Mario

Amazing Mario 3 Speedrun Is Full Of Setbacks And Sportsmanship

Last night, the top two Super Mario Bros 3 speedrunners faced off for a race that ran into problems—including game crashes. Despite the hurdles, speedrunners Mitchflowerpower and GrandPOObear bounced back and showed sportsmanship and skill under stress. In their “All Forts” run at Summer Games Done Quick 2018, the pair sped through the game and…

The Ups And Downs Of Mario Sports Games

Mario may be known for his background as a plumber, or his recent adventure as a body-snatching fashionista, but over the years he’s also become one of gaming’s most popular athletes. With Mario’s newest tennis iteration launching later this year for the Nintendo Switch, it’s the perfect time to look back on the many games…

It’s Mario And Bowser In Breath Of The Wild

This pair of mods, with Mario replacing Link and Bowser replacing a Hinox, brings one of Nintendo’s oldest battles to one of its newest classics. Bowser is by lynard killer, while Mario is by WilianZilv And for something similar, here’s a straight Fire Mario vs Bowser: Thanks Marc!

The New Mario Tennis Is Definitely A Fighting Game

After taking Mario Tennis Aces out for a spin during last weekend’s limited beta, I’ve reached the definitive conclusion that the beloved sports franchise has turned into a fighting game like Street Fighter, Tekken, or Guilty Gear Mario Tennis, which debuted as Mario’s Tennis on the Virtual Boy in 1995, started out as a fairly…

Mario Tennis Aces‘ Adventure Mode Is A Great Teacher

Mario Tennis Aces is the sequel to the spiritual successor to the follow-up to Pong. Somewhere along the way, video game tennis became significantly more complicated than two paddles and a square ball. Fortunately, this upcoming Switch game will teach you all its tricks, by way of the RPG-style single-player adventure mode. To be released…

The People Behind Hyrule Warriors Have Two Dream Projects: Mario And Star Wars

If the president of Koei Tecmo had his way, the next couple of Warriors games would be Star Wars and Mario. You can’t fault the man’s taste. Koei Tecmo occupies a uniquely strong position in the Japanese video game market, thanks in large part to the evolution of its Dynasty Warriors series into a sort…

Super Mario 64 Online Is Back From The Dead, For Now

Last September, modders created a way for up to 24 people to jump around together in Super Mario 64. The ROM hack was called SM64 Online and it garnered lots of attention, including Nintendo’s who promptly issued copyright strikes to have the ROM hack and videos demoing it taken down. Eight months later the modders…

Super Mario Odyssey, Six Months Later

Super Mario Odyssey came out last October and continues to delight players. Datamined secrets, awesome glitches, and a fancy balloon hunting mode have kept players exploring the game’s vibrant world long after other games have come and gone. There’s been plenty of ups and downs to Super Mario Odyssey including broken scoreboards, awesome speedruns, and…

Princess Peach Is Ready For The Apocalypse

This cosplay by Oh My Sophii is called “Apocalypse Princess Peach”, but there’s definitely some Borderlands influence here as well. The end result is something of a team project; while Sophii did most of the suit itself, it’s based on artwork by Charles Holbert, with prop and applique help by Brent M Watkins and Red…

I Try To Play Super Mario Bros. 2 Once A Year

I try to play Super Mario Bros. 2 every spring. The game’s bright colors, whimsical level design, and obsession with weeding make it feel right at home around the time of the the vernal equinox, and it’s also one of the easiest to pick up and play. It’s not as challenging as the original Super…

Nintendo just added two new outfits to Super Mario Odyssey’s post-game shop. One is a baseball uniform, while the other is a nod to the Satellaview, a SNES add-on that let users download games using a modem.

Bowser Is Only Four Feet Tall, Judging By Luigi’s Penis

Assuming it’s not a 1-up mushroom that he stashed away for later, that is presumably Luigi’s penis

The Game Franchises That Will Exist 100 Years Into The Future

Video games are still a relatively young medium. Many of the most iconic characters weren’t created that long ago. But what about a century from now? Which ones will remain? A thread on 2ch, Japan’s most popular bulletin board, covered those same questions. The answers probably won’t be a surprise, but here are some, but…

Google Maps Gets Its Very Own Mario Kart

Google’s already tossed Pac Man into its maps—now it’s Mario’s turn to shine. To celebrate Mario Day, users of the Google Maps phone app can now send their favorite plumber karting around their neighborhood. Leading into March 10th–whose abbreviation Mar. 10 looks like the most l33t spelling of Mario ever–anyone using the Google Maps app…

Mario Is Officially A Plumber Again

In September, Nintendo crushed hearts across the world by declaring that Mario was no longer a plumber. This week, the publisher has remedied that horrible mistake, changing Mario’s bio to note that he is, in fact, a plumber. Previously, as translated by Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft, the official Japanese Mario bio had read: “All around sporty,…

As Mario Odyssey Patches Change The Game, Speedrunners Scramble To Keep Up

Super Mario Odyssey speedrunners often use glitches to grab tricky power moons or skip through major portions of the game. A new patch implemented alongside the new Luigi’s Balloon World mode last week blocked some of those crucial tricks, slowing any runner who upgraded their game. Now, the community is trying to figure out what…

Mario Odyssey Players Are Breaking The New Balloon Mode

Growing up, you probably played hide-and-seek, and you probably had one friend who was so good at hiding that it felt like they’d vanished. Well, imagine that they could literally phase through walls in order to win, and you’ll have an idea of how Mario Odyssey players are feeling right now. Mario Odyssey’s new mode,…

AI Learns To Play Mario 64, Gets A Star

We’ve seen artificial intelligence learn how to play games like Super Mario World and Mario Kart, but Mario 64 is a whole different animal. Kaze Emanuar is a modder who lives to contort Mario 64 into strange, new shapes and forms. In the past, he’s added online multiplayer, a first-person mode, and portal guns, some…

Mario Is Getting His Own Fancy Encyclopedia

Having had tremendous success withits trio of The Legend of Zelda reference books, Dark Horse Publishing sets its sights on the Mushroom Kingdom, chronicling three decades of Nintendo gaming in the Super Mario Encyclopedia. The Super Mario Encyclopedia is an exhaustive look at nearly every Super Mario game Nintendo’s made, from Super Mario Bros. in…

Super Mario Bros. Speedruns Are One Step Closer To Best Possible Time

Super Mario Bros. speedruns are almost as perfect as humanly possible. The swift sprint through the Mushroom Kingdom has only seen incremental gains over the last few years, with runners besting times by fractions of a second. Runs of the game have become so optimized that it seemed impossible to do any better. Last night,…