For a kid in the early ‘90s, knowing somebody with a Game Genie was tantamount to knowing a character from the movie Hackers. Somehow, this awkward-looking chunk of plastic billed as a “video game enhancer” could give you infinite lives, better weapons, or let you skip levels altogether. It was essentially magic, and…
Earlier today, Nintendo devoted 25 whole minutes of its E3 Nintendo Direct news blast to introducing the new Super Smash Bros. for the Switch. The game was teased earlier this year, without so much as even a name reveal, and the company made up for those few months of silence by dropping as many details as the human…
Everybody knows that when your NES cartridges aren’t working right, the best way to fix them is to hold the open end up to your mouth and give a gentle little puff to clear out any dust particles. If that doesn’t work, you give a mighty blow like you’re trying to kill the three little pigs, possibly while moving the…
Nintendo’s latest video news dump ended with a very big, very inevitable announcement: Yes, Super Smash Bros. is coming to the Switch in some form or another, and it’s currently scheduled to hit Nintendo’s newest console sometime this year. The confirmation came courtesy of a teaser trailer starring the Inklings from …
After an incredible year that saw the successful launch of its latest console, the Switch, and the release of two great, transformative games in its most most beloved series, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, it’s only reasonable that everyone was foaming at the mouth to hear what…
In November, we reported on a rumor that Nintendo was in talks with Universal about making an animated Super Mario movie with Illumination Entertainment (the studio behind Despicable Me and the Minions). Tonight, Nintendo officially announced on Twitter that the movie is indeed happening, with iconic Nintendo…
In 2016, Nintendo hesitantly stepped into the world of mobile gaming with Miitomo, an odd social network of sorts that allowed you to dress up your little Mii characters and answer weird questions about your favorite fruits. It was a ton of fun right at launch, with people taking funny pictures of their characters and…
Nintendo fans spent this week in a tizzy as rumors of a Nintendo Direct newscast announcing an updated slate of 2018 games began to build. Those whispers turned out to be true, and the company published a 14-minute “Nintendo Direct Mini” this morning, unveiling a handful of titles and giving updates on several more.…
With an ever-expanding video game market that’s continuously adding to the accepted lore of beloved characters, it can be difficult to keep all your video game-related facts straight. But there are a few things that are unquestionably set in stone: The Mario brothers are plumbers, the Konami code almost always works,…
Nearly 25 years after Hollywood’s first baffling attempt at bringing video games’ most iconic figure to the big screen, Universal is reportedly in talks with Nintendo to give this whole “Super Mario Bros. movie” thing another shot. Today, The Wall Street Journal published a story claiming Universal’s Illumination…
Earlier this year, I threw a temper tantrum. I was mid-way through Horizon Zero Dawn, a game of dazzling polish and exciting potential, and after a few hours of streamlined, mildly inspired introduction, I viewed with horror what the remainder of my time with the game would be: It was to be, yet again, a map game. I…
Welcome back to our Super Mario Odyssey Game In Progress review. This second and final installment discusses everything in the game, including its many post-credits secrets. If you’re looking for a more spoiler-free discussion, check out the first part of Matt’s review.
Generally speaking, there has only been one way to beat a Mario game. For the old 2-D games, this is literal—you run to the right—but it’s even true of the more elaborate 3-D games, too. Super Mario 64 and the Galaxy games featured different ways to replay their individual levels, but depending on which one you chose,…
Welcome to part one of our Super Mario Odyssey Game In Progress review. This first of two installments covers the entirety of the game’s main storyline, but avoids details about specific surprises and late game levels. Part two will cover the huge amount of game that’s left explore after the credits roll.
Tonight, in “Shut Up And Take Our Money”: Nintendo has finally bit the bell and announced that it’ll soon be releasing its first Animal Crossing mobile game. Titled Pocket Camp, the game will, unsurprisingly, take place in a summer camp, complete with the series’ usual assortment of hapless animals, ever-abundant…
Punch-Out!! was, in part, literally born from the detritus of Nintendo’s bigger successes. The idea for this cartoon boxing game goes way back to 1983 and Nintendo’s arcade era. With hits like Donkey Kong under its belt, the company was buying tons of televisions to use in its arcade machines and was eventually stuck…
Most big companies are so scared of their shareholders that their commercials tread a few comfortable lines, whether it’s having annoying people singing bad versions of popular songs or doing some variation of whatever the hell Geico’s been doing for the last gazillion years. The stakes were lower in the ’80s and…
According to Rolling Stone, Nintendo is finally getting around to shutting down its online Wii Shop marketplace, the service that allowed Wii owners to download games, some apps, and things that seemed fun at the time like a “channel” for voting on other people’s Mii characters. The Wii Shop isn’t shutting down right…
You do not need me to tell you this, but the SNES Classic is absolutely radical. If you want one, you should get it. If you think you want one, you should get it. If you’re on the fence, you should get off it. After playing with the system for a few days, I can offer a host of tiny qualms—the cords are again far too…
The SNES Classic comes out September 29, and it’s looking to be another white-hot item more likely to be found on eBay than store shelves. Nintendo was nice enough to send a unit for The A.V. Club to test drive. Staffers Clayton Purdom and Kevin Pang sat down this week to play with the SNES Classic, and ho boy, is it…