Nintendo

Maybe Don’t Put The Goose In Smash?

I’ve seen a lot of people asking over the past week for the Goose from Untitled Goose Game to be put in Smash Bros. I don’t know if that’s a very good idea. I mean, I admire the passion! But you’re not thinking this through, for a number of reasons: 1) Pump your brakes. The internet…

Mario Kart Tour’s Microtransactions Feel Gross In A Post-Apple Arcade World

Mario Kart Tour is a fine racing game. The graphics are lovely. The simple touch controls are fine once you get used to them. It’s overflowing with colorful Nintendo brand polish. Mario Kart Tour is also a free-to-play game with a microtransaction-fueled gacha collection mechanic and game options and rewards locked behind a paid monthly…

Official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Tournament Bans Hero, Then Unbans Him

The controversy surrounding Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character Hero and his place in serious competition intensified recently when it was revealed that an official, Nintendo-sanctioned tournament in France had chosen to ban him from play. But now, just two days later, Nintendo has reversed that decision. Originally announced back in January, the European Team Cup…

Using One Nintendo Account On 2 Switches Is Tricky, So Here’s The Best Way To Do It

Since last week’s release of the portable-only Switch Lite, I’ve been trying to set up my account on both the Lite and my original Switch so my wife and kids can play games like Super Mario Odyssey and Yoshi’s Crafted World on one without erasing my save data or interrupting my playing Puzzle Quest on…

Mario Kart Tour Locks The Fastest Race Mode Behind A Paid Subscription

Mario Kart Tour is available today on iOS and Android, bringing some portable kart action to phones and other devices. If you want to enjoy tough races with a faster pace, though, it turns out you’ll need to shell out some money. Mario Kart games have always had different racing tiers. This usually means starting…

During its first three days on sale, the Nintendo Switch Lite sold 177,936 units in Japan. Combined with the regular Switch units, nearly 250,000 Switch consoles were sold that same week. In case you missed it, here is Kotaku’s Switch Lite review. 

Link’s Awakening‘s Big ‘Twist’ Is Mind-Blowing When You’re Eight

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a mystery. Link, the hero of the Zelda games, wakes up after getting shipwrecked on Koholint Island. He meets a mysterious owl who tells him that in order to return home, he must wake the Wind Fish, the guardian of the island, who is currently asleep in a…

Mario Kart Tour Kicks Off Tomorrow In New York City

Nintendo’s latest free-to-play mobile game, Mario Kart Tour, launches tomorrow on iOS and Android. Every two weeks the nickley, dimey racer will test players in tours, special races inspired by real-world locations. The first destination is New York, New York, where players can earn Musician Mario and Super Mario Odyssey Pauline as playable racers. New…

Nintendo Was Founded 130 Years Ago Today

On September 23, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai (koppai means “cards”) in Kyoto, Japan. Originally a playing card company, the company would go on to revolutionize video games forever. When the company was first founded, Nintendo made hanafuda playing cards. It was only three years earlier that the Japanese government legalized the cards, which…

Fans Found An Assault Rifle Texture Hidden In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Princess Peach is powerful and not to be messed with in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. But I never expected that she was secretly carrying an assault rifle. Yet that’s what fans found when they dug around the files of Brawl. YouTuber Oddheader recently released a video showcasing some secrets in video games that players and…

Tips For Playing The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening is not a challenging game, but it can be a little abstruse. Originally released for the Game Boy in 1993 and overhauled for Switch in a delightful remake that’s out this week, the fourth Zelda is full of secrets, mysteries, and weird quirks to discover. Here are some tips to help you leave…

Nintendo Switch Lite: The Kotaku Review

The Nintendo Switch Lite is one of the finest handheld gaming devices I’ve ever used. It’s sturdy, stylish, and comfortable. It launches with a library that’s already over 2,500 games strong. If all you’re looking for from the Nintendo Switch is personal, portable play, it’s perfect. But is that all you’re looking for? From its…

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: The Kotaku Review

The best feeling you can possibly feel while playing a video game is the act of swinging a sword in Zelda. I came to this conclusion recently, while playing the new remake of Link’s Awakening and trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes me love Zelda games so much. The answer, I think,…

The Internet Reacts To Sirfetch’d, Pokémon Sword‘s New Farfetch’d Evolution

Farfetch’d, the leek-carrying bird pal that’s been around since the original Pokémon games, is finally getting an evolution of his own. His buff new form, appearing exclusively in Pokémon Sword, is called Sirfetch’d, and the internet has some thoughts about this smug bird knight. According to the official Sword and Shield website, Sirfetch’d is incredibly…

I’ve Finally Gotten Tired Of Making My Video Game Characters Look Like Boring Slobs

I recently got my hands on Daemon X Machina, the new mech action game for the Nintendo Switch, and I was immediately dazzled—not by the power and might of my giant robot armor, or the weighty action of sci-fi combat—but by how much fun it was to style my mech and its pilot in some…

The First Puzzle Quest Is Still The Best

2007’s Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords combined tile-matching puzzles and role-playing game mechanics to create an incredibly compelling hybrid game that was near impossible to put down. One sequel, several spin-offs, and countless copycats later, the Switch version of the original Puzzle Quest is just as captivating as it was 12 years ago. Launching…

Developers Cash In By Selling Their Switch Games For Pennies

Every few days, I tap the eShop icon on my Nintendo Switch. I’ll look at the new games released that week, but honestly, I just want to see what’s on sale. I especially want to see what’s really on sale. One of the few categories by which you can browse Switch games on the eShop…

I Have Several Issues With This Year’s Halloween Pokémon Toys

Pikachu as Mimikyu. Charmander as Cubone. Lucario and Celebi as live-action role-players. This year’s batch of special Halloween-themed “Pumpkin Parade” plushies from The Pokémon Company are adorable at first glance. But if you look closely, the cute facade begins to crumble. Let’s start with Charmander wearing another Pokémon’s dead mother’s skull as a costume. Depending…

Nintendo’s New Fitness Game Puts Joy-Cons In Strange Places

Nintendo is heading back into the fitness business with Ring Fit Adventure, a new game where you strap a Joy-Con onto your leg, put another in a big squeezy new peripheral and flail about like nobody’s watching. Here is the game’s first trailer—it looks like a surprisingly decent use of RPG mechanics, given the fitness…

Zelda: Link’s Awakening‘s Chamber Dungeons Are A Big Disappointment

The appeal of a Zelda dungeon is in its intricacy. A good dungeon starts off feeling overwhelming, full of buttons and doors and strange obstacles. As you make progress, solving puzzles and acquiring items, it all slowly begins to make sense. You get a complete understanding of how the passages flow and the rooms all…