There’s a small bit of hope that Plants vs. Zombies 2 could be landing on the 3DS. Responding to a fan request for a release on Nintendo’s handheld, the game’s official Twitter account said that more news will follow after the game’s launch in July.
@ahmadchannel2 PvZ2 will be coming to Apple first in July. There will be more news to follow, so please do be sure to stay tuned! ^MowerMatt
— Plants vs. Zombies (@PlantsvsZombies) June 11, 2013
The original Plants vs. Zombies came out on the DS as a physical and downloadable game, so I see no reason why its sequel can’t end up on the 3DS. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Thanks to Ahmad A for the tip.
We have one more nugget about the new Smash Bros. games for Wii U and 3DS.
Masahiro Sakurai confirmed to Polygon that the game will have multiple air cancels.
Polygon editor Michael McWhertor shared the news through Twitter.
No tripping in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Multiple air cancels in the game “at this point,” Sakurai says.
— Michael McWhertor (@MikeMcWhertor) June 13, 2013
Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS will be similar to Brawl in many ways, but there will be plenty of changes as well. Tripping, for instance, has been removed.
The new Smash Bros. will be a change in direction as opposed to changes pertaining to fixes. Sakurai reiterated what we heard earlier today regarding his team’s attempt to blend the feel of Melee and Brawl.
“I would consider the changes that we’re making this time around not as fixes, but that we’re changing the direction. And so the vision for the overall balance of the game in Smash Bros Melee, it was sort of more focused towards more hardcore players. Then when it came around to making Brawl, this was a game that was targeting a Wii audience where there were a lot of beginner players, so it sort of leaned a little bit more in that direction. So now, for this time around, we’re sort of aiming for something that is in between those as far as the speed of the game. Because I don’t really think this time we’re in a situation where we’re trying to accommodate that many new players.”
Skylanders will be facing its first competition this year. Disney plans to launch Disney Infinity this summer, its own attempt at a video game that incorporates the usage of physical figures.
Despite the impending arrival of Infinity, Activision isn’t changing its sales projections for Skylanders Swap Force.
Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Joystiq:
“We’re still bullish on our projections. We feel like it was only a matter of time, given the scale of the success of Skylanders, that other competitors entered the genre. That’s to be expected. I get this question a lot on Call of Duty. We have tough competition every year. We have tough competition in every category we play in, it’s a part of the business. We try not to focus on it. We try to focus on making the best games we can and exceeding the expectations of our fans and bottling magic.”
Zelda: Wind Waker HD can’t use any dungeons that were missing in the original version. That’s because they were used in future Zeldas – likely Twilight Princess and/or Skyward Sword.
Aonuma talked about Wind Waker’s cut dungeons and the decision to avoid adding new ones in the HD re-release in an interview with Eurogamer:
“Quite honestly, those dungeons we removed we used in other games, so we can’t use them in this version!”
“I’ve received many questions about additional content beyond what was in the GameCube version of the game, but our desire is to stay true of the story that was in the original. If we add dungeons then that will affect other parts of the GameCube version, which we really want to stay true to. If it felt like there were maybe too few dungeons then I feel that what was wrong with the GameCube version was the pacing. It was thrown off because it took longer to get to certain dungeons. There was a waiting period, and then when you arrived there the experience maybe didn’t feel as big, as you’d waited so long to get there. We’re tuning the game to alleviate all that. The pacing should feel appropriate to the overall experience this time… We need to tighten those [gaps] and make the overall experience and story feel tighter.”
Unfortunately, Aonuma couldn’t reveal which dungeons were cut in Wind Waker and used in other Zeldas.
E3 2013 is almost a wrap, so it’s now time to start looking ahead to next year’s expo. E3 2014 will be held between June 10 and June 12, the ESA has confirmed. The convention will once again be held in Los Angeles.
This year’s E3 mirrored similar dates. The expo took place between June 11 and June 13.
The next Smash Bros. games won’t use touch controls – something that fans will probably be pleased to hear about.
Masahiro Sakurai explained to IGN that in order to balance the Wii U and 3DS versions, touch is something that needs to be avoided in order to preserve balance.
Sakurai explained:
“You can think of situations where, if you implemented touch controls on Wii U, then the GamePad player would have advantages over other players. We want to balance evenly across Wii U and the 3DS versions, so there’s a balance issue there, which means you would have to avoid using touch screen controls.”
“Back on Brawl, there was the possibility of incorporating motion control with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. Our priority has always been to allow players to use the controller they want to use. Having that balance amongst the different controllers is very important. We want to give each player the control experience they want while keeping gameplay balance.”
Super Smash Bros. Brawl paved the way for third-party character inclusions in the series. But if you thought that the Wii U and 3DS games would include even more external roster additions, you may be disappointed.
Masahiro Sakurai told Kotaku today that fans can think of Mega Man’s inclusion “as being the special case.” Sakurai further mentioned that “there won’t be a trend of adding a lot of third-party characters.”
“I’m really sorry. If I were to answer that question, I’d get in a lot of trouble in a lot of different ways, so I can’t answer. But I think I can say generally that there won’t be a trend of adding a lot of third-party characters. You can sort of think of Mega Man as being the special case.”
Sakurai also addressed the topic of returning characters, albeit very vaguely. Keeping in mind that the Wii U and 3DS versions will include the same character roster, Sakurai indicated that the team may need to limit the number of roster additions.
“The reality of the situation unfortunately is that there are certain limitations on the 3DS. So we’re forced into the situation where we may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree, but we’re really working hard in order to include as many characters as possible.”
