Not bad overall. Will get Espgaluda II, DoDonPachi Resurrection, Doom Eternal, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (hopefully it won’t get a cheaper physical release in Europe soon afterwards the same as Streets of Rage 4 did 🤔), Tetris Effect: Connected and Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection.
Also interested in Rendering Ranger and Bladerunner.
Hoping for Castlevania Advance Collection soon 🤞🤞🤞
Having bought several games from LRG my gripes would be 1) The long waiting time with a severe lack of updates (been waiting about a year for my Switch Castlevania Anniversary Collection Ultimate Edition) and 2) A couple of the games I’ve bought have arrived with damaged cases/boxes. Not ideal when you’ve paid upfront and then waited months only for the product to not be in perfect condition.
NA hands down, pretty sure it’s by Tom DuBois who also did The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Contra III and other iconic box art for Konami in the US/EU.
My life in gaming did a very good piece about him a couple of years ago, worth checking out on YouTube.
@romanista The Netherlands qualified for the last T20 World Cup late last year, sadly they underperformed and lost 3 games out of 3.
They are also playing in the World Cup Super League (50 overs) alongside the 12 test teams, as the 13th side. The 50 over Cricket World Cup is going back up to 14 teams in 2027 so hopefully they'll be back in then, as well as making the T20 World Cups later this year and in 2024/2026 (the T20 World Cup is expanding from 16 to 20 teams for 2024 and onwards).
Famous last words but I'd be more hopeful of a physical release for this, as it has a Street Fighter game in it. We got a physical release in the west for Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection after all (and I've been playing it ever since).
@HamatoYoshi is SF IV Arcade edition better than Ultra SFIV?
Will be great to play a Dark Stalkers game finally, also had my eye on a copy of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on the GBA so nice to be able to play it on the Switch instead. And all 10 games online with rollback net code, Wow!
It is a shame that Madden isn’t on Switch but Madden these days is FAR from the game it was 15 years or so ago.
On the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox the games were incredibly deep with superb franchise modes. Nowadays it’s all about Madden Ultimate Team and ‘pay to win’. The decline can be seen in the difference in Metacritic averages. Most of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox games have Metacritic scores between the mid 80s and mid 90s. Nowadays the last couple of Maddens have been in the low 60s.
Hence why even as a big fan of the NFL I’d rather play any of the Maddens 2005-2008 or NFL 2K5 than Madden 22.
Shout out also to all of the people who pointed out how popular cricket is worldwide. Due to the number of fans in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh it can claim to be the second most popular sport in the world. Looking forward to Cricket 22 coming out on the Switch at the end of March (hopefully it’ll have ironed out most of the bugs that plagued the PlayStation, Xbox and PC versions when they launched last November).
If you already have Switch online then the expansion pak is £17 a year extra. Good value if you ask me, especially with the excellent emulation for the Megadrive games (which no one seems to have mentioned because they're all busy moaning about a few iffy graphics in Ocarina of Time). Looking forward to finally giving Majora's Mask a proper go, as well as Paper Mario and Sin & Punishment.
Great news, hope there is a physical version on switch with an actual cartridge rather than a plastic box with a download code as they did for Cricket 19. Disappointing that it’s releasing on Switch two months after the PlayStation and XBox versions though.
Decent list but Excitebike 64 and 1080 Snowboarding are both worthy of places in the top 20, and F-1 World Grand Prix and Ridge Racer 64 should have made it into the top 50 too.
Not a bad list but Super Mario Kart is way too low at 20 (should be top 10) as is F-Zero at 34 (should be top 20).
Also having 15 RPGs/Adventure games in the top 50 is a bit excessive. I’d have taken a few of them and the original SFII out and would have replaced them with Gradius III, R-Type III, Pilotwings, Super Tennis, Cybernator, Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, and Kirby’s Ghost Trap/Avalanche/Super Puyo Puyo.
It still smarts that 4 of the top 10 were never released in Europe until the Wii/Wii U virtual consoles.
@Gaviin Looks like for a few games they’ve included the Wii Shop Channel release date instead of their SNES release date. Which makes sense for games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy II (IV) and III (VI), Earthbound and Super Mario RPG that never made it to Europe, but definitely not for Actraiser and Sim City!
The Puma Tetris trainers released around this time last year were very cool too. Sadly I have massive feet and Puma stop doing half sizes past a 12 (UK). The 12s were too small for me and the 13s too big 😭😭😭😭😭
One of the best SNES soundtracks going, looking forward to getting it on Vinyl.
Up there with Axelay and R-Type III for me as one of the best shooters on the SNES, I’ve had it on the Wii VC for 13 years and have only just beaten it on ‘Hard’, now to beat ‘Arcade’ difficulty.....
Loved Rock Band 3, had the guitar, pro guitar, keyboard and microphone and put in well over 150 hours into it on the Wii (mainly on guitar, which i wore out/broke and luckily found a brand new replacement for on eBay).
I got one guys (UK Nlifer here), have been checking every day for a fortnight and finally saw they were up to buy around midday, got the order in before Nintendo UK sent out their tweet.
Good luck to everyone else, hope they can sort the website and stock issues out quickly 🤔!
'It's reasonably priced, comes with two excellent pads (which you can use while sitting on the coach thanks to those massive cables)', those cables really must be massive if you can use it on a coach! 😜
Starfox Zero, Zelda U and SMT/FE are enough for me on Wii U this year. With it outselling PS4 in Japan and doing decent numbers in the US (less so in Europe), and with 3DS still selling well everywhere, do we really need NX for Christmas 2016? I'd rather see Nintendo stretch the Wii U's lifespan with late 2016/early 2017 releases for a new F-Zero, a new Metroid and a new Wave Race/Pilotwings/1080/Excitebike.
Assuming Zelda U comes out in late 2016 this then gives them a year to create a stellar line up for NX's launch (SMG 3, new Mario Kart and new Smash Bros) for Christmas 2017, as well as some crazy new IP that I'm sure Miyamoto will be working on.
Amazon UK were selling MK8 bundles for £199 last week, (for a couple of days the MK8 Wii U bundle was higher in the Amazon UK charts than any PS4 or XBONE bundle) but they now seem to have sold out and are back at £249 minimum. Great to see some momentum for the Wii U, I've only had mine since Christmas but it's a really polished little console, and MK8 is superb.
Surprised that there's no mention yet on NL of the MK8 Wii U Premium Pack being cut to £199 by Amazon. Just had a look and it's at number 31 in the overall Amazon videogames chart and number 3 in the 'consoles' chart behind Amazon Fire TV (how does that count as a console?) and the Ice White 3DS.
The amount of shelf space given to Nintendo in GAME varies significantly in my recent experience. Hereford has a good sized display of Wii U and 3DS games, and a playable Wii U which is normally in use when I pop in there. Worcester has a couple of shelves each for Wii U and 3DS. Cheltenham on the other hand has one shelf combined for Wii U and 3DS, which shocked me.
Like others though I now do 90% of my games shopping on Amazon or eBay. GAME is over-priced and doesn't tend to keep much in stock either.
CVG Christmas 1991 was the first games magazine I ever bought. Reviews included Quackshot on the Megadrive, and Super Castlevania IV on this strange new foreign machine, The Super Famicom. There was also a big pull-out guide to the latest handheld games. As an 11 year old brought up on the Amstrad CPC464 and the Spectrum +2 and +3, who was only just about to get an NES as my first console that Christmas, all of the exciting new games inside the magazine were a revelation. It only seems like yesterday!
The best console ever, so many classics:
Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda: A link to the past
Super Metroid
Super Mario Kart
F-Zero
Pilotwings
Sim City
Super Castlevania IV
Streetfighter II Turbo, Super SFII & Streetfighter Alpha 2
Super Tennis
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Actraiser
Axelay
Super Probotector (Contra III)
Super Bomberman (brilliant with 4 players via the Multitap)
Starwing (Starfox)
Yoshi's Island
Super Mario All Stars
Cybernator
Kirby's Ghost Trap (Super Puyo Puyo)
International Superstar Soccer and ISS Deluxe
Donkey Kong Country
Secret of Mana
Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts
UN Squadron
And then there are so many great games that were never even released in Europe, foremost among them:
Final Fantasy III (VI)
Chrono Trigger
Super Mario RPG
Earthbound
Gradius III
Still have mine in use, and as well as 24 games that were bought back in the day, I'm slowly working my way through the classics that were unreleased in Europe, or that I missed first time round, via the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles.
@electrolite77 Good post, you seem to have a similar N64 library to myself. As you say the controller was actually very comfortable in the usual left hand on middle prong, right hand on right prong, layout. I can't remember using the D-pad much in any of the 21 games I have for the system!
SM64 was of course revolutionary, and the first time most people saw it in motion was a revelatory experience; seeing Mario move about in 3D after so many years of enjoying his 2D adventures was incredible. OOT was a bit dull and nowhere near as good as A Link to the Past in my opinion, but I expect I'm in the minority there. Lylat Wars/Starfox 64 was a superb game, as was Pilotwings 64, and in terms of sports games I played ISS64, Madden 64 and Mario Golf for probably a few hundred hours between the 3 of them. 2 or 4 player sessions of Goldeneye were always great fun and would be my abiding memory of the console. We also got a better version of Resident Evil 2 than the Playstation, and Perfect Dark was ahead of its time, although not as good as Goldeneye.
But the most obvious thing, looking back, is how many great racing games there were on the N64. Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, F-1 World Grand Prix, Ridge Racer 64 and 1080 Snowboarding were all great, but Wave Race 64 and Excitebike 64 were incredible, with the analogue stick allowing subtle movements and precise control that wouldn't have been possible with a D pad.
A great console, although the graphics haven't aged as well as those of the SNES. 33 million consoles wasn't a bad effort: I'm sure Nintendo would be very happy if the Wii U ended up selling in similar quantities.
Haven't got around to getting a Wii U yet, but will be getting one for Christmas (with MK8 and Bayonetta 2).
The limited Virtual Console is a real let-down for me (I was hoping for Saturn, Dreamcast, N64 and GameCube games), and other than the usual Mario, Smash Bros and Zelda updates there isn't much else that appeals.
I'll probably pick up Pikmin 3, Xenoblade X and Starfox, but new installments of F-Zero, Pilotwings or Wave Race would make me happy. A new Metroid game of some sort is needed too.
The lack of support from EA, Capcom , Konami and the other big third parties has also been a great shame.
Let's hope the Wii U has a bumper Christmas 2014 and can pick up enough momentum in the long-run to take it past 20 million console sales by the time its successor arrives.
Is it time that they dropped the Wii U Gamepad and sold the Wii U with a pro controller, marketed it along the lines of it being a 'Wii HD' and boosted the internal memory to 200 GB? Along with that, a price cut to £200/$200, alongside the imminent release of Mario Kart and Smash Brothers, would surely lead to another big increase in sales. As others have said they really need a unified account system ASAP, and to bring out 3 or 4 VC releases a week on both systems, and add VC systems such as the Gamecube, Dreamcast and Saturn. As it is if the Wii U can sell at near GameCube levels (20 million plus) it will at least be viable and they can bring out updates to the tried and tested franchises over the next 2 1/2 years to keep their 'hardcore' fans happy. Then they can launch a new home console for, say, November 2016?
Started coming here 3 or 4 years ago for the excellent virtual console coverage, but am visiting the site more and more now that IGN's Nintendo team is so threadbare. Keep up the great work guys.
@Mochtroid Agreed, the blue shell is a nightmare, haven't seen any sign of it yet, fingers crossed they've got rid of it. Or better yet what about being able to turn each item on and off in the options screen?
Wow what an appalling game and what a slap in the face to cricket fans worldwide. I find it staggering that when there's a proven market out there (Brian Lara Cricket was a bestseller way back when on the Megadrive in the mid '90s and the PS2 in the mid '00s, and surely a half decent cricket game would now go down a storm in India) that no one can be bothered to give a cricket game the proper investment it deserves. Two years of development and that buggy mess (see YouTube clips) was the best they could come up with!!! Also surely going to the ICC and getting an international licence a la FIFA, so that they could include 10 or 12 teams and their actual payers, rather than just England and Australia and then giving all of the other teams made up player names and likenesses, must be a better idea. Here's hoping against hope that someone (Codemasters-give them a ring ECB!) will bring out a decent cricket game in time for the 2015 Cricket World Cup or the 2015 Ashes!
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Re: Limited Run's June Showcase Will Feature "Over 30 Game Announcements"
@Edd-O well 3/12 ain’t bad. Legend of Tian Ding is also being released physically by Neon Doctrine, which is cool.
Re: Round Up: Every Physical Game From Limited Run's Summer Showcase Coming To Switch
Not bad overall. Will get Espgaluda II, DoDonPachi Resurrection, Doom Eternal, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (hopefully it won’t get a cheaper physical release in Europe soon afterwards the same as Streets of Rage 4 did 🤔), Tetris Effect: Connected and Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection.
Also interested in Rendering Ranger and Bladerunner.
Hoping for Castlevania Advance Collection soon 🤞🤞🤞
Having bought several games from LRG my gripes would be 1) The long waiting time with a severe lack of updates (been waiting about a year for my Switch Castlevania Anniversary Collection Ultimate Edition) and 2) A couple of the games I’ve bought have arrived with damaged cases/boxes. Not ideal when you’ve paid upfront and then waited months only for the product to not be in perfect condition.
Re: Round Up: Every Physical Game From Limited Run's Summer Showcase Coming To Switch
@Bayjax Most of their games have an open pre order for between a month and 6 weeks.
Re: Limited Run's June Showcase Will Feature "Over 30 Game Announcements"
Hoping for plenty of physical release announcements:
Tetris Effect: Connected
Ghosts N Goblins Resurrection
Actraiser Renaissance
DoDonPachi Resurrection
Epgaluda II
Castlevania Advance Collection
Steel Assault
The Legend of Tian Ding
Chicory
SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash
Retro Bowl
OlliOlli World
If they give us a few out of that dozen I'll be happy.
Re: Cricket 22 Will Aim To Bowl Us Over On Switch Next Year
Still hoping for that review.
Re: Actraiser Renaissance Version 1.10 Descends Onto Switch, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Square Enix need to sort out a physical release for this, would enjoy adding it to my original copy of Actraiser on the SNES.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel #94 - Super Castlevania IV
NA hands down, pretty sure it’s by Tom DuBois who also did The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Contra III and other iconic box art for Konami in the US/EU.
My life in gaming did a very good piece about him a couple of years ago, worth checking out on YouTube.
Re: Cricket 22 Will Aim To Bowl Us Over On Switch Next Year
This finally comes out today, hoping for a Nintendo Life review soon!
Re: Feature: All Six American Football Games On Switch (Yes, You Read That Right)
@romanista The Netherlands qualified for the last T20 World Cup late last year, sadly they underperformed and lost 3 games out of 3.
They are also playing in the World Cup Super League (50 overs) alongside the 12 test teams, as the 13th side. The 50 over Cricket World Cup is going back up to 14 teams in 2027 so hopefully they'll be back in then, as well as making the T20 World Cups later this year and in 2024/2026 (the T20 World Cup is expanding from 16 to 20 teams for 2024 and onwards).
Re: 'Capcom Fighting Collection' Brings An Arcade Exclusive Home After 26 Years
@HamatoYoshi yep it had 44 characters compared to Arcade's 39.
Re: 'Capcom Fighting Collection' Brings An Arcade Exclusive Home After 26 Years
Famous last words but I'd be more hopeful of a physical release for this, as it has a Street Fighter game in it. We got a physical release in the west for Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection after all (and I've been playing it ever since).
Re: 'Capcom Fighting Collection' Brings An Arcade Exclusive Home After 26 Years
@HamatoYoshi is SF IV Arcade edition better than Ultra SFIV?
Will be great to play a Dark Stalkers game finally, also had my eye on a copy of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo on the GBA so nice to be able to play it on the Switch instead. And all 10 games online with rollback net code, Wow!
Re: Feature: All Six American Football Games On Switch (Yes, You Read That Right)
It is a shame that Madden isn’t on Switch but Madden these days is FAR from the game it was 15 years or so ago.
On the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox the games were incredibly deep with superb franchise modes. Nowadays it’s all about Madden Ultimate Team and ‘pay to win’. The decline can be seen in the difference in Metacritic averages. Most of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox games have Metacritic scores between the mid 80s and mid 90s. Nowadays the last couple of Maddens have been in the low 60s.
Hence why even as a big fan of the NFL I’d rather play any of the Maddens 2005-2008 or NFL 2K5 than Madden 22.
Shout out also to all of the people who pointed out how popular cricket is worldwide. Due to the number of fans in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh it can claim to be the second most popular sport in the world. Looking forward to Cricket 22 coming out on the Switch at the end of March (hopefully it’ll have ironed out most of the bugs that plagued the PlayStation, Xbox and PC versions when they launched last November).
Re: Konami's Famicom Revival 'GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon' Is Available Now On Switch eShop
Really like the look of this. Looking forward to a review soon and if it’s a 7/10 or better then a physical release would be 👌
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask Is Being Added To Switch Online's Expansion Pack In February
If you already have Switch online then the expansion pak is £17 a year extra. Good value if you ask me, especially with the excellent emulation for the Megadrive games (which no one seems to have mentioned because they're all busy moaning about a few iffy graphics in Ocarina of Time). Looking forward to finally giving Majora's Mask a proper go, as well as Paper Mario and Sin & Punishment.
Re: Review: Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition - Three Classics In One Shocking Package
How disappointing. Thank the Lord I’ve still got them all on the PS2.
Re: Japanese RPG Heavyweight Nihon Falcom Is Bringing Switch Development In-House
@Kanbei Would love that, Ys Books 1 & 2 in particular as the soundtrack is amazing.
Re: Nintendo Reminds Us Of Switch's Upcoming Releases, And 2022's Looking Pretty Mighty
Looking forward to Bayo 3 and Advance Wars 1 & 2.
Still hoping against hope for a new F-Zero, Wave Race, 1080, or Excitebike. Hell I'd even take a Starfox Zero Remaster!
Re: Mini Review: Gleylancer - A Brilliant 16-Bit Shmup Sparkles With Mod Cons
@Funneefox Gynoug/Wings of Wor is coming out on 12th November apparently.
Re: Cricket 22 Will Aim To Bowl Us Over On Switch Next Year
Great news, hope there is a physical version on switch with an actual cartridge rather than a plastic box with a download code as they did for Cricket 19. Disappointing that it’s releasing on Switch two months after the PlayStation and XBox versions though.
Re: Feature: Best Nintendo 64 Games
Decent list but Excitebike 64 and 1080 Snowboarding are both worthy of places in the top 20, and F-1 World Grand Prix and Ridge Racer 64 should have made it into the top 50 too.
Re: Feature: Best Super Nintendo (SNES) Games
Not a bad list but Super Mario Kart is way too low at 20 (should be top 10) as is F-Zero at 34 (should be top 20).
Also having 15 RPGs/Adventure games in the top 50 is a bit excessive. I’d have taken a few of them and the original SFII out and would have replaced them with Gradius III, R-Type III, Pilotwings, Super Tennis, Cybernator, Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, and Kirby’s Ghost Trap/Avalanche/Super Puyo Puyo.
It still smarts that 4 of the top 10 were never released in Europe until the Wii/Wii U virtual consoles.
Re: Feature: Best Super Nintendo (SNES) Games
@Chrysologus I guess because FFV was never released for the SNES in Europe or the US, and didn’t make it to the Wii or Wii U shop either?
Re: Feature: Best Super Nintendo (SNES) Games
@Gaviin Looks like for a few games they’ve included the Wii Shop Channel release date instead of their SNES release date. Which makes sense for games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy II (IV) and III (VI), Earthbound and Super Mario RPG that never made it to Europe, but definitely not for Actraiser and Sim City!
Re: Mini Review: Five Dates - An Amusing Dating Sim That Doesn't Seem To Know Its Audience
Ha ha great idea for a game.
Re: Puma Is Releasing A Pair Of NES-Themed Sneakers Just In Time For Christmas
The Puma Tetris trainers released around this time last year were very cool too. Sadly I have massive feet and Puma stop doing half sizes past a 12 (UK). The 12s were too small for me and the 13s too big 😭😭😭😭😭
Re: Review: Gradius III (Virtual Console / Super Nintendo)
‘The sound is nothing special’ ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the best SNES soundtracks going, looking forward to getting it on Vinyl.
Up there with Axelay and R-Type III for me as one of the best shooters on the SNES, I’ve had it on the Wii VC for 13 years and have only just beaten it on ‘Hard’, now to beat ‘Arcade’ difficulty.....
Re: Fangamer Has Just Launched A Range Of Goemon Merchandise
Loved Mystical Ninja on the SNES, also played through and enjoyed the first N64 game soon after it came out.
Finally managed to get hold of Mystical Ninja 2 on N64 (via eBay) last November, great game and need to finish it soon.
Have ordered the Vinyl from Amazon UK @ottospooky, £46.
Re: Anniversary: Dig Out The Plastic And Reform The Band - Rock Band 3 Turns 10 Today
Loved Rock Band 3, had the guitar, pro guitar, keyboard and microphone and put in well over 150 hours into it on the Wii (mainly on guitar, which i wore out/broke and luckily found a brand new replacement for on eBay).
Re: The SNES Encyclopedia Is An Exhaustive Resource For Nintendo Fans
Looking forward to getting this, the SNES is still my favourite console and IMHO along with the PS2 has the greatest library of games of any system.
Re: Streets Of Rage 4 Physical Editions Hit Stores Today
Ordered the physical edition from LRG way back, still waiting for it to arrive in the post 😢
Re: Nintendo Switch SNES Controllers Are Now Available To Buy In The UK And Europe
I got one guys (UK Nlifer here), have been checking every day for a fortnight and finally saw they were up to buy around midday, got the order in before Nintendo UK sent out their tweet.
Good luck to everyone else, hope they can sort the website and stock issues out quickly 🤔!
Re: Nintendo Switch SNES Controllers Are Now Available To Buy In The UK And Europe
Ordered mine but the shipping cost is ridiculous. Hoping that delivery is nearer to 2nd October than the 11th! 🤞
Re: The Wireless SNES Controller For Switch Unlocks Super Mario World Sound Effects
For all UK Nintendo Lifers, the SNES Switch controllers are finally up for sale, just ordered mine. Postage is pretty extortionate though at £8.90!
Also delivery could be anywhere between 2nd and 11th October according to their website.
Re: Video: Cricket 19 Trailer Shows Off New Gameplay And A First-Person Mode
@delt75 I’d enjoyed watching NFL highlights for years but only when I bought Madden 64 did I actually learn the rules!
Hopefully a cricket game could do the same for you?!
Re: Hardware Review: Hyperkin Supa Retron HD: Time To Dust Off Those SNES Carts
'It's reasonably priced, comes with two excellent pads (which you can use while sitting on the coach thanks to those massive cables)', those cables really must be massive if you can use it on a coach! 😜
Re: Feature: Our Staff's Hopes and Dreams for Nintendo's 2016
Starfox Zero, Zelda U and SMT/FE are enough for me on Wii U this year. With it outselling PS4 in Japan and doing decent numbers in the US (less so in Europe), and with 3DS still selling well everywhere, do we really need NX for Christmas 2016? I'd rather see Nintendo stretch the Wii U's lifespan with late 2016/early 2017 releases for a new F-Zero, a new Metroid and a new Wave Race/Pilotwings/1080/Excitebike.
Assuming Zelda U comes out in late 2016 this then gives them a year to create a stellar line up for NX's launch (SMG 3, new Mario Kart and new Smash Bros) for Christmas 2017, as well as some crazy new IP that I'm sure Miyamoto will be working on.
Re: Wii U Games, Likely in Hardware Bundles, Enjoy Mini-Revival in UK Charts
Amazon UK were selling MK8 bundles for £199 last week, (for a couple of days the MK8 Wii U bundle was higher in the Amazon UK charts than any PS4 or XBONE bundle) but they now seem to have sold out and are back at £249 minimum. Great to see some momentum for the Wii U, I've only had mine since Christmas but it's a really polished little console, and MK8 is superb.
Re: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Holds Top 20 Position in UK Charts as Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Slides
Surprised that there's no mention yet on NL of the MK8 Wii U Premium Pack being cut to £199 by Amazon. Just had a look and it's at number 31 in the overall Amazon videogames chart and number 3 in the 'consoles' chart behind Amazon Fire TV (how does that count as a console?) and the Ice White 3DS.
The amount of shelf space given to Nintendo in GAME varies significantly in my recent experience. Hereford has a good sized display of Wii U and 3DS games, and a playable Wii U which is normally in use when I pop in there. Worcester has a couple of shelves each for Wii U and 3DS. Cheltenham on the other hand has one shelf combined for Wii U and 3DS, which shocked me.
Like others though I now do 90% of my games shopping on Amazon or eBay. GAME is over-priced and doesn't tend to keep much in stock either.
Re: The World's Oldest Video Game Media Brand Is Being Killed Off After 33 Years
CVG Christmas 1991 was the first games magazine I ever bought. Reviews included Quackshot on the Megadrive, and Super Castlevania IV on this strange new foreign machine, The Super Famicom. There was also a big pull-out guide to the latest handheld games. As an 11 year old brought up on the Amstrad CPC464 and the Spectrum +2 and +3, who was only just about to get an NES as my first console that Christmas, all of the exciting new games inside the magazine were a revelation. It only seems like yesterday!
Re: Hardware Classics: Nintendo Super Famicom
The best console ever, so many classics:
Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda: A link to the past
Super Metroid
Super Mario Kart
F-Zero
Pilotwings
Sim City
Super Castlevania IV
Streetfighter II Turbo, Super SFII & Streetfighter Alpha 2
Super Tennis
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Actraiser
Axelay
Super Probotector (Contra III)
Super Bomberman (brilliant with 4 players via the Multitap)
Starwing (Starfox)
Yoshi's Island
Super Mario All Stars
Cybernator
Kirby's Ghost Trap (Super Puyo Puyo)
International Superstar Soccer and ISS Deluxe
Donkey Kong Country
Secret of Mana
Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts
UN Squadron
And then there are so many great games that were never even released in Europe, foremost among them:
Final Fantasy III (VI)
Chrono Trigger
Super Mario RPG
Earthbound
Gradius III
Still have mine in use, and as well as 24 games that were bought back in the day, I'm slowly working my way through the classics that were unreleased in Europe, or that I missed first time round, via the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles.
For me the SNES will probably never be bettered.
Re: Hardware Classics: Nintendo 64
@electrolite77 Good post, you seem to have a similar N64 library to myself. As you say the controller was actually very comfortable in the usual left hand on middle prong, right hand on right prong, layout. I can't remember using the D-pad much in any of the 21 games I have for the system!
SM64 was of course revolutionary, and the first time most people saw it in motion was a revelatory experience; seeing Mario move about in 3D after so many years of enjoying his 2D adventures was incredible. OOT was a bit dull and nowhere near as good as A Link to the Past in my opinion, but I expect I'm in the minority there. Lylat Wars/Starfox 64 was a superb game, as was Pilotwings 64, and in terms of sports games I played ISS64, Madden 64 and Mario Golf for probably a few hundred hours between the 3 of them. 2 or 4 player sessions of Goldeneye were always great fun and would be my abiding memory of the console. We also got a better version of Resident Evil 2 than the Playstation, and Perfect Dark was ahead of its time, although not as good as Goldeneye.
But the most obvious thing, looking back, is how many great racing games there were on the N64. Mario Kart 64, F-Zero X, F-1 World Grand Prix, Ridge Racer 64 and 1080 Snowboarding were all great, but Wave Race 64 and Excitebike 64 were incredible, with the analogue stick allowing subtle movements and precise control that wouldn't have been possible with a D pad.
A great console, although the graphics haven't aged as well as those of the SNES. 33 million consoles wasn't a bad effort: I'm sure Nintendo would be very happy if the Wii U ended up selling in similar quantities.
Re: Video: Someone Has Built Mario Kart 8's Mute City Track In F-Zero X, Just Because They Can
@Liam_Doolan Well said, bet he beat all of the Staff Ghosts on Time Trial. I managed all but 2.
How amazing would an HD F-Zero with 30 player online races, and death races (as in F-ZX) be? Come on Nintendo/Sega, you know it makes sense!
Re: Feature: The Wii U is Two Years Old, But How's it Doing?
Haven't got around to getting a Wii U yet, but will be getting one for Christmas (with MK8 and Bayonetta 2).
The limited Virtual Console is a real let-down for me (I was hoping for Saturn, Dreamcast, N64 and GameCube games), and other than the usual Mario, Smash Bros and Zelda updates there isn't much else that appeals.
I'll probably pick up Pikmin 3, Xenoblade X and Starfox, but new installments of F-Zero, Pilotwings or Wave Race would make me happy. A new Metroid game of some sort is needed too.
The lack of support from EA, Capcom , Konami and the other big third parties has also been a great shame.
Let's hope the Wii U has a bumper Christmas 2014 and can pick up enough momentum in the long-run to take it past 20 million console sales by the time its successor arrives.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Wii U Struggles Bring a Challenge, Not Doom
Is it time that they dropped the Wii U Gamepad and sold the Wii U with a pro controller, marketed it along the lines of it being a 'Wii HD' and boosted the internal memory to 200 GB? Along with that, a price cut to £200/$200, alongside the imminent release of Mario Kart and Smash Brothers, would surely lead to another big increase in sales. As others have said they really need a unified account system ASAP, and to bring out 3 or 4 VC releases a week on both systems, and add VC systems such as the Gamecube, Dreamcast and Saturn. As it is if the Wii U can sell at near GameCube levels (20 million plus) it will at least be viable and they can bring out updates to the tried and tested franchises over the next 2 1/2 years to keep their 'hardcore' fans happy. Then they can launch a new home console for, say, November 2016?
Re: Site News: How was 2013 for Nintendo Life?
Started coming here 3 or 4 years ago for the excellent virtual console coverage, but am visiting the site more and more now that IGN's Nintendo team is so threadbare. Keep up the great work guys.
Re: Review: Castlevania (Wii U eShop / NES)
@IceClimbers Would love a return of F-Zero and Starfox, both very much overdue!
Re: Mario Kart 8 Jump Festa Impressions
@Mochtroid Agreed, the blue shell is a nightmare, haven't seen any sign of it yet, fingers crossed they've got rid of it. Or better yet what about being able to turn each item on and off in the options screen?
Re: Ashes Cricket 2013 Officially Cancelled as 505 Games Issues Apology
Wow what an appalling game and what a slap in the face to cricket fans worldwide. I find it staggering that when there's a proven market out there (Brian Lara Cricket was a bestseller way back when on the Megadrive in the mid '90s and the PS2 in the mid '00s, and surely a half decent cricket game would now go down a storm in India) that no one can be bothered to give a cricket game the proper investment it deserves. Two years of development and that buggy mess (see YouTube clips) was the best they could come up with!!! Also surely going to the ICC and getting an international licence a la FIFA, so that they could include 10 or 12 teams and their actual payers, rather than just England and Australia and then giving all of the other teams made up player names and likenesses, must be a better idea. Here's hoping against hope that someone (Codemasters-give them a ring ECB!) will bring out a decent cricket game in time for the 2015 Cricket World Cup or the 2015 Ashes!
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Employee Discusses Work on "Tablet With Educational Games"
I would be all over that Super Famicom phone if they brought one out.