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Kotaku East
Why Japan Should Thank Nintendo. And Why It Shouldn’t.
Spend any time on Japanese websites, blogs, and forums, and you’ll eventually see it: ありがとう任天堂. It means “Arigato Nintendo” or “Thank you Nintendo”. “Arigato Nintendo” is a meme in Japan. It first appeared on popular Japanese game site Sinobi in 2009 in a piece that detailed the staggering first day sales of New Super Mario…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 24, 2012 -
Weird Nintendo Swag Lets You Make Your Own Mario Moustache
Not that Nintendo needs to really sell the Wii U right now, since the first shipment is guaranteed to sell out on name alone, but they’re selling it anyway. Part of that sell is this random piece of retailer swag that…lets you…make your own Mario moustache? Shaped like a Wii U, you put the goop…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 24, 2012 -
Kotaku East
You’ll Never Believe What Game Character This Volcano Erupted
When Kyoto resident Clifford Brown was in Kagoshima on vacation this spring, he noticed something familiar in the swirl of volcanic ash in the sky. He noticed Yoshi. On his Flickr page, Brown recently uploaded the photo and titled it, “Yoshi Volcano”, adding that it depicts a “Yoshi shaped eruption from Sakurajima”. Sakurajima or “Sakura…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 23, 2012 -
Turns Out Princess Peach’s Parents Are Kinda Racist
Peach may love Mario, but as this clip from Robot Chicken shows, her parents are a little less enamoured by the Mushroom Kingdom’s saviour. And who can blame them! They’re royalty, he’s a plumber. Dude really needs to wear a suit. And do a better job of keeping his drug habit at bay.
By Luke Plunkett Published October 18, 2012 -
This Halloween, C-3PO and R2-D2 Are Dressing up as Pokémon (or Mario)
Artist Andrea Gerstmann has some ideas for Star Wars‘ most famous droids. In particular, what they can wear this Halloween. It’s a little cosplayception, what with them being characters within characters, but I like it. I can hear them arguing over them already. “What makes you think there are Princesses over there?” “Beep Beep” etc…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 10, 2012 -
That Amazing Super Skyrim Bros. Mod Is Now Available
And there’s an official trailer to go along with it. If you read Stephen’s post showing off the awesome-looking Skyrim mod, you might be pleased to hear that clintmich’s mod is now officially available as of last week There are still a few known issues, but who wouldn’t want to trek through the Mushroom Kingdom,…
By Tina Amini Published October 5, 2012 -
Kotaku East
The Wild and Wonderful World of Japanese Scarecrows
Across Japan, it’s harvest time. In September, the rice turns a golden hue. The color—my favorite—is koganeiro (黄金色). Scarecrows stand watch over the rice fields. Most scarecrows in Japan are rather pedestrian—what you’d think a scarecrow would and should look like. Then, there the ones that don’t look anything like scarecrows, taking their look from…
By Brian Ashcraft Published October 4, 2012 -
The Mushroom Kingdom War Just Got Serious
The images of the Mushroom Kingdom warfare you see above and below are the work of Hakashidnrc, inspired by the Mario Warfare video released a few months ago. The retextured skins of military combatants turned into Mario and Luigi will apparently be released for Garry’s Mod, according to the artist. You might even recognize the…
By Tina Amini Published October 3, 2012 -
Japan Gets Custom Mario, Animal Crossing Handhelds, And They’re Beautiful
Nintendo just announced two new versions of the 3DS XL handheld, both currently slated for release in Japan only. Which is deeply upsetting, because they’re amazing First up, this custom Animal Crossing 3DS XL, which will ship with the game when it’s released in Japan on November 8. Next, this New Super Mario Bros. 2…
By Luke Plunkett Published October 2, 2012 -
New Super Mario Bros. 2 Gets Three DLC Packs This Week For $2.50 Each
You can start buying downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. 2 this Thursday. The first three DLC packs for the game, each including three courses, are the Gold Rush Pack, Coin Challenge Pack A, and Nerve-Wrack Pack. Here’s Nintendo’s description of each: Gold Rush Pack: Fun new courses that give novice players the best…
By Jason Schreier Published October 2, 2012 -
Here’s Three Pieces of DLC For This Mario Game
Nintendo has just detailed the New Super Mario Bros. 2 DLC that it first announced back in June at E3 There’ll be three packs made available, all of them courses for the game’s coin rush mode: – Ippatsu Shoubu de Dokidoki Pack (very difficult course) – Gold Mario Go! Go! Go! Pack (try and get…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 27, 2012 -
How You Earn 30,000 Coins In Two Minutes In New Super Mario Bros. 2
The road to one million coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 can be daunting. Maybe you’ve given up by now. Well it’s time to get back on track, champ. Let Kotaku reader Slider show you how to earn 30,000 coins in two minutes all without leaving your couch. (Sorry about the video quality.)
By Jason Schreier Published September 27, 2012 -
Plants vs. Plumbers vs. LEGO
Illustrator and photographer Chris McVeigh is quite talented with LEGO. He’s got a whole assortment of LEGO pieces photographed and presented all nice and pretty on his Flickr page, but this one might be my favorite. It’s the two famous gaming plumbers—Mario and Luigi—and their infamous pipe-planted piranha plant in a pose reminiscent of Plants…
By Tina Amini Published September 25, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Who Is Bowser Jr.’s Mother? (And Other Burning Mario Questions Answered)
While Nintendo honcho Satoru Iwata already confirmed to Kotaku that Mario doesn’t have a last name, the company’s resident genius, Shigeru Miyamoto, has a crack at other burning questions. Like why Mario and Peach play tennis and race go-karts with Bowser. Like seriously, what’s up with that? In an interview with GameInformer, Mario’s creator dishes…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 25, 2012 -
Has Inflation De-Valued The Mario Coin?
If you’ve heard anything at all about the latest Super Mario Bros. game, you know that it has a lot of coins. So many coins. The diligent player can collect a million of the shiny little guys. An article over at Scripted Sequence ponders whether the ongoing inflation of coins in Mario games has led…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 24, 2012 -
Wrap Your Head Around That Mario Mobius Strip With A Video Of It In Action
Mobius strips work on a pretty simple concept, but it can be hard to wrap your brain around what’s going on. So while those pictures of the Super Mario Bros. level recreated on a Mobius strip were super pretty, they didn’t get to show off just how amazing the entire thing is. The video above…
By Tina Amini Published September 21, 2012 -
Super Mario Bros. Level 1 Recreated On A…Mobius Strip?
Mobius strips are pretty neat on their own. You can cut them down the center, and it’ll just make it longer. You can perform multiple cuts, and it’ll just create three Mobius strips, linked together. Fascinating stuff. But this particular Mobius strip is a never-ending level of Super Mario Bros.. And as you turn it…
By Tina Amini Published September 20, 2012 -
These Mario Clones For Android Are Ridiculous
I love my Android phone. I really do. It feels personalized, it does everything I need it to do, and even though it has its flaws, I still like using it better than I like using iOS and iTunes (which I experience with my iPod touch). Apps for Android, though, are rather infamously a minefield…
By Kate Cox Published September 20, 2012 -
Tekken‘s Mushroom Battle Mode Gives Tekken a 1-Up
Namco’s Tekken series is making the leap to the Wii U. The fighting game favorite is one of the first big games slotted for the console. But does it pack enough punch on the Wii U? To cater to Wii U players, Nintendo and Namco have tailed the Wii U edition with loads of platform…
By Brian Ashcraft Published September 19, 2012 -
Can You Spot All The Gaming References In Today’s Impressively Expansive xkcd Comic?
Today’s xkcd comic is…huge. Enormous. Seriously, the thing goes on for pages. It must have taken creator Randall Munroe forever to draw it all out. But hidden in the huge map of the world as he sees it are a bunch of gaming references, like Mario up top. Or Oregon Trail below, which brings me…
By Tina Amini Published September 19, 2012