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One of the Best Downloadable 3DS Games Gets a Little Better in This Week’s Nintendo Download
Last week it was a Mario Kart patch, this week it’s a version update, with new content added to WayForward Technologies’ Mighty Switch Force inching the 3DS eShop ever closer to iTunes territory. Mighty Switch Force is a puzzling platformer that relies on the tried-and-true switch mechanic, in which platforms and such phase in and…
By Mike Fahey Published May 24, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Watch the Wii U Controller Change Before Your Very Eyes
Over the weekend, a new photo surfaced of what’s supposedly the Wii U controller. It looked, well, different. But how different? This is not perfect, but here is a GIF that shows just how the controller has apparently changed between summer 2011 and this spring. The photo showed a new square button on the left…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 22, 2012 -
These Squishy Nintendo Controllers Were Meant for Hugging
Haven’t you always wanted to cozy up with an NES? Okay, well, maybe not so much. They do have a lot of sharp edges, and do you even know where that controller has been? I swear I saw the dog licking it yesterday, and then your little brother— Well. Over at her shop Felt Sew…
By Kate Cox Published May 21, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Growing Up on Mario and Sonic. Growing Up in China.
Doodling away at his desk, a skinny and unassuming young man, Li Feng, ponders how to draw a political cartoon regarding missile defense shields. Li, 32, is a graphic artist for a media company in Beijing and he attributes his choice of career to his upbringing, an upbringing in China, with video games. “When many…
By Eric Jou Published May 21, 2012 -
Kotaku East
This Pokémon Lady Has Crazy Long Legs
Okay, so the Pokémon games are not noted for their realism. Young people catch and train monsters. If this anime teaser is anything to go by, Pokémon: Black and White 2 is no exception. Pokémon: Black and White 2 won’t only feature new Pocket Monsters. It will also feature unnatural limbs. As the recent anime…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 21, 2012 -
Kotaku EastThe Hidden Naked “Lady” of Kirby 2
While 1995 was a simpler time, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sexier one. Just look at the saucy hijinks Japanese game developers slipped into Kirby’s Dream Land 2. Oh là là! This game’s 5-5 secret stage shows what looks like lady parts in Game Boy pink. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 was re-released earlier this…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 21, 2012 -
Image Suggests Wii U Controller Will Have True Analog Joysticks, Not Nubs
An image published to Twitter, and since taken down, by a QA tester for LEGO developer Traveler’s Tales, depicts a WIi U controller with traditional twin analog joysticks, not analog pads similar to the 3DS’, as had been shown in earlier images of the controller. Games Radar, which first reported the picture, notes that the…
By Owen Good Published May 19, 2012 -
Starfox–Metroid Team-Up Rumored for Wii U
It reads like fan fiction and the rumor’s original reporter—who uncovered PlayStation All-Stars six months before it was announced—concedes that nothing about it is confirmed. But Retro Studios is said to be working on, or at least to have considered, Star Fox-Metroid Fusion Saga, a mashup of third-person action gameplay with aerial/space combat. Paul Gale…
By Owen Good Published May 19, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallHere’s How To Make The Professor Layton Soundtrack Much Better
The Professor Layton games have long demanded a soundtrack a bit more sophisticated than the one they have—the plinky, “ooh boy, we have a mystery!” music is fine at first, but eventually I’ve found that it begins to grate. This is especially true of the first game that I played in the series, 2008’s Professor…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 19, 2012 -
There’s a Mario Kart 7 Patch in This Week’s Nintendo Download
Thanks to advances in Nintendo downloadable content distribution, 3DS like Mario Kart 7 can now be patched to eliminate exploits. Awww man, I love exploits. But apparently Nintendon’t, so the “Wuhu Loop,” “Maka Wuhu,” and “Bowser Castle 1” maps have now been patched, and those patches are required for online play. Welcome to the future.…
By Mike Fahey Published May 18, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Let Chun-Li Kick You in the Face with New Project X Zone Screens
Upcoming 3DS collaboration Project X Zone sure is getting crowded. Here’s a look at the latest screens of the pair-based combat game. From what I’ve seen so far, I quite like the game’s look. Hope I like how it plays. 『PROJECT X ZONE（プロジェクト クロスゾーン）』新たな登場キャラと戦闘システムを紹介 [Famitsu]
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 18, 2012 -
Three Teens Arrested for Stealing $400 Worth of Pokemons
On May 11 at a Walmart in Massachusetts, staff apparently saw three men shoplift packs of Pokémon cards and exit the store. Police searched one of the suspects’ vehicle and discovered a large stash of Pokémon cards worth US$442. According to The Sun Chronicle, the three men—David Danforth (19), James J. Davis (18), and Sean…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 17, 2012 -
New Pokémon Game Trailer is More Like a Short Pokémon Movie
This new Japanese promo spot for the upcoming Pokémon Black & White 2 doesn’t show a single second of gameplay. What it does show is over five minutes of impressive Pokémon animation, as trainers and pocket monsters beat the snot out of each other in the name of children’s entertainment. While there’s no English subtitles,…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 16, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Hollywood + Pokémon = … Pokéwood?
The homepage for the upcoming Pokémon game for the DS, Black and White 2 has been updated with some news and new features of the game, including movie making. The starter pokémon is the same as its previous version; Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott. But instead of Professor Juniper greeting you in the beginning, it will…
By Toshitaka Tachibana Published May 15, 2012 -
CultureTotal Recall
The Creator of Mario and Zelda Reveals his Secrets (in 1999)
In 1999, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto gave a keynote address at the Game Developers Conference. An address you can watch here in its entirety. Remember, this isn’t the quasi-executive, Wii Music Shigeru Miyamoto we know today. This is the designer at perhaps the height of his powers, with games like Super Mario 64 still fresh…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 14, 2012 -
Pikmin 2 Makes Its North American Wii Debut June 10
Nintendo’s Selects line of $19.99 Wii titles expands by two next month, when Mario Power Tennis joins the long-awaited North American release of New Play Control Pikmin 2 in retailers “games too inexpensive to be in the case” sections. One of the best alien plant-based real-time strategy games ever created, Pikmin 2 originally hit the…
By Mike Fahey Published May 14, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Welcome to Your Retro Gaming Dreams
Super Potato. I’ve been to the Akihabara branch a whole blot—I’ve been to the Osaka branches of this gaming retail chain even more. I’ve seen tons of Super Potato photos. I’ve taken tons more. Yet, I’ve always liked the photos Danny Choo of Culture Japan takes (they’re usually quite nice), and this batch of Super…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 14, 2012 -
Is This Year the Last Hurrah for the Games Expo as We Know It?
I had lunch with a friend and colleague on Thursday, a guy who has been to every E3—and before that he was going to the Consumer Electronics Show when it was the gaming industry’s big expo. Absent some miracle hardware reveal, he thinks we could see the quietest and most depressing E3 ever this year.…
By Owen Good Published May 12, 2012