Nintendo

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Delayed Until February

The next Donkey Kong Country game has been pushed back to February of 2014, Nintendo just announced. It was previously slated for this December.

Nintendo Direct starts at 10am Eastern: you can watch it right here, or stay tuned to Kotaku for all the news as it happens. UPDATE: A new Kirby game, clones of Mario running amok in Super Mario 3D World and the return of Sega’s super-fast hedgehog to the Smash Bros. fighting franchise… and that’s only…

Nintendo Says Wii Production Will “End Soon” [Update]

The Wii was a juggernaut during Nintendo’s last console generation. Since going on sale in late 2006, it sold 100 million. Now, it seems those days are over. For good. On Nintendo.co.jp, the Wii page reads, “Manufacturing is scheduled to end soon” (“kinjitsu seisan shuuryou yotei” or 近日生産終了予定). In Japan, Nintendo has been known to…

I’m in Love with This 8-Bit Akihabara

Kunio-kun is a game series that has been around since the NES era. While only a few of the Kunio games have been released in America, like River City Ransom and Super Dodge Ball on the NES, the series has resulted in over 20 titles in Japan in the past two decades. But although the…

In Japan, if you buy two 3DS games between today and January 13, you can get a third for free. However, you must select the downloadable freebie from a list of fourteen titles, which you can view here. No word yet if this campaign will be extended outside Japan.

Dildos, Sex Shops And Nintendo In The 1990s…One Man’s Tale

Time for another tale—albeit unconfirmed—of the inside workings of Nintendo, though this one’s a little saucier than the last. Because of Europeans and sex shops. Read it here via a 2011 translation of an account that originally appeared on fan site Classic-Zone. A fascinating read about what it might be like to be in Nintendo’s…

Wii U Gets 700mb Firmware Update

The Wii U has just got a big firmware update. Here’s the full list of changes/additions, courtesy of Nintendo: Version 4.0.0 U, available via an Internet connection, includes the following improvements: New Features: A feature to output video and sound to the Wii U GamePad when using Wii Mode¹ Users can choose to output to…

The Year of Luigi is almost over, but that won’t stop Nintendo from launching yet another Nintendo Direct, tomorrow (Oct 1) at 10am ET “focused on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games launching later this year.” We’ll have all the news for you right on Kotaku as it happens.

Odd Man In Cave: “Stop Naming Princesses Zelda”

A tradition based on a great tragedy that only seems to breed more tragedy? Awkward Spaceship has a point — maybe Hyrule needs to revisit its princess naming policy before everything explodes. There are plenty of perfectly good princess names out there that won’t cause powerful evil to arise and threaten the land. Princess Bubblegum…

How To Get A Job With Nintendo

They’re the godfathers of modern video games. Creators of some of the most beloved games of all time. For many, it would be a dream working for Nintendo, but seeing as the company runs pretty much everything out of its Japanese offices, that’s impossible, right? Well…not quite Programmer Anditto Heristyo recently applied for a job…

New York Times Correction, 25 Years Later: Mario Is Not a Janitor

Nowadays, everyone knows what Mario does for a living, right? Nintendo’s mascot character is about as recognizable as Mickey Mouse or Superman. Mario’s been a global entertainment icon for decades now but, back in 1988, the New York Times thought the guy was a janitor. A correction note ran in today’s New York Times—which Kotaku…

The Original Pokemon Hero Returns In Pokemon Origins

Ash Ketchum was never the very best, like no one ever was. It was always Red, the hero of the original Pokemon Red and Blue. His story is Pokemon Origins, a four-part animated series premiering November 15 on Pokemon TV. This is the Pokemon trainer I became when I first fell in love with this…

Mega Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise, In Classic Red and Blue Style

One of the more distinctive things about the first Pokemon games—aside from nostalgia—is that we got to see the older, distinctive art style drawn by Ken Sugimori (Pokemon’s art director). And thanks to artists like Tomycase, we can still have the pleasure of seeing new Pokemon in that older ‘Sugimori style,’ too. Like the original…

Next stop: Etria. Portable JRPG action headlines the Nintendo Download this week, with next Tuesday’s release of Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl from Atlus. There’s also some retro goodness with the Wii U version of arcade classic Donkey Kong 3. Man, what’s that ol’ exterminator Stanley up to nowadays? Check out the rest of…

Wind Waker’s Link Enters The Smash Bros. Fray, Knocks a Few Heads In

Call him Toon Link, Young Link, it doesn’t matter; Link is one badass swordsman in any shape or form. This new batch of screenshots for Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS shows off what his Wind Waker iteration will look like in action. Here’s seven Wii U shots, in addition to the one on top: And…

Pokemon Hasn’t Really Felt Exciting In A Long While…Until Now

I remember the first time I played Pokemon as a kid—the sense of awe that came with being able to set off on an adventure with cool monsters at my side. It’s just the kind of childish fantasy that seems destined to grow less enchanting as we grow older. Sure enough, despite being a Pokemon…

The Original Game Boy Is Travelers’ Best Friend Once More

There was a time you couldn’t board an airplane without seeing at least a half dozen Game Boys. That time has come again, thanks to Think Geek’s Travel Boy carry-on luggage. Constructed of ABS and possessing a style the gaming community only gets to enjoy in limited edition recolors these days, the Travel Boy is…

EA Exec Says Nintendo Has Been Usurped By Apple

Nobody working on video games can ever argue against the amount of influence and inspiration that Shigeru Miyamoto has had on the medium. From the creation of early blockbusters like Donkey Kong to trailblazing three-dimensional design ideas in Super Mario 64, his many accomplishments have helped steer game-makers for decades. But one executive at Electronic…

The Attack On Titan Game Looks Much Better In Motion

Our first peek at the 3DS game based on the hottest anime series of the year was a bit disappointing. Seeing it in motion in this first trailer, Attack on Titan doesn’t look half bad. While I would have preferred a major console/PC release, maybe something with Oculus Rift support (*shivers*), whipping about town dodging…

Are Peach and Mario Finally Getting Married? Eh…

Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai just released an image that could imply that Peach and Mario are tying the knot. Finally. Then again, perhaps not! “Whom is the ring for?” Sakura wrote above the image. Japanese site Inside wonders if Mario is proposing to Peach. Oh Masahiro Sakurai, you tease! If they do get married,…