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 pulling off pixel-perfect feats and shattering a runtime record. But I have neither the time nor the mettle to contemplate doing so myself.

Fortunately, this year gave us a game that weaved together 8-bit era charm, bite-sized accessibility, and addictive skill refinement. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition was my gateway to finally “getting” speedrunning, and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had gaming in 2024.

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Don’t Expect Any More Miniature Consoles From Sega

The ‘Dreamcast Mini’ dream is dead.

If you’re a fan of miniature consoles and the novel convenience they bring, then unfortunately you might want to just keep ahold of your current collection, because it doesn’t sound like Sega is particularly keen on making any more.

In an interview with The Guardian (thanks, Time Extension), Shuji Utsumi, the CEO of Sega America and Europe, dashed any hopes that we might see a ‘Saturn Mini’ or ‘Dreamcast Mini’ in the future. He stated that while the company appreciates its legacy, it wants to focus on the future and “embrace modern gamers”:

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Review: Antonblast (Switch) – Channels Wario Land’s Madcap Energy To Great Effect

A genuine blast.

A few months ago, the Switch finally received Pizza Tower, an indie action platformer that’s gotten a lot of praise for how well it channels Nintendo’s long-dormant Wario Land series. Yet developer Tour de Pizza wasn’t the only team inspired by Wario. Summitsphere’s Antonblast is a wild and wonderful action platformer that feels like it could actually be the next Wario Land game if it came with a different coat of paint; its combination of speed, precision, and smart level design makes for a truly thrilling experience that’s only let down by its issues with stable performance.

Antonblast stars the titular Dynamite Anton, whose angry, red-skinned appearance leaves Satan feeling envious and insecure about his status as “the reddest being of them all.” So, in a petty act of retaliation, he sends his minions to Anton’s apartment to steal what he cherishes most: the Spirits that he kept around his living space. Enraged, Anton grabs his hammer and sets out on a quest to reclaim what was stolen and to give Satan a piece of his mind.

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PSA: Switch 2 Is Getting Revealed In The Next 100 Days

Set your Alarmos.

We’ve been waiting for that sweet Nintendo Switch 2 announcement for what feels like years now — hold on, it has been years — but, as of today, we are finally on the home straight. That is if your ‘home straight’ consists of 100 days to go.

We know that an announcement is coming “this fiscal year“, and if you take today (22nd December) as Day 1, then there are only 100 possible days left for Nintendo to announce “the successor to Nintendo Switch” before we hit 1st April and enter the next fiscal year. Things get slippery when you start to take pesky hours into account, but if today = Day 1, 31st March = Day 100. Got it? Good.

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Poll: Box Art Brawl – Duel: Breath Of Fire II

I’m your fire, at your desire.

Ahoy folks, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl!

Last time, we looked at the Wii classic Okami in light of the recent sequel announcement from The Game Awards (woohoo!). Honestly, it wasn’t a particularly close battle: Japan, with its beautiful use of colour and composition, won the day with 74% of the vote, leaving North America/Europe with the remaining 26%.

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Video: Here Are Felix’s Top 5 Nintendo Switch Games Of 2024

Felix Navidad.

It might not feel like Nintendo itself has been particularly busy this year, but goodness, there’s still been an awful lot of new games in 2024. Some great ones, even!

Since we’re now fast approaching the end of the year, it seems only right that the lovely chaps on our video team share their personal top five games of 2024. Now, it’s important to note that these might not all be titles that released in 2024; they’re just ones that the guys happened to have played over the last 12 months.

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Guide: Best Tetris Games, Ranked – Switch And Nintendo Systems

*whispers* Go for a Tetris.

Few video games can lay claim to having such enormous influence on both gamers and the industry at large as Tetris. All who played Alexey Pajitnov’s block-falling puzzler fell for its elegant design and Nintendo in particular harnessed its addictiveness to great effect as a pack-in title that made ‘Game Boy’ an essential purchase and a household name.

But what’s the best Tetris game? Is the Game Boy iteration still the most popular decades later? We’ve compiled this definitive ranking of Tetris games to answer just that question, so you can dump the garbage and focus on clearing lines in the best possible way.

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Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (Christmas 2024 Edition)

Holly *and* Jolly? In this economy?

Christmas is right around the corner and we’re feeling sufficiently merry and bright, so it’s time for another edition of What Are You Playing!

This week on Nintendo Life, we all questioned our sanity as we checked out our Nintendo Switch Year in Review, a new Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket expansion had us heading back to the packs, we ran through the very best games you should pick up in Europe’s latest eShop sale and even more ‘Switch 2’ rumours came out to play (because of course they did).

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed Updated, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

Download it now.

Following its release in October, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed has received a new update.

It adds a new colour blind mode with three options and also “responds to fan demand” for increased gameplay difficulty and other quality-of-life improvements. Here’s the full rundown, courtesy of the PR:

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