Tag: NES - Page 15
News Donkey Kong Jr. and Sonic Blast Head to Japan 3DS VC
G, Sonic
Two more for the 3DS Virtual Console in Japan: NES title Donkey Kong Jr. and Sonic Blast (aka G Sonic) for Game Gear. Neither title is the most fondly remembered in its respective canon, though Sonic Blast has the dubious distinction of being the last game commercially released for the Game Gear in Japan. Knuckles is playable too, which is...
News Square Enix Involved in NES Google Maps April Fool
Officially confirmed
When it comes to Nintendo-themed April Fools jokes, Google showed plenty of creativity with Google Maps 8-bit. Some of our readers with a solid grasp of NES classics observed that the music and overall theme of the fictional cartridge strongly resembled the original Dragon Quest: accessing the trial version online also involved...
News Google Maps 8-bit for NES
Amazing.
It's that time of year again folks, Google have put something together which should please every single Nintendo Life reader - Google Maps for NES. Google Maps is now available for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES). Availability in Google Store is TBD but you can try it on your browser by going to and clicking "Quest"...
News God of War NES Demake Released
On PC, and it's free
There are some things that immediately grab your attention, and we'd classify the following as one of those things: God of War NES version, free of charge. It may seem unlikely, but that's exactly what indie developer Holmade Games has produced. PlayStation 3 owners are likely to be familiar with the God of War series set in...
News Super Mario Bros. for Ambassadors Just Got VC Features
Suspend points are in!
If you're a 3DS Ambassador, the NES upgrades just started rolling in. Super Mario Bros. now comes with Suspend Points, allowing you to suspend your play mid-game and reload it as often as you like. Should make those speed runs a whole lot easier. Other games have updates available but from our quick flick through it doesn't...
News The Origins of the Konami Code Revealed
All together now...
The Konami code is one of the most famous video game cheats of all time, but how did it come about? According to a translated chat between Konami's Kazuhisa Hashimoto and Shigeharu Umezaki, it all started with the NES port of Gradius. Hashimoto, the code's creator, explains: I had one guy under me, and he played through the...
News First NES Game Hits 3DS Virtual Console in Japan Today
It's Zelda
Japanese 3DS owners can now download The Legend of Zelda for Virtual Console for 500 Yen. It's the first of the 3DS Ambassador games to be sold on the service, and goes for around £4/€6.40. The game now comes with a digital manual and a new VC menu that offers improved save and suspend features. We'll update you when we know more about...
News NES Bit Magazine Powers Up with Issue Two
8 bits of glory
In September we reported on the first issue of NES-Bit magazine; originally intended as a one-off, it performed well enough for editor Lorfarius to start work on issue two. Available as a PDF at first before getting a print release, the next issue covers a range of topics, with a special feature on the much-loved Castlevania series...
News You're Not Alone in Finding the First Zelda So Hard
So does Eiji Aonuma
The re-release of Legend of Zelda as part of the 3DS Ambassador program has reminded gamers just how hard Link's first outing is. If you haven't finished it yet, don't give yourself a hard time about it: neither has series producer Eiji Aonuma. In a recent interview with Game Informer, Aonuma revealed to this day he has never...
News After 25 Years, The NES Gets A New Magazine
Oh happy day
The humble Nintendo Entertainment System: responsible for bringing so many to sip from the cup of gaming, and now enjoying yet another lease of life via the recent 3DS Ambassador games. As with all Nintendo consoles it has a dedicated following online, but it could soon have a bigger presence in the print world as website NES-Bit.com...
News These Are The 10 NES Ambassador Games in Japan
Here we go
The Nintendo 3DS NES Ambassador games are just two days away, and although there's been no official announcement of the full line-up yet the official Japanese 3DS eShop page has seen an update to feature the 10 NES games. Here's what's going to be available in Japan on Thursday. There may be a few changes to the Western releases, but for...
Feature Samus Aran, Gaming's Leading Lady
We take a look at the famous female bounty hunter
Historically, just about every form of media has seen itself dominated by men, and gaming is as guilty as the rest. You could chalk it up to the playing population remaining largely scant of females for reasons too complex and debatable to delve into here, but that's only half the story. The...
Talking Point The NES Games You Want on 3DS Virtual Console
By popular demand
We've already heard about the GBA games you want on 3DS Virtual Console, but that's only half the equation: Nintendo will also be giving away 10 free NES games to 3DS users too. The NES games announced so far are: Super Mario Bros.Donkey Kong Jr.Balloon FightIce Climber
News NES and Game Boy Advance Games Coming to 3DS Virtual Console
But there's a catch
It's official: Nintendo's 3DS Virtual Console service is getting Game Boy Advance games. However, they will not be available to anyone who buys a console after the 3DS price drop on 12th August. Here's the deal. Any North American 3DS owner who picked up the console before 11th August and accessed the eShop will be classed as an...
News This NES Pad is the Biggest Game Controller in the World
Forget sore thumbs
The trend for steadily increasing variants of the iconic NES controller is approaching critical mass, as Dutch students have just set a new record for the largest functioning game controller with an NES pad measuring nearly four metres wide. The pad measures 3.6 metres by 1.6 metres, which is around 11.8 feet by 5.2 feet, which...
News Street Gangs Return in River City Ransom 2
NES classic gets sequelised
NES brawler River City Ransom is showing its age a little now, though it's still a fun little title, with fans of the game no doubt hoping the newly-announced sequel will feature the same quality playability. Miracle Kidz has proudly announced River City Ransom 2 is in development for home consoles this summer, with a...
News Artist Brushes Up on 8-Bit History With Unique NES Paintings
Every English-language game to get its own custom artwork
With the extensive catalogue of games that the NES has to offer, the collectors out there understandably try to get themselves a copy of each and every title. For artist Campbell Whyte, his mission is to paint every single one of them. Based in Perth, Australia, Whyte is in the process of...
News Watch an NES Complete Super Mario Bros. All By Itself
Like a robot
Over the years we've seen people play Super Mario Bros. in some crazy ways: you can play Mario with Kinect, play Mario with your eyes and even, believe it or not, play Mario with your hands, like a baby's toy. They've all required some sort of human interaction, but not this latest Mario-related chicanery, which uses a robot to replace...
Nintendo Download 4th February 2011 (Europe)
DSiWare abound
It's another clearly DSiWare-oriented week this time, with four new titles released on the service. WiiWare and Virtual Console only get one game each, along with another WiiWare demo. WiiWare: Pucca's Kisses Game (Bigben Interactive, 1000pts) – What seems to be a platformer game, based on the surprisingly popular franchise which...
Features NES Characters, Then and Now: Part One
See how some of your favourite characters have evolved over the past 25 years
The Nintendo Entertainment System was a system that stimulated the imaginations of designers and gamers alike. Whether it was the smiling, dream-like wonderland of the Mushroom Kingdom, the sprawling fantasy world of Hyrule or the atmospheric depths of planet Zebes, the...
Competition Winners Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary
Is it a-you?
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. and the North American debut of the NES, we ran a competition to give away a free 500-point NES title for Virtual Console to each of twenty-five winners, the selection of the game being their choice. Almost a thousand users entered, so we'd like to congratulate the 25...
Features Things We Miss About the 8-Bit Era
It's the little things that count
Today, the virtual reality experience of the Wii is as immersive as Lawnmower Man director/writer Brett Leonard ever could have hoped, with Mario as real and in-person as an actual member of our family and special effects so vivid that we compulsively hold our breath during underwater levels. Okay, maybe things...
You tell us why you loved that 8-bit magic machine
To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the NES's North American debut, we asked you to send in your favourite memories with that machine, and you delivered. We apologise to those whose letters we unfortunately were unable to find a place for, but whether you made it into the article or not, it's...
Learn our shocking pasts
To continue our celebration of 25 years of NES, the staff's gathered around the campfire to share their favourite memories of that little dream machine. Not everyone could make it to the party, unfortunately, but we're sure that those who couldn't had good reason to stay home. Join us now as we lay bare our souls to you and...
News Super Mario Bros. Nearly Had a Shoot 'em Up Stage
Before fireballs came bullets
You might know enough about Super Mario Bros. to win our 25th anniversary competition, but did you know a shooting stage was planned for the game? A Famitsu interview with Shigeru Miyamoto reveals that using Mario's original controls, pressing Up would jump, with B to dash and A to fire bullets, before the team settled...
Features NES Homebrew Is Where The Heart Is
How two indie developers are keeping the system kicking after all these years
It’s nigh impossible to overstate the importance of the Nintendo Entertainment System in video game history: its popularity pretty much single-handedly revived the home game console market in the US, which had crashed a few years before the NES’s October 18th, 1985...
News We Celebrate 25 Years of NES
We're throwing a hootenanny, and you're invited
Today is the 25th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System's North American debut, and we're celebrating in style. This week, you can look forward to a menagerie of features that hearken back to the olden days of 8-bit glory. Twenty-five years ago today, every New Yorker sensed something magic...
News Brush Up on Your Super Mario Bros. Glitches, Tips and Tricks
Nintendo gives a round-up of classic moments
Some of these Super Mario Bros. glitches will be familiar to experienced gamers, but some might reveal hitherto unknown secrets about the little plumber's big adventure. Witness a tiny Mario using the Fire Flower, Koopa Troopas walking in mid-air and plenty of other little oddities that may shed new light...
News Read About the Birth of the Famicom in Latest Iwata Asks
Go right back to the start
Nintendo's Famicom is a piece of gaming history. The company's first cartridge-based gaming system, it set the revitalised the industry and set the standard for what was to follow. Satoru Iwata sat down with two of Nintendo's behind-the-scenes heroes for his latest "Iwata Asks" feature: R&D advisor Masayuki Uemura and...
News Charity Marathon Sees Every NES Game Played Back to Back
Over 750 games in total
Mario, Zelda, Pokémon: these are all good themes for charity marathons, and have raised countless thousands of dollars for a range of charities. Playing every game in a particular series back-to-back is a big accomplishment, but how would you feel about playing every game available for a single con
News The First Nintendo Console to Play DVDs was the NES
Well, sort of
The humble Nintendo Entertainment System has been everything from a lunchbox to a guitar, but for those who like the classic experience of putting media in and getting entertainment out will be intrigued by this latest mod that turns the console into a fully functioning DVD player. A little more complex than simply putting a DVD player...
Nintendo Download 5th & 6th October 2010 (Japan)
October begins with Virtual Console and DSiWare
WiiWare's alternating weeks continue, but at least there's the Virtual Console to keep Wii owners happy – even better when the releases include classic arcade games! The DSi has a trio of actual games for a change with nary a lifestyle download in sight. Virtual Console: Commando (800pts Arcade,...
News Nintendo Rolls Out Logo For Mario's 25th Anniversary
Most likely coming soon to a retro enthusiast near you
So Super Mario Bros. released on the NES in 1985. We ran out of fingers and toes trying to figure out how long ago that was, but our theory is 25 years. We feel pretty good about this theory in light of a recent trademark filing by Nintendo of this here image. It doesn't say "25"...
News Planet Earth, Meet Your First Classic Tetris World Champion
It's Jonas Neubauer, and he's good
They came, they saw, they rotated and dropped and rotated again. The first-ever Classic Tetris World Championships took place in Los Angeles over the weekend, and 29-year old Jonas Neubauer walked away with the crown, statue and novelty-sized cheque. Beating over 200 players under the watchful eye of former...
News Clean Yourself with Retro Nintendo Carts
Zombies Washed My Neighbors
Many of you likely have collections of old Nintendo cartridges lying about; boxy relics of gaming's yesteryears great for some nostalgic fun. Still, there has always been one core functionality that these old carts lack: they don't clean dirt off your body. Well, Etsy shop DigitalSoaps aims to change all that with its...
News Science Makes Another Huge Leap Through Super Mario Bros.
Control the plumber with only your eyes
We've had NES consoles controlled by peculiar pads in the past, one notable example being the Castlevania fan who used a dance mat, but what if you could play a similarly legendary, groundbreaking game without any controllers at all? No, we're not talking about Kinect, we're talking about Super Mario Bros. and...
Nintendo Download 9th July (Europe)
Plenty for everyone
As with every week, DSiWare gets the lion's share of releases this week, although most of it is not too stellar, or at least not likely to be. WiiWare gets a long-awaited fighter plus an interesting Nintendo-published title, while VC gets another ninja action game. WiiWare: Toribash (1000pts - Nabi Studios) — A very strange...
Nintendo Download 2nd July (Europe)
DSiWare galore!
DSiWare gets another massive load of new games today, but they're probably not the things you'll mostly be wanting to pay attention to - Both WiiWare and the Virtual Console only get one game each, but they're both great and more than worthy of a look-see. WiiWare: Jett Rocket (1000pts - Shin'en Multimedia) — A 3D platformer with...
News This Beatboxer Has Clearly Played A Lot of Mario Games
Japanese musician performs some impressive beat-coin-boxing
We've seen some interesting 8-bit musical adaptations before, but Japanese beatboxer Hikakin has done the reverse, emulating classic Mushroom Kingdom melodies with nothing more than his mouth / throat combination. It's Rahzel meets Miyamoto in this incredibly impressive display of vocal...
Feature Hyperkin Retron3 Console Review
The unholy three-in-one
Those of you with sharp memories will recall that we reviewed the Retro Duo console a few months back and were quite impressed with the system's power to grant new life to dusty old Nintendo cartridges. We've since been sent yet another of these "clone" systems to take a look at, but this time there's a twist -...
News NES Autographed by Miyamoto Sells for Just $1000
And not a penny more
How much would you pay for a working Nintendo Entertainment System signed by Shigeru Miyamoto? $1,000? More? If you answered the latter, you've missed your opportunity to bid on this item, sold today on eBay for just a cool thousand. Of course, the buyer may just put the system up for auction again, as surely someone would be...
News Mario Leaps Across the Virtual Pages of Kindle
Amazon presumably thrilled
You might have an Amazon Kindle e-reader, but chances are you probably don't: all that reading is understandably off-putting. You know what might brighten it up? Some Mario, of course. That was seemingly the thought process over at Klab, a Japanese company behind a NES emulator for Kindle. Although it's perhaps best not to...
Nintendo Download 16th April 2010 (Europe)
Mega Man, Mr. Driller, gladiators and more
There's a little bit for everyone this week, as all three services get at least one good to great title. DSiWare obviously steals the show again with the usual four releases, while WiiWare gets two and the Virtual Console gets its usual one. Keep in mind these games won't be available until midnight...
Nintendo Download 9th April 2010 (Europe)
More DSiWare madness, and a few Wii downloads too
Nintendo really seems to love DSiWare all of a sudden, because it seems to be getting more games than both other services combined every single week now. This time there's not four or five new games available for it, but a whopping six! The Virtual Console gets a classic long overdue in Europe, while...
News Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon Gets The NES Treatment
Classic rock album is re-imagined on the vintage 8-bit
Pink Floyd may be a band that your dad was into when he was younger but that doesn't deny them the privilege of being one of rock music's all-time greatest acts, and their magnum opus The Dark Side of the Moon still sounds amazing even today. But you know what would make it sound even more...
Nintendo Download 19th March 2010 (Europe)
More Hanabi Festival, plenty of DSiWare and one lonely WiiWare game
Several people were disappointed Nintendo of Europe didn't start off the latest Hanabi Festival with a certain vampire-slaying game last week, but there's no need to complain any more - It's out now! It brings with it a rather tedious little NES import, which might also mean this is...
News R.O.B. Display Unit Sells for $4K on eBay
Someone obviously has very deep pockets
Some rich retro collector has just gotten their hands on a one-of-a-kind auction thanks to eBay. The auction was for a display case containing a Nintendo Entertainment System and a Robotic Operating Buddy (better known as R.O.B.). The final figure? $4,150. Sweet. "These are extremely difficult to find,...
Nintendo Download 12th March 2010 (Europe)
The Hanabi Festival kicks off, but sadly not with its most anticipated game.
It seemed quite likely that Nintendo of Europe would be starting the fifth Hanabi Festival with some Castlevania goodness, but as it turns out, this is not the case! At least there's two different import games instead, one of which is another highly recommended title...
News Brand New NES Platformer Released
Get 'em while they're...uh gone.
For those who don't know, Sivak Games has released a brand new NES platformer via RetroZone which has completely sold out its initial launch quantity almost immediately after being listed for sale. Rest assured, RetroZone has stated that more carts are being produced and will be available for sale on the site...
News Super Mario Bros. 3 Turns Twenty
One of the greatest games ever celebrates a milestone.
For those unaware, today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America. Having sold over 18 million copies worldwide, it still stands as one of the best-selling video games of all time - and that's not even accounting for the various remakes and re-releases of...
