And a Super Bowl ad, so you know they're all in

Pokémon Company has announced details of plans for the 20th anniversary of the series, including some interesting looking hardware.

Following the announcement of 2DS units preloaded with the games in Japan, the same 2DS bundles (less the green one) will release in Europe on 27 February. Each 2DS will come with the matching game preinstalled. New 3DS cover plates celebrating the anniversary will release on the same day.

Taking aim at Best Buy again

Amazon is offering a sweet offer for US customers who are subscribed to Amazon Prime, in a bid to counter the Best Buy Gamer's Club Unlocked offer.

Overnight, all Amazon preorder games received a 20% discount for Prime members at checkout. This leaves most Wii U titles at $48 (from $60) and 3DS titles at $32 (from $40). The offer is also valid for amiibo, with Lucas and Animal Crossing wave 2 reduced to $10.39. (All prices before tax)

Still region locked

The January 11 Nintendo Network maintenance has already yielded a system software update for the Wii U.

The system software has been upgraded to version 5.5.1. The first update since the August 17/18 update that removed TVii has just brought stability and "improvements to the gameplay experience".

Technically in the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

The next Summer Olympics, at least as far as Sonic and Mario are concerned, begin before winter's end.

Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will release on 3DS on March 18, bringing the Nintendo and Sega characters into 14 sports across 11 different Olympic disciplines, including the returning Olympic golf tournament.

Zach would like to remind you that one side has dinosaurs.

The first matchday of Splatfest round 10 has been announced for North America, and the theme is timing.

Voting will open tomorrow for a battle of time travel, as the question being posed is if you would prefer to travel to the past (Callie) or the future (Marie). The competition will take place on January 16, beginning just before midnight Eastern time.

As the update train starts to slow, we get a new slosher.

The first weapon of the new year for Splatoon will be dropping tonight.

At 9 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Pacific, the Sloshing Machine Neo will be released at Sheldon's. The variant on the Sloshing Machine swaps in a Point Sensor sub-weapon and the Inkzooka as a special.

The first Splatfest of 2016... Read more...

Ten hours, zero splats. UPDATED: Earlier start announced

UPDATE JANUARY 8: The maintenance has been updated to commence at 5 p.m. Eastern / 2 p.m. Pacific Monday. Original story follows.

The next Nintendo Network maintenance period has been announced.

"Online play, leaderboards (some online services)" are listed as being affected for both Wii U and 3DS, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern / 5 p.m. Pacific time next Monday (January 11) and stretching to 6 a.m. Eastern / 3 a.m. Pacific on the 12th.

Pikachu and friends join characters from Animal Crossing on the popular messaging app.

The Pokémon Company has released 24 animated stickers on the popular LINE platform.

The set includes Pikachu and other starters from multiple generations. Nintendo released a set of Animal Crossing stickers last September. The set goes for $1.99 in the US, €1.99 in Europe, and ￥240 in Japan.

In which the News Editor reaches his personal boiling point.

As mentioned back in October, the first downloads week of the new quarter features a lot of indie titles for North America. Six different games are releasing across the two systems before we account for the week's Virtual Console games. Among the highlights are the SDK Spriter app for Wii U - there's... Read more...

And yes, you're still using a baby's toy.

Tomorrow's eShop update will feature three NES Zapper games for North America.

Konami's Adventures of Bayou Billy will be joined on the service by Nintendo's Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman. All three titles make use of the NES Zapper mode for the Wii Remote, first used with Duck Hunt.

As with all NES titles, the games have an MSRP of $4.99.

Hyrule Warriors scarves still expected to be sold out.

The Nintendo World Store in New York City is about to get a major retrofit.

The Rockefeller Plaza landmark will close for a month beginning on January 19 to allow for renovations. It will reopen on February 19 as Nintendo NY, with an updated interior design including a giant coin inlaid in the front entrance with the store's motto.

From out of nowhere, more box launching!

BOXBOY was one of last year's most beloved eShop titles, and its sequel has just launched with Japan's eShop update.

HakoBoy: Mou Hito Hako (BoxBoy: Another Box) is available now for 680 yen, and adds an extra dose of color to the proceedings as seen in the trailer below. We'll have more coverage as our staff picks it up.

No confirmation of the Dark variants, but they may come as well.

Retail listing have begun to appear for standalone versions of a couple of rare toys.

GameStop is having a "Skylanders Day" this Saturday (January 9) in which packages containing the Donkey Kong and Bowser figures, along with their figures, will be sold separately for $24.99. The figures are expected to appear at other stores around the same time, and some have already appeared on store shelves.

A light week to round out the year.

So here's a bit of inside baseball: The core of the downloads article is actually written on Wednesday night, because we get the downloads from Europe on Monday and Nintendo of America usually updates the website during the day Wednesday. Normally this works, but when Nintendo's on a holiday break... Read more...

Watch out for low-flying piranha.

The next Splatoon map releases tonight, and it's going down quite deep.

The Piranha Pit will release at the traditional update time this evening, and is a stage with a lot of mining conveyors that can change the flow of battle and provide height advantages. The mine is in a lake, so players will need to watch their step lest that first step cause an unforced errror.

Includes the first directly wired controller for the Wii U.

Pokkén Tournament will have local play in its Wii U incarnation, but one player will be fighting alongside their Pokémon on the GamePad.

In an announcement of the special wired controller for Pokkén Tournament, HORII confirmed the game will support 2 player versus play, but only one of the controllers... Read more...

And the price will certainly be right for them.

The anniversary release of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Yellow in Japan will have several promotions, including exclusive new hardware.

Special bundles of the 2DS preloaded with the various versions of Pokémon and with matching colors will release in Japan on February 27, the same day the games... Read more...

Time to get one last airing of grievances in before Festivus.

As we first reported yesterday, Super Mario Galaxy is the main - in fact, the only new game this week for North America. The actual best Nintendo console game of the 2000s brings grand adventure, tricky platforming and the best princess in the Nintendo lineup, so be sure to pick it up.

With nothing... Read more...

Father Squidmas is making a delivery tonight.

The next Splatoon weapon update will arrive to splat kids over an open fire.

The Rapid Blaster Pro Deco will arrive at the traditional update time, and will add a touch of class to one of the game's longest range weapons. The quick fire rate and long range is balanced by a slightly lower power.

We've got space, castles and marshmallows that throw lightning.

Although tomorrow's Wii U downloads will be light, but there will be plenty of jumping plumbers.

Nintendo's North American website has updated to show Super Mario Galaxy - the original Wii title - will come to the Wii U eShop as a download tomorrow for the standard downloadable Wii price ($19.99... Read more...