nintendo (Page 26)
Every couple of years, rumors surfaces of some slim chance that a live-action Legend of Zelda film is about to get the green light from rights holder Nintendo. Then, as suddenly as the speculation began, it fizzles out, leaving fans feeling dejected about the lack of a big screen quest for Link and Zelda.
Really, though, The Legend of Zelda’s storyline and overall visual look vary so much from one video game installment to the next that a film adaptation would probably fail to please gamers whose favorite chapter wasn’t used as the specific source material. On the other hand, Metroid, Nintendo’s dark space adventure, has the foundation for an awesome, crowd-pleasing movie, as this fan-made live-action short film shows.
Halloween may be over, but that hasn’t put a stop to the internet being flooded with pictures of all the amazing and not-really-amazing-but-still-popular costumes that people wore.
One costume that was especially popular this year was the Inklings from the Wii U game Splatoon, but the ones who pulled it off the best have to be this pair of Japanese kids. Not only are their costumes homemade, but they look absolutely adorable while running around covering everything in pretend ink.
We’ve been telling our fine readers for literally years now about Yo-kai Watch, the Pokémon-esque game/manga/anime series that’s full of adorable yet mischievous collectible yokai monsters. And now that the series has been newly localised and adapted for the West, you’re finally going to see for yourselves what’s been driving Japanese kids to ritually torch bonfires of old Pokémon goods in favour of worshipping the new yokai overlords. Okay, we’re exaggerating, but only a little bit.
Of course, the success of any Japanese import into the Western market hinges on a heartfelt and thorough localisation process. It happened to Pokémon—Satoshi became Ash Ketchum, and many Pokémon were entirely renamed—and now it’s happening to Yo-kai Watch, too.
But is the very Japanese charm of the new franchise about to be seriously lost in translation?
Last month it was announced that the Pokémon franchise would be coming to smartphones in Pokémon GO, an ambitious augmented reality mobile title. But while Pokémon is often associated with Nintendo, the brand itself is managed by The Pokémon Company, a semi-independent subsidiary of the video game hardware and software giant.
Today, Nintendo revealed the first stage of plans for its long-awaited Nintendo-branded smartphone apps, but those hoping for a new game starring Mario or Link are going to have to keep waiting. As a matter of fact, Nintendo’s first official smartphone release isn’t a game at all, but a system by which to make a virtual recreation of yourself that will autonomously talk about you in the social media sphere.
Ever since Twitter user @itsIsaaaaaaac tweeted those famous words, “Netflix and chill“, internet meme-dom, and indirect invitations to have a “good time” with it, were forever changed.
As a result, the internet is now packed full of hilarious and awkward examples of what can happen when one puts out that particular call. But what if, mused one net user, instead of offering to Netflix and chill one was to make a similar offer to “Smash Bros. and chill“? What would that even look like?
Thanks to the work of the Internet masses, we now have the answer. And it’s hilariously inappropriate.
Nintendo’s last cartridge-based home console, the Nintendo 64, was home to a long list of games that no doubt played a big part in many of our lives, and none more so than GoldenEye 007. A first-person shooter that followed the storyline of the James Bond movie of the same name, GoldenEye’s all-guns-blazing split-screen multiplayer mode made and broke many a friendship over the years, and was considered the epitome of fun in back in 1997 when it launched.
But the game was an odd choice to appear exclusively on a console made by Nintendo—a company with a reputation for squeaky-clean fun and family-friendly software. And it turns out that the violent nature of GoldenEye was a matter of deep concern for Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s most influential director and producer and the creator of Super Mario. So much, in fact, that he suggested an alternate ending to the game: one where everyone shook hands and made up.
As we head towards the end of the year, video game publishers are pulling out their big guns. But what if the modern gaming world leaves you feeling cold? Maybe you’re burned out on multiplayer first-person shooters, and open-world game sandboxes hold as much appeal to you as the pet poop-concealing one in your neighborhood park.
In that case, you’ll be happy to know that this December, Nintendo’s 8-bit Famicom, the Japanese version of the NES, is getting its first commercial cartridge release in more than two decades.
In an effort to help alleviate the massive amount of horrible levels that have made it into the Super Mario Maker universe, Nintendo tasked its pigeon friend/Mario Maker extraordinaire Yamamura-san to show us how to correctly create a level. In the first comic, Yamamura-san literally poo-pooed all over novice-creator Mashiko’s level, and then gave her some homework to help her become a better builder.
But the first comic did little to alleviate the amount of terrible levels online, so Nintendo Japan has put out a sequel comic to try and clean up the mess. This time around, Yamamura-san checks on Mashiko’s homework and continues to offer sage level-building advice.
Does he give her level a star? Or is it an insta-skip? Read on to find out!
Japanese taxis are pretty nice. They’ve got those cool doors that swing open and shut at the touch of a button, and the lace doilies they usually have across the rear parcel shelf add a nice touch of class.
Still, we’re finding ourselves feeling a little jealous of taxi patrons in Peru, where one company isn’t just providing swift transportation, but entertainment with a fleet of cabs equipped with Nintendo Wii U game consoles for passengers to play in the back seat during their ride.
So we all know that Super Mario Maker for the Wii U is awesome. With everything from music levels to ridiculously hard challenges to millions and millions of other courses in between, you can never run out of things to do.
However with so many levels out there, plenty of them are far from perfect, and some of them outright troll the player. So in an effort to try to educate the gaming populace in the art of not making horrible levels, Nintendo Japan has released some helpful comics to help us all become better builders.
Ready to be educated in the way of making Mario by a pigeon? Then read on!
October 31 is quickly approaching and for those of us who don’t have our costumes or decorations ready yet, you’d best hurry. Sure there are plenty of last-minute costumes and decorations you can scrounge up, but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t compare to something meticulously planned out.
A carved pumpkin is one decoration you can complete in a few hours, but if you really want to lure the trick-or-treaters, you have to go the extra mile. Check out this amazing pumpkin that shows us the day in the life of lovable Luigi and his haunted mansion. It would look awesome on your front porch, and even more so with a special little addition.
Despite the famous “Gotta catch ‘em all!” tagline, Pokémon trainers don’t spend every moment of their adventures traipsing through the underbrush searching for new Pocket Monster species. Part of the process of becoming a Pokémon Master is making a pilgrimage to gyms where trainers can strengthen their skills and bonds with their adorable biological arsenal.
Until now, the only places to find these gyms were within the video games and anime of the Pokémon franchise, but next month marks the opening of the first official Pokémon gym in Japan, where fans can meet and train with a variety of Pokémon in interactive and augmented reality attractions.
Video games have the power to change people’s lives, inspiring creativity and bringing friends and couples together.
But they can also destroy relationships. And it turns out that even Splatoon, the cute, brightly colored squid-themed shooter from Nintendo, is a culprit—although not quite in the way you might be thinking…
This year marked a huge change for American broadcaster CBS’ Late Show. After 22 years of hosting the program, David Letterman finally stepped down, and the reins of the show were handed to Stephen Colbert, who took over in early September.
The move instantly attracted fans who’d been hungry for more Colbert since the final episode of The Colbert Report aired last December, and as proof that the Late Show is hoping to be more relevant to this younger demographic, the new host recently welcomed the members of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses to perform music from the series live in front of the studio audience.
Bandai’s S.H.Figuarts line has released several figures from the Super Mario video game series: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and important items from the games like pipes, blocks and coins. Its latest figures expand the collection with iconic enemy characters: a Hammer Bro, Lakitu and Spiny.
Thanks to modern Internet marketing, it’s unlikely that anyone buys a video game without first having seen multiple gameplay videos of it as various stages of production. Gamers didn’t used to have access to so much information, though. In the 16-bit era, the less developed video game journalism sector meant that only major releases would get spreads in print magazines, and for some niche titles the only available visual preview came on the box itself.
As a result, the cover artwork played a huge role in catching customers’ eyes and conveying the mood and style of the game. Like classic movie posters, the best examples are works of art, and many of them are now being assembled in the upcoming book Super Famicom: The Box Art Collection.
The Ace Attorney series, known in Japan as “Gyakuten Saiban” (turnabout trial) has established itself as a major player in the interactive visual novel market with five mainstream titles and a variety of cool side-stories and spin-offs like Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
The games, while undeniably Japanese in origin right down to the legal framework, have proved extremely popular in the west thanks to some inventive localisation work which has helped smooth down some of those cultural rough edges. Thus, instead of Ryuichi Naruhodo and Odoroki Hosuke, we’re more familiar with their westernised counterparts Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice. And now the upcoming sixth instalment in the main franchise is set to feature both of these protagonists together in a dual lead role!
Umihara Kawase was released for the Super Famicom (Super NES in the west) in December, 1994, just over two decades ago. It was a popular game that has spawned a number of sequels for a variety of platforms and has won its fair share of fans, including many who loved the original cartridge game. Unfortunately, some cartridge games from the 90s featured a fatal flaw in their storage: the batteries keeping players’ saves alive eventually dies.
While most gamers finally give up and waved goodbye to their progress, lost to the ravages of time, one hardcore fan has refused to lose his save and has simply left his console plugged in and switched on for the last 20 years!
Recently, we’ve been seeing what appear to be cracks in Nintendo’s outer image as a smiley, pure-hearted, “I’m OK, you’re OK” kind of company. First, we saw that the company’s official Line account is still holding a grudge against Sony for the industry-changing success of its PlayStation console. Now, some fans have found that their new figures of presumable nice guys Mario and Luigi reveal the Nintendo stars to be smirking, gloating jerks.
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