Get a good look at the original DS prototype
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, Images | 9 Comments
When the DS was initially introduced during E3 2004, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime walked out on stage with hardware that looked different from the final design. The big differences between the initial model and the one at launch are the shoulder buttons.
Now we have a better look at the DS prototype thanks to Evan Amos, who unearthed a few photos from Nintendo’s FCC filing. We’ve rounded them up below. Since this was only a filing, it doesn’t look quite as “nice” as the model shown at E3 all those years ago.
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Animal Crossing devs on the series’ modest beginnings, approach to making games, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, GameCube, News, Wii, Wii U | 12 Comments
Today, the Nintendo UK site issued a new interview with two of Animal Crossing’s primary developers. General producer Katsuya Eguchi and Animal Crossing series producer Hisashi Nogami fielded a number of questions.
The two devs weighed in on the Animal Crossing series as a whole, but more general topics as well. They were asked if they anticipated Animal Crossing becoming so popular, approach to making games, what they aim for when creating titles, and more.
We’ve picked out Eguchi and Nogami’s notable responses below.
UK software sales for October 2016
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
The latest issue of MCV has a listing of the best-selling games in the UK for the month of October. The results are posted below, based on data collected between October 2 and October 29.
As far as physical software sales by platform goes, here are the results:
01 (01) PlayStation 4 – 1,114,993 (46.8%)
02 (02) Xbox One – 957,750 (40.2%)
03 (03) Xbox 360 – 92,916 (3.9%)
04 (04) Nintendo 3DS – 73,856 (3.1%)
05 (05) PlayStation 3 – 52,414 (2.2%)
06 (06) Nintendo Wii U – 40,502 (1.7%)
07 (07) PC Software – 38,119 (1.6%)
08 (08) PlayStation Vita – 7,147 (0.3%)
09 (09) Nintendo Wii – 4,765 (0.2%)
10 (10) Nintendo DS – 2,382 (0.1%)
More: Chart-Track, charts, sales, UK
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker series apparently coming to an end with Joker 3 Professional
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
Square Enix is seemingly ending the Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker series. With Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3, which launches in Japan next February, no additional games will be created. The latest issue of V Jump mentions that this latest title will be the final adventure and “grand finale.”
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional will be a compilation of sorts. Over 700 monsters will be included in the game. The original Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 came out in March.
The Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker series started out on DS a decade ago. In North America and Europe, the first two titles were localized, though the third one isn’t available in English currently.
Video: A look at a pair of two unseen Harry Potter DS prototypes
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, Videos | 3 Comments
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories developer Climax Studios once created a couple of DS prototypes based on the Harry Potter franchise. Neither one saw a lengthy period of development.
Climax’s first pitch was for a Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire game. The demo was simple, with players being able to control Harry, Ron, or Hermione while drawing spells on the touch screen. Development ended after just a few weeks.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Dumbledore’s Army also didn’t last long, as work on the project was scrapped after just four days. It sounded like Climax had some ambitious plans here, as the team would have liked to include a fully-explorable Hogwarts, online versus modes, a co-op action mode, and the ability to take care of familiars similar to that of Pokemon.
Here’s a look at both prototypes shown by PtoPOnline:
More: Climax Studios, Harry Potter
Yuji Naka, Takashi Iizuka, Miyamoto on Sonic jumping over to Nintendo platforms
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 6 Comments
These days, it’s easy to associate Sonic with Nintendo. The character has appeared in Olympics games with Mario, and SEGA even partnered with the big N on some exclusive games. During the early ’90s, however, things were much different as Mario and Sonic were pretty big rivals.
Game Informer put up a new piece today about how Sonic eventually landed on Nintendo platforms following SEGA’s exit from the gaming hardware business. It contains some interesting quotes from the likes of creator Yuji Naka, Sonic developer Takashi Iizuka, and even Shigeru Miyamoto.
Read up on some noteworthy comments below. You can find Game Informer’s article here for more.
More: interview, Mario, Mario & Sonic, Shigeru Miyamoto, Sonic, Takashi Iizuka, top, Yuji Naka
EA was once planning a Pokemon competitor for DS
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 18 Comments
EA once had plans to create a Pokemon competitor for DS, according to Nic Watt. Watt is currently at Nnooo, but previously worked at EA as a creative director.
In a recent episode of the GameHugs podcast, Watt stated:
“Working with EA was a completely different experience [to working with a small studio] as we had the longest prototyping period I’ve had for any game I’ve worked on: it was amazing. EA wanted this game where the idea and it was going to be their Pokémon game. They didn’t have an RPG in the handheld space and they really wanted one. We did a lot of paper-based prototyping for the battle mechanics and even made a whole card game. Then we got the people from Criterion – who worked on Burnout and with the studio – in [to test it]. That’s the good thing when you have a company of 300 people, you can just ask ‘do you guys want to come in and play our game for the afternoon.’ The team did find it hard because the prototyping was so long, and a lot of things got reset from time to time. But by the time I left, it still had not hit full production and I know that was really tough for a lot of people.”
Even though EA put quite a number of development resources into the mystery project, it never saw the day of light. It’d be interesting to see what it looks like!
UK charts and sales for June 2016, data for the first half of 2016
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
The latest issue of MCV has a listing of the best-selling games in the UK for the month of June. The results are posted below, based on data collected between May 29 and July 2.
More: Chart-Track, charts, sales, UK
Famitsu readers vote on the most memorable games on each console
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, GameCube, GBA, News, Wii, Wii U | 107 Comments
In celebration of Famitsu’s 30th anniversary, the magazine held a poll in which readers could vote on the titles they feel are the most memorable on each gaming system. 2,921 ballots were cast on platforms starting with the Famicom all the way through the latest generation.
We’ve posted the results for the top 10 games on Nintendo systems below. Results for other platforms can be found here.
Famicom
10. Kirby’s Adventure – 60 votes
9. Final Fantasy III – 69 votes
8. Earthbound – 72 votes
7. Mario Bros. – 108 votes
6. The Legend of Zelda – 120 votes
5. Dragon Quest II – 186 votes
4. Dragon Quest IV – 228 votes
3. Super Mario Bros. 3 – 279 votes
2. Dragon Quest III – 528 votes
1. Super Mario Bros. – 552 votes
More: Famitsu
Zero Escape creator didn’t think his initial pitch for 999 would be approved
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 3 Comments
The Zero Escape series has spawned two entries, with a third launching in about a month for now. Series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi reflected on the franchise’s roots as part of an interview with Nintendo Force.
Uchikoshi was asked if he thought Spike Chunsoft would approve his initial pitch for 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors). He did not, but “was able to get the project in fruition thanks to many supporters.”
