Anniversary: 20 Years On, Metroid Prime 2 Represents The Franchise At Its Experimental Best

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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Riviera: The Promised Land Remaster Gets Western Release Date On Switch

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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Guide: The Game Awards 2024: Date, Time – How And When To Watch

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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GTA Trilogy Update Removes Dev From Splash Screen, CEO Responds

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’s Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Switch Box Art Features Classic Artwork

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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Round Up: The Reviews Are In For LEGO Horizon Adventures

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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The Runtime Of Sonic’s Third Movie Outing Has Seemingly Been Revealed

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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Gallery: Unboxing A Nintendo 64DD Development Kit

DDelicious.

The Nintendo 64 Disk Drive (64DD) is one of the company’s most interesting releases. A long-delayed, quickly discontinued, infamous flop, the 64’s bulky expansion was supposed to provide the console with an additional ‘middle-ground’ between cartridge and CD. Instead, it ended up being a black mark on an otherwise pretty spotless record (hey, we said “pretty“) with only 10 games and a handful of sales to its name.

In short, it’s a pretty rare bit of kit. Even more so is the 64DD Development Kit — the console Nintendo sent to studios before release so design teams could play to its unique features.

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Review: Rage Of The Dragons NEO (Switch) – A Fabulous Version Of A Fantastic Fighter

Hey! Broom heads!

With the original Double Dragon, Yoshihisa Kishimoto realised a dramatic, violent expedition to save a kidnapped girl from a miscreant petrol gang. Although the genre had already been established by Irem’s Kung-Fu Master several years earlier, the scores of enemies, weapons, multi-plane scenery, two-player functionality, and broad range of attacks made it the biggest arcade smash of 1987. Although its direct sequels were lacklustre, 1995’s Double Dragon for the Neo Geo (a fighting game spin-off often known as Double Dragon ’95 to differentiate) was notable. Designed to tie in with the questionable US-produced Double Dragon movie, it remains a very good game. Difficult, perhaps, with thankless AI, but the mechanics and balancing saw it played competitively far and wide. Sadly, the series didn’t revisit the fighting game format until 2002, when Rage of the Dragons surfaced as a late Neo Geo contender.

Originally meant to be a sequel to the aforementioned 1995 release, licensing issues had Rage of the Dragons end up outside of canon despite featuring two brothers named Billy and Jimmy… Lewis. Its roots, however, are obvious, and it’s still recognised by many as being part of the overall Double Dragon universe.

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