A lot of interesting bits popped into the Nintendo block this week - from race-able Chocobos, re-imagined sountracks, to retrained cops. If you want to stay up to speed with the new DSi LL, there's an update in here featuring the new upsized portable. There's a lot more where those came from, so let's get clickin'.

Let me start by clarifying that this is in no way a Nintendo marketing attempt for the New Super Mario Bros. Wii coming out on November 15th (WTF if this is). This happened for real. Two guys dressed up as Mario and Luigi (presumably for Halloween), plus one other suspect, are now wanted by the police for assault and robbery on a poor cabbie.

The homebrew coders from the SSBRumble DS team has released a new version of Super Smash Bros. Rumble DS, a homebrew game based on the ever popular Wii game Super Smash Bros. The latest update features 21 new characters, added collision detection, timer, attribute system, new stages and various other improvements.

Download: Super Smash Bros. Rumble DS v0.6

There's nothing like gamer goods at home to add more personality to your livingroom. For that, there's the Mario hat cushion to rest your read end on while playing your favorite game. Do note that this thing is NOT a hat, but a cushion that looks like one. Details after the jump.

The virus is spreading and Japan is about to be overrun by zombies...in a manner of speaking. The newly-launched Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox 360) took the Japanese gaming scene by storm from March 2nd to the 8th. Figures inside.

 

Once upon a time, there was an Italian plumber and a blue hedgehog who met at the Olympic Games... Okay, so maybe it's not your type of romance story (because they'd probably have ugly babies) but it's certainly a new and exciting spin on two of the most beloved classic characters in gaming. Nintendo and SEGA have teamed up their milestone mascots to give us Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (also for Nintendo DS)!

Once rivals in the gaming industry, the two are now rivals in the arena accompanied by their various companions and sidekicks. From the screens, we see Luigi doing a long jump, Tails coming in first on the race track, and Sonic about to shoot an arrow in the archery event. Other sports that will be included in the game are swimming and table tennis.

The developers felt that the Olympic Games gave the perfect opportunity for Sonic's speed and Mario's strength to face off on different sports on neutral ground. Bringing the fantastic cast closer to the real world, the game's arenas are based on the actual venues of the Olympic Games that will be held in Beijing in 2008.

   

Mario & Sonic are racing to your Wii and Nintendo DS on Christmas this year. It'll make a great present for friends (or yourself.)

Mario, that Italian moustached plumber... Who would've thought he would sound... not so plumber-ish? Not exactly a surprising revelation anymore, but the same guy behind his voice also did other major Nintendo characters like Wario, Luigi, baby Mario, and baby Luigi. You can put all the love and hate on the man responsible, Charles Martinet.

Most of us first heard him in Mario 64 which was released more than a decade ago, yet he's far from being out of the business. Being a guest in several events such as the the Video Games Live Concert in San Francisco, this 57 year old man is still kicking.

We've found a video of him in action on Gametrailers as they feature Game Head, a show American and Canadian gamers can't miss. Of course, there's also a review on Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and a look at the hot babes on the Juiced event.

Anyway, Martinet talks a little bit about his past, his experiences, and why Link can't get a voice after so long. The video is embedded below, so see for yourself:

How would it be like to open you lunch box and discover a Nintendo character inside? And we're not just talking Mario and Luigi here.

As you may have noticed, this post is largely off topic - but we at the QJ offices are still a couple of hours away from dinner so humor us for a bit. We uncovered these delicious delicacies at Girlsgate.com. It's a picture blog of a mother (yukiko, as far as we can tell from the Google translation) and all that beautiful food is for that little boy on the blog. This reminds us of that World of WarcraftHorde cake.

She has created Nintendo masterpieces: Mario, Luigi, a Goomba, a Koopa Troopa, a power-up mushroom, Toad, Princess Peach, Wario, and even K.K. Slider from Animal Crossing. Now we're really hungry.

The rest of the images await after the jump!

What's with all the Shigeru Miyamoto cameos? Miyamoto was serenaded by GameJew Jonathan Mann yesterday, and now he's with Rocco and the gang from Mega64!

In this new skit, the Mega 64 gang run into Shigeru at the GDC, it seems, complete with their Mario and Luigi costumes. Imagine their surprise at seeing THE MAN himself.

Of course, it would have been longer... were it not for that Link guy killing the mood. Honestly, we're still trying to figure out if that last bit was staged or not. We'll leave it up to you to decide though. We'll just keep on laughing for now. Enjoy the video.

Yoshi's Island DS has been around in North America and Europe for some time now (since November last year in fact). In Japan though, the title is yet to hit the shelves on March 8 - which we found a bit intriguing.

Anyway, the babies (Mario, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Peach) are back together with the lovable Yoshi as they take an adventure to save the kidnapped Baby Luigi (for a change). Each baby lends a different ability to Yoshi to effectively beat the notorious flower fiends and other nasty critters.

There hasn't been any news regarding what comes next after Yoshi's Island - plus the confirmation on its being ported to the Wii. Anyway, here's a load full of screenshots plus some character art for those who haven't gotten the game yet and the peeps over in Japan.

More screens await after the jump!