Nintendo

This November, Nintendo is releasing “Mario hanafuda” cards in Japan. Previously, they released Super Mario character-themedhanafuda cards via Club Nintendo (R.I.P.). These latest sets are priced at 2,500 yen (US$21).

Players Are Bending And Breaking Mario Maker, And The Results Are Amazing

Mario Maker gets a bad rap: according to popular opinion, it’s just a repository of terrible Super Mario levels. This misconception, however, ignores the burgeoning scene of inventive designers who are turning Mario Maker into something that inspires awe and wonder. Honestly, some of the things people are coming up with seem like they should…

The Banned Pokémon Episode That Gave Children Seizures

On December 16, 1997, an episode of the then-unstoppable Pokémon animated series was broadcast in Japan. Barely thirty minutes later, nearly 700 children were on their way to hospital. Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. The episode, called “Electric Soldier Porygon”, is…

A New World Record For Beating Super Mario Bros. As Fast As Possible

I invite you to feast your eyes on an expert playthrough of the original Super Mario Bros. Somehow, a speedrunner known as Darbian manages to blaze through the old-school classic in whopping 4:57.627. To put this into context: the last world record for the “any percentage” clearance of Super Mario Bros. was 4:57.69. That was…

Why The Latest Number One Mario Maker Course Is Such Garbage

Here, captured in a three second GIF, is the entirety of the current top-rated Mario Maker course. It’s hilariously bad. How in the world did it climb the ranks, then? The answer is in the course title, which is written in Japanese: It says “I will play the courses of everyone who likes this,” according…

World’s Best Smash Bros. Player Loses, Ending 53-Tournament Streak

Gonzalo “Zer0” Barrios, a Smash Bros. Wii U player so good that he hadn’t lost a tournament in over 50 attempts (and had a “bounty” on his head), finally lost a tournament this weekend. At the MLG Finals, Zer0 went down 3-2, 3-1 to Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada. You can see it go down below (the…

How Nintendo Made The NES (And Why They Gave It A Gun)

Video game history could’ve gone a totally different way if Nintendo’s corporate headquarters were somewhere else. “If Nintendo wasn’t located in Kyoto, I wouldn’t have been there,” the man who lead the design of the Nintendo Entertainment System said last night. Good thing Masayuki Uemura’s parents never relocated to another part of Japan. It’s entirely…

Chibi-Robo Zip Lash: The Kotaku Review

If Chibi Robo weren’t so cute, this review would be easier to write. Look at the little guy with his electric plug tail! Look at him dressing up as Link from the Legend of Zelda Look at him meeting new people: Unfortunately, this little scamp’s new game is an oddball mediocrity, a game with an…

Yoshi’s Woolly World: The Kotaku Review

Yoshi’s Woolly World has three big things in its favour: it feels fabulous to play, it looks sumptuous and it sometimes makes you feel like a genius. Even amongst the generous array of mega-cute platformers on Wii U, it stands out as especially beautiful, especially sweet and especially eager to please. But it isn’t especially…

Report: Nintendo’s Next Platform NX Combines Console And Handheld In Some Way

Nintendo’s new gaming platform will encompass a console and a handheld according to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal According to the paper: The exact shape of the NX hardware isn’t yet clear. People familiar with the development plans said Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that…

Nintendo Is Nerfing a Bunch of Splatoon Weapons

For those who didn’t like how some of the Rollers and Blasters were balanced, good news. Nintendo will fix that in an update. For those who did like the way they are now, well, sorry! The 2.2.0 Splatoon update hits on October 20 and recalibrates weapons that do seem overpowered, such as the Carbon Roller…

The Obvious Choice For The Next Smash Bros. Character

The Super Smash Bros. Ballot has been closed for a while, and still, no announcement from Nintendo on who the fan’s choice for the next Smash DLC will be. In the absence of official word, then (though fans feel like that’s coming soon), it’s left to parody accounts and solid jokes to fill the void.

Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Lets You ‘Blacklist’ Internet Jerks

Did you know that there’s a new Zelda coming out next week? And that it’s totally adorable? Now you know. Tri Force Heroes, which is out on October 23 for 3DS, is a multiplayer Zelda game that looks and feels like 2013’s Link Between Worlds, but plays more like Four Swords. You and a party…

Mario’s Voice Actor Plays Mario Maker, And It’s A Trip

You’ve probably heard Charles Martinet countless times while traversing the Mushroom Kingdom. But it’s something else entirely to watch the man behind Mario actually play Mario. Nintendo Life recorded Martinet doing all the Mario sounds live while playing Mario Maker, something which you simply must witness: I love how happy he seems playing Mario Maker,…

Musicians’ Union Protests Zelda Concert

Last night’s 90-piece Zelda symphony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York drew franchise fans but also a protest in the form of a handful of members of a musicians union and a large inflatable rat. Local 802, the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, objected to the Tuesday-evening symphony using non-union players. John…

Wii U Emulation Is Coming Along

As teams continue work on emulators for the Xbox 360 and PS3, a big breakthrough has been made by those trying to play Wii U games on a PC. Version 1.00 of the Cemu emulator has just been released, and while it’s far from a finished article—sound isn’t working, and it can basically only boot…

Nintendo’s Unexpected Massively Multiplayer Puzzle-Solving Experiment

Games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Fez and Destiny get a lot of credit for challenging the packs of people who play them to put their heads together to solve puzzles: players share tips online and make message board breakthroughs. Nintendo kids were doing that on the playground a quarter century ago, of course, trying to…

Someone Made A Kendrick Lamar Super Mario Bros. Mash-Up

Made by an Australian Soundcloud user victorylaptop, it’s the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta”, mixed up with the classic 8-bit theme of Super Mario Bros., and it just works perfectly. It’s not a proper mash-up without a pun, so the track is called… Kendrick Lamario Bros. To contact the author of this post, write…

Inside the Nintendo Building Few Outsiders Ever See

Eight years ago, Kotaku reader Daniel sent us a YouTube clip where he waltzes right into Nintendo’s original Kyoto headquarters. Even now, it’s a fascinating peek into a historic building that isn’t open to the general public. Since YouTube took the original clip down because it had a “Stephen Colbert” tag (Daniel used to tag…

Pokémon’s Backstory Might Be Darker Than Most People Realize

The cute monsters are a distraction—there seems to be something much more sinister going on in Pokémon. Hardcore Pokémon fans know this as the “Pokémon War Theory,” which PBS Idea Channel recently outlined in the video above. To understand it, you have to take into consideration a weird quirk of the games: have you ever…