Reggie Fils-Aime is stepping down from his post as president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America after 13 years in those roles and over 15 years with the company as a whole.

Doug Bowser, the company’s current SVP of sales and marketing, has been tapped to take over for Fils-Aime as the president of Nintendo of America following his official retirement on April 15. 

“Nintendo owns a part of my heart forever,” said Fils-Aime in a statement. “It’s a part that is filled with gratitude – for the incredibly talented people I’ve worked with, for the opportunity to represent such a wonderful brand, and most of all, to feel like a member of the world’s most positive and enduring gamer community. As I look forward to departing in both good health and good humor, this is not ‘game over’ for me, but instead ‘leveling up’ to more time with my wife, family, and friends.”

Fils-Aime got his start with Nintendo of America back in 2003, in the very same role that Bowser now vacates to take on the position of president. After just three years with the company he then stepped into the role of president and COO, a position he held through the lifetimes of several Nintendo systems like the DS, Wii, 3DS, and, most recently, the Nintendo Switch.

A press release from the company specifically calls out “strong and affable personality,” a trait that endeared him with both the industry and Nintendo’s fanbase.

Bowser, meanwhile, started with the company in mid-2015 as the VP of sales and, a year later, the SVP of sales and marketing. He notably led the company’s marketing efforts for the Nintendo Switch in the West, a system that has sold over 32 million units since its early 2017 release. 

Nintendo fans, Reggie has a message for all of you. Please take a look. pic.twitter.com/EAhaEl5oEJ

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 21, 2019

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The above trailer for Xaloc Studios’ upcoming soccer game, Super Kickers League gives us a far better look at the previously announced title, including special team abilities, plus a ‘spring’ 2019 release window.

The team acknowledges Super Mario Strikers (or Mario Smash Football in PAL regions) and Soccer Brawl as strong influences, with a fun approach to the beautiful game and its rules. The trailer shows that each team has a specific ability you can employ against the opposing side, including a Fortnite-like move which causes them to break out some impromtu dance moves.

With three different modes available – Teams, Kickers and Retro – that last one has our interest particularly piqued. According to the official blurb, Retro mode “allows you to play the game with an orthographic camera and pixel art graphics, transforming the graphics into a much more ‘classic’ format.” Intriguing!

So, while it’s still a game of two halves where a bunch of people try to kick a ball into a net, it seems that flaming meteors, teleportation and irresistible dance beats add a lighthearted layer of strategy.

Like the look of this madcap take on the beautiful game, or do you prefer a more serious intepretation of the sport? Share your opinion below.

It’s fair to say that the news that Reggie Fils-Aime – who has been Nintendo of America president since 2006 and joined the company itself in 2003 – would be retiring in April caught plenty of people off-guard.

He’s certainly one of the industry’s most recognisable characters and his willingness to get in front of camera and laugh at himself has endeared him to millions of gamers, not just Nintendo fans.

Reggie’s popularity is evidenced by the fact that the news has been followed by a flood of positive and supportive comments for the big man – most notably from his rivals at Sony and Microsoft.

Mike Ybarra – Corporate Vice President at Xbox – also had something to say about the news:

Reggie famously appeared on-stage with both Spencer and Layden at the 2018 Game Awards, and host Geoff Keighley added his voice:

If you ever wanted a Western take on Hotline Miami, then upcoming Switch game 12 Is Better Than 6 might be just the ticket. This hand-drawn pen-and-ink shooter with stealth elements takes place in the Wild West and looks pretty cool (and bloody!).

Here’s what the game has to offer according to HypeTrain Digital and Ink Stains Games:

Unique shooting mechanics – You’ll need to cock the revolver with one trigger before being able to shoot by pressing another trigger. Shooting mechanics in the game will keep you on your toes – one false move and you’ll be overrun in an instant!

Choose your own playstyle – You don’t have to go all guns blazing. You can choose to take a more stealthy approach to surprise your enemies, or even just sneak right past them. You can even complete almost an entire game without being noticed!

Locations – Real-life places and towns and the spirit of the desert will help you plunge into the cruel world of the Wild West. Visit Austin, San Antonio, Albuquerque, and Huston; find cheap saloons and expensive cabaret, Indian colonies and travelling caravans. But don’t you worry, you’ll find trouble in every one of these places!

Authentic weapons – You’ll use the favourite bounty hunter weapons in the game. Winchesters, double-barreled guns, revolvers and Gatling guns are at your service to help destroy your enemies. For the more adventurous players, we’ve also prepared the extra-crazy one: a rat with dynamite attached to it. Throw a rat and it will run towards your enemies by itself!

Upgrades – These will help your hero to stay alive while navigating through the Wild West hell. You’ll find breastplates that will have a 50% chance to deflect some bullets, a fast recharging skill that will allow the hero to insert 2 bullets at once, extreme accuracy (less spread for your shots), being able to kill an enemy in stealth mode without attracting the unwanted attention, and more!

Friends – Meet some main character’s old friends when travelling through the cities. But will they work as your allies or have they changed during the last five years?

It all looks rather great to us in the trailer and screenshots above. This Wild West-themed shooter is coming to the Switch on 5th March for $9.99. Will you be picking it up?

Yesterday, the world of Nintendo was rocked by the news that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is set to retire in April after more than 15 years with the company. In that time, Reggie has overseen the launch of systems like the DS, Wii, 3DS and Switch, had himself turned into a puppet, become a meme many times over and – above all else – made sure that one of the world’s biggest entertainment brands has an approachable, human face on the global stage. To pay proper tribute to the great man, we’ve pulled together some of our favourite Reggie moments in video form for you to enjoy.

One of Reggie’s firsts tasks – as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing (he wouldn’t become president until 2006) – was convincing the world that two screens were really better than one. His first major product launch was the Nintendo DS, a console which not only doubled the number of displays a handheld traditionally offered but also introduced the world to touch control.

He stepped onto the stage and into legend with his opening line, “My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games.” Given that this was the first exposure many of us had had to the great man, it was quite an entrance – and he did a great job of selling the DS, too.

Even in those early years, Reggie had a talent for really selling Nintendo’s products – as evidenced in this ABC interview regarding the Wii, his first home console launch.

The Wii, of course, was a runaway success, given Reggie his second hugely successful product launch in America. The Wii would also give rise to one of Reggie’s most famous quotes, delivered during a demo of the upcoming fitness title, Wii Fit.

Such was the quality of this catchphrase, Reggie couldn’t resist reviving it when the game was re-released on Wii U a few years later.

With the Wii and DS both comfortably dominating their respective sectors, hopes were understandably high for Nintendo’s next platform, the 3DS. As you might expect, Reggie was a key figure in the initial marketing campaign for the platform, alongside Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata.

Reggie also did his usual marketing speech to hype up the console closer to launch, and while the 3DS hasn’t come close to matching the success of the DS, it’s easy to get carried away with the hype when watching Reggie’s delivery, even after all this time.

Reggie’s next launch would prove to be his first serious taste of disappointment at Nintendo. The Wii U was a great idea in principle, as most of us no doubt thought as we watched this presentation at E3 2011. Sadly, it has gone down as one of the company’s biggest hardware flops.

Reggie certainly didn’t hold back when it came to pushing and promoting the system; here’s some candid footage taken from the queue for the Wii U launch, where he braved the cold to chat with Nintendo’s fans.

Another notable highlight from this period is footage of Reggie and Iwata using the Wii U’s video chat function, a feature which worked well enough but was perhaps overlooked due to the arrival of video calling on smartphones.

With the Wii U proving to be something of a commercial dud, it made sense for Nintendo to redouble its efforts with the 3DS, and Reggie was accommodating enough to allow us into his (virtual) home when Animal Crossing: New Leaf launched.

Fast forward to E3 2014, and Reggie (along with Iwata, whom he clearly shared a close bond with) starred in one of the most memorable clips in the history of the show, and Reggie was also turned into an action figure by the guys at Robot Chicken.

E3 2014 also gave us another amazing Reggie meme: Fils-A-Mech.

Such was Reggie’s commitment to his craft that he played Project Giant Robot in character:

A new Haunting is coming. Can you guess where it takes place? Listen closely... pic.twitter.com/vqzrd3z4NZ

— The Haunting of Hill House (@haunting) February 21, 2019

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was a grand departure from the Mario template when it launched back on Super Nintendo in 1996. Nowadays there’s nary a genre the precocious plumber hasn’t dipped his toe into, but his first foray with role-playing turned out to be a classic that still stands up today, filled with odd yet loveable characters and hilarious, if surreal, dialogue.

It seems that much of the absurdity may come from the translation. Recently Legends of Localization ran a fascinating article detailing many of these differences in a specific part of the game. For those who skipped this classic (sacrilege!), one of the characters is a spellcaster named Mallow who has the ability to read enemy’s minds. When he does this, a quote pops up with a bespoke line of dialogue.

There are many of these and, in truth, they’re a little scattershot – sometimes the line provides a clue to the monster’s weakness, but more often it’s some entertaining nonsense. It seems that the original Japanese dialogue contained many pop culture references which were altered or removed completely in the translation to English.

For example, in the original Japanese an enemy called Pulsar states “Hit me and you will be punished when I go up in smoke!”, a veiled reference a Sailor Moon catchphrase “In the name of the Moon, you will be punished!”

In English, we get the accurate (and useless) “I’m a mini-pulsar.” Quite.

Elsewhere, Buzzer’s dialogue in Japanese references a famous line from the manga series-turned-anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, with some clever wordplay referencing the ‘beat’ of the enemy’s Japanese name (Hachi Bīto). The English translation goes for a Madonna reference – something western players were far more likely to pick up on.

These changes are understandable – especially in the mid-nineties when limited internet access meant the world was a lot smaller and pop culture in all countries tended to stay closer to home. Still, it’s fascinating to look back and see the alterations made when bringing the game to the west.

The article details dozens of changes, and this is only the dialogue found when using Mallow’s “Whatcya Thinking?” ability. The game is chock full of text, so more information will undoubtedly be revealed in the future. Head over to Legends of Localization for the full article – it’s well worth a read.

How many of the references would you pick up on today if they’d been translated more literally back in the day? Let us know below…