Nintendo uses their press conference to celebrate The Legend of Zelda’s 25th Anniversary, give a shot in the arm for the Nintendo 3DS’ fall lineup, and unveil their next console, the Wii U.

Nintendo began their press conference with a miniature concert to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda before talking about their full plans to continue the celebration for the rest of the year. Those plans began with the release of The Legend of ..read more

Nintendo potentially has the most exciting show of all with a brand new console to show off and a new handheld that debuted a few months ago that will be getting its second wind at E3. Their press conference begins on June 7 at 9 AM PST (12 PM EST).

Before we get to the new console, let’s take a look at the Wii. Nintendo recently dropped the price to $149.99 and changed the pack-in game (Wii Sports) to Mario Kart, ..read more

“Red, Blue, Green, Gold, Silver… Watch, I bet they’ll even come out with a Black and White version!”

Odds are that’s something you said in the cafeteria during your lunch in grade school.  Some fifteen years later, it actually happened. With the never-changing formula, one would think Pokemon would have gotten stale by now.  Sure, it’s no longer the fad that it was over a decade ago, but to this day, the flagship Pokemon games remain as solid as ever with ..read more

To many fans of the epic genre, Japanese role-playing games have all but gone stale.  With the exception of Demon’s Souls, there really hasn’t been a single title that has unanimously pushed the genre forward.  Even Square’s behemoth Final Fantasy XIII couldn’t live up to its hype.  However, there is some hope, and master developer and publisher Atlus provides that glimmer of hope by moving forward through the past with its latest epic for the Nintendo DS–Radiant Historia.

Radiant ..read more

The Dragon Quest series has been a raging hit on the Japanese shores for quite sometime.  The series is considered to be the format that most stereotypical RPG’s, Final Fantasy included, have been following to a tee.  When the much-anticipated 9th entry to the series was announced for release on the Nintendo DS, fans had mixed reactions.  Would a handheld Dragon Quest be a step down from the critically acclaimed 8th game on the PS2?

Luckily for Square Enix, the Dragon ..read more

While we’ve only seen one previous mainline game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, the latest game has quite a few familiar aspects for those of you that have played some of the spin-off series that Atlus has published over the past decade. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey takes a lot of cues from the previous Shin Megami Tensei games and spin-offs to make for a great RPG for the DS.

Strange Journey’s story is something of a tale about the ..read more

Capcom’s cult hit, Ace Attorney, has found itself a lot of fans during the DS lifespan.  Whether gamers pointed Phoenix Wright’s finger of justice or used the bracelets of truth of Apollo Justice, no other series has come with the humor and addictive gameplay the Ace Attorney games have held.  Now Capcom is trying its luck on the opposite side of the spectrum with Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

As its title suggests, Ace Attorney Investigations puts you in the shoes ..read more

Since we are not in San Francisco for the big Nintendo Media Summit event that is going on right now, we will at least try to give you a quick summary of all of the news that is coming out of the event so you can better grasp why your spring and summer just got a lot busier.

Let’s start with third party news, shall we?

Capcom’s Monster Hunter Tri will be coming out for the Wii on April 20 ..read more

The Ace Attorney series has been a welcome third party mainstay on the DS.  Players stepped in the shoes of the prominent defensive attorney Phoenix Wright in three games, while the fourth game put players in the head of Apollo Justice—a new defense attorney.  Now in its fifth entry, Capcom is turning the tables by playing the role of Miles Edgeworth, the prosecutor that has given Phoenix Wright all sorts of hell.

Those who follow the series are likely to be ..read more

Those who followed our coverage from the latest E3 were treated with an unfamiliar, yet interesting sight—Link navigating with a train.  A train in Hyrule?  As random as that may seem, it’s one of the central components of gameplay in the latest Zelda game, and it doesn’t take away from the fun you’ll have from this title.

If the train doesn’t interest you, and it probably doesn’t, we’ll just let the cat of the bag now.  In The Legend of Zelda: ..read more

The Shin Megami Tensei series has been around for quite a long time, though most of the games we’ve seen from Atlus have been in the Persona, Digital Devil Saga, and Devil Summoner spin-off series. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is part of the mainline series with more of a roguelike style to how it plays out than the more prolific and traditional SMT role-playing games like Persona. After a good ten hours, we’re enjoying what we’ve played of the ..read more

To be honest, we here at SmashPad are not big fans of the whole Game of the Year concept that every site uses when the end of the year arrives. Rather than getting together to discuss and/or argue about what games should or shouldn’t win the many categories we could come up with so we can find a way to give smaller games a shot at winning something, we decided to just highlight our favorite games of the year by ..read more

One of the more surprising titles released last year was an update to a timeless classic.  Space Invaders Extreme gave the old game some new life with symphonic techno beats to go along with an abstract look in order to freshen the game up for a lively and hectic experience.  With the success it had, it’s no wonder Taito has come out with a sequel so quickly, but unless you’ve never played last year’s entry—this game falls short of really ..read more