Nintendo

No Sales Projections From Nintendo Hint at the DS Going Into Sunset

The long-lived and long-loved Nintendo DS, the thing that’s sold more than 150 million devices (in four formats) and damn near a billion games, received no projected sales in financial statements the company filed today. Is this the end of the world’s most successful gaming handheld? If it is, Nintendo probably won’t announce or formalize…

Nintendo Lawyers Leave Yoshi’s Rip-Off Android Game Feeling Blue

In February I speculated that perhaps a sex and name change would be enough to throw Nintendo’s legal team off the scent of Era’s Adventures, an Android game starring a female dinosaur that bore a striking resemblance to — okay, it was Yoshi. I was being silly. Nothing throws off Nintendo’s legal team, and so…

Nintendo’s Own Stats Show That the World Just Isn’t That Into Wii U

In the first three months of this year, Nintendo sold a mere 200,000 Wii U’s in North America. Microsoft sold more Xbox 360’s than that in March alone. But, uh, that’s the good news? In Japan, since January, Nintendo sold 90,000 Wii U systems. And in the rest of the world? 110,000. These numbers come…

The Most Expensive Wii U System On Sale in Japan

A good rule of thumb is that if something needs to be wheeled in, it’s probably expensive. This is the JoySound Festa. It’s an on-demand karaoke system from Xing, a Japanese karaoke company (no, it’s not from Nintendo per se!). According to Sankei, the set-up uses the Wii U’s software, the Wii U GamePad, and…

Satoru Iwata is taking over control of Nintendo of America. Its current CEO, Tatsumi Kimishima, will be moving to Kyoto to work as a managing director for Nintendo Japan, while Iwata will assume the role of Global President. So… a global president, direct to you! (Sorry.)

NES Title Screens That Are Almost Better Than The Games Themselves

Sometimes I think the internet was invented just for sites like NES Title Screens. Places where you can make a cup of tea, sit down and just click through images that are equal parts fantastic art and pure nostalgia. Well, maybe not quite equal. Some of these title screen splashes are often for Japanese games…

Nintendo’s Plan To Make The 3DS Stand Out From The iPhone

It feels as though Nintendo’s 3DS handheld game system has “arrived.” Over the last few months, the library of 3DS games available has reached some sort of critical mass, and it seems there’s a well-made, fun game for just about every type of gamer. But the spectre of the iPhone and Apple’s App store lingers.…

Nintendo revealed the launch line-up for the Wii U’s Virtual Console today on Facebook. Nothing surprising here: Super Mario World, F-Zero, Excitebike, and a few others.

The State of Zelda In 2013: Finally Escaping Ocarina‘s Shadow?

A gaming series that’s been around for a quarter of a century winds up in a predicament. Change? Or don’t change? There’s only one answer, of course. Do both. Classic games are not classic music albums or classic novels. The audience for a great old game isn’t satisfied with reprints. They’d like a sequel, please.…

Nintendo’s Wii U Advertising Reaches For The Panic Button

These are so terrible I’d tell you not to watch them, but screw it, if I had to, you have to as well. If time travel is invented anytime soon, giving us the chance to atone for past mistakes, I like to think the first person in line will be the man who signed off…

The Circle Pad Pro, the second analog gamepad making Monster Hunter 3 and other titles more accessible on the 3DS, is now shipping in a 3DS XL configuration. But Nintendo has no plans to offer it at retail

Mother 3’s Fan Translators Say Nintendo Can Have Their Script For Free

The people who translated Mother 3 to English say that if Nintendo ever wants to bring the quirky RPG to U.S. shores, the company can use their script. Free of charge. Writing on the Mother 3 fan translation website, translator Clyde Mandelin says that if Nintendo were to ever localize the game, he’d be happy…

Maybe The Earthbound Delay Wasn’t Really For Music Licensing Issues

For quite a few years now, people have theorized that Nintendo would never re-release Earthbound in the United States because of licensing issues: the quirky RPG takes music from Chuck Berry and The Beatles, among other artists. But! Earlier this week, Nintendo announced plans to finally bring their Super Nintendo classic to the Wii U’s…

Dammit, Mario, Can’t You Let Luigi Have His Moment Of Glory?

Japan is getting a very pretty Luigi 3DS XL handheld later this year. It’s got little green Luigis all over it, and a special logo for his 30th anniversary, riffing on the Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary logo we saw a few years back. But wait, what’s that? In the top-right corner, as spotted by…

Real Life Photos Mixed With 16-Bit Video Games Are Amazing

The 16-bit era had unique visuals. Simple yet bright and colorful, we could always get lost in the tiny details. Taking parts of these memorable games and mixing them with a real life environment might sound odd, but if done right the results are beautiful. Two gents, deviantART user Victor Sauron and Glauber Tanaka, played…

Your Rival in Ace Attorney 5 is a Criminal

Ace Attorney 5‘s Japanese release date has been confirmed for July 25th. Defense lawyer Phoenix Wright is back, but his old rival, Miles Edgeworth is not. Taking the side of the prosecution this time around will be a criminal prosecutor. Not a prosecutor of criminals, but a criminal who is a prosecutor. Capcom has released…

How Japanese Anime Brings Gaming Hardware To Life

Over the years, countless video games and video game consoles have appeared in Japanese anime. Sometimes, they are part of the story. Other times, they’re just games. It depends, really. This month, as new episodes are being broadcasted in Japan, fans are noticing when game machines pop up in anime. For example, people online were…

It’s Not Quite a Magical Girl Transformation, But It’ll Do, Mewtwo

Yesterday, Patricia posted a fan animation showing the Legendary Pokémon Mewtwo changing into his recently-revealed new form via an elaborate ‘magical girl’-style sequence. The official version we just received from the Pokémon Company? Not far off. Set it to a little music, toss a skirt on him, and you’ve got a party when Pokémon X…

Bravely Default Will Still Be Called Bravely Default In North America

For quite some time now, the world has been laughing at the name Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, even as we begged Square Enix to bring it out of Japan. Today’s good news: the 3DS role-playing game is indeed coming out of Japan. It’ll be released in Europe this year. 2014 for North America. And it’ll…

Earthbound, a New Zelda & More: See All of the Latest Nintendo Direct

In case you missed the first broadcast, or want to cycle back to make sure you heard something right—there were a lot of games, some with release dates, some without them—here’s the full 37 minute Nintendo Direct that the company put out this morning for North America. Highlights include a 3DS Legend of Zelda set…