Nintendo

Mario Maker 2 Lets You Feel Like A Speedrunner

Psst—hey, you! Do you want to be a Mario speedrunning genius? Okay, you might not be able to, but Super Mario Maker 2 can make you feel like one—thanks to both the cool features Nintendo has included, and a certain type of user-created level that’s becoming quite popular. You read Kotaku, so you’ve seen the…

Wind Waker Speedrunners Finally Pull Off Legendary ‘Barrier Skip’ Trick On GameCube

For years, the “Barrier Skip” was the holy grail of speedrunning tricks. The trick, which would allow passage through a seemingly impenetrable barrier in The Wind Waker, became a reality in the HD version in 2017. Meanwhile, the trick still couldn’t be performed in the original GameCube “SD” version. A new glitch has finally made…

Fans Can’t Get Enough Of Pokémon Shield‘s Spooky New Gym Leader

All of the new gym leader character designs for Pokémon Sword and Shield are great. One recently revealed trainer in particular has been racking up the fan art. Say hello to Allister. Here is the character’s official description: Allister is a talented Trainer of Ghost-type Pokémon who has taken on the mantle of the Ghost-type…

Miyamoto Still Wants To Reinvent The Controller

While the standard buttons-and-joystick video game controller has made a fairly decisive return to Nintendo’s games on the Switch, that doesn’t mean Nintendo is done trying to reinvent the way we interact with video games. At the company’s annual meeting of shareholders late last month, one attendee asked the panel of Nintendo executives about the…

Nike Is Making Nintendo 64 Sneakers

An upcoming colourway of Nike’s Air Max 97 doesn’t make an official mention of the console—gotta keep those lawyers at arm’s length—but its inspiration is clear: this is a Nintendo 64 sneaker. The colourway (which appears to be drawing influence from the N64’s logo and controller) matched with the sneaker’s vintage might have been enough…

Mario Maker 2 Player Finds Useful Trick For Making Randomized Levels

Make a brand new stage in Super Mario Maker 2 and you may find that objects which had an element of random chance in the first Mario Maker are now completely predictable. Clown cars, for example, will always start traveling in the same direction rather than picking one randomly. One player figured out how to…

Breath Of The Wild Players Discover An Infinite Jump Glitch

A new glitch in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is setting off a flurry of testing and exploration from speedrunners and glitch hunters. The complicated trick allows Link to jump infinitely, making it possible to explore the upward bounds of Hyrule and completely skip shrine puzzles. Exploration and experiments with the new…

Here’s What The Unreleased Terminator NES Game Looked Like

In 1989, Japanese developer/publisher Sunsoft revealed The Terminator, an NES game based on the hit 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. One year later, after Sunsoft lost the movie rights, the game was modified and released as generic sci-fi platformer Journey to Silius. Video game history and preservation site Gaming Alexandria has unearthed Sunsoft’s 30-year-old promo reel…

Dr. Mario World Is Classic Puzzle Gaming, With The Good And Bad Of Mobile Gaming

Nintendo’s mobile games have ranged from the simplified platforming of Super Mario Run to the light strategy gacha Fire Emblem Heroes. It’s only natural that the company would move out to puzzle games. At least initially, their upcoming game Dr. Mario World is a fun little blast of brainteasing, but comes with a few of…

The History Of Rainbow Road Speedrunning Is Filled With Bugs, Shortcuts, And Rivalries

The various Rainbow Road tracks that have appeared in every Mario Kart game are some of the most famous tracks in the entire franchise. They each are unique in their own ways and have attracted a large number of talented speedrunners, all hoping to set the fastest time. YouTuber Summoning Salt has put together a…

Put Some Checkpoints In Your Mario Maker Levels

I’ve been playing Super Mario Maker 2 nearly every night since the game was released last week and I’ve encountered some really fun and well-made levels. But I’ve also noticed an annoying trend in many player made courses. It seems a lot of level creators are uploading levels without any checkpoints. Maybe some creators are…

I just really want Super Mario Bros. 2 Maker, is I guess what I’m trying to get at, here. DBP-VYW-KMF if you want to see how close I got without the actual tools. It’s not very close, folks. If you’re also making levels, maybe enter our latest contest!

Wait, There’s A Wind Waker Village In Breath Of The Wild?

Somehow, despite the game being out for over two years now, it’s taken until July 2019 for us to find out that there’s an entire village from Wind Waker that has been replicated at the edge of Breath of the Wild’s map. While playing, John from GameXplain was walking around Lurelin Village when he noticed that…

I Will Never Make A Mario

Super Mario Maker 2 gives players a chance to flex their creative muscles and craft their own levels. These can be difficult, trap-laden hell worlds, oddball narratives, or classic platforming romps. As I’ve started playing, I’ve realized that I’m never making a Mario. And while that means missing out on a large part of the…

Super Mario Maker 2 Creation Tips From A Nintendo Icon And A Level Design Guru

Need advice for Super Mario Maker 2? The game’s producer Takashi Tezuka has five helpful tips, and Chris Totten, the author of An Architectural Approach to Level Design, has ten more. Here are Tezuka’s tips, straight from the guy who produced Super Mario Maker 2 as well as had a hand in so many iconic…

One Trick To Getting Better At Mario Kart: Relax

This weekend I learned the key to not sucking ass at Mario Kart: relaxing your hands. My general stance on competitive multiplayer games is that I play them to have fun with friends, and therefore I can’t be stressed about whether or not I’m good at them. That was again the case this Sunday when…

Mario Maker 2 Online Multiplayer Is Laggy, Too Basic, And Tons Of Fun

Super Mario Maker 2 is the first Mario game to include online multiplayer, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from Nintendo: The tech kinda sucks, the implementation is extremely bare-bones, and despite all of that, it’s a lot of fun. You can access the various multiplayer options by going into Course World, the online portion…

Super Mario Maker 2: The Kotaku Review

There’s more to Super Mario Maker 2 than just making Mario. It’s got a story mode, for instance, plus online and local multiplayer for groups of four. But the level editor is still the star of the show. Making one’s own Mario levels remains a joy, and Mario Maker 2 is designed to bring out…

Mario Maker 2 Is Hiding Two Secret New Power-Ups

While most of the course creation parts in Super Mario Maker 2 are unlocked from the start, there are two that you can’t immediately access. You’ll definitely want them, though. One of Mario Maker 2‘s new features is Story Mode, in which you play through over 100 levels designed by Nintendo. This mostly stands on…

Nintendo’s Lawyers Need To Chill

By the letter of the law, all this is fine, but the letter of the law can and often does suck