Nintendo Life

• DS
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

The inclusion of regular button controls over Island of Happiness’s touchscreen-only commands helps to elevate this above its predecessor, but even with its neat island-raising idea to expand the game world it feels a little unambitious. It rarely puts a foot wrong, controlling well and teasing you with enough new items and areas to convince you to play through just one more day, and it’s one of the strongest titles in the series on the DS, but don’t expect much to shake up the farming formula.

• SNES
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

While it's unlikely to be considered as one of the format's finest RPG experiences, Arcana is unquestionably worthy of investigation if you're a fan of the genre but crave something a little more unique than the norm. Fans of Shining in the Darkness are likely to view the game as shameless plagiarism, but even they should be willing to admit that HAL's effort manages to outperform Sega's original in practically every department – although the game can be unduly harsh on the player at times.

• DS
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

There's no denying the nostalgia factor involved in these classic Game & Watch releases and the DSiWare service is the perfect place to make these available as individual releases for those who've longed to play them again. They're not going to set the gaming world on fire with their playability, but for those who can appreciate them they're really cool and still a lot of fun to sit down with when you have a few minutes to kill. Donkey Kong Jr. is easily one of the more enjoyable of the Game & Watch releases and if you've never tried any of the Game & Watch titles, this one is a great place to start.

• DS
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Phantasy Star Zero is a brave and bold attempt at an action RPG for the DS, and its online features and size make it an enticing proposition. The inclusion of innovative features such as Visual Chat, the abundance of action, some witty dialogue and the presence of many traditional Phantasy Star elements help to secure this a decent score, and there is a lot to enjoy. After spending a few hours with it you begin to understand and accept its control limitations, but it's hard to shake the feeling that the game's potential is let down by the hardware itself.

• DS
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Phantasy Star Zero is a brave and bold attempt at an action RPG for the DS, and its online features and size make it an enticing proposition. The inclusion of innovative features such as Visual Chat, the abundance of action, some witty dialogue and the presence of many traditional Phantasy Star elements help to secure this a decent score, and there is a lot to enjoy. After spending a few hours with it you begin to understand and accept its control limitations, but it's hard to shake the feeling that the game's potential is let down by the hardware itself.

• DS
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Whilst it’s clear the game engine has received a lot of attention, elevating it way beyond the majority of DS and even PSP in terms of graphical quality, the game flow is mostly every bit as smooth. There’s plenty of variety in missions, both optional and compulsory, and enough touches along the way to distract you, extending the game even further.

• WII
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Whilst the failure to fully address issues from the original Wii Fit is a bit of a disappointment, Wii Fit Plus is still a good exercise program with a large array of fun activities that will appeal to a broad range of Wii owners. If you already own Wii Fit, it's definitely an upgrade worth getting.

• WII
• 10 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Retro has done a bang-up job in creating a polished compilation of their brand of Metroid games, which are considered some of the best adventures around. If you haven't experienced Tallon IV, Aether or become corrupt, you owe it to yourself to get on this, and veterans can still find enough thrills and upgrades to make Trilogy a worthwhile endeavor. The core games may not have changed at all, but the beefed up visuals and agile controls makes the experience feel new to old-comers, and the tight presentation is icing on an already delicious cake. If you've passed on the Prime series until now, your excuses for doing so have dwindled considerably.

• WII
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

• SNES
• 7 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Nobunaga’s Ambition is one of the most successful franchises in the Koei library and features game play that is fun and addictive to this day. Although later games in the series added more depth, this original game is still worth checking out for newcomers to the series because it offers so many choices that you can easily get 100 hours of play out of the game. More importantly, there is no easier gateway into the world of Koei than Nobunaga’s Ambition. In comparison, games such as Ghengis Khan II, coming soon to virtual console, feature a similar game design but with vastly more options to overwhelm you if you don’t have some idea of what to expect first.

• DS
• 9 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Every Final Fantasy remake that has hit the Nintendo DS so far has improved upon its predecessor while at the same time retaining the original fun factor. Since these revisits have done very well in terms of sales, it was no surprise that Square Enix decided to take another stab at Final Fantasy IV. It also comes as no surprise that, like the original, Final Fantasy IV is a very challenging RPG that'll appeal to all fans of the genre: the graphics are superb, the soundtrack is great, and the gameplay is top-notch. When everything is said and done, this is a must-have RPG.

• WII
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a strategist's heaven. With over 30 hours content, the wide variety of levels, tactics, and missions will more than satisfy your thirst for war. Be warned though, this is no easy game: you will be tried and tested at every turn by the brutal opposition. The presentation of the story is not the best, and there are vast chunks of text to get through, but strategy fans don't really mind that, do they?

• GBA
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

With a comprehensive story mode, tight and entertaining tennis gameplay mechanics and a surprising amount of depth, Mario Power Tennis is a return winner on Wii U. Its visuals look considerably outmoded in some areas, and other aspects such as the exceptionally heavy dialogue initially make it a bit difficult to get into the swing of things. Nevertheless, there’s a deep experience to be found underneath all the waffle, mainly thanks to the sense of progression the story mode delivers from start to finish. Mario Power Tennis remains a very playable game, is without question worth its relatively small asking price and — most of all — goes very well with a punnet of strawberries and cream.

• WII
• 9 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

This game does its job very well - it's a new and refreshing way of looking at the football game, and Konami deserve huge praise for trying something truly different with a brand that, it could be argued, has been stagnating since the breakthrough PES4. Highly enjoyable, unique and absorbing, PES isn't just the best ever football game on a Nintendo platform, it's a beacon to other third-party developers that should reawaken their imagination in approaching old formulae with fresh ideas.

• WII
• 6 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

It’s very likely that GG:AC is the most gorgeous 2D fighter you’ll ever lay eyes on but the fact remains that it’s badly compromised by the terrible motion-sensitive control. A general lack of originality is also a key issue, but having said all that fans of the series will be perfectly at home here – so long as they pick up a Classic Controller and shun the terrible default control scheme.

• WII
• 3 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

If it were a ‘proper’ board game you might be able to forgive the glaring shortcomings, but as it stands Tamagotchi: Party On! is a full price videogame and, as such represents appalling value for money. Pre-pubescent fans of Bandai’s virtual pet money-spinner will no doubt jump at the chance to run for the coveted presidency of Planet Tamagotchi, but when the e-number fuelled haze has worn off, we think they’ll be bitterly disappointed by this woefully sub-par product.

• WII
• 8 / 10
• Royaume-Uni

It's a bit of an oddball to players familiar with other Mario games, sure, but the fact that it's so different from the rest of the series is what makes Super Mario Bros. 2 such an entertaining game. If you want a fun but unusual Mario experience, look no further - this is pretty much the textbook definition of it.

• N64
• 9 / 10
• Royaume-Uni