Nintendo

Arguably the best title in the series long history, and inarguably its most popular entry, Final Fantasy VII has never been far from the gaming popular consciousness since its release in 1997. It was the first time Squaresoft (now Square Enix) had been able to truly convey every part of the world they’d created. Previous…

Yoshi’s Crafted World has been made with all the love and care in the world – and it shows. From the subtle, crafty touches to the gorgeous soundtrack, cutesy worlds and stellar gameplay, everything about it screams wholesomeness. The game is so wholesome that it makes me want to be a better person. Story If…

Kirby has always been the spark of joy in the occasionally cheerless games landscape. I mean, how can he not be? He’s a literal ball of cute pink fluff, and in this cotton-themed adventure, he’s every bit the pure, shining saviour of games that he should be. Kirby is wholesome, Kirby is brilliant, Kirby is…

I’ll preface this review by saying that despite owning a Sega Mega Drive, I never played either of the original ToeJam & Earl games in their heyday. I also never played the series’ abortive third entry on the original Xbox either, though I understand that this is probably for the best. Well may you say,…

Ape Out is not a terribly long game, but it is a fun one. It’s an entertaining and creative riff on the format popularised by Hotline Miami, a barbarous explosion of violence that belies its more rhythm-based gameplay. You play an angry, caged gorilla ready to throw off the shackles of oppression and embark on…

Claiming Final Fantasy IX is your favourite of the PSOne era FF titles is a bit like saying Ringo is your favourite Beatle — most people think you’re a wanker and that there are far better musicians in the group. But what Ringo fans know is that he’s often unfairly overlooked. Sure, he’s responsible for…

Those (everyone) who saw it coming when Game Freak announced that they would be working on a set of mainline Pokemon titles for Nintendo Switch have finally got the revelation that they’ve been waiting for. We all clamored over each other for the fairly recent Pokemon Let’s Go titles, and now it seems that we’ve…

Observer walks a line between cyberpunk, noir and psychological horror that displays a deep love of all three genres, drawing its most obvious inspirations from films like Alphaville, Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner. The story follows cyborg detective (or Observer) Daniel Lazarski, played by Blade Runner’s Rutger Hauer. Daniel Lazarski is your quintessential hard-boiled detective; as analytical…

It’s hard to believe this is the second Tetris review I’ve written in three months. Even harder to believe, the franchise’s raw adaptability. Like the patterns its falling blocks create, Tetris seems able to change its shape at will, wholly altering the core experience with the addition of a single extra mechanic. Tetris Effect leveraged…

It’s been 16 years since the release of Intelligent Systems’ Advance Wars 2, widely considered one of the greatest turn-based strategy titles ever made, and 11 years since Advance Wars: Dark Conflict (titled Days of Ruin in the US). The intervening period saw the popularity of Intelligent’s Fire Emblem series explode in the West, an unexpected turn…

Very few Nintendo DS games ever fulfilled the potential of the console’s unique dual screens, but one title came incredibly close. That title, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, has finally gotten the recognition it deserves with a brilliant new remaster for the Nintendo 3DS. Originally released in 2009, Bowser’s Inside Story is an RPG…

When we think about game design that could be considered “timeless,” the classic Super Mario Bros formula still leaps readily to mind. 34 years after its first appearance on the NES, Shigeru Miyamoto’s original push-forward platformer design remains as compelling as its ever been. New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe only proves this further, taking…

Choosing your favourite game of the year is hard. We’ve done it every year since we founded The AU Review’s games section in 2014, and it never gets any easier. In 2018, we played so many incredible games that it became impossible to list and number every last one of them, so we opted not…

I’ve been looking everywhere for what might be good gaming merchandise. I’ve trawled through official sites, brick-and-mortar stores and even outlets like Red Bubble. I have to admit, there’s not a whole lot of variety across all three of these, and what’s there is usually not that good, covered in brands or weird quotes or…

We have, if you can believe, almost reached the end of the current generation of consoles, and with news of PlayStation pulling out of E3 in 2019 in rumoured preparation of a hardware announcement, speculation is mounting as to what the selling points could be for the next generation. 2019 is going to be an…

It’s been 20 years since Masahiro Sakurai became the architect of one of the riskiest experiments in Nintendo’s history. Super Smash Bros‘ dramatic origin story is well known — Sakurai had an idea for a four-player fighting game featuring Nintendo characters. Sakurai was acutely aware that getting Nintendo to approve a game about their beloved…

Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee had its fair share of doubters when it was first announced. A very small but very loud minority decried every new announcement, complaining that the new title would be too easy and kid-friendly. Ironically, it’s this ease and accessibility that makes the title shine so brightly. Essentially, Let’s Go is a…

Armello, the fantasy-steeped digital board game by Melbourne studio League of Geeks is very, very good. We’ve known this for a while. The game is available on almost every platfom there is and if you haven’t availed yourself of its strategic, card-based suspense and dice-roll intrigue since its launch 2015 then you really should. Conveniently,…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZsk8VHY2g New details have emerged surrounding Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, notably, you can play as infamous Mario level-hazard, Piranha Plant. https://twitter.com/Tetra_Flora/status/1058108258706186240 Piranha plant will be available to players who purchase early – either those who register their game card before January 31st 2019, or to those who buy digital versions. On top of this, Inceneroar…

Luigi’s Mansion for GameCube was a masterpiece in-game design, becoming one of the best-selling titles of 2001 and leaving a legacy of greatness in its wake. With a long-awaited sequel released on 3DS in 2013 and another scheduled for Switch in 2019, it only made sense for the game to make a grand return. While…

The World Ends With You is frequently spoken of as one of the greatest games developed for the original Nintendo DS, with a killer story and gameplay that used the full capacity of the innovative touch screen. Despite how well-received it was, TWEWY also went somewhat unloved in the wider gaming scene, and has come…

The Mario Party franchise has long established itself as a ruthless destroyer of friendships. From its earliest, controller-ruining days on the Nintendo 64, the series has sought to emulate the classic board game shenanigans of something like Monopoly. But, like Monopoly, a core part of its design involves regularly screwing over anyone unfortunate enough to…

There’s a sense of excitement that runs through the entire industry in the moments before a new Nintendo Direct broadcast. What will they talk about? What crazy new titles and ports will they announce for the Switch? Today’s broadcast, ahead of the launch of the new Nintendo Switch Online service, was a rapid fire streak…

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate was a game never intended to release in the West. This was all but confirmed by Capcom at E3 2017, where a company representative stated that there were no plans to bring the original Japanese-only port, Monster Hunter XX, to English audiences. Following the global release of Monster Hunter World, which…

Okami was a work of art before it was ported to numerous modern platforms, inspiring a new generation of players with its mythic take on the old Zelda formula, but this Nintendo Switch port in particular gives it a necessary new life.

It’s hard for me to believe I used to be really good at Super Smash Bros. And not merely good when compared to the group of friends I played with — I wasn’t even the best among them. I understand now why people didn’t want to fight any of us after more than a round…

WarioWare Gold is the latest in a long line of bizarre, microgame collections that can best be described as Dada art. Gold is the culmination of 15 years of WarioWare goodness, featuring the best microgames of the past, and brand new microgames for the future. You’ll be glad to know that it’s lost none of…

Look, I reviewed Sonic Mania when it launched last year. I found it to be a breath of fresh air in a series comprehensively and aggressively starved of it for decades. It was the kind of modern update that walks an incredibly fine line, paying homage to what came before and pushing the property forward…

Wolfenstein II‘s latest Nazi-stomping iteration was one of the biggest and best FPS releases of last year, praised for its original script, compelling characters and bucketloads of aggressive, absorbing gameplay; the title — officially Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus — once again reinvented a classic franchise and continued the quality from The New Order and…

Hand of Fate 2, the card-based role-player by Brisbane-based Defiant Development, launched on major platforms last year. Its Nintendo Switch port took a little longer to arrive, but arrive it has and, for Switch owners, it was worth the wait.