Tag: NES - Page 4
News The Designer Of The NES And SNES Has Retired From Nintendo After Almost 40 Years
"I am retiring and moving onto 'other' projects"
Lance Barr, the man who famously designed the NES and SNES consoles, has retired from Nintendo. Barr has made the announcement via his personal LinkedIn account, stating that "after almost 39 years at Nintendo, I am retiring and moving onto 'other' projects." He has served as Design & Brand...
Talking Point How Much Would You Pay For A Mint Copy Of Super Mario Bros.?
6 golden coins? 8 red coins?
Following on from the recent record-breaking sales for retro games, including $2 million USD for a copy of Super Mario Bros. and $870K USD for The Legend of Zelda on NES — not to mention the unf
Says it strongly refutes any accusation
Following on from yesterday's accusations about "fraud and deception" in the retro video game market, a Heritage Auctions spokesperson has now issued a statement. It "strongly refutes" allegations of its involvement in shill bidding, market manipulation, or any other illegal or unethical practices and wishes...
News Accusations Of Foul Play Surface Around Record-Breaking Graded NES Game Auctions
What the grading companies and auction houses "didn't want us to see"
Update [Wed 25th Aug, 2021 14:20 BST]: A PR firm representing WATA Games has contacted us with a statement from the company regarding Karl Jobst's video. It is presented in full at the bottom of the page. Original story [Tue 24th Aug, 2021 04:05 BST]: In July, just days after a...
Video Retro Gaming Prices Are Much More Reasonable In Japan
Mother, frankly, is quite affordable
If you're a sucker for a few of the classics in the gaming sphere, you'll probably know the sting of looking up some obscure little gem like Doshin the Giant and getting whiplash upon seeing the price. Rare games are just worth a lot, it's just the way it is, right? Well in Japan things are a little bit...
News A Copy Of Super Mario Bros. For NES Just Smashed World Records, AGAIN
We're still waiting for Beanie Babies to be worth something
Hey, remember last month when a sealed copy of Super Mario 64 sold for a record-breaking $1.56 million? The previous record of most expensive video game was set just days earlier, when an ultra-rare copy of The Legend of Zelda on NES reached a (then)
News Fans Celebrate All Things Metroid As The Series Turns 35
Happy anniversary, Metroid!
35 years ago today, on 6th August 1986, the original Metroid launched for the Famicom in Japan. The game would eventually arrive on the NES in North America and Europe in 1987 and 1988 respectively, before blossoming into a series of titles adored by fans to this day. Metroid games don't always come around too often...
News Super Mario Bros. 3 Special Version Jumps Onto The Switch Online NES Library
Fashionably late
The NES Nintendo Switch Online app has had a decent number of Special 'SP' game versions since it launched - these typically give you shortcuts to specific areas of games and apply unique conditions. Somewhat randomly, alongside today's expected addition of 3 SNES games, we now have a Super Mario Bros. 3 SP version (hat-tip to...
Random Finally, Scientists Have Built A Robot Hand That Can Play Super Mario Bros.
Did someone say Power Glove?
Plenty of super-clever, super-talented researchers across the globe have been pretty busy trying to save the world recently, but hey, even scientists need to work on something fun every once and a while. For this team of researchers from the University of Maryland, that fun has arrived in the form of a robotic hand...
News Collection Of Mint Condition NES Games Fetches $30,000 For Goodwill
Your feel-good story of the day
Pristine copies of classic games can always fetch a pretty penny – a copy of Super Mario 64 broke a world record recently, selling for an absolutely mindblowing $1.56 million USD – but when the money they can generate ends up going to a good cause, it all feels worth it. As reported by
News Here's Why That NES Zelda Sold For $870,000, According To The Guy Who Designed The Packaging
"A cartridge selling for such an astonishing amount is really about legacy"
Back when Nintendo conquered the living room for the first time with the NES, one of the key components of that success was branding – something which was handled by GIRVIN Design, headed up by Tim Girvin. The firm worked with Nintendo to create the 'look' of the NES...
News Four Lost NES, SNES And N64 Games Have Been Brought Back To Life, Pre-Orders Now Open
But only for a limited time
If you're big on your video game preservation and history, this latest batch of pre-orders will be right up your retro-collecting street. Piko Interactive, an American publisher that specialises in grabbing the rights to forgotten, never-released games from years gone by and giving them the development time they...
News Slow Mole Is A New And Free NES Platformer, Cartridge Version Incoming
An 8-bit platformer that "makes everyone a speedrunner"
Forget your fancy Switch OLED, because it's time for a brand new game on Nintendo's other new and exciting games console, the NES. Erik Rosenlund, an animator who's taking the first step into the world of game development, has just released Slow Mole, a new game designed for the NES that can...
News This Ultra-Rare Copy Of The Original NES Zelda Just Sold For $870,000
It's now the most expensive video game collectable ever
Update [Sat 10th Jul, 2021 07:30 BST]: Well, it's official - a week later the same Legend of Zelda NES cartridge has now sold for $870,000 USD. This not only surpasses the amount Super Mario Bros. sold for, but also makes it the highest-priced video game that has ever been sold at an auction...
News Nintendo Plugs Its NSO Zelda Games Ahead Of Skyward Sword HD's Release
Experience Link's classic adventures while you wait
Next week sees the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on the Switch. Although it's only an updated version of a 2011 Wii title, Nintendo has been promoting it non-stop since it was originally announced. It's now using the lead-up to the game's release to promote Link's classics...
News A Hand-Drawn Guide To Metroid Is Coming, And It Looks Absolutely Stunning
Pre-orders coming soon
Last summer, the super-talented Philip Summers launched a beautiful hand-drawn game guide for The Legend of Zelda on NES. Available as a PDF or (to a very limited extent) in physical form, the guide featured completely hand-drawn and hand-written pages full of glorious art, tips, maps, walkthrough info and more to help you...
News This High-Grade Nintendo World Championships Cartridge Could Fetch Over Half A Million Dollars
Was previously traded for a mint Tom Brady card worth $556,000
If you're a regular reader of the site then you'll be aware of the significance of the Nintendo World Championships cartridges. These were carts issued at the famous 1990 event which boasted unique challenges for participants to test their skills on. They were never intended to make...
Retro The Anticlimactic Quest To Find The Person Behind Metroid's Most Famous 'Cheat Code'
Cosmic coincidence or a real person?
If you know Metroid, then chances are you also know the name Justin Bailey. Entering this code (or password, to be more precise) into the original NES Metroid would not only grant you full power, but also a special outfit for Samus Aran. While many passwords of the period were random selections of letters and...
News Nintendo Tokyo Pop-Up Stores Are Getting NES-Themed Gashapon, And They're Impossibly Cute
We need the "Controller Button Collection"
Japan gets all the best stuff; we know this, you know this, everyone knows this. It's just one of those things that you have to accept in life, like the fact that dropped toast will always land butter-side down or that you're guaranteed to unwittingly wear white on bolognaise night. The latest...
Video The 21 Best NES Games Of All Time, As Rated By The Nintendo Life Community
What did you pick?
Back in the '80s, Nintendo released the NES. It saw the rise of a generation of gamers - shifting millions of units worldwide and kickstarting the careers of many video game icons. If you've ever wanted to know what the best games are on this system, you've come to the right place. Our American-based video producer Zion Grassl...
News What Are Your Favourite Switch Online SNES And NES Games? Nintendo Wants To Know
There are now over 100 classics to enjoy
At the end of last month, Nintendo rolled out another batch of retro games for the SNES and NES Switch Online service. Japan also got another Fire Emblem game and a bonus for everyone was
News Nintendo Reminds Us The Switch Online Service Now Has Over 100 Classic Games
We're ready for Mother now, Nintendo
Nintendo has just added five more games to the Switch Online SNES and NES service for the month of May, as well as a bonus version of Super Mario Kart. Interestingly, this means there are now more than 100 retro games available in North America and Europe. As a reminder of this milestone, Nintendo has shared the...
Reminder Five NES And SNES Games Hit Switch Today, Plus A Special Version Of Super Mario Kart
A retro wonderland
As promised, five new games have arrived on Nintendo Switch Online's NES and SNES apps today. But hang on a minute... What's this bonus game we see before us? Yes, as we shared last week, SNES titles Caveman Ninja (otherwise known as Joe & Mac), Magical Drop II, Spanky's Quest, Super Baseball Simulator 1.0
Video Remembering The 3D Classics NES Range On Nintendo 3DS
The "definitive way" to play these retro releases
Remember when Nintendo got Arika to bring a bunch of NES games to the 3DS? These games were part of the short running series known as the 3D Classics line, which contained six games like Kirby's Adventure and Kid Icarus, and even had a stereoscopic 3D enhancement. The series kicked off with 3D...
Random Behold The Miya 2000, A Rare NES Accessory That Only Works With One Game
FORE!
Like any popular games console, the NES was host to some truly weird and wonderful accessories. Devices like the iconic Power Glove and the Brøderbund's U-Force tried to leverage the huge install base of Nintendo's system, but it's fair to say this was easier said than done and many of these products flopped at retail. We assumed we'd seen...
News Ouch! NES Collector Recalls The Time He Threw Out Packaging Worth $4,000 To 'Save Space'
"It's cardboard. Who cares?"
Anyone who collects video games will know there's often a massive price difference between a loose cartridge and a 'mint in box' example – which is why the story of hardcore collector Seth is so painful to comprehend. Many years ago, when his collection of gaming items was slowly getting out of control, he decided to...
News Tetris Players Have Discovered A New Technique, And It's Sending High Scores Into Orbit
And you can use your feet!
For most mere mortals, getting over 100 lines on Game Boy Tetris (seeing that shuttle for the first time) is as good as it's ever going to get, but there are others who strive to achieve perfection in this classic puzzler (which is getting its own movie soon). For th
News Switch Online Members Can Save 30% On Wireless NES Controllers (North America)
A limited-time offer
If you still haven't got around to purchasing a pair of wireless NES controllers for the Nintendo Switch, now might be the time. Nintendo of America is currently offering Switch Online members a special deal, allowing them to save 30% on these retro replicas. This offer runs from now until May 4th and drops the price of these...
News The Konami Code Turns 35 With A Special Album Of Lo-Fi Gradius Tracks
⬆ ⬆ ⬇ ⬇ ⬅ ➡ ⬅ ➡ 🅱 🅰
We've had a lot of 35th Anniversaries this year, including the Mario celebrations and the Zelda... non-celebrations, and this weekend — specifically, the 25th April, 2021 — is the birthday of the Konami Code, perhaps the most famous sequence of buttons in hi
News This Sealed Super Mario Bros. Has Just Become The Most Expensive Video Game Collectable Ever
Eclipsing even the Nintendo PlayStation
Update: The auction ended at a staggering $660,000. Original Story [Thu 25th Mar, 2021 16:45 GMT]: Remember last year, when we reported that a sealed copy ofSuper Mario Bros. on the NES sold for an eye-watering $114,000 at auction? Well, there's another copy being auctioned at the moment which currently...
News These NES-Style Switch Game Card Holders Are Adorable, And Make Them Harder To Lose
Carry your games around in style
We're not sure about you, but it's our personal opinion here at Nintendo Life that those teeny, tiny (and tasty?) Switch game cards are frustratingly easy to misplace. We might just be very accident-prone or absent-minded (or both), but we've spent many an hour scrabbling around the house trying to find a game that...
Feature 8 NES Games That Were Better On Famicom Disk System
Saves + Synth > Passwords
The Famicom Disk System (or the Family Computer Disk System to give its full title) released in Japan — and Japan only — on 21st February 1986. This Famicom add-on came with a wave of new games on bespoke Nintendo-branded floppy discs which had several advantages over cartridges at the time, plus one or two drawbacks...
Feature The Legend Of Zelda Is The Robinson Crusoe Of Video Games
We start our 35th anniversary feature series at the beginning... and the end?
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, we're running a series of features looking at a specific aspect — a theme, character, mechanic, location, memory or something else entirely — from each of the mainline Zelda games. Today, Alan looks back at the...
Mini Review Fire 'N Ice (NES) - A Fine Puzzler That's Worthy Of Rediscovery On Switch
I've got the (Solomon's) key, I've got the secret
Sokoban, initially released in 1982 for Japanese home computers, is the first “block-pushing” puzzle game that challenged players to move around boxes to accomplish some kind of goal. Of the numerous similar games it inspired, one of the most popular was Tecmo’s Solomon’s Key, released for...
Thanks to the legendary Dale Baer
A classic '90s commercial for Nintendo has surfaced online, giving us an insight into how the company won the hearts, minds and wallets of an entire generation of players. The commercial was issued by Roses Discount Stores for its "World of Nintendo" range, which not only included video games but a whole host of...
News Former Nintendo Employee Howard Phillips Is Launching A "Tell-All" Book About The Company
And "Brawl In The Family" artist Matthew Taranto is involved, too
Retro fans will likely remember Howard "Gamemaster" Phillips. Having worked for Nintendo of America between 1981-1991, he became their spokesperson and was widely known for his vast knowledge of NES games. Now, he's back with a new book, launching Gamemaster Classified: An Insider's...
Gallery Geeks Line's NES/Famicom Anthology Is The Most Exhaustive Look At The Console Yet
No stone left unturned
French publisher Geeks Line is no stranger to a good book – it has already given us the superb N64, SNES and GameCube anthologies – and it's rounding off this Nintendo-themed selection with an exhaustive look at the machine that started it all, the NES (or Famicom if you're of the Japanese persuasion). Penned by Math...
News NES DuckTales Originally Had An Option For Scrooge To Give Up His Fortune
"I love that fans found out about the original ending"
It's been quite the week for retro discoveries. Alongside GoldenEye 007's cancelled remake resurfacing online, DuckTales has been in the news after an unearthed prototype build made its way online, revealing a previously unreleased song called "Map". As it turns o
News DuckTales NES Prototype Unearthed, Features An Unused Song
That's no moon (theme)...
Capcom brought us a remastered edition of DuckTales several years back, but we still hold a lot of love for the original NES version. Offering us a unqiue platforming adventure, DuckTales was widely noted for its excellent soundtrack – the Moon Theme most prominently – though it only featured a dozen tracks. Within the...
News The NES Is Getting A New Game That's All About Putting Out Fires
Flame on
Karu_gamo, the developer behind Japanese cult classics Protect Me Knight, Gotta Protectors and Amazon's Running Diet, is bringing a new game to the NES / Famicom. Blazing Rang
Video Ever Wondered What It Was Like To Work At Nintendo In 1990? Here's A Look
"It's a lot of fun"
A rare look at Nintendo of America in 1990 was recently uploaded to YouTube by the channel 'btm0815ma'. This "raw" footage was filmed at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington as part of a news report. Apart from a look at the assembly of NES, there's an interview where one guy says it's a fun place to work and even a look at...
News The Game Boy Lives On Once More As The Shapeshifter Closes In On Kickstarter Target
NES port listed as stretch goal
Kickstarter has brought us some of the current generation's more interesting experiences. From spiritual successors like Yooka-Laylee to original hits like CrossCode, many projects have tapped into our nostalgia for retro gaming – though not always for the better. Bringing us an 8-bit fantasy adventure, The...
Feature How Nintendo Killed The Best Version Of Tetris
"Heartbroken is a good summary"
Ed Logg knew a thing or two about lines. He’d co-created Asteroids at Atari, a game where players piloted a ship and blasted the eponymous space rocks into smaller and smaller bits. Released in 1979, Asteroids was in black and white, but the animation was slick and fluid thanks to vector graphics, a technique that...
Feature NES Creator Masayuki Uemura On Building The Console That Made Nintendo A Household Name
"Back then, we didn’t know if it was going to be popular or not"
There's no denying that the NES – or Famicom as it was known in its native Japan – is one of the most important pieces of video game hardware ever made. Not only did it turn Nintendo from an outsider player to industry leader, it laid down the foundations of an industry which...
News Retro-Style Platformer Alwa's Awakening Is Getting An Official NES Port
A new NES release in 2021?!
Elden Pixels, developer of both Alwa's Awakening and this year's Alwa's Legacy, has announced that it's working on a brand new port of its original game. So which shiny new console is Alwa's Awakening coming to next? The PS5? The rumoured Switch Pro? Nope, it's getting a 2021 release on the NES, Nintendo's 35-year-old...
News Nintendo Switch Online Members Can Now Get 50% Off The Switch NES Controllers (Europe)
A Cyber Deals special
As an additional treat in Nintendo of Europe's Cyber Deals offerings, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can now pick up a pair of NES controllers for Switch at half price. The offer will be live for Nintendo Switch Online members from now up until 3rd December, taking the usual £49.99 asking price down to just £24.99...
News Sealed Copy Of Super Mario Bros. 3 Sells For $156,000
We've got another new world record
Earlier this year in July, a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. for NES sold for $114,000 USD. It set a new record for the most expensive video game ever sold. While most probably expected it to hold this record for some time, the highest price paid for a video game at auction has now been broken (again). Heritage...
News Puma Is Releasing A Pair Of NES-Themed Sneakers Just In Time For Christmas
Ride to the Future
Puma has been doing some neat sneaker collaborations of late, taking on both Mario and his erstwhile rival Sonic, and now the sports brand is back with a pair of shoes which celebrate the iconic NES console. The "Future Rider" sneakers are due for release on December 4th, 2020, and boast the famous NES colouring, a "Po
News Chinese Firm Which Ripped Off The NES With Jackie Chan's Help Has Filed For Bankruptcy
So long, Subor
While most of the world grew up with the NES (or Famicom), there are numerous examples of unofficial clone systems becoming incredibly popular in certain regions over the years – one of which was China. The Chinese market, like that in Brazil, was flooded with "Famiclone" systems which basically replicated the performance of...
Feature Evercade's Latest Cart Is Offering A Vital Connection To Nintendo History
You're making me Dizzy, my head is spinning
We've covered the Evercade console a few times on this site, mainly because we love the idea of a brand-new handheld system which uses old-school cartridges. This pocket-friendly device doesn't have the backing of a Nintendo or Sony-sized company behind it, yet the team involved have managed to not only...
