Retro News

March2013

  • News Sami Cetin Regains PAL Super Mario Kart Time Trial World Title

    Niece Leyla Hasso bags the women's world title, too

    UK Super Mario Kart champ Sami Cetin has regained the PAL version Time Trial World Title for the second time. Sami previously held the title from September 1998 until April 2004, and beat one of the World Records set by former title holder Karel van Duijvenboden of the Netherlands on Sunday, March...

  • Review Wrecking Crew (3DS eShop / NES)

    I'm gonna wreck it!

    It’s common knowledge for most gamers that Mario has been in countless games over the years, in which he has taken on a bevy of different roles and occupations. From race-car driver to boxing referee, Mario has done it all. Curiously enough, just about the only job Mario hasn’t performed in a video game is that of a plumber,...

  • Remake Request Langrisser

    Fire Emblem's old rival deserves a second chance

    As you dig yourself into Fire Emblem: Awakening’s monstrously addictive campaign, spare a thought for some of the other turn-based strategy RPGs which haven’t been given the chance to impress an entirely fresh generation of players. Like Langrisser, for example. Chances are, unless you really know...

  • Review Legend of the River King (3DS eShop / GBC)

    Nothing smells fishy here

    Natsume is mostly known for its Harvest Moon games, but what you might not know is that there is another long-running series from the same developer - in fact, its first game predates the first Harvest Moon by 6 years. Legend of the River King is one of only four games in this series released outside Japan, and it's now...

  • News Richie Branson Celebrates Chrono Trigger Anniversary With a New Rap

    Three free tracks, album on the way

    Last summer we directed you to a music track from rapper Richie Branson, called Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, which combined rap with enough game references to satisfy almost anyone. He's now returning with a new album that's focused on SNES classic Chrono Trigger, and to celebrate the 18th Anniversary since its...

  • News Mega Man Boss Battle Exhibition Artwork Now on Sale

    Worldwide shipping is available

    While Capcom may be showing little love for its iconic Mega Man franchise, fans and those inspired by the games continually do so in the developer's place. One example is the Mega Man Boss Battle exhibition currently running at the Gauntlet Gallery in San Francisco, a showing open until 31st March. It features a...

  • Ninterview Wiggy Design On Breathing Life Into Old Systems

    Console modification with the human touch

    Although it's always exciting to open up the latest and greatest consoles and get to grips with the incredible advances being made by hardware manufacturers, there's something about vintage systems which makes them appealing long after they fall out of fashion and become technologically obsolete. Your...

  • News Dad Hacks Donkey Kong So His Daughter Can Play As Pauline

    Role reversal

    Remember the story of Mike Hoye and his daughter Maya? He didn't want her to have to play The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker from a male perspective, so he hacked the game to make Link a "she". YouTube user Mike Mika has performed a similar trick, this time making the hero of Donkey

  • Review Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (Game Boy Advance)

    The dynamic duo go portable

    When we at Nintendo Life think of Rare’s masterpieces from the Nintendo 64 era, we think of expansive and adventurous games like Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and of course the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series. Off-the-wall characters, exuberant locales, and an epic sense of scope added to the hook of what made these...

  • News Harvest Moon Gets The Hollywood Reboot Treatment

    Down on the farm

    Hollywood reboots are pretty tiresome these days — it would appear that film-makers have run out of new ideas entirely. Still, every cloud has a silver lining, because the loathsome trend of pilfering ideas from the past has inspired the YouTube series Gritty Reboots, which parodies the process but uses video games for its ideas,...

  • Review Easter Eggztravaganza (DSiWare)

    All cracked up

    Whenever a major holiday is just around the corner, it’s no surprise that a flood of related products hit the market just in time to grab the attention of consumers. It happens with almost everything, from food to toys to lawn ornaments, and video games are no exception. While it’s not fair to knock a product for being a blatant...

  • News Kickstarter Launched For SNES Super 4-in-1 Multicart

    $10,000 funding goal in place

    A Kickstarter campaign has been launched to produce a Super 4-in-1 cartridge for the SNES. The cart will contain four homebrew titles: Mazezam, UWOL: Quest for Money, Skipp and Friends Unexpected Journey and N- WARP Daisakusen. The creators are looking to secure $10,000 to fund the project. At the time of writing, they...

  • News F-Zero AX Found Hidden In GameCube F-Zero GX

    Arcade version discovered by hackers

    If you're one of the thousands of people that still despairs that the arcade version of F-Zero GX — cunningly titled F-Zero AX — was really hard to find in its heyday, and has since all but died out, we've got some good news for you. The intrepid folks over at The Cutting Room Floor have found that the...

  • Review Puzzler World 2013 (DS)

    A puzzling affair

    There are a number of reasons why the Puzzler World series continues to see new life on DS. For one, it's still a bestselling series, which is no doubt partly down to the DS's impressive install base around the world. However, it's also the fact that the titles' word and logic puzzles — which historically have been restricted to...

  • News Hyperkin's RetroN 4 To Support SNES, Genesis, NES and GBA Software

    Everything but the kitchen sink

    Hyperkin has been producing hardware clones for a few years now — clones which provide a decent alternative for those moments when your trusty SNES dies on you and you can't abide the feeling of buying a second-hand replacement. We've already covered the RetroN 3 and SupaBoy Portable on this site, and found them to...

  • News It's Chiptune Album Time, and This One's For SEGA Fans

    Oh, the sweet beats

    We may be called Nintendo Life, but ever since the Wii Virtual Console came into being it's given us a viable excuse to talk about a lot of other systems, including Nintendo'a arch-nemesis of the early-mid '90s, the SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis. Which is no bad thing, the games industry, past and present, is about a lot more than...

  • News Super Metroid Symphony Album to be Released on 19th March

    Another arrangement from the Synthetic Orchestra

    While many enthusiasts and talented musicians create terrific remixes or orchestrations of popular game soundtracks, not all are as prolific or well-regarded as the Synthetic Orchestra. The creation of Blake Robinson, the studio is his project to take well known themes from various sources — many of...

  • Review Retro City Rampage (WiiWare)

    Rack up those combos, Player!

    Retro City Rampage is a lot of things, but subtle isn't one of them. One of the first screens — with the title "Common Sense Warning!" — informs you that the game is packed with parodies, and it continues to bludgeon you over the head as you play. You may be a pixellated character given some freedom to romp around a...

February2013

  • Video Vblank Entertainment Shows You How to Make a Game for the NES

    ROM City Rampage is a blast from the past

    Out today in North America and Europe, Retro City Rampage is, as the title suggests, a WiiWare release that aims to remind us of gaming's older days. Inspired by the original GTA, it includes a host of jokes, references and areas designed to bring to mind pop culture of the '80s and '90s. Also included with...

  • News This Is What Real Life GoldenEye 007 Multiplayer Looks Like

    Proximity mines always win

    It's actually quite scary to think how many collective man hours the team at Nintendo Life has spent playing multiplayer on GoldenEye 007. During our formative years, this highly esteemed cartridge rarely left the console and any person that didn't own a copy and four controllers was shunned as something of an outcast...

  • Feature The Wonderful World of Multiplayer Add-Ons

    The lengths we go to

    If you want to play a bit of multiplayer in most games nowadays, and you don't have a friend nearby, it's as easy as selecting a menu and waiting for strangers to appear as competition. Online multiplayer can perhaps be a bit more personal than that, of course, with the ability to meet up with friends and have a blast, as we did...

  • Review F-Zero (Wii U eShop / SNES)

    The race of a lifetime

    Looking at it today, it’s genuinely hard to believe that F-Zero was a SNES launch title. For a game that is now over two decades old, it remains remarkably impressive from a purely visual standpoint. The Mode 7 rotational and scaling effects — which were relatively new to console players back in 1990 — still look...

  • Review Yoshi (3DS eShop / NES)

    Soft boiled

    Mario's loyal dinosaur companion Yoshi may have made his debut in the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World, but one year later Nintendo gave him his own title on the rapidly fading NES. That game was Yoshi, and it's now come to non-Ambassadors on the 3DS eShop. It's a falling block puzzler, which is a genre every video game...

  • Hardware Classics Nintendo DS Lite

    This is how you redesign a console

    Let's be brutally honest here — the original DS design was ugly. Quite what Nintendo's designers were thinking when they came up with it we'll never know, but the dumpy, two-tone casing hardly got pulses racing, even back in 2004. It felt like a system that was rushed out of the door purely to meet a deadline,...

  • Review World Heroes 2 Jet (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)

    Jet setter

    Speed upgrades became all of the rage during the early fighting game craze during the early '90s — Capcom practically made a living at it for a while. So when arcade gamers began complaining about the sluggish speed of World Heroes 2, SNK did the logical thing and borrowed a page from Capcom's book. When World Heroes 2 Jet burst onto...

  • Review Moke Moke (DSiWare)

    Propellerheads

    G-STYLE's latest import from Japan, Moke Moke stars a mysterious race of flying, forest-dwelling fuzzballs known as Moke. Combining the evolutionary advantages of sighted moles with the whimsical utility of those novelty helicopter hats, the Moke spend their time whizzing around the forest in an eternal contest to see who among them...

  • Review Castlevania (3DS eShop / NES)

    Drac attack

    A while back we were "graced" with the arrival of Castlevania: The Adventure on 3DS Virtual Console, an overly simplistic attempt to bring the series to handhelds. Now the NES original has arrived on the service as well, but is it still worth going batty over? If you've played almost any other "classic-style" Castlevania game, you'll be...

  • Hardware Classics Nintendo AV Famicom

    Give the dog a bone

    The Nintendo Entertainment System — or NES, for short — is arguably the console on which Nintendo's current lofty status was built. Launched in Japan as the Famicom, the 8-bit platform is home to an almost endless list of solid-gold classics, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid,

  • Review Ah! Heaven (DSiWare)

    Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

    Over the past few years, the DSiWare download service has seen some incredibly strange games with bizarre plots and titles. Ah! Heaven is no exception to this. Simply put, this a vertically scrolling platformer that has you taking control of a spiky haired, sunglasses wearing, nameless soul who just wants to ascend to...

  • Review Dig Dug (3DS eShop / NES)

    Slightly soiled

    In 1982, Namco released Dig Dug. By that point in time the company had already cemented its place in the gaming history books with enduring classics like Pac-Man and Galaga. Their younger brother Dig Dug never quite reached their heights of popularity, but it's still quite fun in its own right. As with many early arcade games, your...

  • Feature Nintendo Battle - Donkey Kong: Tabletop vs. Game & Watch

    Are you ready?

    During the arcade boom of the early 1980s, Donkey Kong was doing great business for Nintendo. To capitalise on this popularity, miniature versions of the arcade game were released. First, there was Coleco’s Donkey Kong tabletop, followed by Nintendo’s Game & Watch Multi Screen version. We decided to pit these ‘portable’...

  • Feature Video Game Characters Looking For Love

    Looking for co-op partners

    Last year we brought you a collection of dating profiles we happened to find online, which belonged to some of our favourite video game heroes! You wouldn't expect lightning to strike twice, but since it's Valentine's Day and miracles do happen, we thought we'd spend some more time combing through the darkest recesses of...

  • Review 99Moves (DSiWare)

    Under pressure

    Having covered bullets and time, EnjoyUp's pint-sized yet madly challenging 99 series of score-attackers aligns its focus on the third staple of classic game design: movement and the limitations thereof. Over the dozen or so stages of 99Moves, players are dared to make it to the end of a gauntlet in as many moves or fewer. It doesn't...

  • Review Mega Man 2 (3DS eShop / NES)

    Get Equipped With an All-Time Classic

    In 1987, Capcom released the original Mega Man. It was well-received by both gamers and critics, but it was not much of a financial success. Over the course of the next year, however, Mega Man 2 was developed as a labour of love by Keiji Inafune and his team, alongside other projects that were expected to be...

  • Review Metal Slug 4 (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)

    Fourth time a charm?

    If there's one thing that can be said with any degree of certainty, it's that SNK's Metal Slug series always remained fairly consistent over the course of their releases. The gameplay remained pretty much the same, with little more than a few tweaks here and there for good measure. Metal Slug 4 was developed by Korean firm Mega...

  • News Microsoft Almost Purchased Sega In Order To Compete With Nintendo And Sony

    How different things could have been

    A former Microsoft executive has revealed that the company was considering buying Japanese video game veteran Sega before it decided to create the Xbox console. Speaking to IGN, Joachim Kempin said: There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was , Sega and Nintendo. There was always talk...

  • Review Super C (3DS eShop / NES)

    I think you’re a Contra

    Originally released as an arcade game titled Super Contra, Super C — or Probotector II — is the NES-ported sequel to the now infamously difficult action game Contra. With the continuing story of alien invaders, and most of the same gameplay elements, Super C shares many similarities with its predecessor, but that...

  • Hardware Classics Nintendo Game Boy

    Monochrome masterpiece

    The Nintendo DS may be the biggest selling handheld console of all time, but you could argue that this is only the case because of the vital groundwork laid down by the Game Boy. The original monochrome brick was pushed onto the market in 1989 in the wake of Nintendo's popular Game & Watch range, and would go on to sell...

  • Review Ice Climber (3DS eShop / NES)

    Cold Mountain

    What makes a video game a classic? Is it enjoyable gameplay that never feels old? Is it an engaging storyline that draws players into its universe? Or is it simply the inclusion of some characters and stages in the latest Super Smash Bros. title? Ice Climber is the latest “classic” NES game to hit the 3DS Virtual Console, but if it...

  • Hardware Classics The Legend Of Zelda Game Boy Advance SP

    The Triforce is strong in this one

    Nintendo's Game Boy Advance is one of the company's most beloved handhelds. It had a hard act to follow, coming after the blockbuster successes of the original monochrome Game Boy and the Game Boy Color, but it managed to shift almost 90 million units globally. However, in typical Nintendo fashion, it took a major...

  • Ninterview Phil "Shamoozal" Summers

    Animaniac

    Shamoozal.com has a pretty straightforward objective: to create "Flash Cartoons and Animation about Nintendo, Rabbits, Ninjas, Monsters and More". It's the brainchild of Phil Summers, a rabid Nintendo fan whose unique sense of humour has resulted in a series of incredibly amusing animations based on famous video games from the past few...

  • News The Secrets Of The Nintendo Power Line Experts Are Revealed

    Game Counselors were mere mortals after all

    Those of you in North America old enough to remember the days before the internet will no doubt recall the Nintendo Power Line. This telephone service offered gameplay tips and hints for struggling players, and was your only hope in a period where online FAQs and strategy guides didn't exist. The service...

January2013

  • Review Babel Rising (WiiWare)

    Bad religion

    God games are usually about protecting people, not condemning them. Babel Rising, however, tears a page or two out of the Book of Genesis and sees you, as the heavenly overseer himself, casting down any subjects that dare to defy. Hundreds of heretics are constructing a gigantic tower to reach the skies, but by smiting them and their...

  • Talking Point The Legend of Zelda: Remakes of the Past

    Majora's Mask 3D, anyone?

    The recent announcement of The Wind Waker HD for Wii U was met with a great deal of excitement not just here on Nintendo Life, but across social networks and other websites. It's a title that has a passionate, loyal following, and the prospect of an enhanced version prompted plenty of conversations about just what...

  • News GoldenEye Creator Explains N64 Title's Role In Bringing "Real" Guns to the Virtual World

    Brand names weren't licensed, which has changed in modern games.

    With gun control and related violence a topical subject in the U.S. and among interested parties and spectators worldwide, the role of video games has faced its own level of scrutiny. Major publishers had a meeting with vice-President Joe Biden as part of his gun control task-force...

  • News Hyrule Historia Is The Number One Best Selling Book In The US

    Beating all the fad diet books

    Throughout the day we have noticed that many of you have been receiving your precious copies of Hyrule Historia, the fantastic art book dedicated to The Legend of Zelda franchise. We've been swooning over it here at NLife towers the moment it arrived, and we're sure you have been too. It comes as no surprise that the...

  • News Smash Bros. Melee Needs Your Help To Make It To EVO 2013

    Donations required to secure final place in Las Vegas

    EVO is the place to be if you're into competitive fighting games, and the 2013 event is scheduled to take place in July. Eight games will be making the trip to Las Vegas, with seven already decided upon. The organisers are opening up a donation run to decide the eighth and final entrant, and...

  • Remake Request Princess Crown

    We explain why this 2D classic needs another shot at glory

    In the first of a new series of features, we take a look at a game that is badly in need of a remake on a Nintendo system. Princess Crown might sound like the kind of game you’d expect your little sister to play, but it’s actually the first release from the team that would eventually...

  • Review Balloon Fight (Wii U eShop / NES)

    Float on

    To mark the arrival of the Virtual Console on the Wii U, Nintendo has launched a very generous promotion to mark the 30th anniversary of the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES, in case you were wondering). What this promotion entails is the release of seven classic Nintendo games on the Wii U over a period of seven months for the...

  • Ninterview Australian Retro Gamer

    Retro gaming from down under

    The next subject in our Ninterview chair is a retro gaming fanatic from Down Under known as Australian Retro Gamer - or ausretrogamer, for short. We caught up with this internet phenomenon to quiz him on his love of all things retro and Nintendo. Nintendo Life: Who are you, and what do you do for a living? Australian...

  • News Ever Wondered What Downton Abbey Would Be Like As A SNES Game?

    It's bizarrely enthralling

    Have you ever been sat at home watching an episode of the popular British TV series Downton Abbey and thought 'you know what, they should make a game out of this'. Well who hasn't, and that's exactly what YouTube user Bill Kiley must have thought, as he has created a brilliant fake trailer for what would be a 16-bit Super...

  • Hardware Classics Game & Watch JR-55 - Donkey Kong II

    A multi-screen masterpiece

    Before the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and even the Game Boy, portable gaming was all about Nintendo's Game & Watch series. The brainchild of Nintendo engineer Gunpei Yokoi - who apparently came up with the idea after seeing a Japanese businessman playing around with his pocket calculator during his journey to work -...

  • News Platinum CEO: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Restored My Faith In Games Development

    Tatsuya Minami explains how the SNES classic helped him out of a rut

    The latest Iwata Asks focuses on Japanese studio PlatinumGames, which is currently hard at work creating Bayonetta 2 for the Wii U. In the interview, Iwata chats with PlatinumGames President and CEO Tatsuya Minami about his development past, and uncovers an interesting piece of...

  • News UK Retro Computer Museum Is Moving To Larger Premises

    Lend your support by donating to a noble cause

    We're big fans of the Retro Computer Museum here at Nintendo Life - we've covered the charity's events previously, and heartily support the aim of preserving working examples of classic systems that everyone can enjoy and interact with. The museum has been running for some time now and regularly holds...

  • News 8 Bit Weapon Celebrates Over A Decade Of Chiptune Goodness With Chiptopia

    New album features 16 classic cuts

    If you know your chiptune, then you'll already be aware of the band 8 Bit Weapon. Comprised of Seth & Michelle Sternberger, the band creates music using retro gaming hardware - including the C64, Game Boy, NES, Amiga and several other vintage systems. The duo have launched a new album which celebrates more...

  • Rumour Flashback Remake Coming To Wii U eShop

    1992 classic is getting a lick of paint

    French action platformer Flashback is being remade for modern consoles, and rumour has it that a Wii U eShop edition is also on the cards. Originally developed for the Commodore Amiga by Delphine Software in 1992, the game combined 3D visuals with 2D platforming and quickly gained a cult following. Console...

  • News It's Real Life Mario Kart, That Works

    Too cool

    If any of you know any scientists or engineers, they may tell you on a regular basis that they really make the world go round, bringing us the cool gadgets that we take for granted. "Yeah, whatever", we may say in response, but our perspective in Nintendo Life Towers has just become a whole lot more appreciative. Some clever people from...

  • News Here's What Happens When Game Boy Advance Games Invade The Real World

    Seriously amazing animation

    Ever wondered what it would be like to see your favourite Game Boy Advance titles spring to life and infiltrate reality? Perhaps not, but you're going to see it anyway - thanks to the efforts of The Pixel Kingdom. The animation below features characters from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Golden Sun,

  • News Atari's U.S. Division Files For Bankruptcy

    A bid for freedom from its parent company in France

    While filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. is typically an act taken by companies in significant financial trouble, it's being adopted as an escape mechanism by the U.S. divisions of Atari. Atari Inc, Atari Interactive Inc, Humongous Inc and California US Holdings Inc have all collectively filed in...

  • News Prepare To Be Jealous At This Amazing Nintendo Collection

    Japanese collector Isao Yamazaki shows off his stunning haul

    As we move towards a totally digital age, the attraction of collecting physical gaming media is going to become even more unusual - pretty soon, there will be kids who don't understand the concept of actually buying a physical cartridge. Thankfully, so long as people like Isao Yamazaki...

  • Feature Nintendo and Bond Through the Ages

    A license to thrill

    While film tie-ins are expected these days, few games can attest to having their origins found in novels, and fewer still can claim to have outgrown those origins and become a success in their own right. But that is exactly what the James Bond franchise has done. What initially began as a series of novels by Sir Ian Fleming,...

  • Book Review Sega Arcade Classics Volume 1

    To be this good takes ages

    Those of you that like retro gaming will no doubt have already heard of the site Hardcore Gaming 101. Run by a team of super-knowledgeable and keen gaming enthusiasts, HG101 is bursting with content relating to vintage games and franchises. The site was founded by Kurt Kalata, who is the driving force behind Sega Arcade...

  • Review Blaster Master (3DS eShop / NES)

    Master of blasters

    When it was originally released in Japan as Meta Fight, Blaster Master failed to make much of an impact. In the west, however, it was retooled slightly and given a new story about a boy and his pet frog, and became a cult classic that spawned multiple sequels - several of which ended up not even being released in Japan. On the...

  • Review Beetle Adventure Racing! (Nintendo 64)

    Infested with Bugs

    These days, considering most of us have become accustomed to the smooth frame rates and high definition resolutions provided by modern consoles, revisiting the Nintendo 64 can sometimes be a painful experience as you may find that some of your favourite games haven’t aged very well. Fuzzy textures, choppy frame rates and limited...

  • News Get A Load Of These Awesome Custom Nintendo Consoles

    Making old things new again

    What do you do when a console reaches the end of its lifespan and is replaced by newer, more powerful systems? You give it a fresh lick of paint, of course. That's exactly what Zoki64 has done. This talented artist has taken custom paint jobs to the next level, transforming N64, Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance...

  • News Ultra-Rare Tengen Tetris Prototype Up For Auction

    An important relic of video game history

    Tengen Tetris is one of the rarest, if not the rarest, NES cartridges out there. It was released way back in 1989 but after only a month on the shelves, unsold copies of the game were recalled - a shame considering many felt it was the better version of the game due to its improved graphics and two-player...

  • Review Galaxy Saver (DSiWare)

    Safe, but solid

    We've seen a wide variety of shoot 'em ups on the DSiWare service, some obviously better than others. Galaxy Saver is the newest entry and takes quite a few influences from early arcade shooters, while tossing in a few twists in an effort to make the experience stand out. So while there might not be a lot of originality when it comes...

  • News Warcraft-Loving Canadian Almost Becomes The King Of Kong

    Vincent Lemay just 2,700 points shy of Hank Chien's record

    There are plenty of vintage video games out there which tempt modern-day players to accomplish a record-breaking score, but Nintendo's Donkey Kong seems to get more attention than most - thanks largely to the amazing 2008 documentary film King of Kong, which charted the titanic battle...

  • News This Trio Of New Games Proves That The NES Is Alive And Kicking

    Old consoles never die

    Nintendo has just released the Wii U, the latest in a long line of systems which stretches back over four decades. However, that doesn't mean that the company's first home console - the NES - has been entirely forgotten. Amazingly, software is still being produced for the 8-bit wonder, and Wired has dug up three entirely new...

  • News Hacker Combines Game Boy, Wii Remote and Android To Create Portable Nirvana

    But only if you play games which use two buttons, obviously

    Retro emulation on Android isn't going to go away, regardless of how questionable and legally dubious it is. However, the exploits of a hacker by the name of alpinedelta prove that even those who resort to playing ROMs on their phone often yearn for the feel of the real thing. alpinedelta...

  • Review Shock Troopers 2nd Squad (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)

    Trigger happy

    Much like the original Shock Troopers game, 2nd Squad is very much inspired by the early days of arcade gaming, when overhead run-and-gun titles like Capcom's Commando were in vogue. While the game has a very Metal Slug feel to it, the multi-directional scrolling and 360 degree movement and firing make for quite an intense and engaging...

  • Review Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?! (DS)

    I'm ready for you now Brad

    Back in March 2012 fans of the cult TV series Adventure Time rejoiced around the world, as series creator Pendleton Ward announced via a doodle on his Twitter page that WayForward Technologies and D3 Publisher would be working on a video game adaptation for the DS and 3DS, the absurdly named Adventure Time: Hey Ice King!...

  • Review World Heroes 2 (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)

    Global gathering

    ADK’s World Heroes series is one of the Neo Geo’s lesser-known fighting dynasties, and is usually pushed to one side when people get all nostalgic about the likes of King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury. This is probably because the franchise never really took itself all that seriously; the cast was...

  • Hardware Classics Game Boy Micro Famicom Edition

    Micro Marvel

    For more than a decade, the name "Game Boy" was as synonymous with handheld gaming as "iPod" is with portable music playback today. Following the launch of the original monochrome Game Boy console in the late '80s, Nintendo ruled the market with total dominance thanks to an incredibly popular line of million-selling systems. When the...

  • News Super Mario Bros. Theme Gets The Rock Treatment

    Metal rock, that is

    It's Monday, the Holiday season is well and truly over, and despair may be the feeling of the day. Still, fear not, because YouTube has the answer to brighten your mood! No, it's not a sneezing panda, or a puppy doing the cutest things, or even a rubbish Gangnam Style routine. Oh no, it's music from Super Mario Bros. with a metal...

  • News Streets Of Rage 4 Almost Happened, But Sega Decided Otherwise

    Series composer spills the beans

    Sega's Streets of Rage franchise - known in Japan as Bare Knuckle - is arguably one of the most beloved 16-bit series of all time. It's not just popular with Sega fans, either; the legendary second outing is seen by many retro experts as the finest side-scrolling fighter ever conceived. Amazingly, the franchise has...

  • Review Snowboard Xtreme (DSiWare)

    Xtremely lacklustre

    Sometimes a game company develops a game that doesn’t turn out to be nearly as well received as they expect it to be. After that, the very same game company will sometimes take that sorry excuse for a game, change the theme, fix the controls, re-skin it to look like something different, and then release it as an entirely new...

  • News Virtual Boy Port of Faceball Is Getting A Physical Release

    ROM will be uploaded to the net for free once all copies are sold

    It would seem that Nintendo's much-maligned Virtual Boy console is undergoing something of a renaissance at present. Last month we reported that Bound High - a Virtual Boy game which never saw the light of day when the console was originally released - had gone into production thanks...

  • Review Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (3DS eShop / NES)

    Lost levels = lost sanity

    It's a story so well known now that we'll just summarise it for you: what is now known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was actually released in Japan as the sequel to enduring classic Super Mario Bros. Western gamers instead received the subconscious vegetable buffet that we more traditionally think of as Super Mario...

  • Review Jump Trials Extreme (DSiWare)

    Aiming higher

    It's only been a little over a month since G-STYLE's Jump Trials hopped onto the DSiWare service, but its sequel Jump Trials Extreme has already made the long leap over from Japan. Like 10 Second Run, the Jump Trials games are all about performing daring feats of platforming in under 10 seconds. We thought the original was an enjoyable...

December2012

  • Review Goooooal América (DSiWare)

    New World, old game

    For all the emphatic 'o's in its title's iconic interjection, Goooooal América is not a game about football. Nor is it a foosball game, as you might think. If you happen to have owned a certain toy as a child, however, you'll recognize the game's inspiration right off the bat. It's based on a particular small-scale...

  • News In Need Of A Portable Super Nintendo? Look No Further

    All packaged in a lovely yellow case

    There's been a zombie apocalypse. You're going to need a survival kit. What comes to mind? A torch? A shotgun? A cricket bat? Well Reddit user Robotairz has created possibly the best emergency gaming kit we've seen with a portable Super Nintendo, protected within a hard yellow toolbox with a screen and room for...

  • Review Vampire Crystals (WiiWare)

    Vampires, they don’t always suck

    One fact that we all need to face is that fast-paced and frantic video games will never go out of style. Whether they’re classics being played on an arcade cabinet or new entries on a home console, intense action coupled with multiplayer mayhem can be downright addictive. Another fact that we all need to face is...

  • Hardware Classics Tezuka Osamu World Shop Game Boy Light

    A gaming work of art

    In the first of a new series of features, we'll be taking a look at some seriously beautiful and collectible gaming items - all of which are certain to get hardcore Nintendo fans seriously excited. First up is the Limited Edition Tezuka Osamu World Shop Game Boy Light, a super-rare Japanese exclusive which is emblazoned with...

  • Review Cake Ninja XMAS (DSiWare)

    Christmas is cancelled

    Long time readers of Nintendo Life will be acutely aware of the fact that we’re not the biggest fans of Cypronia’s Cake Ninja series. The two titles released so far have both received scathing critiques from our staff, which is why we approached this festive edition with a fair degree of trepidation. As the title plainly...

  • Review Rytmik World Music (DSiWare)

    Bring the beat back

    Cinemax has cooked up a number of flavours of its Rytmik music production suite, allowing the musically-minded playgrounds with which to explore dance, chip tunes, hip hop, rock and now world music. Rytmik World Music is a fun little musical tool tha

  • Review Anonymous Notes Chapter 3 - From The Abyss (DSiWare)

    Return of the Abyss

    Things have been quiet on the Anonymous Notes front — after a year and a half the series returns for a hat trick with Anonymous Notes Chapter 3 - From The Abyss. Not much has changed in that time, really: save for a new protagonist, Chapter 3 is still the same mechanically sound and somewhat aimless dungeon crawler as Chapter 2...

  • Review Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (Wii)

    Golly gosh, Mickey

    When Disney Epic Mickey arrived on Wii in time for the Holiday season in 2010, it attracted a lot of attention due to its concept and the development leadership of Warren Spector, one of the industry's most respected figures. Its relatively late arrival in the system's lifespan meant it pushed attractive visuals "for a Wii game",...

  • Feature The Confusing World of Mega Man Spin-Offs - Part 2

    Lots and lots of Mega Man

    We've already brought you our first part of a feature looking at the confusing world of Mega Man spin-offs, and now we're diving into some lesser known adventures from the Blue Bomber's universe. If you've played all of these then we can say one thing with confidence — you're a big fan of the franchise. Without further...

  • Review Castle Conqueror - Heroes 2 (DSiWare)

    Another heroic effort

    Just over one year ago CIRCLE released Castle Conqueror - Heroes for DSiWare. We weren't stingy with the praise in our review, awarding it a solid 9 out of 10 and holding it up as the strongest title in a very strong series. Now we've received a sequel, and we couldn't be happier. For those who haven't played the first game,...

  • News Unchipped Kickstarter Aims To Capture The Magic Of NES Music

    "8-bit NES themes brought to life with today's technology"

    A new Kickstarter project has been launched which intends to celebrate the authentic sound of NES music. Unchipped - 8-Bit Music Reborn is the work of Brad Tratzinski, and has a modest goal of just $4,000. Tratzinski - who also plays in the band Splitbelly - reveals that the project came...

  • Review Zombie Skape (DSiWare)

    There is no eskape

    If you haven’t noticed by now, then we’re just going to have to come right out and say it: zombies are popular. There’s no real way to trace the resurgence that zombies have had in popular culture, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. That being the case, there have been a whole lot of video games featuring zombies in...

  • Feature The Confusing World of Mega Man Spin-Offs - Part 1

    Stay with us

    We've already talked about the ten numbered console games in the Classic Mega Man series, but as you are no doubt aware that barely scratches the surface when it comes to Capcom's classic franchise. We could spend several weeks spotlighting all of the titles released across all platforms — and, believe us, we'd love to — but we...

  • Review Wizard Defenders (DSiWare)

    We have but a fool's hope

    On the surface, Wizard Defenders seems like a promising blend of match-3 puzzling and tower defence; in its best moments it's a concept that works well. Unfortunately these moments are rare, and despite its budget price this title lacks the magic to make a gamer happy. This is a good example of a reasonable idea being...

  • Feature Mega Man Retrospective - Part Two

    Back to the future

    Yesterday we brought you part one of our Mega Man retrospective, where we looked at the first five main entries in the iconic series. It's all in honour of the Blue Bomber's 25th Anniversary, with this segment spanning the NES to Wii eras of Nintendo systems, with some non-Nintendo systems making a brief appearance. Mega Man 6...

  • Feature Mega Man Retrospective - Part One

    25 years young

    Twenty-five years ago today, the world was introduced to a super fighting robot — the Blue Bomber himself — Mega Man. Known as Rock Man in his native Japan, Mega Man earned global fame and popularity, introducing gamers to a unique and challenging franchise that, unsurprisingly, became a piece of classic gaming history. Looking...

  • Review Real Bout Fatal Fury (Wii Virtual Console / Neo Geo)

    In the beginning...

    After several releases in the Fatal Fury franchise, SNK decided to create a sub-series with the release of Real Bout Fatal Fury. The game didn't deviate too far from the experience that fans had come to expect, but there was a certain intensity and flair that needed to be explored and perhaps that was the reasoning behind the...

  • Review Chuck E. Cheese's Alien Defense Force (DSiWare)

    In space, no one can hear you regret your purchase

    Earlier this year, DSiWare had the misfortune of becoming home to Chuck E. Cheese's Arcade Room. A joyless collection of five dull mini-games and additional gimmicks such as achievements and an outfit customisation feature, the game was a disappointment in nearly every possible way. Now we have a...

  • News Virtual Boy Title Bound High Goes Into Production 16 Years Late

    Better late than never

    Bound High was originally shown at the 1996 E3, but like all of the other Virtual Boy games demonstrated at that event, ended up being cancelled when it was clear that the console's fate was sealed. Since then, the game has become famous with hardcore Virtual Boy fans, with its source code floating around the web and a...

  • Review BurgerTime (Wii Virtual Console / NES)

    Burger building bonanza

    When the coin-op release of BurgerTime hit arcades in 1982, it was praised for its quirky theme and wildly unique gameplay design. Given the game's popularity at the time, it garnered a port on just about every home game system and personal computer of the period. The NES release came a bit later, but it was a fairly accurate...

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