Latest Features - Page 14
Feature Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct - All Announcements, Features, Power-Ups, Worlds
How wonderful
A brand new 2D Mario is just months away, and today, we got an in-depth look at Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the first new 2D Mario in almost 11 years. Today's Nintendo Direct didn't give us any shocks, per se, but we have a better idea of what to expect from the Flower Kingdom, how to play online, and some new enemies and power-ups...
Poll Mario & Sonic Face Off On Switch This October - Whose Corner Are You In?
Jump up, Superstars?
In October 2023, two of video gaming's biggest rivals will go head-to-head in a historic showdown pitting the platforming heroes and erstwhile rival mascots against each other in a manner that hasn't been this on-the-nose since the infamous console wars of the early '90s. In the blue corner, Sonic Superstars launches on Switch...
Soapbox An Ode To A Lost Pokémon TCG Deck, And My Quest To Recreate It
TCGee, I don't know
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Mahin laments the loss of a treasured deck, and recounts his quest to build it anew. For real, this time... There was once a time I was doing moderately alright at the Pokémon...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 26th)
Return to Bright Falls
Ah, the weekend is here once again. That means it's time to wind down and get some gaming done. Before we do so, however, let's take a look at what this week brought us on the news front, shall we? The biggest surprise was undoubtedly the news that Charles Martinet will no longer be voicing Mario and Co., and will instead be...
Round Up Every Switch Announcement At Future Games Show Gamescom 2023
AK-xolotl! Bloomtown! Dome-King Cabbage!
Returning to Gamescom 2023 is GamesRadar's Future Games Show. Following on from its showing during Summer Game Fest, Future Games Show @ Gamescom 2023 was full of an eclectic variety of titles — many of which are coming to both PC and Switch. The showcase was hosted by voice actors Troy Baker (The Last of...
Round Up All Nintendo Switch Games From Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023
Sonic Superstars! Little Nightmares III! Mandragora!
Gamescom 2023 has finally kicked off with Opening Night Live, and while this year's opening ceremony was expectedly light for Switch announcements, there were still plenty of interesting reveals and release dates. While Alan Wake 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom...
Video Konami's Most Exciting New Release Isn't Metal Gear Solid
Time to wiggle
Of all the games featured at a recent preview event held by Konami, Super Crazy Rhythm Castle was admittedly not a game that we were frothing at the mouth to play from first impressions. The game is – to us at least – a little unassuming at first glance, but once we actually had a go with it, our mindset shifted just a bit...
Round Up Pokémon World Championships 2023 - The Best And Most Controversial Yet?
Pokémon came home
After the Pokémon World Championships made its long-awaited return in London last year, it was announced that the 2023 Championships would be taking place at the Pacifico Yokohama in Japan. This would be only the second time the tournament has been held outside of North America, making this truly a monumental announcement —...
Hands On Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 Could Be So Much More, But Isn't
Not for honour
We recently got the chance to have a pop at Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 at the invite of Konami. We had around an hour or so to dig into Metal Gear Solid and its two sequels (as well as have a quick gander at all the bonus content on offer), which isn’t a huge amount of time for games of this scale, but we were able to...
Feature TikTok, Smash Bros., And Shaking Up 'Samba De Amigo' With Series Creator Shun Nakamura
"I hope that Samba [...] will become a major music game in the modern era"
If you know your Sega history, then you most likely know — and love — the maraca-shaking monkey Amigo. Samba de Amigo was a cult hit on the Dreamcast back in 1999, and this little monkey rattled his way into many a heart over the years. Laced with catchy Latin American...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 19th)
Just one more run...
It's Saturday and you know what that means. That's right, it's time for a spot of the ol' gaming. There have been a good number of highlights at Nintendo Life this week. We got a large helping of Splatoon 3 news as we received a first look at the upcoming Drizzle Season and new Deep Cut amiibo — we're still in love with Bi
Talking Point Zelda: TOTK Isn't A Shoo-In For GOTY 2023, And That's A Good Thing
Whoever wins, we all win
2023, eh? What a year for games. We’ve still got several months to go before we say hello to 2024 but during internal discussions between the Nintendo Life team, we’ve all acknowledged that 2023 may go down as one of the best years in gaming history, proudly standing alongside the likes of 1998 and 2007. For Switch...
Talking Point The Games We Got Rid Of - What Were We Thinking?
Give it away, give it away now
We've all done it. Whether through necessity to fund a new purchase or streamlining our collection during a spring clean, we've all sold, traded, donated, or just given away a game or console at some point and then wished we hadn’t. Sometimes cold hard cash was required, other times we were just in a different...
Talking Point After Three Months, What's Your Zelda: TOTK Completion Percentage?
Tears of Completion
Believe it or not The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has now been out for just over three whole months. In that time, many of us have spent 100+ hours exploring the multiple layers of Hyrule, taking on familiar faces and getting lost in the adventure of it all. It's a sobering feeling, therefore, when you beat the game's...
Review 'The Art Of The Box' Celebrates A Time When Cover Art Could Sell A Game
Judge a book by its cover?
When you're looking to make a video game purchase these days, chances are there are many factors which contribute to your ultimate decision. Pre-release hype and online opinion will almost certainly influence your choice, but the image on the cover on the box is unlikely to carry quite as much weight. We're not saying that...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 12th)
Pokémehn
Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. For a slightly quieter one, this week was packed full of highlights here on Nintendo Life. The August Pokémon Presents happened and it will undoubtedly go down as one of the showcases of all time — but we did get a release date for the Scarlet and Violet DLC and two new NSO games, which is good. Quake...
Gallery Here's A Look At The Gorgeous Xenoblade Chronicles Original Soundtrack Trinity Box
A musical tri-umph
If you love the Xenoblade Chronicles series, regardless of what your favourite game in the franchise is, there's something everyone can agree on — the music is phenomenal. Earlier this year, not only did we get a long-awaited release date for the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 soundtrack, but we also got the reveal stunning new...
Soapbox Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's Thunderous Callback To The Great Sky Island Is Perfect
Lightning in a bottle
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 sings the praises of one of Tears of the Kingdom's later-game areas... I will preface all of this with a thank you to every Zelda fan on social media. As I worked my way...
Feature "Madden Has Continued To Suffer" - Legend Bowl Dev On Their "Fresh" Football Game
"Legend Bowl was built to fill that void for football fans"
Over the past few years, the number of arcade-style American football titles on Switch has increased at a pretty steady rate. We recently saw Retro Bowl bring us back to the game's 8-bit roots, and Saber is looking to bring even more big-head Playgrounds-esque charm to the game with Wild...
Talking Point Should The Pokémon Company Stick To Just One Pokémon Presents A Year?
How would you rate the latest showcase?
Serious question There was a Pokémon Presents showcase today, and while they've gained something of a reputation for not being the most scintillating of Nintendo-related presentations, there's usually something worth tuning in for, even if you're a latent Pokéfan who drifted away after Gen I. Today,...
Soapbox Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC Is A Chance To Win Back Disenchanted Fans
Mask off
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Ahead of tomorrow's Pokémon Presents, Alana is hoping that The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is a real treasure for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s DLC, The...
Talking Point Will You Pay $50 For Red Dead Redemption On Switch?
For the high-ridin'-est, rootin'-tootin'-est cowboy hero of all time?
$49.99. That's Rockstar's asking price if you want to jump on the critically lauded Red Dead Redemption on Switch from 17th August. £39.99 if you're in the UK — that's for the digital version, although there is a physical release in the works for October. Yep, it'll cost you...
Feature Nintendo eShop Selects - July 2023
Our picks for the best Switch eShop games in July
It's the beginning of a new month — well, we're almost a week in at this point — and you know what that means? It's Nintendo Life's eShop Selects. We're already comfortably into August, which means summer is drawing to a close in the northern hemisphere. Hopefully, it's cooled down a bit where...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (August 5th)
Let's Gooigi
Woohoo, the weekend! Yes, another week is almost done, which means it's time to look back on some of the highlights from the last few days. First up, kicking off the week with a bang, it was rumoured that Nintendo is targeting a 2024 release for its next major piece of hardware. Details so far are scarce, but it sounds like the...
Talking Point Which Nintendo IP Should 'Switch 2' Launch With?
Prime picks
We have spent a lot of time thinking about the Switch 2 so far this year. In fact, we spent a lot of time thinking about it last year too. And the year before... and the year before that. And th... you know what? We've been thinking about it for a while. Our thoughts have covered everything from just how Switch-y Nintendo's next console...
Feature Best WarioWare Microgames Ever
Our Top 25, but what's at number WAAAAH-n?
To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the sublime WarioWare Gold's US launch, we're republishing this celebration of the anarchic series' very best microgames. Here's hoping the upcoming Smooth Moves sequel, WarioWare: Move It!, will have some of its own all-timers to add to this selection come November...
Poll Do You Think Switch Can Catch PS2's Total Sales Before 'Switch 2' Arrives?
Hardware headscratcher
In case you missed it, the Nintendo Switch has now sold over 129 million units as of June 30th, 2023. That's frankly astonishing and it puts the console ever closer to reaching the lifetime sales of not only the Nintendo DS but Sony's PlayStation 2. Can it really reach those lofty milestones, though? Let's remind ourselves of...
Guide Best Cooking Games On Nintendo Switch
The Michelin stars
Food is one of the many joys of life, and for many, cooking is part of the fun. And as with all everyday activities, cooking has made its way into many a video game. Whether it's the central mechanic or a big part of character customisation and building, cooking has become a staple not just in the kitchen, but in many Switch...
Poll Have You Ordered Physical Switch Games That Came With The Cart Missing?
MariNo Cart
If you hadn't already guessed, we on Team Nintendo Life love a bit of physical media. Yes, the convenience of downloading a game from the eShop is unbeatable, but if we have the chance to get one of those red-spined boxes on our shelves, we'll take it. We do have one insistence, though: those boxes have to come with a cartridge inside...
Talking Point How Do You Store Your Games Collection?
Shoebox showcase
Call us sentimental, call us paranoid, call us what you will, but around these parts we still love the physical article when it comes to our media, especially video games. While many of us have gone at least part-digital for the sake of saving space and sheer convenience, especially with the portable Switch, even the eShop-only...
Feature So, Which Zelda Games Aren't On Switch Yet?
Missing Link
Thanks to the wonders of the Nintendo Switch Online retro games libraries (and some pretty top-notch remasters along the way), the Switch is now home to a whopping 16 different Zelda titles by our count, covering everything from Link's first outing to his latest adventures, plus remakes, remasters and spin-offs. Most recently, Oracle...
Talking Point Would A Third Wave Of Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Have Been Too Much?
Riding the waves
The Nintendo Switch was a bonafide hit basically right out of the gate. With the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at launch and Super Mario Odyssey not long after, many of Nintendo’s tentpole titles were quickly showing up on their hot new handheld hybrid. It was only a matter of time until we received another...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 29th)
Taking hearts
The weekend is here once again, folks, so it's time to recap some of our biggest news items of the week before we settle down for some good ol' fashioned comfort gaming. First up, of course, we reviewed the rather excellent Disney Illusion Island for the Switch and gave it a resounding score of 9/10. Be sure to check the link below to...
Soapbox Oatchi Is The Star Of Pikmin 4, And He Deserves To Stay For Good
#OatchiForSmash
Every so often, a long-running series will throw a brand new feature into a game that makes me think to myself, "I hope that they never drop this". The Melee Counter from Samus Returns; Animal Crossing: New Horizons' crafting system; and, most recently, Tears of the Kingdom's Ultrahand and Ascend abilities. I simply can't understand...
Poll What Review Score Would You Give Pikmin 4?
Throw Oatchi a bone?
Pikmin 4 has been out for a few days now, which means it's time to start gauging what you fine people make of Nintendo's latest real-time strategy adventure. It's been an awful long time coming (pretty much a decade since Pikmin 3, in fact), but it appears that the wait has been more than worth it, with the game receiving...
Feature How Summer Holidays And Childhood Nostalgia Revolutionised Pokémon
20 years of Ruby & Sapphire
In 2003, Pokémon was at a bit of a crossroads. The first two sets of entries in its canon — Game Boy debuts Red and Blue, followed by sequels Gold and Silver — had cemented the series as one of the biggest of all time in gaming, defining millennial pop culture. With the arrival of Nintendo’s new handheld, the Game...
Soapbox Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Fixed The Yiga Clan, And Now I Want More
Come on and join the Kohga
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 chews over how Tears of the Kingdom is a step in the right direction for the series' banana-loving bandits... Let me start with a confession. When I initially...
Soapbox Catching Legendary Pokémon The Old-Fashioned Way Was So Much Better
Mewsings
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kevin remembers a time when getting your hands on a legendary involved going on a real-life journey... The '90s were a fun time, weren’t they? AOL was brand new, The Simpsons was still...
Poll Final Fantasy IV - Do You Prefer The Original Or The DS Remake?
Throwing down the gauntlet
The DS remake of Final Fantasy IV turns 15 today in North America - can you believe it? If the copious social media posts earlier this week about Nolan's The Dark Knight didn't make you feel old, then perhaps this will. Regardless, it still stands to this day as one of the most impressive remakes we've seen. Granted, the...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 22nd)
Ready to party?
Well folks, we're edging ever closer to the end of July. Mad, right? It'll be 2024 before you know it. Before we all experience an existential crisis, however, let's take a look back on what's been going on this week, shall we? First up, Pikmin 4 has only bloomin' gone and launched! It's pretty good, too, as our review will tell...
Feature Our 17 Favourite Dogs In Games - Canine Companions & Memorable Mutts
Good boi gaming
Link, Mario, Samus, a whole hoard of beautiful folk from the Fire Emblem series. We all love a good hero and Nintendo has become pretty darn great at creating them. You know what we all love more than a good hero though? A good boy. We are, of course, talking about dogs. Regardless of whether you are a 'dog person' or a 'cat person'...
Video Disney Illusion Island's Creative Director Discusses Art Style, Inspirations And More
Mouse in the house
We are rapidly approaching the release of Disney Illusion Island in just a few weeks on 28th July, and we grow more intrigued by the combat-free metroidvania by the day. At this year's Summer Games Fest, two of our wonderful team (video producer Zion and staff writer Ollie) were lucky enough to go hands-on with the game and have a...
Poll How Many Of You Have Actually Visited 'Minus World' In Super Mario Bros.?
Minus points
In terms of video game legends, it's up there with the best of them. A secret world accessible in Super Mario Bros.! A gateway to an underwater stage you can never leave! A hidden, secret zone that only the most elite Mario Bros. enthusiasts will ever find!... It was the stuff of playground hearsay back in the '80s and '90s, but...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 15th)
Game on!
And just like that, it's the middle of July... happy weekend, everyone! We might be out of summer showcase season, but there has still been plenty of good things on the table here at Nintendo Life this week. We ran through 21 vintage Nintendo games that you can only buy for original hardware, saw lots of goodies at the Limited Run Games'...
Anniversary Nintendo Famicom, The NES' Japanese Sibling, Is 40 Years Old
History was made
40 years ago today, video game history changed for the better. That might sound a bit hyperbolic, but there's no denying that Nintendo's first home console — or at least the first one with interchangeable cartridges in a form we still recognise as a 'console' today — made a huge impact. Video games would not be where they would...
Hands On Pokémon Sleep (Open Beta) - An Absolute Snoozefest
Pokémon Let’s Go (to bed)
Pokémon Sleep was finally released in select regions earlier this week as an open beta for Android devices. After being the butt of all jokes when it was originally announced and then experiencing a series of delays, it now officially “launches soon” according to The Pokémon Company. Developed by Select Button...
Soapbox It's Time To Admit That F-Zero X Is The Best F-Zero
You got boost power!
F-Zero X launched on 14th July 1998 in Japan, meaning the N64 entry in this dormant Nintendo racing series is, somehow, inexplicably, 25 years old now. A quarter-century! Blimey. As such, we're republishing this article from 2019 penned by Nintendo Life founder and CEO Ant Dickens to curry favour with top brass celebrate an...
Poll Super Mario All-Stars Is 30 Years Old - Do You Prefer The NES Or SNES Versions Of The Classics?
NES is more?
Video game compilations might feel like a new-ish thing — a bevvy of digital treats all packed into one cartridge (or disc, or download), but they're practically as old as the medium. When we think of classic compilations, one of the first that springs to mind is the SNES's Super Mario All-Stars. This 16-bit collection launched on...
Feature 21 Vintage Nintendo Games You Can Now Only Buy For Original Hardware
'80s and '90s Nintendo games on the 'endangered' list
You may have read a recent study by the Video Games History Foundation that suggests an eye-watering 87% of video games are "critically endangered". The organisation, which is devoted to video game preservation and archiving, found that just 13% of games released prior to 2010 were still 'in...
Feature That Time Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Made Mario Bros. Go Full Inception
Pi’illo fight
The worlds of Mario and Christopher Nolan rarely overlap, and for good reason. Cillian Murphy may make an excellent Oppenheimer, but he’d be a painfully miscast Professor E. Gadd. Yet somehow, ten years ago, that didn’t stand in the way of AlphaDream adding a strong vibe reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s dream heist in...
