Village Gamer

This year Mario reaches an impressive milestone in video gaming: 30 years as a leading man in Nintendo’s timeless dedicated website series. At E3, Nintendo celebrates Mario’s longevity with a new installment in the franchise called Super Mario Maker, one of many games at the show that transforms familiar characters and their games with unique new looks, styles and game-play features. Players will see new installments of beloved franchises like Star Fox, Yoshi, Animal Crossing, Mario & Luigi, Xenoblade and Metroid, and enjoy the reimagining of Bowser and Donkey Kong as Skylanders figures that also have amiibo functionality with compatible Nintendo games. Read the rest of this entry »

With so much information, it would be easy to dismiss the latest Nintendo Direct presentation as an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank. But the latest Nintendo Direct is definitely no joke. The next evolution of amiibo? It’s happening! Lucas from Mother 3 in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS? He’s joining the battle! The debut of a 200cc speed class in Mario Kart 8? Yup! A new line of Yoshi amiibo figures made of actual yarn? Oh yeah. A home-designing Animal Crossing game? Launching this year! Splatoon launching on May 29 and more details about Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Woolly World and the new game in the Fire Emblem series? It’s all accurate! Read the rest of this entry »

This holiday season is all about Mario. And Link. And Yoshi. And Samus. And Kirby. And … well, a lot of classic video game characters. That’s because Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and the first round of amiibo figures, Nintendo’s first foray into the toys-to-life category, are both launching on November 21, right in time for the holiday shopping season. Nintendo’s favourite characters are going to be everywhere, whether on the battlefields of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, on store shelves as must-have amiibo figures or at the top of everyone’s holiday wish lists. Read the rest of this entry »

During a Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo dropped a moon-sized announcement: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D, a remake of the beloved Nintendo 64 game, is coming exclusively to Nintendo 3DS in spring 2015. The Nintendo Direct video also revealed new details about amiibo functionality and upcoming games like Splatoon, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Code Name S.T.E.A.M. and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Read the rest of this entry »

Nintendo has prepared a massive lineup of new games and products for the 2014 holiday season. The lineup includes new entries from some of the biggest franchises in gaming, new hardware bundles for Wii U and Nintendo 2DS, and new amiibo interactive figures featuring some of the most iconic characters in the world of video games. The holiday shopping season begins soon for Nintendo fans, as the first 12 amiibo interactive figures become available for pre-order at a suggested retail price of just $13.99 each. The first dozen characters available for pre-order at select retailers are Mario, Peach, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Kirby, Fox, Marth, Villager and Wii Fit Trainer, with more on the way in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time ever, Nintendo’s Mario Kart franchise will be powered by some real-world horsepower. An August 27 game update to Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U console will deliver a variety of new features for players, including the ability in-game to download three free Mercedes-Benz cars that players can race: the modern Mercedes-Benz GLA, the 300 SL Roadster from the 1950s and the legendary Silver Arrow of the 1930s. Read the rest of this entry »

Momentum is spelled M-A-R-I-O K-A-R-T, and the Mario Kart 8 game for the Wii U console just launched around the world to global acclaim, earning some of the strongest review scores in franchise history, including becoming the 14^th Wii U game to launch in North America with a Metacritic score of 85 or higher. Nintendo reported today that the game sold more than 1.2 million* total units across Japan, Europe and the Americas during its first weekend on the market.** Read the rest of this entry »

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, start your engines! Nintendo of Canada will celebrate the launch of the Mario Kart 8 game by giving Canadian fans the chance to play the game at Best Buy stores across Canada on Saturday, May 24 before it’s officially released on May 30. The celebration will continue with special karting events in Toronto and Montreal on Saturday, May 31. Read the rest of this entry »

One month from today, Mario Kart 8 will be driving players wild with anti-gravity racing action. To get people revved up for the Wii U game, Nintendo released a new Nintendo Direct video that announced some additional news nuggets, including a Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle, a free downloadable game offer for Wii U owners who buy Mario Kart 8, details about online features, cool new characters and devastating new items. Read the rest of this entry »

A new Nintendo Direct video has revealed numerous details about the upcoming Super Smash Bros. video games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems. At the start of the video, series creator Masahiro Sakurai announced that the launch of the Nintendo 3DS version of the game is planned for this summer, with the Wii U version planned for winter 2014. Both games will be available in stores and in the Nintendo eShop for their respective platforms. Sakurai also detailed many of the stages and items in both versions, described the games’ online functionality, revealed a new mode exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version and announced fan-favourite Greninja, a Pokémon from the Pokémon X and Pokémon Y games, as a new playable character. Read the rest of this entry »