Yuji Naka, Takashi Iizuka, Miyamoto on Sonic jumping over to Nintendo platforms
Posted on 8 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 8 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 8 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 8 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 8 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.”
Level-5 CEO helped convince Yuji Horii to have Dragon Quest IX on DS
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 11 Comments
Dragon Quest IX ending up as a DS exclusive was a big deal back in the day. But how’d that come about in any case?
During the Dragon Quest 30th Anniversary Countdown Special this past week, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino spoke about how he convinced series creator Yuji Horii to make IX for DS. Hino was also developing Professor Layton at that time, and Nintendo’s portable was experiencing great momentum. Horii hesitated at first and questioned having a numbered Dragon Quest game on a handheld, but Hino kept pushing him to do it.
Horii became a big fan of the tag mode in Dragon Quest IX, which would end up partially inspiring StreetPass support for the 3DS. He liked how it connected the game world and real world together.
Horii also said that his wish is just to “have Dragon Quest be enjoyed by as many people as possible”.
More: Akihiro Hino, Dragon Quest IX, Level-5, Square Enix, top, Yuji Horii
Elite Beat Agents creator wants to make a new entry in the series
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, General Nintendo, News | 11 Comments
It’s been nearly a decade since we last saw an entry in the Elite Beat Agents / Ouendan franchise. That begs the question: will iNiS ever work on a new game? Elite Beat Agents creator Keiichi Yano does seem up for it.
Speaking with Polygon, Yano mentioned the following:
“I have a great relationship with Nintendo. I think, as with many of these types of games that have this following and at some point they come back, I think there will be a right time when it feels like [the series] should come back. A lot of times, the platform will dictate those kind of things.”
Yano also said that he would “certainly love to make another version of it, and hopefully it’s on the next platform.”
Look at the video below for Yano’s full response.
More: Elite Beat Agents, iNiS, interview, Keiichi Yano, top
Amazon: Final Fantasy III for $11 and other discounts for Square Enix DS games
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 1 Comment
During the DS era, Square Enix brought out a bunch of games for the portable – and many of them were quite good. There were the Final Fantasy III and IV remakes, The World Ends With You, Chrono Trigger, and more.
Amazon now has these titles are pretty decent prices. Final Fantasy III, for instance, can be had for just over $11. You can find that and other Square Enix DS games for cheap here.
Nintendo’s 2015 fiscal year earnings breakdown
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 4 Comments
Nintendo’s earnings for the fiscal year ended March 31 are in. Below are the full details:
– Fell 60.6 percent to 16.5 million yen, or $148 million, on revenue of $4.53 billion (down 8 percent)
– Nintendo’s stock price has fallen slightly in trading, down 0.9 percent to $18.72 a share
– Nintendo saw diminished assets, cash flow, and profits during the year
French sales for Nintendo hardware and amiibo
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 5 Comments
During an interview with Le Parisien, Nintendo of France’s Philipe Lavoue provided some new sales figures. We have data for four of the company’s recent systems as well as amiibo.
As of now, DS has sold 10.5 million units in France, followed by Wii at 6.4 million, 3DS at 4 million, and Wii U and 740,000. Nintendo has also moved 1.4 million amiibo in the country.
It’s also worth noting that, last year, Nintendo sold 4 million games in France. Six of these were in the top 20, such as Splatoon.
