Category: Nintendo

Watered down.

Love or hate fishing minigames, there’s no denying they’re a staple of the cosy set. But Moonglow Bay aims to blow that hook-and-line mechanic into a full game. This fishing sim from Bunnyhug and Coatsink launched in 2021 on Steam and Xbox to mixed reviews. The new Switch port (and starboard) starts out as a tranquil few days out on the water, but with bugs and some frustrating gameplay it becomes quite a stormy journey.

The game begins with your partner being declared deceased after they went missing three years ago (you can choose pronouns and appearances for both). Your adult daughter, River, moves in to care for you and help you, alongside your cute dog, Waffles, who you can pat and take for walks. You open a present left for you: a fishing journal. And so begins your character’s healing and fishing journey.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Roll out!

Publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment and developers LEAP Game Studios and Tiny Ghoul have today announced that the monster-collecting, deck-building roguelike Dicefolk will be rolling onto Switch later this year.

There’s a dash of Pokémon in Dicefolk’s creature catching, sure, but the combat system is far from anything that you would see Pikachu and co. pull off. As the name suggests, dice play a big part in this one, with your moves all being decided by what you roll. The added tactical layer comes from your ability to control both teams, so you’ll have to think ahead to get the best match-up possible.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Most employees now under zero hour contracts.

Staff at UK retailer GAME are reportedly facing redundancies as the firm moves most of its workforce under zero hour contracts.

As reported by Eurogamer, it’s not currently known how many employees will be laid off, but it’s understood that all non-managerial staff will now be on zero hour contracts going forwards. For those who might not be familiar with the UK scheme, zero hour contracts offer up no guarantee of work for the employee, as the employer is not under any obligation to set a minimum number of working hours.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Ermac returns.

The new Mortal Kombat game Mortal Kombat 1 is still rolling out new fighters for its Kombat Pass and the next one on the way has now been officially teased. It’s Ermac and the first official teaser for this character has now been shared by the official Mortal Kombat social media account.

A full gameplay trailer of Ermac will be released later this week. The current teaser features a brief exchange between Kung Lao and Ermac. This same teaser also reveals Mavado – the next Kameo fighter coming to Mortal Kombat 1.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

I choose you!

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Jim lays his cards on the table after visiting the Pokémon European International Championships…

Head into my brain. Take a left at ‘Obscure Zelda Knowledge,’ go past the door marked ‘Ideas for Cat Costumes #3’ and then turn right when you hit the recording of the Hamilton soundtrack playing on loop. There you will find a dusty old cabinet marked ‘Things I Will Definitely Learn.’

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Bloomin’ lovely.

When cosy and wholesome games first stepped onto the scene, they were counter-culture — created in response and in resistance to an industry that churned out violence, conflict, and a particular type of masculinity that wasn’t keen on things like emotions or intimacy. Some people were tired of this monolithic and exclusionary idea of what a game ‘should’ be — and so, as a direct contrast to all of that, the cosy game movement was created, prioritising stories that minimised conflict, and focused instead on growth and creation. That’s part of the reason why so many cosy games are about farming and relationships, because the themes of cultivation and creation are almost the exact opposite of violence and conflict.

But these days, cosy games have become a dominant part of gaming culture, and the conflict-free alternatives they once offered as a respite from the status quo are now a lucrative part of the status quo. This is what happens when counter-culture becomes culture: it forgets its roots and its purpose, and instead becomes about aping what’s already popular. In the process, many cosy games fail to understand that a player’s desire for softness and kindness does not mean that they want a completely toothless game. Challenge is not conflict. Challenge is fun.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Hello Honolulu!

The Pokémon Company wrapped up this weekend’s European International Championship with a taste of what’s in store for the competitive scene over the rest of 2024, importantly sharing the date and venue for this year’s World Championship which is heading to Hawai’i this summer.

Revealed in an all-new trailer (above) we now know that the 2024 Pokémon World Championships will be held at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in Honolulu from 16th-18th August.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The best eShop games of February, chosen by you and us!

Spring has sprung, and so has the next edition of eShop Selects.

This time, we’re looking at the best hidden gems — as voted for by Nintendo Life staff — alongside a separate poll for the Reader’s Choice for March’s eShop releases. You’ll see the winner of the latter at the bottom of the article.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

‘Never Leave’, amiright?

In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you’d find all the weird goofs that we couldn’t fit in anywhere else. Some may call it “filler”; we prefer “a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag”.

We don’t have pages on the internet, but we still love terrible jokes — so welcome to our semi-regular feature, Back Page. Today, Ollie whips down to the travel agents in search of a well-earned break…

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Da bomb.

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

Before we get cracking, let’s see how things panned out last time. We checked out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters on the SNES, pitting North America and Europe against Japan in a dual for the ages.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com