When you make a long-running series as wacky and melodramatic as Sega’s eclectic Yakuza / Like a Dragon games, there’s no telling what players will latch on to. A key example? Yakuza’s creators were very surprised by female players finding Goro Majima, the series stalwart eye-patched gangster, unfathomably attractive.
GTA 3, Doom, and 14 More Games That Felt Ahead Of Their Time
This story is part of our new Future of Gaming series, a three-site look at gaming’s most pioneering technologies, players, and makers.
Find And Unlock Every Secret Exit
Super Mario Bros. Wonder has levels full of secret paths to explore, but did you know a few of them lead to entirely new mini-worlds and levels for you to run and jump through? There are several levels that have secret exits that you have to work to find, and while all of them will give you a new Wonder Seed, a…
It’s Halloween, Let’s Rank The Best Ghost-Type Pokémon
The end of October is nigh, which means the spooky decorations are about to make way for snow, presents, and mistletoe. But before we say goodbye to the jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treating, we can still pay tribute to the spookiest, the scariest, the ghouliest(?) of Pokémon: the ghost types.
2023 Is The Best Year For Games In A While (And Maybe Ever?)
When Hi-Fi Rush shadow-dropped on January 25, it was a shockingly pleasant surprise. Beautiful, vibrant, playful, the rhythm action platformer quickly won players over. A day later, Hitman World of Assassination appeared, deploying clever roguelike mechanics to reinvent the best stealth game of 2021. A day after that, …
Don’t Sleep On These Great Steam Halloween Sale Deals
It’s nearly Halloween, so it’s once again time for Valve to throw a big ol’ spooky-themed Steam sale. And this year there are plenty of great deals on new and old games, most of which are scary and perfect to play on Halloween night. Also…
Mario Wonder Proves Nintendo Has Perfected Weird Little Guys
Everyone loves a weird little guy. Maybe it’s Danny DeVito, maybe it’s cats, maybe it’s Turgle, Meat Boy, or the Prince of All Cosmos. The longer the list of gaming’s weird little guys, the more Nintendo shows up on it. It’s been churning out weird little guys for decades. Goombas. Midna. Basically everyone in Animal…
8 Games For Your Halloween Weekend
Halloween lands on a weekday this year, which means this upcoming weekend is the single best time to enjoy the spooky vibes of the season. But if you’re like me, no one’s invited you to a Halloween party. Not to worry, that just means there’s time to stay indoors with the haunting glow of a game filling the dark…
Super Smash Bros. Got YouTuber Ludwig In Trouble With Nintendo
Gaming YouTuber Ludwig Ahgren, widely known as Ludwig, has claimed that Nintendo came for his throat with a “baby cease-and-desist” letter a few months ago. The move was prompted by modifications he wanted to make to the company’s supremely popular crossover fighter Super Smash Bros. Melee for the sake of a tournament…
Super Mario Bros. Wonder: The Kotaku Review
First, the bad news: Super Mario Bros. Wonder doesn’t cure covid-19. Trust me on that. But, if you ignore that one flaw and focus on everything else—the gorgeous graphics, the immensely creative levels, the pitch-perfect music—it’s easy to see this is one of Nintendo’s best Mario games in years.