Speaking with IGN, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma talked about why we haven’t seen another Zelda game like Majora’s Mask, and why Nintendo hasn’t tried the one-year development cycle again.

Aonuma stated:

“It’s interesting, because there’s definitely this way that we talk about that sort of thing in development circles here in Japan. It’s often presented as a challenge to the developers themselves to accomplish something like that, because it can be very difficult to do. Since I’ve been in the role of producer, though, it’s not something that’s been presented to me as a challenge to take on very often. Sometimes I think about issuing it as a challenge to developers that I’m working with.
“When I think about the kinds of games that you’re describing, where you took the engine and you took some of the original assets and made a new game from that, you know, the kind of creation flow that we had for Majora’s Mask wasn’t limited just to those ideas. We also had to think about how we wanted to change the world, to take something kind of familiar and then warp it. I definitely like that sort of a challenge. I think it’s really fun to think about how you would take that sort of a game in a different direction. For me, in order to properly consider doing that again in the future, I think you really need a compelling topic or a theme with which to start.”

Aonuma ended his comments by stating that hitting the three day cycle of gameplay allowed the team to come up with different game experiences, starting from a concentrated bit of source material. This led to the creation of Majora’s Mask.

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Damon Baker on Nintendo Direct content, third-party Wii U support, more

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 20 Comments

Nintendo Life has now published its full interview with Damon Baker, Nintendo of America’s senior manager in marketing and licensing. You can find the full thing here, though we’ve grabbed some excerpts below. Topics include how the content for Nintendo Direct broadcasts is chosen, third-party Wii U support, and more.

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Aonuma on how Nintendo makes Zelda dungeons, Majora’s Mask’s melancholy tone, Anju and Kafei quest

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments

Kotaku has gone live with a new interview featuring commentary from Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma touched on how Zelda dungeons are made, and shared more on The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

Find a breakdown of the interview below. Also be sure to check out Kotaku’s full feature here.

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Original Zelda: Majora’s Mask dev team was made up of 40 people

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

The original team behind The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was rather small. Series producer Eiji Aonuma, speaking with Kotaku, revealed that just 40 people worked on the game. He didn’t say how that number compares to Ocarina of Time, but Aonuma did mention that it’s much smaller than the teams Nintendo has on Zelda games these days.

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Iwata’s full comments on NES/SNES amiibo trials, amiibo cards, 3DS compatibility

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 9 Comments

In contrast to the current figure-shaped amiibo available, we will make amiibo in the form of cards this year as one of our future plans as Mr. Miyamoto mentioned at the Corporate Management Policy Briefing in October.
We are also planning a free-download app for Wii U in which you can enjoy NES and Super NES games with your amiibo in the first half of this year.
With this app, once you tap your amiibo on the NFC area of the GamePad, you will be able to play highlighted scenes of one certain title for NES or Super NES. You cannot play the entire game due to a time limit, but another tap of the amiibo will enable you to try another highlighted scene in the game. We hope that when you tap your amiibo, the quickly changing game scenes will pleasantly surprise you and make you feel as though you have just exchanged a game cartridge.
Even though only Wii U has been compatible with amiibo so far, we are making steady progress on compatibility with the Nintendo 3DS platform. New Nintendo 3DS is equipped with NFC as a standard feature. For existing Nintendo 3DS systems, we will release an external NFC reader/writer in summer this year. On the software side, “Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS” started to support amiibo after a software update in February.

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Iwata on amiibo success and sales

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 3 Comments

We also launched amiibo, our new category of products, at the same time as “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.”
We had already shipped 5.7 million units worldwide by the end of last year.
amiibo is performing especially well in the U.S., Canada and Australia. Some figures are sold out and are being sold at online auctions at premium prices – something which none of us had predicted.
I can say that amiibo has kicked off smoothly, as it is a brand-new product category, launched with a much lower recognition rate than other action figure related proposals from other companies.
First of all, amiibo is a series of “game-connectable figures” supported by multiple titles.
“Super Smash Bros.” was the first title to support amiibo, followed by “Mario Kart 8,” “Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker,” and “Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.” We are planning further compatibility in various software titles.
amiibo is offered at a more affordable price range than packaged game titles, so consumers may feel the hurdle has been lowered to buy them one by one without seasonal gaps. In fact, considering the recent sales, amiibo has shown a smaller decline after the year-end sales season in various markets in the world than packaged titles. Also, I think amiibo can contribute to maintaining active use rates of Nintendo platforms by periodically bringing fresh topics to the applicable software through releases of new amiibo figures.
The first amiibo series after “Super Smash Bros.” will be “Super Mario,” which is compatible with “Mario Party 10.”
We are going to add various changes to the appearances of amiibo store shelves including the “Super Smash Bros.” series. As store shelf space is limited, some amiibo may become standard models while others may be replaced once they sell out.
If this is possible, amiibo will maintain a constant presence in stores, which will be beneficial for all Nintendo platforms.
This is a pie chart indicating the regional shipment breakdown of amiibo from its launch until the sixth week of this calendar year.
As you can see at a glance, the sector in red representing the U.S. and Canada accounts for a significant portion: 63 percent. The sell-through proportion of the total shipment is approximately 70 percent in each of Japan, U.S. and Canada, and Europe while it reaches 90 percent in Australia.
This is the regional top sales ranking chart of each amiibo figure. This does not perfectly represent the popularity or demand for each character because some amiibo were out-of-stock in some regions, but you can certainly see some regional differences in the sales trends.
This chart shows the amiibo figures with a high retail sell-through rate in each region. Some of the amiibo listed here are already sold out and are now difficult to obtain.
It is difficult for us to promise to continuously ship all of the amiibo figures. We will, however, consider additional production in cases such as when an amiibo figure sells out shortly after launch, an amiibo is indispensable to play a certain game, and when we receive a lot of requests for an amiibo figure from consumers and retailers.

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Iwata outlines what will be discussed at Nintendo’s next financial results briefing

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

Today, since this is not a Corporate Management Policy Briefing but a Financial Results Briefing after the year-end sales season, which is the biggest sales season of the year, please allow me to focus on the results of the sales season and update you on our most recent business status. While we will further our endeavors to increase our Nintendo 3DS and Wii U businesses in the next fiscal year, we intend to simultaneously challenge ourselves with new endeavors which include our plan to take advantage of smart devices, more aggressive use of Nintendo’s character IP and our new QOL improvement platform business. I am limited in what I can discuss about these efforts now, and I do not think I can successfully convey a big and comprehensive picture of our projects just by sharing with you some fragmented information on these multiple challenges. At the time when we hold the next Financial Results Briefing to discuss the annual results of the current fiscal year, I am hopeful that I will be able to share with you any relevant information, as well as about our financial forecasts, in as much detail as I can. Accordingly, please note that this information is not included in my presentation today.

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Full breakdown of amiibo sales rankings in North America and other regions

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments

We now have a full breakdown of the best-selling amiibo for each major region. Specific numbers haven’t been provided, though we do have rankings. Check out the full lineups in the graphic above.

The above graphic is for sales rankings. For sell-through rankings (percentage of stock sold), check out the lineups below.

North America

1. Marth
2. Villager
3. Wii Fit Trainer
4. Pit
5. Captain Falcon
6. Link
7. Fox
8. Rosetta & Luma
9. Samus
10. Yoshi

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Iwata: amiibo that have become scarce/required for play will be restocked if there’s demand from customers and retailers

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 16 Comments

Following up on the amiibo stock situation, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has weighed in on figures that may be replenished in the future.

Iwata noted during Nintendo’s financial results briefing today that it’s difficult to continue shipping all types of amiibo due to limits on production lots, delivery dates, and retail space. However, he did say figures that have quickly become scarce and are needed to play in games will be considered for more production – assuming demand exists from consumers and retailers.

Marth is one amiibo that will be restocked later this year, though it’s unclear when additional product will be made available.

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Iwata says Nintendo didn’t expect the amiibo scalper situation to happen

Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 15 Comments

Ever since the first wave of amiibo released, some consumers have been forced to deal figures that have received little stock, creating the scalper situation. amiibo like Marth and Villager have generated large prices on auction sites such as eBay.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata commented on this ever-so-briefly today, noting that some amiibo have been selling out in North America, Europe, and Australia. The company did not expect figures to end up going for high prices on auction sites (thus resulting in scalpers).

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