Nintendo

Baseball Team Turning Players Into Walking Game Boys

These days most professional sports teams, regardless of where they are in the world, tend to dabble in limited/variant jerseys. But few go as nuts for the ideas as minor-league American teams. I’ve posted about the weird union between video games and sports jerseys before, but most of those cases were relatively straight-up commercial agreements.…

A Brief Update on Zelda Wii U

The last we heard the Zelda Wii U was delayed, which is something Nintendo always does. Wondering how things are going? In the most recent issue of Famitsu, series producer Eiji Aonuma was asked just that. “Busy,” he replied. Continuing, he said, “When we did Skyward Sword for the Wii, at the end stages of…

A Ten-Minute Tour Of Pokkén Tournament Wii U

The Wii U version of Namco Bandai’s Pokémon fighting game has landed at Kotaku, along with strict time constraints on how much video we can share. So here’s quick look at training, fighting, customization and Amiibo unlocks of Pokkén Tournament. Before review day arrives we are able to share 30 minutes of direct feed (non-streamed)…

First Details on Nintendo’s Universal Studios Collaboration

As Kotaku reported last year, Nintendo is coming to Universal Studios Japan. Today, the first details—namely, how large the Nintendo area will be, how much will be spent, and when it should be completed—have been made public. According to Sankei News, forty billion yen (US$351 million) is being invested in this project with the deal…

The Ugly New Front In The Neverending Video Game Culture War

Gaming’s culture war hasn’t ended. It’s still roiling, with new fights, new targets, new depths of ugliness, but also many of the same tactics. If you’ve witnessed this kind of “Chanterculture”/GamerGate drama before, you know the playbook: discredit, harass, shame, isolate, maybe find a skeleton in a person’s closet that calls their reputation into question.…

Nintendo Is Leaking Like Crazy

In 2013, when I visited Nintendo’s Redmond HQ for a feature on the company’s Treehouse localization team, staffers there opined that secrecy was essential to their operations. “We’re keeping things confidential until we’re ready to share them with the world,” Treehouse manager Leslie Swan told me then. “We work really closely with the development teams…

Google Maps Has A Legend of Zelda Easter Egg Today

You know what they say, it’s dangerous to go alone. If you load up Google Maps today, there’s actually a cool little easter egg waiting for you on the bottom right corner: See that Link icon? It lets you toggle Street View images. If you click it and browse in Street View, you’ll then see…

Goofy Nintendo Execs Are the Best

Meet Satoru Shibata. He’s the President of Nintendo Europe. Honestly, I don’t know if he’s good at the business, but I do know that he’s good at the Yo-Kai Watch dance. Very good. From the most recent Nintendo Direct for UK/Europe: Always nice to see execs in suits willing to have fun and not afraid…

New Metroid Prime Federation Force Trailer Rapidly Down-voted On YouTube

“At E3, there was one game we introduced that left fans with some questions,” Nintendo’s Bill Trinen said today in a Nintendo Direct, which was basically an indirect way of acknowledging the backlash to the multiplayer-centric shooter that the company unveiled last June. Fans still seem upset about it. Seconds after the game’s new trailer…

Nintendo’s SNES-Themed 3DS Is Just Beautiful

This was announced as part of Japan’s Nintendo Direct this evening. It’s a New 3DS XL that shares the colour scheme/design elements of the timeless Japanese/PAL Super Nintendo America, because your Super Nintendo was purple and gross and sucked, you’ll likely never get this. But with a slight change of wording on the back, maybe…

New 3DS Game Lets You Play As Kirby In A Mech Suit

Kirby: Planet Robobot is a new Kirby game for the 3DS. You’ve got a Kirby mech that you upgrade, and there’s also a four-player co-op mode. In addition to the new game, there’ll also be a Kirby line of Amiibo, which you can check out below.

Super Mario World and Other SNES Games Coming To New 3DS

Good news, Virtual Console fans. Starting on March 3rd, a slew of Super Nintendo games will be hitting the new 3DS. Here’s the line-up. March 3rd: Pilotwings, Super Mario World, F-Zero. March 24th: Super Mario Kart, Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country. April 14th: A Link To The Past, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country 2. It’s kind…

New Paper Mario Game Releasing On Wii U In 2016

Hey, a new Paper Mario game! It’s coming to the Wii U, and it’s called Paper Mario: Color Splash. It’s coming in 2016.

Nintendo is adding a few new features to Super Mario Maker, including key doors, a “super expert” mode for the 100 Mario challenge, and new ranking categories for the bookmark website. The key stuff is big; the keys can be hidden inside enemies, essentially creating boss battles.

Remember Project Guard from a few years ago? It’s become Star Fox Guard, and it’ll come packaged with Star Fox Zero Out on April 22nd for Wii U (and will be available separately digitally as well.)

Watch The New Nintendo Direct Right Here

It’s a beautiful day for Nintendo news, isn’t it? The next big Direct will start at 5pm ET—you can watch it right here. Expect some Wii U and 3DS news, but nothing on the NX or Nintendo’s upcoming mobile games.

A Touching Pokémon Tribute in GIF Form

Here we are, celebrating Pokémon’s 20th anniversary. The best tribute I’ve seen so far is this GIF made by Japanese Twitter user Memi. It’s beautiful. Thanks, Roy for the tip! To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter@Brian_Ashcraft Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing…

There’s a Nintendo Direct broadcast hitting tomorrow at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT, discussing titles coming this summer for Wii U and 3DS. Contact the author at [email protected]

The Pokémon Superstition That Will Never Die

Some people think that walking under a ladder is bad luck. Others knock on wood so they don’t tempt fate. And we can’t forget about the people who avoid the number 13. Some people even press “down B” after they throw a Pokeball in Pokémon games, because they think it will help them capture monsters…

Twilight Princess Easter Egg Is A Small Shoutout To The Next Zelda

Hey, this looks familiar. I wonder what this means for Zelda Wii U’s timeline? Link inception moment brought to you via Eurogamer. Contact the author at [email protected]