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Nintendo insists that there is no such thing as the “Nintendo Cinematic Universe.” The facts suggest otherwise.

April 6, 2026 by usatoday24

Fox McCloud in a Mario movie, Yoshi voiced by Donald Glover and the post-credits scenes pointing directly to other Nintendo games. ‘Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie’ sweeps the box office with 372 million dollars in its first global weekend, but Nintendo still does not confirm that we are facing a “cinematic universe.” However, Marvel’s precedent is more than obvious. The figures. With 372 million dollars in its first weekend worldwide (188 million in the United States), we have a start only slightly below its precedent, which reached 387.8 million in five days. But the bombshell is indisputable: the only animated franchises with more than one installment with opening weekends above $100 million are DreamWorks’ ‘Shrek’, Illumination’s own ‘Despicable Me’ and Disney’s ‘Frozen’. Mario is also the only one that has exceeded 350 million with two deliveries. And there is still Japan. Fat cameo. But let’s analyze some very relevant elements of the film. A week before the premiere, Universal revealed that Fox McCloud, protagonist of the ‘Star Fox’ saga, had a relevant role in the sequel, and it would not be a mere cameo, but a character with his own narrative arcwhose presence in the Mario universe is justified argumentatively with a certain coherence, drawing on the always loving parallel universes. By the way, Glen Powell, who provides his voice, entered the movie after calling the production company to tell them that if a Star Fox movie was ever made, he wanted to be there. Something similar happened with the presence of Donald Glover, voice of Yoshi after asking the production company to participate “in any way” in a Nintendo film. Intersecting IPs. The fact is that Miyamoto had no initial intention of crossing Mario with ‘Star Fox’, since as he told Forbeshad to remind Illumination that Nintendo IPs don’t mix. But he made an exception, saying that “as the creator of ‘Star Fox’ and this movie being set in space, I wanted to see that. I wanted to see what would turn out. But I also sensed that there might be significant resistance internally.” That is, it had to be worked on at Nintendo, but it was achieved. And it is a more important step than it seems, because it opens the door to not having a Mario Universe, but an entire Nintendo Universe. More cameos: Donkey Kong. Another example of a Nintendo character that points to a larger universe than the one we glimpse here. Although he was one of the most celebrated characters in the first film, here only appears in the background in a sequence starring Yoshi in New York, causing destruction in a half-built building, like in the old days. The truth is that in July 2025, Nintendo and Universal registered a project described as “Untitled Donkey Kong Project”. Seth Rogen, who voices the character, stated after the first film that he saw “a lot of opportunity” for a spin-off set in the world of ‘Donkey Kong Country’. Universe, but without going overboard. In recent interviews Miyamoto has openly stated: “I don’t think we’re going to have a situation like ‘Super Smash Bros.’ where all the Nintendo characters come together.” From Illumination they confirm that the creative process has nothing to do with a team of strategists with graphics on the wall planning ten years of narrative crossover, in clear reference to the MCU: “Our process is very different. It arises from conversations about what would be funny in a specific scene.” The mention of Pikmin appearing in a sequence because it’s just cool is a good example of that approach. Marvel’s mirror. But although Nintendo has no intention of following in all of Marvel’s footsteps, the parallels are indisputable, especially with the process that was followed between 2008 and 2012 to propose the MCU. Some examples: A popular secondary character becomes the protagonist in later installments: Black Widow, secondary in ‘Iron Man 2’, or Scarlet Witch, presented in ‘Winter Soldier’, or Nick Fury, built cameo by cameo. A dormant IP is rehabilitated with a cameo in a successful franchise: Doctor Strange, a comic book character for very coffee lovers, appears as a mere wink mentioned in ‘Winter Soldier’; Black Panther, barely known outside of the comics, is supporting in ‘Civil War’ and soon got his own movie; and Spider-Man was known but his franchise was worn out and he was rehabilitated since ‘Civil War’. Quietly Registered Copyright: Marvel and Disney have a documented history of registering trademarks for characters long before announcing projects. They recorded ‘She-Hulk’, ‘Ms. Marvel’ and ‘Moon Knight’ or ‘Eternals’ as brands years before confirming the Disney+ series and movies. The same pattern as the “Untitled Donkey Kong Project”. Post-credits scenes as de facto advertisements: Continuously. The original was Nick Fury and the Avengers Initiative in ‘Iron Man’. ‘Thor’ ends by showing the Tesseract, thus announcing the Thanos saga. ‘Ant-Man’ closes with a scene where Steve Rogers and Bucky appear in a situation that only makes sense if you’re already producing ‘Civil War.’ Thanos at the end of ‘Avengers’ appears for three seconds, does not speak, and his presence retroactively turns the entire film into a prologue. The difference between both companies is that Marvel ends up putting Kevin Feige on stage at Comic-Con to explain the plans for the next ten years. Nintendo lets fans guess and then Miyamoto denies it. Marvel announced its multiverse early on, with dates, and Nintendo hasn’t even suggested that anything like a Nintendoverse exists. However, anyone who comes out of watching ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ wonders what the next episode will be. In Xataka | Japan hates its most devious tourist trap: the Super Mario karts that refuse to die

Tired of being told that philosophy was just opinions, one guy set about collecting all the “philosophical facts” he could find. He got 200

March 8, 2026 by usatoday24

Philosophy has a reputation for discussing everything and the truth is that it is a reputation that has been hard-earned. However, it is not a matter of saying the first thing that comes to mind. It’s not even a matter of opinions, no matter how informed they may be. At least, that is the opinion of philosopher Bryan Frances. In fact, Frances is convinced that, in reality, philosophers only discuss details and minutiae: in substance, they agree on almost everything. But of course, it is not enough to say it: it must be defended. So he began to do something strange for a philosopher: instead of arguing it, he began to compile this enormous core of shared truths. That is, to make a list. But let’s start at the beginning. Frances’s thesis is that, as I say, there is great agreement among philosophers about the truth of many substantive claims. What’s more, he is convinced that, in philosophy, there is progress equivalent to that of any other science. That is, “based on facts.” The thing is that discipline — for better or worse — tends to revolve around the controversial. The curious thing is that he realized that not even the philosophers themselves were aware of this. And what a list… So, neither short nor lazy, he published ‘Philosophy as Fact-Based Discipline: 200 Philosophical Facts, published in Philosophical Studies‘: the list. A list of elementary truths pedagogically comparable to introductory science material. “It’s not the deepest,” but it’s (definitely) something cumulative and useful to understand. But, beyond that, it is also a way of reclaiming the discipline in a climate that repeatedly questions the role of the humanities in the body of knowledge. And what truths are those? Once we have made it clear that it is not about talking about deep truths (Does free will exist? Why being and not nothingness? etc…), the question becomes evident: what are they then? They are simpler things like, for example, what beliefs are (which come in many formats, they can be about almost anything or they can exist even if we are not aware of them), what evidence is (which are not just tests), what biases, emotions or faith are. It’s very interesting review the 200 facts because there are very interesting things about things that one had not asked: does believing in something make it true? Does the evidence have direction? Is suspending the trial a rational thing to do? Thought in action. But beyond the facts themselves, Frances’ idea is intelligent because it points to something singular: there is cognitive progress, an ultimate structure of reality to describe, a philosophical ‘holy grail’ to find. It’s not much, I admit. But the idea that the universe is not the horrible chaos it seems is (in its own way) comforting. Image | Alan Dela Cruz In Xataka | “A place of joy with pain”: the phrase that summarizes the Aztec philosophy to be happier in this life

We lost a robot under Antarctica for eight months. He’s back with disturbing facts about the Denman Glacier

December 11, 2025 by usatoday24

On planet Earth there are still many mysteries that we do not know, especially those that hide in the deep sea where It is very difficult for us humans to reach due to the high pressures that exist. That is why science is committed to send robots to explore this area, although the last one we sent stopped sending signals for months, something that would undoubtedly indicate the worst. But the reality has been very different. The exploration. The mission led for the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership Its objective was to study the ice shelves of Denman and Shackleton of which we really knew little. To do this, they used a float Argo standard that modify their buoyancy to sink, take measurements and rise to the surface again. But in this case there was a big problem: under the ice platform there is no surface, only a ceiling of ice hundreds of meters thick that prevented this robot from rising again, remaining adrift, dragged by the waves. sea currents. We expected the worst. This robot stopped emitting signals about what it was doing in the depths, and was already considered ‘dead’ by the researchers. But now it has resurfaced after eight months of being in this situation. And the good news is that even if it didn’t emit signals, the robot continued working and created 200 profiles, going up and down every five days, collecting data that no human had ever seen. Sailing blindly. The question is obligatory: how do we know where the robot was if it did not have GPS under the ice? To do this, the researchers used an ingenious reverse engineering technique described in the study: every time the robot tried to go up to the surface to transmit, collided with the surface and recorded the pressure at the moment of impact. Something that can be related to the depth at which it was found. When recovering data after its reappearance in open waters, scientists compared those impact points with satellite maps indicating the thickness of the ice in the area. In this way, it was like solving a 3D maze: if the robot crashed 300 meters deep, it had to be at a point where the ice is 300 meters thick. Thus they reconstructed their erratic trajectory of almost 300 kilometers. What we know. Until now we had the idea that East Antarctica was always a ‘stable’ and cold area because, unlike the West, it thaws very slowly. But now we have data that makes us doubt this a lot. In the case of the Shackleton platform we know that it is a cold fortress with a cavity under the ice that is filled with very cold water that protects it from melting from below. If we talk about Denman Glacier We can now relate it to a danger zone, as an intrusion of ‘warm’ water was found flowing towards the base of the glacier. Why it is important. Denman Glacier It’s not just any harmless thing.but it has enough ice to raise global sea level by 1.5 meters. In this way, if the water is warm it will be able to cause this glacier to end up melting and this will undoubtedly be a big problem for the coasts of our planet. Now all that remains is to monitor this area, which can now be categorized as dangerous due to the risks that the planet may finally have if this is something that ends up being confirmed. Images | henrique setim AOML In Xataka | We have been trying to figure out what Antarctica would be like without ice since 1950. We just discovered it

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