Monolith Soft reflects on moving from Namco to Nintendo
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 31 Comments
Monolith Soft wasn’t always a Nintendo studio. The company was more closely tied with Namco, but became a Nintendo subsidiary in 2007.
As part of Monolith Soft’s overhauled website, an interview was published with co-founder and executive producer Hirohide Sugiura. A portion of the talk covered Monolith Soft shifting from Namco to Nintendo, and what that whole situation was like. You can read the translation below, courtesy of Siliconera.
More: Hirohide Sugiura, interview, Monolith Soft, top
Grant Kirkhope thinks you’ll be surprised by Mario + Rabbids’ soundtrack, lots of orchestrated music
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 8 Comments
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has a huge musical talent on board in Grant Kirkhope. Kirkhope worked on many N64 classics back in the day, including Banjo-Kazooie. He’s also more recently been involved with the likes of Yooka-Laylee.
In this month’s issue of GamesMaster, Kirkhope talked about his approach to making music for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. Instead of trying to emulate Nintendo’s style with Mario music, he instead “had to try to come up with some kind of way of getting that crazy Rabbids thing into this Mario game – and a little bit of me in there as well”. The game may start out sounding a bit “Nintendo-ish”, but later evolves, and Kirkhope believes that players will be surprised as they reach the end.
Kirkhope told GamesMaster:
Psyonix on bringing Rocket League to Switch, port was solidified in April, no answers on voice chat, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 19 Comments
Last week, Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham stopped by IGN’s Nintendo Voice Chat show for a lengthy discussion about Rocket League. Dunham went in-depth about the process of putting the game on Switch, and shared quite a lot of interesting information.
For a while, Psyonix was unsure if Rocket League would be on Switch since the system’s architecture is different from the likes of PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. But the team is happy due to the warm reception. Nintendo has also shown continued excitement in having the game on its console, and Dunham says they’ve been “fantastic to work with.”
More: interview, Jeremy Dunham, Psyonix, Rocket League, top
Sakamoto wants to make another 2D Metroid if given the opportunity and fans are interested
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 63 Comments
Metroid: Samus Returns isn’t entirely new, but it’s still technically the first 2D entry in the series we’ve had in years. Before the 3DS remake, it wasn’t until Metroid: Zero Mission on the Game Boy Advance that Nintendo revisited the 2D gameplay.
Fans will be happy to hear that series producer Yoshio Sakamoto still wants to work on the series going forward. In this month’s issue of Game Informer, Sakamoto said that he’d love to make another 2D Metroid so long as the opportunity presents itself and the fans show interest. Part of this seems to be based on Samus Returns’ reception – and the amount of people purchasing the game.
Sakamoto said:
“Through the development of Metroid: Samus Returns, I was able to really grasp the possibility and fun of a 2D Metroid. Like when I finished the first game, if there is another opportunity to make another Metroid, that is something that I would love to do. Of course, that really depends on how much people really want to buy a 2D Metroid.”
More: interview, Metroid, top, Yoshio Sakamoto
Fire Emblem devs on how the “Battle of Revolution” April Fools’ Day joke came to be
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 9 Comments
Earlier this week, we made note of an interview Nintendo Dream conducted this summer with the developers of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. In the same interview, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems talked about the “Battle of Revolution” April Fools’ Day joke that took place earlier this year.
It was kind of surprising to see Nintendo go all out with fabricating a game like that. A site was set up, and various images and details were created just for the joke. Basically, Battle of Revolution was imagined as a NES-style game set in the late Edo period of Japan.
Nintendo’s Hitoshi Yamagami and Kenta Nakanishi as well as Intelligent Systems’ Toshiyuki Kusakihara and Masahiro Higuchi discussed Battle of Revolution and how it came to be. It’s an interesting read, with the excerpt posted below. You can also read the full interview on Kantopia.
SEGA on Sonic Mania’s origins, why DLC isn’t planned, much more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 68 Comments
Sonic Mania launched around the world this past week. Right around the release, Japanese site Gamer spoke with series producer Takashi Iizuka from SEGA. Iizuka spoke about how Sonic Mania came to be, why DLC currently isn’t in the works, and how the special stages weren’t initially planned… plus more. Note: light spoilers follow towards the very end of the post.
More: Headcannon, interview, PagodaWest Games, SEGA, Sonic Mania, Takashi Iizuka, Tantalus, top
Game Freak on the Pokemon anime boosting Pikachu’s popularity, was hesitant about Pokemon speaking their own names
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 15 Comments
One of the most popular Pokemon around is Pikachu. In an interview with Game Informer, Game Freak co-founder Junichi Masuda said that Pikachu was able to catch on with fans thanks to the anime and being Ash’s partner.
Masuda added that Game Freak didn’t go out of its way for Pikachu to be the face of Pokemon. It was anime production company OLM Inc. who thought it would make sense to put the creature front and center.
Masuda said:
More: Game Freak, interview, Junichi Masuda, Pokemon, top
EA Worldwide Studios executive VP was initially “puzzled” after seeing Switch, says “it’s a pretty special machine”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 81 Comments
In the latest issue of EDGE, EA Worldwide Studios executive vice president Patrick Söderlund spoke about the possibility of the company further supporting Switch. The same interview also had some talk about Söderlund and Switch on a more personal level.
EDGE asked Söderlund if Switch has blindsided the games industry, in particular due to how Wii U performed. His response was “a little”, before adding that he was “puzzled” by the system when he first saw it. Söderlund admitted though that Nintendo probably understood something he didn’t, and now feels that it’s “a pretty special machine”.
Söderlund said:
More: EA, interview, Patrick Soderlund
Fire Emblem Echoes devs – realistic proportions will carry over into the Switch game, why Alm is left-handed, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch | 27 Comments
The July 2017 issue of Nintendo Dream had a massive interview about Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Producer Hitoshi Yamagami (Nintendo), director Kenta Nakanishi (Nintendo), director Toshiyuki Kusakihara (Intelligent Systems), and producer Masahiro Higuchi (Intelligent Systems) participated in the discussion.
Among the topics discussed were the use of realistic proportions (which will be carried over into the upcoming Switch title), why Alm is left-handed, and a whole lot more. We’ve picked out some of the notable excerpts below. You can read the full interview on Kantopia.
Pokemon devs would like to see a Rhydon racing spin-off, new kind of action game
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 32 Comments
Game Informer’s latest piece of Pokemon coverage is all about Pokemon spin-offs. Game Freak co-founder, director, and producer Junichi Masuda and Pokemon Sun/Moon director Shigeru Ohmori were both asked about their favorite ones.
As for Masuda, he went with Pokemon GO, though he’s unsure if it’s actually a spin-off game. Ohmori went with Pokemon Snap. He said that one of the best aspects of the N64 title was printing out the photos in real life.
