Nintendo

Unintimidated By Apple, Nintendo’s Boss Says The World Still Needs Dedicated Gaming Handhelds

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata can tell you when Nintendo would stop making its own handheld systems. He can tell you, hypothetically, when a line of machines that has gone from Game Boy to DS to 3DS would end and Nintendo’s games would appear on the hardware made by other companies instead. Last week in San…

Is It Possible to Make Pokémon More Adorable? More Beautiful? Yes, It Seems.

Because, let’s face, it: Pokémon are already pretty damn cute. Yet, Japanese artist Ginger Ale is turning up the adorable meter up to ten (eleven?) for this series of Pocket Monster art. Love the pastels, and the whole watercolor look. There’s a nice children’s book vibe going on that really doesn’t exist in the games…

These Awesome Shoes Are What You Get When You Mix Glitter With Gaming

There have been a lot of very neat gaming shoes in the world before, but these ones are my new favorite. Not only because, as flats, they are something I could theoretically actually wear someday, but because they please my inner first-grader with their sparkles. I like shiny things, okay? Clearly, so does this Etsy…

The Nintendo 3DS XL: The Kotaku Review

Who are you? Are you a person who has a 3DS? You should think about upgrading to the 3DS XL. Are you a person who does not have a 3DS at all? You should get one. The $200 3DS XL is a very good gaming machine, possibly the best portable gaming device ever, which, yeah,…

New Super Mario Bros. 2: The Kotaku Review

Now here’s the story of a guy named Mario. It’s an old story. You’ve probably heard it before. Princess is lounging around, minding her own business. Giant turtle jumps out of the sky. Drags her away. Sticks her in a cage and waits for Mario to follow. The specifics might change every now and then—a…

Video Game Makers Aren’t Your Friends. But If They Were …

Today, Dorkly broke down the major players of the video gaming industry into commonly understood archetypes: Your friends. Doesn’t make them any more tolerable, but it does make them more understandable. Still, I would have figured Activision for your gun-obsessed weightlifter friend who drives a 1989 Celica and listens to the Iron Eagle soundtrack, and…

Nintendo Chief: Mario Is Part Of Gamers’ DNA

The line of games that started with Super Mario Bros and extends to this week’s New Super Mario Bros. 2 have an unusual, innate appeal, according to the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata. “Sidescrolling Mario has a special existence in that it really is part of the fundamental DNA of gamers,” a cheerful Iwata said…

Team Ninja wants to make another Metroid for Nintendo. You listening, Nintendo?

Assassin’s Creed 3 Director Says Japanese Games Get a Free Pass

Alex Hutchinson, the creative director of Assassin’s Creed 3, thinks he knows why Nintendo can get away with releasing new versions of old franchises. It might not be the answer you expect. After Hutchinson compared AC to other well known franchises, Mario and Resident Evil, website CVG asked the creative director why Nintendo can release…

The Pikachu 3DS XL Is Just Too Adorable

Squeal! Holy smoke, this Pikachu 3DS XL is too cute. Not only that, it’s hard to get. See, this Pikachu 3DS XL will only be sold at the Pokémon Center stores in Sapporo, Tohoku, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The “Pokémon Center Original Nintendo 3DS XL Pikachu Yellow” is priced at ¥18,900 (US$239). The…

The First Fully Downloadable New Mario Game Dominates the Weekly Nintendo Download

With Sunday seeing the debut of New Super Mario Bros. 2, the first Nintendo-published title launched simultaneously at retail and in digital form, a game would have to be some sort of crazy chicken pirate to try and muscle in on this week’s Nintendo Download. So yeah, Mario and two games named Crazy Chicken: Pirate…

Nintendo Criticized For Not Doing Enough To Keep ‘Conflict Minerals’ Out Of Their Products

Many of the materials used to make electronic devices are helping fuel ongoing bloody wars in the Congo—and a new report accuses Nintendo of not doing enough to ensure that their game machines aren’t part of that deadly conflict. The Enough Project, a watchdog group that monitors “genocide and crimes against humanity,” published a report…

This Kiddy Smack Talk Song Will Make Your Day

UK comedian Adam Buxton (one half of Adam and Joe) recently uploaded this song to YouTube. As Kotaku reader Sam pointed out, it was for a section called Song Wars in which both Adam and Joe have to make a song on a theme and listeners vote on the winner. This is the result. Dubstep…

Let’s All Read The Very First Issue of Nintendo Power

Designer Eoin Stanley, who we featured a little while ago on Total Recall, doesn’t just archive beautiful old Nintendo logos. He’s also got on ice something more informative; namely, the entirety of the very first issue of Nintendo Power. It’s not his – it appears to have belonged to a young Mr. Jeremy Salsman –…

Geeky Cross-Stitch Is the Perfect Melding of Retro Game Art with Retro Crafting

Cross-stitch is the perfect medium for 8-bit and 16-bit fan art. Have you ever seen one of the patterns crafters use? They look like pixel art! They’re little grids of color, showing which block goes where, in what shades, to add up to a visible whole. And the craft itself is pretty retro, invoking images…

The Team That Made GoldenEye Was All For Adding That Famous Multiplayer Last Minute—They Just Didn’t Tell Their Bosses

Fellow gamers who came of age in the late 1990s may remember that any time four or more of their friends got together in one place, a round of GoldenEye was almost certain to break out. From 1997 through at least 1999, it seemed to be almost everywhere. Even players (like yours truly) who didn’t…

This New ZombiU Trailer Will Teach You How To Properly Slaughter Zombies

Don’t forget to burn their heads off. Bash in their dead skulls. You know. The usual. ZombiU is out for Wii U later this year.

New Professor Layton Trailer Is A Wonderful Tease

Today Nintendo announced that Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask will be out on 3DS October 28. We also get this wonderful trailer. It makes me mad that I’m not playing Professor Layton right now.

The Better Name for ‘Girlfriend Mode’ Is Probably ‘Co-Star Mode’

One of this morning’s Internet dramas involved Randy Pitchford, head of Borderlands development studio Gearbox Software, complaining about the website MCV‘s condemnation of a reference to a “girlfriend mode” for Borderlands 2. The “girlfriend mode” is not an official mode in the game, nor does it appear to be an official name, but it was…

Nintendo’s Portable Lineup Dates Paper Mario, Moves Luigi to 2013

With the release of the new 3DS XL just a week away, Nintendo releases its massive list of 3DS, DSi and eShop game releases, solidifying a November release for the next installment of Paper Mario, giving Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon a 2013 move-in date, and dropping a few surprises for Nintendo’s portable power players. While…