General Nintendo

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

This information comes from EDGE…

“It wasn’t something we were really doing – we were trying to build our own IP, and film tie-ins meant a lot of ownership by the film company. But Nintendo was very keen.” – Rare’s Mark Betteridge

“Then, as it was, GoldenEye sold several times more. Internally, while GoldenEye was being produced, there wasn’t an awful lot of faith in the game around the company apart from the core members of that team. I saw the game at various stages during its development, and I think, about four months before release, I saw a build of it and I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, it’s a bit of a mess.’ But then it all came together very close to the end.” – Gregg Mayles

According to Betteridge, when Nintendo asked Rare if they wanted to make GoldenEye 007, the team’s response was “well, not really.” He added that, at one point, Nintendo suggested that Rare cancel the game following long delays, but they “just never told the team.” Mayles said to EDGE that the development team believed GoldenEye was “going to be a disaster” after a lackluster showing at E3, saying “thank God we’ve got Banjo.”

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Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments

This information comes from Square Enix Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu in issue 258 of Nintendo Power…

“The Final Fantasy series has expanded to include a variety of spin-offs and even non-RPGs, so it’s difficult to pick out one element that applies to everything across the board. One thing I can say is that Final Fantasy is a special series to us, so anyone who participates in its development feels a tremendous amount of pressure. I hope we never lose the sense of always trying to create something new, and taking on the toughest challenges.

There is a wide variety of titles right now, so it might be a good time for us to really focus on the numbered titles, and ask ourselves once more what makes Final Fantasy what it is.”

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 8 Comments

The Final Fantasy franchise has never been known for maintaining continuity. Each game features new worlds, storylines, and unique gameplay systems. So, what was behind the decision to feature new elements in each addition to the series? Square Enix Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu explained in issue 258 of Nintendo Power:

“It wasn’t so much a personal decision as it was driven by the fact that the entire team had the mentality of wanting to challenge something new. Mr. [Hironobu] Sakaguchi who was leading development on Final Fantasy II, he said himself, ‘there’s no point in doing the same thing.” That was intended to mean we should keep trying to create new things, but the other side to it was that he was not completely satisfied with the first Final Fantasy.

Also, because we had developed the first Final Fantasy, our skills had advanced significantly. So we felt that we could greatly improve the graphics, story, and game systems for our next project, and would be able to surprise and entertain players even more.

When Final Fantasy II was released, some people offered opinions like, ‘as long as you change scenario for RPGs, you don’t have to change the rest of the system.’ But I don’t think that the Final Fantasy series would be where it is today if we had followed that advice.”

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 4 Comments

HAVING A BLAST! THE ORIGINAL FEMALE STAR OF GAMING

-The history of Samus Aran and the Metroid franchise-

Years before the introduction of 3D gaming, the original action heroine was already ripping up the rule book and blasting her way into history. The Metroid series has given us over twenty years of girl power and the series has sold over 15 million games, thanks to its female bounty hunter star, Samus Aran.

In the mid-1980s, a young game designer called Shigeru Miyamoto was busy revolutionising the industry with Mario and a young adventurer named Link. But while he created these masterpieces, Yoshio Sakamoto and the legendary R&D1 team at Nintendo were working on one of the most ambitious projects ever seen.

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Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 20 Comments

Curious about why Japanese RPGs are having a more difficult time finding an audience in the West recently, Nintendo Power asked Square Enix Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu why he thinks that this is happening and what developers can do to change the situation. Kawzu, however, doesn’t believe that RPGs is the only genre receiving less attention. Rather, he feels that Japanese games as a whole aren’t as popular overseas. Kawzu mainly pointed to the fact that “the technology isn’t on par with Western games” and that “developers are losing their passion to stick with their vision.”

“Aside from a few well-known titles, games from Japan are receiving less and less attention, regardless of if it’s an RPG or not. I feel that it has something to do with the marketing abilities of Japanese publishers, as well as the games themselves.

The technology is not on par with Western games, and it also seems like developers are losing their passion to stick with their vision because they are being overwhelmed by costs or market trends. It’s necessary for each individual developer to constantly be up-to-date with the latest computer and game technologies. It is also important for development teams and groups as a whole to support technological advancement. It is impossible for one person to keep up with all the skills necessary for game development on his own. On top of this, developers need to take on a project with the confidence and strength to stick with their vision. Everything I mentioned here applies to me personally, as well, and they are all things I would like to bring to fruition with my next project.”

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments

Akitoshi Kawazu, the producer of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, is working on an unannounced RPG. The news comes from issue 258 of Nintendo Power, though the magazine didn’t have any additional information to share. There is only small note that states his next game “remains a secret for now, but you can bet it won’t play things safe.”

Even though we’re hearing about this through a Nintendo publication, it doesn’t necessarily mean the project will end up on a Nintendo platform. Still, one would think that it’s likely that Kawazu will work on the Wii again, or possibly the 3DS in the future.

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

Square Enix has opened a portal site for the SaGa series, but there is one item in particular that is notably important. On the portal, there is a link to a teaser site, which houses an array of colors that quickly pass across the page. At this point, we don’t know much about the teacher. In fact, we don’t even know if it’s for a game. I’m assuming we’ll find out what the site is about soon, possibly around TGS.

Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!

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Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

The two items added to Club Nintendo Japan are New Super Mario Bros. Wii straps and an Animal Crossing bag. The strap set costs 300 points while the bag is priced at 250 points.

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Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 12 Comments

1. Super Metroid
2. Metroid Prime
3. Zero Mission
4. Metroid Prime 3
5. Metroid Fusion
6. Metroid
7. Metroid Prime 2
8. Metroid 2
9. Metroid Prime Hunters

Now that you’ve seen Nintendo Power’s list, how would you guys rank the Metroid games? Or just tell us your favorite title in the series!

Thanks to Mike for the tip!

Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii | 2 Comments

– Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yoshio Sakamoto have a connection
– Connection they have is in regards to a 1987 adventure game
– Called Miho Nakayama’s Tokimeki High School
– Game was developed by Square
– Was published by Nintendo
– Sakamoto said the game is a text adventure game, make use of a phone
– Given a phone number midway through the game which you can call to hear hints about how to progress with messages from Miho Nakayama
– The telephone was swapped out in later versions with in-game messages that delivered the same info
– Square had approached Nintendo about making an adventure game that used a phone
– No talk back then about the game featuring Nakayama
– Sakamoto was in the meeting with Square
– Sakamoto was growing tired of the same old adventure games
– He pushed his superiors to go with the idea
– Sakamoto suggested that an idol be used instead of an original character
– Sakamoto believed the added flash would draw attention to the game
– Sakaguchi was on the development team, but not originally
– He joined closer towards the end of the game’s development
– The dev team went down to Kyoto for two weeks
– Sakaguchi and Sakamoto met for the first time during this period
– At first, Sakaguchi couldn’t believe Sakamoto worked for Nintendo
– Sakamoto’s hair was the same in the past as it is now
– Sakaguchi/Sakamoto/Iwata reminisce a lot about the past in this Iwata Asks, but discussed The Last Story as well

– Gameplay systems were a priority in The Last Story’s development according to Sakaguchi
– Sakaguchi suggested thinking about the game as “a game that has a story in it”
– Game has a solid story with a strong cinematic component, but gameplay is the strongest point
– Only the third time Sakaguchi has put emphasis on gameplay first
– Last time was Final Fantasy VII, thinking about how to use 3D in that game
– Other game was the original Final Fantasy: Trial and error phase for Sakaguchi, tried to see how the PC role-playing games at the time could be brought to the NES
– “In these 23 years, there have been only three instances where I considered gameplay systems first”
– Mario Club was used to test out gameplay systems for The Last Story
– Sakaguchi was visiting Mario Club for four days when this Iwata Asks was done
– Sakaguchi wanted to use Mario Club to see how beginners would react to the game
– Can see where players are having fun when watching them
– Test players wrote their opinion as well
– Sakaguchi a bit wary of written feedback because players will sometimes write only about what’s good or their feedback listing what they enjoyed will be different from how they actually reacted while playing
– Characters will converse as you run in the fields
– Sakaguchi thinks that it’ll allow players to get a better feel for their relationship with ally characters
– This was one area Sakauguchi wanted to convey with the game’s story

Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!

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