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Game Collector Finds Drugs Hidden Inside NES Cartridges
Julian Turner, a collector of retro video games, went to a market earlier this month and bought some old NES games. When he got home, he discovered that he’d got more than he paid for: two of the cartridges were packed with illegal drugs. The two games in question were Rollergames and Golf. Alarm bells…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 12, 2018 -
Thousands Of Modders Are Re-Inventing The Game Boy
The Game Boy is so iconic it’s transcended the limitations of its hardware to become something more than just an old handheld for playing old video games. Chiptune artists make music with Game Boys. Clothing manufacturers plaster them onto t-shirts and hoodies. More eccentric designers have inserted them into the soles of platform shoes. And…
By Ethan Gach Published April 12, 2018 -
Hacker Says It Took Him Two Weeks To Add Save Back-Ups To Switch
One of the biggest flaws in Nintendo’s portable console is that you can’t back up your data: if you lose your system, or somehow get your data corrupted or wiped, that’s it. It’s gone. But thanks to a burgeoning hacking scene, Switch fans are now adding features that the Switch desperately needs. Bernardo Giordano, a…
By Patricia Hernandez Published April 11, 2018 -
Slinky boxing game Arms got a sleek user interface makeover. Its new dashboard makes it easy to find players’ worldwide, regional and Party Crash rankings. Tips, tutorials and tournament clips also feature on the dashboard, so it’ll be handier for Arms players to get a grip.
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published April 11, 2018 -
Twitch Is Collecting Moons In Super Mario Odyssey Now
As of this writing, a couple hundred people are collectively controlling Mario via a Twitch broadcast. And despite the inherent chaos of Twitch chat, these players are actually making progress in Super Mario Odyssey. Community Controller is a channel that has recently dedicated itself to showcasing interactive livestreams of Switch games. The channel started out…
By Patricia Hernandez Published April 10, 2018 -
The Nintendo Switch’s Parental Controls Are Amazing
Pretty much every games platform in the market today, from phones to tablets to consoles, has some form of system that lets parents lock kids out of bad stuff. But none of them do it as well, or as elegantly, as the Nintendo Switch. As adults, we tend to give Nintendo shit for their tentative…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 9, 2018 -
CultureNewly Discovered Trick Transforms A Metroid Speedrunning Scene
Gamers experimenting with the 2002 Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion have discovered such a profound and bizarre shortcut that speedrunners have had to create a new category to account for the latest new way to break the game: memory corruption . The trick requires using Samus’ power bombs in an out-of-bounds area to corrupt…
By Ethan Gach Published April 9, 2018 -
The Western Version Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Has Less Body-Shaming
Clyde Mandelin is best known for his fan translation of Mother 3 and maintains the website Legends of Localization, where he looks at games’ original scripts and how they changed in the localization process. He applied his expertise to examine how localizers got rid of some body shaming in The Legend of Zelda: A Link…
By Heather Alexandra Published April 9, 2018 -
Poll: The Most Beloved Japanese Games According To People From Around The World
The most recent issue of Weekly Famitsu polled 6,678 non-Japanese people, asking their opinions about Japanese video games. Which twenty did they say they liked most? Let’s find out! Here is the breakdown by age: Under 9 years old: 2 people In their teens: 717 people In their 20s: 4,429 people In their 30s: 1,378…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 6, 2018 -
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds stations dominate the Xbox booth at PAX East. Behind that, the PlayStation booth opted to front-load Detroit: Become Human, with a couple of setups for upcoming titles like Soulcalibur VI and Yakuza 6 buried in the middle rows. Nintendo’s big draw is the Wolfenstein II Switch port demo.
By Maddy Myers Published April 5, 2018 -
Nintendo Fan Account Flagged On Twitter For Image Of Man Putting On Princess Peach Mask [Update]
The excellent Supper Mario Broth—a blog dedicated to weird and fun tidbits of Nintendo history—has had its Twitter account flagged as “sensitive” after it posted an image of…an actor putting on a giant Princess Peach mask. Here’s the tweet in question: Note that the original image as it was first tweeted was in colour: The…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 4, 2018 -
Man Is Surprised At How Little Nintendo Charged For 3DS Parts
Twitter user Kaboo Factory recently recounted how much Nintendo charged him for first gen Nintendo 3DS parts. It was surprisingly low. According to Kaboo Factory, he told Nintendo he couldn’t turn on his first-gen Nintendo 3DS and asked the company to fix it. Nintendo explained that main circuit board and the battery needed to be…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 4, 2018 -
CultureKotaku Game Diary
I Try To Play Super Mario Bros. 2 Once A Year
I try to play Super Mario Bros. 2 every spring. The game’s bright colors, whimsical level design, and obsession with weeding make it feel right at home around the time of the the vernal equinox, and it’s also one of the easiest to pick up and play. It’s not as challenging as the original Super…
By Ethan Gach Published April 2, 2018 -
Here Are The Biggest Selling Games In Japan In 2017
A few years back, traditional games and game hardware were not doing so hot in Japan. That has started to change. As Kotaku reported earlier this year, the Japanese console game market grew for the first time in 11 years. This came after the Nintendo Switch had an incredible 2017 in Japan. According to Famitsu,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 2, 2018 -
The Original Arcade Punch-Out Plays Great On Switch
Punch-Out came out on Switch today! No, not Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Not the Wii Punch-Out, either. The one that started them all, the granddaddy of Nintendo’s boxing series: the 1984 arcade version of Punch-Out. It’s worth playing if you love the series, but just be aware that it’s pretty rough around the edges by today’s…
By Chris Kohler Published March 30, 2018 -
Nintendo Reached A DLC Tipping Point This Week
It’s been a quietly unprecedented week for Nintendo, and one that should change players’ expectations for the company’s games going forward. In just eight days, five of Nintendo’s major Switch games received downloadable content updates. Some of that DLC was free, some paid. The days of any of Nintendo games being static after launch appear…
By Stephen Totilo Published March 30, 2018 -
If You’re A Pokémon Fan, You Should Play Detective Pikachu
Nintendo may be keeping the 3DS on life support at this point, but there are still reasons to boot up the handheld console. Detective Pikachu, released in North America last week, makes an especially compelling case for any fans of Pokémon who want to learn a bit more about the world of pocket monsters. Detective…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 30, 2018 -
The Reason Why Detective Pikachu Loves Coffee
While Ash’s Pikachu adores ketchup, Detective Pikachu loves coffee. In a recent interview, the game’s creators explained why. Famitsu asked why Detective Pikachu has an old man voice, and producer Hiroyuki Jinnai explained that Ikue Otani’s cute Pikachu voice work is exceedingly well-known. “That’s why, as this is an adventure game, we wanted to bring…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 30, 2018