General Nintendo

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 49 Comments

GameSpot has posted another feature with Monolith Soft head Tetsuya Takahashi. In today’s interview, Takahashi commented on things like making games that will appeal to both Japan and the west, the “mass” hiring the studio had in October (which carries a rather interesting response), the possibility of additional Xeno games, and more.

Continue on below to read up on Takashi’s comments. You should also give GameSpot’s original piece a look here.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos, Wii U | 1 Comment

The latest episode of Nintendo’s Japanese show Nyannyan Neko Mario Time has now gone live. We’ve included it below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Switch, Wii U | 21 Comments

The only Yo-kai Watch title we’ve seen from Level-5 on a Nintendo console is the upcoming Yo-kai Watch Dance: Just Dance Special Version. But could the studio expand its efforts to bring a proper title to Wii U, or even NX? Company CEO Akihiro Hino is certainly open to the possibility.

Hino said he “would definitely want to proactively consider it,” if Level-5 has a title that would make sense as a Wii U game. Taking things further, Hino expressed interest in potentially making games for NX if it can “bring Level-5 games to as many kids as possible.” Speaking broadly about Level-5, he added that if the company finds this to be the case, “it wouldn’t be impossible” to see its games on the system.

Hino also addressed Pokemon again, which has seen some comparisons to Level-5’s Yo-kai Watch series. He believes the two can coexist peacefully. Hino mentioned: “If kids are willing to buy both of them, I couldn’t be happier.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 12 Comments

Back in the day, Nintendo and Sony once attempted to work with each other. The SNES PlayStation prototype is evidence of that. Had the two sides collaborated, Sony would have come out with its own SNES-CD peripheral for the console.

NES designer Masayuki Uemura, in an interview with Gamasutra, spoke about Nintendo and Sony’s failed partnership during a NES celebration at The Strong Museum of Play’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games. Whereas companies like Sony began to focus on graphics and the technological side of gaming at the time, Nintendo still pushed for innovation with design.

Uemura said:

“You might know that we tried to collaborate with Sony once. We knew what Sony was thinking and what kinds of things they were trying to develop. During this time when Sony and other companies started launching products, people started realizing how difficult it is to create a game with great mechanics. Since the time of Game & Watch, Nintendo was doing their best to create game design mechanics that fully utilize the limited technological specifications. What happened was when they started launching those products with high quality graphic design they started emphasizing the graphics processing power – in other words, it wasn’t just the game mechanics they had to focus on but they also had to focus on graphic expression and sound design, not just game design. That’s how the market got saturated with all these kinds of products.

“By contrast, Nintendo was always trying to push the limitations of new types of play. That was a difference between Nintendo product lines and the others. With the maturity of the game industry…it was time to start thinking about redefining the importance of mechanics and design. So for a couple decades the game publishers and hardware manufacturers were focusing on graphics processing power and sound effects and so forth and not focusing much on innovating in game design and mechanics.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments

A giant Pikachu balloon will be on display during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade once again. This will be the 16th time that it’s being included in the event. Additionally, for the second year in a row, Pikachu will be wearing garb fit for the holidays.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air on Thursday starting at 9 AM. Fans close to Manhattan can watch the event in person.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Videos | 1 Comment

Nintendo has come up with a new North American amiibo video in time for the holidays. It’s officially labeled as a trailer, but its 30-second length and narration indicates that it’s really more of a commercial. Either way, view the video below.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 63 Comments

Zelda Informer, a fan site dedicated to all things Zelda, recently conducted a massive survey about the series. 9,461 people participated, 6,603 of which filled it out to completion.

One of the more interesting results stems from a question asking people about their favorite Zelda game. Here are the results from that one:

The Legend of Zelda – 4%
The Adventure of Link – 2%
A Link to the Past – 13%
Link’s Awakening – 4%
Ocarina of Time – 36%
Majora’s Mask – 29%
Oracle of Seasons – 3%
Oracle of Ages – 3%
The Wind Waker – 19%
The Minish Cap – 6%
Twilight Princess – 37%
Phantom Hourglass – 3%
Spirit Tracks – 3%
Skyward Sword – 18%
A Link Between Worlds – 8%
Tri Force Heroes (E3 Demo) – 1%
Four Swords – 2%
Four Swords Adventures – 2%
Zelda Game and Watch (Any Version) – 0%
BS The Legend of Zelda – 0%
Ancient Stone Tablets – 0%
Link’s Crossbow Training – 1%
Navi’s Trackers – 0%
The Faces of Evil – 0%
Wand of Gamelon – 0%
Zelda’s Adventure – 0%
Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland – 0%
Tingle’s Balloon Trip of Love – 0%
Tingle’s Balloon Fight – 0%
Hyrule Warriors – 7%
Ocarina of Time 3D – 14%
The Wind Waker HD – 14%
Majora’s Mask 3D – 15%
Link’s Awakening DX – 4%
Never Beat a Zelda Game – 0%
No Favorite – 3%

Twilight Princess was the most selected response here, although Ocarina of Time is right behind. A Link Between Worlds was also the top handheld title excluding remakes.

You can find much more from the survey right here.

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 64 Comments

Speaking with Game Watch Impress, Shigesato Itoi commented on why Mother 4 is unlikely to happen. He told the site:

“Among big-time popstars, if they, you know, put out ten albums, around the fourth album, they can’t make very good songs. The albums sell, but everyone at the concerts wants to hear songs from those first three albums. Everyone. I’m glad that video games are not my profession. If it was my job, I would’ve already made 4 and 5.”

“When I made 3, I thought I could do it, so I did it,” Itoi added. He went on to say that 4 is “totally impossible.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 23 Comments

A few days ago, Gamedots published an interview with Dianne Segovia, manager of marketing of Nintendo for Latin America. Reader NutOfDeath was kind enough to send over a couple of translations.

First, Gamedots mentioned that Super Mario Maker and Splatoon received big marketing campaigns. Xenoblade Chronicles X, on the other hand, seems like it hasn’t seen the same sort of attention. Segovia said in response:

“Splatoon was a new IP and we had to start from scratch in terms of introducing it to the public. Mario Maker was a title that served as a celebration of 30 years of Super Mario Bros, and that’s why we had to make a big deal; it was truly a grand celebration, not just any video game launch.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is an RPG, a game for RPG and Xenoblade fans. We didn’t do anything too big because the audience for the game already know it exists and is already attentive of its release.”

Next, specifically talking about Latin American Nintendo, Gamedots asks who the audience is for its commercials. That prompted the following comments:

“It depends on the game. Right now, to promote the Wii U, we’re launching commercials directed towards parents who have young children who don’t know much about the console. They are the target audience right now, and thay’s why sometimes the commercials can seem a bit childish.

Games like Super Mario Maker had two commercials, one for kids and one for adults. This was done so that the adults could be appealed by the nostalgia, and the kids would be attracted to the use of GamePad and other novel elements.

In Splatoon’s case, we used a song for the commerical. The commercial’s design made it look like the game was only for kids.

For situations like these, to attract adults, we bring the game to public spaces so the general public can get to know the game and play it.”

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Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Update 2: Should be back up and working!

Update: We’re hearing that Lottie is being removed from people’s carts, so there might be an issue with Target’s website. In any case, you can always head to your local store for the amiibo!

The Lottie amiibo can now be purchased from Target’s website. To get an order in, visit the product page here. Use the code “LIST” to discount Lottie to $11.69.

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