Nintendo

Prepare to dig your way to victory with Shovel Knight, the game that combines retro aesthetics with modern world building, and leaves you coming back for seconds.

In this side-scrolling platformer, you play as the titular character Shovel Knight, who has lost his beloved companion, Shield Knight, in the Tower of Fate. Before he can save Shield Knight however, Shovel Knight must defeat The Order of No Quarter. Only then can Shovel Knight face his greatest enemy, the evil Enchantress.

The tides are finally turning for the Wii U with the roaring engines of Mario Kart 8, igniting console sales which reached 510,000 units from April to the end of June. Total Wii U unit sales have now reached 6.68 million while software sales have reached 36.67 million, supported by Mario Kart 8’s 2.82 million unit sales in a month’s time, according to Nintendo’s first quarter earning’s release. That’s a lot of numbers to say that things are looking up for Nintendo.

James Rolfe created the Angry Video Game Nerd character and webseries after putting together a few short videos complaining about old Nintendo games, such as LJN releases. Soon, as popularity grew, Angry Nintendo Nerd had to be changed to Angry Video Game Nerd so his character could delve into a larger oeuvre of terrible video …

Now that the shine of E3 has worn off, we can finally look back on all of the conferences with a level head. Who am I kidding? I’m way too excited about Mario Maker to analyze the gameplay for Nintendo’s conference fairly. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m actually prepared to buy a Nintendo Wii U now.

Some of the first video games I ever played were Pac-Man, Centipede, Tetris, and Pong. However, it wasn’t until I played Super Mario Bros. that I saw the true potential of gaming. It was time to say good-bye to stationary backgrounds, and hello to side scrolling platformers.

I still remember when I was a wee lad…back in the NES days, there were a great lot of games to be played and it was my goal to play them all. Each week I would travel to Mr. Video where I would check and see what new grey cartridge might satiate my appetite for the next few days. While I did indeed spend a lot of time playing that little 8 bit box, particularly the Mega Man and Super Mario Bros series’, it wasn’t until NES’s big brother came along that I was really hooked on gaming.

My first outings with videogames were memorable but far from profound. Most Argentine children of my generation grew up with the Family Game, a cheap Nintendo emulator made in China. With it, I jumped through Super Mario Brothers and Antarctic Adventure, which motivated my attachment to the medium but never fascinated me. Even when I graduated to the Super Nintendo, a legal one, I still considered videogames to be one among several fun activities, like sports or trading cards. In 1997, though, one title would teach me that there were unexpected feelings to experience through videogames.

My wife handed me a heavy, neatly wrapped box and said something to the effect of, “You’ll never guess in a million years what I got you.” She was absolutely right. I had no idea what was in it, and gaped in awe as I opened the rectangular package. Inside, eloquently displayed, were three old game cartridges below three Game Boys of matching color. This year for my birthday, my wife got me a glass case exhibiting Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow with matching Game Boy Pockets. It perfectly represented me and my evolution (intentional word choice) as a gamer, cascading me with that sensation known as nostalgia.

“Hipsters,” nerds, romantics, and other atavists aren’t overly concerned about convenience and portability. They revel in the idiosyncrasies and nostalgic charm of dated technology. They want bulky, cumbersome interfaces to engage with – things that take up space and require a lot of maintenance.  This holds especially true for the vintage gaming enthusiasts, people who …

This month’s Nintendo Direct is one a lot of you have been eagerly awaiting; a Smash Bros 3DS/Wii U information overload! Super Smash Bros director Masahiro Sakurai talks extensively about the features of the upcoming installment for 39 mesmerizing minutes.

It is something of a crime that the Metroid series has long been akin to the forgotten middle child of Nintendo’s family, the one that is oft ignored in favor of its too more prolific and popular siblings: Mario and Zelda. With several top tier games under its belt, and the many iconic moments it’s contributed to the gaming world, the Metroid series is more than deserving of its due among the Nintendo Big 3.

  In today’s ‘Nintendo Direct’, Nintendo’s global president Satoru Iwata revealed a new Legend of Zelda Wii U title that is the product of a collaboration with Tecmo Koei, in the style of their Dynasty Warriors series. This announcement will hopefully prove to be a distraction from the ongoing debate amongst fans about whether or …

During the last four generations of gaming, handhelds have gone from monochromatic 8 bit games, to portable consoles with stunning graphics and the ability to do more than run video games. The handhelds evolutionary journey is an interesting one, and it begins with four legendary consoles: Game Boy, Lynx, Game Gear, and TurboExpress.   Nintendo officially …

New consoles always come packaged in boxes and dreams, promises of games to come. I can remember my first days with every console. As an adult, I’ve favored computers, so consoles have always been gifts from my parents, evidence of their love for me. I spent my 11th birthday alone in our California apartment. That …

I’ve spent hours on the Nintendo 64, PS2, XBox360, and Wii; but the NES will always have a special place in my heart. Growing up my parents were very much against having video games in the house. My brother and sister and I were allowed to play at our relatives homes, but a console in …

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (2013) Developer: Game Freak Publishers: Nintendo, The Pokémon Company  With the recent success of GTA V,  a sizable chunk of the gaming community has been pacified (for now). So what then does the RPG gamer have to look forward to in the immediate future? Pokémon X and Pokémon Y are …

Zelda fans that have been hesitant to jump on the Wii U bandwagon may feel compelled to snap up the console as the heralded release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker quickly approaches. Coupled with an unexpected price drop and a bundle that includes a 32 gig system and a code for a …

On August 28th, Nintendo revealed the 2DS, an introductory handheld companion for children aged five to six. Nintendo often strays from the beaten path, and this latest venture is no exception. As interest in 3D devices dissipates, Nintendo is conscious that adjustments must be made in order to stay in the competition. New challengers, i.e. …

Everyone is familiar with the World of Pokemon. Each generation of games introduces a new continent that expands the geography for players to explore, and the number of discovered Pokemon is always on the rise; there are over 650 as of writing this and the entire Pokemon X and Pokemon Y Pokédex hasn’t been announced …

The reviews for the newest Nintendo Wii U game, Game & Wario, have been all over the place. However, games are not simply a question of enjoyment but a question of cost. There are great games out there like Mortal Kombat, Portal, and Dead Rising that are all really fun – just maybe not $60 …

In the wake of E3 a title wave of attention has swept the gaming world concerning Sony and Microsoft. Talks of DRM restrictions, “the Xbox180”, actual console specs and more have all but pushed Nintendo out of sight and out of mind. Its easy to see why Nintendo didn’t host a large press conference in …

Nintendo’s Wii U was first announced back in 2011 and there were no statements regarding DRM back then. The console was only released in December though, so there’s no reason why Nintendo shouldn’t be facing the same challenges as Sony and Microsoft, but Satoru Iwata, global president of Nintendo, has a simple explanation. He believes …

The original Nintendo Entertainment System was, and will always be my favourite video game system. I remember staying up for hours and hours late at night finishing classics like The Legend of Zelda, Link, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Contra, Metroid etc. Dan Meth has created an animated a clip reel for the “forgotten” Nintendo games …