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Sonic Superstars disappointment SEGA

SEGA president Shuji Utsumi has labeled Sonic Superstars as a “disappointment.”

That news comes from an interview with Eurogamer. Utsumi was asked about how SEGA is ensuring that the Sonic games remain at a high level. Up until more recently, quality of Sonic titles had come into question. SEGA was also pumping out different games fairly quickly.

SEGA president Shuji Utsumi recently spoke with Eurogamer about a variety of topics, and at one point, Nintendo was actually brought into the discussion.

Utsumi was discussing the company’s comeback with games and movies. SEGA has a bunch of different projects in the pipeline, with a number of franchises set to return after many years. That brought about a comparison – Utsumi said “SEGA’s role was to invent rock & roll” whereas Nintendo’s was “pop music, good music, jazz”.

The full excerpt is as follows:

Nintendo PlayStation SNES CD Final Fantasy 7

If there’s one prominent thing we know about the history of gaming, it’s the partnership that nearly happened between Nintendo and Sony for a SNES add-on capable of playing Super Discs, a type of CD-ROM. Despite the two sides coming extremely close to an agreement, Nintendo pulled out at the last second. Sony would then go on to form its PlayStation brand while Nintendo teamed up with Philips for a short period.

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden reflected on that bit of history in a recent interview. He said that Ken Kutaragi, who was an engineer and later became Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, was left “proverbially standing at the altar” due to Nintendo’s decision.

Zelda design Echoes of Wisdom

The developers of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom have opened up about designing Zelda for the game, which was a “difficult” challenge for the team.

We’re able to get insight from co-director Tomomi Sano and series producer Eiji Aonuma here. There were a few things that Nintendo and Grezzo needed to balance. For one thing, they couldn’t make Zelda too cute. They also couldn’t make her stand out given her fugitive status, but they also didn’t want her to look too much like a fugitive. Finally, Zelda is a princess at the end of the day, so that’s something the team also needed to keep in mind. 

How did Grezzo and Nintendo go about choosing the echoes in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom? Co-director Satoshi Terada shared some insight in a recent interview.

There are a massive amount of echoes to find and collect in the game – over 100, in fact. Terada shared the following about the thought process of making them, telling Famitsu in a recent interview:

Final Fantasy 6 HD-2D Remake

Masaaki Hayasaka, the producer of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, has expressed strong interest in seeing Final Fantasy 6 get the same treatment.

Hayasaka was asked about which game he’d like to see receive the remake treatment in an interview with Inverse. As it turns out, Final Fantasy 6 is his top choice. Interestingly, that game was actually used as a reference point for the first Octopath Traveler.

If there’s one thing fans know about Nintendo, it’s that the company focuses on gameplay over story. This even applies to The Legend of Zelda, which does have more of a plot compared to some of the company’s other major series like Super Mario.

On the topic of Zelda, series producer Eiji Aonuma has weighed in on how Nintendo approaches the story for the franchise’s games. The plot only comes about after the game design has been settled upon. That’s something we recently heard about with Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, where the gameplay was nailed down first and the story was more of a late addition.

Zelda 2D future

Nintendo has reaffirmed its commitment to 2D Zelda titles, with series producer Eiji Aonuma mentioning in a recent interview that the company’s wants “to keep this up as a contrast to the dynamic 3D games.”

Much of the hype surrounding the franchise these days has been in the 3D space. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have been two of the most acclaimed games across the entire industry. Still, it’s clear that 2D Zelda isn’t going anywhere.

Zelda Echoes of Wisdom Link speaks

According to the developers behind The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Link came close to speaking in the game.

Series producer Eiji Aonuma shared that information in a recent interview. While the original plan was to have Link speak in Echoes of Wisdom, co-director Satoshi Terada said that it didn’t feel right. Since he hadn’t really spoken in a game before, that also made things difficult. Having Tri as Zelda’s companion is ultimately where things took a shift.

Here’s what Aonuma and Terada shared in the interview, as published by Famitsu:

Phantom Brave Lost Hero interview

Nippon Ichi Software surprised fans earlier in the year by announcing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, which means the original game is finally getting a sequel after twenty years. In a recent interview, the company explained how it came to be.

Interestingly, it sounds like NIS didn’t really attempt making a sequel previously. Things were only set in motion after a western poll showed the popularity of Phantom Brave’s characters.


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