Chris Kohler

Nintendo Games Used To Be Released On Japanese PCs

Nintendo characters very rarely appear on non-Nintendo hardware, but that wasn’t always the case. For a few years after the release of the original Famicom in 1983, Nintendo licensed its games to Hudson Soft, which produced versions for the major Japanese PC platforms of the day. As of late, many of the game shops in…

This used to be Tokiwa Musen, which billed itself as Akihabara’s “oldest, smallest game shop.” This is where you used to be able to go to get new releases for heavily-discounted prices, conveniently located right near the train station exit. Now it’s three Coke machines. Bummer.

The most worthless 3DS game in the world? Probably Monster Hunter 4, which sold a colossal 4 million copies in Japan, more than almost anything else. Now they can’t give them away; witness a whole pile of minty-fresh copies in this 100-yen (about $1) bin outside the store Surugaya in Akihabara today.

I’m in Japan! Tokyo Game Show begins later this week, but I’ll be joining Ashcraft in bringing you news of whatever else I find while exploring Tokyo starting… now. Here is a plate of Hinoya, my current favorite Japanese curry. It is a perfection of the form. I’m trying not to just eat this exclusively…

Metroid: Samus Returns: The Kotaku Review

There was a time, so many years ago now, when it felt like we had too much Metroid. The simultaneous launch of Prime and Fusion in 2002, followed up with another one-two volley of Metroids two years later. “Slow down!” we cried. “We can’t keep up with all this Metroid!” Time makes fools of us…

Nintendo Will Release Its Classic Arcade Games On Switch

Nintendo is re-releasing some of its arcade games—for the first time ever since they appeared in pizza places and laundromats of the 1980s—on Nintendo Switch, beginning with Mario Bros. this month. Interestingly, these games are coming over as part of game publisher Hamster’s “Arcade Archives” banner, under which it also publishes arcade games from other…

A sequel to Dillon’s Rolling Western is coming to 3DS in Japan. The Dead Heat Breakers continues the original 2012 game’s combo of armadillo-rolling action and tower defense, and will also turn your Mii into a furry character in the game. Spring 2018 in Japan, digital and physical, no overseas announcement yet.

Suda 51 Thinks Nintendo Switch Is Punk AF

“The Switch is a punk console,” says game director Goichi Suda, aka Suda 51. “I was shocked by it. I thought, whoever made this must have something wrong with them. In a positive way. This guy must be messed up in the head to think of something like this.” “It’s kind of like a challenge…

Hands On With Nintendo Switch’s Big Holiday RPGs

The Switch is such a familiar part of the gaming landscape now that it’s strange to consider that Nintendo’s hybrid device is about to head into its first holiday season. What’s even stranger is that for Baby’s First Christmas, Nintendo’s lineup is overloaded with deep single-player fantasy adventures: role-playing games Skyrim and Xenoblade Chronicles, and…

My Liner Notes For Mother, EarthBound Beginnings‘ Vinyl Soundtrack

In 2015, the indie record press Ship To Shore Phono Co. put out an officially-licensed pressing of the soundtrack to Nintendo’s beloved RPG Mother, which had just been released that year in the U.S. as EarthBound Beginnings I backed it on Kickstarter (obviously!) and a representative from the company then reached out to ask if…

Nintendo Releases Original Star Fox 2 Design Docs

Last week, Nintendo quietly uploaded the digital manual for Star Fox 2, which will be included on this month’s SNES Classic hardware. But what’s really interesting is that said manual included a whole batch of concept art and game design documents for the canceled Super FX Chip shooter. Nintendo doesn’t often release these sort of…

Secret of Mana Remake’s Demo Is Low-Frills Fun 

Much like the game’s Mad Mallard, a soldier helmet-wearing waterfowl who lays exploding eggs, the upcoming remake of Secret of Mana is an odd duck. The 1993 Super NES action RPG, one of Square’s classics of the 16-bit era, is having a bit of a moment in 2017. It’s been re-released on Switch in Japan,…

I’m really looking forward to Return of the Obra Dinn, the next game from Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope. The version at PAX West is much improved from the early demo you may have played, with a much more extensive “ship’s log” interface that lets you keep track of all the murder mysteries you have…

Capcom Is Re-Releasing Street Fighter II On A SNES Cartridge

Super Nintendo nostalgia is reaching fever pitch, and now even Capcom is getting into the act with a re-release of Street Fighter II on a Super NES cartridge. Produced in conjunction with iam8bit, this $100 collector’s edition is available to order now and will ship in November. The $100 package will include a working SNES…

The No More Heroes series is back for Nintendo Switch with Travis Strikes Again Suda 51 returns as director in a game that sees Travis Touchdown having to enter a killer virtual reality machine and defeat the games’ bosses. It’ll have collaborations with other indie games like Hotline Miami. Coming 2018.

Ark: Survival Evolved is out of early access and officially available in version 1.0 form today on PC and consoles, with physical editions also available for PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Sure, you could have been playing it all this time, but if you were waiting until they were officially finished making it…

Square Enix Teases Final Fantasy XV On Switch

Alright, well, as near as I can figure, Square Enix said something about Final Fantasy XV and Nintendo Switch today at Gamescom. It was less than an announcement but more substantial than a routine “we’re thinking about it.” Here’s what happened. During a livestream from the Twitch booth at Gamescom in which FFXV producer Hajime…

We Played SNES Classic And It Has Rewind Now

I tried out the SNES Classic, and found that Nintendo has made some small but meaningful improvements to it over the NES Classic. I have no idea why, since the thing would sell out in 30 seconds anyway even if it were covered in rusty needles. Instead, it has a few nice new features, including…

Why We Like That Undertale Is On Consoles Now

It’s a VGChat! I’m here with Kotaku’s editor-at-large Kirk Hamilton to talk about Undertale, which came out for PC back in 2015, but is available today for PlayStation 4 and Vita. Hence our renewed interest. Spoilers ahead! Do not get spoiled! Chris Kohler: Kirk, you played through the game on PC, yes? Kirk Hamilton: I…

Rez Infinite Hits Steam And Oculus Today

Enhance Games will release Rez Infinite for Steam and Oculus Home today, the studio said this morning. So now you don’t need a PlayStation 4 to enjoy the ultimate version of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s classic synaesthesia shooter. While VR support is a major feature of this release, it’s not a requirement; you can play the $24.99…