Brian Ashcraft is a senior contributing editor at Kotaku and has been writing about video games for The Japan Times since 2007. He is also the author of two books, “Arcade Mania!” and “Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential.” A graduate of Cornell University, Ashcraft has called Osaka home for over a decade.
For Brian Ashcraft's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Ready to paint the town again? Nintendo's colorful third-person shooter returns, ready to splatter players with ink and cuteness. When released in 2015, "Splatoon" was a big departure for Nintendo. First, it was a multiplayer shooter. Second, its vibrant color palette ushered in a new ...
2-D has its advantages When the Nintendo 3DS originally launched in 2011, the key feature was its 3-D-glasses-free stereoscopic 3-D screen. Many players enjoyed the visuals; however, some found them headache-inducing. The latest iteration from Nintendo will be a welcome release for the latter. This isn't ...
Stuff they don't teach at school It's May and it's virtually summer — the perfect time to play "Summer Lesson: The Hikari Miyamoto Collection," in which you tutor and hang out with schoolgirl Hikari Miyamoto. This game was released as a download last October, but ...
Eighth time lucky for 'Mario Kart' The eighth entry in the long-running "Mario Kart" series first came out in 2014. Now a deluxe version is headed for Nintendo Switch, with the appropriate title "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe." Ever since "Super Mario Kart" was released in 1992 ...
The "Senran Kagura" games are ridiculous. But that's the whole point. Previous installments have followed the adventures of buxom female kunoichi (female ninjas), who end up with tattered clothing while battling foes. This latest game, however, trades ninja gear for water guns. "Peach Beach Splash" ...
It's still early in 2017, but Switch, Nintendo's newest gaming console, is bound to be the most desirable hardware of the year. Both a home console and a handheld, it's being touted as an all-in-one must have. Drop it in its dock and players ...
Bring on the virtual terror New "Biohazard" ("Resident Evil" in the West) games are always a very big deal, so it's no surprise that "Resident Evil 7" is causing a fuss. "RE7" is set in Louisiana four years after "Resident Evil 6." The protagonist is Ethan ...
SuperMario makes a dash for smartphones For years, people have asked Nintendo if the Kyoto-based game maker was going to create titles for smartphones. Now, finally, the question has been answered. This isn't actually Nintendo's first phone app, but it is its first proper Mario game ...
The years-in-the-making "Final Fantasy XV" is finally coming out. The game was originally announced back in 2006 as "Final Fantasy Versus XIII," but it has since been reworked and then rebranded as "Final Fantasy XV." The story is set in a kingdom that was protected ...
More power to the PS4 This is for those who think the PlayStation 4 isn't powerful enough. Dubbed the PlayStation 4 Pro, the console has souped-up hardware with more processing power and a revamped GPU. The result is a console that can stream 4K video ...
