Nintendo

Despite Nintendo’s Stumbles, Breath of the Wild‘s Fans Have Embraced Crossdressing Link

Breath of the Wild is light on plot, which makes any missteps stand out. One brief costume change illustrates how designers can fail and how fandom is left picking up the pieces. Here’s the moment: looking for help in the desert, Link seeks to enter Gerudo Town to speak with their ruler. Gerudo Town is…

Even Nintendo Seems To Be Abandoning Game Instruction Manuals

One of the last reliable supporters for the concept that video games should have instruction manuals appears to be backing off. Nintendo has released its first games on its new console without instruction manuals: nothing on paper and not even a digital manual. Nintendo’s 1 2 Switch party game has no paper manual inside it,…

At First, Nintendo Couldn’t Agree On How To Depict Zelda In Breath of the Wild 

The Legend of Zelda has legacy, and every entry in the series is a chance to embrace or refute that tradition. Nintendo’s considerations on how to do away with conventions even trickled down to established characters, such as Zelda. Today, Nintendo released a 3-part series on the making of Breath of the Wild in which…

Star Fox, by Tyler West

Player Becomes First Woman To Win International Pokémon Tournament 

Last weekend’s big Pokémon tournament in Australia saw many famous players, including two world champions, duking it out for the top title. Zoe Lou, a player with no previous major finishes, stunned and thrilled the community by rising above competition. In doing so, she has become the first woman to win an international Pokémon event…

I Swear, If It Rains In Zelda: Breath of the Wild One More God Damn Time

Breath of the Wild is an amazing game, but I do have some gripes with it. My biggest annoyance has to be the rain, an entity that has caused me more pain and suffering than Ganon’s evil forces. Estimating conservatively from my ~60 hours of playtime, I’d say it pours more often in Hyrule than…

Painting Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Different Colors Isn’t As Scary As It Looks

Truly painting your Joy-Con controllers will require taking them completely apart. The process looks gnarly but the people who have done it say it’s not that bad. Take Imgur user Retaihec for instance. Not satisfied with the neon-colored Joy-Con that arrived with the Switch they took to disassembling them so they could spray paint both…

Drifblim Used To Be Terrible, But Now It’s Everywhere In Competitive Pokémon

Drifblim is typically not fast or strong enough to be offensive, and its base defenses are pathetic. Even though that hasn’t changed with the latest games, the the haunted balloon Pokémon’s usage has actually been surging significantly in 2017. Here’s why. Pokémon Sun and Moon introduce items called seeds, and they are consumables tied to…

Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Players Are Tricking Amiibos To Grind For Rare Loot

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is amazing in its own right. Its world is breathtakingly gorgeous and bursting at the seams with surprises. So why am I and other players wasting so much time resetting the Nintendo Switch’s clock so we can keep spawning new treasure chests with our Amiibos? For me…

Speedrunner Completes Zelda: Breath of the Wild In Less Than One Hour, A New World Record

One week after release, the speedrun for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has fallen under one hour thanks to a slew of optimizations and new techniques. Yesterday, speedrunner gymnast86 completed the game with a time of 58 minutes and one second. It is a significant time difference from the game’s first completed…

Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Is Full Of Amazing Little Details

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild manages to be both massive and unusually detailed. The sprawl of Hyrule will take weeks or even months for most of us to explore, not just because of its square mileage but because of how much there is to see and do in a given field or…

Blaster Master Zero For Switch Is An Excellent Retro Remake

A good remake of a retro gaming classic has to evoke the feeling of playing the original while making the game feel fresh and new. Blaster Master Zero for the Nintendo Switch is a very good remake of a retro gaming classic. So good. You may have seen the name on release lists. You may have…

Unlucky Zelda: Breath of the Wild Player Gets Blood Moon During Final Boss Fight

One Zelda player was surprised to find that the worst possible hiccup can happen while trying to save Hyrule. (SPOILERS AHEAD.) As many of you know, a “Blood Moon” is a mechanic in Breath of the Wild where the sky turns crimson, and all enemies respawn. It’s the game’s way of keeping the overworld stocked…

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Teaming Up With Monster Hunter XX

Hey, you’ve got some Breath of the Wild in my Monster Hunter XX! The upcoming Capcom title is getting a special in-game crossover with the latest Zelda According to Inside, by completing special DLC event quests, players can get Zelda gear.  This isn’t the only collaboration. As Inside reports, there are also crossovers with Garo…

It’s Unclear Why Indie Game Rime Costs $10 More On Switch

Yesterday, the developers of the colorful adventure game Rime announced that it will be out on May 26 for PC, PS4, Xbox One. Later, it’ll also come to Nintendo Switch, although you’ll have to pay an extra $10 for the privilege. Rime, which was originally announced as a PS4 exclusive before the developers at Tequila…

Move over, Zelda—the next BoxBoy is coming to North America and Europe on March 23. Nintendo says this is a 3DS eShop exclusive, meaning we’re not getting the Amiibo, but hell yes to more BoxBoy. Anyone else wish this was coming to Switch?

The Nintendo Switch Makes Its Japanese Classroom Debut

Why study during class breaks when you can play the Nintendo Switch? Images are popping up online, showing junior high and high school kids playing the Nintendo Switch. Obviously, many, if not most, schools do not allow students to bring game hardware. Depending on the school, some won’t even allow smartphones! You bring any of…

The Nintendo Switch’s First Week Game Sales In Japan

Early sales figures showed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sales numbers for Japan, but for those who wonder how the other Switch titles did, let’s find out! For the week of February 27 to March 5, five of the top ten games are Switch releases. Not bad for games on sale only…

The Nintendo Switch Really Needs More Music

Unlike its predecessors, the new Nintendo Switch has a boring operating system. Not only does it lack Nintendo’s characteristic oddball playfulness, it’s also nearly silent. There’s no music. It’s a shame. The 3DS and the Wii U, Nintendo’s two most recent gaming systems, both had incredible menu music. If you’ve been using a Switch for…

Hookshots, Wii U Maps, And Other Things Nintendo Cut From Zelda: Breath of the Wild

To make a game as massive and astounding as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the developers at Nintendo needed to take a lot of experiments. As a result, they left a lot of ideas on Hyrule’s floor. Unlike other Zelda games, Breath of the Wild won’t give you access to environment-altering items…