Retro - Timeline
TodayThu, 28th Mar 2024
Guide Best Star Wars Video Games, Ranked - Switch And Nintendo Systems
You sort the padawans from the poodoo
Updated with Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection — feel free to add your own rating once you've played it and see where it ends up in the rankings. We didn't have the best time with the Switch version ourselves, but you may disagree: <related ids="163409"> Remember, the ranked list below is...
Tuesday19th Mar 2024
Soapbox 30 Years Later, Super Metroid's Foreboding Atmosphere Is Still Unmatched
Zeb-easily the best
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, to celebrate Super Metroid's 30th anniversary, Ollie sings the praises of the game's enduring foreboding atmosphere... The Metroid series is perhaps best known for its...
Wednesday13th Mar 2024
Feature "The Odds Seemed Just Astronomical" - Reviving Lost Media With Shantae Advance
"Decisions made by younger me created a ton of headaches for modern me"
It's not often that a developer gets to revisit a chapter of their past and pick up where they left off on a project two decades prior, but the revival of Shantae Advance in the form of Risky Revolution has given WayForward creative director Matt Bozon just that opportunity...
Review Mario Tennis (GBC) - Camelot's Ace Little Tennis RPG Is Hard To Fault
Courts of appeal
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy (Color) library via Nintendo Switch Online. For whatever its name is worth, Mario Tennis doesn’t feature a lot of the red guy — at least at first. That may come as an initial disappointment to...
Tuesday12th Mar 2024
Guide Every Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy (Color) Game Ranked
All the GB and GBC games, ranked by you
Updated with Dr. Mario and the excellent sports RPGs, Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. Remember, this list evolves as users rate the games within, so head to the game profiles and rate them out of 10 if you'd like to see the rankings below alter. Enjoy! Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles first arrived on...
Saturday2nd Mar 2024
Feature Meet Morphcat Games, The New-Gen NES Devs Pushing The 8-Bit Envelope
"No one has come close to exhausting its full capabilities"
Four decades after it became an international sales phenomenon and dominated a crowded games market, the Nintendo Entertainment System – the 8-bit box that gave birth to some of the medium’s biggest enduring franchises – today finds itself playing host to something else entirely: new...
Thursday22nd Feb 2024
Guide Every Nintendo Switch Online N64 Game Ranked
All the N64 games, ranked by you
Updated with Blast Corps following the February 2024 update. Remember, this is a dynamic, real-time ranking of every available N64 game playable as part of a Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription. You can add (or maybe even reevaluate) your User Ratings for every game you've played at any time, even after...
Review Blast Corps - An Absurd, Exhilarating, Explosive Gem From Rare's N64 Days
Time to get moving
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Long before the massive mainstream appeal of video games that exists today, successful developers were surprisingly free from the shackles of big...
Guide Every Nintendo Switch Online NES Game Ranked
All the NES games, ranked by you
Updated with Snake Rattle 'n' Roll and RC PRO-AM following the February 2024 update. Remember, this list evolves as users rate the games within, so head to the game profiles and rate them out of 10 if you'd like to see the rankings below change. Enjoy! The collection of NES games available to Nintendo Switch Onl
Wednesday21st Feb 2024
News Five More Classic Rareware Games Come To Nintendo Switch Online Today
Blast (Corps) from the past!
As part of today's Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase, Nintendo has announced that five of the now-Microsoft-owned Rare's titles will be available today via Nintendo Switch Online. The games are: NES Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll RC PRO-AM Super Nintendo Battletoads in Battlemaniacs Killer Instinct Nintendo 64 (
Tuesday13th Feb 2024
Random Up For A Challenge? Try Taking On Mario Wonder With The NES Power Pad
It is possible... just about
When Super Mario Bros. Wonder first launched at the end of last year, we asked you lovely lot what your controller of choice was to take on the latest 2D platformer. We listed the likes of the Joy-Con, Pro Controller and the SNES pad — heck, we even pushed the boat out and included the CRKD Nitro Deck! Basically, we...
Monday12th Feb 2024
Soapbox With Switch Online, It's The Perfect Time To Bring Back These Wii U Gems
An absolute NES-cessity
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Ethan looks back on a pair of Wii U games — and a 3DS sibling — which could help curious gamers navigate the Switch Online retro library if they were given a second...
Friday9th Feb 2024
Guide Best Nintendo Remakes & Remasters Of All Time, Ranked
Harder, better, faster, stronger
We've updated this list with Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and have also reworked it from 'remakes-only' to now feature Nintendo-published remasters, too. Happy now? Read on for more details... When it comes to remaking, remastering, and re-releasing a game, it's easy to assume every publisher out there is plundering its...
Sunday4th Feb 2024
News Nintendo's Switch Online Service Spotlights Donkey Kong With New Hub
The DKC series celebrates 30 years in 2024
Nintendo seems to be slowly putting the spotlight back on Donkey Kong with a series of announcements in recent times. He will also star in the upcoming release Mario vs. Donkey Kong, due out on the Switch later this month. With this in mind, Nintendo has now launched a special section in the Switch Online...
Saturday3rd Feb 2024
Talking Point As A Nintendo Fan, Do You Really Need To Play The Virtual Boy?
Oh boy
It’s Christmas morning, and amidst the thick haze of food already cooking for lunch and the soothing laughter of our children enjoying their new toys, my wife approaches me with a small, square package. I hadn’t seen this under the tree. “That’s your last one,” she says. I instinctively go to shake it – she knows me well enough to...
Tuesday30th Jan 2024
News Hamster Corporation Celebrates 400 Arcade Archives Titles On Switch
Here's to many more!
It seems like yesterday Hamster was only celebrating its 100th 'Arcade Archives' release, but it's now actually 400 titles into its retro revival project. Hamster Corporation shared this milestone in a brief post on social media earlier before, noting how Rainbow Islands was its latest game to arrive on the Nintendo Switch and...
Sunday28th Jan 2024
Feature 21 Game Boy Advance Games We'd Love To See Added To Nintendo Switch Online
GBA gems we'd dig on Switch
With Golden Sun and The Lost Age making their arrival on Nintendo Switch Online, we've given this list a bit of a spruce up and added a few more dream titles to the service. Plus, we've got a cheeky little poll at the end of the article too — so make sure you vote and let us know what you want to see on NSO. The Game...
Saturday20th Jan 2024
News Konami Is Bringing Back Rocket Knight Adventures And Felix The Cat
Update: Limited Run releases new Rocket Knight trailer
Update [Sat 20th Jan, 2024 07:00 GMT]: Limited Run Games has shared a brand new trailer for the Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked collection, promoting the physical pre-order which is now live. This includes an animated intro by Studio Meala. You can check it out below. Original [Thu...
Wednesday17th Jan 2024
Guide Every Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy Advance (GBA) Game Ranked
All the GBA games, ranked by you
Expecting to see Mother 3 on this list now it's technically available via Switch Online? Well, it's Japan-only at the moment, and this list only covers GBA games released in the West. We've still got our fingers crossed for an official localisation at some point. Remember, this is a reader-ranked, dynamic list based...
Review Golden Sun: The Lost Age - More Of The Same, Which Is No Bad Thing
The return of the prodigal sun
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy Advance library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Back in 2001 (2002 in Europe) some players were left feeling short-changed when Golden Sun reached its abrupt ending...
Review Golden Sun - A Radiant RPG, Once It Gets Going
Magic hands make light work
This review originally went live in 2014, and we're updating and republishing it to celebrate the game's arrival in Switch's Game Boy Advance library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Golden Sun expands on proven genre archetypes to deliver an experience that both pays tribute to and refines the classic...
Friday5th Jan 2024
Soapbox The 'Recharged' Series Proves Atari Is No Longer A Spent Force
A look at Atari's lineup of neo-retro revivals
Before there was Nintendo, there was Atari. Once the dominant player in the gaming industry, its story is one of a dramatic rise and fall. For years, Atari had done little more than sell licensed T-shirts and low-quality plug-and-play consoles. But since coming under new management in 2021, Atari looks...
Monday1st Jan 2024
Feature 'The Art Of Nintendo Power' Exhibit - A Guided Tour
"The whole mission is to share the work"
Have you ever seen an original Contra up close? What about an original Mario Kart? For Stephan Reese, organizer and showrunner for the non-profit Interactive Art Collection (and a Senior Producer at video game developer Bungie when he’s not busy doing that), it’s his life’s mission that you might have...
Feature Game Boy Color - A Quarter Century Of Colour Nintendo Handhelds
GBC memories
It's now 25 years since Game Boy Color launched, and for many of us in the West, it was on this system that we first caught and traded Pocket Monsters with pals back in 1998. Backwards compatible with the entire Game Boy library, the Game Boy Color refined the DMG and the smaller Game Boy Pocket with its sharp little colour screen...
Sunday31st Dec 2023
Feature Meet The Virtual Boy Fan Making New Tech And Games For Nintendo's Console Curio
"I thought, 'Hey, I can probably do that'"
As the reputed black sheep of the Nintendo console family, one might think 1995’s Virtual Boy to be the last piece of hardware capable of garnering an enthusiast following today. Discontinued after less than a year on the market and never released in Europe, the elusive red-and-black headset is remembered...
Feature Digital Doppelgangers - Home Vs. Handheld Adaptations In The 2000s
To Urbz is human
When I was working on my MFA in Game Design, I referenced Urbz: Sims in the City in a meeting with my thesis advisor, and he asked if I had played the console or the handheld version. I was confident that I’d played the console version growing up. I could recall the memory quite clearly—sitting against a study pillow on my...
Saturday30th Dec 2023
Feature How Super Mario World Became An Award-Winning Book Of Verse
“Super Mario World has one of my most difficult experiences wound through its code"
Most of us have some childhood memory of games – be it Pokémon Blue, Tetris, or Super Mario Bros. When we dust off those old consoles, the games often trigger memories of our lives outside the screen too. In his heart-wrenching series of poems, If All the World...
Friday29th Dec 2023
Feature The One Thing Wii Did Much Better Than Switch
Point taken
The Sensor Bar. Flimsy little plastic box with the world's longest, spindliest cable. An irritation to every Wii owner who has ever had to move their console. What was it good for? There's not a lot to the Sensor Bar. A little device that emits some infrared light. If the Wii Remote is pointed at one, it recognises that's where the TV...
Soapbox It's Time For A Zelda 1 Remake, Please
Or a 'temporal localisation', if you like
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, as TOTK anticipation increases to dangerous levels, Gavin explores why it's time for Nintendo to go back to a very specific well... Look, I'm all for...
Thursday28th Dec 2023
Feature 8-Bit Wolf - Remembering The NES Game Teaching Kids To Conquer Wall Street
It’s all about bucks, kid
When you think back to being in middle school, staying up all night with your friends playing video games, what games are you playing? Is it Mass Effect? Maybe some iteration of Smash or Mario Kart? The big one when I was that age was Street Fighter II in all its iterations. But there's another game that brings back the...