Mario

Gamers have been spoilt for choice this year, with a number of AAA titles being released on to store shelves over the past few months. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time definitely earns itself a place in this selection, being a fun, well-polished and oft-times challenging adventure gam...

By oliver@el33tonline.com (Oliver) Football Manager 2010 (SEGA)Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo)FIFA 10 (EA)Forza Motorsport 3 (Microsoft)Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Konami)GTA: Episodes From Liberty City (Rockstar)Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Nintendo)Tekken 6 (Namco Bandai)Borderlands (2K Games)Wii...

By podcast@el33tonline.com (El33tonline) We discuss what games the team have been playing, including Uncharted 2, Borderlands, WET, Tales of Monkey Island, The Beatles: Rock Band, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Critter Crunch. We also chat about upcoming titles such as Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed II, Left 4 Dead 2 and New Supe...

By oliver@el33tonline.com (Oliver) Wii Fit (Nintendo)Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft)Super Smash Bros: Brawl (Nintendo)Guitaer Hero 5 (Activision Blizzard)Brutal Legend (EA Partners)Eyepet (SCE)LEGO Batman: The Videogame (Warner Bros. Interactive)Grand Theft Auto IV (Take 2)

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, Xbox 360) – 1.52 millionWii Sports Resort with Wii Motion Plus (Nintendo, Wii) – 442 900Madden NFL 10 (EA, Xbox 360) – 289 600Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (Nintendo, NDS) – 258 100The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games, Xbox 360) – 254 000Madden NFL 10 (EA, PS...

By oliver@el33tonline.com (Oliver) FIFA 10 (EA)Uncharted 2 (SCEE)Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter GamesNeed for Speed: SHIFT (EA)Brutal Legend (EA Partners)Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box (Nintendo)Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft...

By oliver@el33tonline.com (Oliver) Fifa 10 (EA)Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box (Nintendo)Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft)Need For Speed: Shift (EA)Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Blizzard)MySims Agents (EA)Colin McRae: DiRT 2 (Codemasters)Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eido...

Nintendo gamers in South Africa will be spoilt for choice over the coming months. In addition to the Wii receiving a price cut here and Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii arriving in the next two months, a whole bunch of new games for both the Wii and the DS will be arriving on our sunny shor...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) In addition to confirming that the Wii would also be receiving a price cut in South Africa, Core Gaming (distributors of Nintendo in SA), revealed that Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii would both be available here in South Africa in line with the European release of the games.

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Last week at the Tokyo Game Show Nintendo announced that the Wii would receive a $50 price cut across North America. The discount came into effect on the 27th of September, making the new price tag of the publisher’s popular console $199.99, much more competitive against the recent price cu...

First unveiled at E3, New Super Mario Bros. Wii will allow up to four players to enjoy the platforming action, either helping one another along the way or impeding their progress. Head over to our hands-on preview of the game and our previous coverage for more information, trailers and scre...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Nintendo also announced that the Wii would be available for $50 less across North America starting on the 27th of September. The new $200 price tag will no doubt fuel sales of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Fit Plus (due out on the 4th of October in the US).

Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao, is a quality ‘little’ action platform game based in the rich, wonderful world of Chinese history, drawing on traditional wushu (kungfu) fighting styles, myths and legends as the prime source of inspiration, with elements of period-based kungf...

The Wii has entirely new genres of games. For example, there’s the mini-game collection that involves swinging the Wii Remote like a bat genre. There’s also the mini-game collection that involves swinging the Wii Remote like you’re throwing a ball genre. Big Family Games falls in the latte...

Donkey Kong platformers are nothing if not interesting these days – he is the character Nintendo seem to use when they want to experiment with a new idea. In Jungle Climber, a sequel in spirit to the GBA’s King of Swing, the control scheme is what is new and interesting, but it’s unable to carr...

Unlocking ancillary content in a game (alternate costumes, superfluous characters and items, and maybe even the odd vehicle or map here and there), while naturally progressing through that game, is perfectly acceptable. Unlocking the game itself (the core content through which you w...

For me Wario has always been more of a favourite than Mario, scandalous I know! However, his greedy lust for treasure, stitch-inducing humour combined with his zany mustache and general bad-boy attitude set him apart from good ol’ Mario. Wario has mostly been relegated to mini-games in h...

The Nintendo DS also outsold the rest of the competition with 588 000 units while five games published by Nintendo featured in the Top 10 (including Wii Fit, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros.) as well as Guitar Hero: World Tour for the Wii featuring at number 10. S...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) According to Nintendo, Wii sales were up by 74% with lifetime US sales now standing at 19 million. The DS has sold a lifetime US total of 29 million. This will no doubt be boosted by sales of the Nintendo DSi which launches across the US on the 5th of April. It looks like Nintendo can sit back, relax...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) You can also check out last week’s software and hardware chart if you like. Software Chart Wii Play: Mario Tennis (Nintendo) – Wii – 56 000 (NEW)Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor (Atlas) – DS – 55 000 (NEW) Naruto: Narutimate Storm (Namco Bandai) – PS3 – 44 000 (NEW)Dissidia Final Fantasy (Sq...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) “What makes Nintendo Week different is that we're not just showcasing the games, but encouraging everyone to get involved, test their skills and stand in line to win exciting prizes. A variety of tournaments are running daily as well as Mario and Luigi appearances to keep the whole family...

Super Smash Bros Melee was the highest selling game worldwide on the GameCube, a bright success on a console that didn’t produce that many top sellers. Not only was it a top seller, it was a fantastic game and even spawned a vibrant tournament scene. So when Nintendo announced Brawl it was met...

Braid takes the form of an old school platformer, those ones that we used to play on the Commodore 64 or the Apple ][. Stages, for the most part don't scroll on forever like in Super Mario Bros, but are usually only a screen or two, with the artists taking advantage of today's big high-definiti...

Another game in my backlog and one that I am sad to say I should have played ages ago. In my view it should not take longer than an hour to start enjoying a game. Games such as Grand Theft Auto, Mario Kart and Tetris are all good examples of games that have you mastering the controls within minutes o...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Of course a DS LAN would just not be complete without a little Bomberman and Tetris. We discovered that first timer Oliver was actually quite familiar with Bomberman and many of us learned a few tricks from watching him from the sidelines after we had been blown to smithereens by cleverly pl...

In what Nintendo calls its Hanabi Festival, where previously region-specific games are released for a limited time on the VC service, quite a few games have found new homes in completely new territories, including Ninja Gaiden, Super Mario Bros 2, Sin & Punishment, Gradius III and...

 South Africa - After waiting for around 13 years, the Super Nintendo classic, Super Mario RPG, has been released on the Wii’s virtual console service. ...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) In a very tiny nutshell, if you’ve ever had more than a passing familiarity with any of the previous Mario games, then you’re well aware of the plot. The princess, in all her futile pink glory, gets kidnapped by Bowser—a giant anthropomorphic red-eyebrowed turtle of sorts—presumably in a...

The first thing that hits home is that it is really ugly. After playing something like Super Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime on the Wii you expect so much more, but then what can one really expect from a game that practically launched alongside the Wii. With that bit out the way it’s up to the contr...

Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii has debuted on top of the UK’s All Formats Chart for the week ending the 28th of June. The popular title is the third largest UK Wii launch (behind Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii) and also secures Nintendo its fourth All Formats number 1 this year.

There is no doubt that the PS3 will experience a drastic drop in sales from last week’s record 75 311 units. Early estimates place the figure at roughly 24 000 units which would mean the PS3 would plummet down the hardware chart behind the PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS but still be placed well ahead...

Wario and Kirby are back in their own platform games while the Big Fish Games franchise debuts on the DS with a new Mystery Case Files game. Not to be left out of the action, Mario is set to slug it in a baseball game for the Wii. Here is a short description of the games (as per Nintendo):

Related articles from Gaming Bits, WiiNintendo.

Nintendo’s response to the May NPD results has focused on Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit. According to NPD data the Wii and Nintendo topped hardware sales in the US with 675 089 and 452 608 units sold respectively. The Wii took 63% of current generation consoles sold in May while the Nintendo DS took 71% of the portable market. Nintendo pointed out that lifetime sales of the Wii now stand at nearly 10.2 million while lifetime sales of the Nintendo DS are over 20 million. Nintendo didn’t point out that seven of the top ten software titles were for Nintendo platforms with six of those titles being published by the factory that made Mario. We suppose they didn't have to, but still this non-gloating response is like a breath of fresh air.   [read the full post]

Welcome back Mario Kart, console edition Not just do you have a snazzy new Mario Kart game, but with it comes an official licensed Wii Wheel. Stick your Wiimote into the wheel and use the wheel to steer your kart, instead of looking a bit arb tilting a remote control left and right, oh, and it is bundled free. You got to love Nintendo! If by chance you do not agree with the idea of using motion controls for playing Mario Kart games, you have a wealth of options by using the Nunchuck & Wiimote, Classic or GameCube controller. I found the Wii Wheel to be the control method of choice. Pros: Mario Kart Online – with friends; bikes; free Wii Wheel.   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Journalists attending the press launch of Mario Kart Wii were in for a big surprise and a big challenge! Once we had all been given the chance to get behind the steering wheel and the buzz had quietened down a bit, we were told the good news. So once the smoke had settled, it was Lauren from SACM and Nicholas from T3 who took top honours by racing all the way to the final. Lauren chose to race as Donkey Kong while Nicholas adopted Wario – perhaps each was trying to intimidate the other? Before I sign off I thought I would share one last picture with you, one of a few members of The Nintendo Team (Candice, Kerry, Matthew and Matt) putting the pedal to the medal. I promised to mention something about coffee but that's all I am going to say.   [read the full post]

Next in line was Mario Kart DS. Even before I bought my first DS, Mario Kart DS was there to help get me through many tedious car trips, afternoons spent lazing in the sun on holiday and general fun and merriment. The DS was often a cause of contention since those friends who were without this han...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) There are loads of Wii accessories out there in the shops these days, so they must be popular with Wii owners. If you’re on the market for some useful ones, the Thrustmaster T-Megapack for Wii is a solid option. It comes with a wheel that you can dock your Wii remote in for driving games, a protective grippy cover for the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk, and a docking station to charge and store your Wii Remote and Nunchuk in a neat fashion. It also includes batteries, rechargeable ones. The whole package follows the design of the Wii (white and complete with a square blue light) so these Thrustmaster products won’t look out of place next your Nintendo-made console.   [read the full post]

Picross DS may start you off easy, but it does get progressively more difficult as you finish more puzzles, and pretty soon you progress on to 10x10 puzzles, then 15x15, 20x20 and finally 25x20. In Normal Mode, if you try to fill in a block that shouldn’t be filled in you will be bleeped at and a...

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii is this week’s highest climber thanks to renewed stock, moving up six places to number 3, while Wii Play drops two places to number 5. Nintendo boasts three games in the All Formats Top 5 this week as well as 20 format exclusives in the All Formats Top 40. In addition 28 games in the Top 40 are selling best on Nintendo formats. Grand Theft Auto IV (Take Two) Wii Fit (Nintendo) Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega) Wii Play (Nintendo) Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami) Iron Man: The Official Videogame (Sega) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (Nintendo) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision)   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Nintendo also announced that the Nintendo Channel will launch across Europe on the 30th of May. The new channel was launched in the US on the 8th of May and allows Wii owners to get information about Wii and Nintendo DS games as well as watch trailers and game play videos, make use of ‘DS Download Play’ to sample DS game demos, search for games using various categories and recommend games you’ve played. Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo) Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix - Japanese) Lost Winds (Frontier – UK) Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive Ltd – Dutch) Pop (Nnooo – Australian) Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft Japanese) Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V. – Dutch) TV Show King (Gameloft – French)   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii has topped the Japanese software chart for another week. The latest figures from Media Create show that Mario’s racing debut on the Wii sold 151 918 copies for the week ending the 27th of April, bringing the title’s life-to-date sales to just shy of 1 million. Banpresto’s Summon Night for the Nintendo DS debuts at number 5 with 37 856 copies while Nintendo’s Wii Fit drops two places to number 6 with 36 851 copies. Life-to-date sales for Wii Fit now stand just short of 2 million. Nintendo’s We’re Fossil Diggers for the DS drops four places to number 7 with 22 319 copies while Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage for the DS drops two places to number 8 with 17 879 copies.   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) According to Chart Track, the All Formats Top 5 was comprised of games by four different Japanese publishers: Nintendo, Sega, Sony and Konami. Apart from Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, the top four games are all selling the strongest on the Wii. The dominance of the Wii looks set to continue next week with the release of Nintendo’s highly anticipated Wii Fit. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega) Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (Sony) Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami) Sega Superstars Tennis (Sega) Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (Ubisoft) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland (EA) Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (Nintendo) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision)   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Taking a stroll down memory lane now, the previous iteration of the popular Mario Kart series was Mario Kart DS. Released in Japan in December 2005, Mario Kart DS sold 224 411 copies in its opening week while its life-to-date sales stand at 2.9 million copies. Its predecessor Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube was released in Japan in November 2003 and sold 179 230 copies in its launch week with its life-to-date sales being 825 984 copies. There is no doubt that Mario Kart Wii will cause a boost in the sales of Wii hardware, and I would wager that Nintendo’s Wii will beat the PSP to become the best-selling console in Japan this week. If we take into account that the PSP had just two titles in the top ten in comparison to the Wii having four, it looks e...   [read the full post]

By lisa@el33tonline.com (Lisa) Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii has raced to the top of the UK’s All Formats Chart, recording the 8th biggest launch week ever in the UK. Mario Kart Wii is also the biggest launch of any Nintendo published title, boasting a bigger launch week than the launch weeks of all five other Mario Wii games combined (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Strikers, Mario Party 8 and Super Paper Mario). Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (Sony) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega) Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami) Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft) Condemned 2 (Sega) Wii Play (Nintendo) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)   [read the full post]

The story of Super Mario Galaxy is, as always in these Mario platformers, of the most basic kind – rescue the princess. Of course, not just any princess – it’s the same one he’s been rescuing for 20 years, Princess Peach. The villain is that perennial performer – Bowser the...well I’m not sure what kind of creature he is. Thankfully he’s shed his cartoony, cutesy look from the Paper Mario and Mario sports series (not that I mind that look or those games one bit, it just wouldn’t fit here), and is once again his bombastic, growly self, trying to take over not just the Mushroom Kingdom but the universe itself. (I’m never quite sure why he needs Peach to complete his nefarious plans though.) It’s up to Mario to gather together power stars so that he can rescu...   [read the full post]

Once you have unlocked the multiplayer mode, you can really start to have some fun. Unlike most multiplayer games on the Wii which you can use up to four Wii Remotes to play such as Wii Sports, you can only use one in this game. But the twist is that up to twelve people can play at one time with just one controller. What this does is simply add more confusion and excitement to an already insane experience! Passing the Wii Remote between four friends is a mini-game in itself…and don’t forget to put that safety chord on because one mini-game has been snuck in which actually requires you to drop the Wii Remote completely, testing your adherence to Nintendo’s safety regulations. It could be seen as a negative that there are no real simultaneous multipla...   [read the full post]

Now in his defence he is not at bad as Bowser, I mean he most certainly does not always kidnap Princess Peach but he has a pretty bad rap nonetheless. Some of Wario’s distinguishing factors include a big curly moustache below quite a sizeable pink nose, evil looking eyes, a large ‘W’ on his hat...

In the absence of Super Mario Galaxy, Sonic is the one left carrying the platformer crown in South Africa this Christmas, and is being released in December at a very reasonable price. Many hailed this as a return to form for the Sonic series after a poor outing on the Xbox 360 and PS3, but it see...

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros is structured around a simple story but boasts an inventiveness and unique use of the Wii Remote that I have seen in few Wii games. It is a puzzle game by its very nature but rolls action and adventure into the package to deliver a fun and sometimes challenging game. Like Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and Trauma Centre, Zack & Wiki pushes the boundaries of the Wii and makes use of the Wii Remote as it was no doubt meant to be used. Shake it baby! Phone a friend Pros: Great price ($40); clever, challenging but achievable puzzles; good replayability; great use of Wii Remote; fantastic anime-like art style.   [read the full post]

What is a game? Something that is easy to pick up and then have loads of fun with. Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System proved this by defining it years ago by giving you the chance to really have fun when playing a simple game. Now, in this day and age, we see that “games” are becoming more and more realistic to such an extent that it is actually quite “serious”… so, it’s not a “game” anymore? Nope, it’s just a different kind of game that provides the enthusiast with an endless amount of fun. Rewarding but lacking soul Auction action Cons: People after arcade racers stay way clear; tracks can be bland.   [read the full post]

Kirby: Canvas Curse is another offender: every stage you complete you get a chance to get more lives by making Kirby jump a long distance. You can get up to three lives every time. So when you're running short of lives (which happens slightly more often in Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush than i...

By podcast@el33tonline.com (El33tonline) We take a closer look at the Nintedo Wii and the goodies it comes packaged with. This episode Peter reviews Kirby Power Paintbrush for the DS, while Justin recounts his first experiences of Kingdom Hearts I on the PS2. The guys save the best for last and review New Super Mario Bros, which is cer...

By podcast@el33tonline.com (El33tonline) We take the opportunity of introducing you to EL33TONLINE and giving you the lowdown about what the site is all about. Enter the exciting competition to win yourself a Nintendo DS Lite and the amazing New Super Mario Bros game! We discuss the delay of the PS3 and also bring you reviews of Sing...