Nintendo

Chibi-Robo! Returns, Bringing An Adorable Amiibo With Him

This morning’s Japanese Nintendo Direct revealed a new side-scrolling platformer Chibi-Robo! game, along with a super-empowering Amiibo companion. Guru-Guru! Chibi-Robo! (I’m guessing that’s Go-Go Chibi-Robo!) looks like it takes everyone’s favorite helper robot and transforms him into a more practical sort of Bionic Commando, using his plug and cord as a grappling hook, as you…

And Now, Some Splatoon Fan Art

Splatoon was just released in Japan! Loads of people are tweeting about how much fun the game is or how excited they are to get it. And those who aren’t talking are showing their affection with art. Fan art. Via Twitter, here is some (certainly not all!) of the best Splatoon fan art to come…

After 55 Hours of Xenoblade X, I Finally Got My Mecha

Then I promptly broke it. In a lot of ways, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a bit of a slog. Main story quests are few and far between—and you’ll need to level up before attempting each one. So when you’re not aimlessly exploring (which, don’t get me wrong, is by far the most enjoyable part of…

Splatoon: The Kotaku Review

Every year, some new game claims to have revolutionized the art of shooting people in the face. Most of the time, it doesn’t feel true. With Splatoon, it does. Splatoon is fresh. Splatoon is exciting. Splatoon makes me forget that I ever had shooter fatigue in the first place, something that I haven’t felt since…

Winning By A Nose, Mario Kart Edition

“It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile,” Dominic Toretto famously said at the beginning of The Fast and the Furious, “Winning’s winning.” Well let me ask you this, Dom: have you ever played Mario Kart? Just look at that finish line! Those two Miis were literally racing neck and neck.…

Truck Full Of Nintendo Games, Amiibo Stolen

A ton of Nintendo fans in the UK have been left without the games they pre-ordered after a truck full of copies of Splatoon (and related Splatoon Amiibo) was stolen. The theft of the truck, lifted on its way from Nintendo’s European warehouse to British chain GAME, means that anyone who pre-ordered Splatoon’s Special Edition…

The Nintendo 3DS gets a new color in Japan: Pearl White. It goes on sale on June 11. No word yet on an international release.

Nobody Is As Good As Nintendo At Making Cute Games

Nintendo’s greatest skill will always be game design. Whatever else you might think about Nintendo games, their design is often exquisite, relying on elegant visual and gameplay cues and your natural curiosity to guide you rather than tutorial prompts and objective markers. People who’ve grown up with Nintendo are fluent in the language of this…

The Times Mario Wasn’t a Nintendo Exclusive

When you think of Mario, you think of Nintendo. The two are linked so firmly in your mind it’s almost impossible to think that the beloved character’s games ever showed up on other systems. But it has happened—and more than once. Donkey Kong (1981-1988) The first Mario game (though he was only known as “Jumpman”…

The Dream Nintendo Game That Was Never Released

Shigesato Itoi (Mother), Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda) and Tsunekazu Ishihara (Pokemon), all working on the same game? We should have known it would be too good to be true. In 1997, Nintendo announced a game called Cabbage. It sounded weird (by 1997 standards, anyway), was headed for a weird console and had a (presumably working)…

Game Boy XXL Is A Handheld For Giants

Earlier this year, reader Ilhan Ünal got started building his own Game Boy, which he only recently completed. It’s…a little bigger than Nintendo’s original version. Named the Game Boy XXL, Ünal’s handheld is more of a deskheld. It’s running off a Raspberry Pi, with an old 19” computer monitor acting as the screen, and was…

Nintendo Wii Blamed for Fire

A Colorado man lost his RV and many personal belongings in a blaze that firefighters believe his Nintendo Wii could have started. “This had nothing to do with the wires,” RV owner Trevor Pellegrin to KKTV (via Wii U Daily). “It started in the actual console of the Wii.” “I was coming back from a…

How Nintendo Makes Its Games Appear Cheaper in Japan

It looks like Nintendo is doing funny stuff on its official website with price listings to make its games look cheaper. Via Hachima, here is the official Nintendo Japanese site: Okay, so as people are pointing out online in Japan, Nintendo is listing the “tax not included” prices for its games. In Japanese, “tax not…

A Fridge Full Of Jurassic Park Games Is Good eBay

“Refrigerator full of Super Nintendo Jurassic Park games”. That eBay listing title says everything your heart needs to know. Well, almost. The fridge isn’t actually included in the sale. But over 300 video games—mostly copies of Jurassic Park for the Super Nintendo—are. Jurassic Park on the SNES was a masterpiece, combining Zelda-like overworld gameplay with…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Bowser’s Big Interview

Earlier this week Nintendo of America proudly announced that it had hired Mr. Doug Bowser as its new vice president of sales. What I want to know if how he dressed for that interview. I think our readers can help. Or Steve thought our readers could help and I used his suggestion, even though I…

Here Is A Thing That Happens In Nintendo’s Zombie Game

This is a Nintendo Mii killing zombies by… making them do math in school. The deadliest maneuver! The dreaded “cram session” is just one of the terrific special attacks in Battleground Z, Nintendo’s zombie game. You knew that Nintendo has a zombie game, right? It’s published by Nintendo, developed by Good-Feel (Wario Land: Shake It,…

The Worst Japanese Sales Week In a Long Time

Oh boy. The most recent video game sales numbers in Japan are not good. In fact, they’re bad. Very bad. As blog Hokanko points out, the most recent Media Create sales figures—which date from May 11 to May 17—are the worst since 2001. This period was the week that followed Golden Week, a string of…

Watch Us Play The Wii U’s New 2D RTS, Swords & Soldiers II

The first Swords & Soldiers, released nearly six years ago, was a hidden Wii gem. The new one, released today for Wii U? More of the same in all the best ways. I captured my playthrough of one of the game’s levels so you can see for yourself. What you’ll see is a colorful, briskly…

Splatoon’s Squids Started Out As Blocks Of Tofu

Can you say…killer tofu? No. Actually, you can’t. This is a Nintendo shooter, after all. In a recent “Iwata Asks” conversation between president Saturo Iwata and key members of the Splatoon team, the developers revealed that before the game became a bright and colorful paint-chucking extravaganza, it starred innocuous blocks of tofu. Mmmmm, tofu. So…

Nintendo’s just announced that they’re publishing a new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game. Hitting the 3DS this winter, Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon will feature the series’ signature randomly generated levels, along with the ability to use Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. Contact the author at [email protected]