Kazuki Motoyama, the Japanese artist and writer behind Kodansha's Super Mario manga, has passed away aged 69, as recently confirmed by his sister on Instagram.

If you happen to be an avid fan of Nintendo's world-famous mustachioed plumber, beyond just his appearance in the video games, it's quite possible that you may have come across Motoyama's work in the past while looking for Mario artwork or scanning Nintendo wikis or websites online.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

While the Philips CD-i titles Zelda: Faces of Evil and Zelda: Wand of Gamelon are relatively well-known, the third outing on the system – 1996's Zelda's Adventure – is less famous, and some would argue that's for a good reason – it's pretty terrible.

However, that hasn't stopped John Lay from giving the title a new lease of life as a fully-fledged (but obviously unofficial) Game Boy port. "Zelda’s Adventure looked interesting and I thought it would be fun to play on a portable system," he says. "I chose the Game Boy because of the existing Zelda games on the system."

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Nintendo is one of the most recognisable companies in the world today, and characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong are known to millions of people worldwide.

However, had the company lost a vital court case back in 1983, we may never have seen either of these characters again – and, you could argue, Nintendo itself might not have become the powerful force it is today.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

In 1982, Jerry Momoda was playing Donkey Kong at The Spot Tavern in Renton, Washington, following his girlfriend's softball game, when he noticed something unusual.

To the side of him, out of the corner of his eye, watching him closely, was a man in a crisp white dress shirt and tie, who was taking a particular interest in his playing.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Nintendo has just released sales figures for its consoles, and the headline news is that the Switch, which launched back in 2017, is within touching distance of overtaking the Nintendo DS as the company's most successful console of all time.

As reported by our friends at Nintendo Life, the Switch now stands at 154.01 million consoles sold, which means it's less than 10,000 units away from surpassing the DS's total of 154.02 million.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The SNES is getting a new action RPG called Eternal Hunters – The Branford Legacy, and legendary French composer Raphaël Gesqua is on board to contribute to the soundtrack.

Gesqua, whose previous games include Flashback, Mr.Nutz, Shaq-Fu, Fade to Black and Moto Racer, has already written a trio of songs for the game, it has been reported.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Namco's Splatterhouse series began life in the arcades before transitioning to consoles with its direct sequels (both on Sega Genesis / Mega Drive) and its Japan-only spin-off, Splatterhouse - Wanpaku Graffiti.

That cute Famicom title was intended to get an RPG sequel of its own, named Splatter World, which was intended to launch in March of 1993 but was ultimately cancelled.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Limited Run Games recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and one of the big surprises from its birthday was the announcement that NES title Little Samson would be getting a new release.

Those in the know will be aware that this is one of the rarest games on Nintendo's console, with copies changing hands for over $2,000.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Ever since handheld gaming went mainstream, players have had to contend with one limiting factor: battery life.

Back in the days of the Game Boy, it was all about pestering your parents for fresh packs of AAs, but by the time the GBA SP arrived in 2003, things had evolved – rechargeable batteries became standard, along with the need to tether your console to a wall socket in order to top things up.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Ninty Media, the publisher behind GameBook, GameBook Color and GameBook Advance, is preparing to release a new tome which celebrates Nintendo's first true home console, the NES.

"We've been making books for more than 5 years now, with Paul Murphy (Ninty Media's owner) having tackled the trio of Game Boy platforms in recent years (DMG, 2023, COLOR, 2024, ADVANCE, 2025) as well as writing about all the amiibo way back in 2021," reads NESBook's Kickstarter page.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Loading Studios, not happy to secure a spot in their country’s video gaming history by producing the first Portuguese physical Game Boy release Alentejo: Tinto’s Law earlier this year, is now returning to the 8-bit fray with a bigger sequel.

Alentejo: The Tinto and the Ugly once again casts the player in the well-worn western boots of Gildo, who is now accompanied by love interest and fearless cowgirl Dolores in their continued quest to free the county of Alentejo from the grips of exceptionally cruel and corrupt vineyard owner Baron Tinto.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

If you were around in the late '90s and you owned a PC then chances are you encountered ZSNES, one of the first retro emulators to really break into the mainstream.

Coded by zsKnight, the emulator was astounding for 1997 – not only did it offer excellent performance, it even had netplay. Remember, this was back when most households still had dial-up connections, and the average PC was less powerful than a smartwatch is today.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The Keshigomu collector, MrTalida, has successfully preserved another set of Mario-themed toys, which are now available to download and print, decorate, or animate as you wish.

This time around, however, the figures are anything but the run-of-the-mill depictions of the Super Mario Bros. cast, as sculpted by companies such as Amada, Bandai, and Takahashi, instead featuring a bunch of monstrous and messed-up-looking versions of the game's characters.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

If you've been following recent events in the world of video games, you'll be aware that big things are happening over at Xbox HQ.

Microsoft has been slowly but surely increasing the number of titles it releases on rival platforms, and this trend has arguably reached its apex with the news that Halo is coming to Sony's PS5.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

When Nintendo released Rare's stunning Donkey Kong Country in 1994, it not only gave the SNES a new lease of life, but it also allowed the console to gain some much-needed technical dominance over Sega's Genesis / Mega Drive.

One of the first video games to utilise CGI visuals, Donkey Kong Country was so impressive that when it was first showcased, many assumed it was running on Nintendo's next-gen console, and not the ageing SNES.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The Nintendo DS family of systems sold in excess of 150 million units and remains one of Nintendo's most commercially successful products.

Initially released as the 'phat' DS in 2004, it would be repackaged as the DS Lite in 2006, and it's this particular model which most people will have owned back in the day. We also got the DSi in 2008 and the DSi XL the following year.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Tim Girvin isn't a name that we're betting most Nintendo fans will be aware of, but we're almost 100% sure that you would have encountered his work in the past if you happen to have a passing interest in retro gaming.

A "strategic branding expert" and designer by trade, Girvin played a large and incredibly important role in establishing the visual identity of Nintendo of America's games and consoles in the '80s and '90s, becoming the company's secret weapon in making sure its products stood out in crowded malls and store windows across the US and North America.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Yesterday, we published our interview with Bruce Lowry, the former vice president of sales at Nintendo of America from 1981 to 1986.

In the interview, Lowry shared his insights into what it was like launching the NES in North America, told us of his regret of leaving Nintendo to form Sega of America in '86, and also spoke about his return to Nintendo in 1988 to try and help the company get a foothold in Europe (where Sega was then outperforming Nintendo with the Sega Master System).

Read the full article on timeextension.com

The launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America is one of gaming's greatest success stories.

At the time of its original test market release in October 1985, the market for video game consoles in North America was considered to be dead, with memories still strong among retailers of the video game crash that had occurred just two years prior.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Flash carts have become such an integral part of retro gaming that they are now evolving over time, with newer variants boasting special features that go beyond merely running ROMs on vintage hardware.

Krikzz's range of EverDrive carts is a good example of this iterative process; the Ukrainian engineer and modder is a seasoned veteran in this part of the industry, having produced some of the earliest (and best) flash carts in the business.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Sony's PS1 turned 30 at the end of last year, and this year marks the 30th anniversary of the console's launch in the West.

Former President of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shuhei Yoshida, has been speaking to GamesIndustry.biz about the arrival of Sony's legendary 32-bit hardware.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Konami was on fire during the early years of the Game Boy, and produced a string of hits such as Operation C / Contra, Nemesis, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan and Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break.

The latter title is currently being redeveloped as an unofficial 'DX' update for Game Boy Color by French translator and hacker Brand Newman, which pleases me massively as it remains one of the favourite Game Boy releases.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

A while back, the folks over at Retro-Bit announced that they were re-releasing not one but two Rare classics from yesteryear: 1992's R.C. Pro-Am II (NES) and 1993's Battletoads & Double Dragon (Game Boy).

Both were published by Tradewest back in the day, and came at a time when UK developer Rare was seen as one of the most capable Nintendo-focused studios in the world.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Wrestler and actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is currently doing the rounds promoting his latest movie, The Smashing Machine, and was innocently quizzed by IGN on his favourite video game of all time.

Initially, 53-year-old Johnson – who rose to fame during the WWE's 'Attitude' era and has movies such as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Rampage, Fast Five and Black Adam to his name – picked EA's long-running Madden NFL as his preferred game, but only when playing at home.

Read the full article on timeextension.com

Back in 1996, the Game Boy was on the cusp of a late-life resurgence. Nintendo refreshed the monochrome portable with the Game Boy Pocket, and, on the same day in Japan, it released Mole Mania, a title produced by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto.

Considered to be something of a 'forgotten' classic on the system (although it has become pretty well-known in recent years), Mole Mania is an action puzzler starring Muddy, a mole who is capable of digging into the earth in order to overcome obstacles.

Read the full article on timeextension.com