Nintendo

How The Last Generation Changed JRPGs For The Better

One of this generation’s most controversial JRPG trends might also turn out to be its best. When Team Kotaku first started planning out our Last-Gen Heroesfeature, I started thinking about how JRPGs have evolved over the past generation—a generation that some would argue has been disastrous for the genre. Between a polarizing thirteenth Final Fantasy,…

Impressions of the New Zelda, Five Hours In

The new Zelda does not feel like a game to skip, I’m happy to report after having played the game for five hours. Even if you’ve grown tired of Zelda games. I’ll spoil nothing about The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, but will share some important findings (!) with you about the November…

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: The Kotaku Review

What took so long? I’m not talking about a LEGO Marvel game. LEGO getting the Marvel license is a relatively new development, all things considered. They announced it in 2011, video game in 2013 — that’s fairly quick turnaround for a game as massive in scope as LEGO Marvel Super Heroes What I am talking…

Marth Joins The Smash Bros. Fray, Promptly Seduces Princess Peach

Can’t blame her, honestly Marth, the Hero-King and swordsman of Fire Emblem, is quite the looker, if you can look past the headband Yep, Marth and his trusty headband will once again be present for another round of Smash Bros. brawls, in his third appearance in the series since Melee. Nintendo’s released a few screenshots…

Smash Bros.‘ Director Doesn’t Have To Work Hard. But He Does Anyway

I don’t care what Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai does so long as he makes the next Smash Bros. Apparently, Nintendo seems to share that sentiment. But Sakurai is a man of values and does not abuse the trust that has been placed on his shoulders. Sakurai’s arm still has not healed, but that isn’t…

That new Pikachu game starring…Pikachu apparently has a title. A recent Japanese trademark Nintendo filed lists “Meitantei Pikachu” (名探偵ピカチュウ) or “Great Detective Pikachu.” This might or might not be the game’s final title.

Donkey Kong Gets Unofficial Star Wars, Alien, Total Recall Expansions

Donkey Me is a fan project by Bruno R. Marcos which takes Nintendo’s classic arcade game and gives it a ton of new, unofficial “themed” expansions, based on stuff like Star Wars, Conan, Rambo, Indiana Jones and Big Trouble In Little China. He’s hoping to have it out in the next few days. It will…

Accused Child Predator Allegedly Used Nintendo’s Swapnote Service

On October 31, Nintendo suddenly announced it was ending its SwapNote service for the 3DS. Nintendo said Swapnote had been “actively misused” to transmit “offensive material” among system users, including minors. Now we know how offensive and unsettling some of that material was. Japanese newspaper Mainichi reports that charges for child pornography have also been…

Five Things You Might Not Know About The NES

You think you know everything about a NES? Well, think again. In the video above, Vsauce3 shows you a few facts you might have missed about the Nintendo Entertainment System, presented in wonderful stop motion. Do Gameboy next! Vsauce3 via Viral Viral Video To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find…

Whoa, Someone Built A Machine That Finds Shiny Pokémon For Them

Finding Pokémon in rare, shiny colors is a time consuming process. The average person probably won’t even attempt it. But what if there was a machine that found shiny Pokémon for you? Maybe that sounds ridiculous, but someone actually built such a thing. The video above shows the handiwork of dekuNukem, who built what they…

Whoa, Mega Charizard Y and male protagonist Calem from Pokemon X & Y just got a hundred percent more realistic and detailed thanks to the talented deviantART artist Charlie Romeo So much so that at first it seems more like Monster Hunter or Final Fantasy fan art, and not something inspired by a Nintendo 3DS…

One Man’s Harrowing Quest For Toilet Paper, As Told By A ZombiU Short

Admit it. You would brave the undead-filled streets for some toilet paper, too. Zombie apocalypse? Pfft. This ten-minute short, created over six months with (amazingly enough) a budget of only £250 (about $400), tells the story of Ron, a lone survivor in the ZombiU universe whose priorities might seem skewed at first, but really—would you…

Here’s a Marvelous New Dragon Quest 3DS XL

Early next year, Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Marvelous Mysterious Key hits the Nintendo 3DS. To mark the occasion, Nintendo is releasing a special 3DS XL. Neat DQ print, no? Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca’s Marvelous Mysterious Key is a remake of Dragon Quest Monsters 2: The Mysterious Key to Malta,…

Madden Lawsuit Settlement Mails Out the Checks in Time for Next-Gen

Just in time for the next-gen release of Madden NFL 25, lo and behold, here’s my check from the settlement of the ridiculous Madden ‘monopoly’ lawsuit—for $64.14, which is four cents less than what the game would cost, with tax, at any of the GameStops I frequent. That means, if you filed your claim by…

​Wii Mini Coming to U.S. With Mario Kart Wii for $99.99

Nintendo is easing out the full-fledged version of their super-successful Wii console. But, for folks in the market for a Wii machine without the U in the name, there’s the Wii mini. It’ll come with Mario Kart Wii, which seems slightly counterintuitive for a console without online functionality. The Mini came out last year as…

The Chinese Gaming Console with the Jackie Chan Seal of Approval

Chinese super star Jackie Chan, singer, dancer, and all around movie star, has endorsed loads of products in his lifetime, and will probably endorse many more to come. Recently in China, Chinese netizens have been going over some of Chan’s earlier product endorsements, including one that should’ve been banned. While the game console ban has…

Gears Of War On 3DS? This Is Very Close.

What you’re seeing here is Ironfall. The footage isn’t strictly a game. It’s a tech demo showcasing the kind of effects you’ll hopefully see in it when it’s done. But for now, let’s just enjoy it and hope they can actually pull this off. The Gears of War influence is being worn on Ironfall’s sleeves…

Reports: Nintendo Publishes A Game Dropping F-Bombs

Wii Karaoke U is a service that’s been available in Japan for a while, a built-in app for Nintendo’s console that lets users play a basic singing game using their Miis. The game – developed by Joysound – went and hit Europe last month, converted to a downloadable title, and the song selection is…interesting. According…

The Week in Games: A Duty to Perform

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a longstanding first-Tuesday-in-November tradition, scaring off nearly every other big release that has a bunch of marketing behind it. But there are a few others of note, including a Castlevania collection and State of Decay on PC. Here’s the week in video games. Tuesday, Nov. 5 Call of Duty: Ghosts…

Next-Gen Games Will Fill Our New Consoles’ Hard Drives In No Time

The PlayStation 4’s internal hard drive is 500GB, and if you buy and start playing just two of its launch day first-person shooters this month, you may already be using more than a 10th of the drive. Welcome to a somewhat different era of console gaming. Above you’ll the see part of the back of…