Smash Bros. players with Nintendo's new hardware are in luck.

We recently learned that the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. will not take advantage of Circle Pad Pro accessories. Instead, the new portable Smash Bros. will make use of the C-Stick built into the upcoming New Nintendo 3DS hardware.

I find this news awful because it gives Japanese players who... Read more...

The gaming community has taken a toxic and violent turn in recent months, and Karl’s wondering how the rational, compassionate, but ultimately silent majority should react.

I don’t think anyone on the NWR staff has been talking about the continuing harassment or disenfranchisement of women or the transgender or any other subgroup in the gaming sphere that isn’t white, straight and male. And I don’t think it’s because they don’t care - I think it’s the opposite,... Read more...

While the use of Amiibo in Smash Bros. might not be compelling, those figures do look wonderful and collectable.

Back at E3 2014, I tried to unpack what Nintendo showed with Amiibo. I still stand by a lot of what I said. I think Amiibo has the potential to just be another eReader, making it the latest in a long line of Nintendo peripherals that got a major push and faded away. But there’s something that Amiibo has in its pocket that the eReader or the Balanced Board or Wii Motion Plus never had: attractive collectability.

I’ve been waiting for the day.

The 3DS is garbage. Okay, maybe that's a bit strong, but hear me out: it has some of the best Nintendo games of the past 10 years in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Super Mario 3D Land. It is the home of the first fully mature digital storefront for Nintendo’s games, and the first... Read more...

Japan's Club Nintendo gets a plush prize.

It seems Club Nintendo's quality has vastly declined in every region as of late. That is, of course, except for in Japan.

Observe this adorable Yoshi plush that recently hit the Japanese catalog for 600 points. Sitting pretty at about 18cm tall, he's firmly clutching a berry item from the Super Mario series.

The idea of the New 3DS is awesome, but is dividing the user base worth it?

Somewhat unexpectedly, a bomb dropped this morning: a new model of the 3DS and 3DS XL, called the "New 3DS," is coming to Japan in October (and Europe in 2015 and North America in probably 2015). This new system is like your old 3DS, but it also can play exclusive games that will only work on this new upgraded system, like Xenoblade Chronicles, which is coming to 3DS in 2015.

As the next Layton game comes out, could the series’ players be wearing thin?

The Professor Layton series, which is, for the most part, wrapped up as far as we know, has been prolific since the series came to North America in early 2008. There have been six entries across the DS and 3DS, a movie, and a spinoff with Phoenix Wright (due out stateside on August 29). That's not... Read more...

While it still winks and nods at the past, DrinkBox’s debut Wii U title is an excellent example of how to make an original Metroid-like game.

This is a follow-up to a discussion on a recent episode of Connectivity. Go check it out!

DrinkBox Studio's Guacamelee, which came to Wii U last month (here's our review if you're curious), is overtly a Metroid-style affair. Right down to the Choozo statues that you break to unlock abilities,... Read more...

Dance like Darunia, throw a Chain Chomp, and open treasure chests with a mulleted Ganondorf.

During last night's Nintendo Direct for Hyrule Warriors, I was enamored with the overall insanity of the entire experience. It's neat seeing each character do their thing, whether it's Zelda firing off a light arrow, Ruto riding water thanks to a Zora Scale, or Agitha using insects to knock moblins... Read more...

After two months with Tomodachi Life, I still don’t know what it is.

This is a follow-up to a discussion on a recent episode of Connectivity. Go check it out!

Like most people, I didn't really understand Tomodachi Life until I actually played it for myself. It's a weird, peculiar experience that can be somewhat reductively boiled down to Nintendo's version of The Sims. It's also something I've slowly put a ton of time into over the past two months.

Honing your strategy and watching your Knight duel against StreetPassed foes is awesome.

The concept for StreetPassing in Shovel Knight always seemed really interesting. Inspired by games such as Mario Bros., it works by recording three rounds of your own Shovel Knight making movements around map collecting gems and trying to defeat an invisible foe. When you send that recording out to the world, you swap it with other people's recordings, and then your pre-recorded characters duke it out in a best-of-three match.

The new Zelda game on Wii U will have an open world. Is that all the franchise needs to do to truly evolve?

E3 2014 has come and gone, and with it we've received news of a new open world Zelda title. A fresh entry in the Zelda series is always exciting, but the announcement of this new direction holds many exciting prospects. The question, however, is how can Nintendo's star franchise stay relevant in a... Read more...

For the first time in a few years, Nintendo dazzled with plenty of variety and surprises at E3.

My major complaints about Nintendo's E3 showings in 2012 and 2013 were focused on a lack of surprise. There's more to it, but when it comes down to it, I look forward to seeing what game companies are creating that I didn't expect. In 2012, the biggest surprise game reveal was Nintendo Land. In 2013,... Read more...

Nintendo is attempting toys-to-life games in a far different way than Skylanders and Disney Infinity.

By the end of 2014, Nintendo, Activision, and Disney will be embroiled in a war that spans gaming and action figures. Much like the great plastic instrument wars of the late 2000s, the ongoing toys-to-life war is about to get even more contested with Nintendo joining the battle by launcing Amiibo later this year. However, their concept for their figures is way different than what the others have already done.

Ten years ago, something special was brewing within Nintendo.

Ten years ago, Nintendo started a revolution that paved the way for some of their best-selling systems of all time. At E3 2004, Nintendo held what can easily be considered their best press conference ever. The GameCube was clearly struggling and the company promised to talk about a new dual screen handheld device.

Just what will Nintendo show at the big event? Here's some good 'ol speculation.

Nintendo’s E3 presentation will be bright and early on June 10th. Like last year, Nintendo has opted to do a presentation via the Internet as opposed to a press conference in Los Angeles. This has disappointed some people, including myself, but this isn’t what this article is about. I’m ready to do some speculation. With less than a month to go, lets get down to the nitty-gritty.

The RPG modes from the Game Boy games are gone as a focus on online play is now par for the course in the 3DS iterations.

After playing a lot of Mario Golf: World Tour, I kind of understand what Nintendo and Camelot were trying to do with Mario Tennis Open, a game that nailed the tennis gameplay but felt insubstantial. While past portable Mario sports games were focused on delivering a superlative single-player experience,... Read more...

If Nintendo made these changes, the Wii U eShop could really help the system out.

We all know that the Wii U could really do with a shot in the arm right about now. Even with some solid first party titles like Wind Waker HD, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and arguably the two greatest Mario games since the NES, it's no secret that Nintendo's latest system is failing to capture the same audience that the Wii did. It needs all the help it can get.

We're off to a good start, let's see where Nintendo takes it from here.

The NES Remix series is an exciting new direction for Nintendo. The Virtual Console is a great way for Nintendo to give gamers access to the classics, but it doesn’t do much to bring in new players. Now that NES Remix 2 has released, we’re left wondering if this will become a regular franchise... Read more...

Spoiler alert: It is very depressing.

A season changes and another month passes, which means we likely had more confirmation that the Wii U is not selling well. With very few, if any, releases, the expectations from month-to-month are dismal. But exactly how bad? According to analyst David Gibson, a little more than 70,000 Wii Us were... Read more...