Tag: Opinion
Opinion Metroid Prime 4 Does This One Thing Better Than Any Other Nintendo Game
Remappy days
The long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond finally released in December, and well, not everyone is happy with it. The game’s focus on NPCs and a literal desert of an open world did not resonate with gamers as well as Retro Studios had hoped. I hate to admit it, but I agree with the loud people on the internet. None of the people...
Opinion The Nintendo Console Nobody Wanted To Review Returns Soon, And I'm Here For It, Again
The crimson comeback
As someone who witnessed its initial release, I’m delightfully baffled that Nintendo is resurrecting the Virtual Boy. We aren't just getting a passing mention or a trophy in a Smash Bros. game; we’re getting a full-blown revival, including a dedicated NSO app, a $100 authentic replica peripheral, and a $25 cardboard cutout...
Opinion No One Told Me 'Chibi-Robo' Is Traumatising
Just your very presence makes everyone happy, happy... happy?
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in August. Enjoy! Editor's note. Spoilers for a 20-year-old game inbound... I’ve spent 20 years “awww"-ing over the...
Opinion Wishlisting Games On Switch eShop Is A Game In Itself
Thumbnail and I
I love browsing the eShop, and the clicky sounds as you scroll across it. The pleasing crispness of the chick! sound goes so well with the Joy-Con button feel. There’s that camera shutter snap! if you scroll across a game’s gallery in quick succession, and on Switch 2 there’s a thumb-cheek pop! when you hover over a 2-wide...
Opinion We Need To Talk About X Games
X and why?
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in August. Enjoy! Most of the time, I'm pretty oblivious to game name trends. It's normally only when someone points out to me that all AAA games have names like 'Chronicle of...
Opinion Metroid II Doesn't Care If Samus Lives Or Dies
An existential crisis courtesy of the Game Boy
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in August. Enjoy! I recently started playing Metroid II: Return of Samus for the first time. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was a way of...
Opinion I Reviewed 25 Switch 2 Games In 2025, And These Are My Top 3 Picks
The A+ Team
Yes, yes, I know. Only 25 games since June. I am a lazy sod. Regardless, I've had quite the ride thus far with my Switch 2. We're still not that far out from launch, and I expect super-duper exciting things in 2026. Loads of 'em. I can smell it. Oh no, wait, that was just my dog. Now, while I haven't had the opportunity to review all...
Opinion Strange Antiquities Is A True Treasure In A Puzzle Game-Filled Year
Antiquities, the Greek God of Old Vases
If you think more games should be about giving cursed skulls to weird strangers, then I'm here to tell you that you're fine, you're normal, you're right, and you should play Strange Antiquities. You may have already played Bad Viking's first game in the 'Strange' series, Strange Horticulture, a...
Opinion Not Enough People Are Talking About This Early GOTY Contender
Centennial masterpiece
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in May. Enjoy! Warning: This article delves into spoiler territory for The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy. If you've yet to play the game and want to go in...
Opinion I Finally Finished Ring Fit Adventure, And It Might Be Peak Nintendo?
I might just be tired
I must have some kind of record for Ring Fit, if not internationally (see: here), then at least for the West Midlands. I played 10 hours over the weekend, which probably sounds like a lot. I can confirm it was. You know those charity fundraisers of dancing for 24 hours or whatever? It wasn't that. All I raised was my knees (a...
Opinion Cult Classic 'Tokimeki Memorial' Hits Switch - But 30 Years On, It's Still Out Of Reach
Forever with you; never with us
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in April. Enjoy! True love lasts forever – and so do some games. Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with You, the legendary dating sim from 1995, is hooking up...
Opinion My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need Work
Yoshi or Nabbit, make your choice
Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors from 2025. This article was originally published in January. Enjoy! I suspect many of my fellow parents can relate to this, but when you have your first child, a whole bevvy of problems that never...
Opinion After A Few Missteps, Story Of Seasons Finally Nailed The Formula With Grand Bazaar
We're so back, baby
If you don't already know about the schism between Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon, read up on it! But TL;DR, Story of Seasons is the OG – the original farming game series that sparked thousands of copycats hoping to carve out a slice of that cosy game pie. And who can blame them? The farming game genre is a fantastic,...
Opinion This GOTY Pick Might Be My Most Morbid Yet
Belt and braces
If you haven't played the fabulous Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector yet, well, what are you waiting for? We'd recommend bookmarking this one if you haven't, as this piece contains major spoilers for the endgame. You've been warned... "Wake up, Sleeper." I knew next to nothing about Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector when a...
Opinion Who Needs Link? This Top-Down Metroidvania Is The Best Zelda Game Of 2025
A String Between Worlds
When you start up a top-down Zelda game, you usually know how things will start. You’ll get some scrolling exposition text setting up the events of the game, and you’ll either be plonked in the middle of a room or a field, ready to save the princess, or wake up after a dream or a shipwreck or something. I’m...
Opinion Marvel Cosmic Invasion Caps Off A Great Year To Be A Superhero Fan
Flying high
Cards on the table: I am a big superhero fan and I always have been. I've read the comics, I've played the games, I've watched the movies, I've got the tattoos *gulp*. I am usually pretty adept at bending things to see the positives — heck, I can even defend Thor: The Dark World on a good day — but the last few years have been real...
Opinion Rayman 2 Is An Overlooked Platforming Classic About A Rebel With A Cause
The great escape
Rayman 2 has been added to the Nintendo Switch Online N64 library. His fight for freedom against a literally iron-fisted despot represented a braver, weirder time for Ubisoft, and today Francisco looks back on a classic... For many of us, Super Mario 64 changed platforming forever by introducing the boundless possibilities of the...
Opinion Playing Silksong In Co-Op Was A 2025 Hivemind Highlight
GameChatting my way through Pharloom
We lost track of the amount of times our friend Ibby tried to convey his love for the gorgeous Choral Chambers theme from Silksong, asking us to listen to this bit or the flutey bit, or another haunting, melancholic bit we couldn’t actually hear because of GameChat’s music-muting tech. We did, however,...
Opinion Resident Evil Requiem Needs To Solve The Series' Villain Problem
Where art thou, Wesker?
Warning: this article contains scenes of explicit spoilers. Resident Evil Requiem launches on the Switch 2 in just under three months, but even now, the game is heavily shrouded in mystery (well, a little less so after the accidental reveal of Leon). Judging from the trailers so far, one of the biggest draws of this new...
Mixin' it up
I've been having an interesting run lately of games that shake things up, even if it's just a little bit, in the controls department. Back in the good old days — or at least my nostalgia blinkers have made it seem this way to me — the idea of being bored rigid by a game's control systems wasn't something that ever entered my mind...
Opinion City Trial Is Kirby Air Riders At Its Best, But It Needs More Maps To Thrive Long-Term
Let the chaos continue (please)
Right, it's been out a week now, so it seems like enough time should have passed that we can start having a little chat about Kirby Air Riders, and in particular its stellar City Trial mode. "Stellar? It's a chaotic mess!" Indeed it is, and well met, my friend. However, that's exactly why it's so damn good, so stop...
Opinion 20 Years Later, Need For Speed: Most Wanted Is Still The Series' Best Outing
Most excellent
The Need for Speed video game franchise, much like those movies with Vin Diesel in them (you know, the car ones), well...there's a lot of them. In fact, there are over 20 Need For Speed games as things currently stand, and some of them are even good! Yep, I'd go so far as to say that some of them are very, very good indeed, and Need...
Opinion Banjo-Tooie Is Pure Nightmare Fuel, And I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
Banjo-Too-Five-ie
One of the reasons I adore N64-gen Rare so much is because they loved testing the boundaries. What could they get away with in a cheeky, charming 3D platformer? Banjo-Kazooie was already dipping its toe in the water in a few subtle (and less-subtle) ways. “How's your nuts, bark breath?” is funny, but perhaps funnier with that...
Opinion Third-Party Support For Switch 2 Is Already A Dream Come True
An avalanche of quality
The Switch 2 has gotten off to a bit of a weird start. Although there’s no denying that the console has been a massive commercial success since its launch on 5th June 2025 — officially selling over 10 million units — there’s a niggling, underlying sense of dissatisfaction amongst some fans regarding Nintendo’s...
Opinion Animal Crossing On Switch 2 Has Me Equal Parts Buzzing And Baffled
What about New-er Horizons?
I adore Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I know, I know, such a hot take puts me in a niche of... about 98% of people that read this site, but what I mean to say is that when the announcement of Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and the 3.0 update were announced yesterday, I was about as excited as...
Opinion One Year On, Every Positive 'Pokémon TCG Pocket' Update Still Comes With A Catch
A flip-flopping Magikarp
About a year ago, I reviewed Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket here at Nintendo Life, awarding it a respectable 7/10, largely because collecting ‘mons from that initial set of packs felt kinetic and exciting. Sure, there was far too much monetisation in the form of multiple different currencies, and the battles lacked a...
Opinion Pokémon Legends Z-A Is The Creepiest Entry Yet, Not In A Good Way
Move!
There’s been quite a lot of talk recently about the lack of voiceover work in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and I can understand why. Game Freak has made some pretty decent strides with its cutscenes, depicting characters that animate realistically right down to their facial expressions and mouth movements. Yet they don’t actually talk. It’s...
Anniversary Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water Still Scares The Pants Off Me Ten Years On
Can I have them back please?
Of all the horror franchises I've subjected myself to over the years, Fatal Frame is the one that sticks in my mind most as properly, actually, scary. It's the answer I'll give every single time to the question of what game series has scared me the most, and it's all down to one very simple reason. As today is the 10th...
Opinion Ogre Battle 64: Person Of Lordly Caliber's Revolutionary Heart Still Burns Brightly
Say, you want a revolution?
Has it really been 25 years? Yes, my wizened friends, it has. Back in the year of our lord 2000 (or 1999 if you're from Japan), if you weren't still calming down from the trauma of Y2K (still can't believe nothing happened) you may have been getting completely sucked into one of the few truly amazing RPGs on the Nintendo...
Opinion Sonic Racing Crossworlds > Mario Kart World, And It's Not Even Close For Me
Plus, vote for your kurrent kart-racing king
When I initially found out that we were getting a brand new Mario Kart with the launch of Switch 2, I was a little bit concerned. Not disappointed, definitely excited, but concerned all the same. Mario Kart 8, you see, has become such an all-encompassing thing over the years, a sprawling collection of...
Opinion Silksong Might Just Be The Funniest Game Of The Year
Silks and giggles
It's very easy not to see the funny side of Hollow Knight: Silksong. Don't worry, I've been there. Something about bashing your head against a boss for the 20th time takes away the giggles a little bit, and that's okay. But you have to hear me out here: I haven't laughed this much at a game in a very long time. It tickles a very...
Opinion Silksong's Soundtrack Rules, But You Should Turn It Off
Are your ready to RUMBLEEEE?
It was approximately 30 seconds after I'd buckled in for my flight to Greece that I smugly turned on my Switch 2 with the knowledge that I would have four hours of uninterrupted Silksong time ahead of me; then I realised my headphones were out of charge. It's no big deal, right? I'll be able to play just fine with the...
Opinion The Mario Movie Was Okay At Best, But I Can't Wait For The Sequel
Cosmic memories
The first Super Mario Bros. Movie from Illumination was… well, okay at best. It got a fair bit right, like the excellent visual presentation and delightful Easter Eggs throughout its 92-minute runtime. But a weak script, baffling casting decisions, and reliance on licensed music over iconic tracks from Koji Kondo resulted in a...
Opinion Why Focus On Silksong's Difficulty When We Need To Talk About How Cute It is?
Fari dula tsi ma net~
Over a week after beating Hollow Knight: Silksong, I’ve decided that we’re all focusing on the wrong things. Hornet’s fast-paced movement and range of options are breathtaking, sure, and the game can be maddening. But instead of succumbing to the difficulty discourse, instead of falling into a pit of spikes for a 13th...
Opinion Resident Evil Requiem Represents A Turning Point For Switch 2
No longer left behind
Ever since the first big blowout Direct for the Switch 2 back in April, I’ve been itching to see an announcement for Resident Evil on the new console. It’s possibly my favourite series of all time, after all, so I’m eager to play the recent entries on a Nintendo console without having to connect to the bloomin’ Cloud...
Opinion I Can't Believe I'm Finally Getting My Dream Pokémon Game In 2026
Z-A? What's *that*?
I rarely expect big Pokémon news during Nintendo Directs. Maybe an NSO drop (pffft), perhaps some details on the already-announced game coming out. I certainly did not anticipate my dream of becoming a Ditto who can transform into a human being to come true during the latest showcase. Okay, that’s obviously not what I’ve...
Opinion NSO Subscribers Outside Key Markets Get Less, And Nintendo Should Fix That
Region-free access, region-locked perks
Since its launch in 2018, the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) has been a lightning rod for debate among players. Fans have argued over whether its two-tier price structure constitutes good value, questioned the quality of emulation — sometimes patchy at first with certain N64 games but steadily improved — and...
Opinion Metroid Prime 4 Reminds Me Of Gears 5, And It's Making Me Nervous
Skiff it a chance
I’m starting to feel nervous about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Let me explain. During the most recent Nintendo Direct, the long-gestating game finally received a release date for 4th December 2025 on Switch and Switch 2. That’s not all, though; the accompanying trailer also revealed that Samus would now be rocking her very own...
Sans regret
It's hard to believe that Undertale is 10 years old, innit. A game that released just a year after the birth of my eldest son, and two before my youngest arrived on the scene. What is time? It's all going so quickly. I bring my kids up here, not to be one of those tiresome people, but because Toby Fox's masterpiece (and you better...
Opinion Silksong's Tight Construction Is Exactly What I Need After Too Much Open-World Loafing
I have to fight the boss now? But I was picking flowers!
Of course, it's not in any way whatsoever radical to have your players follow along a tightly-scripted path in a video game. It's nothing new, it's nothing that hasn't been a constant (in platformers especially) since...well...forever. So why is it, some five or six hours into my time with...
Opinion HD-2D Might Be Old News, But Octopath 0's City Building Has Me Buzzing
Pixel by pixel
Given that I love RPGs, I’m sure it’s no surprise that I’m very excited for Octopath Traveler 0. What might shock you, however, is that it’s not the return to Osterra, or the excellent turn-based combat, or even the prospect of another new HD-2D game that has me jazzed, nope (I still love all of these things, though, be...
Feature Nintendo's New App Reminds Me Of A Universal Truth: It Feels Good To Squash Mario's Face
The nose to the right, the eyes to the left
There are three things that you should know about me before we dive into this feature. 1) I am, to all intents and purposes, a 'grown-up'. 2) I do not have any children, nor any tiny relatives to test this app on. 3) I'm a sucker for a bit of N64 nostalgia. Keeping these first two points in mind, you...
Opinion Silksong's Big 'Anticlimactic' Premiere Was Absolutely Perfect
No webs to spin
Six years. Much has been said in the last six years about Team Cherry's near radio silence on Hollow Knight: Silksong. Promises from Microsoft about the game coming out "in the next 12 months" in 2022. No playable demo since E3 2019. No Kickstarter updates. And a furore of hungry fans whipping themselves into a frenzy and building an...
Opinion We Really Don't Need A Donkey Kong Timeline
Lore of the Swings
From the moment Nintendo revealed Pauline's presence in Donkey Kong Bananza, I knew one thing for certain: I was going to be writing a feature on the DK timeline in the next two months. Look, you know I love Bananza. DK and Pauline have such a wholesome little relationship, I adored hearing the same senile rant from Cranky on...
Opinion Donkey Kong Bananza's Delightful World Map Is Another Nintendo Banger
Mario's miniature marvels
There's a lot of fun to be had in smashing the place to tiny little voxel pieces in Donkey Kong Bananza, it's easily its biggest draw. People have been into the sweet catharsis of wanton destruction since way back before there were even people. Probably. However, the one thing that's caught my attention most whilst playing...
Opinion Can We Stop Comparing Donkey Kong Bananza's Tactile Thrills To Odyssey Now?
My favourite one is both
Note. This article contains minor, non-narrative spoilers (specifically, Bananza forms and mid-game layers). Did you know there was a U-turn jump in Bananza? I just realised this morning! He does a roll jump (that can be chained into another air roll) and lands with a sonar splash. I'm not exactly sure how useful it is but...
Opinion Celebrating 20 Years Of Baseball In The Mushroom Kingdom
Mario Superstar, that is what you are
Monday 21st July marks the 20th anniversary of Mario Superstar Baseball, so to celebrate Jonny is taking us out to the ball game... My first gaming memory: waking up in the middle of the night, heading downstairs, and booting up Mario Superstar Baseball's campaign mode on my GameCube. It was completely out of...
Opinion Honestly, I'm So Glad We Had To Wait For Donkey Kong Bananza
Who knew Shy Guys liked camping?
I saw this item shower for the first time after more than 60 hours of play. Guys, I've played so much Mario Kart World. I've done all the Grands Prix (on three stars, obviously), and the Knockout Tours (not on three stars, life is short). I've had an ongoing competition with friends on Mario B
Opinion I Never Felt True Nostalgia Until I Played GameCube On Switch 2
Ahh, memories
I still remember the day I got my GameCube. It wasn’t the launch day, because I remember getting Super Smash Bros. Melee alongside it, which to my knowledge released a few weeks after the console itself in the UK. Oh gosh, I was so excited though! I pored over early issues of NGC in the weeks leading up to The Big Day (somehow,...
Opinion I'm Completely In Love With Mario Kart World's Photo Mode
Plus Team NL's best shots
Mario Kart World is the biggest Mario Kart to date. The map is huge, with Easter Eggs and little secrets hiding under bridges, atop towering buildings, and in the middle of sprawling oceans. Knockout Tour is the most chaotic concoction of multiplayer I've ever seen. And I'm still knee-deep in unlocking characters (darn,...
