Nintendo

Don’t Forget the Wii U’s Camera

The Wii U’s second screen gets most of the press regarding Nintendo’s new console, but there’s another interesting oddity bolted into the new machine’s controller: a camera. The camera is front-facing and, in the launch games I’ve played, barely used. When it is used, it’s a reminder that there are lots of new possibilities available…

“Help! My Wife Won’t Stop Playing Animal Crossing.”

The plea appeared on Yahoo! Japan’s Q&A section. It began: “My wife won’t return from Animal Crossing.” The latest AC game, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, was recently released in Japan. The Animal Crossing games are hugely popular in Japan. According to the husband, after his wife downloaded her copy of New Leaf in the middle…

Kiki Trick is a Listening Game That’s More Work Than Fun

From Mario to Rhythm Heaven when it comes to first-party games, Nintendo is no slouch. But what’s surprising is how many of these titles never leave Japan even today. We took a look at the B-List Nintendo crossover Captain Rainbow earlier this year, but it is far from the only forgotten Wii title. In fact,…

Take a Good Look at This “Real Life Kirby”

In Nintendo games, Kirby is round, pink, and cute. In real life, Kirby is apparently round, white, and, well… Japanese doll sculptor Honoka created the work, putting this photo up on Twitter. The reaction has varied from people calling the sculpture “frightening” or “creepy”, to others praising the artistry that went into creating the piece.…

New Super Mario Bros. U: The Kotaku Review

New Super Mario Bros. U is an extraordinarily important game. It’s the flagship title for a new piece of gaming hardware. It’s the first-ever high-definition Mario. And it’s the Wii U’s first system-seller, one of the big games that Nintendo hopes will convince people to buy their innovative, unusual new console. It’s also just another…

Nintendo Land: The Kotaku Review

Nintendo Land is no Wii Sports and it is no Super Mario 64. That’s the bad news for people who hope Nintendo has once again made a day-one masterpiece for its newest console. The good news is that Nintendo Land is a fun collection of surprisingly well-made smaller games. It’s a museum of beloved Nintendo…

New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land: The Kotaku Reviews

Things are picking up pace here at Kotaku now that we have a Wii U in the office. Our own Stephen Totilo and Jason Schreier have been playing the heck out of the thing, and bring you two reviews today. Nintendo Land: The Kotaku Review Nintendo Land is no Wii Sports and it is no…

Our Wonderful, Totally Normal Co-Workers Tried The Wii U. This Is What They Think of It.

Enough about what we here at Kotaku think of the Wii U. What do other people in our parent company who don’t cover games for a living think of Nintendo’s new console? We had them play some Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U and asked for their snap judgments. Watch the video and…

This Week’s Nintendo Download Holds Epic, Myst-ifying Monster ShooterDawgs

Thanksgiving is next week. That means you’ll need some games to ignore your family with play when everyone’s in their turkey coma. This week’s offerings include a portable version of Epic Mickey (hey, when’s Oswald getting his own game?!), classic puzzler Myst and a game about dogs working on construction sites. You think they all…

Wii Karaoke U By Itself Doesn’t Sell Me on the Wii U, But It’s Close

The Wii U will be hitting stores in Japan on December 8th, almost a month after its launch in the US and over a week after its release in Europe and Australia. Not exactly to make up for the delay, Nintendo announced last week a preinstalled game that will be included in Japanese Wii U’s,…

Here’s Some Shin Megami Tensei IV News To Whet Your Appetite While We Wait For A Release Date

Shin Megami Tensei IV, the latest new game in the Shin Megami Tensei series is headed for the 3DS next year, and developer Atlus has released some new information on the game. As can be seen in the trailer that was released last month, the game characters are from a middle-ages sort of world and…

Nintendo Shows Off its Latest Club Nintendo Goodies for Japan

Today, Nintendo unveiled its latest collection of Club Nintendo goodies for Platinum Members in The Land of the Rising Sun. There’s a Pikmin bag, “Premium Mario Playing Cards”, a calendar, and a DSi game called Nintendoji. A Club Nintendo Exclusive, this downloadable game is a dungeon-based role-playing game with card elements. My favorite thing about…

Yup, the Secret Nintendo Song is in the New Animal Crossing

Kazumi Totaka, a sound designer and musician at Nintendo, is responsible for one of the sweetest traditions the company has in its arsenal: Totaka’s Song, a ditty he first composed in 1992 and which has featured in every game he’s worked on since While the song has appeared in many games, it’s perhaps best-known for…

Spin the Bottle for the Wii U Makes You Get Close. Sexy Close.

Now this looks neat. Spin the Bottle is a Wii U title from KnapNok Games and Redgrim that looks like the perfect way to show the new system off to friends… if you’re at a party and have had a couple of drinks. It’s a multiplayer game designed to be played with the TV off.…

Get Inside the Nintendo 3DS XL

The New York Times has a great little piece up breaking apart the Nintendo 3DS XL and showing how it—and its 3D technology—work. A Look Inside the Nintendo 3DS XL [New York Times]

Unsuccessful Nintendo Counterfeiter Gets Almost Three Years in the Slammer

A counterfeiter who made about £600,000 selling cartridges and discs loaded with pirated Nintendo games will do at least a year of hard time in the U.K. after being sentenced last Friday. Justin Success-Brooks—turns out Success is not his middle name, just part of his hyphenated last name—got a 28-month prison sentence that will likely…

10 13 Things About the Wii U That We’re Loving Or Hating

We’re playing the Wii U here at Kotaku. We’ve got this new Nintendo console. And as we play, we’re scribbling down a lot of thoughts, big and small, pro and con. We thought we’d just start keeping a running list of them. That’s what you’ll get here, with links to our larger impressions pieces. Check…

Nintendo Explains the Wii U’s Storage Options In The Strangest Way Possible

The Wii U will finally let Nintendo users download full-size games to a Nintendo console (legally!) but today we learned about the pros and cons of how Nintendo will let people do this. There are some catches that you probably want to know about if you think there’s any chance you’d be downloading the next…

BlazBlue Made Small and Cute (Again!)

Arc System Works, the folks behind fighting series BlazBlue, are doing another cute reworking of the universe. It’s called BlayzeBloo: Clone Phantasma and is slated for a winter download release in Japan on the 3DS. Clone Phantasma is an action game, and it features ten characters, seven stages, a story mode, and cuteness. Did I…

You cannot play Virtual Console games only on the Wii U GamePad—something Nintendo is working to change.