The differences between titles in the Mario Kart series are perhaps only noticeable to those with a lengthy history with the franchise. The subtle focus of Mario Kart 7, for instance, feels much different than the marshmallow-y approach taken by Mario Kart Wii, and the slippery controls in Mario Kart 64 mean you need more focus to pull off power-slides than the game’s DS counterpart. It’s a series long-accepted for its rigidity, and the recently announced Mario Kart 8 does not appear to do anything to change up that formula.

Mario Kart 8 art

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The Wonderful 101 art

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Mario Kart 8 team on anti-gravity idea, Miyamoto’s reluctance to include Miis, scrapped drill idea, more

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Nintendo’s Hideki Konno and Kosuke Yabuki divulged a number of intriguing tidbits about Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart in general while speaking with MTV Multiplayer. The two discussed the origins of the anti-gravity idea, how Shigeru Miyamoto was very reluctant to make Miis playable, an abandoned idea for drills on karts, and more.

As always, you can find the full responses after the break.

Sakurai on the formation of Smash Bros. roster, selection is stressful “almost to the brink of death”

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Choosing the roster for the Super Smash Bros. games isn’t easy. Director Masahiro Sakurai describes the stress put on him as coming close “to the brink of death.”

“The amount of stress I feel, it’s almost to the brink of death. Because it’s not just a matter of me personally thinking this character or that character is going to be in the game; it’s that we also have the game balance, animation, graphics and sound to think about in order to make that character fully fleshed out in that universe. I have to think about all of that when I go through this decision-making process.”

In Sakurai’s opinion, Smash Bros. is all about the character roster. Not having characters such as Mario, Kirby, Samus, or Link playable would make some feel that “it might not be Smash Bros.”

Nintendo’s Tanabe, Tabata imagine Metroid Wii U ideas, Tingle brainstorming

Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments

Metroid isn’t happening on Wii U… for now anyway. But Nintendo developers have no problem discussing hypothetical in which the GamePad could be taken advantage of.

First up is Kensuke Tanabe, the producer of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Island:

“Samus obviously has a lot of features [in her space suit]. There’s a lot you can do with that thing — once she pulls her arm up and pulls out that [metal flap] and does some of this stuff [Tabata pretends to punch buttons on her forearm]. I can see mapping some of that to the GamePad. I think that would be really cool.”

Nintendo project leader Risa Tabata also has a few ideas:

“I [told Tanabe], ‘What, you want to hook a GamePad on a Zapper [gun peripheral]?’ He said: ‘No, that’d be too heavy. Maybe something more streamlined. But like a Zapper-style thing with a GamePad feature on it or some device like that. I’d love to do some shooting stuff with something like that! Maybe some day.’”

And here’s the strangest thing of all: an idea from Tanabe to bring back Tingle.

“There’s no definitive plan or anything. It’s just me off the top of my head.”
“I know how hated the character of Tingle is in the U.S. I know that people cannot stand Tingle. But to me that challenge is: Could I take this character that is so reviled in the West and just [do] a complete turnaround and make him a beloved, fun character? The idea of that really just gets me going. I know we have made a Tingle game in the past, but maybe at some point down the road. …”
“It’s like love. It’s like romance: You meet someone and you’re like, ‘Oh god, I can’t stand that person.’ And then three weeks later, you’re madly in love — it’s that turn, that quick whip, that motivates [me] a little bit.”
“If we we ever get a really successful Tingle game, maybe we will have like a big Tingle statue out there [points to Nintendo’s E3 booth outside the room’s walls].”

Source

Latest Game & Wario trailer

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May 2013 NPD: Top 10 best-selling games in the U.S.

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NPD Group has released a listing of the top ten best-selling games in the U.S. for the month of May. The results can be found below.

1. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, NWU)**
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, NWU)**
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, WII)
4. Dead Island: Riptide (360, PS3, PC)**
5. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
6. Metro: Last Light (360, PS3, PC)
7. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, WII, NWU, PSP, PC)**
8. Bioshock Infinite (360, PS3, PC)**
9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)**
10. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (360, WII, NDS, PS3, 3DS, NWU, PSV, PC)

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

Source

May 2013 NPD: Nintendo’s response, 3DS the best-selling platform

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Nintendo’s response to the May 2013 NPD report is in.

The 3DS was the best-selling platform in the US for the month of May, according to the company. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and continued sales of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon boosted the handheld’s sales. Both games maintained two of the top three spots on the NPD charts in terms of best-selling SKUs – Donkey Kong came in second, with Luigi’s Mansion following third.

3DS software sales at retail increased by more than 60 percent year-over-year, according to Nintendo.

Nintendo’s full response is posted below.