Tag: Nes - Page 13
Weirdness Someone's Actually Compiled All of the NES 'Start' Screens
Just, because...
No matter how much games change, some things stay the same — like 'Start' screens. Nowadays they represent a "this has finally stopped loading, wake up" screen, but in the NES days the focus was arguably different — load times weren't a particular issue, so they perhaps felt more like arcade-style prompts to give that initial...
Review Super Mario Bros. 3 (3DS eShop / NES)
Pixel-perfect platforming
Many old-school Nintendo titles are remembered fondly and adored by nostalgic fans; The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby’s Adventure and more still receive heaps of praise and see frequent re-releases to this day. Few games, however, received the unanimous commendations lavished upon Super Mario Bros. 3 on its release, an...
Review Double Dragon (3DS eShop / NES)
Dragon us down
From the moment protagonist Billy Lee’s sweetheart is sucker-punched in the opening sequence, Double Dragon establishes itself as an action-packed, thrilling battle through hordes of enemy combatants in an attempt to reclaim the captured damsel. As soon as gameplay begins, however, this façade is quickly stripped away to reveal an...
Review Life Force (3DS eShop / NES)
A force to be reckoned with
The space shooter is a genre that has somewhat faded into obscurity in recent years, both due to advances in technology rendering their limited scope obsolete and their typically gruelling difficulty proving unpalatable to some gamers. The NES port of Life Force, (or Salamander, as it was originally known on Eastern...
Review Super Mario Bros. 3 (Wii U eShop / NES)
A truly super Mario game
Super Mario Bros. 3’s recent arrival on the Wii U eShop seemed like a conspicuously low-key affair compared to the considerable hype that surrounded its hugely anticipated original release back the early nineties. However, that doesn't mean that the lack of booming fanfare should be interpreted as a cause for concern; over...
Review Castlevania (Wii U eShop / NES)
Just like Dracula, it keeps coming back to life...
Konami, admittedly following the lead of others such as Nintendo and Capcom, sure likes to remind us it was making awesome games way back in the 1980s. "Hey", it says, "remember how great Castlevania was on the NES?" We sure do, Konami and, oh look, now we can buy it again on the Wii U! It's one of...
Review Double Dragon (Wii U eShop / NES)
Solo komodo
Double Dragon is notable for a whole host of reasons, among them that the NES version bears one of history's most misleading game titles by being a solo adventure with nary a dragon in sight. It also opens with an iconic, if anachronistic, bang — or, more specifically, a pow. A gangster brute socks a woman in the gut and carries her...
Review NES Remix (Wii U eShop)
Mixing it up
During what is likely to be the final Nintendo Direct of 2013, there were a few surprise game announcements. One of these was a bit more surprising than the rest, because it was available immediately after its announcement — NES Remix. At first glance, NES Remix might just seem like a collection of NES games, but in truth it's more...
Review Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (3DS eShop / NES)
A fitting farewell to the NES trilogy
The three Ninja Gaiden games on the NES are remembered with great fondness, and for very good reason. They may never have reached the same heights of popularity as the original Super Mario Bros. games, or even the first three Mega Man games, but they stand to this day as a testament to the classic years of 8-bit...
Weirdness Drink Your Troubles Away With This Nintendo Flask
Non alcoholic beverages are an option, of course
Retro gaming and whiskey, does it mix? One inventor on Kickstarter thought so. Matt Cornell describes himself as a passionate gamer and one who is lucky to have been raised alongside the video game industry as it has developed. Now he is repaying it with a throwback to the legends he was raised on...
News If You Do Pick Up a PS4 or Xbox One, These Skins Will Make Them More Comforting
NES, we love you
Well, the 'console wars', 'resolution wars' and 'tedious one-upmanship wars' are well underway, with some pinning their flags to a console and declaring all others null and void. Of course, that's not the healthiest or most useful way to go about enjoying video games, but some will do so nevertheless. But still, it's OK to have...
News Rating For NES Remix Issued By Australian Classification Board
A multiplatform release by Nintendo - but what is it?
A mysterious rating has appeared on the Australian Classification Board site for a Nintendo title by the name of NES Remix. Listed as a "multiplatform" release — which would suggest both Wii U and 3DS — the game has been awarded a "G" rating, with the level of violence listed as having a...
News Give Your Apple TV That All-Important Nintendo Vibe With These Retro Skins
Love the skin you're in
If you happen to own an Apple TV unit then you may feel that it's a little too plain for your liking, but fear not — Killer Duck Decals has the solution. The company has produced skins for the Apple TV unit which allow it to mimic classic Nintendo systems like the NES, SNES and
Review Wario's Woods (Wii U eShop / NES)
Kinopio's Canopy
Wario's Woods has had quite a storied legacy over the last few decades, standing not only as the last officially licensed game released on Nintendo's legendary NES in North America in 1994, but also one of the very first titles available on the Wii's Virtual Console service. In-between those impressive milestones, it made an...
Video Experts Believed Nintendo Was In Trouble Back In 1990, Too
Some things never change
When you're one of the world's most recognisable brands then it's only natural for people to predict your downfall. That has happened to Nintendo many times in the past, and history is repeating itself as a new console war begins in earnest. Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One launch this Christmas, and these hardware...
Review Donkey Kong 3 (Wii U eShop / NES)
Bugging you?
When the original Donkey Kong proved immensely popular, Nintendo decided to ride off its success and create a sequel changing the roles, making Mario the villain and Donkey Kong Jr. the hero. What is surprisingly not well known, however, is that there was a third game after that. While the next logical next might have been to allow you...
Weirdness You Can Fix Your NES 72-Pin Cartridge Connector By Boiling It
You learn something new every day
The NES was really popular, and that means there are lots of consoles out there right now either sitting unused in cupboards or (preferably) still providing entertainment almost three decades after the western release of the system. However, it's a simple fact that the older a device is, the more chance there is of...
Review Wario's Woods (3DS eShop / NES)
It's back like you wooden believe
Originally released in 1994, Wario's Woods holds the prestigious honour of being the last officially licensed game to release for the NES in North America; that's a remarkably long time after the console itself launched in the mid-eighties. Yet while it's impressive that the legendary system received a first-party...
Weirdness Worlds Of Power Is To Rise From The Grave In 2014
Nintendo Life's Philip Reed is taking a trip down memory lane
Young gamers growing up in the early 90s no doubt remember Worlds of Power. It was a series of youth-oriented novelisations of classic NES games...and the books have become legendarily awful. They were inaccurate, inept, and very poorly written. While their ostensible mission was to...
News NECA's New RoboCop Figure Is Based On The 1989 NES Game
Dead or alive, this figure is coming home with us
Toy maker NECA has revealed the next entry in its video game-inspired figure line, and it's none other than augmented officer Alex J. Murphy, better known as RoboCop. The figure takes inspiration from Data East's 1989 NES adaptation of the 1987 Paul Verhoeven movie. The concept has recently been...
News Overlay Gives an Old NES Controller Some New Zelda Sleekness
Wii U isn't the only one who looks good in black and gold
Have you been hearing this strange, quiet sighing noise ever since you got your limited edition Zelda Wii U bundle? It's probably coming from your old NES controller, wistfully eyeing that totally dope, gold-emblazoned GamePad and wishing it could have been as radically awesome in its day...
Review Milon's Secret Castle (3DS eShop / NES)
A secret best kept hidden
Hudson had many classics in its NES library - Adventure Island, Faxanadu and Bomberman are just a few of the great titles it gave us all back then. Milon's Secret Castle probably shouldn't be counted among those. As the title might reveal, you play as Milon, who has to make his way through a castle filled to the brim with...
News The Nebula of NES Games Is An Infographic Done Right
A galaxy of classics
Despite the best intentions of the designer, infographics can often be monumentally dull affairs. Thankfully that isn't true with Pop Chart Lab's The Nebula of NES Games, a visual representation of more than 700 Nintendo Entertainment System titles, all neatly arranged in a swirling formation. The spiral advances...
Review Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link - Unforgiving But Underappreciated
Zelda II, have you any tough dungeons? Yes sir, yes sir...
Back in the early days of several franchises, the second game in a series tended to be radically different from the first, as developers had not quite pinned down what they wanted the series to become. Take a look at Castlevania II or the Western Super Mario Bros. 2, for example. Zelda II:...
Review Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (3DS eShop / NES)
Go Ninja, Go Ninja GO!
Chances are that even if you don’t know much about Ninja Gaiden, you’re at the very least aware that it’s a series synonymous with high difficulty. When the original hit the NES back in 1989, we have to imagine it lead to the demise of many controllers – we vividly recall rage-quitting on at least an occasion or two...
Review Summer Carnival '92 RECCA (3DS eShop / NES)
For shoot 'em up experts only
The release of this game on the 3DS eShop is a bit of a strange occurrence. Summer Carnival '92 Recca was, as you might guess from its odd name, created for a shoot 'em up game competition held in 1992, exclusively in Japan. It was only available from those competitions, so the supply was quite limited and, as a result,...
News Game Designers Reveal How Super Mario Bros. 3 Would Work As A Free-To-Play Mobile Title
It's not for the faint hearted...
Free-to-play mobile games have proven popular with casual gamers over recent years and there is seemingly no end of developers looking to create another addictive bird chucking or candy crushing title to harvest money from people's e-wallets. Many people have wondered if this free-to-play model can work for much...
Review Star Soldier (3DS eShop / NES)
I got soul, but I'm not the best Star Soldier
We may as well stop playing games en masse right now, because we all suck. That may sound harsh, but this 3DS eShop release of Hudson Soft’s vertically scrolling NES shoot-em-‘up will either make or break you. Unfortunately, if you play Star Soldier on the smaller screen of an original 3DS, the tiny...
Review Galaga (Wii U eShop / NES)
That man is playing Galaga!
Galaga is old. It may well state 1988 on Galaga’s NES title screen, but that refers to its European and US release date, the Japanese Famicom conversion was released early in 1985 and they are all based on a port of Namco’s 1981 coin-op. This means that with any Wii U Virtual Console purchase you must consider if you...
Video Codemasters Co-Founder David Darling Talks Game Genie, Micro Machines And More
Industry veteran speaks exclusively to Nintendo Life
Codemasters is one of the UK's long-running video game studios and was founded by brothers David and Richard Darling way back in 1986. Although both have since parted company with the firm, they've left an incredible legacy which covers a variety of platforms, including the 8-bit Nintendo...
Weirdness Hackers Use NES Pad To Drive Car
All those hours on Rad Racer might come in handy after all
Security experts Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek have demonstrated a method which allows hackers to control a car using a laptop and NES joypad. The pair have created a system which enables them to connect to a car's electronic control unit (ECU) via the on-board diagnostics port and...
Review Spelunker (3DS eShop / NES)
Go back to your cave and stay there
Ask a few western gamers about Spelunker and it's likely that barely any of them will have heard of the game, despite it being originally developed by an American company. Ask Japanese gamers, though, and it's a completely different story — the game is very well known to them and is joked about online all the...
Round Table Let's Talk About the Famicom / NES
Oh, the memories
This week we've written some features and re-published some select reviews to celebrate the Famicom's 30th Anniversary, this particular landmark reflecting the Japanese release of the iconic original design. Naturally, not many of us in the Nintendo Life team have played that original system, but we have all indulged in the NES in...
Talking Point The Famicom Was the Beginning of the Modern Gaming Era
Solid building blocks
We recently shared the landmark news that the Famicom has celebrated its 30th Anniversary, having launched in Japan on 15th July 1983, over two years before the NES made its way West. The latter version is that best known and most commonly cited, yet it was the original model's release — Nintendo's first dalliance with a home...
News Shigeru Miyamoto Wishes Nintendo Had "Done More" With Zelda II
Still one of a kind in the franchise
The Legend of Zelda is a franchise that has typically come in two stylistic flavours — top-down 2D/2.5D or fully 3D worlds. The latter began with Ocarina of Time while the former was common on older systems and notably on handhelds, with the DS entries shifting the top-down camera angle slightly. With that in...
News Japanese 3DS Owners Can Download Double Dragon II Next Week
8-bit classic is punching its way to the 3DS eShop in Japan
Nintendo has confirmed that the popular side-scrolling fighter Double Dragon II: The Revenge will be coming to the Japanese 3DS eShop on 29th May, priced at 500 Yen. Once again, the heroes of the hour are Billy & Jimmy Lee, who must avenge the brutal murder of Marian at the hands of...
News Check Out These Spectacular NES Cartridge Rings
There are plenty to choose from
There's a feeling you get with a cartridge that you just can't find with a boring compact disc. They may be a thing of the past but there are many people out there who still appreciate their charm. One person who clearly has a love for NES cartridges in particular is Etsy artist Jess Firsoff, who is making and...
News Super Retro Trio Plays SNES, Genesis, NES and GBA Games
The RetroN5 has a challenger
It would seem that 2013 is going to be a big year for new gaming hardware — not only will we see the PlayStation 4 and Next Xbox, but we've got two new retro systems to look forward to as well. Hyperkin's RetroN 5 will be joined by the Retro-Bit Super Retro Trio, which plays SNES, Genesis / Mega Drive, NES and (with an...
News Woman Finds Extremely Rare NES Game At Goodwill Store
A diamond in the rough
File this one under "Wowzer". A woman paid $7.99 for an old NES cartridge at a Goodwill store that — as luck would have it — is one of the rarest video games of all time. Bandai's Stadium Events — which has sold for more than $40,000 USD in the past — was one of the first titles to use the Family Fun Fitness Mat...
Vote Pick Your Favourite NES Games
We hadn't forgotten
A little while ago the Nintendo Life team voted for its favourite NES games, which included plenty of classics and closely-fought tied positions. Our ultimate winner was Super Mario Bros. 3, and at the end of the feature we promised that you, the community, would have the chance to vote for your own top 10 NES games. We...
News Android-based Ouya Console Will Have NES and SNES Emulation At Launch
Wii U rival to offer ability to play ROMs on your TV
Ouya is one of the more high-profile Kickstarter campaigns, having raised a staggering $8.6 million in 2012. The system will run on Google's Android operating system and should retail for less than $100 when it launches in June this year. Although its primary objective is to host titles similar...
Feature Nintendo Life's Staff Favourites - NES
Let's begin at the beginning
One thing you may have noticed, if you're a regular visitor to Nintendo Life, is that we're more than happy to wear our retro-enthusiast, rose-tinted spectacles as often as possible. A merger with VC-Reviews in April 2009 is an important part of our history, and we often share entertaining blasts from the past and wax...
News Castlevania II: Simon's Quest And Donkey Kong 3 Coming To Japanese 3DS eShop
Arriving next week
Nintendo has confirmed that NES titles Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Donkey Kong 3 will both be hitting the Japanese 3DS eShop on March 27th. Simon's Quest is one of the more unique entries in the Castlevania series, as it employs a day and night cycle and has strong RPG elements to it. Donkey Kong 3 is a sequel to the...
News Legend Of Zelda Hacked To Make Zelda The Hero
Well her name is in the title, after all
Recently, we saw Pauline switch roles with one-time romantic attachment Mario, and now it's the turn of Hyrule's most celebrated couple to change places. Animator Kenna W. decided to mod The Legend of Zelda to realise one of her childhood dreams — to get to play as the titular princess: For me, I played...
News This NES Arcade Unit is a Perfect Introduction to Gaming
All for one lucky little girl
Earlier today we posted an article on The Electus 64 II Mini, a handheld Nintendo 64 that resembles a glossy, chunky Game Boy. And rather like London buses (wait for an eternity and two come at the same time), we've been directed to an arcade cabinet that plays NES games — just like the handheld N64, that's actual...
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
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,
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...
News Double Dragon Is Brawling Onto The Japanese 3DS eShop Next Week
Billy and Jimmy are taking no prisoners
Nintendo of Japan has confirmed that the Famicom (NES to you and me) version of Double Dragon is coming to the 3DS eShop next week - February 6th, to be exact. It's set to retail for 500 Yen (approximately £3.50 / $5.50). The 8-bit classic is one of the seminal side-scrolling fighters of all time, and is...
News Wii U Virtual Console Trial Campaign Schedule Released
Seven classic games incoming over the next seven months
During today's Wii U Direct Satoru Iwata announced the Wii U Virtual Console Trial Campaign, which has been devised to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Famicom. Eagle-eyed readers will note that the Virtual Console doesn't officially launch until after Spring, when the system...
