When you think of Nintendo, it's almost impossible not to picture Donkey Kong. Yet despite Donkers' undeniable place in gaming history – and obligatory appearances in Smash Bros and Mario Kart – for the last few console generations, Donkey Kong platformers have been MIA. Enter DK's first standalone adventure in 11 years, Donkey Kong Bananza. While Mario's recent adventures saw him exploring the reaches of outer space or deftly possessing enemies with an anthropomorphic hat, DK's grand return is all about primal rage. As you smash and punch your way through walls, floors and ceilings, you can burrow all the way to the ground below, forging new paths and unearthing hidden treasures.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been tidying our attic, and while the general aim has been to prevent its contents from collapsing through the ceiling, I have a side-mission. My most valued possession when I was twelve was a Casio GD-8 Car Race watch – a digital timepiece that included a built-in racing game on its tiny monochrome LCD display. Two big buttons on the front let you steer left and right to avoid incoming vehicles and your aim was to stay alive as long as possible. I lost count of the number of times it was confiscated by teachers at my school. I used to lend it to the hardest boys in the year, thereby guaranteeing me protection against bullies.

You can tell a Nintendo game not just from its feel – the satisfying swish of Link's sword in the Zelda games, the weight of Mario's jump – but by its look. They are bright, energetic, characterful. In Splatoon, the game-maker's most recent hit series, the shooter is reimagined as teams of transforming squids splattering arenas in glossy paint. Mario's red cap and blue overalls, originally designed to create a recognisable character with just a few pixels for 1981's arcade hit Donkey Kong, is now a stylistic signature – Nintendo's logo is the same shade of red. When you look into the company's department store outlets in Japan, a dozen colourful characters stare back at you from reams of merch: Animal Crossing cookware, Super Mario gloves, Zelda wallets and ties, Pikmin vases.

Of all its characters, Nintendo is best represented by Kirby, a cutesy pink blob named after an intellectual property litigator. In 1983, John Kirby convinced a judge that Donkey Kong was not a trademark infringement of Universal Pictures' King Kong. The win helped pave the way for the company's wild success in the video game industry. Now, it is Nintendo that doles out the legal claims to protect its IP. The latest fan fixed in the hot glare of Nintendo's Sauronic eye also happens to be one of the most well-known.

Welcome to the whimsical world of topiary with bushes, inspired by the beloved characters of Nintendo and Sega! Topiary is the art of shaping plants, such as bushes and trees, into decorative or ornamental shapes. With a little creativity and some pruning shears, you can transform your garden or landscape into a fun and playful homage to your favorite video game characters. Let's explore some topiary ideas for your garden or landscape, inspired by the colorful and iconic characters from Nintendo and Sega! The Mario brothers are some of the most recognizable video game characters in the world.

As a young and fair-weather gamer, I loved playing Super Mario Brothers because it was my older brother's favorite game, and I wanted to be just like him. I can still hear the 8-bit theme song in my head, and I'm guessing you can too, if you played Mario as a kid. "Bah dat dat doo dat dat doo," goes the classic, repetitive, 1985 jam. The ubiquity of those notes in many of our childhoods was as constant as a hug from grandma, a pack of Gushers after school, or Saturday morning cartoons. Retro games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and The Legend of Zelda are comfort food for gamers.

Sunday will mark 35 years since the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived on America's shores, saving a crashed video game industry and making a generation of gamers out of people who first learned to "play Nintendo" on the NES. For this 35-year-old, it's striking how Nintendo's breakout home game system, which my parents bought for my older brothers and which I literally grew up with, remains not only the bedrock of the company's corporate identity--witness the 8-bit Mario on your browser tab if you visit the Big N's website--but its creative wellspring too. Witness how Super Mario Bros. 35, Nintendo's new contender in the über-popular battle royal genre, is a thin remix of 1985's Super Mario Bros., an NES launch title. Or see the NES Classic, the recent bestselling miniversion of the console with 30 games packed in. While very few people may have the original gray-on-gray NES hooked up to their TV anymore, the titles designed for it will remain relevant for Nintendo fans of all ages as long as the company stays in the game.

Billy "Video Game Player of the Century" Mitchell has been vindicated. Today, Guinness World Records reinstated the Donkey Kong and Pac-Man records that were stripped from Mitchell in 2018. Once again, Mitchell holds the first perfect score on Pac-Man and several records for the highest score on Donkey Kong. He has also redeemed recognition as the first player to reach the kill screen on Donkey Kong and the first gamer to score one million points on Donkey Kong. Mitchell, also known as the "King of Kong," had his records expunged by Guinness and Twin Galaxies after an investigation alleged some of his performances on Donkey Kong were not reached on arcade hardware.

Nintendo's popular crossover fighting game is finally coming to the Switch on December 7 with'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.' "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," the latest version of Nintendo's popular cartoon fighting game series, is one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year. After playing the final version, out Friday, I can also say it is one of the best Switch games yet. The latest in the long-running franchise, "Ultimate" brings together iconic characters from a wide variety of games including Nintendo's own Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Zelda and Pikachu, as well as other well-known ones such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man and Snake from "Metal Gear Solid." In total, there are 74 playable characters in the game, with five more available for purchase in 2019 as downloadable content. The game has two main gameplay experiences: "Smash," the popular head-to-head fighting mode where you can compete with friends or battle the computer, and "Spirits," a story-like game mode called "World of Light" where you need to battle to free characters from a mysterious "hand" deity that has captured them.

Mario Segale, the inspiration for one of the most recognizable characters in the world, was Nintendo's landlord in Washington state during the 1970s. Mario Segale, the inspiration for one of the most recognizable characters in the world, was Nintendo's landlord in Washington state during the 1970s. Mario Segale, who inspired the plucky plumber Mario -- one of the most recognizable characters in the world, let alone in video games -- has died at age 84. Segale was Nintendo's landlord outside Seattle when the company created Donkey Kong, the classic game that launched the overalls-wearing Mario. Segale never sought to play up the connection, instead focusing on his family's lucrative businesses in heavy construction and real estate development in the bustling Seattle region.