Team Meat let loose a few new details.
I was fortunate enough to get the chance to speak to Edmund McMillen from Team Meat today and he let me in on some new information about their upcoming WiiWare platformer Super Meat Boy. So without further ado, let's get to it. We mentioned in past news items that the game will feature quite a few hidden characters from other independent game titles. Some have..
Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep that ball rolling...
Nintendo's WiiWare service has had some good platforming games on it right from the start and Pallurikio is the latest entry in the genre. While it's certainly a well-constructed game featuring a round protagonist without legs, it lacks sufficient personality to stand out in an increasingly crowded WiiWare marketplace. When you first fire up the..
Crash and burn.
We've already seen a few racing titles released on the WiiWare service, although, to be fair, many of them have been fairly substandard. So any time a new racing title is released, it's generally met with not only a small degree of anticipation, but also a solid helping of caution and scepticism as well. Stunt Cars brings yet another...
New WiiWare title lands on Christmas Day
If your Christmas Day preparations look like they're missing a certain je ne sais quoi that can only be provided by an enchanting medieval adventure, you may just be in luck. We've just received the latest news from Playtainment that their upcoming hidden object game The Mystery of Whiterock Castle will be hitting the European WiiWare servers on December..
You should all RUSH to buy this charming WiiWare puzzler.
After the excellent WiiWare launch title Toki Tori, everybody was hoping Two Tribes would create more games for the service. It took a while, but their second title is now finally available! Based on just one part of their retail Wii title Rubik's Puzzle World, the gameplay is not unlike that...
A Sunsoft classic and wormy sequel on Virtual Console; cooking, sims, little pet shops, magic and Bejeweled on DSiWare; and puzzling, racing and retro arcade action on WiiWare this week!
Virtual ConsoleBlaster Master (500pts NES - Sunsoft) -- Regarded by many as amongst the best shooters on the NES, this is apparently the first of many Sunsoft titles to get re-release on the Virtual Console.
Why Toku and Enril need your vote!
As part of our Game of the Year Awards, Nintendo Life is inviting you to choose one game as your Reader’s Game of the Year. You can vote for anything released on a Nintendo platform in 2009, be it WiiWare, DSiWare, Wii or DS, but you only get one vote, so use it wisely! To remind you of some of the stellar titles...
The focus is on DSiWare this week
After bumper crops of WiiWare and Virtual Console titles on the Wii in Japan recently, this week will only see one for each service. The DSiWare service, however, will have a fairly typical seven releases to choose from. WiiWarePhoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (900pts - Capcom) - Everyone's favourite trial lawyer debuts on the Wii! This appears to be the first four..
Stop Stress and cause stress at the same time!
If you've ever had a job interview, you know that one of the most popular questions employers like to ask is "how do you respond to stressful situations?" Odds are good if you answered "run amok with an axe until everything in the entire building was destroyed!" you probably...
We chat with Nocturnal Entertainment CEO about its WiiWare debut, Flowerworks.
We recently reviewed Flowerworks, a strange but very enjoyable gardening-and-fireworks combination, but we wanted to find out more about the game and its developer, Nocturnal Entertainment. So we got chance to sit down with Nocturnal's CEO Michael Shamgar and pitched him some questions about the game, the studio and..
January 1st is the date for some sweet, sweet hammering
New Year's Day is traditionally the only day all year everyone truly commits to New Year's resolutions, and if your aim for 2010 is to play a WiiWare game featuring a squeaky hammer then it just might be your year. Gamebridge has just let us know that the European release date for Happy Hammerin' is confirmed as being January 1st 2010, so you..
Not long to go for Grendel Games' latest
Those lovely chaps over at Grendel Games have just been in touch to let us know that their upcoming WiiWare title Diatomic has had a final spit and polish and is ready to head out into US Wii consoles everywhere from Monday, December 14th. If you're not sure what Diatomic actually entails, a picture paints a thousand words, so observe this YouTube trailer..
ESRB listing reveals what could be another downloadable gem from the highly-esteemed firm
NIS - or Nippon Ichi Software to close friends - is no stranger to WiiWare. The company, which is famous for the best-selling Disgaea series, has already dipped its toe in the WiiWare waters with the bizarre Let's Hitchhike, which is out in Japan now. However, more downloadable goodness could be on its way..
Now you’re playing with power. Dolphin power.
My Dolphin is the dolphin training simulator for the Wii for which everyone's been clamouring for years. Using the Wii Remote, players guide their aquatic pal through a performance to carry out jumps, spins, back flips and other tricks in order to perform for your audience like…well, like a trained dolphin. So, is this simulation good enough to..
Exactly as promised.
The observant ones probably already noticed, but in a change of pace, Nintendo of Europe already updated their website with all of this week's releases over the past few days. The games in question make up the entire update, as there's no surprises this time. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World on the Master System was the last Alex Kidd game ever made. As you can guess, it's an attempt..
Action-platformer arrives on WiiWare service in time for the holidays.
Playstos Entertainment has just announced that their action platformer Pallurikio is coming to the European WiiWare service today for 1000 Wii Points. They've also announced that the game will be hitting the North American WiiWare service at that same price point on December 21st. You can check out the official gameplay trailer..
Shouting "Objection" never felt so natural
While some might be grumbling about the fact that the upcoming WiiWare editions of Capcom's Phoenix Wright series are little more than straight ports of the DS/GBA originals, one element is likely to bring a smile to the face of pretty much every fan. As this zany Japanese TV commercial illustrates, it's...
New Nintendo Power announces upcoming Capcom epic!
It seems 90% of the people who bought Mega Man 9 haven't finished it yet, but there's still plenty of time to whip those last levels into submission as Mega Man 10 will be launched in 2010. The latest issue of Nintendo Power carries the exclusive reveal of the blue blaster's latest escapade, and...
Gardening and fireworks combine in an orgy of floral destruction!
Normally, flower gardens and fireworks don't mix - unless you're trying to destroy the neighbour's petunia beds with roman candles - but Aussie developers Nocturnal have managed to turn what could have been a horticultural nightmare into a fun, happy game about making pretty (explosive) gardens. At its heart Flowerworks is a puzzle..
North American release to follow on the 14th
We've just been informed that Rubik's Cube-inspired puzzler Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: Rush is coming to European WiiWare (and presumably other PAL territories) this Friday (11th). The North American launch is scheduled for 14th. We'll naturally be reviewing this as soon as possible but in the meantime here's the full press release as well as a link to a new..
We must have been very naughty indeed...
The holiday greeting card is normally innocuous enough. Often purchased with a feeling of obligation to declare one's genuinely heartfelt feelings via a mass-produced combination of sentimental/humorous messages and art/photos, they've been a staple of the holiday season for decades. For nearly as long as the World Wide Web has existed they've been in the..
Another bumper crop of downloads for North America
Nintendo continues to flood the North American market with new titles; amongst them a few catch-up releases. WiiWareFlowerworks® and MAGNETIS™ comprise the puzzle contingent on WiiWare this week. We'll be reviewing the former in due course; the latter was reviewed some time ago, so be sure to...
A decent first effort at a classic patience game
If you saw the name of this game and thought it was going to be that game your grandmother played with her friends a la "The Joy Luck Club" you'll probably be disappointed to find that this is just a solitaire matching game. The blame lies with the fact that the programmer who first created...
Ease yourself into your week with Abylight's latest
We've just received an email from Abylight to let us know that their upcoming stress-a-thon, Stop Stress: A Day of Fury, is confirmed for release on the US WiiWare service on Monday, for a grand total of 800 Nintendo Points. Telling the story of a man who seems to have the most uncontrollable rage, Stop Stress lets you use the Wii Remote to take..
Better get those puzzler skills warmed up.
The folks over at Yullaby have just announced that their WiiWare puzzler Magnetis will finally be released in North America on December 7th for 500 Wii Points. You might remember that the game was released in Europe back in September on the WiiWare service. If you're still on the fence about this interesting puzzler, you can check out our full review of..
We are spared of another no VC week!
Nintendo of Europe already had all DSiWare and WiiWare releases for today listed on their site or a while, but curiously enough, there was no Virtual Console game. Thankfully, they've chosen to release one anyway! Earthworm Jim 2 offers more crazy platforming action with everybody's favourite worm in a suit, and it does so pretty well. However, the developers..
Relax your mind with the ancient game of tiles.
Who enjoyed playing Solitaire on WiiWare last week? Clearly our card game loving reviewer Sean Aaron did, he awarded it a mighty 8/10. No doubt inspired by this success our new found friends at GameOn are set to release Mahjong this coming Friday (4th December) in Europe. You may not be too familiar...
Flowers and fireworks, unite!
Nocturnal has announced that they've lit the fuse on their WiiWare release Flowerworks, now set to launch on Monday in the United States. Take control of Follie, a friendly (but confused!) alien who crash lands on a strange planet. Help her rebuild her confidence, shake remotes at gnomes and transform the planet from...
Recycling - with a vengeance!
Intelligent Systems has a reputation of being one of Nintendo's better first-party development teams, with an impressive resume including the Fire Emblem games, Tetris Attack, the Paper Mario series, the WarioWare games and Super Metroid. Seeing a WiiWare title from them naturally raised our curiosity, and that curiosity was rewarded by a challenging lightgun shooter..
Setting up for the grand finale.
The Monkey Island games have never really been dark. There's been some grim moments here and there, but they always had their fair share of humour and weren't really depressing or anything. Well, if you play this chapter, prepare to have your mind blown! As goes without saying now, this chapter is a no-no unless you've played all three previous ones. It is, yet..
Will Clix click with puzzler fans?
With the holidays fast approaching, we always seem to see at least a handful of aptly-themed games to go along with them. This year is no different on the WiiWare service with the release of JV Games' new puzzler Christmas Clix. Christmas Clix takes the classic "falling blocks" idea and combines it with a...
Take this one back to the lab
Here at Nintendo Life Towers we are quite partial to those Raving Rabbids: those mindless jabbering critters remind us of ourselves. Seeing the release of a scaled-down version of Rabbids Go Home’s In Ze Remote feature, however, gave us cause for concern: could this dress-up game justify the 500 Point price tag? For those of you unaware, Rabbids Lab is actually a..
A mix of catch-up and new titles in another big update for Wii and DSi.
There's a mix of new and catch-up titles in the update this week including the penultimate chapter in the new Tales of Monkey Island series: Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 4. Copter Crisis and My Zoo were both recently released in PAL territories. Reviewer Tommy Bowskill...
What a load of cop(ter)!
There's something appealing about being a helicopter rescue pilot: it's one of those aspirations we have when we're children of what we'd like to grow up to be. Sitting at home pretending to be one via Digital Leisure's latest WiiWare instalment certainly doesn't sound the full realisation of such childhood pipedreams, but Copter Crisis does have the potential to provide..
It would be proper to regard any WiiWare program consisting of a game that's already pre-installed on every Windows PC in the universe as a complete waste of everyone's time. It would be about as pointless as releasing a poker game with rules for only one version of poker. The only way you could possibly justify putting out a...
JV Games talk Christmas Clix.
With the upcoming release of their WiiWare holiday puzzler Christmas Clix this coming Monday in North America, we thought now would be a good time to get in touch with JV Games in order to find out a bit more information about the game. Jag Jaeger, CEO of JV Games, was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to sit down with us for an interview. You can find..
Farm life has always been the focus of the Harvest Moon series, and My Little Shop technically continues that tradition. You do live on a farm and have to knock out the daily rituals of watering crops, feeding the chickens and petting the cows, but that’s pretty much it and is accomplished in about one minute. Which leaves you plenty of time to deal with the game’s namesake farm..
A light download selection next week after this week's mega releases.
This week's update was full to bursting, so it's just as well that next week is a little on the light side with only a few downloads for both Wii and DSi. WiiWarePonjan (1000pts - Tomy) -- The Wii counterpart to the DSiWare release of the kiddy version of mahjong (real mahjong -- not the matching game). Virtual ConsoleKing of..
We take the unique WiiWare title for a spin.
The kind folks over at Press Play were nice enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming WiiWare puzzle platformer Max & the Magic Marker for us to try out. Now that we've spent several hours playing through the game's 15 levels, we'll give you an idea of what you can expect from this rather unique WiiWare title. Please keep in mind that..
Don't avoid the VOID
The third release (of six) in Gaijin Games' BIT.TRIP series has quite a bit in common with its predecessors. And that is a good thing. Even better, though, is just how much VOID manages to stand apart from its popular older brothers. Rather than striving to recapture their specific glories, VOID charts territory of its own. And...
The Virtual Console does not bring us what most of us wanted.
After a week with no Virtual Console game, and the recent North American releases of Indiana Jones and Super Mario Kart, one would think that one or both of them would've been released in PAL regions this week - After all, either would've been the 300th VC game for Australia. Sadly,...
Check out new footage of the game in action.
The good folks at Digitial Leisure were kind enough to send over the brand new trailer for their upcoming helicopter simulation Copter Crisis that will be hitting the WiiWare service in Europe on November 27th and in North America on November 30th. You can check out the snippet of information on the game below, along with the brand new gameplay trailer..
Sales boost seen for all games with free trials
During an early november earnings meeting, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata explained how the company wants to get more people to visit the Wii and DSi Shop Channels and browse around, instead of going in already knowing what they want to get. Iwata then announced the company’s plans to roll out a temporary...
Christmas comes early!
You might remember that we recently reported that JV Games' new holiday puzzler Christmas Clix would be hitting the North American WiiWare service on December 7th. Well there's been a change of plans. JV Games today announced that Nintendo has bumped up the release of Christmas Clix one week to November 30th in North America...
Another mega update for North America.
Multiple games were already announced for release this week, but they don't even make up half of the total releases. Each service gets more than one new game, and almost all of them are (or seem to be) good. The Virtual Console steals the show this time though - Super Mario Kart on the SNES is the long-awaited original game in Nintendo's famous racing series..
WiiWare is back and the MSX returns with a vengeance, plus DSiWare and more Namco Arcade games!
Japan gets a lot of downloads ordinarily, but next week must be setting some kind of record - and there's not even a public holiday to account for it! WiiWareOkiraku Kart Wii (500pts - Arc System Works) - You cannot keep the Family down, especially if there's a chance to attempt to ride Mario Kart's..
Don't avoid the Void!
Well all of you BIT.TRIP fans can rejoice now, as Gaijin Games has just Tweeted that their newest entry in the series, BIT.TRIP VOID will be hitting the North American WiiWare service on Monday, November 23 for 600 Wii Points. How's that for good news? You can check out the official press information on the game below, as well...
Virtual Console takes a week off.
It's an all-new game affair this week - There's not a single retro game in sight. WiiWare gets a mighty 4 new releases, but don't be fooled too much - Two of them are just demos North America got Monday but we didn't yet. DSiWare gets 4 games too, but there's no tomfoolery going around there. Arguably the biggest...
If you live in a PAL territory and are considering getting a North American Wii (or vice-versa), here's some tips to help you get the most out of it
Given the pan-Wii coverage on Nintendo Life there's been plenty of opportunity for the green-eyed monster to make himself known on both sides of the Atlantic. You might have considered buying a Wii...
WiiWare helicopter sim is on its way.
Digital Leisure has just announced that their Copter Crisis WiiWare title will be coming to Europe on November 27th and North America on November 30th. You can check out the official game description below for a taste of what you can expect from this unique helicopter title. You're in the pilot seat now! Copter Crisis puts you in the pilot’s seat! As a..
Court is now in session!
Looks like the Phoenix Wright steam train is really picking up... er... steam at the moment, with the announcement yesterday and now the first screenshots of the rookie lawyer's transition to WiiWare. One thing you'll notice is that it looks absolutely identical to the GBA/DS versions of the game, with very little in the way...
We take Team Meat's upcoming platformer for a spin.
The guys over at Team Meat were kind enough to send over a preview build of their upcoming PC/WiiWare title Super Meat Boy yesterday and we've spent the past few hours putting it through its paces and snapping a few screenshots in the process. The guys at Team Meat did want us to make sure and remind readers that this is a beta version of the game..
Rumble or fumble?
One thing we've learned time and again (sometimes painfully) is that when it comes to WiiWare there's no necessary correlation between quality and cost. Of the most expensive games available, for instance, one of them is arguably the best game on the service, and another is ...not. And so when a new release scurries into view...
Courtroom drama will adopt an episodic format
The latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu has confirmed that Capcom's cult legal video gaming series Phoenix Wright is coming to Nintendo's WiiWare service, with the first instalment hitting the Japanese Wii Store next month. The series, which is known in Japan as "Gyakuten Saiban", has previously been released on the Game Boy Advance and..
Check out the old wise master in action.
The nice folks over at Ghostfire Games have just sent over the newest boss gameplay video for their upcoming Rage of the Gladiator WiiWare release. In this video you can see the aged Master Yee and his arsenal of attack moves. You can check out the full Master Yee gameplay trailer below for a taste of what...
Which games are available? Read on!
Some exciting news for all you WiiWare fans out there - you can now access free WiiWare demos through the Shop Channel! Yes, pop on your Wii console and you'll be able to download limited trial versions of selected games. You lucky European and Australian Wii owners can access Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord, BIT.TRIP BEAT and NyxQuest:..
It's like a complete reversal - WiiWare only gets one new game this week, while DSiWare gets three.
Nintendo would like you to think that they're releasing a whopping 6 WiiWare games today, but the truth is there's only one - The remaining five are all demos of other games, allowing those unsure of their purchase to check them out before spending money. The Virtual Console gets another version of..
Bigger animals, bigger features.
We thought quite highly of Hudson's last WiiWare game based on keeping animals, but we also warned potential buyers that it was not so much a game as an interactive screensaver. My Zoo is meant to expand on the previous game in many ways. Aside from the animals being bigger, there are many new features and things to do with them, meaning you're not just feeding and..
Cubic cranium conundrums on the way
Puzzle games and physics go together like plumbers and mushrooms, so Shin'en Multimedia's announcement that Art of Balance is heading towards WiiWare is welcome news. Here it is in their own words: Shin’en Multimedia announces the development of Art of Balance for WiiWare. Grab your Wii Remote™ and build a balanced stack in this physics-based puzzler! Puzzle..
Things are a bit underwhelming this week.
There's no doubt that a lot of people are waiting for the European release of Excitebike: World Rally, but it looks like Nintendo is letting us down for now - This week offers us only four new games, and none of them are particularly interesting. WiiWare's the only service with more than one game this time - My Zoo is Hudson Soft's "sequel" to My..
Will this remake kick the tires out from under the competition?
Nintendo’s often-overlooked Excite racing series kicks in the turbo and has released not one but two new games this year. This time, the series returns to its roots with a remake of the original NES classic. But with so many other “excite”-ing options to choose from on the Wii, is...
Herd monsters away from danger that is more dangerous than monsters
British developer Onteca yesterday announced their new WiiWare game, Monsteca Corral, and it will be hitting sometime in January. The game puts players in the shoes of a Monster Herder, whose job is to control a herd of monsters called Sdompe's and keep them away from danger and tomfoolery. Onteca said Monsteca Corral incorporates..
The Kemco shooter is getting an upgrade.
Chances are you're familiar with Phalanx one way or the other - Originally released for the Japan-only Sharp X68000 and later ported to the SNES for all regions, the game's somewhat infamous for having some of the most ridiculously inappropriate boxart of all time. Of course, the game itself is actually pretty good, which already led to a Game Boy Advance..
JV Games announce their newest WiiWare title.
JV Games has just announced that they'll be bringing a unique Christmas-themed puzzler to the WiiWare service on December 7th called Christmas Clix. That means everyone out there in Nintendo Land will have something to play with their families during the Christmas holidays. You can check out the full press release below, along with a host of brand new..
It's Wednesday again and time for the WiiWare Top 20!
It's time to take a look at the most popular WiiWare titles available on the Wii Shop Channel. If you're feeling adventurous you can even take a look for yourself by simply logging on to your Wii Shop Channel, heading into the WiiWare section and then viewing "Popular Games". It's that easy! We compile this list using the USA region..
Dragon Master Spells Disaster
In Dragon Master Spell Caster, you mount your pet dragon and take to the skies in search of thrilling adventure (or floating balls), engage in epic struggles with (or shake your Wii remote randomly at) elementally-themed opponents, and fly on into your new life of fame and fortune (or...turn your Wii off and think about...
Luc talks about his many upcoming projects.
Well we're constantly seeing new artwork and rumors about what our good friend Luc Bernard is currently working on and with these rumors beginning to mount, we thought it might be time to get in touch with him in order to find out any new information on his plans for the various Nintendo platforms. Of course with any Luc Bernard interview also comes the..
Cook from afar for 50 points
Club Nintendo Japan yesterday reminded the other Club Nintendos around the world just how much better it was by adding the first all-member game download to its service. Take that, Mario Party playing cards! Ultrahand is a bit of an oddity and centers around using the titular object to grab meat off a grill; at 50 Club Nintendo points it's one of the cheapest rewards on..
The return of an arcade legend.
It cannot be denied that Frogger is one of the original arcade hits. It was ported to pretty much every 8-bit console and computer system in the world, bootlegged numerous times and even immortalised in song on the seminal "Pac-Man Fever" LP by Buckner & Garcia. It's the only Konami arcade game from the...
It's been a while since the last Hudson WiiWare game, but now there will be two of them in two weeks.
Hudson's My Aquarium has seen continuous success - Almost every single week, it is among the top WiiWare downloads. Obviously, they've taken note of that, because this week, they'll be releasing a sequel to it! And to top it off, next week, they'll be releasing a game North America already got a..
Gameloft WiiWare card games, take two!
Like many American board games, Uno was started by your average Joe making sets in his house and selling them to friends and neighbours before getting picked up by a big outfit and made into a classic. It's a fun social game that's been around for nearly 40 years now and is played around the world. Given the game's enduring popularity it should come as no..
And it's quick and painless.
If you've taken a look at Gaijin Games' official web site you likely noticed the announcement that their first Bit.Trip release BIT.TRIP BEAT has been updated on the Wii Shop Channel. This update makes a few improvements on the level unlocking scheme and a few other minor improvements. The other good news is that it...
DSiWare gets another big batch of budget titles, WiiWare gets Excitebike.
There's eleven new games this week, but don't get excited right away - five of them are budget DSiWare versions of commercial disaster Electroplankton. WiiWare gets the previously announced Excitebike and two more games, while Virtual Console gets two rather unremarkable games. Excitebike: World Rally is obviously the biggest..
A monkey barrel beater?
Manic Monkey Mayhem is a clear attempt by UK-based developers The Code Monkeys to make a straightforward multiplayer shooter that anyone can play. All you need is a Remote and a decent throwing arm to pick this one up, but does it have enough depth to justify laying out 1,000 Points? The controls are very straightforward:...
WiiWare dogfighting game squares up
Thanks to our chums over at Legendo we've got a few new screenshots of their upcoming aerial ace Pearl Harbor: Episode 1 - Red Sun Rising, the first part of their Pearl Harbor Trilogy expected to hit WiiWare within the next few months. The title seems to be coming nicely, with some pleasing detail on the planes...