Sakurai shares more Kid Icarus: Uprising details, says it’s not confirmed for launch, wants to make a game for a HD platform, more
Sakurai explaining that Project Sora was created to make a new Kid Icarus game…
“Before there was even an official naming of the 3DS, or before it was even decided that there would be 3-D capabilities, Mr. Iwata had brought up the topic of a new portable gaming system and with that, the request to create a new title for that system…. The topic of Kid Icarus came up. There wasn’t necessarily any direction decided for that — that it would be an RPG, or an action game, or a shooting game. But first of all, the topic did come up that Kid Icarus would be revived, and that Kid Icarus would be well-matched with a game idea that was particular to my style. With that, we moved forward.”
Sakurai on a remark that it’s been awhile since we’ve seen Kid Icarus and that there are no real expectations about what this new game will play like…
“That’s not necessarily the case. Having said that, there are things that you want to maintain from the original, but also a lot of things that I want to change. With that freedom, I did want to change the genre of the game. In thinking about the game, what is the core of the game, I feel that Kid Icarus is slightly comical.
At the time, games like Zelda or Metroid coming out on the Disk System were trending towards very serious adventure types of game. Kid Icarus doesn’t take the player entirely seriously. So I wanted to take advantage of that element and make a story and a flow of gameplay based around a character who is very serious about moving forward in the game but is also very carefree.”
Sakurai on how the game has changed since 3D was introduced…
“I actually knew about the 3-D display quite early on, but of course I couldn’t reveal that to the staff who were working on the game. They just knew it was based on 3-D graphic technology, not a 3-D display. It would be too risky at that stage, in view of leaks and whatnot. The staff only learned about the 3-D display this year.
In regard to the controls, as you know, the 3DS features a slide pad for analog controls. Typically with DS games, for example first-person shooters, the aiming would be handled by using the stylus on the touch pad, sort of like a mouse. What you end up with there is, you have to move the reticle and you reach the edge of the screen and you have to start over again. So it’s an inconvenient method.
The way around that is using like a flick motion to quickly turn. Or you can do a stronger ‘smash’ attack by flicking on the stick. That makes for a very effective mode of control for this shooting genre. The controls are really boiled down to three separate devices on the 3DS: The slide pad for movement, the L button for shooting and the touch panel for aiming.”
Sakurai on if it’s on-rails/control Pit directly…
“Unlike other rail shooters, you can move Pit within a certain tolerance. Yes, it’s kind of similar [to Sin and Punishment 2].”
Sakurai talking more about the gameplay…
“I talked about how the game uses the three devices — the stick, the L button and the touchscreen. The modes of attack are separated between melee attacks like sword slashes and shooting. When enemies are at a short distance, a simple button-press will do melee combat and multiple presses will do combos.
Likewise for shooting. Both of those control schemes in combination with flicking the stick do evasive maneuvers, and stronger attacks based on the timing.
As regards the weapons, there’s basically unlimited ammo. Upon first pressing, there’s a large, charged shot that fires. By holding down the L button you get a large stream of machine-gunlike bullets. With both the big shots and the small shots, the gameplay revolves around how you use those.
I don’t know if you noticed during the trailer, but you might have noticed some of the shots curving to hit enemies. So there’s that sort of flexibility built in to the weapons and the shots. Unlike a first-person shooter where you’re required to aim at a very specific, small target, there is that sort of — I don’t want to say auto-targeting, but a sort of corrective element in that. The emphasis is off of precision targeting. The gameplay is more focused on dodging and maneuverability.”
Sakurai on whether Uprising is a launch title for the 3DS…
“We don’t know yet.”
Sakurai on what developers have to think about when making a 3D game…
“Unfortunately, it’s not quite at the stage where I can say a lot about that, and there are still a lot of tests to do with the actual hardware, since we’re now finally getting final versions. That’s about all that can be said.”
Sakurai on whether 3D helps the game…
“You could compare it to driving with one eye closed. For players up until now who haven’t really been comfortable with 3-D game spaces, it’s like opening that other eye.”
Sakurai on what he wants to do next after Uprising…
“I’ve never made a game for a high-definition platform. That’s definitely something I’m interested in.”
Sakurai on whether he thinks the difference between making a Wii game and 3DS game is small…
“It’s not so much that you can consider the graphical quality to be different with the 3DS, it’s just that it’s a different direction entirely. Using shaders, that’s something that the 3DS excels at. And other screen-processing effects of that nature. Even though at this stage there’s still a lot of research to be done, and internal testing, I believe that there are a lot of areas that it will excel in that will push it in a different direction than what the Wii is capable of.”
Sakurai on whether you actually turn into an eggplant and have to get back out of eggplant form…
“That’s in there. It’s kind of a promise: When you think of Kid Icarus, you have to have Eggplant Wizard.”
