Switch Game Reviews
Review New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Nintendo Plays It Safe With This Timely Reissue
Ultra Super Mario Bros. U: The Final Challengers
Ever since its debut on Nintendo DS way back in 2006, the ‘New’ branch of the Super Mario Bros. series has divided fans. As Nintendo transposed the 3D character-models of video games’ most treasured mascots back into the classic 2D realm, purists lambasted the ‘Disneyfication’ of the...
Review Fitness Boxing - Rhythm Trappings Help This Limber Wii Fit Successor Land Its Punches
Wii Fit Trainer has left the building
As 2019 dawns and gamers the world over wake up after New Year celebrations, Fitness Boxing arrives in time to take advantage of resolutions to get in shape. From the moment it boots up, anyone who’s ever baulked at their BMI beside a frowning Mii or stamped an onscreen calendar following a daily workout will...
Review V-Rally 4 - A Bumpy Ride That Will Only Reward Dedicated Motorsport Fans
Its roots are showing
The Switch isn’t lacking when it comes to racing games, but there’s one particular subsection of the genre in which it’s been left wanting so far: rally games. The current king of rally in the gaming world is Codemasters, but it’s been slow to support the Switch and its first offering (coming in 2019) will be a port of...
Review Atari Flashback Classics - This Dusty Collection Sadly Opts For Quantity Over Quality
Going old, old, old school
Usually, when it comes to retro gaming compilations we tend to see two schools of thought: quality or quantity. The former usually consist of a modest helping of games, but each is given lots of care and attention and supported with heaps of extra content. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and the recent SNK 40th...
Poor harvest
These days, practically every possible kind of pastime, occupation and setting has a gaming equivalent. Take the simulation genre for instance; a place that’s packed with all manner of seemingly mundane concepts that have gamified to create some of the most bizarrely engrossing experiences you can play. Farming simulators have been...
Review Gear.Club Unlimited 2 - Sluggish Controls Force This Real-World Racer Off The Track
Back of the grid
Last year’s Gear.Club Unlimited was a decent attempt at bringing a ‘serious’ racing game to the Switch. Based on a mobile game, the ‘Unlimited’ part of the title referred to the scrapping of microtransactions and all the other nonsense you got when playing it on your phone. Although Gear.Club Unlimited was a good start, it...
Park life
Who would have thought way back in the late ’90s – when PC gaming was producing some of its biggest and most beloved hits – that a simulator all about building and maintaining a theme park would prove to be an enduring classic in its own right? And while the RollerCoaster Tycoon games took something of a nosedive once creator and...
Real survival horror
One of Switch’s greatest strengths (besides its central ‘homeheld’ gimmick) must be the sheer breadth of available software. Whatever our mood, the menu screen’s glorious spectrum of icons always has something that’ll hit the spot, running the gamut from rainbow escapism to grey, gritty realism – and This War of Mine...
Review Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - The Absolute Pinnacle Of Nintendo's Fighting Series
Still no playable Waluigi, though
Crossovers happen all the time in games, films, TV shows and just about every other form of media out there, but none of them can really be compared to Super Smash Bros.; no, not even that film that you’re thinking of. So it’s beyond a bold move to name the latest entry in a series ‘Ultimate’, thus raising...
Review Ark: Survival Evolved - An Ambitious Survival Epic That's Borderline Unplayable On Switch
Extinction event
Since this review was originally published, the Ark: Ultimate Survivor Edition update launched (in November 2022) and has reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. While we unfortunately cannot revisit games on an individual basis, it should still be noted that the updated game may offer an improved...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube773k Watch on YouTube Review Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom - The Best Wonder Boy Game Yet, Even If It Lacks The Name
Is it any Wonder?
The hand-drawn 2D platformer has become such a common occurrence over the past couple of years that it might as well be a genre of its own. Since its launch, the Switch has seen its fair share of these, from Hollow Knight to Toki (the latter of which was released this week). One of the most notable examples of this was last...
Review Toki - Gorgeous Arcade Platforming That's Over All Too Quickly
Chimpin’ ain’t easy
Of all the ‘80s and ‘90s retro games getting modern remakes these days, it’s probably fair to say that Toki wasn’t exactly on most gamers’ wishlists. While it was an entertaining action platformer back in the day, it’s one of those titles that very much remained in the 20th century and is rarely brought up in...
A messy business
One look at the name Spintires: MudRunner - American Wilds Edition and we wouldn’t blame you for assuming this was just another off-road racer. Something in the vein MXGP 3 or Monster Jam: Crush It!, perhaps. But you’d be wrong. This is no speed-obsessed demon, but rather an unusual take on the classic driving simulator more...
Review Bendy And The Ink Machine - Filled With Cartoon Scares That Eventually Lose Their Power
Screamboat Willie
Conjure thoughts of the animation’s early years in the 20th century – the black and white era of the 1920s and ’30s that gave us everything from Steamboat Mickey to Felix the Cat – and it’s unlikely you’ll feel particularly unsettled as a result. Enchanted perhaps, maybe even a little nonplussed, but scared? It’s...
Review SEGA Mega Drive Classics - A Welcome Stroll Down Memory Lane
Sonic! Golden Axe! Phantasy Star! Streets of Rage!
The Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're in North America) is a console that needs no introduction, even on a site devoted to Nintendo. During the early '90s, Sega and Nintendo were mortal enemies and their respective 16-bit systems were locked in an epic struggle which has since gone down as one...
Review Sid Meier's Civilization VI - Conquer The World On The Move In This Superb Port
Civ on the streets, Civ in the sheets
The world’s premiere 4X strategy game has finally landed on Switch! It promises the real deal – the full Civilization VI experience – distilled to handheld form, and it’s a relief to report that Aspyr has done a fine job squeezing Firaxis’ game onto the hybrid console. Beyond a few small issues, it...
Revisiting Kanto 20 years on
With the Switch gearing up for its second holiday season on the market, the time has finally come for the hybrid machine to get its first taste of core series Pokémon action. Acting as a reimagining of Pokémon Yellow – an already enhanced version of the series’ first titles Pokémon Red and Blue – Pokémon: Let's...
Review Carnival Games - Perfect Family Fun And Another Solid Switch Couch-Play Option
Fair play
Looking back, Nintendo Wii ended up with a huge library of games to its name, including some much-loved classics (and quite a few duds, if we’re honest). But who would have thought a third-party multiplayer title about carnival mini-games would have proved to be one of the system’s biggest sellers? For all its faults, Carnival Funfair...
Review Sports Party - A Wii Sports-Style Social Experience That Sadly Lacks Depth
Party pooper
Once upon a time, recreational sports games with motion controls were all the rage. A decade ago, when the Wii was at the height of its mainstream popularity, there was a glut of forgettable and downright terrible games that somehow turned using a Wii Remote from a fun social experience into an exercise in unresponsive torture. Sports...
Review Nickelodeon Kart Racers - A Poor Man's Mario Kart That Squanders Its Potential
"I'm ugly and I'm proud"
Over the years, Nickelodeon has amassed quite a varied and deep stable of entertaining cartoon franchises, with characters like Spongebob Squarepants and Aang becoming cultural icons that are recognized the world over. It stands to reason, then, that the company could produce a solid kart racer in the vein of Mario Kart;...
Retro gold from a pre-Neo Geo era
Although SNK is best known these days for its fantastic Neo Geo console and arcade systems – of which approximately a bajillion games are already available individually on the Switch – it's easy to forget that the Osaka-based company enjoyed 12 years developing games before the Neo Geo arrived in 1990. The SNK...
That quarterback is toast
Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition is a weird depiction of arcade football. In many ways, it's nothing like an actual game of football due to (cheap) dirty tricks and on-the-field obstacles that greatly change the course of a contest. Unfortunately, these additions mar the experience, turning it into a frustrating game...
Review Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum'n'Fun! - Worth The Wait, But Don't Forget That Drum Controller
1-2-3-4, I declare a drum war
From the searing colour of the menu icon to the lively title screen, Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun! arrives on Switch with a spring in its step. And with good reason – alongside sister title Drum Session! on PS4, it’s the first Drum Master ever to arrive in Europe, and only the second to come to the US. In the...
Review Gal Metal - Wild, Weird And Cool, And Worth A Look For Music Fans
Beat it
It's tempting (if not inevitable) to start this review with an anecdote about that infamous E3 (which will be a decade ago by the time this year's event rolls around), and in particular, the oblivious flailing exploits of one Ravi the drummer. While maestro Tak Fujii's own meme-farming antics over the years live long in seasoned gamers...
Review GRIP - An Exciting But Often Twitchy Combat Racer
Rolling in the Cage
While the ‘golden age’ of the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation gave us the template for intense racing sims and arcade speedsters, it also blessed us with a slew of high-speed titles with a penchant for combat. For every Gran Turismo and Ridge Racer there was a Mario Kart 64, a WipEout and a Speed Freaks ready to...
Review Moonlighter - A Curiously Appealing Mix Between Zelda And A Shopkeeping Sim
Livin’ The Dream
How many people toil away in a cubicle for 40+ hours a week while wishing they could be somewhere else instead? Whether we want to finally write that novel, find true love, or embark on a life-changing adventure, it can be hard to stay content with the tedium of our work-week rhythm month after month, year after year. We often...
Review My Hero One's Justice - In-Your-Face Fighting Fun That Might Be Too Shallow For Some
Quirks of the job
2018 hasn’t just been a golden year for fighting games - with everything from Blade Strangers to the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate laying the smacketh down on consoles - it’s also been a cracker for anime adaptations making themselves welcome on Nintendo Switch. So what happens when these two potent streams collide? Well,...
Review Diablo III: Eternal Collection - More Loot Than You Can Shake A Magical Pointy Stick At
Collect the collection
Coming off the success of such a beloved game as Diablo II after quite a few years was a bold move by Blizzard, as any shift away from the old mechanics could easily have been taken poorly by those that played - and loved - the first two games. Of course, some people managed to find something to moan about, but admittedly a...
Review Just Dance 2019 - More Songs Than Ever Before, But A Few Bum Notes As Well
Back to basics?
For some, the month of October means Halloween or the chilly autumn air, the build-up to the holidays or finally settling in to the new school year; for Ubisoft, this time of year means it’s time to release yet another entry into the Just Dance franchise – a tradition which has now been going strong for ten years. If you’ve...
Review LEGO Harry Potter Collection - A Wizarding Wonder That's Only Just Beginning To Show Its Age
Bewitching the Switch
More than a year into its life-cycle, the Nintendo Switch has a library of software so huge it’s going to put most boxed-edition collectors into bankruptcy. One series that’s already brought plenty of its entries to Switch is TT Games’ licence-driven LEGO games, and with LEGO The Incredibles and LEGO DC Super-Villains...