Retro News
The DK drama continues
New evidence has been uncovered that suggests Billy Mitchell did indeed cheat to attain his record-breaking Donkey Kong scores — the ones which Twin Galaxies removed from its record boards because they were allegedly achieved via emulation rather than original arcade hardware, and for which Mitchell is suing the...
Random Unused Bond Face Textures Finally Erased From Switch Online's Goldeneye 007 Code
Please sir, can I have some Moore?
If you were around in the late 1990s and happily poured many hours into GoldenEye 007, then you have probably come across the 'Four Bonds' hoax. This was a theory which stated that it was possible to unlock the face textures for previous Bond actors Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton in the game's...
Review GoldenEye 007 - Aged And Flawed, But Still A Masterpiece Of Game Design
Gold-tinted specs?
Highly revered by countless N64 owners, GoldenEye 007 is often credited with kick-starting the first-person shooter craze on consoles. It not only showed that a good first-person shooter could be crafted for a machine other than a high-spec PC, but arguably also created the multiplayer FPS phenomenon on consoles. In fact, if it...
Video Learn About The Making Of GoldenEye 007 In This "Leaked" Rare Replay Documentary
Seen it already? Watch it again
The iconic first-person shooter GoldenEye 007 returns today after a 25 year wait. If you're not familiar with the game's history or are just curious to know more about this legendary N64 title, don't worry - Rare has got you covered. Back when it released its Rare Replay collection on the Xbox One in 2015, it...
News Iconic GoldenEye "Gong" Sound Is Present And Correct In Switch Online Version
Update: Gong not gone
Update #2 [Fri 27th Jan, 2023 02:00 GMT]: GoldenEye 007 is now live on the Nintendo Switch Online service and it seems there's no need to worry. Sound the gong — everything sounds as it should! Update [Thu 26th Jan, 2023 21:05 GMT]: Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has stressed that while he "doesn't know" the exact...
If you can find an NSO N64 pad, that is
When it comes to sprucing up your retro consoles with a mod-con or two, there is no shortage of options. From new shells to upscalers and converters, RGB mods to devices that emulate OG disc drives, old video game systems are being upgraded and refurbished like vintage cars these days, giving them a new lease...
Random 'WATA Certified' Pokémon Yellow Apparently Mauled By US Customs
Pika...NO!
We've heard some horror stories in the past about games and consoles that have been sent off and didn't make it to the other end, but this story takes it to another level. A WATA-graded copy of the Game Boy classic Pokémon Yellow has been completely destroyed, apparently after an encounter with US Customs. As explained by Nightdive...
Random Fan's Recreation Of Radiohead Album Using Mario 64 Music Is Utterly Brilliant
'In Rainbow Roads'
Have you ever wanted to know what Radiohead's incredible 2007 album 'In Rainbows' sounded like if it was the soundtrack to an N64 game? Then look no further. The hugely talented on4word has recreated the entire album using music and sound effects from Super Mario 64. The premise is ridiculous, but the results are actually...
News Zelda: A Link To The Past Artwork "Brought To Life" In Absolutely Stunning Animation
A full series of this could be amazing!
If you've ever wondered what classic game art might look like if it was brought to life, well here's a great example. American animator Parker Simmons has transformed parts of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES manual and other materials into living, breathing animations. The results are absolutely...
News Retro-Bit Gaming Reveals A Game Boy Player-Inspired GameCube Controller
An authentic experience for GameCube and Wii
Retro-Bit Gaming has been behind a number of funky throwback-inspired controllers for Switch over the years, and now the company is taking us back in time even further with a Game Boy Player-style controller that is made for the GameCube (or Wii, if you're so inclined). The Legacy GC Wired Controller has...
Random The Original NES Zelda Has Been Recreated In VR, And It's Glorious
DOOM mods strike again
We've seen Ocarina of Time go VR, and thanks to the Labo, we've also seen Breath of the Wild in VR. What's the next natural step, then? The original NES game, of course! The 1986 game that started it all, The Legend of Zelda, has been recreated in VR. Shared on Twitter by @kite_VR_noe, the entire first section of the NES game...
Feature "Arcade Games Are Poetry" - 'Strider' Director On The Return Of 'Cannon Dancer'
"Now you can enjoy the miracle of a timeless classic of the past"
One of 2023's biggest surprises is the return of Cannon Dancer - Osman. Developed by Mitchell Corporation and released in arcades in 1996, thanks to a limited run of arcade machines for the game in the west, this side-scrolling gem was once lost to time. But very soon — 9th March...
News Taito Corporation Preparing For 70th Anniversary Celebrations In 2023
One of the oldest game companies still in operation
The famous video game developer Taito Corporation - known for legendary arcade hits like Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble - will celebrate its 70th anniversary on 24th August 2023. To prepare for this epic milestone, the company has already kicked things off by opening a commemorative website and a...
Talking Point What Game Do You Replay Every Year?
New year, old game
We did it everyone! 2022 is finally behind us and 2023 stretches happily into the great beyond. This is to be a year full of promise, a year of hope, a year of enough Nintendo releases (with any luck) to squeeze out an almost literal cry from our bank accounts. But for the moment we're not thinking about the future, we're looking...
News Sega Producer Shows Interest In A Possible Billy Hatcher Revival
"I would like to make his new adventure"
Sega has had its high and low points over the years, but perhaps the most challenging moment in its history was the company's exit from the console market in 2001. Despite this uphill battle at the time, it still managed to pump out several amazing games, and even some new franchises that captured the hearts...
Feature 25 Years Of GoldenEye 007 - 25 Facts You Didn't Know (Or Forgot You Knew)
I watched you from the shadows as a child
As you've probably noticed, GoldenEye 007 is now 25 years old and can legally hire a car in a foreign country. The influence of Rare's seminal shooter on the FPS genre and console video gaming in general is enormous, and gamers have now been poring over it and picking apart its secrets for the last...
Feature Hot Zelda: Link To The Past Takes From '90s Game Mags, 30 Years Later
A link to the Link to the Past past
Let us set the scene: The year is 1992. You are sitting in your living room, wearing something with massive shoulder pads, probably. Guns N' Roses is playing on the radio. Social media does not yet exist. Raise your sword if you miss the '90s It is into this peaceful scene that we can add a sprinkling of video...
News N64 Classic Yoshi's Story Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary Today
What's your favourite memory of it?
The Nintendo 64 era was loaded with plenty of exciting first-party releases, but one that you might not always consider when reflecting on this generation is Yoshi's Story. This delightful side-scrolling platfomer was first released in Japan in 1997 and today marks a special milestone. Yes, believe it or not, but...
Random The GB Interceptor Lets You Stream Gameplay From An Unmodified Game Boy
Tetris on the big screen
There are a variety of ways that you can get footage from a Game Boy game up onto a big screen. An emulator can easily step in to do the job or a modern-day variant like the Analogue Pocket might be more up your street with its HDMI output. But what if you wanted to stream from an original Game Boy, and an unmodded one at...
Feature Final Fantasy's 35-Year Legacy Of Innovation - How Square Evolved A Genre On The NES & SNES
A Prelude to all future RPGs
Final Fantasy is now 35 years old, and that feels a little bit weird to say. While not the first RPG series to ever grace a home console or even the first Japanese-developed RPG, Final Fantasy is, arguably, the JRPG. Everyone knows it, and everyone has played at least one. There’s a lot of debate about what Final...
Random Zelda Fan Uncovers A Link To The Past's Original Dungeon Designs In Proto Data
Goron-level mining
When it comes to stone-cold classics like A Link to the Past, we have to ask how much content can there really be that we don't already know about? The answer, so it seems, is quite a lot actually. For the past little while now, a Zelda fan by the name of @Dark_Linkael has been working their way through the prototype data for...
News Atari Announces Ultra Rare Arcade Shooter 'Akka Arrh' Is Coming To Switch
Originally scrapped for being "too difficult"
After Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, Atari Flashback Classics and Atari Mania, you might think that the iconic studio would want a break from looking into its back catalogue for a brief moment. You would, however, be wrong. Perhaps the most obscure of these titles yet has today been announced,...
Random Guardians Of The Galaxy: Holiday Special Features A Festive Game Boy Cameo
Rocket around the Christmas tree
The ever expanding multiverse that is the MCU has been no stranger to a Nintendo reference in the past. There was the Wii and GameCube nod in WandaVision, Kamala and her pals playing Smash Bros. in Ms. Marvel and even a little bit of Switch in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But the latest addition to the franchise -...
News Surprise! Crunchyroll Is Making A Video Game For The Game Boy Color
Party like it's 1999
In one of the stranger pieces of news that we have heard today, renowned anime streamer Crunchyroll has announced that it is developing and publishing a retro-inspired video game based on its classic mascot Hime (thanks, Gematsu). What's weirder still is that it will be playable on Game Boy Color via Limited Run Games, with...
Random Fan Preserves Zelda History By 3D Scanning Classic 1980s Figurines
A literal link to the past
It is unfortunately too often the case that pieces of video game history are lost over time. T-shirts are run through the tumble dryer, figures are swallowed by children or kicked under sofas, cartridges are filled with dust and controllers are snapped in rage. Fortunately there are people out there like @KeshiCorner who...
Random Nintendo Bug Testing Tapes Show Early Builds Of Smash Bros., Pikmin And More
Scratching that glitch
The role of a debugger is an important one in any kind of games development. These are the people who play through the games as they are being developed, pointing out any moment in which it goes wrong and crashes or lets the player do something that they shouldn't normally be able to. In years gone by, the debuggers had to...
Rolling the dice
One of the only real criticisms we levelled at the recent Mega Man Battle & Fighters, a re-release of a Neo Geo Pocket Color title included in this new package, was that nobody had bothered to translate the content from Japanese. It was an issue exacerbated by a fan translation already existing online for those willing to go the...
News Unreleased 'SimCopter 64' E3 Prototype Preserved And Detailed In New Deep Dive
The Video Game History Foundation digs into Maxis' E3 '97 build
A new deep-dive article into the history of Maxis' ill-fated SimCopter 64 has been published by the fine folk over the Video Game History Foundation, and it delivers some fascinating new insight and information about the unreleased Nintendo 64 game. This particular prototype build —...
News This Upcoming Super Mario Bros. 3 Mod Adds New Playable Characters, Wall Jumps And More
Coming 'Thanksgiving 2022'
At this point, word of a new Mario game would have a whole host of Nintendo fans super jumping for joy - finally breaking away from the five-year gap that has followed in Super Mario Odyssey's wake. While there is nothing official to speak of on this front just yet, we have now seen a teaser trailer for an upcoming Super...
Graft from the past
Atari, and its exuberant founder Nolan Bushnell, were 1970s trailblazers who formed, established, and pioneered the video game industry. Brushing a near-century of mechanical coin-operated gaming aside and barging pinball into a dusty corner, Atari became the focal point of bars everywhere with Pong in 1972. It was the dawning of...
News SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.2 Announced For Switch
The second wave has arrived
Update [Thu 10th Nov, 2022 00:55 GMT]: SNK has finally revealed the games lineup included in the Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.2. Here are the 10 titles, along with a look. SNK VS. CAPCOM CARD FIGHTERS' CLASH BIG BANG PRO WRESTLING BIOMOTOR UNITRON
Random Musician "Restores" Chrono Trigger Soundtrack Using Uncompressed Samples
Music Revolution
Update: The video has been made private, and it appears that Mathew Valente's account has been hacked. We'll be sure to update this post once the soundtrack has been made available again. For now, you can listen to some samples over on his Twitter account: Mathew Valente, known as TSSF and who worked on the cancelled fan game...
News This Huge Star Fox Mod Adds New Levels, Ships, Weapons, And Even Multiplayer
Update: Launching November 11th
Update [Sat 5th Nov, 2022 20:00 GMT]: A new teaser trailer has been uploaded - revealing a release date of November 11th: Original article [Fri 12th Aug, 2022 11:15 BST]: There has been no solid news of a Star Fox game on the Switch and Nintendo fans are growing restless. None more so is this case than modder...
News Sega Wants To Know What Mini Console Fans Would Like To See Next
Mega Drive Mini 2 customers asked in new survey
Mini video game consoles might not be quite as popular with publishers as they were a number of years ago, but one company that's still a fan of this idea is Sega. As you might have heard, it's just released its second Mega Drive Mini / Genesis in limited stock around the world. If you are interested...
News Retro Goal Is Ready To Kick Off The World Cup Spirit On Switch This Month
They think it's all over... It's not
New Star Games - the team behind the immensely addictive New Star Soccer and Retro Bowl - is looking to continue its winning streak with the release of Retro Goal later this month. Much like the team's previous two games, Retro Goal promises to be a mixture of classic arcade sports play with some simplistic team...
News Never-Before-Seen Bomberman Hero Design Docs Appear Online
Shared by former developer
A former developer on the N64 platformer Bomberman Hero has shared design documents for the game on Twitter. These never-before-seen sketches and notes show us a snippet of the behind-the-scenes on Hudson Soft's radical departure from the Bomberman formula. @nori_bomber — whose career started on the Sega Mark III and...
Review Mario Party 2 - Party Like It's 1999 With One Of The Best In The Series
Yes, we know most places got it in 2000
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Since 1998, the Mario Party series has entertained gamers by mixing the play of traditional board games with frantic minigame...
News The Samurai Collection Brings Two Classic Beat 'Em Ups To Switch This Week
Crouching Tiger Hidden Release
Around this time last year, we heard of the formation of QUByte Classics - a partnership between Publisher QUByte and Piko Interactive - and we have subsequently seen a whole host of classic 8- and 16-bit titles brought back to the Switch (The Humans, Tinhead, Jim Power: The Lost Dimension, amongst others). Well,...
Talking Point Which Scary Video Game Moments Gave You Nightmares As A Kid?
Mummy!
As one moves into adulthood, it's possible to look back and laugh at things that once terrified you. Sure, the adult world contains more than its fair share of horrors worth recoiling from, but at least we gamers can look back at the digital scares of our youth with a satisfied smile, knowing we've conquered our childish fears. Right? Well,...
Random The Perfect Ghosts 'N Goblins Statue Is Here For Halloween
Armour also available
Forget Capcom giants like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter for a second — Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection saw the return of Sir Arthur after a ten-year absence in 2021, and it was a pretty darn good return to form, that form being "very difficult". In fact, we specifically said this revival was "So immorally brutal on higher...
News Famous Seattle Retro Gaming Store Has Been Hit By Armed Robbery
Store relocation now being considered
Pink Gorilla Games, the famous Seattle-based retro gaming store, has been subjected to armed robbery, forcing the owners to consider relocating after 17 years. As reported by our friends over at Time Extension, the incident occured on Monday night, during which a hooded and masked man demanded money and...
News Terranigma Artist Kamui Fujiwara Releases Special Movie For 27th Anniversary
"The planet had two hearts..."
If there's a Nintendo console that's absolutely loaded with stellar RPGs, it's the Super Nintendo. This little system is filled to the brim with classics from Squaresoft), Enix (prior to merging with Square), Nintendo, Capcom, and tons more. Terranigma, from developer Quintet, is one of the standouts, despite not...
Feature From Hypnosis To Farts, What Happened To The Wario We Met 30 Years Ago?
Three decades since his Super Mario Land 2 debut
30 years ago, we clutched our Game Boys in our sweaty palms and gasped in collective awe at the majesty we were faced with when Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins dropped on the scene. Not only did we have an absolute banger in our hands — completely outdoing the first Mario Land in every respect...
Poll What's The Best Mario Party Game?
Which entry deserves the most stars?
Ahh, Mario Party. The destroyer of friendships. The ice-breaker. The game you get out every holiday season, lose at, only to hide it away for another 365 days but hold a grudge for a lifetime. The Mario Party series has been going since 1998 on the Nintendo 64, causing family squabbles and fabled rivalries ever...
News Unreleased Mario Kart XXL Tech Demo For Game Boy Advance Surfaces Online
DNF
Nintendo preservation website Forest of Illusion has acquired the "infamous" Mario Kart XXL tech demo - a pitch by Denaris Entertainment Software for the Game Boy Advance, dating back to April 2004. It's now been made available to download. The German development studio (founded by Turrican creator Manfred Trenz) originally showcased the game...
Random 90s Video Game Voucher Shows Alternate Mario 64 And Sonic 3D Blast Box Art
Finally featuring Bowser!
Earlier on this week we enjoyed getting a look at the original 'Black Box' designs for some classic NES titles, and now we can do the same for the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Mega Drive. The designs in question can be found on an old video game voucher for Sears, offering money off a select number of titles. In the image,...
Review Pilotwings 64 - A Real Gem, Sparkling In The Shadow Of Mario 64
Top flight
This review originally went live in 2013, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival in Switch's N64 library via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Releasing alongside Super Mario 64 when the Nintendo 64 launched back in 1996 (1997 if you're European), it was somewhat inevitable that Pilotwings 64 was...
News You'll Be Able To Play Pokémon Mini On The Analogue Pocket Soon
A Pokémon party in your pocket
The Analogue Pocket platform has become a hub for a bunch of wonderful cores that allow us to play classics in the palm of our hands — literally. Now, it looks like a pretty unusual FPGA core is coming to the system: the Pokémon Mini, a tiny little handheld console that launched in 2001. Time Extension spotted the...
News Two Unreleased NES Games Surface On eBay, Could Go For "Thousands"
A Napoleon RTS and a Power Glove game by Rare
Two unreleased NES games have been listed on eBay. The first is a prototype cartridge of a game called Battlefields of Napoleon (including all of the original packaging design), and the second one is a demo of a Nintendo Power Glove game developed by Rare. Napoleon was never released locally, but a...
News Capcom Begins Mega Man's 35th Anniversary Celebrations With Logo Reveal
More Mega
There are a lot of classic video game franchises celebrating milestones this year, and joining them is Capcom's blub bomber, Mega Man. December 17, 2022 will mark the iconic character's 35th anniversary. In the lead-up to this, Capcom has unveiled the official logo along with the first collaborative product - a t-shirt by the clothing...
Random The Original 'Black Box' Art For NES Zelda Resurfaces, And Link Is Happy
A link to the past
Perhaps producing one of the most iconic box art layouts in Nintendo history, the NES Black Box titles have grown to become synonymous with at-home arcade gaming and all that is retro. Released between 1985 and 1987, the series consists of 30 games including certified classics such as Duck Hunt, Excitebike and Donkey Kong Jr.;...
News Mortal Kombat Celebrates 30 Years Of Fatalities, Friendships And Flawless Victories
"Thank you to all of the fans"
The fighting genre is about to enter the next generation with games like Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. One other series, in particular, that's played a huge part in evolving the scene over the years is the violent and bloody Mortal Kombat. It also led to the formation of the ESRB in the US, which saw age ratings...
Guide Best James Bond Games, Ranked - Switch And Nintendo Systems
Nobody does it better
Remember, the ranking below is not set in stone, but is governed in real-time by each game's User Score on our games database. If you haven't assigned a score to any of the games below, simply log in and tap on the star in each of the banners below to score the game out of ten and exert your influence on the ranking. Enjoy!...
News The N64 Encyclopedia Offers Nintendo Fans An Exhaustive Overview Of The 64-Bit Era
Over 400 games covered
It seems the hardest-working man in games journalism has struck again! Yes, Chris Scullion — features editor over at VGC, formerly of Official Nintendo Magazine UK, and Nintendo Life contributor extraordinaire (most recently giving EA's FIFA series a fitting send-off for us) — is back again with another entry in his...
News Unreleased 'Dune' GBA Game Is Finally Available To Buy, But With A New Name
Spicy
Following on from its Kickstarter campaign last year, Pixel Games UK has released the previously-cancelled Dune GBA game — called Frank Herbert’s Dune: Ornithopter Assault — on Steam under a brand new name. Spotted by @TheSpaceShipper on Twitter (via Time Extension), the newly-titled E
News Star Fox 2 Made Its Debut On The SNES Classic Console Five Years Ago
You can now play it on the Switch Online service
The Star Fox series has been a staple of Nintendo systems since the Super Nintendo era, but there was one game in the series that went missing during this generation - Star Fox 2. While the game was mostly ready to go by 1995, by then PlayStation had entered the market and the N64 was just around the...
News SNK Celebrates Art Of Fighting 30th Anniversary With A New Illustration
The original game launched in 1992
Last week SNK celebrated Art of Fighting's 30th anniversary. This particular fighter was first released for Neo Geo and arcades in September 1992. It helped pave the way for the genre and eventually got a second game (1994) and third game (1996). SNK shared this special occasion by sharing a new drawing by SNK...
Anniversary Dragon Quest V Is 30 Years Old Today
The best Dragon Quest?
One of the Super Famicom's most-celebrated RPGs turns 30 today in Japan. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride was the series' first game on the 16-bit console, and even today, Dragon Quest V is fondly remembered, despite the game not receiving an official Western release until its 2009 DS port. The Super Famicom (or...
News You Can Now Play NES Games On The Analogue Pocket
SNES functionality also recently made available
Here's something for retro gaming fans to celebrate this morning — thanks to Adam Gastineau, you can now play NES games on your Analogue Pocket. This tiny little handheld device can already play a number of retro handheld games with FPGA accuracy, and now you can add the 8-bit Nintendo console to...
Talking Point Where Are All The Lord Of The Rings RPGs On Console?
Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a RPG
The year was 2002. Peter Jackson was about to release the second instalment in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, EA had bagged the rights to the video game adaptations of the films and Vivendi was just about to release its own console adaptation, not of the New Line Cinema property, but adapted directly from...
Random Unseen Screens Of Cut Super Mario 64 Stage Found In 1996 Nintendo Report
But wait, there's more!
Always ready to unpack a little more of Nintendo's history, a collaboration between preservation site Forest of Illusion, @Render_Archive and @Nintoid has amounted in the upload of a long sought-after Nintendo Company Report from 1996. The edition includes a wealth of nostalgic gaming material from sales reports to upcoming...
News Footage Of Perfect Dark's Cut Feature 'Perfect Head' Emerges Online
Heads rolled
We often laud Rare's incredible library of games on the N64, and while the focus has recently been on its seminal movie tie-in shooter GoldenEye 007 over the past week, we want to turn your attention to Perfect Dark for just a few minutes. Footage of one of the game's cut features from E3 1999 has been shared online. As highlighted by...
News La-Mulana Director To Remake Obscure Konami MSX IP After Winning Contest
The Maze of Galious returns
La-Mulana series director Takumi Naramura has proven his chops at creating games inspired by the MSX computer, and now it looks like he's going to get his hands on one of the most well-known games on the system. The director has won a competition run by Konami to have the chance at remaking the 1987 classic, The Maze of...
News Switch Online Versions Of Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2 Won't Support Transfers
Read the fine print
At the latest Nintendo Direct broadcast, the next batch of games coming to the Switch Online N64 service were revealed. Apart from titles like Mario Party, and the long-rumoured return of GoldenEye 007, Nintendo also confirmed Pokémon Stadium and its sequel Pokémon Stadium 2 would be
News More N64 Games Are Coming To The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack
Yes, including THAT one
Nintendo has announced that a new batch of Nintendo 64 games will be coming to the Expansion Pack tier of its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service. As detailed in the latest Nintendo Direct for September 2022, the following eight titles — as well as the long-rumoured return of GoldenEye 007
Poll What's The Best Contra Game? Rate Your Collection And Help Us Find Out
Run 'n' Rank!
This week marks the 30th anniversary of Contra III: The Alien Wars (or Super Probotector: Alien Rebels) on the SNES in Europe. That's crazy, right? Despite Konami's rather lacklustre attempt to revitalise the franchise with Contra: Rogue Corps in 2019, we here at Nintendo Life still have a spot in our hearts for the run 'n' gun shooter...
PSA Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 Is Now Available To Pre-Order In The UK
Be quick, supplies will be low!
The Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 has been made available for pre-order in the UK and Europe, exclusively through Amazon. At the time of writing, the price of the console has been set at £104.99, which bizarrely is actually more expensive than North America, where it's currently priced at $99.99 (Update: as mentioned in...
Random Bob-omb Battlefield Gets Added To 'GoldenEye With Mario Characters' Mod
It's-a Bond, James-a Bond
In celebration of GoldenEye 007's 25th anniversary last month, a diehard Mario fan, known on YouTube as StupidMarioBros1Fan, sought to remake the game with Super Mario 64 characters at the helm. The result was fantastic — in a kind of deeply horrifying way — and the team has now dropped an update to the PC fan game...
Feature 12 Nintendo Games That Deserve An HD-2D Remake
Pretty in pixels
HD-2D has become the new lofty bar for retro-inspired RPGs or remakes of our favourite Super Nintendo RPGs. Square Enix's new trademark visual style started with 2018's Octopath Traveler and has also been used in this year's strategy RPG Triangle Strategy. But, arguably, its true potential has been realised in the stunning remake of...
Random This New PC Platformer Is Designed To Be Played With DK Bongos
And it's free!
Nintendo has long been a pioneer of creative controllers. There was, of course, the Wii remote which revolutionised mainstream motion-based gaming, the N64 controller which finally let you play a game with three hands, and, the crème de la crème, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat's DK Bongos. Many of us still have a pair or two of these...
News The 'Unofficial Strider Sequel' Cannon Dancer Is Finally Coming To Consoles
Step and stride
As we're only weeks away from this year's Tokyo Game Show, we're starting to find out what games developers and publishers will be showing off at the annual convention. And amidst Konami's line-up — which includes multiple Yu-Gi-Oh! games, Super Bomberman R 2, and Coffee Talk Episode 2 — is the surprise return of a forgotten...
News 'Jumping For Joy' Leaps Into Platforming History, With Plenty For Nintendo Fans To Enjoy
Jump up, jump up and get down
If you're looking to explore the history of Nintendo and its games, Chris Scullion, video games journalist extraordinaire and Nintendo Life contributor no less, is a go-to expert in the field. Having worked at Official Nintendo Magazine back in the day, he's already got several tomes' worth of facts and figures for you...
Watch How To Get Good At Collecting Retro Video Games (Without Breaking The Bank)
Time to haggle!
Video gaming has to be one of the more expensive hobbies out there, right? Other than, like, yacht collecting or space travel, of course, but out of the normal hobbies, it's up there. Games themselves tend to cost anywhere from $20 to 80, and that's before you get into things like physical versions and collector's editions and DLC...
News Chibi-Robo Director Doesn't Think Skip Ltd Will Release Another Entry In The Series
"Most of the staff have moved on to other companies"
There's nothing quite like Chibi-Robo. The teeny, tiny little robot came out late in the GameCube's lifespan in the west and never really got the love he deserved. We never forgot about him at least, but it's been a quiet few years since developer Skip Ltd and Chibi-Robo have plugged into...
Random What Do You Mean Super Mario's Donut Blocks Aren't Based On Donuts?
"Jelly-filled are my favourite"
Donut blocks. We all know them, and we all either love them or hate them as they collapse under the weight of our platforming plumber Mario. These platforms have been around since Super Mario Bros. 3, always waiting to lure us in with the safety of a flat surface, before falling and taking us Mario to his demise...
News 20th Super Mario Kart Championships Start Their Engines On Twitch Today
Off to the races
We are rapidly approaching the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Kart's Japanese release on the Super Famicom, but what if we told you that there is another SMK-adjacent anniversary happening today? We are, of course, talking about the Super Mario Kart Championships, which will be racing off the start line today in its 20th year of...
Random Vintage Nintendo Playing Card Opening Ends In Disaster For Collector
“I cannot overstate how excited I was"
We've covered Nintendo's history a lot here at NL, and not just the video game side. At this point, it's pretty well known that before Nintendo jumped into gaming, it was well known for producing handmade hanafuda playing cards. And if you're a hardcore Nintendo collector, you'll likely want to get your hands...
News This Stealth GameCube Mod Allows You To Play With Any Bluetooth Controller
Pre-orders now available
The GameCube might not have had the same widespread appeal as the PlayStation 2 or the original Xbox, but it was still an amazing gaming system. One thing it arguably did better than other systems at the time was wireless controllers - with the Wavebird considered by many as the pioneer of modern wireless gamepads. If you...
Poll So, Wave Race 64 Or Blue Storm - Which Is Best?
Or are you a GB purist?
The arrival of Wave Race 64 on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack has been the cause of much celebration in the Nintendo Life office. Those water physics have the power to impress some two-and-a-half decades on, and it still handles like a dream. If you've never played the game — or if you're a PAL...
Guide SEGA Genesis Mini 2 Games List - Every Mega Drive And SEGA CD Game, All 61 Titles
Sega's latest mini console is out now
Following the success of its original Mega Drive / Genesis Mini, Sega has officially launched a second iteration of the miniature console, dubbed the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis 2. Our friends over at Time Extension managed to get extensive hands-on time with the new system and have published their thoughts in a...
Review Wave Race 64 - A Thrilling Racer That's Still Deeply Impressive
Splash wave
This review originally went live in 2016, and we're updating and republishing it to mark the game's arrival on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. Wave Race was not a well-known series prior to its arrival on the Nintendo 64. Actually, it wasn't a series at all, but rather a single release: a top-down racer on...
Random This Prototype Transforms Your Switch Into A Home Arcade Cabinet
Nintendo Switch XL
One of the most appealing features of the Switch when it was first released back in 2017 was its ability to be played in both handheld and docked mode. But what if there was another way to play? This is a question that seems to have plagued the incredibly talented designers over at Passocade, and what they came up with is surely...
Random Masahiro Sakurai Updated His Awesome Gaming Setup, Here's A Look
What's up with the Switch dock?
When he's not making huge games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, video game director Masahiro Sakurai is actually playing them. Yes, as you've likely already seen before, he's got an extensive collection of consoles and games (new and old). In a new post on social media, it seems Sakurai has updated his gaming space...
Feature Mega Man, Crash Bandicoot, And Gex - The '90s Inspirations Behind 'Frogun'
We'll tell you what we want, what we really really want
Why is that '90s and 2000s fashion coming back as a new trend is so utterly distressing to those of us that were there, but '90s and '00s video game aesthetics resurfacing is a good thing? We don't have answers for you, but we do have Frogun, a charmingly goofy action-platformer game that...
News Super Punch-Out!! Hidden Two-Player Mode Discovered 28 Years Later
No hacks or mods required
There's been a historic discovery made within the 1994 Super Nintendo release Super Punch-Out!! today. A Twitter account known as 'Unlisted Cheats' has uncovered a hidden two player mode in the game. To access this option, on the game's start screen you'll have to hold the 'Y' and 'R' buttons on the second player's...
News Sega's Latest Mini-Console Is Cute, But Reviewers Are Complaining Of Bad Lag
Bad news for shmups
Sega's latest mini-console, the Astro City Mini V, has just been released, bringing 22 vertical shmups to people who may not have had access to many of these Japan-only, arcade-only titles before... but, let's be realistic, this teeny-tiny little cabinet is for the kind of hardcore arcade nerds that can afford to drop $180 on...
News GAME's 'Home Arcade' Range Lets You Build The Arcade Of Your Dreams
Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders and more!
UK retailer GAME has kicked off a new 'The Home from Home Arcade' campaign in partnership with Arcade1Up, a manufacturer of officially licensed arcade cabinets. If you've ever wanted to create the arcade of your dreams in your spare room, or even just pick up a full-size cabinet to plonk in your lounge,...
News SNK Announces Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.2, Coming Soon
"More info" is on the way
SNK has announced Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol.2 is "coming soon". No platforms have been revealed just yet, but the Switch is in with a good chance after the first volume was released on the platform last year. There's no word on the lineup of games this volume will include at the moment, but we're likely to see...
News There's Now A New Classic Console To Keep Your LEGO NES Company
Update: LEGO Atari now available
Update: The LEGO Atari is now available to purchase, available directly from LEGO's website. It may not be Nintendo hardware, but we have to say they've done a beautiful job or replicating Atari's woody classic. Here are the links you need: <products id="19770"> Original Article (Tue 19th Jul, 2022 17:30...
News Sega Genesis Mini 2 Stock Expected To Be In Short Supply Locally
Global semiconductor shortages are to blame
If you're hoping to secure a Sega Genesis Mini 2 when it arrives in North America this October, you might want to act fast. This system, loaded with over 50 classic games including Sega CD titles, is expected to be in short supply. Ars Technica reached out to Sega's main office and received confirmation...
News Nintendo DS Firmware 'Prototype' Reveals System's Unique Boot Up Sound Effect
It even works on "real hardware"
Nintendo preservation website Forest of Illusion has managed to acquire another rare piece of gaming history. It's been able to archive a Japan prototype of the Nintendo DS X4 firmware - recovered from an X4 prototype unit. According to the source, "just about every aspect of this version is different from the final...
Feature SEGA's Astonishing GameCube Rebound Following Defeat In The Console Wars
How SEGA turned its fortunes around and made friends with Nintendo
For gamers old enough to remember the turn of the century, the console landscape looked very different from how it does today. Everyone was excited for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo was getting the GameCube ready to succeed the Nintendo 64. Microsoft's Xbox was also in development...
News Analogue Pocket's Major Beta Update Is Live, Here's What's New
Memories! OpenFPGA! SpaceWar!
Analogue's major beta update to its handheld console, the Analogue Pocket, is finally live for users to download, and introduces much anticipated additions to the experience including Memories, Libraries, and openFPGA, Analogue's developer program. Detailed in an announcement post from Analogue itself, the biggest...
News Say Hello To Time Extension, The Newest Member Of Our Network
If you like classic gaming, you'll love this...
As you'll no doubt be aware, Nintendo Life is just one of three sites we operate here at Hookshot Media. We also operate Push Square and Pure Xbox, but it's been quite some time since we launched an entirely new site – but that changed this week. Say hello to Time Extension, the newest member of the...
Random N64 Cart Album Composer Returns With A Funky GBA Follow-Up
Transport yourself back in time
Remute is back with another unique album release, but this time on a different console. The musician released an album on an N64 cartridge earlier this year, and he's followed this release up with a fantastic-sounding GBA cartridge. Yep, your tiny little Game Boy Micro (or whatever model of GBA, but we're going extra...
Random This Fan's Enormous Nintendo Collection Makes All Others Look Tiny
Years in the making
We at Nintendo Life love a good collection, but YouTuber Nintendo Downunder has truly blown us away. In a video uploaded yesterday, the mega fan shows off his collection of Nintendo consoles, games and accessories which is enough to keep even the biggest fan's jaw firmly on the floor for a long time. The video is the creator's...
News You Can Now Play Steam Games Using Your Retro Switch Controllers
Retro is the way forward
Steam received a brand new update yesterday that might interest some of you who own one (or multiple) of the Switch's retro controllers. VGC reports that Valve's digital platform now supports the NES, SNES, N64, and Mega Drive / Genesis controllers. So you can play classics like Glover, multiple Mega Drive games, Chrono...
News There's A Brand New Game Boy Platformer Coming Out This Summer
Pre-orders for Lost Terminal are now available
PixelHeart, the publisher behind Guns of Mercy and Liberated, has announced that its next game is to be compatible with Game Boy systems. Yes, you read that correctly, a brand new game is coming to the Game Boy in 2022. Developed by Maxime Schutz, Lost Terminal is an underworld-set platformer and it...
News This Game Boy-Inspired Handheld Is A Budget Answer To Modern-Day Retro Gaming
Cheap and cheerful chip tunes
If you're a fan of all of these new retro handhelds but don't quite have the budget for them, then we might just have the thing for you today. RGhandhelds today revealed the Retro Pixel Pocket, a little Game Boy-esque machine with four buttons and a clear casing that is just what it says it is — pocket-sized! The...
News Forgotten Gem 'Avenging Spirit' Is Making Its Way To Nintendo Switch
Game BOOy Horror
Right, get this — you're out on a nice date with your girlfriend until, annoyingly, you get horribly murdered by a crime syndicate. Now you're a ghost, and you have to team up with your girlfriend's dad to rescue her from said syndicate, but wait! There's more! The syndicate are one step ahead of you, because they're researching...
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