Tag: Nintendo - Page 9
Feature How Super Mario World Became An Award-Winning Book Of Verse
“Super Mario World has one of my most difficult experiences wound through its code"
Most of us have some childhood memory of games – be it Pokémon Blue, Tetris, or Super Mario Bros. When we dust off those old consoles, the games often trigger memories of our lives outside the screen too. In his heart-wrenching series of poems, If All the World...
Feature Donkey Kong Cymru: The Extremely Brief History Of Welshness In Nintendo Games
Hiraeth of Hyrule
It’s a uniquely Welsh experience. I’ve never been Scottish, or Irish, or Latvian, but those that have inform me when you tell someone where you’re from, the response typically isn’t “What’s that?”. For the Welsh, that basic icebreaker question from anyone outside the UK usually prompts a deep breath and, regardless...
News Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Rated For Switch By ESRB
Returning in 2024
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door will be making a return on the Switch next year and while we've already seen some ratings pop up online, it's now also been rated by the ESRB. It's received a rating of 'E' for "Everyone" and contains "mild fantasy violence" and "mild suggestive themes" with "no interactive elements". Here's the...
Feature From Bon Jovi To Banjo - Grant Kirkhope On The "Complete Fluke" Of His Rare Musical Journey
Part One: Mr. Banjongles
Grant Kirkhope is an interviewer's dream, and not just because he's responsible for some all-time great video game soundtracks. He’s great company — frank, funny, and loquacious. We spoke to him most recently for our Nintendo Life VGM Fest back in 2021 and only ended up publishing a small fraction of our chat in our...
Feature The One Thing Wii Did Much Better Than Switch
Point taken
The Sensor Bar. Flimsy little plastic box with the world's longest, spindliest cable. An irritation to every Wii owner who has ever had to move their console. What was it good for? There's not a lot to the Sensor Bar. A little device that emits some infrared light. If the Wii Remote is pointed at one, it recognises that's where the TV...
Guide 70 Switch Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's Festive Offers Sale (Europe)
Every Switch game on sale that got a 9/10 from us
Just a reminder that this Festive Offers Switch eShop sale finishes on Sunday 31st December (although the equivalent sale in North America continues until January 3rd), so make sure you've grabbed anything you wanted before it's over. Carry on! The festive season is finally upon us and Nintendo's...
Soapbox A Love Letter To My Favourite New Character In Zelda: TOTK
You have my full support
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 wants to spread the love for a certain Hylian in need of support... Before getting my hands on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the first time, I had a...
UK Charts Super Mario Bros. Wonder Narrowly Misses Out On Christmas No. 1
Too bad!
After a short delay this week, the latest UK boxed charts are in, and it's a resounding success for EA Sports FC 24 over the Christmas week as it lands in the number one spot once again. Hot on its heels, however, is Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a game that has maintained strong sales since its launch back in October. Elsewhere, it's a pretty...
Soapbox It's Time For A Zelda 1 Remake, Please
Or a 'temporal localisation', if you like
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, as TOTK anticipation increases to dangerous levels, Gavin explores why it's time for Nintendo to go back to a very specific well... Look, I'm all for...
Video Alex Shares His Top Five Games Of 2023
What a wonder
Well folks, Felix has had his say, Zion has had his say, and now it's Alex's turn. Yep, we're back with one final 'top five Switch games of 2023' from our lovely video team, and as promised, this last list will feature five titles completely different from the previous two, because them's the rules. That means that since Zion and...
News Nintendo Releases Free Super Mario Bros. Movie 'Strategy Guide' (Japan)
Discover all the hidden secrets
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now rolling out on more streaming services around the globe, and to celebrate this, Nintendo has released a free "strategy guide" which shares all the hidden secrets and easter eggs in the movie. All you have to do is log in to Nintendo's Japanese website to access it. The catch is that...
Feature 8-Bit Wolf - Remembering The NES Game Teaching Kids To Conquer Wall Street
It’s all about bucks, kid
When you think back to being in middle school, staying up all night with your friends playing video games, what games are you playing? Is it Mass Effect? Maybe some iteration of Smash or Mario Kart? The big one when I was that age was Street Fighter II in all its iterations. But there's another game that brings back the...
Feature A Visit To '84 Hashi', Tokyo's Secret Nintendo Staff Bar Now Open To You
Eiji Aonuma? “Drinking buddy.” Shigeru Miyamoto?...
There’s no shortage of fascinating Nintendo-related places to visit in Tokyo. You could explore shops for boxed Famicom games, sit down and eat a Kirby burger, or play Punch-Out!! in its original cabinet at a retro arcade. Yet one attraction was hidden from Nintendo diehards for years. A...
Video Zion Shares His Top Five Switch Games Of 2023
A sea of quality
Ready for another top-five list? Of course, you are. Recently, the stupendous Felix went through his top five Switch games of 2023, and now it's Zion's turn. If you remember what we said in our previous article, there will be no crossover between the lists presented by our wonderful video team, so Zion's list is going to be...
News Switch Online's 'Missions & Rewards' Adds Super Mario Bros. Wonder Icons
Update: The final wave has arrived
Update #2 [Thu 28th Dec, 2023 01:00 GMT]: The final set of Super Mario Bros. Wonder icons are now available to Switch Online members. This latest batch is available from now until 9th January 2024, so get them while you can. These new icons feature Luigi, Toadette, the singing Piranha Plants, and more. Here's a...
Feature Nintendo Players UK - A Decade Of The UK's Biggest Nintendo Fan Community
Celebrating 10 years of meetups this August
In the gaming industry, Nintendo sets itself apart not just with the quality of its games and its evergreen catalogue of classic characters, but also a focus on community. Whether through software that brings people of all ages together, hardware features like StreetPass, or the local multiplayer...
Feature Which Zelda Game Has The Best Ganondorf? Every Design Ranked By You
From Ganondorf to Ganondoof
We've all had the weekend to sit and stew over the final pre-launch trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (meaning, watching it another 100+ times) and it is fair to say that we are pretty jazzed for this game now. We're excited to see the changes made to Breath of the Wild's Hyrule, Link's new abilities,...
Video Felix Shares His Top Five Switch Games Of 2023
But what are yours?
It's been quite a year for Switch games, hasn't it? In fact, it's been a busy 2023 for video games full stop, and it'll likely go down as one of the greatest of all time. This makes choosing a 'top five' quite a difficult prospect, but alas, we must. So today, our lovely video producer Felix has sat down with Alex and Zion to...
Video Super Nintendo World Donkey Kong Country Expansion Commercials Released
Opening in Spring 2024
Earlier this month, Universal Studios revealed the Super Nintendo World 'Donkey Kong Country Expansion' would be opening in Japan in Spring 2024. At the time, there was a brief look at what to expect in an official teaser trailer featuring Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Now, in an update, a few commercials have surfaced online...
News Switch Online's 'Missions And Rewards' Brings Back Previous 2023 Icons
Get them while you can
Nintendo has offered Switch Online subscribers all sorts of new and exciting icon designs this year and to finish the year it's bringing back "icon parts" you might have missed throughout 2023. This will allow users to redeem icon parts with daily special rewards from now until 10th January 2023. This icon run includes ones...
Soapbox 1080° Snowboarding Is The Coolest Nintendo Ever Got
Work your body, w-work your body
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, on its 25th birthday, Gavin recalls an atypical Nintendo first-party game where the only goofy thing is your stance choice in the lodge at the start... Tuesday...
Feature Samus' Suits, Ranked - Every Metroid Box Art Suit Design, From Worst To Best
"Honey, where's my super suit?"
Metroid's protagonist, Samus Aran, has a rather unique privilege in the world of Nintendo. Unlike characters like Mario, Link, and Kirby, all of whom retain the same general look across their respective franchises (okay, Link is a little more varied than the other two, but still), Samus' basic design can be altered...
Quiz How Well Do You Remember 2023? Nintendo Life's End-Of-Year Gaming Quiz
So THAT was the Imquizioning War...
Out of nowhere, it appears that the end of 2023 has been shadow-dropped. Who saw this coming? It's, like, September now, isn't it? Apparently not. Since it's the so-called "end of the year," we thought that it would be a good time to look back on how much we all remember — because it has been a rather packed...
News New 3DS And Wii U Users Can't Go Online In Games
Update: This particular issue has reportedly been resolved
Update [Wed 27th Dec, 2023 05:30 GMT]: Pretendo has provided a new update, confirming the issues occurring were "indeed unintentional". While not all issues have been resolved, it appears new users on both 3DS and Wii U can now connect to servers. "We noted in our last blog post that it...
Video Mario Wonder Features In Digital Foundry's 'Best Game Graphics Of 2023' Round Up
Metroid Prime gets an honourable mention
Nintendo has got a lot of mileage out of the Switch and graphically speaking it has also pushed the hybrid system to its absolute limits. It's not gone unnoticed this year, either. The tech experts at Digital Foundry have featured Super Mario Bros. Wonder in their "best game graphics of 2023" round up,...
News Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Wins Another 'Game Of The Year' Award
Congratulations, Nintendo
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has won all sorts of awards since its arrival earlier this year, and now to top it off it's taken out EDGE's 'Game of the Year' award. The outlet placed it ahead of games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Along with this, Tears of the Kingdom also took out best Nintendo game,...
News Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC amiibo Appear To Be Getting A Restock (US)
You can pre-order select amiibo now
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this month and now some of the game's amiibo based on the first wave of DLC are getting a restock in the US. As highlighted by Nintendo Everything, GameStop's amiibo webpage has recently listed Joker, Terry and Banjo-Kazooie for USD 15.99 each...
Soapbox In 2023, Mario Got Weird Again
The Year of Mario?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Richard looks back on a year when Nintendo let Mario get a little loose... If 2013 was the Year of Luigi, 2023 may as well have been the Year of Mario. Though only three new...
Guide Switch Guide: Ultimate Nintendo Switch Resource - Everything You Need To Know
A complete guide to the Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is one of the best-selling consoles of all time. The Switch launched worldwide on 3rd March 2017 and sported the unique ability to be used as both a home and handheld console — switching things up. Get it? Now approaching its eighth year on the market, whether you're a first-time...
News Splatoon 3 Version 6.0.2 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
The Big Run reward bug appears to have been fixed
2023 is almost over but Nintendo is still busy rolling out regular updates for its popular multiplayer squid shooter Splatoon 3. Following an update earlier this month, Version 6.0.2 has now arrived. It doesn't include any new content but does feature fixes for the multiplayer, Salmon Run mode and...
News Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Director Makes 2023 'Variety500' List
Shuntaro Furukawa & Doug Bowser also featured
Nintendo is made up of all sorts of talented individuals but one person who probably deserves a little more respect is Hidemaro Fujibayashi. He's been a director on the series since 2001 and was most recently credited on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. With this in mind, he's now been...
UK Charts EA Sports FC 24 Takes Gold As Mario Wonder Slips Into Third
WaaAaAaa
After a brief delay, we now have our first look at the UK boxed charts and things are looking pretty unsurprising up top. EA Sports FC 24 has managed to score first place for the fourth week in a row, with Switch accounting for 25% of the game's sales (PS5 takes 34%, PS4 has 21% and Xbox Series picks up the remaining 20%). Hogwarts Legacy...
News Activision Blizzard's Bobby Kotick Will Step Down Later This Month
While ex-Nintendo employee Jill Braff will lead ZeniMax/Bethesda
Following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard earlier this year (finally, right?), it's been announced that Bobby Kotick will step down from his role as CEO on December 29th, 2023 (thanks, Eurogamer). Kotick became CEO of Activision all the way back in 1991 and was integral...
News Nintendo Offering Free Pikmin Greeting Cards And Decorations
Happy holidays!
The Pikmin series has been paired up with holiday celebrations in the past, and Nintendo seems to be doing it again this year in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. On its UK website, you can currently grab some "free Pikmin greeting cards" as well as some fancy paper decorations. "There are three card designs and two tree...
News 'Year In Numbers' Infographic Highlights Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's Sales Success In 2023
Nintendo had another fantastic year
As we get closer to the end of 2023, a lot of sites are starting to compile all sorts of data to illustrate the year in games. The team at GamesIndustry.biz has put together its own "year in numbers" infographic, and one game that features throughout is the award-winning title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the...
News Super Mario Run Scores A Super Mario Bros. Wonder Event Update
"Wonder Flowers are blooming"
Nintendo's mobile runner Super Mario Run has received a new special update which brings the "Wonder Flowers" from Super Mario Bros. Wonder to smart devices. Players can find these Wonder Flowers in the Toad Rally mode between now and 14th March 2024. Here's the official rundown: "In Toad Rally, your gauge will fill...
Random 'Dallas Stars' Ice Hockey Goalie Showcases Sweet Mario Kart Mask
Powering up
Everyone loves Mario Kart, right? Well okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people sure do. One person who seems to have a soft spot for the racing franchise is 'Dallas Stars' hockey goalkeeper Scott Wedgewood, who debuted a Mario Kart-themed mask designed by artist Dave Gunnarsson (thanks, Polygon). The mask showcases several...
News Fighters From Smash Bros. For 3DS Were Leaked By Former NoA Employee's Child
Well, partially
In August 2014, photos and videos of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS were leaked online, demonstrating evidence of unannounced fighters. The leaks were seemingly confirmed following a copyright strike from Nintendo of America before being proven irrefutably real upon the game's eventual release later that year. Since then, the...
News Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Has Been Rated For Nintendo Switch
Luigi time!
Earlier this year during a Direct broadcast, Nintendo announced its 2013 3DS game Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon would be returning on the Switch with HD visuals. More recently in September, it was confirmed Luigi's Mansion 2 HD would be launching on the hybrid system platform in Summer 2024, and now in another update, the title has been...
News F-Zero 99 New Update Now Live, Adds "Limited-Time" Frozen Knight League
Watch the snow fall across each course
One of the highlights of 2023 has been the surprise release of F-Zero 99 - a new battle royale racer exclusive to Switch Online members. While Nintendo said no more new tracks would be added to the game, it's not completely done with content updates. In a new update today, it's added the "limited-time" Frozen...
News Bandai Namco Announces New Dev Studio For Commissioned Projects
Nintendo appears to be a big part of the plans
Update [Wed 20th Dec, 2023 00:55 GMT]: New job listings for Bandai Namco Studio 2 & Studio S have reportedly surfaced on the official company website. One, in particular, is believed to be linked to a Nintendo project that first made headlines in April last year. It could supposedly be a...
Random Luigi's Mansion 2 Was Inspired By The British Sitcom 'Mr. Bean'
Can't unsee now
In 2013, Luigi's Mansion fans rejoiced when a sequel to the 2001 GameCube classic finally launched on the Nintendo 3DS. Now, thanks to a new video from Did You Know Gaming, we now know that Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon was greatly inspired by none other than the iconic British sitcom Mr. Bean. According to the video, developer Next...
Random Hyrule's Shrines Serve A Secret Peace-Keeping Purpose, Says TOTK Director
It's a kind of magic
We had assumed that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would be pretty rich in lore, but we weren't fully prepared for just how much would be thrown our way — think you know the creation of Hyrule? Think again. There is so much packed into this game, in fact, that we are sure we will be discovering more and more about...
News Zelda Producer Explains Why A Mario Maker Style Game Probably Won't Work
Nintendo doesn't want to "force" creativity
We've heard Nintendo dismiss the idea of a Mario Maker style Zelda game in the past and even though it's been a while since the last update, it seems the Japanese video game company still isn't keen on the idea. Speaking to Polygon recently, series producer Eiji Aonuma explained how Nintendo doesn't...
News Here's A First Look At The Animal Crossing LEGO Box Art
This new LEGO line launches in 2024
Earlier this year in October, Nintendo announced five Animal Crossing LEGO sets would be launching in March 2024. While there's already been plenty of official pictures of these sets shared, we've now got a "first look" at the cute and charming packaging. These designs have been revealed by UK retailer Smyth Toys...
News Fan-Made 'Link's Awakening DX HD' Port Taken Down By Nintendo
It was inevitable...
Remember the stunning The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX PC port we reported about just the other day? Well, it's sadly no longer. Nintendo has issued a takedown notice for the fan-made port, and it has now been removed from its itch.io page (thanks
News Nintendo Launches 'Festive Offers' Switch eShop Sale, Discounts On Over 3,000 Games (Europe)
Anyone would think it's the end of the year...
What's that? You thought that the discounts were over because Black Friday is finished? Ohh no, no, no. It is December in Nintendo land, and if that means anything, it means that the discounts are never over. Yes, that's right, Nintendo has today launched its Festive Offers sale on the Switch eShop,...
News Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's 'Game Awards' Artwork Is Now A Reward On My Nintendo
Get it while you can
During The Game Awards, Nintendo shared a new (and stunning) piece of artwork for its award-winning game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, featuring Link against the backdrop of the sky islands. Many fans were quite taken with it at the time, and if you have been eager for a wallpaper version of this new artwork, you...
News PC Port Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Offers HD Visuals And 120fps Scrolling
Update: It's been removed
Update [Fri 15th Dec, 2023 20:15 GMT]: As expected, Nintendo has issued a takedown notice for The Link's Awakening DX HD, the fan-made PC port of the Game Boy Color version of Link's handheld debut. <related ids="159874"> Original article [Wed 13th Dec, 2023 10:00 GMT]: If you played the remake of The Legend of...
News My Nintendo Store Adds Holiday And New Year Rewards (North America)
Get 'em while you can
To celebrate the holidays, Nintendo has released some new themed items on the My Nintendo Store in North America. First up we've got a special Nintendo-themed desktop calendar featuring some characters and scenes from various Switch exclusives like Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the...