Latest Features - Page 12
Talking Point Do You Want To See Colourful Cartridges Return For 'Switch 2'?
A bright future
The gaming industry is going digital. Chants of "it's easy," "it uses less plastic," and "it's cheaper... sometimes," fill the streets and, after dark, tempting eShop sales let out their siren song to pull in any weary traveller after a boxed copy with sweet calls of "Oooh, ahh, up to 80% off". The times may be a-changing, but...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 27th)
Capturing those 'mons
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Playing?, where we find out which games we're going to be chilling out with this weekend. Before we get into that, though, let's go over what's been happening this week. Naturally, there's been a lot of Palworld discussion, and perhaps the most noteworthy event was when The Pokémon...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Another Code: Recollection?
Recall your time
Nintendo has kicked off 2024 with a rather unexpected remake in Another Code: Recollection, which bundles together Ashley Mizuki Robbins' two adventures from the DS and Wii era. Beloved by those who played it back in the day, the Switch version is the first time many people have been able to experience the mystery of Ashley's...
Soapbox After Years Of Lengthy RPG Tutorials, Golden Sun Feels Fresher Than Ever
You could say it's an Adept
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Alana reflects on playing Golden Sun in 2024, and how it allows players to figure things out for themselves rather than relying on tutorials. Warning — minor early game...
Round Table Let's Talk About Palworld - Comparisons, Controversy, 'Copying'
Lament of the Pal gamer
Less than a week out from its launch in Early Access on Steam and Xbox, Palworld has proved itself to be a massive commercial success for developer Pocketpair and has dominated gaming discourse online since the weekend. Switch gamers can't access it on Nintendo's console, of course, but with its aesthetic parallels to...
With a patch incoming, Pathea charts the road ahead
You may remember Pathea Games' My Time at Sandrock, a life sim game released late last November that we weren’t massively enthused with. We awarded it a 5/10 in our review, saying that the launch version's "bland presentation and technical hiccups" affected this sequel to My Time at Portia. The...
Soapbox Game Freak Could Actually Learn A Thing Or Two From Palworld
No, Pikachu doesn’t need an assault rifle
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Lowell locks and loads up the Pokémon-inspired game that's been the talk of the town since it launched on Steam and Xbox Game Pass last week... You...
Feature The Stunning Visual Delights Of 'El Shaddai', Inspired By Apple iPod Commercials
"...bringing El Shaddai to a new audience on the Nintendo Switch is exciting"
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is one of the most underappreciated gems of the PS3/Xbox 360 era. That's what people who've played the unusual action platformer, released back in 2011, will tell you. One look at El Shaddai — the only game developed by Ignition...
Talking Point Which Feature From Each Smash Bros. Game Should Make A Return?
Smash Ultimate... Ultimate?
The Super Smash Bros. franchise has come a long way since the original launched 25 years ago in 1999. Yes, you read that right — the original Super Smash Bros. is 25 years old tomorrow, 21st January. If we look at the character roster for a start, we began with a humble offering of 12 playable fighters in Super Smash...
Preview Open Roads Is An Emotional, Nostalgic Journey Through 2003
Coming out in February
We honestly can't believe 2003 was 21 years ago — the GameCube was proudly at the front of our shelves, and Super Smash Bros. Melee was the ultimate party game. But Open Roads, the next game to be published by Annapurna Interactive, looks back at the mid-2000s with a warm, nostalgic, sepia-tinged glow. So, after attending a...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 20th)
What's on the cards for you?
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Playing? where we all get to chat about our gaming plans for the weekend! Before we get into that good stuff though, let's take a look at what went down in Nintendo land this week. We were treated to the release of two new games in the NSO GBA library as Golden Sun and Golden...
Hands On WaterField's $380 Tech Folio Backpack – The Ultimate Gamer's Bag?
Papa's got a brand new bag?
The hybrid nature of the Nintendo Switch means that it's often an item that ends up getting chucked in a rucksack or carried around when we leave home, and, to that end, we've seen a host of carry cases and bags designed to accommodate not just the console itself, but its various accessories and add-ons. San...
Feature Bandle Tale - Exploring The "Least Developed Parts" Of The League Of Legends IP
"I think this is the first time we've ever let a player self-insert into one of our games"
Last year was a busy one for Riot Forge, which published three solid, indie-developed games set in the expansive Runeterra universe (The Mageseeker, Convergence, Song of Nunu), each featuring totally unique art styles and gameplay. Now the company is turning...
Soapbox As A 'Slay The Spire' Addict, I Can't Believe I Almost Missed This 2023 Gem
Houston, we have a new obsession
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate looks back on a 2023 game from Rocket Rat that very nearly slipped through our net... Hey, you. If I've pitched this title correctly, you're here because,...
Poll How Often Do You Trade-In Your Switch Games?
Switch up
Update: It's now official — GAME will be ending its pre-owned and trade-in business over the coming months. We have updated yesterday's story to reflect this. <related ids="160769"> Original article: Despite trade-ins and pre-owned sales being one of the core pillars for the UK specialist retailer GAME for many years, recent...
Feature 25 Nintendo 64 Games We'd Love To See Added To The Switch Online Expansion Pack
Update: Fresh blood is coming in
Since this article was originally published back in November 2021, the Switch Online Expansion Pack offering has expanded with a decent spread of N64 classics — 26 in total at the time of writing. From the games on our initial wishlist, 1080 Snowboarding, Excitebike 64, GoldenEye 007, Jet Force Gemini, Mario Party...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 13th)
Honey, where's my lost crown?
It's the weekend, which means it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy some gaming. First, let's take a look back at what's been going on this week. First up, Nintendo has announced that two classic GBA RPGs will be making their way to the Switch via the Switch Online service, so that's nice. Pokémon fans can also now...
Talking Point What Will The 'Switch 2' Actually Be Called?
Super... duper... erm...
For a while now, we (and, we presume, many of you) have been referring to Nintendo’s inevitable Switch successor as the ‘Switch 2.’ It makes sense for now, right? After all, rumours, speculation, and educated guesses are all loosely pointing to the new console being an iterative evolution of the hybrid concept that...
Talking Point What Game Do You Wish You Could Forget?
(But in a good way)
Stop right there! We know what you're thinking. You're expecting a long list of games that we wish we had never played. The stinkers that took up 20 hours we'll never get back. Well, you're wrong! We are not about to be a negative Nancy and dunk on some bad games just because we wish we could wipe them from our minds. This is...
Feature Nintendo Life eShop Selects (December 2023)
Our favourite eShop games from December!
Happy New Year lovely readers! It's 2024, and with another fantastic year of Switch (and maybe Switch 2?) gaming ahead of us, we need to stop, think, and have one last look back at 2023 with eShop Selects this month! December is usually a quiet month for game releases as publishers and developers make way...
Feature Zelda's Forgotten Steward - Who Is Hidemaro Fujibayashi?
The man, the myth, the legend
Since his outstanding work on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, director and producer Eiji Aonuma has cemented himself as the driving force behind one of Nintendo’s most celebrated, enduring, and lucrative franchises. For many Zelda fans, he holds just about as much prestige in the ranks of Nintendo as Shigeru...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 6th)
Back for more in '24
And just like that, we're one week into 2024 — well, near enough — and it's time for the first What Are You Playing of the year! Before we dive into a weekend of gaming plans, remaining Quality Street and questionable leftover Christmas cheese, however, let's take a look at what happened in the world of Nintendo this week...
Soapbox The 'Recharged' Series Proves Atari Is No Longer A Spent Force
A look at Atari's lineup of neo-retro revivals
Before there was Nintendo, there was Atari. Once the dominant player in the gaming industry, its story is one of a dramatic rise and fall. For years, Atari had done little more than sell licensed T-shirts and low-quality plug-and-play consoles. But since coming under new management in 2021, Atari looks...
Soapbox "Go Outside, Get Some Fresh Air" - Why Won't Outmoded Gamer Stereotypes Die?
Step away from the stereotype
For anybody who plays video games on a regular basis, it's long been a joke that when the mainstream media discusses gaming in any capacity, they'll inevitably bring up how games are surprisingly popular, how it's not just socially-challenged dweebs in their bedrooms anymore, and how video games are big business. Did...
Talking Point Our 2024 Nintendo Gaming Predictions
More Mario? Surely not!?
Welcome to the future. You, dear reader, are reading these words in the far-off, distant, sci-fi future year that is 2024. While the hoverboards, flying vehicles, and inside-out trousers have all apparently been delayed in this branch of the timeline due to some spacetime-related cock up, at least Skynet is coming along...
Reminder 103 Switch Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Hits For The Holidays' Sale (US)
Every Switch game on sale that we scored 9/10
Update: Just a reminder that this North American sale is wrapping up last thing on Wednesday 3rd January 2024, so there's still time to pick up anything you fancied with a nice discount. In Europe, Nintendo went and launched a separate New Year 2024 sale that runs until mid-January — we're not sure if...
Talking Point Along With Joy-Con Drift, What Does Nintendo Have To 'Fix' With 'Switch 2'?
Reset Switch
Switch, eh? You think it's had its final bookend game and then another all-timer comes along to extend the library. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom looked like the perfect finale for an extraordinary console that kicked off with Breath of the Wild, but then Nintendo goes and puts out the best 2D Mario in 30 years with Super Mario Wonder...
Feature 'The Art Of Nintendo Power' Exhibit - A Guided Tour
"The whole mission is to share the work"
Have you ever seen an original Contra up close? What about an original Mario Kart? For Stephan Reese, organizer and showrunner for the non-profit Interactive Art Collection (and a Senior Producer at video game developer Bungie when he’s not busy doing that), it’s his life’s mission that you might have...
Feature Game Boy Color - A Quarter Century Of Colour Nintendo Handhelds
GBC memories
It's now 25 years since Game Boy Color launched, and for many of us in the West, it was on this system that we first caught and traded Pocket Monsters with pals back in 1998. Backwards compatible with the entire Game Boy library, the Game Boy Color refined the DMG and the smaller Game Boy Pocket with its sharp little colour screen...
Feature A Look Inside Seattle's Real-Life Animal Crossing Aquarium
Seattle creatures
Eager to compare Critterpedias, Caitlin Johnson recently headed down to Seattle Aquarium to check out its new Nintendo collaboration... If you ever wanted to have Animal Crossing’s long-time museum curator Blathers teach you about marine life in reality, now is your chance. Nintendo and the Seattle Aquarium announced last month...
Soapbox FOMO Nearly Ruined Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom For Me
Too much background noise?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Ollie looks back on how Tears of the Kingdom's launch hype on social media may have affected his own enjoyment of the game... On May 12th, 2023, I, like countless other...
Feature 'Rugrats' Dev's Mission To Make NES-Style Games "That Should Have Existed"
"I want people to feel like they're a 10-year-old kid again"
While sauntering through the Seattle Convention Center at this year's PAX West, we saw hundreds of developers showing off their biggest, flashiest games to the enthusiastic crowds — many of which had already been announced and were highly anticipated by fans. However, in a tucked-away...
Talking Point Could Nintendo Go Another Year Without A Switch Successor?
2 long?
Another year, and here we are again — wondering if the next 12 months might deliver perhaps the most exciting thing for any Nintendo fan: new hardware. It feels like years now that we've been reporting on and discussing another potential Nintendo system, and that's because it has been years. Whispers of a 'Switch Pro' were doing the...
Feature "I Don't Want To Copy" - Paying Homage To Childhood RPGs With Sea Of Stars
"We just make the games that we want to make"
Back when Sea of Stars — Sabotage's follow-up to its hit genre-bending platformer The Messenger — was unveiled to the world in 2020, there was a sparkle in many an RPG fans' eyes. The game's stunning SNES-style aesthetic, the combo-centric turn-based combat, and the beautiful music, brought forth...
Soapbox Red Dead Redemption Ignited My Enduring Love Of The Old West
"We die alone, but we live among men"
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Ollie describes how Rockstar Games' seminal Western influenced his love for the American Frontier... Growing up, I knew what kind of genres I was interested...
Memory Pak Making Contact With The "Ungoogleable" Game I Couldn't Quite Remember
What's that one with the plumber and the mushrooms again?
Welcome to the latest instalment in our nostalgia-inducing column, Memory Pak, where we deep-dive into some of the most memorable moments in gaming – good and bad. Today, Jim is reflecting on a years-long dilemma he faced over an oft-forgotten DS game, and wonders how we deal with "video...
Editorial Happy New Year From Everyone Here At Nintendo Life
Twenty-twenty-FOOOOOOOOUR!!!
A round of applause for you and yours — you did it! You made it through the gauntlet of 2023's brilliant video games all the way to a brand new year. Happy 2024, everyone! With Switch entering its seventh year in 2023, our expectations — with the exception of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, of course — were...
Soapbox Charles Martinet Made Gaming's Greatest Accident A Real Character
Star power
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Gavin reflects on how Charles Martinet helped craft a character that, somehow, isn't the most irritating stereotype imaginable... How many times have you tapped a button to make Mario...
Feature Pikmin Bloom Devs On The Joy Of "Human Connection" And The Absence Of Bulborbs
"Our Pikmin aren’t going to die"
While having a strong and deservingly passionate fanbase, it's fair to wonder if the Pikmin series has ever received the commercial success it deserves. Yet, Shigeru Miyamoto-san and Nintendo continue to nurture these little fellas and let them bloom however they like. The Nintendo Switch has just given us the...
Feature Meet The Virtual Boy Fan Making New Tech And Games For Nintendo's Console Curio
"I thought, 'Hey, I can probably do that'"
As the reputed black sheep of the Nintendo console family, one might think 1995’s Virtual Boy to be the last piece of hardware capable of garnering an enthusiast following today. Discontinued after less than a year on the market and never released in Europe, the elusive red-and-black headset is remembered...
Feature What Video Game Consultants Actually Do, And Why ‘Kit & Krysta’ Are Doing It
Never A Minute consultants assess our killer game idea
I have an idea for a video game. Actually, I’ve been making it for about six months now. My video game is a rhythm-based game. It’s also an American football game. To play it, you choose between plays, just like any sports game … but your play only succeeds if you push the buttons in...
Feature The Rise Of 'Scam Games' And 'Keyword Bingo' Firms Flooding Switch eShop
Sea of low-quality
It's difficult now to remember a time when the Switch eShop wasn't rammed with low-cost, low-quality games making it laborious to find the great new releases amongst all the dross. What began as an immaculately clean, functional store back in 2017 quickly ballooned and before long Nintendo was inundated with software submissions...
Talking Point What Was The Best Switch Moment Of 2023?
It's been a bumper year
It's no understatement to say that 2023 has been stacked with memorable video gaming moments. Yes, the past 12 months might not have brought us new Nintendo hardware, but many of the games and announcements have been among the Switch's best — maybe even Nintendo's best. With three bumper edition Directs, surprise drops,...
Feature Digital Doppelgangers - Home Vs. Handheld Adaptations In The 2000s
To Urbz is human
When I was working on my MFA in Game Design, I referenced Urbz: Sims in the City in a meeting with my thesis advisor, and he asked if I had played the console or the handheld version. I was confident that I’d played the console version growing up. I could recall the memory quite clearly—sitting against a study pillow on my...
Soapbox These Everyday Items Trigger Me Now, And I Blame Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Tears of life
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Evan explores the life-ruining properties of TOTK... It happened in Yellowstone National Park. Removed from society, cruelly separated from cell phone service, I’d embarked,...
Feature Meet The 'Arzette' Dev Salvaging The Zelda CD-i Games' "Genuine Potential"
"I didn’t make this game as a joke"
The year is 1991. 'Video games' — plastic, square-shaped cartridges that millions of people blow into every day — grip early-adopting proselytizers. Yet they don’t know their precious cartridge’s days are numbered. A mighty company from Kyoto rules the industry today, but a new laser-based challenger is...
Memory Pak Secret Of Mana's Dazzling World Of Colour Opened My Eyes
You're looking a bit green
Welcome to the latest instalment in our nostalgia-inducing column, Memory Pak, where we deep-dive into some of the most memorable moments in gaming – good and bad. Today, Secret of Mana turns 30 years old in Japan, and to celebrate this seminal action RPG's anniversary, Alana is reminiscing about how the game's use of...
Feature How Amateur Scholars Are Translating Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's Secret Language
The quick brown deer jumped over the lazy owl
Some people can't help but translate things. We see languages, and we want to decipher them, like the people who climb Mount Everest just because it's there. The languages in games like FEZ, Titan Souls, Heaven's Vault, 7 Days To End With You, and Noita, invite the player to try to crack them to reveal m
Soapbox Fortnite On Switch Is Five Years Old, And I Have No Idea What It Is Anymore
Was that Ariana Grande shooting Spider-Man?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Jim returns to Fortnite to celebrate the Switch port's fifth anniversary, and he's not sure what he's dropped into... When Fortnite first made the jump...
Breaking out into 3D
Following up on one of the most beloved entries in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is no easy task, but for the ex-Sonic Mania devs at Evening Star, it was a simple case of leaning into their considerable ambition and diving headfirst into the world of 3D. Announced earlier this year during a Nintendo Direct presentation, the...
