Nintendo

Nintendo: “We Need To Go Deeper”

Spotted by Tiny Cartridge, from an Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer trailer that was pulled shortly after being published.

PSA: Fatal Frame Might Not Fit On Your Wii U

Since I normally play one game at a time on my Wii U, I’m used to deleting games. Investing in an external HD for my every-so-often console seems goofy. But I almost reconsidered this decision when downloading Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, which takes up a whopping 15GB, and it’s an eShop only game.…

Losing My Mind In A Mario Maker Level Designed To Troll Me

I’ve spent four days banging my head against a Mario Maker stage called Hypercube. Full of misdirection, false pipe gods, and music notes, it’s (mostly) a clever stage. Eventually, starved of solutions, I broke my rules and used the editor to learn what was going on. What I found made me do a spit-take. Anyone…

Nintendo just showed off these five new 3DS skins due for release (in Japan at least) in November. The Animal Crossing and Super Mario Maker ones are particularly yespleasey.

This November, Nintendo is releasing “Mario hanafuda” cards in Japan. Previously, they released Super Mario character-themedhanafuda cards via Club Nintendo (R.I.P.). These latest sets are priced at 2,500 yen (US$21).

Players Are Bending And Breaking Mario Maker, And The Results Are Amazing

Mario Maker gets a bad rap: according to popular opinion, it’s just a repository of terrible Super Mario levels. This misconception, however, ignores the burgeoning scene of inventive designers who are turning Mario Maker into something that inspires awe and wonder. Honestly, some of the things people are coming up with seem like they should…

The Banned Pokémon Episode That Gave Children Seizures

On December 16, 1997, an episode of the then-unstoppable Pokémon animated series was broadcast in Japan. Barely thirty minutes later, nearly 700 children were on their way to hospital. Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends. The episode, called “Electric Soldier Porygon”, is…

A New World Record For Beating Super Mario Bros. As Fast As Possible

I invite you to feast your eyes on an expert playthrough of the original Super Mario Bros. Somehow, a speedrunner known as Darbian manages to blaze through the old-school classic in whopping 4:57.627. To put this into context: the last world record for the “any percentage” clearance of Super Mario Bros. was 4:57.69. That was…

Why The Latest Number One Mario Maker Course Is Such Garbage

Here, captured in a three second GIF, is the entirety of the current top-rated Mario Maker course. It’s hilariously bad. How in the world did it climb the ranks, then? The answer is in the course title, which is written in Japanese: It says “I will play the courses of everyone who likes this,” according…

World’s Best Smash Bros. Player Loses, Ending 53-Tournament Streak

Gonzalo “Zer0” Barrios, a Smash Bros. Wii U player so good that he hadn’t lost a tournament in over 50 attempts (and had a “bounty” on his head), finally lost a tournament this weekend. At the MLG Finals, Zer0 went down 3-2, 3-1 to Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada. You can see it go down below (the…

How Nintendo Made The NES (And Why They Gave It A Gun)

Video game history could’ve gone a totally different way if Nintendo’s corporate headquarters were somewhere else. “If Nintendo wasn’t located in Kyoto, I wouldn’t have been there,” the man who lead the design of the Nintendo Entertainment System said last night. Good thing Masayuki Uemura’s parents never relocated to another part of Japan. It’s entirely…

Chibi-Robo Zip Lash: The Kotaku Review

If Chibi Robo weren’t so cute, this review would be easier to write. Look at the little guy with his electric plug tail! Look at him dressing up as Link from the Legend of Zelda Look at him meeting new people: Unfortunately, this little scamp’s new game is an oddball mediocrity, a game with an…

Yoshi’s Woolly World: The Kotaku Review

Yoshi’s Woolly World has three big things in its favour: it feels fabulous to play, it looks sumptuous and it sometimes makes you feel like a genius. Even amongst the generous array of mega-cute platformers on Wii U, it stands out as especially beautiful, especially sweet and especially eager to please. But it isn’t especially…

Report: Nintendo’s Next Platform NX Combines Console And Handheld In Some Way

Nintendo’s new gaming platform will encompass a console and a handheld according to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal According to the paper: The exact shape of the NX hardware isn’t yet clear. People familiar with the development plans said Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that…

Nintendo Is Nerfing a Bunch of Splatoon Weapons

For those who didn’t like how some of the Rollers and Blasters were balanced, good news. Nintendo will fix that in an update. For those who did like the way they are now, well, sorry! The 2.2.0 Splatoon update hits on October 20 and recalibrates weapons that do seem overpowered, such as the Carbon Roller…

The Obvious Choice For The Next Smash Bros. Character

The Super Smash Bros. Ballot has been closed for a while, and still, no announcement from Nintendo on who the fan’s choice for the next Smash DLC will be. In the absence of official word, then (though fans feel like that’s coming soon), it’s left to parody accounts and solid jokes to fill the void.

Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Lets You ‘Blacklist’ Internet Jerks

Did you know that there’s a new Zelda coming out next week? And that it’s totally adorable? Now you know. Tri Force Heroes, which is out on October 23 for 3DS, is a multiplayer Zelda game that looks and feels like 2013’s Link Between Worlds, but plays more like Four Swords. You and a party…

Mario’s Voice Actor Plays Mario Maker, And It’s A Trip

You’ve probably heard Charles Martinet countless times while traversing the Mushroom Kingdom. But it’s something else entirely to watch the man behind Mario actually play Mario. Nintendo Life recorded Martinet doing all the Mario sounds live while playing Mario Maker, something which you simply must witness: I love how happy he seems playing Mario Maker,…

Musicians’ Union Protests Zelda Concert

Last night’s 90-piece Zelda symphony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York drew franchise fans but also a protest in the form of a handful of members of a musicians union and a large inflatable rat. Local 802, the Associated Musicians of Greater New York, objected to the Tuesday-evening symphony using non-union players. John…

Wii U Emulation Is Coming Along

As teams continue work on emulators for the Xbox 360 and PS3, a big breakthrough has been made by those trying to play Wii U games on a PC. Version 1.00 of the Cemu emulator has just been released, and while it’s far from a finished article—sound isn’t working, and it can basically only boot…