Nintendo Castle is an independent fan site that offers news, articles, reviews, guides, and other content on a number of first party Nintendo titles. We also provide quality content on indie games, especially Nindies. Nintendo Castle was founded in 2011 and has been a source for Nintendo information for over 8 years.
Site History
Zelda Castle
Launched: August 18, 2010
Nintendo Castle's history starts six-months before the launch of the site. Before there was Nintendo Castle, there was Zelda Castle. Zelda Castle was inspired by sites like Zelda Dungeon and Pokémon Dream. Pocodudeface was the founder of the website, and it was built on and hosted by Freewebs. In the following months, Pocodudeface continues to work on guides, and Zelda Castle establishes friendships with Zelda Eternity and Link's Hideaway.
In late October of 2010, Pocodudeface places an advertisement on the Zelda Eternity Community Forums, asking for help with his new website. On October 21-23, 2010, Zelda Eternity users Phantom and Iamthefusedshadows join the team as graphic artist and content writer, respectively. Phantom begins work on Zelda Castle version 2.0, and finishes only two days later. A few days later, on the 26th, Zelda Castle hires it's fifth, and final, staff member, @lexMM, as a screenshot and video specialist. He is most notable for having taken all the screenshots for the Majora’s Mask masks guide (This guide is, unfortunately, no longer available).
After a few weeks of activity, Pocodudeface leaves unexpectedly and Phantom and Iamthefusedshadows are left to take over the site on their own. The last post on Zelda Castle was made on November 10, 2010. However, Phantom and Iamthefusedshadows still have hopes to continue Zelda Castle into 2011, and as a dying breath, (with the help of a few members of Zelda Eternity) they complete the planned New Years Marathon starting on a cold December night, and ending on a even colder January morning.
Version 1
Launched: February 18, 2011
Although Phantom loses interest, Pocodudeface contacts Iamthefusedshadows and @lexMM on February 18, 2011, and they reunite to create Nintendo Castle. Version 1.0 of Nintendo Castle was built and hosted on Weebly. The three staff members work hard to transfer guides and content from Zelda Castle in the weeks after.
After a few months and taking various Zelda screenshots, @lexMM has his internet disconnected, and is forced to quit Nintendo Castle. Pocodudeface and Iamthefusedshadows remain the only active staff, and they continue to write guides for the 7-8 viewers they get per day. Iamthefusedshadows starts his walkthrough for Pokémon snap, and Pocodudeface continues work on the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass section. Both staff members continue to post news on upcoming games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, a title for the new Nintendo 3DS.
At the beginning of June 2011, Iamthefusedshadows offers to pay for a domain name and hosting service. He is promptly promoted to webmaster. The two get to work on building version 2.0 of Nintendo Castle, focused for several weeks and neglecting the old 1.0 version of the site.
Version 2
Launched: June 19, 2011
The next version of Nintendo Castle featured a brand new domain, a new Content Management System in Drupal, and a brand new layout. A few months after the launch of Version 2.0, the webmasters decide to merge with the small Zelda fansite Zelda Heavens and LegendofHyrule31 and Spirittracksmaster join the staff. Shortly after, staff members Emhave and EpicDoug join as a content writer and news reporter, respectively.
For a period of a few months, the staff works on slowly building a pool of content. The release of the 3DS and a number of games like Ocarina of Time 3D and Starfox 64 3D dominate the news stream. In January 2012, Link8150 joins the staff in January and works on expanding the Zelda content. In February of 2012, to celebrate Nintendo Castle's first anniversary, the staff work together to stream a 115 hour Super Mario Marathon. After enjoying relative success in participation from viewers and staff, the webmasters begin to work on the third version of Nintendo Castle.
Version 3
Launched: March 10, 2012
After two weeks of downtime, Nintendo Castle Version 3.0 is ready. Our fourth CMS, Wordpress, is now in use. Pocodudeface and Iamthefusedshadows set most of the site up, while Nick of Zelda Eternity designs most of the graphics. It was a button-centered theme, and featured a large right sidebar. The webmasters continue to update the content on a semi-regular schedule. News posts range from daily to monthly. Podcasts are released monthly, but start to fade out. A few new staff members join the crew: namely DodongoBomber, Bigflyingpotato, PotassiumIodide, and Larke12. All three have connections to Zelda Eternity and make minor contributions for a while, including participating in the podcast.
Months go by with small updates, although traffic continues to grow. On August 9, 2012 Nintendo Castle hosts a Metroid Marathon. The stream lasts for a few days, and the majority of Metroid titles are played. After not being able to participate in the stream, Iamthefusedshadows leaves Nintendo Castle. The two News Correspondents Raxit and Kakariko Villager become staff members shortly after the Metroid Marathon. Raxit posts news for a bit before leaving, although Kakariko Villager continues to post daily for months. This helps to bring a moderate amount of traffic to the site.
After a while, Iamthefusedshadows decides to rejoin the staff as a member of the podcast team and a live streamer. February is Nintendo Castle's second anniversary, and the tradition of an annual Super Mario marathon continues. The stream is Nintendo Castle's biggest success yet. Pocodudeface, Iamthefusedshadows, Emhave, Link8150, and DodongoBomber, play 13 games lasting 116 hours (topping the previous year by a single hour). As Summer rolls in, Larke12 and Pocodudeface begin to discuss the next version of Nintendo Castle. They decided to build the layout from the ground up, and in July, after two months of work, Version 4.0 is ready.
Version 4
Launched: July 20, 2013
After some on and off downtime, Version 4 of Nintendo Castle launches on July 20th 2013. Version 4 is by far the best the site has ever looked. It features a sleek, graphic-rich design with no sidebars. All graphic design, coding, and debug was done by staff member Larke12, under the direction of Pocodudeface. Version 4 is also the beginning of a partnership between Link's Hideaway and Nintendo Castle. All Legend of Zelda content is transferred to LH, and it's webmaster Autydi joins Nintendo Castle as a Webmaster. In addition to this new partnership, a joint forum is created for the two sites. Komodo_Zero joins the team as head forum administrator and content writer. After some trial and error, the forum launches on August 15, 2014. Forum activity is promising at first, but quickly dwindles to a few active members posting infrequently.
Very little happens until the launch of Pokémon X & Y. During its launch in October 2013, Pocodudeface and Komodo_Zero work to produce guides for the games and introduce a new forum theme. In November, Super Mario 3D World launches and Pocodudeface works to create guides over the coming months. It quickly becomes one of the largest areas of the site. In February, in celebration of Nintendo Castle's third anniversary, we host our third annual Super Mario marathon. Pocodudeface and Iamthefusedshadows play through the entirety of Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario RPG. Limited staff and schedule issues make the 2014 marathon the shortest (16 hours) and least viewed marathon yet.
New webmaster and SEO expert Autydi helps boost Nintendo Castle's page rankings and usability, increasing traffic steadily. Pocodudeface continues to post news periodically in preparation for the launch of Mario Kart 8 and E3. As time rolls on, Pocodudeface and Larke12 begin sharing ideas for the next version of Nintendo Castle.
Version 5
Launched: June 15, 2014
Pocodudeface and Larke12 began planning a new version of Nintendo Castle for the summer. Version 5 features a sleeker, less busy, design, and a cutback on how many franchises are covered in an effort to not spread Nintendo Castle's limited manpower too thin. The color scheme of blue and gold is adopted as a style for later Nintendo Castle versions.
With limited staff and no dedicated news reporters, the site dawdles in inactivity for a few months. Komodo_Zero does his part to keep the forums alive, but they haven't grown since they launched. Pocodudeface does post news at an irregular rate, especially covering the upcoming Smash Bros. games for the 3DS and Wii U. Komodo_Zero puts together a popular top ten list and database for the music in both games. During this time, Nintendo Castle begins receiving press copies of games from independent developers on the Wii U and 3DS. Many of the reviews written for theses games are still available on the site to this day.
Autydi and Pocodudeface begin to discuss the future of the website and network that include Link's Hideaway and a small PC site. They decide it would be in the best interest to convert Nintendo Castle's Pokémon content into a new site: Pokéball Insider. The last few months of 2014 are spent getting the site ready and preparing for the launch of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. After a successful launch and traffic boost with the new games, focus shifts back to Nintendo Castle and moving it onto the custom CMS that Autydi has designed for Link's Hideaway and Pokéball Insider. This marks the launch of Version 6 and a new boost of activity for Nintendo Castle.
Version 6
Launched: February 10, 2015
After some time working on the new network site Pokeball Insider, focus shifts back to updating the layout and backend of Nintendo Castle. Version 6 brings a switch to yet another CMS, from wordpress to a custom CMS developed by Autydi. Magitroopa joins the staff and news coverage during the first half of 2015 is dominated by Splatoon. Pocodudeface and Komodo_Zero also provide reviews of upcoming eShop games during this time. Coverage continues throughout the course of 2015, the year ends with the second edition of the GOTY awards, a new tradition at Nintendo Castle.
2016 is a year of light but constant news coverage at Nintendo Castle. Rumors of Nintendo NX riddle the internet and create a lot of excitement for fans eager to hear about Nintendo's upcoming console, which is revealed as the Nintendo Switch at the end of the year. Pocodudeface and Magitroopa continue to post news four or five times a month and Pocodudeface and Komodo_Zero continue to review 3DS and Wii U eShop games. There aren’t many major game releases that aren’t Pokemon related (Pokken Tournament and Sun & Moon versions were covered by Pokéball Insider), so news during this period isn’t easy to come by.
The latter half of the year sees slightly less activity on Nintendo Castle as the staff's focus shifts toward network site Pokéball Insider. 2016 comes to a close and marks the first year since the launch of Zelda Castle that Nintendo Castle doesn’t release a new version and design. However, improvements to Version 6 are released throughout the year including a more compact home page and reintroduction of a tag system.
The first half of 2017 is an exciting time to be a Nintendo fan. In March, the Nintendo Switch launches as Nintendo's flagship system. Nintendo Castle ses an influx of Switch news, revolving primarily around hardware details and upcoming games. After launch, news slows down a little and Nintendo Castle is updated a few times a month with news and reviews. Major site updates don’t happen until mid-way through the year.
Version 7
Launched: July 4, 2017
The Version 7 update is perhaps Nintendo Castle's most minor, at least outwardly. There are plenty of new features to our CMS, but design changes are modest. The blue and yellow color scheme introduced in Version 4 is here to stay. Other small changes are made to improve navigation and readability.
In terms of content, a few new guides and walkthroughs are made for the latest Switch games on Nintendo Castle. Zelda and Pokemon content are covered by our sister sites, so staff members during this period focus on news, reviews, and guides for indie games on Nintendo systems. Most content is written by webmaster Pocodudeface, but Magitroopa and Komodo_Zero contribute with news and reviews periodically.
2017 also marks the launch of the network wide Cross Promotion System, which adds a widget to Nintendo Castle and sister sites. It allows all network sites to promote their content to other network sites. This comes as a replacement for our affiliation system that, by this point, has lost popularity with modern fansites.
2018 and 2019 are more of the same for Nintendo Castle. Autydi continues to make improvements to the CMS and backend of Nintendo Castle while Pocodudeface focuses on improving and adding frontend content and guides. Magitroopa and Komodo_Zero contribute news and reviews for Nintendo Switch games. Nintendo Castle sees small growth during this period.
Nintendo Castle continues to develop at a slow but steady pace in 2020. A lot of the year is spent covering Animal Crossing: New Horizons and various smaller Switch releases. Content this year is largely written by Pocodudeface with some contributions from Komodo_Zero. Autydi continues to work on some backend features in anticipation of an upcoming redesign. 2020 sees constant traffic with a small increase due to the worldwide quarantine that keeps many inside and playing games.
