ears this month
We're massive fans of Shiryu's music here at Nintendo Life, and his latest project has us very excited indeed, as it focuses on one of Nintendo's most beloved franchises. F-Zero Go Fast is a 4 EP series which covers the entire history of the F-Zero lineage, from the SNES days right up to...
News The Super Mario Bros. Movie Is Getting a 20th Anniversary Screening In LA
Possibly more than it deserves?
Twenty years ago, Mario and Luigi starred in a pretty dismal Hollywood movie which almost ruined the career of Harold Ramis and still annoys star Bob Hoskins even today. However, there are still plenty of people who grew up loving the film — in the same way you come to love a tatty old teddy from your childhood, we...
News Fan-Made Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker Remix Album Coming Soon
"On the Breath of the Wind" releasing later this year
It's amazing to think that The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is ten years old — here at Nintendo Life Towers we still vividly recall seeing those lush cel-shaded visuals for the first time and being totally enraptured by the gameplay. To mark the occasion, a fan album is being produced which...
News Chiptune Album World 1-2 Now Available To Download
Music to our ears
Koopa Soundworks has released its digital album World 1-2 today featuring some of the best retro-style chiptune music you'll ever have the pleasure of hearing. The album is a collaboration that includes some of the biggest names from major gaming franchises and is being distributed via GameChops. One of the most recognisable names...
News Super Retro Trio Plays SNES, Genesis, NES and GBA Games
The RetroN5 has a challenger
It would seem that 2013 is going to be a big year for new gaming hardware — not only will we see the PlayStation 4 and Next Xbox, but we've got two new retro systems to look forward to as well. Hyperkin's RetroN 5 will be joined by the Retro-Bit Super Retro Trio, which plays SNES, Genesis / Mega Drive, NES and (with an...
Review Sengoku (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)
An interesting twist on the beat 'em up genre
Given the popularity of arcade titles like Final Fight and Double Dragon, the beat 'em up genre was a big draw in arcades during the late eighties and early nineties. Hoping to cash in on some of this success, SNK created its own unique take on the genre with Sengoku for its Neo Geo system. While the...
Review Excitebike (Wii U eShop / NES)
Excitement revisited
With all of the Excitebike-related titles to grace a Nintendo console over the past ten years, we’d be hard pressed to find any gamer that isn’t at least familiar with the brand. Numerous re-releases, a couple of spin-offs, a sequel, and a remake have garnered a mostly positive reception from critics and fans alike. So now...
News Grant Kirkhope's Perfect Dark Soundtrack Blasts Onto Bandcamp
The sweet beats
When we think back to iconic Rare shooters that helped to redefine the genre on the Nintendo 64, minds often drift to GoldenEye 007. That has a strong case as a trailblazer, but if you're looking for the best Rare title in that genre from the 64-bit beast, plenty of loyal fans will very enthusiastically and loudly point you towards...
News Famicom Hardware Designer Masayuki Uemura Explains Origins of its Name and Red Colouring
Colour choice "due to an order from the company's president"
The original Famicom — which would be branded as the NES in the West — remains an iconic example of Japanese hardware design. That's not to say it was perfect, with one notable feature being that the controllers were hardwired into the system — it's easy to see why that idea was...
Review Color Commando (DSiWare)
Mini-masterpiece
Quirky, innovative puzzle-platformers are becoming something of a calling card for Goodbye Galaxy Games, and this latest release fits nicely into that oeuvre. The final panel in a DSiWare triptych that includes the Flipper series and Ace Mathician, Color Commando similarly revolves around manipulating the environment — here via...
News Game Audio Professional Contemplates the Importance of Iconic Gaming Sounds
Nintendo is naturally mentioned
When it comes to iconic game sounds, the passage of time hasn't stopped some of Nintendo's earliest efforts — particularly those made famous in games such Super Mario Bros. — being immediately familiar to the general public. In fact we use the coin collecting sound in the two second intro to videos on our YouTube...
April2013
Review Ice Climber (Wii U eShop / NES)
Slippery controls are on thin ice
Ice Climber, despite the self-explanatory title, is more complex than a cursory glance would suggest. Popo the parka-toting lad (and identical twin Nana in the multiplayer mode) must scale thirty-two vertically scrolling mountains to rescue a large number of delicious eggplants, using only wits and indestructible...
News Super Mario Bros Crossover Hitting Version 3.0 This Year
Resurrects Hudsonsoft's obscure Sharp X1 title
Remember Super Mario Bros. Crossover? It was a fan-made title which allowed Nintendo lovers to play the classic Super Mario Bros. with characters from other games, including Metroid, Castlevania and Mega Man. Th
News UK Retro Gaming Event Gathers Steam Ahead Of May Launch
A festival of vintage gaming
If you're based in the UK and have a soft spot for the games of yesteryear then you might want to look into buying a ticket for Revival. The event — which is the successor to the popular Retro Fusion show — takes place on the weekend of May 18th / 19th at Wolverhampton Racecourse in the Midlands, and over a thousand...
News 100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience Hits DVD
Blu-Ray and digital launch expected this year, too
Those of you with exceptionally good powers of recollection will no doubt remember that we reported on the production of 100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience last year. A love letter to the coin-op scene in Japan, the film has been completed thanks to two IndieGoGo campaigns which raised a...
Feature Nintendo Battle - Game Watch: Super Mario Bros. 3 vs. Star Fox
The power's on the wrist
These days we take gaming portability for granted. We may kill time playing a bit of Angry Birds on our smartphones while waiting for the next bus to arrive or waiting for our dental appointment. Back in the early ’90s you could carry around a Game Boy or Atari Lynx, but neither was particularly pocket friendly. The clever...
News Donkey Kong Junior Arcade Has A New World Record Holder
1,349,000 points is the new high score
The classic arcade title Donkey Kong Junior has a new world champion after the previous record was beaten by 20,900 points Mike Kasper of Beaverton, Oregon is the man who achieved such a feat. During a live TV broadcast Kasper managed to score 1,349,000 points on an original arcade cabinet, topping the...
Review Mega Man 4 (3DS eShop / NES)
The Blue Bomber vs The Red Menace
In 1991 the world got a fourth entry in what had quickly shaped up to be one of the NES's most popular series. This game was Mega Man 4, and expectations were high. After all, the first game laid down a solid — if static — template that resonated very well with gamers, the second game refined the formula...
Video Luigi Defeats All Characters On Super Smash Bros. Melee By Doing Absolutely Nothing
A devious tactic
When playing Super Smash Bros. Melee there are various tactics you can use to come out on top. You could pick the speedy Fox McCloud and run rings around the other players, blast people from afar as Samus, maybe pick a powerhouse character and take it to your opponent from close range. Or you could just pick Luigi and win by doing...
Review Working Dawgs: Rivet Retriever (DSiWare)
A dog's breakfast
Working Dawgs: Rivet Retriever is a platformer doomed to be forgotten. An uninspired follow-up to puzzle game Working Dawgs: A-maze-ing Pipes, every facet of this downloadable title succumbs to the dark side of video games, thoroughly beating down what simple enjoyment might be found in a side-scroller this basic. If the underlying...
News These Screens Show What NES Games Would Be Like Today
Minus the secrets and controller-hurling difficulty
This video games lark is quite young as an entertainment medium; it's decades behind film and television, while books have hundreds of years behind them. Yet in a short time we've seen extraordinary transformations in technology and also game design. It's easy to forget when playing modern games,...
News The Konami Code Is 27 Years Old This Week
Raise a glass to more than a quarter-century of cheating
The Konami Code has gone from being a developer's secret workaround to one of video gaming's most famous cheats — and it's 27-years-old this week. According to lore, the code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who was developing the home port of Gradius for the Famicom / NES. Hashimoto...
News Hyperkin: Nintendo Hasn't Contacted Us About the RetroN 5
Flying under the legal radar
In case you hadn't noticed, we're quite excited about Hyperkin's forthcoming RetroN 5 console. It plays practically every retro format under the sun, comes with a wireless pad and connects to HD televisions via HDMI — in short, it's shaping up to be the ultimate retro gamer's system. Interestingly, Hyperkin's...
News Mother 3 Fan Offers Nintendo Free Translation of the GBA Title
Nintendo's offered an olive branch, fans will help to get the whole tree
So, last week Nintendo announced that it was finally planning to release one of the most requested Virtual Console titles we've known of here at Nintendo Life; Earthbound is coming to the Wii U Virtual Console. The fact that gamer reaction after its confirmation for the...
Feature Nintendo Life's Staff Favourites - Super NES
Doubling the bits for Super power
We think it's safe to say that the past two generations of Nintendo home consoles — Wii and Wii U — haven't overly concerned themselves with raw graphical power; now its all about concepts and experiences. It wasn't always so, with Nintendo responding the the SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis — which enjoyed a spell...
Review Kirby's Adventure (Wii U eShop / NES)
Adventure time
Though Kirby made his debut a year prior on the Game Boy, it was 1993's Kirby's Adventure on the NES that cemented his appearance, his power-stealing ability, and his vast environments full of hidden secrets. Kirby's Adventure did a lot more than expand on the simple charm of Kirby's Dream Land; it earned him a place as one of...
News World 1-2 is an Upcoming Chiptune Album With Serious Pedigree
Chiptune arrangers team up with famous composers
As we all know here on Nintendo Life, video game culture isn't just about playing a game and pushing buttons, but about a wider community and other ways of sharing our passion. Whether that's dressing up for expos, writing, making videos or working on music soundtracks, there's more to this hobby than...
News Pocket Pikachu Evolves to Smartwatch Form On Pebble
Tetris, of course, is also available
Were you ever playing with your Pocket Pikachu (aka Pokémon Pikachu) in the late ‘90s and thought, “Gee, I wish I was able to wear this on my wrist?” Well honestly, you probably could’ve found some way to attach a band to the thing. But now, thanks to 21st Century technology, you can wear a digitized...
News Woman Finds Extremely Rare NES Game At Goodwill Store
A diamond in the rough
File this one under "Wowzer". A woman paid $7.99 for an old NES cartridge at a Goodwill store that — as luck would have it — is one of the rarest video games of all time. Bandai's Stadium Events — which has sold for more than $40,000 USD in the past — was one of the first titles to use the Family Fun Fitness Mat...
News Check Out This Ultimate Multi-System Games Console
Project Unity plays games from 18 formats, and not a ROM in sight
We sometimes direct your attention to hardware, often portable, that gives gamers a new way to play their old cartridges, discs or even smaller carts. While ROMs are always a sticking area, there's plenty of hardware out there designed to give fresh life to all of the physical copies...
Vote Pick Your Favourite NES Games
We hadn't forgotten
A little while ago the Nintendo Life team voted for its favourite NES games, which included plenty of classics and closely-fought tied positions. Our ultimate winner was Super Mario Bros. 3, and at the end of the feature we promised that you, the community, would have the chance to vote for your own top 10 NES games. We...
