Category: Nintendo News

Following a successful launch in Japan and the UK, the Mario Kart Arcade GP VR experience is now on its way to the United States. Bandai Namco and HTC will bring the immersive Mario Kart game to the new “VR Zone Portal” in Washington, D.C.

Mario Kart VR allows four players to hop into specially designed karts and race through the Mushroom Kingdom as Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi. It’s powered by the HTC Vive VR system, and features “industry-leading graphics” along with all the usual items you would find in a Mario Kart game.

Bandai Namco’s US sales boss Steve Ignarski expects the game to be well-received locally:

The launches in Japan and the U.K. brought great success, and we hope to follow suit in Washington, D.C. Mario Kart VR is a long-awaited title, and we have no doubt it will be well-received in the states, due to its incredible, immersive game-play and outstanding equipment from HTC Vive.

The VR Zone Portal is part of Bandai Namco’s arcade division. The aim is to make VR more accessible to the public. Mario Kart VR was built by Bandai Namco, previously known for working on the Mario Kart Arcade series. The zone will run for six months in Union Station in Washington D.C. and will then pack up and move on.

Below is a video of Mario Kart VR in action, courtesy of Simon Davidian:

Will you be heading to the VR Zone Portal featuring Mario Kart when it arrives in Washington? Have you already been lucky enough to play the VR version of Mario Kart? Are you sold on VR yet? Tell us below.

Prior to the release of Super Mario Run on mobile, it might have been a shock to see Mario in an iPhone commercial. Nowadays, it’s not as surprising. To promote it’s new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, Apple has released a commercial about upsizing – with Mario making an appearance in it just after the halfway mark.

Titled “Growth Spurt” the short one-minute clip shows food, objects, and even pets growing in size – to help drive home the point Apple’s new device is a lot bigger than past models. Mario’s inclusion in the commercial makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, though, the mushroom behind the act is not credited.

Super Mario Run was originally released on the Apple Store for iOS devices in December 2016. This followed with its release on Google Play in March 2017. In July this year, Sensor Tower revealed it had netted about $60 million in profits from worldwide player spending since its launch.

Take a look at the clip above and tell us in the comments if you’re still playing Super Mario Run.

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

Following the extremely recent news that a new range of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Switch hardware bundles have just arrived at the Nintendo Official UK Store, we now have a new set of Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! bundles with additional goodies, too.

Available in Pikachu or Eevee variants, naturally, these new two bundles come with the lovely mascot-focused Switch dock, the brown and yellow Joy-Con, a keyring of your chosen star, and a pair of thumb caps to plonk on your shiny new Joy-Con (or an old pair you have lying around, as demonstrated). The bundles both come with a digital version of the chosen game, too, of course.

If you’re wanting to get your hands on one ready for the 16th November release date, you can grab them from the links below.

Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

If that’s not enough choice for you, you can find the bundles (without the keychains and thumb caps) at other retailers across the UK and US here.

Are you thinking of picking up a Pokémon Switch console? We imagine these will be pretty popular!

If you’re feeling ready for the ultimate selection of Switch hardware bundles, you’re definitely in luck today. Nintendo has now listed three awesome Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Switch bundles on the Nintendo Official UK Store.

The new bundles are available to pre-order right now, ready to be shipped to you for the game’s release date of 7th December. Called the ‘Nintendo Switch Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Edition Pack’, each of the three bundles feature the recently revealed Smash-themed dock and Joy-Con, as well as that gorgeous steelbook case.

You can step things up a notch with the Mario and Link special editions, however, each coming with everything mentioned above, a ‘hard pouch’ for your Switch console, and a GameCube controller featuring your chosen star. Other accessories are live, too, such as the Smash Bros. Ultimate Pro Controller, and the GameCube controller adapter, so you should be able to find absolutely everything you need.

Here are all the links you need:

Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale which helps support the site. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Are you treating yourself to a new system or controllers for the big day? Let us know your Smash Bros. Ultimate plans in the comments below.

Vivendi has revealed that it will sell all of its shares in Ubisoft by 5th March 2019, finally putting an end to the power struggle that has been taking place between the two firms over recent years.

Ubisoft has been fending off an “unsolicited and unwelcome” takeover bid from Vivendi for some time now; back in 2015, the mass media conglomerate started to buy large chunks of Ubisoft’s shares, forcing the game developer to seek a higher number of Canadian shareholders to “have better control over the capital”, and causing numerous concerns for the company’s future. The struggle has been ongoing and increasing, with Vivendi reportedly owning a 27.27% stake in Ubisoft by the start of 2018.

Earlier this year, though, Vivendi decided to pull the plug on the takeover, announcing that it would sell its entire stake in the publisher. The move came as a result of Ubisoft’s efforts to protect itself – whereby it repurchased its own shares and took investment from the Ontario Teachers’ Public Equities division and Chinese firm Tencent – and the dates have now been put in place to seal the deal.

It’s believed that Vivendi currently owns around 6.7% of Ubisoft’s shares and, according to MCV, 0.91% of these will be sold on 1st October, with the remaining (approximately) 5.74% being sold on 5th March. The total value of these shares is said to be “at around €500 million (£444m), with sales pre-agreed at €66 (£58.60) per share”.

So is this truly the end of Ubisoft’s struggles against the French conglomerate? Well, it is for now – part of this new agreement between the two firms states that Vivendi will refrain from repurchasing any Ubisoft shares for five years.

You wouldn’t know it from the happy, colourful vibes in recent releases like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, but Ubisoft’s been having a bit of a tough time just lately. This deal will be a huge relief for those involved, we’re sure.

Sidebar Games, the developer and publisher behind the sports-based RPG Golf Story, is celebrating the game’s one year anniversary on Switch by offering an exclusive prize through My Nintendo.

Yes, having a quick break from the usual trend of sharing Wii U and 3DS games at discounted prices, the European My Nintendo store has updated with a single – but special – exclusive gift (if you live in another region, you can simply open a European account with a new email address). If you have 50 Platinum Points spare, you can treat yourself to this super snazzy wallpaper for desktop or smartphones.

• Wallpaper – Golf Story: 50 Platinum Points

If you haven’t already played this game on Nintendo’s portable console of joy, we thoroughly recommend that you do so. Giving it an ‘excellent’ 9/10 in our review last year, we came away with the following thoughts:

“Golf Story is a surprisingly gripping game, hooking you with fantastic gameplay, loads of content, and a well-written script. This is one that’ll have you coming back for many hours in the story mode alone, and the multiplayer does a good job of expanding on this with even more replayability. We would highly recommend Golf Story to anyone looking for something a little different. There’s a whole lot to love here, and if you’re a fan of RPGs or golf games, this is a must buy.”

Are you a fan of Golf Story? Will you be spending some of your points on the wallpaper? You might be interested to know about today’s physical edition pre-order launch – more details here.

We often see big first-party games like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild take home various awards for their design, such as ‘Game of the Year’ or ‘Award for Innovation’, but we don’t often see a video game walk away with a Guinness World Record.

Breaking that trend in style is Warriors Orochi 4, a hack-and-slash title which released yesterday in Japan. Featuring 170 playable characters from the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors universes, this game is also making its way to the west next month, but it seems that some world record breaking efforts were in order first. The news comes from Koei Tecmo’s official Twitter account.

The record has been taken for ‘most playable characters in a hack-and-slash video game’, with that previously mentioned total of 170 beating others to the top. You can see the record yourself on the Guinness World Records website, where the exact criteria for the award have been listed:

– This record is for the most unique playable characters in a hack-and-slash videogame.
– This record is to be attempted by a licensed game developer or publisher.
– This record is measured in the total number of unique playable characters in a hack-and-slash videogame.
– For the purposes of the record, hack-and-slash videogame is defined as a videogame with combat that focuses on real-time combat with hand-to-hand weapons.

If this has piqued your interest, you can learn more about the game in this trailer. It’ll arrive on Switch in North America on 16th October, and in Europe on the 19th.

Congratulations Koei Tecmo!

Earlier this week, we shared the news that Nintendo had revealed “the last new stage” being added to Splatoon 2. It turns out that this new stage will be with us very soon indeed as part of a new, incoming update.

On 2nd October in North America, and 3rd October in Europe and Japan, Version 4.1.0 will introduce Skipper Pavilion, the final new stage set to be included in the game. It will also add new weapons from the Kensa Collection, featuring new Sub and Special weapons, as well as some new music tracks for you to bop along to as you splat those Inklings into oblivion.

A new special weapon has also recently been revealed, with a lovely little addition which is sure to get the Splatoon community instantly on side. The Booyah Bomb can essentially be charged up before being thrown to cause an explosion, but this charge can be performed faster by sending out the “Booyah!” command. In addition to charging up your weapon, your teammates can also shout “Booyah!” to fill up their special gauges so everyone can get involved.

Have you been playing Splatoon 2 online since the recent Nintendo Switch Online service launch? Will you be checking out the latest goodies when they arrive next week? Let us know below.