Nintendo

Super Mario Party: The Kotaku Review

“Who are you rooting for?” I asked my housemate, a non-player heckler watching a full-up game of Super Mario Party. Without missing a beat, he responded gleefully: “Chaos!” Mario Party is a video board game series that’s all about swing. You get a star. You move a few spaces. You lose a star. You steal…

Music Is The Secret Weapon Of Mario Speedrunners

Is there anything so satisfying to watch as a well-played Mario speedrun? What makes an expert run of Super Mario Bros. so eminently watchable, and how do the players master their moves so perfectly? It turns out that the answer to both questions could be “music.” “Most of the movement is timed with the rhythm…

Report: New Nintendo Switch Model Coming In 2019

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nintendo will be introducing a new version of its popular Switch console next year. The report says that the move comes as Nintendo hopes to boost sales momentum of the Switch, which has dropped off since its meteoric launch. It’s claimed that this new model would “likely share…

Multi-Console Emulator Now Runs On Hacked Switches

RetroArch is a homebrew program that combines a ton of different gaming emulators into a single, relatively sleek package. Development on it began in 2010, with version 1.0 releasing in 2014. Several updates later, today the people behind itreleased the latest version, which can run on hacked Nintendo Switches. RetroArch isn’t the simplest homebrew program…

Some Of The Fall’s Biggest Switch Games Are Shortchanging Handheld Mode 

Super Mario Party comes out on Friday. It’s the series’ debut on Switch and the first main entry since 2015’s ill-fated Mario Party 10 on Wii U. It has 80 new mini games, one of which even utilizes multiple Switches to create a shared, continuous screen. What it doesn’t have is handheld mode support, the…

The Closest Thing To A New Zelda Dungeon Is… Nintendo Labo?

The Nintendo Labo Vehicle kit is far from a new Zelda game, but while building it recently, I had flashbacks to some of my favorite parts of some of the best Zelda adventures. I can’t stop telling people this. I hope not everyone thinks I’ve lost my mind. Like the first two Labo kits released…

Nintendo’s New Mobile RPG Is A Slick Version Of The Same Old Thing

Nintendo and Cygames’ Dragalia Lost is a very pretty mobile game. The characters are lovely, the music is gorgeous, and its overall presentation is quite charming. One could almost forget it’s just another generic character collecting mobile action RPG under all of that polish. Almost. Nintendo’s done some pretty innovative things since moving into the…

Play As Bowsette In Super Mario 64

Someone paid modding mastermind Kaze Emanuar to build a playable Bowsette in Super Mario 64, and he duly obliged. It’s not just a visual gag, she’s also got a permanent fire-throwing ability. His indifferent “Someone paid me to do this shit” is almost as good as the mod itself. While the creation of the mod…

Yo-Kai Watch 3 will hit 3DS in North America on February 8, 2019. The Pokemon-like will come as two separate versions per usual: Sushi and Tempura. The game is broken up into two halves, the first focusing on life in an Americanized town called St. Peanutsburg and the second on a detective agency.

Nintendo Wins Lawsuit Against Tokyo’s Totally Unofficial Mario Kart 

Today, Tokyo District Court ruled against MariCar, the unofficially real-life Mario Kart, ordering the company to cease lending out Nintendo-themed cosplay and cough up ten million yen in damages. That’s nearly $89,000. Nintendo filed suit against MariCar, now known as MariMobility, early last year for intellectual property violation. The MariCar tours are incredibly popular with…

Bowsette Fan Event Being Held In Japan

Things have moved real fast for Bowsette. There is a Charge.org “Bowsette is Real” page hoping to make the character cannon. That’s not all. Next month in Japan, there will be a Bowsette gathering with fan art and cosplay. The name of the event is Oukan Keikaku: Kuppa Hime Onrii Ibento or “Crown Plan: Bowsette…

After Bowsette, Fans Go Wild For Boosette

Bowsette isn’t the only fan creation tearing up the internet. Boosette is really making a name for herself. As Kotaku previously reported, the Super Crown in New Super Mario Bros. Wii U Deluxe led to fanart in which Bowser morphed into a new character, Bowsette. Fans didn’t stop there, dreaming up what other characters would…

Here, A Bowsette Amiibo, I Hope You’re All Happy

Nintendo has of course released official Peach Amiibo. But it’s up to people like GandaKristo turn them into something fans truly want The custom Amiibo creator extraordinaire has created the masterpiece you see here. And the back: Perfection. We’vefeatured her work here before, but in the time since our last showcase and this she’s also…

Cloud Saves Will Last Six Months After A Switch Online Subscription Ends

When Nintendo Switch Online launched last week, subscribers gained the ability to finally back up their save files. One question remained, though: what would happen if the subscription lapsed? Nintendo’s original support page FAQ was vague on the matter, but today the company confirmed they’ll last for six months. For $4 a month or $20…

Speedrunner Achieves ‘Impossible’ Super Mario Bros. Record Time

The original Super Mario Bros. is tightly optimized, as far as speedruns go. Runners have been shaving off milliseconds using highly-skilled play and glitches, all in the hopes of someday reaching a theoretically perfect run. Previously, this was only achievable using special programs, but last night, a runner did what some people thought impossible, matching…

The Internet Has Been Replaced By Bowser Wearing The Super Crown

A concept introduced in a single fan-made comic strip has absolutely destroyed the internet. In the port of New Super Mario Bros. Wii U for the Switch, called New Super Mario Bros. Wii U Deluxe, Toadette has an item called the Super Crown that turns her into a character called Peachette. That was two weeks…

Wandered into an Akihabara store last night and had an amazing score: Nintendo’s 1970s electro-mechanical Duck Hunt toy! This was what inspired the NES game. The store, notorious for its high standards, had it marked at 3000 yen ($27) because it was missing the battery cover.

Hands On With Yokai Watch 4 

In 2014, Yokai Watch’s popularity exploded in Japan. The 3DS game and its anime became a nationwide phenomenon, with kids singing the theme song (and doing its catchy dance) and begging their parents to buy them Yokai Watch toys. It seemed like Yokai Watch was on track to surpass Pokémon, but by late 2016, the…

Ninjala Is Multiplayer With Bubble Gum 

One of the biggest booths at this year’s Tokyo Game Show is for Ninjala, a multiplayer action game for Nintendo Switch. The character design and the color palette are reminiscent of Splatoon, but I wondered if that’s where the similarities end. You gotta be charmed by a video game in which one of the central…

Mario Kart Has Voice Chat Now And It’s Very Wholesome

This week, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe got online voice chat as part of Nintendo Switch Online. Before now, I didn’t think I would want to hear from any of my competitors in Mario Kart. Turns out, it rules. I like to play Mario Kart online. Starting with Mario Kart 8, I’d lie in bed playing…