Sakurai on his work schedule when making Super Smash Bros. Melee, thinks the game is the sharpest in the series
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News | 8 Comments
We posted this information yesterday along with Sakurai’s other response’s about Super Smash Bros. Melee yesterday, but I thought these two excerpts were important…
“On a personal level, Melee had an extremely grueling development cycle. Some of my other games did, too, but Melee sticks out far ahead of the pack in my mind. I worked on that game for 13 months straight, after all, without a single Sunday or holiday off that whole time. During parts of it, I was living a really destructive lifestyle — I’d work for over 40 hours in a row, then go back home to sleep for four.”
“Melee is the sharpest game in the series. It’s pretty speedy all around and asks a lot of your coordination skills. Fans of the first Smash Bros. got into it quickly, and it just felt really good to play.”
Can you imagine that work schedule? Personally, I don’t think I would have been able to put up with it! Also, I’m wondering how you guys feel about Melee – Do you agree? Do you believe Melee is the sharpest game in the series as well?
Sakurai shares his thoughts on Super Smash Bros. Melee
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News | 5 Comments
Sakurai on the development cycle…
“On a personal level, Melee had an extremely grueling development cycle. Some of my other games did, too, but Melee sticks out far ahead of the pack in my mind. I worked on that game for 13 months straight, after all, without a single Sunday or holiday off that whole time. During parts of it, I was living a really destructive lifestyle — I’d work for over 40 hours in a row, then go back home to sleep for four.”
Sakurai on what drove him through his work…
“I seriously felt like a man on a mission. With the original [Nintendo 64] Smash Bros., there was no guarantee the game would be well-received at all — I had my hands full just trying to make it into the completely new sort of fighting game I had in mind. With Melee, though, the previous game did well enough that Nintendo and the character designers knew what I wanted in advance. And I wanted a lot. It was the biggest project I had ever led up to that point — the first game of mine on disc-based media, the first that used an orchestra for music, the first with ‘real’ polygon graphics. My staff was raring to go, and we plunged in full-tilt from the start. I pushed myself beyond any limit I could think of because I doubted I’d ever have this sheer amount of work in my hands ever again.”
Sakurai’s feelings of Melee today…
“Melee is the sharpest game in the series. It’s pretty speedy all around and asks a lot of your coordination skills. Fans of the first Smash Bros. got into it quickly, and it just felt really good to play.”
Sakurai regretting that Melee wasn’t more accessible…
“I had created Smash Bros. to be my response to how hardcore-exclusive the fighting game genre had become over the years. But why did I target it so squarely toward people well-versed in videogames, then? That’s why I tried to aim for more of a happy medium with Brawl’s play balance. There are three Smash Bros. games out now, but even if I ever had a chance at another one, I doubt we’ll ever see one that’s as geared toward hardcore gamers as Melee was. Melee fans who played deep into the game without any problems might have trouble understanding this, but Melee was just too difficult.”
Sakurai elaborating on accessibility…
“If we want new people from this generation of gamers to come in, then we need it accessible, simple, and playable by anyone. You can’t let yourself get preoccupied with nothing but gameplay and balance details. That’s where the core of the Smash Bros. concept lies, not on doggedly keeping the game the way it was before.”
Tim Schafer really wants to make a Wii game, explains why Double Fine hasn’t done so yet
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 4 Comments
This information comes from Double Fine’s website…
“Most of my all time favorite games are Nintendo games. I have touched Shigeru Miyamoto with my bare hands!!! (He was very soft and pleasant.) Double Fine would love to make something for Nintendo’s fine machine, but it’s not up to us. It’s the publisher’s money, so they get to decide what platform to invest in. In other words, IT’S NOT OUR FAULT! I personally would have loved to make Psychonauts for the Game Cube. (Well, not literally me personally. I would have loved to tell someone else to make it, and I would have loved to watch them do it, and I would have loved yelling, “Faster! Faster!” as they worked.) I really hope we get a chance to make a game for the Wii some day. Why don’t you spam your favorite publisher with mail right now and ask them to send us money to make a Wii game? (And a little extra money for a pool table?)” – Tim Schafer
Double Fine has made a few fantastic titles over the past decade. There’s Psychonauts of course, and Brutal Legend more recently. The funny thing is, we did hear a few rumors about that title coming to Wii, although it was supposedly being made by a different developer.
Nintendo Power chooses the most influential Nintendo-published games of all time
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, GBA, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 12 Comments
We provided you guys with a sneak peak of Nintendo Power’s “Game Changers” article a couple of weeks ago via a scan released on the magazine’s official website, but we’ve posted the complete list below.
13. Wii Fit
Influenced such games as: EA Sports Active: More Workouts, Just Dance, Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum
12. Metroid
Influenced such games as: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Mega Man ZX, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge
11. Nintendogs
Influenced such games as: SimAnimals, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, Monster Tale
10. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Influenced such games as: Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Art Academy
9. GoldenEye 007
Influenced such games: Metroid Prime, Call of Duty: World at War, The Conduit
8. Tetris
Influenced games such as: Dr. Mario, Columns, Puyo Pop
7. Pokemon Red Version and Pokemon Blue Version
Influenced such games as: Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories, Mega Man Battle Network, Dragon Quest Monsters
6. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Influenced such games as: Resident Evil 4, Star Fox Adventures, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
HD screenshots of Mario Kart Wii, Double Dash, Animal Crossing
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, Screenshots, Wii | 1 Comment
3DS game comparisons
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, News, Wii | 6 Comments
Comparisons: Star Fox 64 3D vs. Star Fox 64 (N64), Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D vs. Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS vs. N64 / Gamecube, Ridge Racer 3DS vs. Ridge Racer 2 (PSP), Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition vs. SSF IV (Xbox 360), Mario Kart 3DS vs. Mario Kart Wii
Nintendo Power’s “best of” the Metroid series
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii | 4 Comments
Best weapon: Ice beam
Most dramatic moment: The baby Metroid’s sacrifice
Best enemy: Metroid
Best secret: Samus is a woman
Best armor: Varia Suit from Super Metroid
Best Ridley: Meta Ridley
Best boss: The Metroid Prime
Best ability: Spider ball
Best self-destruct escape: Finale of Super Metroid
Best ship: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Best tune: Main theme from Metroid
Best ending: Metroid: Zero Mission
New Wave Race: Blue Storm code found, features insulting commentary
Posted on 14 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, Random | 2 Comments
It’s hard to believe that Wave Race: Blue Storm is almost nine years old. It feels like yesterday when the game arrived! Yet even though Blue Storm has been out for a number of years, there is a particular code that seems to have gone unnoticed until very recently, or simply wasn’t publicized much until now. Here’s how you go about entering/using the code:
1) Go to the options menu, and then audio settings
2) Pressing the Z button will change the waveform display at the bottom – tap until the waveform resembles a vertically rising fog
3) Then, press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, X, and Z on the d-pad; an audio cue can be heard if you execute the commands correctly
4) Return to the main menu
5) Begin a race, choose the first character
The code doesn’t really change anything in terms of gameplay, but you will hear some insulting, albeit very humorous commentary while you race. Phrases include:
“You’ve chosen poorly.”
“That turbo’s wasted on you.”
“If you don’t win this race, I’m not gonna love you anymore.”
“Your wins are like diamonds: very rare.”
“You don’t have an inferiority complex. You’re just inferior.”
There are a number of other phrases as well, though you can check out a few of them in action in the video above. I recommend trying the code out yourself!
Nintendo provides the history of Metroid
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.
