ROM Hacker Adds Color To Super Mario Land 2

Super Mario Land 2 is one of the more underrated games in Nintendo’s library, with a suite of interesting ideas and some truly weird levels. It was even the first Mario game to let you go to the moon. And now it’s in color. Thanks to ROM hacker toruzz, you can now play a sleek,…

The Year In Video Game Paintings, 2017

Another year, another crop of video game paintings doing their best to class up the place. I invited my artist friend Curtis back to lend their expertise to my folder full of screenshots of this year’s video game paintings. We saw a lot of references to existing artists, as well as a lot of strange…

Devil May Cry Mobile Game Announced For China

According to reports out of China (via MMO Culture), a mobile Devil May Cry is in the works. Tilted Devil May Cry: Pinnacle of Combat, it’s an action RPG for smart devices. Below are its first images circulating online. The game, MMO Culture reports, will have online, team battles and real-time player versus player. Devil…

Nintendo Still Explaining Nintendo Account And Nintendo Network ID Differences

Who would’ve thought that Nintendo having different account systems would be so confusing for people? It’s December 2017, and in Japan, Nintendo says it’s getting lots of questions about the differences. “Currently, we are getting a great number of inquiries about the Nintendo Account,” the company wrote in a tweet. The attached image easily shows…

How Tokyo’s Geek District Has Changed In Ten Years

As Kotaku previously reported, Tokyo has changed in surprising ways over the past decade. But let’s see how Akihabara in particular has evolved. Of course, Akihabara is the city’s gaming and geek area. PhotoAkiba shows how the changes can be subtle, but noticeable. The top image is from 2007, while the bottom one dates from…

Winter Wonderland. Shirakawago, Gifu Prefecture. By Charlez Chong. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line! 

Gaming PC Names Are Truly Embarrassing

I am in the market for a brand new gaming PC—thank you Kirk Hamilton—so today I decided to start browsing a bit. And I discovered the glory of video game PC branding. It’s sort of like Taco Bell crossed with Hot Topic. Here is a list of actual names of actual gaming PCs that you…

The Year In JRPGs, 2017

From Tales to Dragon Quest to a brand flippin’ new Persona, this has been a stellar year for Japanese role-playing games. We’ve come a long way from the dark days of, like, 2012. Perhaps this year’s biggest news for anyone who cares even the slightest about JRPGs is the success of Nintendo’s Switch. For nearly…

Four Years Later, Destiny‘s Music Of The Spheres Has Leaked [UPDATE]

In late 2013, veteran Bungie composer Marty O’Donnell finished Music of the Spheres, an eight-part musical work designed to be released alongside Destiny. It never came out. But today, thanks to an anonymous leaker, the elusive work is finally on the internet—at least until the copyright strikes hit. Composed by O’Donnell, his partner Michael Salvatori,…

Nintendo Eshop Goes Down For Christmas

As thousands (tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?) of people wake up this morning to find Nintendo Switches under their Christmas trees (Hanukkah bushes? Kwanzaa shrubs?), they are discovering that they can’t actually download any new games. For the past three hours, trying to log into the eShop has resulted in an error message with…

The Makers Of ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ Didn’t Think Anyone Would Believe It Was Real

It was one of the first memes ever, a viral sensation that went mainstream back when people still used dial-up internet. Yet the cameraman behind “Leeroy Jenkins” still seems stupefied that anyone fell for it. “We didn’t think anyone would believe it was real, we thought it was so obviously satire,” said Ben “Anfrony” Vinson…

Jason Schreier’s Top 10 Games Of 2017

This year, I published a book, fell in love with a brand new hardware system, and played a ton of video games. Here are the best ten. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild What else is there to say? Breath of the Wild is the greatest game of the year and perhaps the…

The Week In Games: Style Savvy New Year

2018’s just around the corner. Fortunately, you can end the year in style with a new 3DS game. Style Savvy: Styling Star comes out on the 25th meaning a whole new generation of 3DS and 2DS owners will know the power of color coordinated outfits. Other than that it’s the end of the year, so…

What Are Your Favorite Games To Play During The Holidays?

There was a period of time when every December I’d start up another playthrough of Mega Man Legends. It’s not a Christmas-y game by any stretch. And it’s not something I originally got as a present either. For whatever reason it just seemed to fit, helping me take a step back and appreciate the end…

Hackers Say Nintendo Switch’s Latest Firmware Update Removes Secret Golf Game

A few months ago Switch hackers showed the handheld had a hidden emulator designed to play NES Golf but only on July 11th, the date Satoru Iwata, former President of Nintendo and the game’s programmer, died. Now they say the company has overwritten the code as of the 4.0.0 firmware update. According to Switchbrew.org, these…

Melee Pro Beats Yoshi Target-Breaking Record By Fraction Of A Second

Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto is considered the best Yoshi player in the world, and for good reason. He has impressive wins over some of the best in Super Smash Bros. Melee on the lil’ dinosaur, and now, he holds a world record in busting targets as his signature character. aMSa was streaming world record attempts on…

Thousands Of People Are Watching Overwatch‘s Jeff Kaplan Sit Motionless In Front Of A Yule Log [UPDATE]

He’s been this way for over an hour, and as word’s gotten out the audience has swelled to over 30,000. As Overwatch’s creative director, Jeff Kaplan has spoken in the past about how dedicated the team is to supporting the game and engaging with the community, even if that means working holidays. The Twitch stream…

Podcast: Every Video Game Of 2017, Part Two

It is time for part two of our annual Kotaku Splitscreen tradition, where we talk about EVERY VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR. This week, Kirk and I go from July to December, covering this summer’s gems (Pyre, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age) and then getting into the big games of fall, from Star Wars…