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Every 64th Frame: The Mario Kart Frame-Rate Quirk Fans Never Stopped Counting
Mario Kart 8 on Wii U had a famous frame-rate quirk – a duplicated frame that eagle-eyed fans counted for years. Why it stuck in the memory.
Author: Sal Benedetto
From the Vault columnist. Grew up feeding quarters to the Ms. Pac-Man machine at his uncle's pizza place; still owns his childhood SNES and every Nintendo Power he ever begged his mother for. Writes the retrospectives and the hidden-gem hunts.
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Sacred Stones, Radiant Lineage: Fire Emblem’s Wii-Era Peak Returns on Switch Online
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones joined Switch Online, carrying the spirit of the Radiant Dawn era. Why this strategy RPG golden age endures.
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From Waggle to Mouse: Motion Control’s Long Road from the Wii Remote to Today
Motion control began as the Wii’s revolution, faded as a fad, and quietly won. Tracing the gesture from Wii Sports to modern gyro and mouse modes.
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Wii Sports Was Free: How the Greatest Pack-In Ever Shamed Every Paid Welcome Tour
Wii Sports came in the box, taught a generation to play, and sold a console. Why the humble pack-in remains Nintendo’s smartest giveaway.
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22 Years On the Warp Star: Kirby Air Ride Ruled My GameCube — and Air Riders Gets Its Sequel Shot
Critics shrugged in 2003; City Trial ruled my GameCube for years. Why Kirby Air Ride was ahead of its time, and what its sequel inherits.
Features
Day One With Switch 2, Still Plugged Into the Real Thing: Why My Original GameCube Beats Nintendo’s Emulation
Switch 2’s GameCube Classics are welcome — but my original cube holds the bigger library, the lower latency, and twenty years of ritual.
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As Good as the Wii Shop Channel: Nintendo’s Weirdest Benchmark for a Modern eShop
A Switch 2 producer reportedly used the Wii Shop Channel as the quality bar for the new eShop. Why that creaky old store set the standard.
Features
The Gimmick That Ate the World: Why the Wii’s Motion Controls Actually Worked
Critics called motion controls a gimmick. The Wii sold 101 million consoles with them. Revisiting the waggle that changed who games were for.
Features
Playing Yesterday: How the Wii Taught Nintendo the True Meaning of Backward Compatibility
The Wii played every GameCube disc natively, ports and all. Looking back at Nintendo’s golden age of backward compatibility – and what came after.
Features
GameCube Classics Sail Onto Switch 2: Wind Waker, F-Zero GX and SoulCalibur II Lead the Fleet
GameCube Classics arrive on Switch 2: Wind Waker, F-Zero GX and SoulCalibur II lead a library rescuing the cube’s best — and rarest — games.