Mario

Mario In Unreal Engine 4 Just Ain’t Right

Would you look at that. Turns out the uncanny valley works both ways. YouTube’s Aryoksini , the guy behind the Blender version of Super Mario 64 from last year, demonstrates why we like our Mario games in colorful cartoon kingdoms and not realistic office buildings, kitchenettes and museums. Aryoksini rebuilt the Mario animations from scratch…

Computer Is Learning To Make Mario Levels By Watching YouTube

First they’ll take our jobs. Then they’ll take our Mario. While Nintendo works hard to let us build our own Mario levels, the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing an “artificially intelligent system” that can build its own stages The terror comes not in the fact it can build levels—procedural generation is everywhere these days—but…

Guy Beats Super Mario World In 23 Minutes…While Blindfolded

Fun fact: you don’t actually need to see Mario levels in order to beat them. Marvel as speedrunner PangaeaPanga clears Super Mario World without actually looking at the game using a combination of good timing, and precise jumps. The entire thing takes a whopping 23:14, which is impressive considering the circumstances at play here: Kind…

Visiting Tokyo’s Super Mario Cafes

There are Super Mario Cafes in Tokyo? Oh yes, but only for a limited time. In honor of Super Mario’s 30th anniversary, Nintendo is teaming up with Tower Record Cafes in Tokyo for a trio of newly-opened Mario-themed cafes. Tokyo resident, Nintendo super fan, and all around good guy Kyle McLainswung by all three (in…

Super Mario Maker’s Online Features Sound Really Cool

Nintendo isn’t exactly known for its on-point social features. But based on what they’ve shared on Mario Maker thus far, it really seems like they’re going to nail it this time. Yesterday, Nintendo held a Treehouse stream event where they described some of the features we can expect in their upcoming game where you can…

Nintendo’s next Super Mario sports game will be Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, a holiday 2015 Wii U game that seems to use the ability to turn into a giant-size character as its main gameplay gimmick.

Super Mario Maker Looks Nuts

Here’s Mario’s iconic 1-1 level, remade into a giant death trap by the folks at Nintendo. Wow! The GIF above is a small slice of a Mario level debuted at the Nintendo World Championships today, and it gives us a small taste of just how bonkers Mario Maker levels will be. Players will be able…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Wild Junk: The Winners!

Last week we asked our readers to fix The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s missing penis problem. Our readers responded with the stuff of endless nightmares. The only rule was no actual genitalia, which only encouraged them. When you scroll through this week’s runners-up, you will see things you can never erase from your brain. You…

19 Years Later, Super Mario 64 Player Finds New Way To Use Goombas 

When most of us see a goomba, our instinct is to try to squash it, get rid of it. Turns out, though, that goombas can be way more useful than that. Last year, I profiled Scott Buchanan, an intense Super Mario 64 player who manages to beat levels without ever jumping at all. This month,…

The Times Mario Wasn’t a Nintendo Exclusive

When you think of Mario, you think of Nintendo. The two are linked so firmly in your mind it’s almost impossible to think that the beloved character’s games ever showed up on other systems. But it has happened—and more than once. Donkey Kong (1981-1988) The first Mario game (though he was only known as “Jumpman”…

The Worst Japanese Sales Week In a Long Time

Oh boy. The most recent video game sales numbers in Japan are not good. In fact, they’re bad. Very bad. As blog Hokanko points out, the most recent Media Create sales figures—which date from May 11 to May 17—are the worst since 2001. This period was the week that followed Golden Week, a string of…

A Look at Adding Mario to Non-Mario Games

This week sees the US release of Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition, which (as the name implies) includes a version of the addictive mobile game completely redone with Mario characters, enemies, and levels. But this is far from the first time Mario has taken over a pre-existing game. There are numerous…

What Mario’s Nightmares Sound Like

Nothing gets a Staturday night party going like every sound effect in the original Super Mario Bros. all at once. Looped. For 12 hours. I’ve been listening to YouTuber crysknife007’s “composition” for about 20 minutes now, and I can feel my brain scrambling about in my head trying to catch every last drop of it.…

Watch A Super Mario Bros. Aquarium Get Built From Scratch

If I ever decide to buy fish, I’ll have to consider this incredible aquarium by Kelsey Kronmiller. “I started in about a year ago, after my good friend showed me a similar tank and challenged me to make one….so I did,” said Kronmiller to me over email. “I originally wanted to go with the underwater…

Super Mario Bros. Screenshot Recreated with 14,000 Toothpicks

Who knew toothpicks could be such a good substitute for 8-bit graphics? I sure didn’t. Twitter user BitBlt Korry recreated the Super Mario Bros. start screen with painted toothpicks. As you can see, some of the toothpicks stick out further, giving the tableau’s front some cool depth. [Photos: BitBlt_Korry] This little hidden Mario is a…

The very talented Marinko Milosevski looks back at Super Mario 64 with his latest poster. As usual, you can acquire a print through Marinko’s website—but if you’d prefer to just look, you can find the poster in its full glory below. Dayshot is an image-based feature that runs every morning, showcasing some of the prettiest,…

The Man Who Does The Impossible in Super Mario 64

Before the world knew him as Mario, Nintendo’s iconic plumber had a simpler name: Jumpman. That name makes sense, when you think about it: Mario is defined by his ability to jump. But lately, I’ve become fascinated by the people who play—and beat—Super Mario 64 without jumping a single time. Heck, sometimes they don’t even…

What Made Super Mario 3D World So Great

We all know Super Mario 3D World is super rad. Just how rad is it? YouTuber Mark Brown took a look at the modern classic for his semi-regular “Game Maker’s toolkit” video series, and makes a case for putting 3D World in the time-honored “totally hella rad” category. That might not be the name of…

Mom Honors Pledge, Plays Mario With Son On Wedding Day

As if weddings weren’t sweet enough. When The Toast’s Mallory Ortberg (formerly of Gawker) asked this question last year, she got what turned out to be one half of a reply. The other half came this week, with an update. If they were late, at least they had an awesome excuse. (via nrvalleytime @ NeoGAF)…

World’s Best Peter Griffin Cosplayer Tries A Mario Speedrun

That sounds like something a headline generator would come up with, but I promise you, this is a real thing that happened. In this clip, Robert Franzese (aka Real Life Peter Griffin) takes on Super Mario Bros. and beats it in under an hour. Slow by professionalspeedrunner standards, impossibly fast by Peter Griffin standards. Weird…