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Celebrate MAR10 Day In Australia & NZ

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Wahoo, Happy MAR10 Day!

Celebrate MAR10 Day in Australia and New Zealand with exclusive rewards on a range of Mario titles, including 10% back in Gold Points on Nintendo eShop, and collect an assortment of user icons parts from Super Mario games.

But wait, there is more! From now till 24th March, an assortment of user icons parts from Super Mario games will be available as Nintendo Switch Online member-exclusive rewards. There’s also a special mission you can complete by playing the Super NES classic Super Mario World to earn some Platinum Points.

Happy MAR10 Day to you all!

image source: Nintendo

PSA: The Mario vs. Donkey Kong eShop Demo For Nintendo Switch Is Out Now

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When Donkey Kong raids Mario’s toy factory and makes off with the merchandise, Mario has to once again face his biggest rival

Starting today (Feb 1st), a demo featuring four levels from the first world of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the enhanced version of the Game Boy Advance classic, is available for download on Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch. Check out the demo before the full game launches on Friday 16th February and take a closer look at the Mario vs. Donkey Kong – Overview Trailer below for additional details!

Solve puzzles, overcome challenges and find the keys to rescue the Mini-Marios and thwart Donkey Kong. The demo also gives players a first look at the new Two Player Co-Op mode, in which they can share a Joy-Con with a friend and team up as Mario and Toad. Players will also have access to the game’s new difficulty settings –Classic Style features the same difficulty level as the original Game Boy Advance version. Anyone who wishes to take things easier, can try Casual Style with no time limit and the ability to restart from checkpoints.



Retro Puzzler Chip’s Challenge Lands on Nintendo Switch Later This Month!

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Classic Puzzle Game ‘Chip’s Challenge’ Returns on Nintendo Switch this January!

The 1989 classic made available for Nintendo Switch for the first time! Features display filters, suspend points and live gameplay rewind. Releasing January 25th, 2024.

Developed by Imagine Software and published by Pixel Games UK, this 1989 classic returns with over 140 levels to put your mind (and your fingers) to the test — available for the first time on Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo eShop.

In ‘Chip’s Challenge’, players take on the role of Chip — a puzzle obsessive who desperately wants to join Melinda the Mental Marvel’s computer club. His initiation takes the form of a series of increasingly difficult puzzles. To succeed Chip slide blocks, dodge hazards and collect the computer chips to pass each level. Are you up to the Challenge?

‘Chip’s Challenge’ for Nintendo Switch allows players to play this classic puzzle game with many modern features, including:

● Display filters, including an 80s-style CRT filter; and

● Suspend points – save and restore up to 4 suspend points per game

image source: Pixel Games UK



Jirard Bought EVERY Nintendo Wii U & 3DS Game Before the Nintendo eShop Closes

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Jirard “The Completionist” Khalil has spent a smidgen under US$23,000 (~ AU$34,300) buying EVERY available Wii U and 3DS game before Nintendo shutters these respective eShops at the end of this month (March 2023).

This is definitely one way to preserve games, but let’s face it, we don’t all have tens of thousands of extra dollars sitting around, waiting to be used to buy up every game for these now deprecated Nintendo systems. We can’t even imagine the storage required to save and store all of these games – that’s a lot of microSD cards and solid-state drives!

Jirard should be commended, as he could have easily chosen the dark path, piracy, to achieve a similar result.

Completionist by name, completionist by nature, we salute you Jirard!

PS: When you are done watching the vid, read Kelsey Lewin’s Twitter thread on how this could solve the whole “preservation of games” puzzle.


source: Jirard The Completionist on Twitter



Taito Milestones – Nintendo Switch Review

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ININ Games has been quite prolific of late in teaming up with iconic arcade brand, TAITO – they keep giving us a jolt of nostalgia with their TAITO classics remastered for a new generation of systems (and gamers) to enjoy. Taito Milestones is the latest output of this collaboration, bringing a compilation of 80s classic Taito arcade games to the masses.

This special retro compilation may not be for everyone, but for those gamers of a certain age that played these arcade games ‘back in the day’, these games represent a new way of playing them on their contemporary consoles. Let’s get straight to the point, this Taito Milestones compilation is for those that seek a hit nostalgia, which is always welcome. For those that have no nostalgic pull to any of the games in Milestones, don’t be fooled by the simple graphics, as these games were designed to pull the player in and extract as many coins from their pockets.

There are 10 classic Taito arcade games which you may have heard of or even better, played them in the 80s! For western gamers, there may be a few titles that you may have not gotten to play as they were either exclusive to Japan or not widely available to play in arcade centres. There are the obvious classic titles like Elevator Action, Qix, Alpine Ski and The Ninja Warriors. That doesn’t mean that the other six titles are unheard of or not playable, they were just lesser known by western audiences back in the 1980s. We love platform and shooter/shoot’em up games, so Space Seeker, The FairyLand Story and Halley’s Comet are welcome additions – we have to say, we loved Halley’s Comet as it is a super fast paced vertical shmup with great enemies and power-ups. The emulation for all ten titles is absolutely spot on, so there is nothing to be concerned about on that front – just play and enjoy!

If you are a retro fan and don’t already own some of these games on the Switch, and want to dive into a nostalgic gaming experience by playing ten classic Taito arcade games, then Taito Milestones is for you. There is definitely something in this collection for every retro gamer. Is it worth the A$58 (digital) – only if you don’t already have some of these.

The physical edition (starting at €39.99/A$58.00) and the digital download version of TAITO MILESTONES for Nintendo Switch launches on April 15th, 2022.

QIX (1981)

Space Seeker (1981)

Alpine Ski (1982)

Front Line (1982)

Wild Western (1982)

Chack’n Pop (1983)

Elevator Action (1983)

The FairyLand Story (1985)

Halley’s Comet (1986)

The Ninja Warriors (1987)
image source: ININ Games



Disclaimer: The Nintendo Switch review code for Taito Milestones was provided by PR Hound.

Dimension Drive: A Blast With A Twist

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Let’s get one thing straight, we are lucky to have Dimension Drive! Why lucky you may ask? Well, it goes something like this – 2Awesome Studio made up of two Dutch ex-space engineering indiedev decide to go the Kickstarter route to raise funds to produce Dimension Drive. The Kickstarter ends up being wildly successful and after much celebration, it was found that they had been trolled! Hearts were broken.

Alas, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, 2Awesome Studio weren’t going to give up on their dream of producing Dimension Drive for us mad shoot’em up gamers. Actually, 2Awesome Studio pulled off a Lazarus of Bethany of sorts with Dimension Drive! Released on PC, Mac, Linux and the Nintendo Switch, this intense space shmup is no ordinary vertical scrolling shooter, it challenges the player to fight across two battlefields on a single split-screen! Sounds nuts yeah? Not really, this unique teleportation mechanic makes the game stand out from other traditional shmups you may be used to playing on the Switch.

With the teleportation jump feature, the player can instantly dodge waves of bullets, reach secret areas and the best part, surprise enemies – PEW PEW PEW, take that! Play solo or turn it up to 11 pilots with a local co-op partner to give your enemies hell when you team up on one screen, or split up to grab as much loot as possible. Unlock and power up a variety of weapons like the Flak Shotgun – an overpowered beast that blasts ships to atoms at point blank range or the burning wall of space death streaming from the flame-thrower like Plasma Torch. Master advanced techniques like the Drift Drive that lets you dodge bullets in a split second or even flip into Reverse Drive to hit enemies when they least expect it. You fight through a richly detailed sci-fi adventure which unfolds the secrets of the Dimension Drives, allowing you to climb the global leaderboards in four different difficulty modes ranging from Normal (for a balanced challenge) to Insane if you like living in a world of pain!

Dimension Drive is an easy shmup game to recommend for Switch players looking for a fresh take on an old school genre. This game can be tough, but it’ll ultimately rewards those that persist. Get Dimension Drive for your Switch (it’s only $19.99AUD) and do not reconsider – you have come way too far to surrender now! Pew pew pew!

image source: 2Awesome Studio