Nintendo’s Katsuya Eguchi won’t comment on how the Wii U stacks up the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Instead, he’s more focused on what makes Wii U original.
In an interview with EGM, Katsuya told the magazine that he hopes fans consider Wii U to be a completely different console. Additionally, he believes that it’s most important to be unique – that’s where the controller comes in.
“Rather than compare specs with Microsoft and Sony, I’d like for people to view this as a different type of machine altogether. For me personally, what’s most important is what makes Wii U original, and that’s the controller.”
01. / 00. [PSP] Little Battler Xperience (Level 5) {2011.06.16} – 166.187 / NEW
02. / 00. [3DS] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo) {2011.06.16} – 164.110 / NEW
03. / 01. [PS3] Yakuza: Of the End (Sega) {2011.06.09} – 53.775 / 352.492 (-82%)
04. / 00. [360] Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling # (5pb.) {2011.06.16} – 31.666 / NEW
05. / 00. [360] Steins;Gate: Double Pack (5pb.) {2011.06.16} – 11.041 / NEW
06. / 02. [3DS] Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom) {2011.06.02} – 9.062 / 83.405 (-42%)
07. / 04. [NDS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 – Professional (Square Enix) {2011.03.31} – 7.997 / 538.020 (-24%)
08. / 03. [NDS] Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS (Pokemon Co.) {2011.04.21} – 6.609 / 137.421 (-42%)
09. / 07. [WII] Wii Party (Nintendo) {2010.07.08} – 6.556 / 1.917.752 (+5%)
10. / 05. [3DS] One Piece: Unlimited Cruise SP (Bandai Namco) {2011.05.26} – 6.549 / 112.174 (-22%)
11. / 14. [WII] Wii Sports Resort with Remote Plus (Nintendo) {2010.11.11} – 6.476 / 353.082 (+31%)
12. / 12. [NDS] Pokemon Black / White (Pokemon Co.) {2010.09.18} – 6.434 / 5.204.356 (+23%)
13. / 11. [PSP] Pro Baseball Spirits 2011 (Konami) {2011.04.14} – 4.232 / 184.299 (-20%)
14. / 10. [PSP] Patapon 3 (SCE) {2011.04.28} – 4.136 / 120.934 (-22%)
15. / 16. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) {2008.04.10} – 3.939 / 3.244.896 (-3%)
16. / 00. [360] Steins;Gate (Platinum Collection) (5pb.) {2011.06.16} – 3.914 / NEW
17. / 00. [PS2] Sangoku Koi Senki: Otome no Heihou! (Prototype) {2011.06.16} – 3.872 / NEW
18. / 18. [WII] Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo) {2009.10.01} – 3.844 / 2.328.388 (-2%)
19. / 19. [PSP] Monster Hunter Freedom 3 (Capcom) {2010.12.01} – 3.758 / 4.490.749 (-4%)
20. / 08. [PSP] Akiba’s Trip (Acquire) {2011.05.19} – 3.601 / 93.078 (-35%)
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: What else was designed specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system?
Shimizu: I’ve always wondered if many people were really able to play the Nintendo 64 version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time all the way through to the end. For example, a lot of people may have got stuck on the Water Temple and played no further.
Aonuma: Gah! Stop talking about it! (laughs)
Everyone: (laughs)
Shimizu: For that reason, I wanted to put in a help function like in the New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 games, and we ended up putting in Hint Movies.
Iwata: Helping players who get stuck was a goal from the start.
Shimizu: Yes. We give solid hints so beginners can play to the end. And as something specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system, the Navi System kicks in every 60 minutes. Every 60 minutes, the fairy Navi asks if you want to take a break.
But Aonuma-san and I battled, or rather debated, this. Until now in the Legend of Zelda games, if you made a mistake saving, you couldn’t take it back, so the games have tended to discourage saving.
Leave it to Shigeru Miyamoto to make a rather significant request right before the completion of a game. The Zelda creator asked the Ocarina of Time 3D development team to enhance the game’s gyro support just a couple of weeks before making the title’s final ROM.
Originally, players would be able to look around with Link in first-person mode by moving the 3DS. But now, thanks to Miyamoto’s request, the viewpoint can also be changed while Link moves around normally.
Aonuma: But then in the end, Miyamoto-san…
Ikuta: Right. He gave us a little push. (laughs)
Aonuma: At first, you could only use the gyro sensor to control line of sight in first-person mode when using items and moving the camera from Link’s point of view. But at the end of development, two weeks before making the final ROM, right at the last minute, Miyamoto-san said, “Can’t you use the gyro sensor to change the line of sight at normal times when you’re just moving Link around?”
Iwata: Huh? But that affects every single scene! That’s not something you say before you create the master ROM.
Aonuma requested gyro support for Ocarina of Time 3D one week before Nintendo’s Fall 2010 conference
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: I see. This project began as remaking The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but in the end, we put in many elements tailored specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system. The first one that comes to mind is the ability to control where Link is looking using the gyro sensor built into the system. Why did you put that in?
Tonooka: Before Nintendo Conference 20109, Aonuma-san said we had to use the gyro sensor.
Shimizu: About one week before, right?
Iwata: About one week beforehand? Aonuma-san, what exactly was it you wanted to do with the gyro sensor?
Aonuma: I didn’t want to move the camera with the analog control. This has something to do with changing the line of sight by pointing in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii console. When you push an analog stick, we can make it both ways so that the camera moves up or down, so there are two answers, but with a gyro sensor, they become one. That is something (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san has been saying he wants to fix for some time now.
Updating a game isn’t always the easiest thing to do. The latest example of this is Ocarina of Time, in which the development team struggled a bit with increasing the frame rate for the 3DS version. The staff talked about how the N64 frame rate changed in different areas of the game in the latest Iwata Asks, though this time around Nintendo and Grezzo wanted to ensure that the frame rate consistently stayed at 30 frames-per-second.
Iwata: When a game’s graphics change to 3D, a lot of new discrepancies arise, so you had to address those points as well.
Aonuma: Yes. It was hard enough just dealing with the Nintendo 3DS system’s increased frame rate.
Moriya: Yeah. That was the hardest this time. The trouble that the original staff had experienced was visible in the program source code. For example, there were remains of frantic calculations written in it, like 10 + 1 + 2 – 5. It must have been really tight.
One area that remains mostly the same in Ocarina of Time’s transition from the N64 to the 3DS is the title’s original bugs. In the latest Iwata Asks, Grezzo discussed how they made a conscious effort to leave in as many as possible so that they could pay respect to those who played the game on the N64. The funny thing is, it looks like Grezzo also created a few new bugs, such as the Young Link Master Sword glitch.
Moriya: We sped up revealing it and had Ikuta-san and others try out parts of it. We would ask how it differed from what they had imagined, and then we would fix it. One conflict arose when, as programmers, we wanted to get rid of bugs. But the staff members who had played the old game said the bugs were fun! We were like, “What?!” (laughs)
Iwata: Yes, that is an area of conflict.
Moriya: It wouldn’t be fun if your friends couldn’t say, “Do you know about this?” So we left them in if they didn’t cause any trouble and were beneficial.
Iwata: So you implemented them as you would specs, rather than treating them like bugs. It took some work and you had to go out of your way, but you preserved the spirit of the original.
Moriya: Yes. If something simply could not be allowed to stand, we begrudgingly fixed it, so some bugs don’t appear, but we left in as many as we could, so people will grin over that.
The information below comes from the latest Iwata Asks. Grezzo development producer Koichi Ishii, manager/programmer Takaaki Tonooka, programmer Shun Moriya, Nintendo’s Takao Shimizu, Nagako Ikuta, Eiji Aonuma, and Satoru Iwata participated in the discussion.
Iwata: All right, thank you. Nintendo asked Grezzo to take care of the production of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. When we thought about releasing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS system, it was like fate how all the conditions pointed toward Grezzo, so I spoke directly with Ishii-san. Ishii-san, could I ask you to start by telling me how the plan for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D began?
Ishii: Yes. At first, I didn’t know anything when you called me in.
Iwata: Right. I said, “I need to talk with you, so please come to Kyoto,” like I was giving you a summons. (laughs) That wasn’t how I intended it, though. Sorry if I made you nervous.
Ishii: No, not at all. (laughs) But I hadn’t heard anything beforehand, and the atmosphere suggested it was something top secret. To be honest, I had a hunch it might be about new hardware. Iwata: You have good instincts then. One reason I did need to have you come to Kyoto was so you could see the Nintendo 3DS, which was still under development.
Ishii: When I saw the Nintendo 3DS in Kyoto and heard about The Legend of Zelda, it was like a bolt from the blue!
Iwata: We revealed the Nintendo 3DS and brought up the new Zelda idea to you at the same time.
Ludovic Lamouroux, Nintendo France Product Director, has apparently said that The Last Story is in fact heading to Europe. Since the translation is a bit and I can’t track down the original source, consider this a rumor now. I personally won’t believe it until we hear an official announcement.
“Xenoblade will arrive after the holidays on Wii, like The Last Story in 2012.”
If this is true, then it’d be yet another amazing move by Nintendo of Europe. The only other game they’d need to localize is Pandora’s Tower. Now, imagine if North America ends up not receiving any of these titles… that’s a bleak future.
