Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The Kotaku Review

Early in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I discovered a puzzle shrine containing a small maze. Inside that maze was a little ball. The goal, I realized, was to maneuver the ball out of the maze and slide it into a nearby funnel. To do this, I’d have to rotate my Nintendo…

Isao Yamazaki, owner of the world’s most impressive Nintendo collection, talked about his favorite items and the company’s history with website Tofugu. You can read the interview here. 

Nintendo Switch Cartridges Taste So Bad [Update]

The Switch is almost upon us, and while there’s still a lot to discover about Nintendo’s latest console, one pressing question has been answered. “How do the cartridges taste?” So bad. Oh god, so bad. Update—Nintendo tells us what we’re tasting. The subject of the taste of Nintendo Switch cartridges was first raised by game…

Here’s What Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Looked Like In The Early Stages 

During a talk at the Game Developers Conference, Nintendo gave everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Breath of the Wild. What you’re looking at above is technically an early playable version of a game releasing in 2017. Watch it in motion: “As you can see, this is a 2D Zelda, but we used…

A new Nintendo video shows the eshop that people who have the console early still can’t access. It shows some features, but is still light on details about how/whether purchases will be linked. We’ll know more when the system’s day one update hits. For now, our Switch is off-line only.

Lucky Japanese Nintendo Fans Accidentally Got The Switch Early

The Nintendo Switch will be released on March 3 worldwide. Today, however, is March 1. Yet, a couple lucky folks in Japan apparently got their consoles delivered two days early. Via Splatoon Nawabari, here is a Switch that was sent out early. As the label says, it was slated to be delivered on March 3,…

Getting Into Fire Emblem Games After Playing Heroes

I never played a Fire Emblem game until Fire Emblem Heroes. The game dazzled me with a colorful (if horny) cast and the promise of distant realms. I wanted to see more so I bought a 3DS and played Awakening. What I found was magical and inspiring. Fire Emblem Awakening follows Chrom, a brave prince…

Nintendo Switch Is Getting A Ton Of Cool Indie Games

Nintendo says more than 60 indie games will be out for their new console by year’s end. Today, they blasted out a list of 17 of them and showed a lot more logos. Some were already announced. Regardless, some cool stuff here. Like what you see? Runner3 from Choice Provisions: Runner3 continues the joyous adventures…

The Mario Bros. Music Has Official Lyrics

You’ve been hearing the ditty for decades, both in games and on the internet, but did you know that the original Mario Bros. theme—from the games, not the TV show’s intro—has official lyrics to go with it? Anyone who has heardthe excellent Mario & Zelda Big Band Live recording from 2003 (or, if you haven’t,…

Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild Gets Pirated Days Before Launch, Causing Major Leaks

For the last week, the Zelda fandom has become a minefield of spoilers, as various Breath of the Wild related images, screenshots, and videos have leaked ahead of the official release. It’s only gotten worse today. (Some spoilers ahead.) Late this month, some fans discovered that they were able to briefly download Breath of the…

Video game companies are lobbying against a bill that protects independent business’ and gamers’ right to repair personal gaming consoles, VICE Motherboard reports. Several states have introduced bills that will force manufacturers to release tools and information required for fixing their products, exploding their so-called “repair monopoly.”

New Non-Profit Has Plans To Save Gaming’s Past

The Video Game History Foundation officially launched today. A non-profit dedicated to the preservation of video games and video game materials, the foundation is already working on special projects to help keep gaming history alive. Directed by game historian Frank Cifaldi and a board of founders, The Video Game History Foundation is one of the…

Not All Switch Games Will Support TV Mode

Not all Nintendo Switch games are going to take advantage of the console’s dual TV/portable nature. Released last year for iOS and Android, rhythm game Voez is now a Japanese Switch launch title, and it requires a touch screen to play. Does this mean we’re in for a flood of tablet ports? The latest game…

The Switch’s Neon Joy-Con Point Toward Nintendo’s Colorful Past

With just under a week left until the release of the Nintendo Switch, it’s time to talk about the system’s beautiful, neon-colored Joy-Con. The name might be silly and the way they have a knack for losing sync with the system is no small thing, but the mini-controllers mounted to the side of the Switch…

After Three Years Speedrunner Finally Beats All 714 NES Games

Piotr Delgado “The Mexican Runner” Kusielczuk has been trying to beat every NES game ever since 2014, and earlier today he finally succeeded His journey ended after completing the final world of Super Mario Bros. 3, three years since he originally took up the challenge after a friend jokingly suggested he try it. To celebrate…

Nobody Expected A Shiny Hunter To Beat Pokémon Champs At Weekend’s Big Tournament

Against all odds and expectations, a “shiny hunter” who had just started learning to play competitive Pokémon doubles defeated the reigning world champion as well as a two-time US National champion during this weekend’s tournament. Right now, the One Nation of Gamers Pokemon Invitational is underway, and it is the first Pokémon tournament sponsored by…

That Time Some Players Thought Mew Was Under A Truck In Pokémon

The original generation of Pokémon had 150 special monsters to find. One of the most elusive was the legendary psychic type Mewtwo. But if there was a Mewtwo, that left a question: where was the original Mew? Little did people know, Mew was already in the game. Near the end of the game’s development cycle,…

Player Finds Incredible Way To Push Pokémon Yellow To Game Boy’s Limit

This might be the wildest thing I have seen in 2017 so far, holy cow. Watch in wonder as someone uses Pokémon Yellow to push the boundaries of what a Game Boy is capable of. Earlier this month, MrWint uploaded an incredible tool-assisted speedrun where he uses “arbitrary code execution” (ACE) to launch the visuals…

Nintendo Is Suing Go-Karting Company Over Copyright Infringement

Today, Nintendo announced a lawsuit against a Tokyo-based kart rental service called MariCar. Tokyo has been home to a couple different karting businesses as the vehicles are street legal. Previously, Kotaku profiled Akiba Kart, a service renting out karts to those who want to explore the city’s geek district by go-kart.  The whole karting-on-Tokyo-streets thing…

Surprisingly, Pokémon‘s Sandcastle Monster Has Become A Thing In Competitive Play

At the start of 2017, nobody really considered Palossand, Pokémon’s sandcastle monster, to be noteworthy for competitive play. Then, the top-four World Championship finisher Markus Stadter lost against a Palossand-centric team live on a Twitch stream. After that, Stadter decided try the Palossand gimmick using Pokemon Sun & Moon’s new QR “rental” feature, which allows…