Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker launched in Japan a couple of days ago. Some players have already completed the game and accessed the game’s credits.
According to those very credits, roughly 75 people worked on Captain Toad. Most of the employees were also involved with Super Mario 3D World.
Mahito Yokota, who was the composer of the Mario Galaxy games, worked on Treasure Tracker’s soundtrack.
We also learn that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was co-developed by 1-UP Studio, which also helped develop Super Mario 3D Land/World.
Staff positions are sadly not listed in Captain Toad’s credits. However, we do know that Shinya Hiratake directed the title. Kenta Motokura may have also been a co-director. It’s also very possible that Koichi Hayashida acted as producer.
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is not a very good game. There are tons of glitches, some of which are game-breaking. The gameplay itself isn’t engaging. You could probably point out a bunch of other issues as well.
What exactly happened with Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric? While no one can say for sure, perhaps at least some of the problems stemmed from the departure of employees.
Liam Robertson from research site Unseen64 stated on Twitter yesterday (based on LinkedIn findings) that a number of Big Red Button Entertainment left the studio in July. Additionally, the original producer for Rise of Lyric moved on from the company in September 2013. Other employees who left Big Red Button Entertainment include senior designers and artists, the project manager, production assists, and more.
TSSZ news points out that if the Big Red Button Entertainment staff departures took place in July, then that would be when Rise of Lyric was heading towards the end of development. On the other hand, some say that something happened between builds shown early in the year and the final game that shipped this week.
Shinya Hiratake is the director of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. It was many years ago that he thought about a game concept that would take place in a series of small diorama-like levels where the hero couldn’t jump. Players would move the camera around the diorama and guide the hero to the exit.
Who was the hero, you ask? Why, Link of course! Hiratake felt that if he removed the jumping mechanic from a platformer, he could greatly shrink a game’s levels. However, he believed that the concept wasn’t a fit for the Mario universe since most of those characters can jump. It was then that The Legend of Zelda’s Link came to mind.
Earlier this week, Nintendo announced that it has teamed up with Loot Crate for a limited time amiibo subscription service. All of the figures have now been confirmed, and pricing has been revealed.
Nintendo fans have two pricing options available to them. They are as follows:
In week one, consumers will receive the Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Pikachu amiibo figures along with a collectible mini-mag plus an exclusive sticker and wristband. Yoshi, Fox, Peach, and Samus will follow in week two with another mini-mag and an exclusive cinch bag. To close things out, Luigi and Zelda will be sent in week three with yet another mini-mag and “an ultra rare t-shirt”.
You can find more information over on Loot Crate. Note that crates can only be shipped to the U.S.
Thanks to Carlos D for the tip.
