Back in the day, Rare was one of Nintendo’s top studios. The company really came into its own during the N64 era. Rare ended up creating Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, GoldenEye 007, and plenty of other prominent titles.
Perhaps it was due to Rare’s success that Nintendo was a bit jealous of the studio. Former staffer and Nyamyam co-founder Phil Tossell has said that “Nintendo were often quite envious of us.”
Tossell told RetroGamer this month, “I got the feeling they thought our games were technically and artistically superior to theirs.” He also spoke about a rumor in which Nintendo recreated all of the textures in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time after seeing what Rare had done with Banjo-Kazooie since Rare’s title “looked better”.
Tossell’s comments came about when asked if Nintendo ever shared code with Rare considering the Big N had a large stake in the company. He said:
No, we never had the Zelda engine or any code they did! We did see an early version of Zelda and that was a big influence on Dinosaur Planet, though. Nintendo were often quite envious of us. I got the feeling they thought our games were technically and artistically superior to theirs. Miyamoto would visit regularly and I heard a rumor they redid all of the textures on Zelda after they’d seen our work on Banjo-Kazooie because our game looked better!
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
Way back in the day, Hasbro was working on its own gaming console known as “Project NEMO” – later known as Control-Vision. Ken Melville, who was involved with the hardware, told IGN that the company intended to “create a ‘Nintendo-killer’ that could be sold for under $100.”
Hasbro’s chief executive Stephen Hassenfeld held a ‘Name NEMO’ contest amongst the various staffers at the time. There was one rule, though: the ‘N’ had to stand for ‘Nintendo.’
Night Driver, Missile Command and Space Invaders programmer Rob Fulop – another person involved with Project NEMO – explained to IGN that Hasbro “needed a cool-sounding phrase that NEMO would be the acronym for. People were assigned to generate as many sayings as possible made up of the four letters.” Fulop created the winning entry.
“I am proud to say that I won. My winning entry was ‘Nintendo Ends Mid-October.’”
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze includes four playable characters. Thus far, we know of three: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Dixie Kong.
An updated version of Tropical Freeze’s boxart – discovered on Amazon – may reveal the fourth playable character. Who is it? Head past the break for the image.
Capcom has made a lottttt of money from Monster Hunter 4 thus far. Wondering how the company intends to use those profits?
You probably won’t be too pleased to hear that Capcom plans to invest further in the mobile scene by opening a new studio in Osaka. 4 billion yen will be used – stemming from Monster Hunter 4’s sales – so that the subsidiary can be established.
Square Enix has shared a new update for Dragon Quest Monsters 2, the upcoming 3DS remake. You can find information pertaining to the game’s battle modes and more below.
– App will be available so that players can transfer monsters from Terry’s Wonderland 3D
– Wi-Fi shop included
– Shop updates with different items each day similar to Dragon Quest IX
– Game has Wi-Fi battles
– Can send monsters out to fight other players by picking away battles or take on other player’s parties at home
– Away mode: upload your monster party data to a server for other players to download
– Don’t actually control your team in this mode
– Home mode: download other player’s away data and fight three parties like regular battles
– Win and points are added to your Wi-Fi ranking
– Points from away battles are added to your score the next day
– Can change rules like allowing monsters to fight with equipment and other options
– Players can also trade items or fight friends directly through wireless play
– Up to 8 can battle in tournament mode
The latest Wii U/3DS-specific UK software sales are as follows:
Wii U
1. Super Mario 3D World – Nintendo
2. New Super Luigi U – Nintendo
3. New Super Mario Bros. U – Nintendo
4. Rayman Legends – Ubisoft
5. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – Warner Bros. Interactive
6. Nintendo Land – Nintendo
7. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – Nintendo
8. LEGO City: Undercover – Nintendo
9. Disney Infinity – Disney Interactive
10. Just Dance 2014 – Ubisoft
3DS
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – Nintendo
2. Pokemon X – Nintendo
3. Pokemon Y – Nintendo
4. Mario Kart 7 – Nintendo
5. Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Nintendo
6. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask – Nintendo
7. Luigi’s Mansion 2 – Nintendo
8. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes – Warner Bros. Interactive
9. LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins – Nintendo
10. New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Nintendo
Source: Chart-Track
Renegade Kid co-founder Jools Watsham has posted a new update on his blog outlining the studio’s development plans. Mutant Mudds (3DS), Treasurenauts, Cult County, Mutant Mudds 2 were all covered in the post. Additionally, Watsham teased two new titles, one of which has been confirmed for 3DS and will be announced in January.
Rather than rounding up the news in bullet point form, it’d probably be best to share the blog post entirely. You can find it after the break or on Watsham’s page here.
