Retro Reviews
Review Soccer (Wii U eShop / NES)
A well timed blast from the past
Just in time for the World Cup this week, Intelligent Systems' Soccer arrives on Wii U Virtual Console – but all is not well. One of the early titles in Nintendo's "Sports Series" on NES, Soccer seems to garner boatloads of hate from players compared to companions like Golf and Ice Hockey. These detractors are not...
Review Super Dodge Ball (3DS eShop / NES)
Super Lag Ball
Many people are familiar with River City Ransom, the cult classic NES game, but what you might not know is that it's actually part of a series with many, many more titles. Of course, that can be hard to figure out when those that were localized all got completely unrelated names. Interestingly, while the series is mostly known in the...
Review Mega Man Xtreme 2 (3DS eShop / GBC)
An Xtreme Improvement
Mega Man Xtreme left us feeling a bit underwhelmed. While its intentions were certainly good, the execution was lacking and the experience felt like a far clunkier retread of levels we've already played before, rather than much of a game in its own right. However it's worth noting that the game was originally released for the...
Review The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Capcom pulls a hit out of the hat
If it weren't for the fact that the Capcom logo appears each time you boot up The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it was in fact developed by a third-party company. That’s because this particular Legend of Zelda title – which originally released on the Game Boy...
Review Mr. Driller 2 (Wii U eShop / GBA)
You know the drill by now
The re-release of classic Game Boy Advance titles on the Wii U eShop marks the first opportunity many new players will have to take on a variety of really substantial experiences, short of retroactively buying the system itself. Many have made the transition to the TV screen look easy, but some are detrimentally anchored by...
Review Double Dragon II: The Revenge (3DS eShop / NES)
Now actually living up to its name
As one of the first scrolling beat 'em ups ever made, the original Double Dragon became a smash hit when it was released way back in 1987, and like most arcade games at the time quickly received a port to the NES. A single year later, Double Dragon II was released in arcades and, as was to be expected, it was also...
Review Mega Man V (3DS eShop / GB)
There's a Stardroid waiting in the sky
The handheld Mega Man games, up until now, have been remixed mashups of two NES titles each. Some of them hewed more or less closely to the source material, while others were emboldened to evolve the original ideas is exciting new directions. Mega Man V, however, throws the very concept of "source material"...
Review Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Akuma Matata
Street Fighter II casts an indelibly long shadow over the rest of Capcom's fighting games from the 1990s. First launched in 1991, SFII in all its Super and Turbo varieties has become synonymous with the Street Fighter franchise, a cultural touchstone the series wasn't truly able to move past until the launch of the successful Street...
Review Deep Sea Creatures (DSiWare)
Shallow waters
Collavier's Deep Sea Creatures, a slow-paced sim about deep sea fish and tank management, is not for everyone. While there is nothing particularly wrong with the game, its leisurely pace, lack of immediate challenge and poor instruction will likely turn off players looking for a more satisfying experience. For players genuinely...
Review Adventures of Lolo (Wii U eShop / NES)
YOLO, Lolo
HAL Laboratory's 1989 puzzler Adventures of Lolo falls into the same category as titles like Mach Rider and Clu Clu Land: C-list NES classics that are often overlooked today but provide an arcade-like fun experience for those searching out Nintendo's "deep cuts" from the '80s. Adventures of Lolo is probably best remembered these days as...
Review Mega Man IV (3DS eShop / GB)
Great things in small packages
With one exception, which is also making its way to the 3DS Virtual Console, all of the Game Boy Mega Man games take two of the NES titles and rework them a bit. Some old faces in new places, so to speak. A sprinkling of unique bosses and weapons help to carve out identities for these portable experiences but, by and...
Review Sokomania 2: Cool Job (DSiWare)
Overheated
Cinemax's 2010 DSiWare puzzler Sokomania received a disappointing 3/10 in our review, due to its cheap presentation, lack of content and absence of variety. Unfortunately, Sokomania 2: Cool Job, while sporting a little more personality and improved visuals than its predecessor, doesn't improve upon the one-note gameplay and feels just as...
A traditional match-three lacking in splendour
Anyone familiar with the world of match-three games will know almost exactly what to expect from a title such as Jewel Match. Released, oddly enough, after Jewel Match 3 on the 3DS, this DSiWare version strips out the story, hidden object finding, and other extra mini-games of the past sequel and...
Review Mega Man III (3DS eShop / GB)
Third time's the charm
After the fun but flawed Dr. Wily's Revenge and the almost thoroughly disappointing Mega Man II on Game Boy, Capcom made a serious and substantial course correction. The result is Mega Man III, and we couldn't be happier about that. Retaining the template from Dr. Wily's Revenge (two sets of Robot Masters, a new Mega Man...
Review Mega Man II (3DS eShop / GB)
Get equipped with tarnished legacy
Ask any fan of the Blue Bomber to name their favourite game in the series and the odds are good that they will say either Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 3. That's to be expected, though; both of those games are among the best on the NES, a system that had no shortage of great platformers and action games. What's less...
Review Mach Rider (Wii U eShop / NES)
Groovy little motorbike
If you were lucky enough to pick up a shiny new NES way back in 1985, you would have had your pick of several future classics from a legendary launch-day lineup. If your idea of a digital good time happened to involve motorcycles, you were particularly spoilt for choice, with Excitebike and Mach Rider representing two-wheeled...
Review Mega Man Xtreme (3DS eShop / GBC)
Xtreme Mediocrity
Mega Man X is often touted as one of the best games the SNES had to offer, which is certainly saying something. Its first sequel is further from consensus, but it's still safe to say that it's a great followup to its predecessor. If you've played either of these games — and, if you haven't, stop reading right now and do that —...
Review Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Egg-ceptional platforming
When you take into account just how much of a landmark title Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was when it released back in 1995, it’s absurd to think that it’s only just being re-released on one of Nintendo’s Virtual Console services – well, that is if you exclude the exclusive 3DS release under the guise of the...
Review Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (3DS eShop / NES)
Join the fang club
Looking back, it's incredible to think that Konami took such a risk with the Castlevania series during its formative years. Having tasted critical and commercial success with the original NES outing, the Japanese company decided to give its direct sequel a different spin. The result was Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, a game which...
Please sink this battleship
It's surprising there aren't more DS titles based on the classic board game Battleship. The DS, with its plastic exterior and flip-up dual screens, looks remarkably like a Milton Bradley Battleship board you probably have stuffed in the back of a closet. You don't need to dig through all your old board games to play...
Review Mach Rider (3DS eShop / NES)
A forgotten gem from the NES launch library
Mach Rider is an impressive feat for an NES title — a faux-3D motorcycle combat game with dozens of courses, an endurance mode, and a track editor. Not only was Mach Rider an NES title, but it was an October 1985 NES launch title. Namco's Pole Position had only hit arcades three years earlier, and...
Review WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Fun incorporated
Ever since its first foray into the video game market, Nintendo has been known for the incredible amount of creativity it brings to the medium. Innovative ideas – whether they add a pleasing minor touch or groundbreaking gameplay feature – have to some degree been the company’s bread and butter for decades. It’s these...
Review Kirby & The Amazing Mirror (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Kirbytroid
For the most part, not much has changed about the Kirby series — many of its titles are fairly straightforward platformers in which your main ability is to suck up enemies and acquire their powers. It's not until somewhat recently that the development teams started trying different things, and one can certainly make a case saying that...
Review Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Double trouble
Back in 2003, Nintendo had already released two excellent Mario RPGs; Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and Paper Mario. Rather than immediately making a Paper Mario sequel, the company decided to add a third completely different game to the line-up. While the previous games were developed by Squaresoft and Intelligent...
Review Super Dodge Ball (Wii U eShop / NES)
Utterly ridiculous and sublime
When firing up an NES game in the modern day, no less a silly spin-off sports title from the era, a certain mindset is required. If you're intolerant of sticky animation, that flickering effect that NES games have when there's too much on screen and wonky frame performance, there are plenty of games that are immediate...
Review Advance Wars (Wii U eShop / GBA)
War has never been so much fun
Mention Advance Wars to a seasoned gamer and they're almost guaranteed to have heard of it. One of the earliest major Game Boy Advance titles, it's now also one of the earliest titles from the handheld on the Wii U Virtual Console, giving veterans another chance to pick it up and newcomers an ideal opportunity to see...
Review I Am In The Movie (DSiWare)
I am in disbelief
Have you ever wanted to be a film director? Have you ever wanted to capture life through the lens of a camera and use it to craft your own cinematic masterpiece? Do you have even a fleeting interest in special effects? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, now’s the time to leave all of your hopes and dreams on the...
Review Clu Clu Land (3DS eShop / NES)
Spinning from poles as a fish with human limbs...
Clu Clu Land is one of those unassuming early Nintendo Entertainment System releases that seems to show up all the time these days, from cameos in Super Smash Bros. to minigames in NES Remix, right alongside classics like Mario and Zelda. Even if you didn't grow up playing Clu Clu Land, most Nintendo...
Review Super Mario Kart (Wii U eShop / SNES)
A timely boost for a classic
With a PAL release a mere nine months after the April 1992 launch of the UK SNES, during a 16-bit era where show-boating superior technology and exceptional console power was at the forefront of Nintendo’s objectives, Super Mario Kart remained humble in exhibiting its technical prowess. European gamers had been...
Review Volleyball (Wii U eShop / NES)
Flat ball
What’s your favourite major sport? If you answered “volleyball,” there’s a good chance that you’re among a minority of sports fans. That’s not to say that volleyball is a lesser game than the titanic football – European or American, your choice – or any other major sport, but it does make one wonder why Nintendo would...
