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News: Japanese Club Nintendo Members Get Game & Watch Goodness
Retro-themed freebies = WIN
Western Nintendo fans are used to getting rubbish gifts from Club Nintendo while their Japanese cousins take home some seriously amazing kit, but this latest news is especially depressing for anyone outside the Land of the Rising Sun. Nintendo of Japan is offering actual Game & Watch "Ball" units to Platinum members. The units are replicas of the very first..
Feature: FC Mobile II Console Review
NES gaming on the go
Isn’t modern technology wonderful? Thanks to the joys of miniaturisation it’s now possible to enjoy retro machines in smaller form factors than they were originally released in. Take the FC Mobile II, for example – while it’s hardly small in portable terms, it’s a damn sight less bulky than the NES console it attempts to replicate. Hyperkin’s FC Mobile II is one of..
News: Original Castlevania Ported To Half-Life 2, Sort Of
Modder recreates first stage for PC shooter
Dracula's castle has come down with a bad case of alien head crabs. Where are the Belmonts to stop them? Dead, presumably, so it's up to Gordon Freeman to crowbar them into crab juice in this translation of the original Castlevania's first level to the PC's Half-Life 2. The mod retains the same look of the 8-bit rendition in its transition to 3D, complete..
News: Game Boy Granted Access To National Toy Hall Of Fame
Nintendo's classic hand-held rubs shoulders with other vintage playthings
The Game Boy has entered the National Toy Hall of Fame in recognition of its incredible influence on the video game industry and its uncanny ability to keep kids quiet on long car journeys. The Strong Museum of Play's National Toy Hall of Fame is intended to celebrate toys and playthings of all descriptions, and the Game Boy..
News: Old Cart on the Block Has the Right Stuff
Rare prototype NES box surfaces on eBay
Every now and then, eBay turns up a real find, something you never thought you'd see in your natural life: a rare console edition, a forgotten classic, a badly beaten prototype box for an unreleased NES game. If you're a fan of the latter, you'll be thrilled by this story that a scuffed box for the sadly canned New Kids on the Block NES game has surfaced on..
Feature: Retro Duo Console Review
Bring your 8-bit and 16-bit Nintendo titles out of retirement
Retro gaming is a hobby that is both rewarding and enlightening; like leafing through an old book or listening to a record from many moons ago, there’s an element of discovery for those who weren’t around to enjoy vintage titles when they were first released. Conversely, those of us old (and wise) enough to remember the classic..
News: Sin & Punishment Team Talks N64 Development Hell
The console "didn't work at all"
The paradigm shift from 2D to 3D that game developers faced in the 32/64-bit era was so drastic that not only did developers have to grapple with new tech but also figuring out how on earth their games would work in a new dimension. It didn't always work out so well, but when it did it was magical. Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata sat down with members of Treasure's..
Feature: The Spooky Denizens of the World of Nintendo
We run down the scariest of scaries the Big N has cooked up
We here at Nintendo Life love Halloween. Despite the fact it was originally a time when the dead were believed to cause sickness to the living and damage their crops, but nowadays it's just a good excuse to gorge ourselves on delicious, delicious candy. As part of our All Hallows’ Eve celebrations, we take a trip down memory lane and..
News: Celebrate Halloween With Nintendo Life's Exclusive 8-Bit Decorations!
Print 'em, cut 'em out and scare the retro crap out of everyone.
Ah, Halloween, the one day of the year where little kids are encouraged to defy all parental advice and take candy from strangers. It's so close you can almost feel the post-holiday sugar hangover. Are you excited? Nintendo Life is pretty excited, and that's not just the sugar talking. We all got so excited that we teamed up with our..
News: Vintage NES Game Up To $8.5K On eBay
Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 cart proves yet again that collectors have oodles of money
As a retro game fan, if I had a ton of money to blow I'd probably point my browser over to this eBay auction for a Nintendo Campus Challenge cart and lay down the law. $8,500 of your American currency? Pfft, tis child's play. Forged by Nintendo's blacksmiths back in 1991, the carts were to be used in 58..
News: Nintendo Shows Off Its History at Kyoto Cross Media Event
Lots of cool retro gear on display
This weekend the Kyoto Cross Media Experience 2009 took place in - you guessed it - Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo was in attendance and had plenty of goodies for avid gamers to ogle at. As well as showing off new games for the Wii and DS, the video game veteran had a massive display which illustrated the company's long and proud gaming history. Machines on show included..
News: Smart Bomb Issue One Now Available
Former Super Play artist produces awesome comic along with fellow Rare employees
If you're a UK-based SNES fan then chances are you will recall a fantastic magazine called Super Play. Easily the best publication devoted to Nintendo's 16-bit machine, the mag was especially notable for focusing on import releases (when all other magazines ignored them) and the burgeoning anime craze, which back in..
News: French Government Lobbied To Establish Retro Gaming Museum
Now there's an idea we can all agree with!
MO5 - a group of retro video gaming fans - has lobbied the French government to start up a retro video game museum. More specifically, it's after a "National Institute of Digital Sciences", where visitors can view - and play - classic systems. MO5 members between them currently own around 30,000 games and 1,500 different game systems. They have..
News: Rare: Fate Was Against Us With Goldeneye
UK developer sees little chance of a Virtual Console release
A while back we got rather excited about the prospect of seeing the N64 classic Goldeneye on the Virtual Console. Such enthusiasm was perfectly understandable - it's still one of the best FPS games you're ever likely to play - but sadly legal wrangles between Nintendo, Microsoft and current Bond license holder Activision seemed to scupper..
Feature: Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry
We take a look at one of the best books ever written about our beloved hobby
You won’t find an abundance of book reviews here on Nintendo Life – we’re aimed squarely at providing you the best content from the world of interactive entertainment, after all – but anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of The Big N (or video gaming in general) should read David’s Sheff’s Game Over (or..
News: Super Nintendo Review Fridays
We're going to show the Super Nintendo console some love each Friday.
You might remember that we recently gave some love to Nintendo's Game Boy system in our Game Boy 20th Anniversary Special. Well the feature went over so well that we've decided to do another one and this time we're going to be showering some attention on another legendary Nintendo console you might have heard of. After the..
News: Left 4 Dead Map Infects Mushroom Kingdom
You gotta shoot 'em in the head
Has the Mushroom Kingdom ever really been a happy place? Seems every time we visit the castle is under siege, the princess is kidnapped and a Brooklyn plumber goes on a killing spree. The old kingdom looks like it's going to be in for another bumpy ride as, what else, zombies are preparing to muck up the post-apocalyptic place via the fan-made campaign Mushroom..
First Impressions: Classic Controller Pro
We go thumbs-on to determine whether it's for pros or schmoes
Launched in Japan alongside Monster Hunter 3 Tri and the Dark World Wii, the Classic Controller Pro is Nintendo's attempt at righting the wrongs of its original old-school pad. The good news is, it largely does. The bad news? It's got a few quirks of its own. We snagged a shiny black one: so shiny, in fact, that our first thought went..
Feature: The Making of The Wizard
We go behind the scenes of one of Hollywood’s most misunderstood classics
The Wizard is very much a guilty pleasure. When the film was released it was panned by critics and flopped at the box office, yet many people still talk about it in hushed, almost reverent tones over fifteen years after its release. Although many critics will gladly tell you that it’s nothing more than a Nintendo advert..
News: Capcom Interested In Doing More Retro Games
Unsure if sales were disappointing for Mega Man 9
Contrary to popular belief, game companies have a vested interest in making money. Things that appear to be massive fan service, like Capcom's downloadable retro sequel Mega Man 9, bank on said fans actually buying the game, especially when considering doing it all again. So how were those sales? Christian Svensson, corporate officer/VP of Strategic..
