Category: Nintendo News

Previously released on other platforms as Birthdays The Beginning, the world-building ecosystem simulator is now called Happy Birthdays and it’s set to arrive in North America on 5th June and 8th June for Europe. The game will also include the ‘Monuments’ DLC which enables you to decorate your world with even more cosmetic items.

Happy Birthdays also includes a new skill system to help empower you as a build your world from nothing then nurture the life that pops into existence on your chosen rock. You can now earn ‘Stars’ by shaping the world and capturing lifeforms, then use said stars to drastically interact with the world in different and unique ways.

Will you be adding Happy Birthdays and its Viva Piñata meets Minecraft gameplay? It’s certainly piqued our interest…

Remember Alex Kidd? If you’re a younger gamer than you’d be forgiven for answering in the negative. Sega’s former mascot had his brief moment of fame during the 8-bit era but was unceremoniously swept aside when Sonic arrived in the early ’90s, and has been relegated to a bit-player in the company’s history, occasionally turning up for cameo roles.

It has long been assumed that Alex Kidd was created to combat the rising popularity of Nintendo’s Mario, and the character was certainly positioned as a rival at the time; during the war between the Master System and NES (which, let’s be honest, was mainly fought in Europe and Brazil), Alex was Sega’s most famous face; Alex Kidd in Miracle World was pre-loaded onto the console and was arguably the closest Sega fans got to a genuine Super Mario Bros. rival at the time.

However, there have been rumblings in the past that Alex Kidd wasn’t actually designed to fight Mario, but instead came out of a failed licensing attempt. Two years ago, French YouTuber anthogeek posted a video which made comparisons between Alex Kidd and Dragon Ball, the famous Japanese manga and anime series created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. Some of these relate to slight visual links between key characters and enemies, while others – such as the use of the game “Rock, Paper, Scissors” in both – are more obvious.

However, we now have solid evidence from a former Sega staffer that the game was indeed intended to be a Dragon Ball video game before being hastily re-fitted with Alex in the lead role.

The revelation comes from none other than Kotaro Hayashida, creator of the character. Incredibly media-shy, Hayashida speaks to John Szczepaniak in the latest volume of the superb Untold History of Japanese Game Developers, explaining exactly how the project started:

Sega were planning on making a Dragon Ball game… I guess this happened long enough ago that it’s okay for me to talk about this! The project began as a Dragon Ball title, not as a direct competitor to Super Mario Bros.

But when we were told we could not use the Dragon Ball licence any more, we were forced to come up with our own ideas instead. For example, when it was Dragon Ball, Goku fought with his Power Pole, but we changed that to a punch attack. It was only after we came up with the plan to restart the project as Alex Kidd in Miracle World that we starting thinking about Mario, and looking for ways in which to differentiate the title from it.

Dragon Ball has since become a popular media property in its own right, and recently spawned the excellent Dragon Ball FighterZ on PS4, Xbox One and PC. It’s amazing to think that the series shares a connection with Sega’s forgotten mascot; one wonders what things would have been like had Sega secured the licence and not created Alex Kidd.

Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

It was only yesterday we were reporting on an unprecedented move for Nintendo as it introduced user reviews to select Switch games on the official North American Nintendo website. Well, it looks like that lack of precedence was short-lived because the big N has already pulled the feature.

In its place, Nintendo has left his official statement:

“Customer reviews have been taken offline as we evaluate this feature and its functionality. We currently have no estimated date on when an update will be provided. We appreciate the positive response and thank the reviewers who provided such thoughtful commentary on the games.”

So what prompted to sudden turnaround? Were the reviews unacceptable? Were the requirements to qualify too stringent? Were the games available too select? At this stage, we can only speculate, but we hope Ninty reintroduces them soon as giving a voice to Switch owners is an ideal way to keep the community involved in the console’s journey from here on out.

What’s your take on Nintendo’s decision to pull the user review feature? Let us know in the comments below…

We’ve always been partial to a little court-based entertainment here at Nintendo Life – especially when it contains Mario and pals – so the prospect of playing a brand new incarnation on Nintendo Switch has everyone excited. Mario Tennis Aces promises to be the upgrade everyone has been hoping for, and a new listing on Amazon Spain suggests we might be dusting off our virtual rackets in time for the summer.

According to the listing, Mario Tennis Aces will launch on 22 June, barely a week removed from E3 2018. Could this be a legitimate date? Nintendo has yet to schedule a big summer game to fill the slot Splatoon 2 triumphantly filled last year. Or this just a placeholder soon to be purged from the Amazon servers? Watch this space…

Are you planning to pick up Mario Tennis Aces when it loads up a serve on Nintendo Switch? Is the summer release window legit or just a placeholder? Share your thoughts below

Let’s not beat around the bush, Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest RPGs of all time, so it’s understandably one of those games treated with an almost palpable sense of reverence. So when Square Enix, seemingly out of nowhere, released a port on PC, fans old and new rejoiced. Until, that is, they realised it was a port of the iOS and Android versions. Uh oh…

The SNES classic has been subject to plenty of ports over the years – including the original PlayStation and Nintendo DS incarnations – but the mobile version is easily the least popular. It’s not broken by any stretch of the imagination, but some bizarre changes to the game’s fonts and some ugly sprite filtering made it less than favourable among fans. And the PC version includes all those graphical niggles, only now it’s jumped from your smartphone to your Steam account.

The Nintendo DS version – which hit the handheld device in 2008 – is far more faithful to the SNES original, and manages to do so without somehow looking inferior to a game that came out generations prior. This is the one we’d opt to play over that borked PC version. If you want to learn more, developer Fred Wood has offered some really insightful comparisons between the PC port and the original – check out his Twitter feed for more.

But what do YOU think about this whole fiasco? Which version of the game would you rather play? Does it even really matter? Let us know your thoughts below…

If you’ve read our review for Dragon Quest Builders, you’ll know how much we enjoyed the smooth and rewarding port that hit Nintendo Switch earlier this month. However, all that slime-bashing and town-building has made us hungry for more, so the latest insights into the sequel have us chomping at the bit.

In the latest issue of Famitsu (as translated and reported by Gematsu), producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto and director Kazuya Niinou discussed plenty of subjects centered around Dragon Quest Builders 2, including all those fan requests for a proper multiplayer mode. While the two developers did state that, “being able to play with others,” is something they’re looking into, it’s a little too early to reveal whether it will include a much-wanted four-player co-op mode.

They did, however, confirm that you’ll be able to build three times as high as the limit in the original, and that they’re planning to include a save transfer system that will enable you to import your profile from the first game direct into the sequel. And yes, that will include Nintendo Switch as well.

However, the game’s development is currently going through a, “a series of trial and error,” stages, and that, “updating the game engine is causing the game design to take more time.” So it’s coming, it’s just going to take a little while to get it just right. Considering how great the first game was, we’re happy to wait.

What do you make of these little tidbits on DQB2? Did you enjoy the first game? Let us know below, in the usual fashion…

Nintendo Switch’s first year is almost complete, and the console already has a slew of LEGO games to its name. And if you were thinking of adding one of them to your collection, then this next rumour might give you reason to hold fire: according to Nintendo ‘insider’ Pixelpar, a new collection is on its way that packs in LEGO Worlds, LEGO City: Undercover and The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game.

It’s an unsubstantiated rumour at this stage, but considering it looks like a cardboard sleeve with the regular physical editions of each respective game included it’s hardly the biggest stretch of the imagination. The real question is how much will this rumoured bundle potentially retail for?

Have you enjoyed the LEGO games on Nintendo Switch so far? Are they on par with other versions? Does a collection such as this interest you? As always, we want to hear from YOU…

Cyberpunk visual adventure title 2064: Read Only Memories will be hitting the Switch this April, it has been confirmed.

We already knew that the unique visual adventure – which owes a massive debt to Hideo Kojima’s iconic Snatcher – was headed to Switch, but it’s good to have a solid release date.

2064: Read Only Memories hit the PlayStation 4 last year, and our friends over at Push Square gave it a glowing 8/10 review, stating:

2064: Read Only Memories tells a haunting story in a stylish way. Its diverse roster of characters, intriguing world, and masterful soundtrack make for an engaging experience from beginning to end. While there are some minor storytelling and structural hiccups, it nevertheless successfully combines a classic genre with modern trimmings.

Will you be grabbing this one?

StreetPass is one of the coolest elements of the 3DS hardware and was encouraging people to venture outdoors long before Pokemon GO turned up. Sadly, Nintendo chose not to continue the service on Switch, and we’re slowly but surely seeing it fade into history as the 3DS winds down.

A sign of things come to has just been announced in Japan – Nintendo is shutting down StreetPass Relay Stations in that region. For those of you that didn’t know, Relay Stations collect the data of passing players and store them, redistributing them to passing 3DS owners as StreetPass hits. 

It might sound like a minor thing, but for many (including us) these stations were a vital way of racking up hits; when you think about it, the chances of actually walking past another 3DS owner – even at the height of the console’s popularity – were always going to be quite slim, especially if you live outside of a large city.

While there’s been no confirmation that Relay Stations will close elsewhere in the world, the operation has already started winding down in the UK. Previously, mobile operator O2 and fast food joint McDonald’s supported the service, but now it can only be found in branches of GAME.