Retro - Timeline
Monday9th Sep 2019
Feature 20 Dreamcast Games We'd Love To See On Nintendo Switch
20 games to mark 20 years
The Dreamcast turns 20 in North America today - yes, 9/9/99 was now two decades ago - and in honour of the occasion we're republishing this article from last November when the console reached the same milestone in its homeland. Enjoy! The Sega Dreamcast turns 20 today – it launched on November 27th, 1998 in Japan – and...
Sunday8th Sep 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #7 - Star Fox
Barrel roll with the punches
Oh, hello there! We were so involved with the freshly released Super NES games on Switch we almost forgot about the big bout. Of course it's time for Box Art Brawl, the weekly showdown where three regional retro boxes battle to find out which was the fairest of them all. Last week Mega Man 3 gave itself a sound...
Saturday7th Sep 2019
Feature 30 Weird And Wonderful Peripherals From Nintendo's History
Playing with power... and a whole lotta plastic
Nintendo’s history as a manufacturer of playing cards and toys means the company has always been very comfortable with expanding out from with video game console under the TV into the wider world of peripheral accessories and novelties. These extra lumps of plastic and electronics that interface with...
Reminder Rate Your Favourite GameCube Games
The Dolphin turns 18 in September, and we need your help
Update: Thanks to everyone who's rated their favourites so far. This is just a wee reminder if you missed this last week. Remember, you're scoring games - as many as you like - out of 10, not picking a top 10. Very good. Carry on! The Nintendo GameCube launched in Japan in September 2001 and...
Friday6th Sep 2019
News Pre-Orders Go Live For The Evercade Retro Handheld System
More than 100 games already confirmed
As promised, pre-orders for the upcoming Evercade console have now gone live. If you're looking to get your hands on one, keep reading! With an expanding library of cartridges that already includes the likes of Namco Museum (Pac-Man, Dig-Dug and Galaxian), Atari (Asteroids, Centipede and Pong), Interplay...
Thursday5th Sep 2019
News Bethesda Brings Hell To Switch This November With The Release Of DOOM 64
Suprise, surprise
After being listed on multiple classification boards around the world over the past few months, Bethesda has now confirmed DOOM 64 for will be coming to the Nintendo Switch on 22nd November. If the title itself wasn't already enough of an indication, this classic first-person shooter started out life way back in 1997 on the...
Sunday1st Sep 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #6 - Mega Man 3
Blue on blue
Ding ding! Round 6! Welcome once again to Box Art Brawl, the series where regional retro box art variations duke it out to discover which one rules the roost. Last week we saw Super Mario Kart race itself ragged until just one version took the chequered flag. The winner? Super Mario Kart, followed closely by Super Mario Kart, with poor...
Saturday31st Aug 2019
News DOOM 64 Rated By The Australian Classification Board
The armies of Hell are returning
It seems like DOOM 64 really is making a comeback in some way or form. During the weekend of QuakeCon, a PEGI rating for the game surfaced online and now – roughly a month later – one has popped up on the Australian Classification Board
Friday30th Aug 2019
News This Exclusive Evercade Console Is Looking Pretty In Black
Pre-orders go live next week
UK-based online retailer Funstock is selling an exclusive black edition of the upcoming Evercade console - perfect for any dark mode fans out there. Releasing on the same day as the standard model (20th March, 2020), the black edition will be available in a Premium Edition bundle or in an All-In Edition bundle. The...
Thursday29th Aug 2019
News Retro Beat 'Em Up Jay And Silent Bob: Mall Brawl Gets A Limited Run For NES
Oldschool
Jay and Silent Bob fans are in for a treat next week, with Limited Run Games announcing the 8-bit companion brawler Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl is receiving a Limited Run for the NES, on 6th September. Snooch to the nooch! Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl, the 8-bit companion brawler to Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch from the...
Wednesday28th Aug 2019
Feature Has A Decades-Old Super Mario 64 Mystery Finally Been Cleared Up?
L is NOT and was never real, according to new sources
There's something about the very best video games which inspires obsession over the smallest details. Whether it involves (over)analysing a blurry texture, trying to decipher a muffled audio clip or simply experim
Monday26th Aug 2019
Feature The Man Who Lost Tetris
The almost unbelievable story of Robert Maxwell
Media tycoon Robert Maxwell’s influence on the UK and international games’ software industry is the stuff of legend. As Dan Ackmerman’s writes in The Tetris Effect, Maxwell’s part in the international battle for the rights to Tetris resulted in legal battles between his son, Kevin Maxwell,...
Sunday25th Aug 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #5 - Super Mario Kart
Before the big blue shell
Welcome to Round 5 of Box Art Brawl, where we take a gander at the box art of a certain retro game and crown one regional variant as champion. Last week the classic NES brawler River City Ransom duked it out with its counterparts until the Japanese version emerged bloody-nosed but victorious, beating down the North American...
Friday23rd Aug 2019
Random Reimagining The Famicom As An Apple-Style Home Computer
Introducing the Family Computer PVM System
The classic Nintendo Famicom was a design masterpiece compared to the boxier version which regions outside of Japan got in the form of the NES. Around the time of its release, there was a bit of a trend for having combined CRT monitors incorporated into a gaming device, such as the Vectrex from 1982. Later,...
Wednesday21st Aug 2019
News SEGA's Yu Suzuki Would Like To Revisit Out Run And Virtua Fighter
Splash wave
Good old Yu Suzuki, the legendary SEGA designer has been responsible for some of the great arcade franchises of all time such as Out Run, After Burner, Space Harrier and Virtua Fighter. Suzuki-san is currently putting the final touches on to Shenmue III, but this hasn't stopped him dreaming of revisiting some of the classics which he...
Sunday18th Aug 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #4 - River City Ransom / Street Gangs
Vote for your favourite box art
Welcome to the fourth round of Box Art Brawl, the series where a classic retro game takes on its doppelgängers from other territories to see which has the greatest cover art. Last week we saw GameCube titan Resident Evil 4 knock itself sideways as its moody European self won a very comfortable victory over its North...
Wednesday14th Aug 2019
Feature Super Nintendo Games We’d Like To See On Nintendo Switch Online
You can never have enough ways to play SNES games
The discovery of an FCC filing showing a SNES controller with the model number ‘HAC-042’ (indicating it’s part of the Switch’s library of peripherals) has all but confirmed that Super Nintendo games are finally on their way to the Nintendo Switch Online service alongside their NES-based...
Sunday11th Aug 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #3 - Resident Evil 4
What'll it be, stranger?
And we're back! Welcome to the third edition of Box Art Brawl, the series where we ask you lovely people to decide which lucky territory got the best box art of a certain retro classic. Last week we looked at Contra (or Probotector as it was known in Europe) and it was decided that the North American muscle-bound variant was...
Saturday10th Aug 2019
Feature Best Nintendo DS Games
As voted for by you
The 30th anniversary of the Game Boy's arrival on North American shores got us thinking about the unlikely upstart system that stole its portable crown and permanently ousted the mighty Game Boy brand from Nintendo's lineup. It's strange to think back to a time when the Nintendo DS - that odd-looking folding system - was...
News Collector Uncovers Nearly 200 Animation Cels From Classic Super Mario Bros. Cartoons
Jackpot!
A self-proclaimed collector who goes by the Twitter handle @max6464646464 has acquired a box of nearly 200 animation cels from the original Super Mario Bros. Super Show and Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon. Here's what this individual had to say about his lucky finding, along with some photos: The secrets out. I have aquired a box close to...
Friday9th Aug 2019
News Trademarks Hint At A Game Boy Clone From The Aces At Analogue
FPGA or bust?
Analogue is responsible for some of the most accurate hardware clones money can buy, having already released systems that emulate the performance of the NES, SNES and Mega Drive at a hardware level, bringing ref
News The Evercade Handheld's Latest Cartridge Features Several Rare SNES Games
More retro delights
Yet another wave of games set to be released on Evercade have been shared - the upcoming cartridge-based handheld system which can connect to your TV. You can read all about the new system here if you're not familiar, but for those of you who have seen our previous coverage, let's dive into the good stuff. This latest set of...
Wednesday7th Aug 2019
Reminder Vote For Your Favourite Nintendo DS Games
We need your help to rate the finest Dual Screen games
Update: A big thank you to everybody who has already voted when this went live over the weekend - to anyone who missed it, feel free to dive in below and help us rank the top 50 Nintendo DS games ever. Carry on! Later this year we'll be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Nintendo DS, a...
Sunday4th Aug 2019
Poll Box Art Brawl #2 - Contra / Probotector
I Think Ur A Probotector
Welcome back for round two of the series where we throw the regional box art variants of a particular retro game into a pit and see which one scrambles out victorious. Last time we kicked things off with Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo. After a week of voting, the Japanese art has emerged with a very comfortable win,...
Friday2nd Aug 2019
Talking Point Are Retro Repro Firms Exploiting Demand With Shoddy Products?
Gleylancer is the latest to disappoint
Given that many of retro gaming's most collectable items now sell for hundreds (and occasionally thousands) of dollars, it's unsurprisingly that enterprising companies are turning their hand to officially-licenced reprints to satisfy demand and make a quick buck in the process. The latest example of this is...
Hardware Review You Don't Need The SNK Neo Geo Samurai Shodown Mini, But You'll Want It Anyway
Less a console, more an objet d'art
You might think that Nintendo has embraced the 'Classic Mini' craze with gusto thanks to its NES and SNES Classic Editions, but the company's efforts in this field pale in comparison to that of SNK, which has been pumping out miniature hardware with extreme prejudice for the past year or so. First, we had the Neo...
News A 1987 NES Game Just Sold For $9,000 After Sitting In An Attic For 30 Years
Wowzers
If you happen to have any old Nintendo games stored away in your attic, you might want to dig them out and check what their value might be today. You might just end up being $9,000 better off. Scott Amos of Reno, Nevada recently found an old, 1987 NES game in his attic after looking through his childhood possessions. The game in question...
Thursday1st Aug 2019
News SNK's Action Game Victory Road Is The Latest Arcade Archives Release
And it's out today
Hamster's latest Arcade Archives release for the Switch eShop is this time the 1986 SNK action game, Victory Road. It's a sequel to Ikari Warriors, which was released on the Switch eShop earlier this year. This story continues on from the first game. After Ralf and Clark finish their mission, they suddenly find themselves dragged...
Wednesday31st Jul 2019
As voted for by you
Back in April the Nintendo Game Boy turned 30 in Japan and to celebrate this amazing occasion we ran a series of related features over the course of a week. Today it's 30 years since the system's North American debut, so we're republishing this collection of the finest games on the console, as voted by Nintendo Life users. Enjoy!...
Anniversary Game Boy Turns 30 Years Old In North America
Three decades of playing with portable power
Back in April we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the one handheld to rule them all - the humble Nintendo Game Boy. We ran a series of features on the all-conquering lump of grey plastic and had fun reminiscing about green screens, AA batteries and some incredible games. Well, that was in celebration...
