Nintendo

I Don’t Know If Nintendo Won E3, But They Are Winning June

The traditional way to view game companies when it’s E3 season is to look at what they announce for the future. In that regard, Nintendo had a so-so E3. During its pre-recorded presentation, Nintendo announced relatively few games, most of them safe sequels and a line-up for the remainder of the year that’s a little…

Nintendo’s Two-Switch Combo Is A Neat Digital Magic Trick

At an E3 where Nintendo and its partners largely played it safe with big Smash Bros. and Pokémon sequels, the company tucked a clever new Switch development in a trailer for a new Mario Party. Blink and you’d miss it: the sight of two Nintendo Switch screens connected into one oddly-shaped game board. On the…

Splatoon 2 Producer Explains Nintendo’s Approach To Deleting Shitposts

Splatoon 2’s face is all inky rainbows and cutesy cephalopods. It would be an adorable, idyllic wonderland, if not for the fact that controlling all of those snuggable urchins are real-life humans, who are often bad. If you’ve tromped around Splatoon 2 for more than a few hours, you might have stumbled upon a few…

Nintendo Switch RPG Octopath Traveler Won’t Have DLC Because It’s ‘A Finished Product’

Octopath Traveler, the Nintendo Switch exclusive from the team behind Bravely Default, will not have any DLC. Why? Because it’s already a complete game, says Square Enix. In an interview with Dengeki Online, Square Enix producer Masashi Takahashi said that it should take about fifty to sixty hours to complete the main story. “It took…

Every Super Mario Odyssey Transformation, Ranked

The core innovation of Super Mario Odyssey is Mario’s companion, Cappy. Cappy is a hat that can magically possess everything from non-living objects to living characters. Toss Cappy at an enemy, and the enemy will sprout a Mario moustache and a signature red hat. Mario gains full control over the creature’s movements and abilities. There…

How Yoshi’s Island Got Its Beautiful, Hand-Drawn Look

Prior to her interview at E3 this week with Splatoon 2 producer Hisashi Nogami, Kotaku’s Cecilia D’Anastasio asked me if there was anything I wanted to know. “Yeah,” I said. “Ask how Yoshi’s Island got its hand-drawn style.” Nogami, you see, was credited as a character designer on that legendary 1995 Super Nintendo game, which…

Poor Waluigi, Nintendo Is So Cruel

It’s early Friday morning. E3 is over. Yet, I still cannot stop thinking about how Nintendo treats Waluigi. Super Smash Bros. Ultimatewas announced with the tagline “Everyone Is Here.” Kotaku previously posted how the internet reacted, but the one that continues to linger is how Waluigi has been wronged. Again. Now, Waluigi is in the…

Podcast: Let’s Talk About Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Did you know Nintendo just unveiled a new Smash Bros. game for Switch, and that it features every fighter in the history of the series? You say you did know that? Oh, okay. At E3 in Los Angeles, my colleague Jason Schreier sat down with Kotaku senior reporter (and Smash expert) Cecilia D’Anastasio to talk…

Two Long-Lost Nintendo Arcade Games Are Heading To Switch

Nintendo kicked off the final day of Treehouse Live with a huge announcement for fans of its classic games: Two arcade games that have never been officially released on home consoles are coming to Switch’s Arcade Archives: the original Donkey Kong, which is available now, and Sky Skipper, coming in July. Donkey Kong is a…

Ubisoft’s Starlink Is Surprisingly Cool, With Or Without Star Fox

Starlink: Battle For Atlas isn’t a Star Fox game. Nintendo’s furry pilot and his famous Arwing fighter are in the Switch version and—I hope you’re sitting down—not in the Xbox One and PS4 versions. It’s not even fully a toys game, a la Skylanders or Disney Infinity, because it turns out you don’t even need…

PS4 Fortnite Accounts Are Blocked On The Nintendo Switch

Fortnite players who had an Epic account on PS4 and have tried to play the new Nintendo Switch version of the game are reporting that they’ve run into a problem: they’re not allowed to use the same account. That’s right, if you have played the game on PlayStation 4—even just once—that’s enough to have got…

Some More Characters We’d Like To See In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

So,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is going to feature every fighter to ever appear in Nintendo’s fighting game series. That’s fine, but it’s not enough. There could be, and should be, even more fighters. After all, why go back in time to rehash old favourites when there’s a whole world out there of characters who have…

Splatoon 2‘s Octo Expansion DLC will be available tomorrow evening, June 13, Nintendo said at E3 today. The expansion lets you play as an Octoling in multiplayer, but first, you have to make your way through a series of tricky single-player challenge levels. It’s $19.99.

Podcast: We React To Sony And Nintendo At E3 2018

The E3 press conferences are over, and there’s a lot to talk about. Maybe not as much as we were hoping for, but still a lot. On this third episode of Kotaku Splitscreen’s E3 coverage, Jason and I talk through our feelings on Sony’s big show last night and Nintendo’s Smashstravaganza this morning. We also…

Nintendo’s E3 Booth Is Full Of Amazing Smash Bros. Props

Nintendo’s E3 2018 booth is mostly full of increasingly-sweaty attendees playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it’s also home to a veritable museum of real-life custom props drawn from Smash, and therefore from the company’s rich history of games. Kotaku EIC Stephen Totilo is on the show floor, and couldn’t help but snap a bunch…

The Donkey Kong Expansion For Mario + Rabbids Is Tricky And Apparently Very Long

Donkey Kong can throw allies and enemies around, making for some interesting new tactics in the expansion to the Mario +Rabbids Switch crossover coming out near the end of the month. I played it and have footage of an early level for you all to watch. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle players are going to…

The Internet Reacts To Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is bringing back everyone—literally everyone—from every Smash game, and the internet is losing their damn minds over this. Since Smash was teased for the Switch, I’d been saying it was definitely just going to be a port. Oh past-Gita of little faith, how wrong you were. Not only is this a…

Everything Nintendo Showed At E3 2018

Today Nintendo closed out the 2018 E3 press gauntlet with a streamed conference that was largely focused on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with only a few other announcements peppered in for flavor. We got news of a couple of anticipated ports (Fortnite and Hollow Knight), a couple neat indie sequel announcements, and a trailer for…

Smash Bros Fans Have Spent A Decade Begging For Ridley, And Now It’s Actually Happening

Samus is no longer the only playable Metroid character in Smash. She’s now joined by Ridley, a menacing space dragon who refuses to die no matter how many times he gets owned. To the casual observer, this is just a neat little thing. To Smash diehards, though, it’s the culmination of years of requests. And…

Fire Emblem Comes To Switch Next Year, Looks Very Different

Our first real look at Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which is coming to Switch next year, shows all the classic tactical combat, now with the graphical capabilities to give everyone feet. It is remarkable to see these sweeping battles on a screen bigger than your 3DS or your phone, and the darker tone of Three…