Nintendo

There Was An F-Zero Novel, And Its Art Sure Was Something

In January of 1992, a novel—not a manga, a novel—was released in Japan based on F-Zero. And anyone used to how the series looked and felt on a console will notice it’s quite…different. With a title roughly translated to F-Zero: And Then, To The Gods Of Speed, these scans and info were all uploaded by…

The Pokémon Company Wants To Hunt Leakers On 4Chan, Discord

Earlier this month, before the game’s release, leaked images of Pokémon Sword & Shield starting turning up online. That’s pretty normal for a big video game, but The Pokémon Company are taking the matter very seriously, so seriously that they’re asking a court if they can serve subpoenas on 4chan and Discord. As reported by…

Japan’s First Nintendo Store Opened Last Friday, But Lines Are Still Hours Long

Nintendo Tokyo opened on Friday. Lots of people came to the first day, and you’d think that by today, the crowds would have subsided. Nope! Twenty minutes after opening today, the wait reached 4 hours. Within 45 minutes, it was over 6 hours. Even this afternoon, at 3:15 PM, the wait was around 2 hours.…

Nintendo Was Worried Donkey Kong Country Was “Too 3D”

This week marks the 25th anniversary of the classic and beloved Donkey Kong Country. To celebrate this milestone, some of the developers behind the game took part in a series of interviews about the game, its development and its release. And according to one developer who worked on the game, Nintendo was actually worried the…

Pokémon Jobs Are Kind Of Messed Up

There is so much dumb bullshit in the Pokémon universe that is not explained and will never be explaned. What’s it like inside a Poké Ball? Do people eat Pokémon? These are questions that, when we have asked the developers, they have been unable to answer. Not helping are a new addition to Sword and…

Poll: People In Japan Reveal Which Famous Game Franchises They Haven’t Played

Have you played every big-time game franchise? Are there any well-known game series you haven’t checked out? In Japan, a recent poll asked people about which famous series they haven’t played. There were 2,362 votes in this Goo Ranking poll. Here are the top responses. 16. Persona series – 44 votes 15. Taiko no Tatsujin…

Mario Kart Tour’s Winter Update Is A Bust

Mario Kart Tour’s big winter update went live yesterday and it feels underwhelming, making me question whether or not it’s really worth it to keep subscribing to the game’s $5 monthly subscription. The game’s Winter Tour is meant to be a festive bit of seasonal fun to close out the year. It sports Mario in…

The Donkey Kong Timeline Is Truly Disturbing

Are you sitting down? I’ve got something to tell you—something that may shock you. Between the events of the various Donkey Kong games, the Kong family was involved in a bitter and vicious war. Among its many casualties, this war may have claimed the life of a classic Kong character, explaining his disappearance from all…

Korean Slang For PlayStation, Xbox, And Nintendo Fans 

A few years ago, Kotaku introduced online nicknames for Japanese fans of the three gaming platforms. Now, let’s take a look at monikers given to Korean fans of Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Via tipster Sang, here are the internet nicknames for gaming’s three corporate platform holders. Keep in mind, these are online nicknames and are…

In the first three days on sale in Japan, Pokémon Sword and Shield sold 1.365 million copies at retail. While digital downloads aren’t included, these sales figures have made the games the biggest first-week Switch sellers to date in Japan. If you missed it, read Kotaku’s Pokémon Sword and Shield review here 

Inside Japan’s First Nintendo Store

This week, Nintendo Tokyo will open its doors to the general public. Today was a press preview, allowing for a peek inside for what to expect. Naturally, there is a ton of merch, including some excellent Japan-only items. The statues and the store layout look nice! There is also a Pokémon Center right next door!

Modders Add Cut Pokémon To Sword & Shield

Now that Sword & Shield is out, fans are free to pick through the game’s code, and of course one of the first things that’s being done is the addition of some Pokémon that didn’t actually make it into the game SciresMfrom Project Pokémon has posted some video showing off the work he’s done so…

Pokémon Sword And Shield Players Report Alarming SD Card Issue, But It’s Fixable

Pokémon Sword and Shield are out today. It should be a joyous occasion, except that some players have hit quite a snag: They say that the downloadable versions of the games are deleting all of their Switch save data. In reality, that’s not quite what’s happening, but the glitch in question is certainly alarming. It…

Pokémon Sword and Shield: Which To Buy?

While I’ve been spending a lot of time with Pokémon Shield, Natalie Degraffinried has been exploring Pokémon Sword. As is tradition for Pokémon, each version of this game has exclusive Pokémon, and this one has some version-exclusive gym leaders as well. We sat down to talk about what’s different between each version. While choosing a…

I Think I’ve Been Bullied Into Getting A Pokémon Game

For most of my life, I have not played Pokémon games, and I’ve been fine with that. Like a lot of people my age, I was swept up in Pokémania and loved Red/Blue and later, Gold/Silver, but after that, I just sort of moved on. Pokémon was my gateway to the wider world of Japanese…

Toad’s Performance Of ‘Shallow’ Should Win A Grammy

Noted vocalist Toad has finally released his long-awaited version of “Shallow,” the Oscar-winning duet from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and it is truly the height of vocal performance. If you’ve already written a piece about the top songs of the decade, talk about bad timing! Toad, of course, is a big Gaga fan himself,…

Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Kotaku Review

Roughly 10 hours into Pokémon Shield, I stepped into a stadium packed with screaming fans to face off against ghost-type gym leader Allister, a shy and awkward mask-wearing kid. I reliably made it through three of the four Pokémon on his team before getting my shit completely wrecked by his last monster. Even without Dynamaxing,…

People Are Putting Mai Shiranui In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Since Nintendo isn’t including King of Fighters character Mai Shiranui in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans have started adding Mai any way they can. As previously reported, director Masahiro Sakurai said Mai would not be added to the game because, as he explained, “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many…

Nintendo’s Ambulance Game Is Giving Me Some Serious Dreamcast Vibes

All I could think as I played through a few levels of The Stretchers, Nintendo’s new eShop-exclusive Switch game, is that it feels like a Sega Dreamcast game I somehow forgot to play back in 1999. It’s got that low-poly, bright-colored aesthetic, a tiny little open city in which wreaking cartoonish havoc is acceptable, and…

Like Real Fitness, Ring Fit Adventure Is Great But Tough To Stick With

For a wonderful stretch of days in late October, every short workout I did with Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure revealed it to be a better game. Then I just stopped playing. These are the best and worst things that can come from a video game combined with exercise. First, the good stuff… I reviewed Ring…