Tag: Hardware Review
Review Genki Waveform Headphones - The Perfect Audio Solution For Your Switch?
Cross the streams
Earlier this year, tech company Human Things – which is behind the growing 'Genki' series of gaming-focused products – successfully raised $879,063 for the Genki Waveform wireless headphones. This might not seem like big news for gamers, but the Waveform headphones have a secret weapon: you can stream two audio sources...
Review Game & Watch: The Legend Of Zelda - A Link To Link's Past
Mark Zelda's 35th with this neat collectable
Last year, Nintendo provided its fans with the perfect stocking-filler via its Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. handheld, a neat tribute to the classic Game & Watch range of LCD games that were so popular in the pre-Game Boy landscape o
Review Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. - A Gorgeous Object That Leaves You Wanting More
Time to shine?
Looking back on the history of Nintendo as a maker of video games, it's clear that the Game & Watch line was a significant step; not only did it allow Nintendo's core developers to hone their skills with snappy, engaging titles, it also gave them the opportunity to evolve their hardware talents, coming up with innovations such as...
Review Genki Covert Dock - The Perfect Travel Companion For Your Nintendo Switch
And its smaller than a Switch AC Adapter
Around this time last year, product developer Genki fired up a Kickstarter campaign for a fairly ambitious Switch Dock/AC Adapter that could fit in the palm of your hand: the Genki Covert Dock. The makers felt that the large and bulky dock like the one that comes with the Switch was unnecessary and so they...
Feature Should You Ditch Your GameCube Discs For The GC Loader?
We go hands-on with the system's ODE option
Back when cartridges were the main means of distributing video games on home consoles, the prospect of optical media was a technological revolution of sorts; these shiny discs promised greater storage at a cheaper cost (not that the consumer always saw the latter benefit), and carts were considered to be...
Hardware Review C-Force Is Back With Another Portable Switch Screen, And We've Had A Go
A step-up from the C-Air?
Last year, we took a look at C-Force's C-Air portable monitor, a 4K panel which was light and thin enough to carry around in your rucksack. While there were a lot of things we really liked about the screen, it suffered from some unfortunate issues, such as being tethered to a dongle the entire time and image ghosting...
Hardware Review Live Your Life As A Giant With The Tiny 8BitDo Zero 2 Controller
Update: Available today in North America
What's more fun than playing some of your favourite games on the Switch? If your answer is something along the lines of 'struggling to hold the controller', then you're in luck, as 8BitDo has finally come around to producing a follow up to their dinky Zero controller in the form of the imaginatively-titled...
Hardware Review Race Away With Mario Kart Pro Mini & Deluxe Racing Wheels
Move over tilt controls
Racing games can be great fun, but you know what can make them even better? Playing them with a replica steering wheel (and no, not the ones you sink your Wii Remote or Joy-Con into.) Just ask anyone who’s been to an arcade and played something like Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Crazy Taxi or one of the many Cruis’n games...
Hardware Hyperkin Admiral Review - Wireless N64 Controller Goodness
Cut the cord
Anyone who's ever crammed around a TV with a Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007 and a few friends will know the struggles that the short cord on the N64's controller caused. Few companies have tried to remedy this in the past with controller extensions – and controllers that just don't hit the mark – but no one has really succeeded...
Review Go-tcha Evolve - The Pokémon GO Plus Killer
Auto-catching and step tracking
Accessory maker Datel has had two attempts at making the ultimate Pokémon GO companion device: the Go-tcha and the Go-tcha Ranger. Both mimic the functionality of the Pokémon GO Plus (and the later
Hardware Review Retro-Bit's Bluetooth Sega Pads Are Perfect For Retro On Your Switch
Remote control
Not a week seems to pass without news of yet another new wired or wireless controller for the Switch. We've had SNES-themed ones, Sega-styled ones and even ones that try to offer the perfect platform for one-on-one fighters. There's cle
Fight club
The evolution of video games and the controllers we use to play them has resulted in the humble D-Pad becoming something of an afterthought for many hardware makers; that situation has arguably reached its zenith in the Nintendo Switch, which – in its default form, at least – doesn't even have a proper D-Pad. Analogue input has long...
Hardware Nintendo Switch Lite Review - Half A Switch, But That's More Than Enough For Some
Smaller, brighter, slimmer, stronger?
Given its penchant for iterating and refreshing its hardware, the arrival of Nintendo's Switch Lite feels inevitable rather than surprising. What's perhaps a little more unexpected is how this new machine gleefully jettisons the key element that the original console was arguably sold on – its ability to...
Review The Genesis / Mega Drive Mini Finally Does Sega's History Justice
Mega Drive me to the store
Miniaturized consoles are nothing new to Sega as it was releasing them long before Nintendo’s Classic NES and SNES consoles took the spotlight. The plug-and-play systems it produced in collaboration with AtGames usually car
Hardware Review The EON Super 64 Gives Your N64 HDMI Output, But Is It Really Worth $150?
Plug-and-play HD for your Nintendo 64
We're big fans of EON here at Nintendo Life. The company has already produced some amazing GameCube HDMI adapters in the form of the GCHD and GCHD Mk II, both of which harness the console's digital output to give a crisp picture without the need for pesky internal modification. However, for its next trick, EON...
A brawl in the family
For a system that's no longer in active production, the Nintendo 64 has sure seen a lot of new controllers recently. We reviewed the Tribute64 pad not so long ago, and now it's the turn of the Retro Fighters Brawler64 – a pad that was crowdfunded on Kickstarter as a "next generation" offering for Nintendo's much-loved 64-bit...
Hardware Review Retro-Bit Tribute64 - A Fine N64 Controller, And Perfect For Smash On Switch
But which version do you buy?
It's fair to say that the Nintendo 64 controller was a groundbreaking release. While it wasn't the first games controller to showcase analogue input, it was the first to be shipped as standard with its host console and therefore became the first taste of this now-ubiquitous control method for many players. The N64 pad...
Hardware Review 8BitDo M30 - The Best Retro Controller On Switch
And it works with the original Mega Drive, too
8BitDo has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. In the beginning, the company wasn't taken totally seriously by a select few who saw its line of clone NES and SNES pads as little more than cheap facsimiles of the real thing, but following a
Hardware Review Insurrection Industries Carby - GameCube HDMI Support On A Budget
Yet another HDMI adapter, but this one doesn't cost the earth
Keen readers of the site will know that we're always on the lookout for ways to make vintage hardware look as good as possible on modern-day TV sets. Years ago, we dabbled in the world of scanline generators such as the SLG3000, and more recently we sang the praises of the OSSC, a device...
Hardware Review EON GCHD Mk-II GameCube HDMI Adapter - The Best Just Got Better
New and improved
When it comes to getting the best possible image quality out of your retro console of choice, you usually have to jump through a few awkward (not to mention expensive) hoops. That was certainly the case with the GameCube until very recently; the best way of running the system in the past was via Nintendo's own SCART (if you're in...
Hardware Review HORI Switch Battle Pad GameCube Style Controller
Just in time for Smash
The release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is just around the corner. With it, the perennial revival of the greatest controller of all time is upon us. As usual, Nintendo has brought back the GameCube controller to please the most hardcore of Smash fans, and alongside it, multiple third-party manufacturers are offering up their...
Hardware Review 8BitDo GBros. Adapter - Use Your GameCube Pad Wirelessly With Smash Bros. Ultimate
GBros. before Smash Pros
As the launch fo Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Switch looms – like a wonderful, long-awaited birthday – ever closer, a great many fans of the series will have one burning question on their minds: Can I play it with my trusty and dependable GameCube controller? As we've known for a while, the answer to this question is,...
Hardware Review Flip Grip: The Dream Peripheral For Shmup Addicts
Going sideways
While the Switch's hybrid nature and versatile Joy-Con controllers are key selling points for many owners, for a special sub-set of players the console's real hidden weapon is the fact that it can be used in portrait mode and therefore provide the perfect platform for classic vertically-scrolling shooters – of which there are plenty...
Review Poké Ball Plus - The Most Imperfect Perfect Accessory You Could Imagine
Balls up?
Nintendo – perhaps unlike any other games company – understands the connection between video gaming and the physical world. That might sound like a rather silly statement to make as every firm involved in the making of interactive entertainment has to consider how the player will interact physically with the game itself, but with...
Hardware Review AAXA S1 LED Mini Projector For Switch - Brighter Than The Competition, And 720p, Too
The OJO Projector has a serious rival
The portable nature of the Switch has created a perhaps unexpected demand for super-compact and mobile LED projectors, and we’ve already seen the OJO Projector come and go in all of its 480p resolution goodness. While OJO is hard at work on a successor which, it says, will improve on its likeable first...
Hardware Review EON GCHD GameCube HDMI Adapter
Another mod-free HD option for Nintendo's famous box
While the world waits for Nintendo do something - anything - constructive with its enviable back catalogue of games on its latest console beyond giving us a few dusty old NES titles, there's a burgeoning community which aims to harness the power of vintage hardware to experience the best titles...
Hardware Review Satisfye Pro Gaming Grip for Nintendo Switch
Long, strong, and great girth
As much as it pains us to say it, the Nintendo Switch is not a perfect product. Due to various factors that make the Switch what it is, certain sacrifices have had to be made in certain areas to make sure its versatility is properly realised, and for some of us at Nintendo Life Towers, one of the biggest problem areas...
Hardware Review Hori D-Pad Joy-Con Controller For Nintendo Switch
Cross your heart
Update: Hori has confirmed to Nintendo Life the issue pertaining to the d-pad joy-con using battery power while the Switch is in sleep mode has been resolved with the release of Switch firmware 6.0 in collaboration with Nintendo. Full details can be found here. Ever since the Switch launched, there's been a vocal minority which has...
Review Go-tcha Ranger - A Worthy Upgrade For The Ultimate Pokémon GO Accessory?
Easy auto
The Pokéball Plus may be the year's hottest accessory for Pokéman fans, but peripheral maker Datel has released a device which, if you're only looking to play Pokémon GO, could end up being more appealing. The Go-tcha Ranger is the sequel to the standard (and totally unofficial) Go-tcha, which b
Hardware Review GameShell Is A Modular And Hackable Take On The Classic Game Boy
Build it, and they will come
We don't mind admitting that we're absolute suckers for handhelds here at Nintendo Life, so it's hardly surprising that the GameShell caught our attention late last year. Described as a hackable open-source console, it raised $290,429 on Kickstarter and is now reaching the hands of backers. We were lucky enough to get an...
Hardware Review The Shōnen Jump 50th Anniversary Famicom Classic Mini Is Gorgeous, But Pointless
Nintendo loves gold, only gold
Nintendo may have fixed the supply issues which plagued the launches of the NES and SNES Classic Editions, but many will still be haunted by the devilish degree of difficulty they exper
Hardware Review OJO Projector For Nintendo Switch - The Ultimate Accessory?
A projector, dock and power bank all in one
The amazing success of the Switch has led to some equally amazing crowdfunding campaigns for must-have accessories, the most notable of which are the Switch Charge case and the OJO Projector. Both of these products massively over-performed in their initial funding drives, and both have endured a rather...
Hardware Review SwitchCharge Boosts Your Nintendo Switch Battery Life Fourfold
It's had a somewhat troubled path to market, but is it worth the wait?
It's fair to say that like so many amazing crowdfunded ideas, the SwitchCharge hasn't had the most comfortable routes to market. After comprehensively smashing its funding goal back in 2017, the accessory – which contains a 10,000mAh b
Hardware Review GameCube HDMI Adapter - GC Video Plug 'n Play 3.0
So long, component cable
You might think that when Nintendo started offering games from classic systems on its various Virtual Console platforms that interest in original hardware might fall away. However, over a decade later we're instead seeing a strong reassurance of new products supporting ageing original hardware, often aimed at getting the...
Hardware Review The Hyperkin SupaBoy SFC Is A Portable SNES For Under £100
Third time lucky?
It's fair to say that the SupaBoy handheld is one of Hyperkin's most successful products; it initially hit the market in 2012 and has been revised once already in the form of the SupaBoy S. We're now on the third iteration of the same model, and we can imagine this fresh SKU will do the business just as well as its forerunners did...
Hardware Review Shika Arcades SOZU.S1 Isn't Just The Ultimate SNES Stick, It's A Work Of Art
Bamboo-zled
The humble video game controller is one of the most important elements of interactive entertainment; it is your interface to an immersive virtual world and any shortcomings it may have (Kinect, we're looking at you) impact massively on your overall enjoyment. It's equally true, however, that not all controllers are created equal, and as...
Hardware Review Hyperkin Supa Retron HD: Time To Dust Off Those SNES Carts
UPDATE: UK launch now confirmed for March
For a wide range of reasons, the public's interest in retro gaming has arguably never been higher. New players are being drawn into this fascinating corner of the industry to explore the origins of characters like Mario and Sonic, while veterans who still bear the scars of the '80s and '90s console wars are...
Hardware Review Does The Retro-Bit NES Power Stick Give You The Advantage?
Microswitched marvel
These days, gamers are pretty comfortable with the fact that there are multiple control options available when it comes to playing on their console of choice. The basic, in-the-box pad isn't always the best that's on offer, and there are myriad official and unofficial controllers doing the rounds, each claiming to hold a...
Video These D-Pad Joy-Con Shells are Great, But Come with a Cautionary Tale
They're screw-strippin' good
When we covered these D-Pad-boasting replacement Joy-Con shells last month, we were pretty impressed with how they looked, and we knew we wanted to get our mitts on them in real life. As explained in the video above, the shells are of high quality and are certainly a good bit of kit, but the journey to get to an actual...
Hardware Review Retro-Bit Super Retro-Cade: A Treasure Trove Of Vintage Gaming Goodness
Finally, a legal way to play Boogie Wings in your home
It's fair to say they we weren't all that impressed by the Retro-Bit Generations, 2016's attempt to bring a selection of classic Data East, Capcom and Jaleco titles to the home. An odd library, terrible emulation and general sloppiness made it a product to avoid, despite the tantalising promise...
Hardware Review 8Bitdo SN30 Pro Gamepad: The Best Switch Pro Controller?
One pad to rule them all
If you take your video game controllers seriously, then chances are you won't need any introduction to 8bitdo. This peripheral maker has been crafting superb pads and accessories for some time now, many of which take more than a little inspiration from Nintendo's own controllers. Over the years we've seen excellent...
Hardware Review Hamy NES And SNES HD Classic
The best of both worlds?
Love them or loathe them, clones of retro systems are here to stay. Over the past few years we've seen numerous unofficial attempts to replicate the performance of vintage systems, some more successful than others. In recent years the arrival of authentic takes on this concept – such as the NES and SNES Classic Editions...
Hardware Review The Super Famicom Mini Is For Hardcore Collectors Only
Turning Japanese?
Not all micro-consoles are created equal, the SNES Classic Mini being the perfect example of this (not-so-universal) truth. The western versions may have the same game selection but the North American and European editions showcase radically different case designs, which has led to some particularly dedicated Nintendo fans buying...
Hardware Review Hori Empera Hook HDP Splatoon 2 Stereo Headset For Switch
Off the hook
We've already looked at Hori's basic solution for in-game voice chat on Switch, but here's a good chance that most Nintendo fans will have their eyes on the manufacturer's other option, the Empera Hook HDP headset designed to look like the very cans worn by characters in Splatoon 2. On a basic level, there's no difference between these...
Hardware Review Retro-Bit's SNES And Mega Drive Pads Will Relieve Your Battered Originals
Available in Street Fighter and Mega Drive designs
Retro-Bit's no stranger to creating serviceable controllers for old-school systems - we covered its excellent NES pads not so long ago - but the company is moving up a generation with its next products, aiming for SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis owners. The new "Dual Link" pads are, as the name sugg
Hardware Review Wireless Fighting Commander for SNES Classic By Hori
Nintendo nostalgia
The SNES Classic has finally hit stores, and along with it Hori has released the Wireless Fighting Commander, a pad that seeks to remind players of a bygone era of turbo buttons, slow motion functions and other features designed to give players the edge they needed in the days when home consoles were practice for days spent in...
Hardware SNES Classic Mini Review - The Perfect Link To The Past
Now you're playing with miniature power
When the NES Classic Mini was first announced, it caused shockwaves in the world of Nintendo (and gave this very site one of its busiest days in terms of traffic, fact fans). The resultant stock shortages soured what was, in all honesty, a dream hardware release for the company. While Nintendo certainly wasn't...
Hardware Review The Open Source Scan Converter Is Every Retro Gamer's Dream Come True
This box of tricks makes old console look great again
The world of gaming is very much entrenched in High Definition these days, with newfangled gaming systems like the PlayStation Pro and Xbox One X offering 4K resolution imagery that's so sharp it's almost impossible to pick out individual pixels. This is wonderful for those who savour being at...
Hardware Review The Retro-Bit RES Plus Gives You A HDMI NES For Under 40 Dollars
But is it better than the competition?
Despite the fact that the SNES Classic is on the horizon and we're already seeing SNES clones being announced - like the Hyperkin Supa Retron HD - there's obviously still a healthy market for systems which replicate the performance of Nintendo's previous system, the NES. This year has already given us...
Hardware Review Hori's Switch Horipad Is The Controller You Never Knew You Needed
Rolling start
When we first reported on the Hori Switch Horipad a while back there were a few puzzled faces in the Nintendo Life office. The big selling point of the wired controller was the fact that the D-pad could be removed to reveal a cluster of four buttons underneath; at the time, we genuinely pondered why you'd ever need to do this, and -...
