Sakamoto on Chozo inspiration, MercurySteam’s understanding of Metroid, remaking Metroid II
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 0 comments
Metroid: Samus Returns producer and series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto has been fielding media interviews since the title’s initial showing at E3 last month. This includes TIME, who has some choice words from Sakamoto.
Among his remarks, Sakamoto touched on what inspired Chozo and the overall aesthetic. And for Samus Returns specifically, he discussed working with MercurySteam and the studio’s true understanding of the franchise. Sakamoto also further commented on why it’s the right time to remake Metroid II.
Find these excerpts from Sakamoto below. You can read TIME’s full piece here for a few more comments.
Sine Mora EX dev on the new co-op mode
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
The shoot ’em up Sine Mora EX originally debuted back in 2012. THQ Nordic is now reviving the game for new platforms, including Switch.
One of the new features in Sine Mora EX is a co-op mode. Two players will be able to experience the full story mode together at once.
In an interview with Nintendo UK, localizer and designer Brandon Sheffield talked about how the team is going about including co-op:
“Narratively, it doesn’t make sense to have two ships because the story is basically broken if there’s more than one ship on screen, because you’re the pilot and somebody else is talking to you from somewhere else, because they’re doing something else. The whole thing about this game is most of these actions take place simultaneously and so you wind up hearing the same conversation again because then you’re the other person that was involved in that incident.
So the second player essentially plays as a drone. It plays differently from the main ship as well. If it gets hit, it doesn’t have its own life bar, it loses you time. And it works pretty well, it’s about as natural as you can make it and it’s obviously fun to play games together. And you know, obviously with Nintendo Switch, players want to have multiplayer experiences that can be enjoyed on one screen or in tabletop mode.”
More: Brandon Sheffield, interview, Sine Mora EX, THQ Nordic
MotoGP dev considering Switch support going forward
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
MotoGP 17 isn’t on Switch. That being said, the system could get future entries starting with next year’s release.
Red Bull asked lead programmer Michele Caletti if MotoGP 17 was ever considered for Switch. Caletti explained that the game was built “without Switch in mind” due to development kits being unavailable until the late stages of development. However, thanks to Switch’s support of Unreal Engine 4, Switch could end up being supported starting with MotoGP 18.
Caletti’s full words:
“MotoGP 17 is the last title made with our in-house engine. Future titles might also be available on Switch, thanks to the support of Unreal Engine, so it’s something possible from the next year on.
The development kits for Switch have been available during the late development phase of MotoGP, thus all the assets and game modes have been created without Switch in mind. Porting it now would end up with something that would not satisfy us and our users. We prefer to concentrate our efforts on building a great Switch version for the next chapter of the series.”
More: interview, Michele Caletti, Milestone, MotoGP
Dylan Cuthbert worked on a DS game that was 90% complete before being canned, was “one of Miyamoto’s pet projects”
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in DS, News | 16 Comments
It took more than two decades, but Star Fox 2 is finally seeing the day of light after so many years. Nintendo will be including the game on the Super NES Classic Edition later this year.
Dylan Cuthbert was among the developers who worked on Star Fox 2 way back in the day. As it turns out, that isn’t the only game Nintendo put on hold after it was so close to completion.
In an interview with Gamasutra, Cuthbert vaguely spoke about a DS game – apparently “one of Miyamoto’s pet projects” – that was 90 percent complete:
“There is a game we worked on with Nintendo, one of Miyamoto’s pet projects for the DS, but apart from that I can’t divulge anything. It got canceled at about a 90% state of completion but didn’t go through Mario Club or the QA process. It was a pretty interesting project!”
Sadly, Cuthbert didn’t say anything else about the project. That only leaves us to speculate as to what the game was and why Nintendo put the breaks on it.
More: Dylan Cuthbert, interview, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
MercurySteam says it’s been “an incredible honor” working with Nintendo on Metroid: Samus Returns
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 14 Comments
MercurySteam is partnering with Nintendo for the first time on Metroid: Samus Returns. Enric Alvarez, the head of MercurySteam, only had good things to say about the relationship, telling GameReactor that it’s “been an amazing experience and an incredible honor.”
Here are some select quotes from the interview.
“It has been an amazing experience and an incredible honor. We learned a lot from the best, Nintendo. These days, we often pinch ourselves just in case we are in a dream.”
“We have been working with the best. I think this explains pretty much everything about how things went during the development. We were very impressed about the devotion, the care and the quality Nintendo treats the product, and we learned a lot from that.”
“Long time fans are going to be extremely pleased. The game is the result of both, on one hand is a Nintendo game, a Metroid game, and on the other hand, I think people will see the MercurySteam influence.”
You can hear Alvarez speaking about Metroid: Samus Returns and MercurySteam working with Nintendo towards the end of the video below.
Nintendo on choosing the games for the SNES Classic Edition, was “difficult” to release Super FX Chip titles on VC
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 37 Comments
Famitsu sent Nintendo a few questions about the newly-announced Super NES Classic Edition / Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom. The publication was able to get a couple of answers from the company about its new hardware.
First, Famitsu asked how the games were chosen for the Super NES Classic Edition overseas and the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom in Japan. Nintendo explained:
“It depends on the game’s popularity, whether people were familiar with it, and number of units sold. We carefully hand picked each title to ensure the game lineup appealed to a large audience, so it makes the SNES Classic an easy purchase.”
Level-5 considering past projects for Switch, making Katrielle the new protagonist of Layton, Phoenix Wright crossover
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Switch | 22 Comments
Another new interview is in with Akihiro Hino. This time, GameSpot is the latest outlet to have spoken with the Level-5 CEO. Topics include potentially bringing past projects to Switch, why Katrielle is the new protagonist of the Layton series (and whether or not she’s really Professor Layton’s daughter), and reminiscing on Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
Find these excerpts from the interview below. You can read GameSpot’s full interview here.
Lost Sphear director on making improvements from I Am Setsuna, length, putting it on Switch
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 9 Comments
It wasn’t too long ago that Square Enix and Tokyo RPG Factory announced Lost Sphear. The game was showcased at E3 earlier this month, and Kotaku also conducted an interview with director Atsushi Hashimoto. Hashimoto discussed how the team is making improvements from I Am Setsuna, the game’s length, and having it on Switch.
Read on below for some comments from Hashimoto. Check out the full article on Kotaku here.
Miyamoto on Mario – letting other devs work with the IP, New Donk City worries, not interested in remakes, more
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 27 Comments
IGN has a lengthy new piece with Shigeru Miyamoto all about Mario. Miyamoto talked about letting other developers handle the IP, his initial worries with how players would react to New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey, and not wanting to remake older games.
We’ve picked out some notable quotes below. The full article with more comments from IGN is located here.
More: interview, Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, top
Sonic Forces devs on the custom character system, development started before Mania, more
Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 3 Comments
A new Sonic Forces interview has gone up on Nintendo UK’s website. Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and producer Shun Nakamura participated in the discussion.
We have some highlights from the interview below. Iizuka and Nakamura spoke about how Sonic Forces isn’t a sequel to Sonic Generations, the custom character system, appealing to all types of players with this game and Mania, and fans comparing New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey to Sonic Adventure.
