General Nintendo

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 45 Comments

Square Enix owns two big franchises: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet even though Final Fantasy managed to make a big splash in the west, Dragon Quest has still been trying to attain the same sort of success.

Dragon Quest executive producer Yu Miyake touched on this topic in last month’s issue of EDGE. He said Final Fantasy’s western popularity in comparison to Dragon Quest is something Square Enix has “been thinking about a lot internally”.

Miyake brought up a few different reasons in the interview. For one thing, “the source of nostalgia is different” in Japan and the west – Dragon Quest on Famicom and Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation respectively. He also believes that Square Enix should have originally given a greater effort with Dragon Quest’s localization. Finally, Miyake said that the cartoon-like aesthetic of Dragon Quest may not immediately connect with western gamers.

Miyake left some encouraging words, saying that “the age of people who are playing is rising” and there’s a greater interest overall as well. Square Enix is also trying to “soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI” with its spinoff titles.

Miyake’s full words:

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More: Dragon Quest, interview, Square Enix, top, Yu Miyake

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments

Masahiro Sakurai last worked on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS as director. That was in 2014. Since it’s been over two years since Smash Bros. shipped on both of Nintendo’s current systems (though there has been plenty of DLC since then), fans are wondering what Sakurai is up to now.

A new interview conducted by denfaminicogamer may give us a hint. Much of the discussion is about Sakurai’s game collection and other random topics, but there is one interesting excerpt that stands out.

Sakurai mentions how he sometimes purchases figures for his work. Somewhat recently, he bought a Vifam figurine. Vifam is from the 1983 mech anime Ginga Hy?ry? Vifam.

You shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that Sakurai is making a game based on that series. Rather, he wanted the attached rifle gun to use as a reference for his work. Now the question is: in which way is he using the figure as a reference?

Thanks to VZ_Blade for the tip.

More: Masahiro Sakurai

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

A number of released and upcoming Nintendo-related books are on sale at Amazon. This includes guides, art books, and official manga.

Here’s the full lineup:

Zelda Legendary Editions starting at $12.18 (was $17.99)
The Art of Fire Emblem Awakening – $25.96 (was $39.99)
Pokemon Sun/Moon: Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault – $79.25 (was $129.99)
The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts – $25.46 (was $39.99)
Pokemon Sun/Moon: The Alola Region Pokedex & Postgame Adventure Guide – $21.34 (was $24.99)
Pokemon Sun/Moon: The Alola Region Collector’s Edition Pokedex & Postgame Adventure Guide – $33.11 (was $39.99)
Art of Splatoon – $34.54 (was $39.99)

More: Amazon, sale

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 27 Comments

The last time Sarah Blandy worked on a Nintendo title was this year. In Fire Emblem Fates, she voiced Kagero, Midori, and Layla. Blandy’s personal website is now listing an unnamed Nintendo game, which she can’t mention by name due to an NDA.

Nintendo is teaming up with Cup of Tea Productions, a company that specializes in voice overs and localization, on the project. The last time the two sides collaborated was on the English version of Fire Emblem Awakening.

Could this have something to do with Fire Emblem as well? Perhaps the upcoming Fire Emblem mobile game? Or maybe it’s something completely different…

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 8 Comments

This week’s episode of Nintendo Minute has gone live. In today’s video, Kit and Krysta share their favorite 2016 Nintendo memories. Check out the full episode below.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

Shovel Knight has been popping up in more and more games as of late. The character even made a cameo appearance in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 earlier this year. In 2017, Shovel Knight will be showing up in Yooka-Laylee as well.

David D’Angelo of Yacht Club Games was asked about Shovel Knight’s cameos in a recent feature on Nintendo Life. He had this to say about the character being featured in other studios’ games.

“Typically with our cameos the developers have reached out to us as they were excited about the possibilities of having Shovel Knight in their worlds. It’s really thrilling for us to see Shovel Knight in new environments, so we’re happy to be a part of the fun. Honestly, we usually don’t have to do much from our end as all the developers we’ve worked with have been top notch and very respectful of the IP. Yooka-Laylee was an especially fun one though as we created the 3D model in-house. It was enjoyable to leave the second dimension for a bit! Gunvolt was incredible – it was amazing to work with Masaya Suzuki to design the Shovel Knight sprite. What a legend!”

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More: David D'Angelo, interview, Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Update: Okami Amaterasu life size bust is also in the works:

First 4 Figures has been on a roll with its teases for new Nintendo figures. Meta Ridley was confirmed last week, followed by Bowser just recently.

If that wasn’t enough, two more products are on the way, and both are Zelda-based. A life-size Majora’s Mask and Midna (in her true form) are on the way at some point. When we have more details, we’ll be sure to bring them to you.

Source 1, Source 2

More: First 4 Figures, The Legend of Zelda

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

Back in 2010, Instavision announced plans for a live-action TV series based on Atlus’ Wii game Trauma Team. Even though it sounded fairly ambitious in what all sides were hoping to achieve, it never got off the ground.

A video has now been uploaded to YouTube which seems to show the pilot. It was an early cut, meaning music and video edits were likely temporary. As for the show itself, the YouTube description states: “Four young medical prodigies are forced underground and become vigilante doctors by forming a renegade clinic to help desperate patients who have nowhere else to turn.”

Here’s the actual pilot:

And the lineup of actors:

Brandon Quinn as Ike Pratt
Eden Riegel as Taylor Rutske
Julie Mond as Vanessa Herrera
Erin Foster as Kate Finley
Jackson Davis as Pierce Miller
Armando Cosio as Mr. Mendoza

So that’s that. An interesting piece of history for Atlus and gaming as a whole – nothing more, as the TV series never went anywhere. 

Thanks to Jack for the tip.

More: Trauma Team

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

Stephen Radosh produced the Mario and Zelda games for the Philips CD-i. But before that, one position he had was at SEGA.

Radosh was involved with working on arcade cabinets. One that never released was actually for a Nintendo character – specifically Donkey Kong. This would have been a title in which players controlled Donkey Kong as a parking attendant.

Radosh told Game Informer:

“Somehow Sega had gotten the rights to Donkey Kong. You were dodging cars that were pulling in and out of the lot, and you had to get X number of cars parked in spaces.”

What happened to that project, might you ask? When it was in development and Radosh was working at SEGA, the company (owned by Paramount at the time) was sold back to Japan.

Source

Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment

After recently revealing plans for a Meta Ridley figure, First 4 Figures has pulled back the curtains on another Nintendo item. At some point in 2017, a new Bowser figure will be released.

Just like with Meta Ridley, we only have a single teaser image to look at, which is attached above. We’ll hopefully have more images and an actual release date at the start of 2017.

Source