Mario

Mario And Luigi At The 2016 Kids’ Choice Awards

Nintendo’s favorite son and his brother or whatever took the stage at last night’s Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, followed by a live-action Super Mario Bros. bit featuring that Goodburger guy. Mario was as animated as ever. Luigi sounded a bit tired. Together they passed it on over to Kel Mitchell, who is essentially the Luigi…

First Details on Nintendo’s Universal Studios Collaboration

As Kotaku reported last year, Nintendo is coming to Universal Studios Japan. Today, the first details—namely, how large the Nintendo area will be, how much will be spent, and when it should be completed—have been made public. According to Sankei News, forty billion yen (US$351 million) is being invested in this project with the deal…

New Paper Mario Game Releasing On Wii U In 2016

Hey, a new Paper Mario game! It’s coming to the Wii U, and it’s called Paper Mario: Color Splash. It’s coming in 2016.

Superb Gaming Animations

Fanart is a high form of flattery. Turning scenes from your favorite games into animated clips, each taking hours to days to weeks to finish, has to be the highest form. These amazing short animations all come from the US-based, 17-year-old artist AmazingArtistYellow. The one on the top is their latest, called “Come back here…

Super Mario Mech-er

Toy customizer Donald “kodykoala” Kennedy cut a giant Mario figure in half and used push pin ‘rivets’ to transform him into a massive metal monster. Mario’s sacrifice was not in vain. The folks at my local GameStop were trying to get rid of one of these massive plastic plumbers for a year. Every time I…

Yep, this is a giant (and fully playable) Famicom controller. It was on display at Game Party 2016 over the weekend in Japan, and people could co-op play Super Mario Bros. For more pics, check out Gigazine.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam: The Kotaku Review

When you think of sensational action sequences and explosive setpieces, your mind may jump to big-budget productions like Uncharted or Tomb Raider. Allow me to present a dark horse contender: the unassuming Mario & Luigi series, with its goofy animations and sight gags, which has carved out its own healthy niche in the realm of…

Nintendo is running a special Amiibo campaign in Japan. Buy an Amiibo and you get a code for download title Mini Mario and Friends Amiibo Challenge, a platformer with toy-versions of the Nintendo characters. No word yet on a Western release.

Speedrunner Crushes One Of The Hardest Super Mario Bros. 3 Hacks Ever

In mid-2015, an intrepid modder called Obitus1 released one of the hardest Super Mario Bros. 3 hacks ever. Now, watch speedrunner mitchflowerpower absolutely kill it. Named Kaizo Mario Bros. 3. in honor of the infamous Kaizo Mario World series, this set of 19 levels is filled with near-impossible jumps, devious tricks, and items that you…

Let’s Murder Mario Over And Over Again

It’s not technically Nintendo’s iconic hero that I’m endlessly ending in the newly-released anti-platformer Kill the Plumber, but it totally is. It’s just the day in the life of a Super Mario Bros. enemy, really. You’re waddling about your screen, minding your own business, and then along comes this mustachioed maniac stomping on your friends,…

Mario Takes Over a Sonic Game

The game is Sonic Generations. Or rather, Super Mario Generations, thanks to modder group Daku & Squiz. The mod (via DSOGaming), which has been in the works for a couple years now, basically lets you play through Sonic Generations as Mario, with the supporting characters also getting turned into various Mario ones like Peach, Donkey…

Oh, It’s N64 Games, Running On A Watch

Is this practical? No. But screw practical. Like we saw with Half-Life, trying to play a video game on a watch is futile. The touchscreen controls used by the emulator are just too damn small. But it’s the drive that we appreciate. If an “old” LG G Watch can run N64 games, then who knows,…

Mario Sure Likes To Play Dress-up

This piece of fanart illustrates just twelve of Mario’s many, many outfits. Here’s the artwork itself: Called “A Fashionable Plumber,” it was drawn by Dave Bardin, a freelance illustrator, over the course of several months. It would make a cool poster. There’s a sampling of Bardin’s other works below. You can find more, mostly comic-related,…

Mario Faces The Final Boss

Better get to that super star real quick. Before that sneaky Thwomp gets there, preferably. Grosnez is a professional illustrator from France, and this is a fantastic piece of Mario fanart. Not much else to say there. There’s a few more gaming -related pieces from Grosnez below; his DeviantArt gallery has more pics, mostly in…

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).

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,…

Thank You For The Amazing Game Cube Collection, Random Game Store Guy

I went to my local video game store on Friday to pick up a copy of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, and I walk out with an entire generation’s worth of Nintendo console goodness. Thanks, random game store guy. No, I didn’t get his name. I want to say Dave, but I want to say…

Yoshi Turned into a Custom Motorcycle

This is good. This is very good. Twitter user Late Riser spotted this custom bike in Osaka. Maybe you can see how Yoshi’s tongue extends and is holding a can of 556 lubricant? [Photo: Late Riser] Top photo: Late Riser To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft…

20 Excellent Super Mario Maker Courses You Should Play

I have spent dozens of hours playing through hundreds of Mario Maker courses. Here’s the cream of the crop. One of the biggest criticisms I’ve seen floating around for Mario Maker is that it’s really difficult to find good courses. While that may be true, it doesn’t mean Mario Maker is completely bereft of great…

Beating This Mario Maker Level Felt Like Defeating A Dark Souls Boss

Yep, this is a level in which the creator turned Mario’s glorious star into a player’s worst nightmare. It’s early days for Super Mario Maker, which means people are still figuring out what makes a Mario stage tick. It’ll take time before we see what people are truly capable of, but I’m already impressed by…