Tag: Soapbox
Opinion Nintendo's Forgotten The Game With The Most 'Switch 2 Edition' Potential
It should be the first Pik
We all assumed that Nintendo would pull some re-release magic with the Switch 2, giving us a chance to play our favourite titles again, only this time at a slightly higher resolution and perhaps with some quality of life improvements thrown in to boot. It was a no brainer given that Sony did exactly that with the PS5 and...
Opinion Switch 2 Finally Gives Star Wars Outlaws A Second Chance
Hoth Take
It's May 4th, Star Wars Day. Or, as we refer to it at Nintendo Life Towers, Oh-god-Jim's-going-to-bang-on-about-Star-Wars-again Day. Heh, it's true, I am a fiend for all things from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, and, if I'm being honest, that has sometimes meant that I'm a little more keen to see the Light Side than embrace the more realistic...
Opinion Miiverse Was Fine, But Does Anybody Really Want It Back In 2025?
Stuck in Miiverse
It probably says something about the system that the question 'y cant metroid crawl?' is one of the most memorable nostalgia nuggets from the Wii U era. Don't get me wrong - while the initial messaging was poor, the GamePad's killer apps never really arrived, and the system itself was slow and bulky, I still loved my Wii U. But...
Opinion All My Pokémon TCG Pocket Headaches Help It Nail Playground Trading Nostalgia
Jim used Reminisce!
I am a creature of habit, so when The Pokémon Company revealed Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket and its two-packs-a-day hook system, I knew that I was going to be a sucker for it. And here we are, a little over three months since its launch, and that's exactly what I am. My Pokémon monkey brain (Mankey brain?) has turned to...
Opinion With Forecasts Slashed (Again), Absolutely Everyone's Antsy For Switch 2 ASAP
Sobering sales, analyst angst, obvious answer
Nintendo has lowered sales forecasts for Switch hardware sales for the second time in a row with the publication of its Q3 results for FY2024/5. With a 30.6% year-on-year drop in console sales across the Switch range, the platform holder now forecasts 11 million unit sales for the year ending March 31st...
Opinion Forget Themes, I Want A Switch 2 Start-Up Jingle
Jingles, all the way
I have been banging the 'Theme' drum for so long now, my hands have started to hurt. It doesn't make any sense to me that every Switch menu has been this music-less graveyard when Nintendo has churned out the likes of the Wii Shop Channel, 3DS Theme Shop and a multitude of other bangers in years gone by. But there's another...
Opinion The Hyped-Up New Pokémon TCG Set Is A Total Bummer To Open
Pokéntial earnings
It must have been tough for chocolate lovers to get any chocolate when Willy Wonka was hiding golden tickets inside the wrappers. Joking aside, that's more or less been the vibe from Prismatic Evolutions, the just-released, mega-hyped Pokémon card set that’s memorable for its heavy representation of the fan-favourite Pokémon...
Soapbox Splatoon 3's 'Grand Festival' Was The Perfect Goodbye
Please wrap it up
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's reliving Splatoon 3's epic climax... I was a latecomer to the Splatoon series. If you had asked me three years ago what my favourite Turf War stage is, the 45 minutes I had...
Soapbox Why I Love A Good Map, And That Time I Mapped Yoshi's Melons For Nintendo Power
Worth a thousand words
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nathan goes mapping the pixels... What is your greatest video game pet peeve? That one thing that, when present, ruins your experience, no matter how good the game is...
Soapbox The Trauma Of Giygas & Growing Up In EarthBound
EarthBound turns "adults into kids, and kids into adults"
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile celebrates the innocence of youth, the pain of growing up, and the magic of a cult classic SNES RPG, which celebrates its 30th...
Soapbox 20 Years On, Pikmin 2's Waterwraith Remains Nintendo's Scariest Moment
H2Oh no
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 is reliving a childhood trauma to mark Pikmin 2's 20th anniversary... To the casual observer, Pikmin must seem like a pretty relaxed experience. Everything is colourful. The characters...
Soapbox Vanillaware's Most Underrated Game Is More Than Just A Pretty Picture
Deserving of a Rebirth
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Alana is talking about a Vanillaware oldie — Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a Wii title that is celebrating its 15th anniversary. And, in the wake of 13 Sentinels and Unicorn...
Soapbox Tricks Of The Trade-In - Chronicles Of An Ex-GAME Employee
Skylanders, disc burns, and lethal charity boxes
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Ollie reflects on just some of the eventful episodes from his days working in video game retail... When news hit that GAME, the UK’s last...
Opinion It's Not My GOTY, But This Nintendo Game Was A Standout 2024 Memory
How Nintendo World Championships helped me ‘git gud’
I’ll admit, I’ve never been fond of speedrunning. The thought of shaving milliseconds off a time in a video game while playing the same sequence over and over sounds, in theory, more frustrating than fun. Sure, as a spectator, there is definitely joy in appreciating the wizardry of players...
Opinion Nintendo Needs To Let Us Block The Crap On Switch 2's eShop
Block and move on
It's been years now since Nintendo opened the eShop floodgates and started letting everything in. In stark contrast to the Wii U days when even established developers had trouble getting their games on Nintendo platforms, the weekly update is now filled with games that would have been unthinkable just one console generation ago...
Opinion Raise A Glass To The Nintendo DS' Peculiar Peripherals
Let there be cartridge
I've been noodling with my old DS in the last week. Whether it was to celebrate its 20th anniversary, reaffirm it as my favourite system of all time, or simply help me forget that it has been two decades since I first played Nintendogs, I can't be sure. But what I do know, is that I've been having a blast. Naturally, I went...
Soapbox How Nintendo Unexpectedly Taught Me To Love Gacha Games
From Nah-cha to Got-cha
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, how Tim learned to love the lottery... When I first played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 upon its launch, I was ecstatic to once again bond with memorable characters and explore...
Opinion No, Zelda: The Minish Cap's Worst Sidequest Isn't The Kinstones
Go figure
I've banged the Minish Cap drum so many times by this point that my adoration for Link's littlest adventure is old news. With today marking 20 years since this GBA gem landed in Europe, it felt too easy to sit down at my desk and gush over the tight six-dungeon structure, the brilliant puzzle design or the somehow still under-discussed...
Talking Point What Is Nintendo Thinking Trying To Keep The Lid On This Playtest Program?
Would you kindly not discuss the new Nintendo thing?
Good news, everyone! We've played the mysterious Nintendo Switch Online Playtest Program, an online-only experience that, according to Nintendo, is open to just 10,000 lucky participants. Oh yes. Team NL was ready and waiting earlier in October to rapidly register for this first-come-first-served...
Opinion Hyrule Really Needs To Take A Look At Its Prison System
In the c(Link)
My first hour in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom left me with a single, unshakeable thought: God, Hyrule's prisons are terrible. Yes, I was besotted with how traditional the whole thing felt and still somewhat in shock that I had a brand new Zelda game in my hands a mere 18 months after its predecessor. But all that went out of...
Opinion I Didn't Realise How Much I'd Missed 'Traditional' Zelda Dungeons
(Boss) Key to my heart
Last year, hot off the back of Tears of the Kingdom, I wrote a piece expressing my love for Zelda's 'Modern' dungeons. These puzzle-centric areas had been a little hit or miss, sure, but I found that there was a lot to like in each once I got past the general terminal-activation-ness of it all. I thought I was over Zelda's...
$699 is the new $599
Recently, we asked you if $499 would be too much to pay for a 'Switch 2'. 20% of respondees said 'nope', nearly 30% thought it would be too much, and the majority (rather sensibly) said that it would depend on how big of an upgrade Nintendo's next generation of hardware represented. Yesterday Sony pulled back the curtain on the...
Soapbox Switch Really Needs Third-Party Profile Icons - Here Are Our Top Picks
Icon-ic
We're not sure about you, but we've always loved tinkering with online avatars or profile icons. Whether it be a basic JPEG on an online forum, or a fully customised image on the Switch, PlayStation, or Xbox, profile icons are a wonderful way of expressing who you are and what kind of games you love to play. The Switch has been...
Soapbox The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
Gotta not forget 'em all
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Lowell considers how future Pokémon games could do justice to old Pocket Monsters who got lumped in with the also-rans... We’re still a little far out from Pokémon...
Soapbox 20 Years After His Last Mainline Appearance, Tingle Deserves A Comeback
Yes, TWENTY years
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 is manifesting a comeback for Zelda's most iconic NPC... If you have made it past the headline, chances are you fall into one of the following camps. One: You believe that...
Soapbox New Roots - How Pikmin 4 Made My Move Abroad Bloom
Pik up your life
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, on Pikmin 4's first anniversary, Alana thinks the half-plant, half-animal creatures known as Pikmin helped her move across the globe... I define many of the biggest moments in my...
Soapbox Metroid’s Mother Brain And The Rewind Dilemma
Mother pain
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nile deliberates whether or not the time has come to push the (rewind) button... Last month, Nintendo announced it was adding Metroid: Zero Mission to the Nintendo Switch Online...
Soapbox Has Nintendo Set A Precedent That 'Switch 2' Can't Hope To Match?
The highest of bars
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Gavin ponders what 'success' looks like for systems with impossibly popular predecessors... Looking back at Nintendo's home console hardware sales over the past four decades,...
Soapbox How Does Your Personality Affect Your Gaming?
Personality, passion, profession, play
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nathan considers how his analytical mind and love of data influence his recreation time... I’m the oldest of four brothers. Over the past four years...
Soapbox 'Switch 2' Is Nintendo's Chance To Adopt The PC Feature It's Desperate To Take For A Spin
No need to reinvent the wheel
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Francisco considers a little Joy-Con addition that could help set the upcoming "Switch successor" apart... Nintendo can’t resist an enticing hardware innovation...
Soapbox Marvel Vs. Capcom Was The Unsung Hero Of The June Nintendo Direct
To me, my X-Men
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Jim shines a light on an already dazzling Direct drop... It took me a few hours to come down after the June Nintendo Direct. The showcase was stacked. In the moment, it felt like...
Soapbox Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Won't Be The Franchise's 'BOTW Moment', And That's Okay
Keeping expectations in check
When Nintendo closed out its latest Direct presentation with the full reveal of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, the world briefly got a little bit louder as fans celebrated the glorious return of one of the company’s most revered franchises. Finally, after its initial announcement back in 2017, Prime 4 is scheduled to launch...
Soapbox Game Boy Tetris' True Genius Was Teaching A Generation How To Play Video Games
Building gaming literacy one tetromino at a time
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Tim thinks back on 35 years of Tetris on the Game Boy and considers how it taught a generation — multiple generations, in fact — how to play...
Soapbox Nintendo Needs More Characters Like Paper Mario's Vivian
Viva la Vivian!
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, it's time to celebrate Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door's Vivian, and Alana does it with Pride. Nintendo’s track record with LGBTQIA+ characters has been… mixed, to say the...
Soapbox The Erdrick Trilogy Is The Right 'Dragon Quest' For The HD-2D Treatment
Rumblings of an Elusive Age
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. And with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake — or whatever it's meant to be now — finally re-emerging after three years, Alana's here to make a case as to why this is the RPG...
Soapbox After Restarting My Save File, I Finally 'Get' Hollow Knight
*sigh* Bapanada
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 is finally seeing the Hollow light... Last year, I decided to take a break from Tears of the Kingdom and pick up a fun-looking, rarely discussed indie which was subject to a...
Soapbox Fire Emblem’s Future May Not Be In Turn-Based Combat
Fire Emblem’s fates
How would you feel if the next mainline Fire Emblem game was exclusively a social sim? While a change this drastic is almost certainly not in the cards, the identity crisis currently faced by Fire Emblem means that change must come. While Engage’s 1.61 million sales as of March 2023 is respectable for the franchise, it marks...
Soapbox Paper Mario's Ms. Mowz Taught Me How To Appreciate (And Steal) The Little Things
THIEF
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate discusses one of Mario's criminal — and criminally underrated — pals... Sometimes I suspect that, in another life before this one, I was a thief. In this life, I'm a relatively...
Soapbox Square Enix's "Extraordinary Losses" And This Whole Xbox Mess Have Me Scared For The Future
Who wants to be a gillionaire?
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Alana fears for Square Enix's smaller-budget titles and is worried about the rest of the industry as a result. What on earth is going on with Square Enix? I asked...
Soapbox Are We Ready For A 3D Super Mario Maker?
Super Mario Maker 3(D)
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 wonders if Nintendo is ready to bring another dimension to its Maker series... If you can believe it, Super Mario Maker was released for the Wii U nearly nine years...
Soapbox 'Revenge Of The Sith' On DS Is Still Top-Tier Star Wars Gaming
Heart Palpatinetions
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 celebrates Revenge of the Fifth with a DS throwback... You felt it, didn't you? A disturbance in the Force. Over on Coruscant, Darth Sidious has called for the execution...
Soapbox During A Mental Health Crisis, It Wasn't Cosy Games That Helped
Get me behind the wheel
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we'll be running several features focused on how video games of all types have helped us through periods when we were struggling with our mental health. Today, Richard shares how racing games helped restore him during a difficult period... I tense up whenever I take a corner in...
Soapbox Where The Heck Is Fallout 3 On Switch?
Searching the Capital Wasteland
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, while flicking through Amazon Prime TV, a question popped into Ollie's head... "War. War never changes." If this quote sounds familiar to you, then chances are you...
Soapbox I Flew 3,000 Miles To Get My Arse Handed To Me In Mario Party
Or, how a game about betrayal brought me closer to my friends
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate reminisces about a memorable trip... to Loser Town! I can't believe I've been allowed to use the word "arse" in a title. I feel...
Soapbox I Thought I'd Clear My Backlog In 2024, But The Switch Had Other Ideas
Back(log) pain
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 is finding 2024 to be a little more stacked than he expected... 2023 was a wild ride on Switch. In any given year, the likes of Fire Emblem Engage, Pikmin 4, Outer Wilds, Ghost...
Soapbox The Pokémon European International Championships Made Me Fall In Love With TCG
I choose you!
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 lays his cards on the table after visiting the Pokémon European International Championships... Head into my brain. Take a left at 'Obscure Zelda Knowledge,' go past the door...
Soapbox The Games Industry Needs To Give Up On Exclamation Marks!
Let me exclaim
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 makes a punctuation point... Hey! Hey, you! Yes, you! Do you like games? Do you like talking about games? Of course you do! And yet, in all your time talking about games, you...
Soapbox 30 Years Later, Super Metroid's Foreboding Atmosphere Is Still Unmatched
Zeb-easily the best
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, to celebrate Super Metroid's 30th anniversary, Ollie sings the praises of the game's enduring foreboding atmosphere... The Metroid series is perhaps best known for its...
Soapbox As Splatoon's Online Wraps Up Nearly 9 Years On, How Does It Compare To Splatoon 3?
Dye hard
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 its online days draw to a close, Nile bids farewell to Splatoon on Wii U, a shining proof of concept... On 8th April 2024, Nintendo will be
Soapbox It's Time For Mario's Weird Minigames To Make A Comeback
The Mansion always wins
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's after some more bitesize Mario weirdness, which he got his fix of on the DS... Super Mario Bros. Wonder was great. It had elephants, it had sweet little blobs of...
