Retro Reviews
Wish you weren't here
Nintendo is a company that's world renowned for its varied cast of versatile characters and Wario is certainly no exception. Since his first playable appearance in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, Wario has starred in a plethora of 2D platforming adventures spanning the Game Boy right through to the DS, each one seeing...
Review Catrap (3DS eShop / GB)
Definitely not a trap
Nintendo's been releasing 3DS Virtual Console games at a very nice pace so far. In just a few months, we've already had classics like Donkey Kong and Gargoyle's Quest. The newest release, Catrap, however, is probably the most obscure title yet. Originally released in Japan under the title Pitman, and based on a game earlier...
Review Horizon Riders (WiiWare)
Well balanced?
Horizon Riders is definitely a Wii-exclusive experience. A game that makes use of both the Balance Board and Wii Zapper, Sabarasa's on-rails shooter is tailor-made for the console. If you are one of the millions that bought Wii Fit, consider yourself in for a treat, as the game makes good use of the peripheral and really shouldn't be...
Review Side Pocket (3DS eShop / GB)
Dead ball
The great thing about the Virtual Console is that it allows people to experience games that they somehow missed out on the first go around and encourages discovery of forgotten and overlooked gems. The flip side is that not everything dug up has aged particularly well, like Data East's portable version of once-esteemed billiards game Side...
Review Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube)
Super Sonic or Super Chronic?
SEGA's attempt to have Sonic the Hedgehog transcend his 2D roots and venture into the realm of 3D didn't go nearly as smoothly as Nintendo's own Super Mario 64, despite Sonic Adventure being generally well received upon its release on the Dreamcast in 1999. It didn't take long for the cloud to lift from the judgement of...
Review Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
Farm-assured prime cut
Thanks to Rising Star Games, gamers in Europe have finally caught up on the Rune Factory series — until Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny launches on Wii in North America next week, that is. Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon on DS is the third and so far final portable instalment in the Harvest Moon spin-off, and the...
Review Crystal Caverns of Amon-Ra (DSiWare)
Is the quality of this game just a mirage?
Puzzle games are a dime a dozen on DSiWare, so when a new one comes along, it's pretty easy to dismiss. Throw in a word like "crystal" and the words "Bejeweled clone" immediately come to mind. While this does involve the matching of three similarly coloured objects, however, Crystal...
Review Mickey's Speedway USA (Nintendo 64)
Another kart racing game? Oh, boy!
By the end of the Nineties, UK developer Rareware had established itself as one of the most talented softcos in the world, and along with Nintendo's own in-house output, had helped to placate Nintendo 64 gamers throughout most of the console's life with a steady supply of premium software. Having delivered the...
Review escapeVektor: Chapter 1 (WiiWare)
Virtual world, real quality
After the delightful Pop (and its various offshoots), it seemed a bit like Nnooo was taking a break from game development. The studio released several applications through DSiWare, and while they were quite good, gamers might be forgiven for assuming that the company's future releases would gravitate more toward...
Review Aliens: Infestation (DS)
"Another glorious day in the Corps!"
Of the four main Alien films, it's James Cameron’s action packed 1986 movie Aliens that provides the most explosive source material for a video game conversion. Konami knew this when it picked up the licence and released a fun arcade game, enabling players to blast pink xenomorphs in 1990. SEGA fans have...
Review The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition (DSiWare)
Four Links for the price of none
In the hubbub, hype and over-excitement of E3 2011, some gamers would have been particularly delighted by a DSiWare announcement from Nintendo: while that seems unlikely, it does reflect the dedication of fans and their love for the Zelda series. After a relatively short wait, the much anticipated The Legend of...
Together at last
Say what you will about the rest of the game, one thing Bugs'N'Balls gets exactly right is its title. It has bugs, and they are indeed armed with balls. The question is this: do bugs and balls go together like peanut butter and jelly, or is it more like oil and water? Let's just say it's peanut butter jelly time. Bugs'N'Balls is...
Review 101-in-1 Explosive Megamix (WiiWare)
101 reasons to avoid this
One hundred and one games. It's a tempting proposition isn't it? It's unlikely that as an average consumer you will play, let alone purchase, one hundred and one games in a whole year, so when Nordcurrent comes a-knockin' at your door and offers you exactly that many titles for the low, low price of 700 Points, you'd be...
Review Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (3DS eShop / GB)
Monochrome Mario is back in style
Nintendo managed to squeeze quite a bit of the Super Mario experience into the original Super Mario Land, but many gamers felt like the game was a bit too scaled down to feel like a true adventure from the series. Nintendo obviously sensed this when they sat down to create Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, as this...
Review Break Tactics (DSiWare)
Uninspired, but not broken
Strategy games come in many forms, but these days, subgenres like tower defence and resource management are far more commonplace than your traditional turn-based affairs. Break Tactics helps fill the void, and while it's a fine entry in the category, it doesn't innovate much either. The game is reminiscent of Chess and a...
Review Turok: Rage Wars (Nintendo 64)
Rage against the machine (gun)
Multiplayer has been a mainstay in first person shooters since only a few years after the genre's formal debut. Nonetheless, PC gamers had been shooting each other either in LAN setups or online for many years before console FPSes got in on the act. It wasn't until GoldenEye 007 hit the N64 that the idea of getting...
This cuts it
There has been much debate in gaming circles about Nintendo’s digital offerings and the competition from smartphones and tablets. Now one of the biggest hits from those rival platforms, Cut the Rope, has finally arrived on DSiWare. The question is, does this title succeed on the DSi, or does it miss out on the candy? The premise of...
Review Escape Trick: Ninja Castle (DSiWare)
Escape while you still can
Escape Trick: Ninja Castle is the second game in the Escape Trick series that we've seen here at Nintendo Life. The first game, Escape Trick: The Secret of Rock City Prison, failed to really grab us: its ambition was laudable, but its execution consisted of dull visuals, underwhelming gameplay, and nonsensical puzzle...
Don't touch this
When a genre of game saturates a market it's fair to expect that any new title coming out within that style of play must do a good impression of the leaders in the field, in the very least aping what made the forerunners successful, hopefully providing an interesting alternative. As the number of first person shooters, mini-game...
Review Defense of the Middle Kingdom (DSiWare)
Middle of the road
Many games take the history of Asian nations as their focus, from the Japanese combat-based Samurai Warriors series to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, which use the warring kingdoms of first-century China as their basis. The newest to enter the ring is Defense of the Middle Kingdom, which also focuses on the latter's...
Review Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS)
Joker's wild
When Enix released the original Dragon Quest Monsters for Game Boy back in 1998, many quickly dismissed it as just another vain attempt to cash in on the Pokémon craze. But over the past 13 years, the Monsters series has developed quite a following and become more in-depth and multiplayer-friendly with each new release. Where the first...
Ten for the price of one
It's no secret that Kirby has been a huge part of Nintendo's portable systems over the years, even making his debut on the original Game Boy back in 1992. When Kirby Canvas Curse was released, it took the traditional button controls away and replaced them with the touchscreen controls of the DS. While some die-hard fans of...
In pole position
If there's one letter of the alphabet that, when included at the end of a title should instantly tell you not to buy that game, it's the letter “z”. The quality of a product with a name that has the linguistic audacity to inappropriately replace the sensual sweeps of a sexily shaped "s", is for the most part awful:...
Great Britain, average game
Is it OK to be competent? Is it OK, not to excel, not to push the boundaries, but just to be totally fine? It's fair to say that we all want this medium to drive forward and provide us an experience you can't find elsewhere, but when a product doesn't claim to be groundbreaking should we really expect a revolution in game...
A blast, easel-y
Painting is a lot of fun, and as it happens, it's even more fun with a group. Why it's taken so long for a game studio to realise this is beyond us – and it was beyond the man behind Paint Splash and father of three, Uffe Flarup, as well. That's why he created Kidspaint, a homebrew application that let families everywhere enjoy...
Review Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge (3DS eShop / GB)
Slightly less than mega
Back when the Mega Man franchise started with the release of the original NES game, Capcom never thought it would do well — the first game was expected to bomb horribly, as almost nobody at the famous developer thought people would like it. Fast forward to today, and Mega Man has become one of their best-known franchises...
Review BIT.TRIP COMPLETE (Wii)
Aptly titled
The BIT.TRIP titles have been wildly popular on WiiWare, but despite being able to purchase the games individually, fans of the series have been clamoring for a Wii compilation disc release since the series was completed. With the release of BIT.TRIP COMPLETE, fans not only get the collection they've wanted, but also a wealth of brand...
Not quite on point
Welcome to DotMan, the game of driving in circles. And that's it, basically. There's also a small amount of strategy, along with boredom and frustration, but we'll deal with those shortly. DotMan has its roots in classic games like Dodge 'Em and Pac-Man, but that's a bit like saying Twilight has its roots in Bram Stoker's Dracula:...
Yep. It's golf.
Rare is the game that leaves us truly speechless, but the Game Boy version of Golf is certainly one of them. Of course that's just because there's not really much to talk about. Golf, as you might expect, is a golf game. Whatever comes to mind when you hear that, that's what you get. No less, and no more. It consists of two courses...
Review House, M.D. - Episode 2: Blue Meanie (DSiWare)
Blue all over
Earlier this summer saw the release of Legacy Interactive’s first DSiWare game, House, M.D. - Episode 1: Globetrotting. If you played the game, or simply read our review, then you’ll know that this maiden voyage was not a very successful one for the company. Now, several months later, the series continues with House M.D. -...
