Nintendo

With The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages as well as The Denpa Men 2: Beyond The Waves hitting the 3DS eShop, it’s a good day to be a RPG-loving portable Nintendo gamer. Check out the rest of this week’s Nintendo Download here.

On July 13, Nintendo is releasing a “quick charge” Wii Remote battery set. Priced at 4,200 yen (US$42), it comes with a charging cradle and a battery pack that apparently last longer than standard batteries and charges way faster. A ninety minute charge, for example, gives you 13 hours of play, while a nine minute…

The Wii U Premium Set Is Now in White

One of the ways you could differentiate the Wii U Basic and the Wii U Premium bundles was their colors. Not any more. Until now, Nintendo has made the Wii U Premium Set available only in black (the Basic Set was white). But on July 13 in Japan, Nintendo is releasing the 32 GB Premium…

Super Sonic The Hedgehog Galaxy Is Looking Pretty Sharp

It’s the first Sonic the Hedgehog game of the current generation of consoles, technically, and it’s bringing Sonic up-to-date, Super Mario Galaxy style. Sega may be calling it Sonic Lost World, but to me it’ll always be Super Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxy. It’s a good thing this is exclusive to Nintendo consoles, because we wouldn’t…

These are the 89 Best Buys Where You Can Play Nintendo’s E3 Games

Nintendo just released the list of more than 75 U.S. cities where Best Buy stores will be holding public, playable demonstrations of games the company will be showing off at E3. The demos will take place during four-hour blocks on two different days during the week of E3. The list of games to be shown…

Nintendo’s President Is a One-Man GIF Generator

I always get excited for Nintendo Direct—not just because of the possible announcements, but because Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata always makes some adorable or funny thing that’s totally unexpected from a company president. Even if it’s a video game company. Here’s a look back at some of these memorable appearances, which show Iwata has a…

Sonic’s New Move in His Nintendo-Exclusive Adventure Is…a Wall-Run?

This fall’s Nintendo-only Sonic game, Sonic Lost World, looks like it’ll feature 2D and 3D gameplay, similar to the other recent pretty-good Sonic games. IGN just ran the game’s first trailer, which you can see above. The trailer hypes Sonic’s new moves. I see a wall run, Prince of Persia-style. What jumps out to you?…

Show Us What You Love And Hate About Mario’s Character Design

Ah Mario; the Superman of video games. He’s the modest, iconic, do-gooder everyone loves. He’s wholesome — a video game character you can bring home to mom for the holidays. Like Superman, Mario has had his highs and his lows (I’m looking at you Hotel Mario and Bob Hoskins) but his design still remains unsullied…

Yakuza on the Wii U Is an “Experiment” and Not Happening for the 3DS

Yakuza 1 & 2 HD is coming to the Wii U. But what about future Yakuza games? Are they headed to the Wii U? And how about the 3DS? So many questions! In a recent interview, Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi described the Wii U release as “an experiment” to see how many Wii U owners…

Even eBay Is Making The Most Of The Xbox One’s Bad PR

We’ve all had our fun with the Xbox One’s less-than-stellar reveal, but for eBay, the console’s problems are more than just a joke; they’re a way for Nintendo to make some sales. eBay Germany’s Facebook page ran the above ad over the weekend. The image is fine, but it’s the text underneath that’s getting the…

The Man Who Played Luigi Recalls the Disastrous Super Mario Bros Movie

Super Mario Bros., the 1993 film, paved the way video game movies for all time to come. Namely, that everyone would expect them to be terrible. It opened 20 years ago on Tuesday, and John Leguizamo, who starred as Luigi, had the grace and good humor to record this message for a Super Mario Bros.…

Nintendoji is Cute, Quirky, Dungeon-Crawling Fun

Earlier this week, we took a brief look at Nintendoji, a Nintendo title only available to gold or platinum members of the Japanese Club Nintendo. And because of its very limited release, both Japanese and Westerners are unlikely to be able to ever play it—which is a real shame as it is a fun, cute,…

This Year’s Most Embarrassing Japanese Game Magazine Article

You might know Japanese celebrity Mari Yaguchi from her appearance in Yakuza 4. Or maybe you remember her days in pop group Morning Musume. Or you might have recently heard Yaguchi’s husband caught her screwing another man. On May 21, Japanese magazine Josei Seven published an article, claiming that Yaguchi’s husband, 27 year-old actor Masaya…

Classic Video Games With Real-Life Backdrops Are Delightful

Video games from the 8-bit and 16-bit era mixed with real life environments look awesome, and it’s a technique that lets anyone’s creativity shine. It’s something that Kotaku has covered before but it would be a mistake to not share the new ones. These superb photo edits are the recent work of acefecoo on deviantART.…

Watch Donkey Kong Scare The Crap Out Of Children

To celebrate the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Nintendo spent a lovely spring afternoon scaring the crap out of children. The video (above) is quite fun. The game is good, too: Donkey Kong Country Returns was one of my favorite games for the Wii, and the 3DS version is even better, mostly because…

Hey, if you’re wondering what’s next from the House of Mario—and who isn’t?—there’s going to be a Nintendo Direct broadcast during E3. It’s scheduled for 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time on June 11th. What do you think they’re going to announce?

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and The Denpa Men: They Came by Wave are part of the Nintendo Download’s weekly offering this time out. See the full list here

Nintendo Will Have a Large Booth at E3

Previously, Nintendo said it was not holding a big E3 press conference. It also said it was bringing E3 to…Best Buy retailers across the U.S. But that doesn’t mean Nintendo will have a rinky-dink E3 booth. No siree! In fact, Nintendo is wheeling out two booths for E3. And they look pretty darn big! Compare…

Now, This Is One Stunning Retro Japanese Console

The Twin Famicom is an interesting game console. Produced by Sharp, it was Nintendo’s Famicom console and Disk System melded into a single console. While it looked nice enough, there is a way to make it look better: Lots and lots of gloss. Via Tiny Cartridge, this is the work of Slovenian artist Zoki64, who…

The Graphical Overhaul Of Super Mario Land Is Adorably Presumptuous

Super Mario Land, the iconic Mario game for the original Game Boy, is not the typical target for player-crafted redesigns, but here we are. Arne Niklas Jansson has taken a a 24-year-old classic portable game and made it look like an indie PC game released last week. Jansson explains the entire process of tweaking a…