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Over the holiday season, we’re republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as part of our Best of 2024 series. Enjoy!

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Alana is talking about a Vanillaware oldie — Muramasa: The Demon Blade, a Wii title that is celebrating its 15th anniversary. And, in the wake of 13 Sentinels and Unicorn Overlord’s success, it’s time to give Vanillaware’s older title some love.

Vanillaware has been pretty much everywhere. It’s visited magical, mystical storybook worlds in Odin Sphere. It’s returned to a medieval, warfaring world many times with Grand Knights History and Unicorn Overlord. It’s been to 1980s Japan in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim. We’ve even been able to go to witch school thanks to GrimGrimoire. But despite the wide variety of softly painted and gorgeous worlds, I always find myself looking back to Edo..

Over the holiday season, we’re republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as part of our Best of 2024 series. Enjoy!

Four decades after it became an international sales phenomenon and dominated a crowded games market, the Nintendo Entertainment System – the 8-bit box that gave birth to some of the medium’s biggest enduring franchises – today finds itself playing host to something else entirely: new aftermarket IPs that are strikingly polished and joyously fun.
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The homebrew scene for the NES has flourished over the two decades, especially so with the rise of tools like NESmaker in 2018, which makes developing for the console far more approachable. Inspired by pioneer developers, the minds behind Morphcat Games earned their stripes coding games from scratch using 6502 assembly language.

Enter Micro Mages. An homage to NES-era platformers, the 2019 game was the subject of a viral YouTube m..

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is celebrating its two-year anniversary with a bumper list of in-game events, all of which culminate in the arrival of shiny Rayquaza, which you’ll be able to get for a limited time via Tera Raid Battles.

The black-coloured Rayquaza will be available in Scarlet & Violet from 20th December 2024 to 5th January 2025, but you’ll have to take it down and capture it in a 5-Star Tera Raid Battle. That’s not before a whole slew of events taking place in Paldea, Kitakami, and the Blueberry Academy, however.
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Between 29th November and 19th December, three sets of Tera Raid Battle Events will be taking place. the first will feature Corbiknight and Bellibolt (until 5th December), the second Azumarill and Clodsire (until 12th December), and the third Annihilape and Kingambit (until 19th December).

Three Mass Outbreaks will also be popping up across all three regions in Scarlet & Violet during those same dates. Outb..

Believe it or not, Donkey Kong Country for the SNES has turned 30 years old after originally launching in the UK on 18th November 1994.

Often regarded as one of the greatest platformers of all time, Donkey Kong Country was the first in an SNES trilogy from developer Rare, and was really the game that properly kickstarted a fruitful relationship between Nintendo and the UK-based studio. Although it has arguably been eclipsed by the likes of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, it nevertheless remains a firm fan favourite.

Well, here’s a pleasant surprise for all the Life is Strange fans out there. After launching on PlayStation 5 last month, Square Enix has today announced that the series’ first proper sequel, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, will finally be landing on the Switch eShop on 19th November… wait, that’s tomorrow!

The news was revealed in a fresh animated trailer (above), which re-introduces us to the first game’s protagonist, Max Caulfield, and sets up the spooky goings-on that she’ll have to face this time. There’s been a murder (gasp), and it’s up to you and your time-shifting powers to solve it across dimensions.
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We Switch fans will get to go hands-on with this one tomorrow, when it arrives digitally on the eShop. Those who prefer things a little more physical, however, will have to wait for 28th January when Double Exposure launches in boxed form — “select retailers” will even offer a special steelbook to accompany it.

Doub..

Black Friday is almost upon us (heck, it’s already started for most retailers) so, naturally, the Switch eShop sales are about to start coming thick and fast.

One worthy of being highlighted today is Square Enix’s ‘Nintendo Cyber Deals’, which brings a swathe of delicious discounts to the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series. The sale kicks off on the North American eShop today (18th November) and runs until 1st December, so if you have been putting off purchasing I-VI since they arrived on Switch last April, this is your chance.
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Each title has been treated to a 25% discount and Square Enix teases that more games will be added in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out.

For now, at least, here are the games included:

Final Fantasy I Pixel Remaster – $8.99 (25% off)

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster – $8.99 (25% off)

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster – $13.49 (25%)

Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster – $13.49 (25%)

Final Fantasy V P..

The red Mario Red Nintendo Switch OLED is back in stock at Amazon at a pretty big discount. Customers in the US can grab the console for just $299 (was $350). Not only is this the first major discount we’ve seen for the Switch OLED Mario edition, but it’s also been frequently out of stock since launching last October alongside Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Chances are this deal won’t be around for long, making this the perfect opportunity to pick one up. Note that stock and pricing appear to differ depending on your region, so the deal may not be available to everyone.
See at Amazon Nintendo Switch OLED Mario EditionIf you want to pair the Mario Red Switch OLED with a game featuring the famous plumber, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is available for $48 (was $60) at Walmart. You can create your own side-scrolling stages in Super Mario Maker 2, which is down to $40 (was $60). For role-playing game fans, Super Mario RPG is up for grabs for $40 and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is $53 (both ..

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld, alleging infringement of patent rights.
According to a press release, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company filed the lawsuit today, September 18 in the Tokyo District Court. “This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” the press release said.
“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
Back in January, Nintendo said that it intended to investigate Palworld, saying that it would take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on IP rights related to Pokemon. However, in June, Pocketpair said that it still hadn’t heard anything from Nintendo or faced any legal act..