Mario Kart 64 devs on how mini-turbos were originally a hidden feature, cut “no item” racing mode and courses
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
When Mario Kart 64 debuted many years ago, it was accompanied by a strategy guide in Japan. Several developers participated in an interview, which has finally been translated by shumpalations. For us, some of the most interesting comments came about when discussing original plans for the game.
We first get to hear from director Hideki Konno about how mini-turbos were originally intended to be a hidden feature. Furthermore, the color of the smoke initially remained the same.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Mario Kart 64, Tadashi Sugiyama, top
Nintendo and Cygames on Draglia Lost – partnership, name, gameplay, tons of dialogue, more
Posted on 5 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Mobile, News | 0 comments
Back in April, Nintendo announced a surprise partnership with Cygames on a new mobile game called Dragalia Lost. Recently, Japanese magazine Famitsu spoke with a couple of the developers working on the project. Nintendo’s Hideki Konno and Cygames’ Hiroki Matsuura participated in the discussion.
We now have a translation of the interview. Continue on below to read it in full.
More: Draglia Lost, Hideki Konno, highlight, Hiroki Matsuura, interview, top
Nintendo on Super Mario Kart – ties to F-Zero, how Mario characters got in, items, more
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 10 Comments
Nintendo has been publishing weekly interviews about games included in the Super NES Classic Edition in preparation of the hardware’s launch later this week. For the latest discussion, Super Mario Kart is the focus. Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno were brought in to talk about the SNES game.
Sugiyama and Konno talked about Super Mario Kart’s origins, including how Shigeru Miyamoto’s request to create a 2-player F-Zero led to the start of the project. They also explained how Mario Kart characters ended up being inserted, the various items, and more.
You can read the full interview with Sugiyama and Konno below.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Super Mario Kart, Tadashi Sugiyama, top
Mario Kart producer in charge of Nintendo’s mobile game development
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 17 Comments
While announcing Nintendo’s latest financial results, president Satoru Iwata shared a brief update regarding the company’s mobile development plans.
Sankei reports that the producer of Mario Kart has been appointed to be in charge of mobile game development. “It should help you understand the level of commitment from Nintendo”, Iwata said.
A name isn’t specifically mentioned, but we assume the article is referring to Hideki Konno, who has been producing Mario Kart games since the DS entry. Konno was also the producer on Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart 8.
Sankei also mentions that today’s news shows how Nintendo intends to tackle mobile games with the same developers they use for console games.
Nintendo announced in March that it was teaming up with DeNA to create gaming apps for smartphone devices. The two sides are also working together a new membership service for Nintendo.
More: Hideki Konno, Satoru Iwata, top
Mario Kart 8’s items “are the most balanced in the history of the series”, devs say
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 25 Comments
Mario Kart 8’s items “are the most balanced in the history of the series”, according to developers Hideki Konno and Kosuke Yabuki.
While speaking with GamesMaster about the Blue Shells, the two developers said:
Blue Shells provide a certain level of tension that helps maintain the excitement right up until the very end of a race. Of course we pay particular attention to balance. Through literally thousands of races, we’ve made numerous adjustments to get it just right. In our opinion, the items in Mario Kart 8 are the most balanced in the history of the series.
I’d have to agree with Konno and Yabuki here. With the amount of time I’ve put into Mario Kart 8 thus far, I definitely get the impression that the items are very balanced this time around, especially compared to some of the series’ previous entries.
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8
Konno and Yabuki on how F-Zero led to Mario Kart, struggling with anti-gravity in MK8, Sunshine Airport came from previous entry’s development
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
IGN has put up some new comments from Nintendo producer Hideki Konno and Mario Kart 8 director Kosuke Yabuki. The two ended up sharing interesting bits about Mario Kart’s origins, the difficulty in implementing anti-gravity for Mario Kart 8, and how the racer’s Sunshine Airport course came about from a previous entry’s development.
Continue on below for a roundup of what’s included in IGN’s report, which you can find in full here.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top
Mario Kart 8 devs talk game’s graphics and using Wii U’s power, balance, original Rainbow Road is “really spectacular”, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
GameSpot has published a series of articles featuring commentary from Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno and director Kosuke Yabuki. During a roundtable session held at GDC last month, the two touched on the game’s graphics, balance, brand new Rainbow Road course, and more. You can find the Q&A roundup below.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top, Yabu
Konno explains why you can’t customize tracks in Mario Kart 8
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 6 Comments
Despite rumors to the contrary, Mario Kart 8 will not include a track editor. Producer Hideki Konno finds the idea interesting, though implementing such functionality would be difficult, he explained during a roundtable held at GDC.
Konno started out by stating that allowing gamers to design Mario Kart 8 tracks is “a fun feature” and something he’s “been interested in for a long time”, he said. “However, with Mario Kart, course creation is key to the series, and it’s really tough.”
Konno added:
More: Hideki Konno, Mario Kart 8, top
Nintendo open to revisiting Mario Kart: Double Dash’s dual racers feature
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News | 4 Comments
The Mario Kart series has yet to see the return of dual racers since Mario Kart: Double Dash. Yet even though this feature hasn’t been revisited, Nintendo is still open to the idea of featuring two racers per cart.
Mario Kart 8 producer Hideki Konno said during a GDC 2014 roundtable session:
“It wasn’t just a simple case of, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do that again.’ We really think the two racers together in one kart of Double Dash was really unique, and we thought it worked really well.”
“We’ve got that in our pocket, so if we come up with any new, cool ideas that utilize having two players racing together, we will definitely grab that and possibly bring it back out.”
“Having two players racing together, it does have a pretty high cost in terms of processing power, so that is an obstacle. That being said, if we could come up with some ways around that processing cost, we may have two players, maybe even three players, racing together. If we could come up with some cool ideas, we’ll definitely use them.”
