Category: Nintendo

Time to rewrite history.

Running a budding kingdom is hard, but it is made even more difficult by being surrounded on all sides by a host of potential enemies, all vying for land, resources, and power. Few video games have managed to recreate that pressure as well as Koei Tecmo’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, with Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake becoming the most balanced version of one of the best games in that franchise. Somehow, they’ve made the tedium of bureaucracy feel fun and addictive.

Like the rest of the series and the novel that inspired it, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake — which originally launched in Japan on PC in 2001 before arriving in the West a couple of years later on PS2 — follows a heavily romanticised version of Chinese history. The period from around 220 to 280 AD was a time of huge upheaval for the region, with multiple figures competing for control. That conflict gave birth to figures such as Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao, all of whom have become immortalised in novels, films, and, most relevant for us, video games.

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Returning early next year.

Bandai Namco lifted the lid on the action RPG Tales of Graces f Remastered earlier this year and it’s scheduled to launch on Switch in January 2025. Tales of Graces originally debuted on the Wii in Japan and was eventually ported and localised (with some additional content) for PlayStation 3 as Tales of Graces f.

As highlighted in this new video, the remaster coming to Switch and multiple other platforms next year will feature a ton of quality-of-life features including destination icons, toggle encounter options, the ability to instantly retry battles, subtitles for post-battle dialogue and everything else you could want in a modern RPG release.

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Smile, Lara.

In case you somehow missed it, Aspyr is working on another Tomb Raider trilogy focused on remastering three more of Lara Croft’s adventures.

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Crossing worlds.

Following up on Metroid Prime was never going to be easy. Although many (this writer included) were sceptical of Retro Studios’ abilities to move Metroid into the 3D, first-person realm, the team not only managed to put its own spin on an established Nintendo franchise successfully, but it also created one of the greatest games of all time.

How the heck are you supposed to top that? Well, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes doesn’t quite reach the same heights as its predecessor, and it’s often regarded as the lesser entry in an eventual trilogy (though to be honest, even the worst Prime game is better than the majority of games out there). That said, it will always remain one of my personal favourites in the franchise thanks to its bold experimentation with parallel worlds.

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Sting’s GBA RPG returns later this month.

Dept. Heaven fans will have a chance to revisit the origins of Sting’s unusual series this month as Riviera: The Promised Land is coming to Switch in North America and Europe on 28th November 2024 (thanks, Gematsu!).

The remaster launched in Japan in February 2024, and back then, we had our fingers crossed for a Western release. It did make it to Steam back in July, but you know we were waiting for that Switch version. Well, it took all year, but we’re finally here, and it’ll cost USD $34.99 / GBP £30.19, with a 15% launch discount until 5th December

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Glitz, glamour, games, gongs.

Well, folks, Geoff Keighley is back once again with another round of The Game Awards.

This year’s event will mark the 10th Anniversary of The Game Awards, so we’re expecting some big surprises (not necessarily game announcements, mind) and spectacular celebrations. Naturally, with a boatload of sponsored ads sprinkled in, for good measure.

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But it’s still in the “final credits”.

Earlier this week, Rockstar Games rolled out a surprise update for the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy on Switch and other platforms.

Fans quickly noticed how the port team ‘Grove Street Games’ had been dropped from the trilogy’s splash screen and now the developer’s CEO Thomas Williamson has responded on social media.

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Japan always gets the cool version.

Square Enix’s long-awaited release Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is out this week on the Switch and if you’re planning on picking up a physical copy, you might want to read on…

It seems there are some notable differences with the box art and game cartridge. Once again, Japan gets the cool version – with a double-sided cover. The inside sleeve features some retro-style artwork of Dragon Quest III, while the US and European version appears to just be a white page loaded with legal text.

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Here’s what the critics think.

A new LEGO game is out this week on the Nintendo Switch and this one is a bit different as it’s based on Sony’s PlayStation-exclusive Horizon series.

The reviews are now rolling in for LEGO Horizon Adventures and our review has already gone live here on Nintendo Life. We awarded it 6 out 10 – calling it a beautiful but basic build of Sony’s series.

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See how it compares to the previous films.

The blue blur (and the ultimate life form) are headed to cinemas next month and more information about this new big screen outing is starting to surface. Apart from the director Jeff Fowler teasing some new details, it seems we might also now have the runtime of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

According to a listing by AMC Theatres (via Sonic Stadium), Sonic 3 will have a runtime of 1 hour and 49 minutes, when it launches on 20th December 2024. For anyone wondering, that’s apparently 13 minutes shorter than the second movie which surpassed the two-hour mark (2 hours and 2 minutes). The first movie was 1 hour and 39 minutes and was the shortest of the lot.

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