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For Mario, 3D used to mean freedom. In 1996, Super Mario 64 broke Nintendo’s mascot from the shackles of having to…
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Chris Kohler's posts
Chris Kohler
chriskohler
Features Editor, Kotaku. Japanese curry aficionado. Author of the books Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life and Final Fantasy V from Boss Fight Books.
Let’s get the comparison we have to make out of the way: No, the Genesis Flashback isn’t as amazing as the SNES…
JRPG manuals, 1989 vs. 2017. (Left: Wanderers From Ys for PC-88; right: I Am Setsuna, for Switch.) Read more
Running through the Hyrule of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you come across breathtaking sights one after…
Sega Genesis Flashback has a new release date of November 10. Early reviews universally panned the $80 HDMI classic console, but its manufacturer said the units were faulty and bumped back the release. The final units will replace 10 of the weird shovelware games like Hangman with 8-bit Sega B-sides like Psycho Fox… Read more
Is Final Fantasy V the best of the series? Whether you agree or disagree, if you love old-school Final Fantasy games…
You can blow a lot of money in Akihabara, the Tokyo district that houses the world’s densest cluster of nerd-related…
One final curry before I blast out of Japan, this one from Curry wa Nomimono (“Curry Is A Drink”). They’ll add three free toppings to your plate. I got potato salad, fried onions, and, because this is Japan, corn with mayonnaise. The result is like the garbage plate of curry, but incredibly good. Read more
Tokyo Game Show is as much about going shopping as it is playing games. Most of the major game publishers have two…
If you’ve ever dreamed a Japanese schoolgirl would impale you with a sword, you can have your wish in the next episode of the PlayStation VR game Summer Lesson. The girl you are tutoring this time is a magician, and she puts you into a magic box and runs you through with weapons. Actual feature: You can tell her to… Read more
Monster of the Deep, the VR fishing game based on Final Fantasy XV, is a fairly standard video game fishing…
There’s a limited-edition Nier Blu-ray disc for sale here only at Tokyo Game Show, and it’s selling out in minutes…
Japan’s latest baked good fad is “salty bread.” It’s like a dinner roll but with a layer of butter and salt on top that makes it taste like movie popcorn. It’s in every bakery I’ve gone into, and it’s addictive. I may need to be physically removed from the country.
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Let us take you on a magical tour of the Tokyo Game Show floor! Brian Ashcraft and I show you what’s hot at the …
The Tokyo Game Show food court is, as you might imagine, fairly incredible. I got some amazing steak curry to make up for that Pac-Man abomination from yesterday.
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Bomberman just walked right by me and pretended to not even know who I was. Dude has a Switch game now and he’s too cool to even say hi.
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Here’s the Japanese special edition for Secret of Mana. As you can see, it is pretty hot shit. You got your game, your soundtrack, figurines of the three characters, and then a freaking pop-up book with the Mana tree, so you can set the figures next to the tree and recreate the game’s iconic cover art. (And we don’t… Read more
Of course, PUBG is at Tokyo Game Show too. If you finish the match in the Top 5 you win a T-shirt. Already full of players!
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You can cuddle up with a giant plush Rabite from Secret of Mana at the Square Enix booth. If I don’t file any other stories today it’s because I am still here.
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As you get off the train for Tokyo Game Show, you’re greeted by the main characters of every Final Fantasy. It’s an ad for a 30th anniversary art exhibition starting in January here in Tokyo. I went up and down stairs until I found Terra and Bartz. (Well, Tina and Butz.)
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