Nintendo has revealed the final design for the Wii U's touchscreen controller, now called the "Wii U Gamepad.'

The big difference between the new design and the preliminary version we saw last year is that the dual sliders have been replaced with two analog thumbsticks that should make things easier for developers working on multiplatform games.

The start and select buttons have also been relocated, making them easier to reach.

If you'd prefer a more run-of-the-mill gamepad, you might want to check out the Traditional Pro Controller, which Nintendo also unveiled today.

[vgn.]

A rumor originating from Paul Gale Network says that Nintendo is planning a Star Fox/Metroid game for the Wii U.

The Retro Studios-produced game would be set in the Metroid universe, and would allow players to control both Fox McCloud and Samus Aran. The Fox sections would mix space battles and platforming, while Samus' sections would be in first-person.

This crossover is still in the rumor stage, and PGN's predictions have been hit and miss -- they called PlayStation All-Stars, but nothing has come of the supposed Rocksteady Ninja Turtles game they reported -- so take this one with a grain of salt.

[vgn.]

Domino dominators ShanesDominoez and Dieck Domino present their "Nintendo Special," a 30,000-piece domino rally that tours some of Nintendo's most important franchises ... and Sonic the Hedgehog, for some reason.

Also, don't miss their Reddit AMA!

[geeksaresexy.]

Artist Chris Lange created a set of 9 classic Punch-Out! character collages using nothing but scraps of old Nintendo Power magazines.

The fight card includes Glass Joe, Don Flamenco, Bald Bull, Piston Honda, Great Tiger, Macho Man, King Hippo, Soda Popinski, and Mac (with Trainer).

[ianbrooks.]

Redditor Echoobrain's custom Nintendo arcade cabinet, complete with Link and Triforce detailing, might be the most elaborate case ever created for a SNES.

Although it only has one joystick, a second controller is hidden in a drawer on the front of the case for two-player action.

The cabinet is compatible with any SNES game, and Echoobrain is considering installing a MAME system to add classic arcade games to the mix, too.

[technabob.]

Today in news we already knew: An international team of scientists has confirmed mathematically -- in a paper titled "Classic Nintendo Games are (NP-)Hard" -- that Super Mario Bros. is hard to beat.

From the paper:

Suppose there is a solution and consider any path that Mario takes through the stage. This path needs to visit every enemy at most once. The only other permanent objects in the game are potential Koopa shells, but these can only slide and fall, so they must either fall down a bottomless pit eventually and leave the game, or they enter a cycle where they bounce back and forth between two walls. In either case, the shell can be ignored, because a perfect player gains nothing by jumping on the shell to stop it. Therefore there exists a solution that is polynomial in the size of the input.

[wapo]

In a move that will likely shock anyone who lived through the 16-bit console wars, Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara has announced he's taking a new job ... at Nintendo.

Yasuhara joined Sega in 1988 and developed Sonic titles for the Genesis and Saturn along with co-creator Yuji Naka. He's now headed for an as-yet-unspecified position at Nintendo of America's Redmond, WA headquarters.

Although he played for the other team in the '90s, Yasuhara isn't exactly new to Nintendo development. His most recent project was Namco Bandai's Pac Man Party for the Wii.

[ign]