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Come on! Heroes Is Nintendo’s Sauciest Game Name Yet
Today’s Nintendo DSi Ware features this innocuous little RPG-influenced shooter with a name that might ring a little less innocuously to American ears. Come on! Heroes is a game of tiny men lobbing projectiles at an onslaught of knights and priests, who explode in a puff of milky smoke. It’s a bold political statement from…
By Joel Johnson Published November 24, 2011 -
It’s Mario Kart 7, not Mario Kart 3DS, Because 7’s a Lucky Number
Mario’s debut on the 3DS was, appropriately, called Super Mario 3D Land. And never in the series 19-year history has the game had a numbered sequel (well, technically there’s Mario Kart 64, but it was not the 64th game in the series.) So why is the franchise’s 3DS version, due out in North America next…
By Owen Good Published November 23, 2011 -
What Nintendo’s Game Creators Think of You
If you’ve ever played a Zelda game or a Mario game, you’ve played a game made by a bunch of people in Japan. Most likely, they were far away from you. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t think about you. They do think about you. A lot. In an unusual and interesting way. I recently…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 23, 2011 -
Happy 25th Birthday Zelda, Here’s An Awesome Soundtrack
The talented community at OverClocked ReMix wanted to do something special for Zelda‘s 25th birthday, so they got together and released this amazing “Indie Game Composer Tribute”. This means that the people behind the music are people you may have heard from before. Like Laura Shigihara, of Plants vs Zombies fame. And C418, the composer…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 23, 2011 -
Holy Crap, This Guy Is into Zelda: Skyward Sword
Some of you are playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. YouTube user AJLStunts is doing that, and then some. Just…watch. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was released on Nov. 20. If you missed it, check out Kotaku‘s review Skyward Sword is Serious Business [YouTube] You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 23, 2011 -
‘When we show a power-up to Mr. Miyamoto, we get a bit nervous.’
You are working on a new Super Mario Bros. game. You have a new idea for a Mario power-up, something that could be as delightful as the original fire flower or the invincibility star for Mario to headbutt out of a block and temporarily try on. How do you do that? Real people have to…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 22, 2011 -
Super Mario Bros. 2 Was a Tiny, Tiny Influence on Super Mario 3D Land
Nintendo is a company in love with its past, or at least the popular parts of its past. Except for Super Mario Bros. 2, a game the company doesn’t talk about much. Sure, Super Mario Bros. 2 let players choose from one of four Mario-verse heroes, a pre-cursor to the multiplayer New Super Mario Bros.…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 22, 2011 -
What Would You Like To See in a 3DS Version of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask?
No, Nintendo didn’t announce a 3DS remake of Majora’s Mask while you weren’t looking, but with the success of Ocarina of Time 3D it would be silly not to, so commenter Daemon_Gildas has preemptively assembled his list of demands in today’s Speak Up on Kotaku. So, “Majora’s Mask 3D” wish-list time. 1) Fully-usable Fierce Deity…
By Mike Fahey Published November 22, 2011 -
Bruises Make the Best Pokémon
You might look at a bruise as something to cover up. Hide it until you recover. One Twitter user saw something else: A Pocket Monster. Here, Pokémon Gastly, a black ball of glowing matter surrounded by purple gas, takes the place of an unsightly black-and-blue spot. The text bubble reads, “Ah! A wild Gastly appeared!”,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 22, 2011 -
Toys R Us Super Sale Includes Free Skylanders
I just finished saying that Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure was one of my favorite games of the year and now I find out that Toys R Us is giving away a copy to people who pick up the Red Nintendo 3DS Mario Bundle. The Skylanders deal begins at 8 a.m. on Monday with a limite of…
By Brian Crecente Published November 21, 2011 -
Reggie Says Skyward Sword Will Forever Be the Best Game of All Time
Reggie Fils-Aime is not one to mince words, and while we also believe Skyward Sword is fantastic, he thinks it’s the best game ever. Not only that, he doesn’t think any other game will dethrone it from its lofty perch in the future. That quote, and other interesting ones, are taken from an interview with…
By Matthew Buzzi Published November 18, 2011 -
Nintendo Doesn’t Want to Sell Frivolous DLC to Complete an Incomplete Game
In a recent interview with AOL, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that digital transactions on the 3DS will be meaningful, and third party game companies can create anything in their imagination. We’ve heard mention of the 3DS’ upcoming “add-on content” before, but here Reggie gives us the (rather vague) rundown. “In terms of…
By Matthew Buzzi Published November 18, 2011 -
Nintendo GameCube Turns 10, Still Slightly Older than Nintendo’s Newest Good Character
Happy 10th birthday, Nintendo GameCube. No one threw you a party. The GameCube is, I believe, the most wrongly disrespected console in gaming history. People laughed at it because it was a purple box that played a Luigi game in an era when more people wanted to play Grand Theft Auto III on a black…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 18, 2011 -
Nintendo’s Strange Celebrity Hostage Videos
As part of Nintendo’s 25th brithday celebrations for The Legend Of Zelda, the publisher has roped a few celebrities into jumping in front of a camera to tell their personal stories involving the series. Only…they don’t look like they’ve been roped. Between the audio, video and backdrop, it looks more like there are masked gunmen…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 18, 2011 -
Locked in a Convenience Store with Kirby in 3D
In Escape Trip — Convenience Store for DSiWare, you play a character that gets trapped in a convenience store and has to figure out how to escape. If this isn’t the most beautiful game concept you’ve ever heard you should probably just play the 3D Classics version of Kirby’s Adventure No I am not kidding!…
By Mike Fahey Published November 17, 2011 -
Nintendo-Branded SD Cards? You Got It
Over the years, Nintendo has been in a bunch of businesses: From playing cards to love hotels, from LEGO rip-offs to, now, video games. The Kyoto-base game maker is now releasing Nintendo-branded SD cards. The high-capacity SDHC memory cards come in 8GB and 16GB and are for use with the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo’s 3DS is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 17, 2011 -
Reviews
Super Mario 3D Land: The Kotaku Review
When resourceful fans discovered an exploit showing how to rack up hundreds of extra lives in Super Mario 3DS, some laughed, thinking the game they had seen was too simple for that to be necessary. Let me assure you: Those lives will come in handy—when you least expect it. The easiest trope in the save-the-princess…
By Owen Good Published November 16, 2011 -
PETA: That Whole Bloody Mario Thing, That was Just a Joke (UPDATE)
Looks like PETA bit off more Fusarium venetum then they could chew when they attacked Mario for his Tanooki-suit wearing ways. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tell Kotaku that their bloody video game take-down of Mario was meant to be “tongue-in-cheek.” “Mario fans: Relax! PETA’s game was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, a…
By Brian Crecente Published November 16, 2011 -
How To Make Your Own PETA Friendly Tanooki Suit
Don’t buy Ashcraft’s explanation about why PETA is completely missing the point in its attack on Mario’s Tanooki suit? Here’s an animal friendly way to get your own temporary fur coat. Be warned, it involves rotting food, duct tape and probably just a smidge of leptospirosis. Vice’s Kara Crabb walks you through the steps which…
By Brian Crecente Published November 16, 2011 -
Nintendo’s Iconic Plumber Goes Apeshit in This Super Mario vs. PETA Video
That bizarre Mario vs. PETA kerfuffle‘s fading into the rear view but that’s not stopping Taiwanese media outfit Next Media Animation from giving us their askew take on the dust-up. Looking at their oddly-shaped version of Mario is enough to give a person nightmares. Those long legs—brrrr!—-and giant feet are bad enough but the crazy…
By Evan Narcisse Published November 16, 2011