Would you like to see Captain Toad appear as a playable character in Mario Kart 8? Well, Nintendo’s very own Koichi Hayashida wants him to star in the iconic racing series as well as other Nintendo titles. Interestingly, Hayashida has contacted the director of Mario Kart to see if he’d consider including Captain Toad in the game. Hayashida says he has become quite attached to the charming character and would like to see him feature in a “variety of games.”

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From having Kirby ride on hamsters to turning him into yarn, Kirby games have always experimented with inventive visual styles and unique game play. Launching for the Wii U console on Feb. 20, the visually striking new adventure Kirby and the Rainbow Curse finds players controlling Kirby exclusively using the touch screen on the Wii U GamePad controller in a world made of clay.

By drawing lines on the touch screen with the stylus, the player creates Rainbow Ropes that will help Kirby navigate obstacles and defeat enemies. Three friends can hop in and out at any time using Wii Remote controllers to play as Waddle Dees and assist Kirby, and players can even use compatible amiibo figures once a day, per stage, to power up Kirby with special abilities.

“Kirby and the Rainbow Curse kicks off another absolutely stellar lineup of Wii U games for this year,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “In the first half of the year alone, Wii U owners will be able to adventure with Kirby, party down with Mario and his friends in Mario Party 10, build levels in the Nintendo eShop-exclusive Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars and experience Nintendo’s newest IP with the action-packed Splat oon.”

Unlike other games in the Kirby series, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is set in a beautiful “clay-ful” world. The controls are also easy to pick up for all types of players, since the game is played exclusively on the touch screen of the Wii U GamePad. The Rainbow Ropes will guide Kirby in the direction players want him to go, and drawing ropes in creative ways like a loop will even give Kirby a quick speed boost. Strategy not only comes into play in guiding Kirby, but also in the amount of Rainbow Ink used, as drawing Rainbow Ropes uses precious ink. By staying on the ground or collecting an ink bottle, players can refill the Rainbow Ink quickly. In addition to moving Kirby around, Rainbow Ropes can be cleverly used to solve environmental puzzles. Using a well-drawn rope can block a waterfall or uncover hidden areas.

Instead of his traditional copy abilities, Kirby can transform into powerful vehicles. As a tank, Kirby will move automatically and players must tap on the GamePad touch screen to shoot at approaching enemies. When traveling through the depths as a submarine, Kirby will move to the spot players tap on the touch screen. And as a rocket, drawing Rainbow Ropes will help navigate him to the goal.

Anyone that wants to experience Kirby and the Rainbow Curse with friends or family members is in luck! Up to three additional players can join the adventure at any time. As the player who controls Kirby draws Rainbow Ropes and taps the GamePad, other players use Wii Remote controllers (sold separately) to play as friendly Waddle Dee characters to assist Kirby and help discover the game’s numerous collectibles. While ultimately everyone works together to reach the goal, each player’s collected stars will display at the end of each stage, encouraging a little friendly competition.

Kirby, King Dedede or Meta Knight amiibo can each be used once a day to power up Kirby with special abilities. By tapping a Kirby amiibo to the Wii U GamePad, players receive an unlimited Star Dash within a stage, which usually can only be activated by collecting 100 stars. A King Dedede amiibo outfits Kirby with a hat that grants him six health bars instead of the normal four. And the Meta Knight amiibo gives Kirby a mask that lets him use a fast dash that blasts right through weaker enemies.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse launches for Wii U on Feb. 20 at a suggested retail price of $39.99. The game will also be available for purchase in the Nintendo eShop and at Nintendo.com.

For more information about Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, visit http://kirby.nintendo.com/rainbow-curse/.

The first Mario Kart 8 DLC pack is available now. Players who have already pre-purchased the content will be advised upon starting the game that the pack is ready and be given a prompt to download it. The first DLC pack contains eight new tracks, three fresh characters and four new vehicles.

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It’s no secret that videogame fans are itching to get their hands on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. To help shoppers avoid the day-one rush, Nintendo is offering a new pre-purchase service for people wanting to start playing as soon as it goes on sale on Nintendo eShop, all without having to leave the comfort of their homes.

Starting today, Wii U owners who visit the Nintendo eShop can pre-purchase Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. From pre-purchase, most of the game’s data will be transferred to the purchaser’s Wii U system, and as soon as the game releases on Nintendo eShop at midnight on 21st November in North America, 28th November across Europe (23:00 on the 27th November in the UK), the final data needed to unlock the full game will automatically download.

This pre-purchase service offers a tremendous benefit to players, as they can avoid waiting in lines and be among the first people able to play the game once it arrives on their Wii U systems.

Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have officially announced the next title in their Fatal Frame series, along with a terrifying new trailer. Wii U exclusive Fatal Frame: The Black Haired Shrine Maiden will be launching in Japan on 27th September, and the series once again tasks the player to take on the forces of the ‘Ghost World’ armed only with a camera and spare pair of underwear…

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Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, has announced at the 2014 Anime Expo in Los Angeles that an animated TV Series is in development based on his studio’s forthcoming crowdfunded video game Mighty No. 9. The series will be an action-packed comedy aimed at kids aged 6-11. Digital Frontier, an animation company in Japan, is developing and producing the series for a worldwide release.

After witnessing the massive support internationally for the Kickstarter campaign, Digital Frontier reached out to Inafune to develop the animated TV series. (Note: Digital Frontier will not be using any of the funding from the campaign for the production of the animated series) Digital Frontier is actively seeking partners internationally including but not exclusive to merchandising, broadcasting and production. The studio has been recently pitching the series and is currently in talks with interested parties with announcements coming soon.

In September 2013, Keiji Inafune announced the Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of the Mighty No. 9 video game. The campaign reached over a $1 million in the first 24 hours, and by its end totaled about $4 million. Inafune rose to acclaim as a game designer after developing the well received Mega Man series, with over 50 titles and more than 30 million units sold worldwide across most major consoles and handhelds. He went on to oversee several other hit games, including Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 2, Dead Rising, and many other beloved hits that all went on to become million sellers internationally. In 2010, he started his own game studio titled comcept Inc. based out of Osaka and Tokyo, Japan.

Digital Frontier has a distinguished history of making high quality, full CG content for film, TV and games. Founded in 1994, Digital Frontier is one of the biggest animation houses in Japan equipped with over 350 award-winning artists on hand not only domestically but also in sister studios based out of Malaysia and Taiwan. The studio has built a large portfolio of international hits such as Appleseed (2004), Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina (2007) Summer Wars (2010), and Wolf Children (2012) as well as a strong catalog of CG animation for game related content, including Metal Gear Solid 4 (2008), White Knight Chronicles (2008), Tekken: Blood Vengeance (2011), Resident Evil: Damnation (2012), and Metal Gear Rising (2013).

After 28 years, Princess Zelda is finally getting her promotion to queen. Hyrule Warriors, the Dynasty Warriors crossover created for the Nintendo Wii U by Tecmo Koei, will put an unexpected spin on the Legend of Zelda series. Fans recently received more news regarding the game and the changes, especially concerning the relationship between Link and Zelda, and the lack of Amiibo figurine inclusion. All this comes from an interview with producers Hisashi Koinuma and Yosuke Hayashi of Tecmo Koei, and Eiji Aonuma of Nintendo.

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Prior to E3 2014, there was the sudden news that Satoru Iwata wasn't attending the event for health-related reasons, though no details were given aside from reassurances that it was still "business as usual" for the Nintendo President. With Nintendo's AGM (Annual General Meeting of Shareholders) set to take place on 27th June, the company has now confirmed that Iwata-san will not be in attendance. The company president issued the following letter to shareholders on Nintendo's investor relations website.

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Tecmo Koei has uploaded a brand new trailer for Hyrule Warriors, showing off gameplay footage of Link fighting off a horde of enemies with the fire rod.

Time to get your hopes up, Metroid fans. The series no-showed E3, but you might be heartened by what the men overseeing Nintendo's game development had to say about it. Cutting to the chase, they say they're talking internally about what to do about the series and that they'd like to talk about what's next for Metroid - for fans of the 2D games and the first-person Prime games - in "the near future."

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Over 20 minutes of new footage from the Wii U exclusive Devil's Third, courtesy of GameSpot.

Here are the new trailers for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for 3DS. Both will be in stores on November 2014. Further details of both games can be fount here.

The reveal of Star Fox for Wii U has been a relatively extraordinary occurrence so far at E3, as it was inadvertently leaked by TIME and then, peculiarly, not considered ready for demonstration in the Nintendo Treehouse broadcast. As a result, there's no useful footage — the screen was blurred in a brief cameo — and a limited amount of information, though the details from the original interview hint at an intriguing, GamePad-driven concept that may even be split into small 'TV series'-style releases.

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Star Fox (working title) turns the Wii U GamePad into the view from the cockpit of Fox McCloud’s Arwing fighter. While the TV shows the perspective from behind the Arwing, players can also use the gyro sensors of the GamePad to intuitively and independently target enemies. Players can instantly switch between the Arwing and Landmaster tank with the press of a button, and the game also introduces a new helicopter-type vehicle. The game is scheduled for 2015.

Remember Bayonetta 2? It was shown off at last year's E3, but still isn't out yet. However, Nintendo and Platinum Games have made the wait a little more bearable by confirming that it will come bundled with the original title — which first released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 — as well as Link and Samus costumes to unlock in the main game.

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Devil's Third, the next game from Ninja Gaiden director Tomonobu Itagaki, is coming exclusively to Wii U. Itagaki's action game marries melee combat, and cover- and first-person shooting. It also features objective-based, attack/defend competitive multiplayer modes, a level editor, and character customization. Nintendo "really understood my vision," Itagaki told IGN, "so I felt I really had to work with them."

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The next instalment in The Legend of Zelda franchise, scheduled for 2015, introduces the first truly open world in a game from the series. Players can roam Hyrule Field or set off on a trek to distant mountains if they prefer. Players can get to any area they can see from virtually any direction. That’s one of the ways the game breaks with franchise norms and introduces new ways to play.

A Mario Party becomes a Bowser Party as the player with the GamePad becomes everyone’s fire-breathing nemesis. During “Bowser Party” mode, one player gets to be the fire-breathing Koopa King and wreak havoc during the mini-games while other players try to dodge his attacks. Players can also enjoy classic Mario Party style game play as well.

The fan-favourite Captain Toad levels from Super Mario 3D World have inspired a game of their own. The intrepid Captain Toad sets off on an adventure through a wide variety of clever, colourful and fun levels that require players to use the GamePad to change their perspective to guide him to coins, gems, stars and safety.

The game artfully merges the world of The Legend of Zelda and the style of Dynasty Warriors into one legendary hack-and-slash Wii U adventure. Players control hero Link or Princess Zelda, or might opt to play as Impa or Midna in their debut as playable characters. Familiar locations from The Legend of Zelda world subtly change to reflect the art styles of their original games. The game is scheduled to launch on Sept. 19th.