About Eric Zavinski

I've been playing Nintendo games since I was 3 years old, and my earliest memory is watching my dad play Super Mario 64. Since then, I've become as big of a fan as you might imagine: YouTube video projects, fan fiction, owning just about every amiibo — you name it! I'm also a stalwart defender of underappreciated games like Skyward Sword, Other M, Super Paper Mario, Star Fox Adventures, Star Fox Zero and more. I love to see passion in a gaming product, and my desire on this site is to share a similar passion in what I write.

Review: Yoshi’s Crafted World Is Mostly Well-Crafted

It’s somewhat weird to think it, but Yoshi himself has had more consistent releases on Nintendo platforms in the past decade than more prominent leading stars, including Samus Aran, Fox McCloud and even Donkey Kong.

Despite Yoshi’s original sidekick status, the green dinosaur sells, resulting in the most recent title: Yoshi’s Crafted World for the Nintendo Switch. Developed by Good Feel, this game expands upon the idea of an aesthetic of realistic materials. More so than Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Yoshi’s Woolly World before it, Yoshi’s Crafted World shows off its visual creativity in spades while delivering on the mostly expected 2D platforming formula we’ve come to expect from the character.

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By |2020-08-16T22:30:01+00:00May 5th, 2019|Features, Nintendo Switch, Review|0 Comments
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Farewell, Reggie Fils-Aimé!

More than just a corporate president and COO, Reggie Fils-Aimé has shown the heart and soul of a video game enthusiast, cheerful leader and dedicated friend to the Nintendo community.

In this supercut, we wanted to celebrate all of Reggie’s public moments that left us with smiles (and maybe a few tears) on our faces. Since 2003, he’s been hard at work, helping to give fans and families experiences we will never forget.

As “Nintendo” loosely translates to “Leave Luck to Heaven,” we are grateful that Reggie will be able to retire and spend time with his loved ones before that 1-up afterlife. With Satoru Iwata fondly remembered and now with Reggie having sweetly parted ways (and joined Twitter!), we wait to see how the new generation of Nintendo leadership becomes as memorable and fun-loving in the eyes of the community of millions who support the greatest games in the industry.

By |2019-04-18T16:13:04+00:00April 15th, 2019|Just a Thought, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Nintendo: Riskier Than Ever With IP

Sometimes, in the late 2010s, it’s surreal to see what Nintendo has been up to. A handheld-console hybrid seemed like a daring new venture the innovative company would come up with sooner or later. Ambitious titles like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild felt right, and those games mirror other major leaps forward in titles like the original Legend of Zelda on the NES and Super Mario 64.

But what none of us probably saw coming is just exactly how risky Nintendo would play it by licensing out its most prominent intellectual properties to Ubisoft and Brace Yourself Games.

Read more After the break!
By |2019-03-27T23:39:56+00:00March 27th, 2019|Nintendo, Nintendo Switch|0 Comments
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Fire Emblem: Three Houses Continues Trend Of Vocal Themes For Nintendo Games

Before the end of the Wii U era, it was rare for a Nintendo game to feature vocals in its prominent songs for its flagship games. The release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses in July will mark the fourth year in a row a landmark title will include singing in its main theme, of all places.

Vocal Nintendo songs have existed since the Nintendo GameCube. Captain Falcon had a theme song in F-Zero GX. The credits theme for Xenoblade Chronicles, “Beyond the Sky,” is an underrated gem of emotion, and one could argue that Zelda from Skyward Sword, K.K. Slider and the Squid Sisters had been singing all along before 2016.

That was the year when vocals finally started to appear for the masses, however. With the growing popularity of Fire Emblem, the Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem Fates titles brought with them “Lost in Thoughts All Alone,” the main theme sung in both English and Japanese for those highly successful titles.

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By |2019-03-19T17:04:13+00:00March 19th, 2019|Features, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Weekend NintyBeats|0 Comments
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