This information comes from Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto and MercurySteam’s Jose Luis Márquez…
On whether Nintendo reached out to MercurySteam or the other way around…
There was a very fateful meeting, so we’ll tell you that to start off with.
I just wanted to start out by saying I’ve been wanting to make a 2D Metroid game with today’s technology for quite a long time. It wasn’t only my personal desire, but also because I know there are a lot of people out there in the world who have been clamoring for a 2D Metroid game.
For myself, I’ve been wanting to revisit that fundamental, basic, core essence of Metroid, that 2D gameplay, and I was considering ways to go about taking on that challenge. That was more than two years ago.
This information comes from Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham…
– Even if Rocket League isn’t the most graphically challenging game, it’s very dependent on the physics, which forced Psyonix to trade off marginally better resolution if it meant getting the game to run properly on the Switch version
– Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s success Switch was a huge motivator for the Psyonix team to get it right on the Switch
“In terms of pure greenlighting for when this project started, three months ago. If you wanna talk about when we first started investigating, messing with dev kits, late last year was about when we first started looking at it.”
– Nintendo first contacted Psyonix about a potential Switch outing before the console was even officially announced
– 8-player local multiplayer
– two-player split screen on a single Switch with each player using a single Joy-Con (party style)
– Works with the Switch Pro Controller
– Play as a young girl or boy
– Starting a new life
– Complete basic Harvest Moon tasks like clearing the land, growing crops, shipping produce, and raising animals
– Doing so will entice more villagers to return to the island
– Once you bring back villagers, you’ll be able to help them out with requests and take advantage of more goods, services, and features that will open up further possibilities for farming
– Top-down view
– Natsume is describing the look as “retro plus”
– Combination of drawn backgrounds and soft-edged 3D character and animal models
– In the talking-heads cutscenes, lively, animated models stand behind their dialogue boxes acting out associated emotions
– Can zoom way in or way out using the ‘ZL’ and ‘ZR’ buttons
– The daily grind is very similar to what it was in the original Harvest Moon
– The controls have been streamlined significantly
– Contextual tools all mapped onto a single ‘action’ button
– Walk up to a weed and press ‘B’ to pluck it
– Pressing the same button in front of a planted seed will water it instead
– Clear land, till land, plant crops, pick crops, break up stones, cut down trees, and store found objects
– Can move by tapping and then holding a swipe outward in any direction on the touchscreen
– Interact with anything nearby with another tap
– Can use the touchscreen to access menus and item storage
– Can till, plant, or water a whole section of land by dragging a finger across it
– Plenty of dating events and farming in the final version
– Five bachelors and five bachelorettes planned
– Those who have kept up with the series will recognize familiar faces in the love market
– The recurring appearance of characters — as with the cast running through the original game, Harvest Moon 64, Back to Nature, and Friends of Mineral town — has come up as a common theme when fans say what they love about the classic titles
– Love interests include Buff florist Dean, shy and flustered Jeanne, Melanie
– Form relationships with gift giving, sparkling conversation, and event triggering
– Cows, chickens, sheep, horses, dogs, and Poitou donkey appearing
– You’ll see a cow that gave chocolate milk, a ‘chocolate chicken’ that gives candied eggs, and a pink sheep that produces cotton candy wool
– Candy products are apparently treated differently from their workaday variants in terms of recipes, shipping, and villager likes and dislikes
This information comes from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime…
“The way we continue to make Nintendo 3DS vibrant as a platform is first we continue to innovate from form factor standpoint. So the New 2DS XL is just the latest for us in having form factor innovation. We know colors are a key differentiator, consumers love the variety of different colors. And also the larger screen and the different form factor in the 2DS family, we think is a going to drive and continue to drive the 3DS platform.”
“We’re going to continue to bring new content, and that’s what’s going to keep this device vibrant and keep it going well into 2018 and beyond.”
“We say that it’s (Switch) a home console that you take with you and play with anyone, anywhere, anytime. It really is meant to deliver that great home console performance, you just happen to be able to undock it and take it with you, which is a key innovation. But look, in the end, what we want is we want the consumer to call it their device, right? Their preferred gaming device that they can play fantastic Zelda, Mario, third-party content, all of their favorite franchises brought to life on the platform. That’s what we want. And we’re greedy and we want Nintendo 3DS right alongside it.”
A few months ago, V7 Entertainment announced that Old Time Hockey would be released for Switch. Something happened along the way, as those plans have since been scrapped.
Here’s an interesting exchange with one fan on Twitter:
Xbox One yes, switch no!
— Old Time Hockey (@OldTimeHockeyV7) June 11, 2017
We don’t know what happened here unfortunately. Other than the tweet above, we don’t have much in the way of an explanation.
This information comes from a Rebellion spokesperson…
“We’re aiming for complete feature parity with those versions. As of now, we don’t know what extra features [the Switch version] will have, if any. We’re still experimenting with the Switch platform. It’s still pretty recent that we got our kits. So we don’t quite know what that will be.”
– Rogue Trooper Redux will have online multiplayer for the Switch version, just like on other platforms
– Rebellion is aiming to launch all versions of the game at the same time
– This is Rebellion’s hope at the moment, though things can always change
– The new version of the game has been “remade from the ground up with current-gen-quality materials and higher resolution geometry”
– Rogue’s new look in Redux takes him back to the classic style of the comics
– Release date coming “soon”
