It’s the week of the long walk.

The big games of the week for North America provide an interesting contrast. On the 3DS, you have the eternally bouncy ninja brawler Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson, which should provide more than your daily allotment of combat. Of course, we let Zach review this one. The Wii U’s biggest gun this... Read more...

The company will bring news directly to you - eventually.

Despite fears following the passing of former president Satoru IwataNintendo will continue the Direct format for news distribution in their own time.

In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said "Nintendo Directs will continue, but we have no details to provide now on who will be featured or the topics that will be covered" indicating there are no plans for a video soon.

The previously paid DLC adds four new characters

The new issue of Game Informer magazine has provided an update on some of Xenoblade Chronicles X's optional content.

Four recruitable characters who were paid DLC in the Japanese version of the title will be free for North America and Europe. Each character will be recruitable after completing three missions, and will provide either a weapon or Skell blueprint.

Master Hand, Crazy Hand, move over for Maker Hand.

The next Smash Bros stage has been announced, and it will be themed around Super Mario Maker.

The Super Mario Maker stage will release on September 30 for both Wii U and 3DS, and will feature a randomly designed stage that will be drawn in as soon as the match starts. The stage elements will be random, with blocks that are broken being replaced within a couple of seconds. All four of Super Mario Maker's games will be represented.

Capcom seeks to crowdsource challenge levels from all six games.

The Mega Man Legacy Collection is coming later to the 3DS, but it will have support for the Mega Man Amiibo.

Capcom announced on the Capcom Unity blog that the Amiibo would unlock ten special challenge stages, which will be created by fans. The contest asks for timestamps from Mega Man playthroughs in order to create the special stages, which can cross multiple games in the collection.

A couple of abstract concepts to throw down with.

Following a Japanese Splatfest this past weekend, North America, Europe and Australia will have their fifth rounds this weekend.

North America's Splatfest will see the battle of Da Vinci's two careers as Team Art (captained by Callie) will take on Team Science (Marie). The battle will begin at midnight Eastern time Saturday (9 p.m. Pacific time Friday).

It suddenly got very Norse in here.

CoroCoro magazine in Japan has revealed what appear to be the first new forms of Pokémon for the swan song of the 6th generation.

The magazine lists four alternate forms of Zygarde (#718):

Keeping some things the same, but aiming for long term changes as well.

Nintendo gave an interview with the Nikkei newspaper following the announcement of Tatsumi Kimishima as company president.

Kimishima confirmed in the interview that Nintendo would continue the plans of transition laid out by the late Satoru Iwata, including the transition to new generation hardware... Read more...

Formerly served as president of Nintendo of America.

In a press release statement issued today in Japan, Nintendo has named Tatsumi Kimishima its new president following the death of Satoru Iwata in July.

Kimishima has previously been Nintendo of America's president, reigning from 2002 to 2006 when he was succeeded by the current president Reggie Fils-Aime. He has also served as Chief Financial Officer of The Pokémon Company, as well as the president of the US branch.

It's time for our next RetroActive poll: games not featured in Super Mario Maker!

Super Mario Maker is here, and our panel of supposed experts at Radio Free Nintendo is now knee-deep in Mario Making. We are also delightfully knee-deep in your suggestions for games that feature Mario that are not in Super Mario Maker. In fact, we received so many suggestions we decided we would... Read more...

Comes with a clarification on Splatoon naming conventions.

The week's Splatoon update will go live tonight at the standard time (10 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. PT) and will bring a modified version of an existing weapon.

The H-3 Nozzlenose is a heavier version of the L-3 Nozzelnose family of weapons, which trade a bit more power for slightly less speed. The sub weapon is the Suction Bombs and it has the Echolocator special.

Plus the ability to look like classic Atlus heroes.

Japan will be getting the game known as Genei Ibunroku #FE in North America just under the wire for this year.

The Atlus/Nintendo co-operative project will release on December 26 in Japan, just in time for the massive New Year's shopping season. The game will have a regular edition, a "Fortissimo"... Read more...

Dinosaurs show legs and feathers and the Amiibo train keeps rolling

US sales results have been released by the NPD Group for August, and Nintendo will be looking for a September turnaround.

In the software charts, the only game on Nintendo systems to reach the top 10 was June's Lego Jurassic World at #5 (combined formats). The 3DS and Wii U were the 2nd and 3rd best selling version of the game, while Splatoon is now at 600,000 copies sold (physical + eShop).

Swimming in the vacuum, causing a commotion because they are so awesome

September continues to be a busy month for the eShop as Starwhal will launch on the 24th in North America.

Previously released on Steam and PlayStation consoles, Starwhal is a multiplayer game featuring narwhals engaging in fencing contests in outer space. The Wii U version will feature a brand new mode called Blastopus.

A day -1 patch removes a prominent complaint.

A patch will be available for Super Mario Maker that removes a source of frustration about the game.

The version 1.01 patch is available for the game's release in Japan and Western gamers who got the game early, and includes the following bullet point: "Condition(s) for increasing the amount of... Read more...

Yes, there are things releasing that aren't Mario Maker this week.

Aside from the big, constructive elephant release this week of Super Mario Maker, there's a pretty decent lineup for the Wii U on the eShop. The 3DS has had a retail release since Tuesday with the launch of Hatsune Miku Project Mirai DX, and Alex's review might draw some comparison to chocolate, but you probably went retail on this one anyway for the LE goodies.

Time to get your frog prince on.

Atlus will have a demo for their upcoming RPG Legend of Legacy.

The demo will launch in the North American eShop on September 22, three weeks before the game's release. The 30 play demo will cover the prologue and first two dungeons of the game, and as usual with Atlus demos progress will carry over to the final game.

Partnership with Ingress's Niantic Labs brings Pokemon to the real world.

A new mobile Pokémon game is under development by Niantic Labs in a partnership with The Pokemon Company, Nintendo, and Game Freak to bring an augmented reality game to mobile. A surprise press conference hosted by Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara showed a sneak peak of the game.

Pokémon... Read more...

Rumors of a "new business strategy" for the franchise.

The Pokémon Company will be holding a press conference shortly to discuss "new business strategies".

The press conference will be held at 15:00 JST today (11 p.m. Pacific time, 2 a.m. Eastern), but no indication has been given as to what the announcement will be beyond that. The conference will... Read more...

There's no inoculation for this plague.

Yacht Club Games has announced the release date for the first Shovel Knight expansion.

Plague of Shadows will release on September 17, a week from tomorrow in all regions where the base game is available, for both 3DS and Wii U. The expansion will come as a free update to all Shovel Knight owners.