-
ReviewsToysThere Is No Love For Toad In This Cat Mario Three-Pack
Following up on yesterday’sgorgeous Bowser boat, toy-maker Jakks Pacific’s second MAR10 week reveal is a $30 Super Mario 3D World three-pack featuring articulated four-inch figures of Cat Mario, Cat Luigi, and Cat Peach. Cat Toad can go straight to hell. There’s probably a perfectly good reason the box set, coming this fall to toy stores…
By Mike Fahey Published March 9, 2021 -
ReviewsToysNow You Can Play With Sonic The Hedgehog’s Pretty Head
Sega has teamed up with toymaker Tomy to give Sonic fans a 15-inch plush hedgehog head. It costs $39 and is a Target exclusive, just like a real hedgehog head. Sonic’s soft, pliable skull is the product of Tomy’s Club Mocchi- Mocchi- line of squishy plush toys, which are basically Tomy’s answer to the wildly-popular…
By Mike Fahey Published March 9, 2021 -
ReviewsToysJakks’ Super Mario Bowser Airship Is The Toy Boat I’ve Always Wanted
Coming this fall from Nintendo and Jakks Pacific, the $40 Super Mario deluxe Bowser Ship playset plays the airship theme as the 2.5-inch plumber climbs aboard to wreak havoc. Announced today in honor of this week’s MAR10 holiday, the Bowser Ship is a proper toy playset for proper plastic Mario toys. There’s no Lego funny…
By Mike Fahey Published March 8, 2021 -
ReviewsMultiplatformPersona 5 Strikers: The Kotaku Review
It’s now or it’s never, and I’ve got to Make my decision This time it could be my moment Is this a mirage or a chance to fulfill my mission? Between Persona 5 and its Royal variant, I’ve sunk over 200 hours into the Atlus role-playing game series that pits Japanese teenagers against malevolent, would-be…
By Ash Parrish Published February 23, 2021 -
ReviewsSwitchSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury: The Kotaku Review
Super Mario 3D World would be incredible if I didn’t already know who Mario was and what he was all about. In his 2013 review of the Wii U original, Kotaku writer Luke Plunkett described Super Mario 3D World as a “greatest hits collection, bringing together all the best things Mario has already done in…
By Ian Walker Published February 10, 2021 -
ReviewsToys13 Sentinels Plushies Band Together To Save The World
Japanese toymaker Mamegyorai has transformed the teenage heroes of Atlus’ 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim into 14 adorable plushies, complete with puffy pompadours and magnetic hand-holding. I need them all. Available for pre-order on the Mamegyorai website for a March release, each of the 14 Aegis Rim characters has been reimagined in six-inch plushie form by…
By Mike Fahey Published February 9, 2021 -
ReviewsBoard GamesDune: Imperium: The Kotaku Review
Because the movie business is in a state of absolute chaos right now, the Dune reboot, which was supposed to be the big holiday movie of 2020, is now going to be the big holiday movie of 2021 instead. Just don’t tell this accompanying board game, which went ahead and released in December 2020 anyway.…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 3, 2021 -
ReviewsToysLego Vidiyo Lets Kids Make Augmented Reality Music Videos With Minifigs
Harnessing the power of augmented reality and featuring songs from Universal Music Group artists, Lego Vidiyo lets kids and adults with too much time on their hands put together colorful music videos filled with special effects and dancing toy llamas. Lego Vidiyo is a neat idea. Kids download and install a phone app with their…
By Mike Fahey Published January 26, 2021 -
ReviewsToysUnearthed Video Captures The Experience Of Shopping At Toys ‘R’ Us In The Early ’90s
Remember going to Toys ‘R’ Us as a kid? Perhaps this 20-minute collection of raw footage from a November 1991 store visit will refresh your memory. Journey with me back to the days when we bought video games with slips of paper and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had their own dedicated aisle. Uploaded earlier…
By Mike Fahey Published January 22, 2021 -
ReviewsMultiplatformHitman 3: The Kotaku Review
Hitman 3 made me care more about its plot than crafting the perfect murder. The narrative, which I usually see as a flimsy excuse to play dress-up and cause globe-spanning mayhem, bleeds into the structure of its levels and creates some unexpected moments of emotion and vulnerability. Its dark story plays with the lie at…
By Riley MacLeod Published January 19, 2021 -
ReviewsToysCyberpunk Anime Keanu Figure Is Just Happy To Be Here
Cyberpunk 2077 has had some problems, sure, but that doesn’t mean people don’t want adorable toys. Good Smile Company’s Nendoroid Johnny Silverhand figure’s got that big, soulful, Keanu Reeves energy in a tiny, big-headed package. I tell you, I’m glad one of the accessories this $50 Mr. Silverhand figure comes with is a pair of…
By Mike Fahey Published January 15, 2021 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of Diversity In Big Budget Video Games
When I think about diversity in last year’s crop of big-budget games I can see the bright spots. Some of PlayStation’s marquee games, for example, featured some of the most diverse casts I’ve seen with men of color and queer women front and center as main characters. But there’s still work to be done in…
By Ash Parrish Published January 5, 2021 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Worst Games Of 2020 According To Metacritic
2020 was a terrible year in many, many ways, but we did get some great games too. Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, Fall Guys, Miles Morales, Crusader Kings III, and more all released this year. But as usual, it’s not all good and this year saw the release of some games that weren’t well-reviewed by critics…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 2, 2021 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe 12 Best Video Games Of 2020
2020 is over, which is great, even if it doesn’t mean everything terrible about this year is now in our collective rearview mirror. Video games played a bigger role in many of our lives than they have in years past, which made picking Kotaku’s top games pretty tricky. But, as always, here are our favorite…
By Riley MacLeod Published January 1, 2021 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewWhat Are Your Video Game Resolutions For 2021?
Gaming resolutions? Well, I’m hoping to really go all in on 4K for…Hold on. What’s that? Ah, my editor tells me we more or less cracked this exact joke last year. And that it’s bad. And that I should feel bad. (I regret nothing.) New Year’s is usually a period of fresh starts and tuned…
By Ari Notis Published December 31, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of The Sims 4 In 2020
We are six years into The Sims 4, and with 2021 around the corner, it will be exciting to see what’s next from this franchise. But before we enter a new year, I want to reflect on the best and worst aspects of Sims 4 content this year. The main game has improved in some…
Robin Mosley Published December 31, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewNathan Grayson’s Top 10 Games Of 2020 (That Aren’t From 2020)
Wow, what’s a year it’s been. I memorized the pattern of tiny paint bubbles on the wall behind my computer monitor. I also re-watched the same three TV shows one thousand times. I’ve become convinced that the outside world is a hologram, and I’m about to embark on a lucrative YouTube career persuading flat earthers…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 31, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Gamers Of The Year, 2020
As many year-end articles will remind you—not that you needed reminding—2020’s been rough. That made it harder than usual to pick specific people for our annual list of influential game-players. Anyone who brought a smile to a friend, a loved one, or even a stranger this year by playing a game with them did a…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 30, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewFahey’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
In the 2020 gaming judgment system, year-end lists are determined by two separate but equally important groups: the players who play the games, and the games they enjoy playing. These are their stories. Bah-Dum. Everyone knows what happened in 2020, at least the broad strokes. What they may not know is that 2020 was a…
By Mike Fahey Published December 30, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewEthan Gach’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
2020 was a shit year for a lot of things, but a bunch of really good games came out during it. And not just your run-of-the-mill, extremely playable, very good games, but a ton of truly special ones. This is another way of saying that I liked a surprising number of games this year that…
By Ethan Gach Published December 29, 2020