New AlphaDream 3DS patent for puzzle-platformer idea
A new patent from AlphaDream, the developer behind the Mario & Luigi games, has come to light. Nintendo’s Akira Otani and Toshiharu Izuno and AlphaDream’s Akiko Sugimoto are listed as the inventors.
The company filed for the patent in Japan on December 21, 2010 and October 27, 2011 in the US. However, it was just published a couple of weeks ago.
We’ve included a summary of the patent below. You can also view some images that help to illustrate what it’s about.
– Humanoid character on the touch screen
– Platformer level on the top screen
– Lower screen shows character aspects, which are related to features of the level on the top screen
– Ex: Tree may have branches with an arm-like quality; move the arm by dragging it with a stylus on the bottom screen controls a tree branch
– This allows the player to progress
– Similar aspects detailed in the patent where a face appears in a cloud
– Face corresponds to the ace of the character on the touch screen
– Includes: circling the nose of the character causes the cloud on the top screen to change and fill in a gap
– Can make this happen by having the cloud move from another location, fade into view, become more solid, or move forward in 3D space with the 3DS’s stereoscopic feature
– Allows the player to progress as well
