Today I finished what may be one of the finest Zelda adventures yet in Skyward Sword, and to celebrate this edition of Nintentunes is all Zelda, all the time! This time we will travel through the handheld versions of the Zelda franchise which contain fantastic music in their own right. For all those playing Skyward Sword, how do you think the music in the Wii adventure holds up? (more…)

Nintendo has a rich history of innovative and gameplay contributing hardware. You know: new hardware twists that improve the way we interactive with games. Having played all of the company’s systems since 1986, here’s how I’d rank ‘em in terms of most gameplay enabling to least gameplay enabling:

1. Nintendo DS. Whose to blame for the ongoing touch gaming revolution? This little guy. Not only that, the DS lends itself better to virtually every genre ever created. Talk about adaptive hardware. Consequently, it’s the best-selling video game system ever (console or handheld, whether made by Nintendo or not). Talk about well received.
2. Nintendo Entertainment System. Directional pads and face buttons might not have existed if it weren’t for this gray box. Joysticks are retro-chic and all, but they’re horribly imprecise when compared to gamepads that the NES pioneered. In fact, some of the best Wii and iOS games mimic the NES joypad (Wiimote turned sideways or on screen d-pad and two face buttons).
3. Wii. The only thing that keeps this from being higher on my list is the limited number of genres that benefit from motion control. Obviously, Wii works great for a lot of games, including apparatus sports (tennis, golf, bowling, etc), arcade shooters, and puzzlers, but other popular genres like platformers, first and third-person games, and others are better served overall with a gamepad. The current gaming landscape is a testament to that.  (more…)

Ten years ago to the day, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance. Slightly more powerful than a Super Nintendo, the handheld was and still remains the epitome of sprite-based gaming. It’s awesome, even in a post Wii, DS, Xbox, and PS3 world.

To commemorate, Nintendo Power this month named what they believe to be the system’s 10 best games, as follows:  (more…)

My backlit GBA used to be babysitter blue. But thanks to a tip from Infendo reader richufc, it’s now jet black with all new buttons.

The skinny: I bought what is seemingly an official replacement case from Hong Kong for dirt cheap: $4.30 with shipping. Bought a couple of drivers for $5 more smackers. Then followed doginmylense’s wonderful tutorial for navigating the more trickier parts.

Total replacement time: 30 minutes

Looks good, don’t it?

Unofficial Game Boy week continues on Infendo!

Amid the final Wii drought and lack of deep 3DS games at the moment, I’ve been having a blast revisiting the Game Boy Advance’s library, most of which I assume many of us never played, particularly the latter years as both DS and Wii were already in full swing. That said, here are some high-scoring games you may have missed, and can pick up cheap on the second-hand market:  (more…)