SEGA not surprised by initial reaction to Sonic Frontiers, no plans for a delay
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
SEGA finally unveiled the first gameplay from Sonic Frontiers this month. Unfortunately, the fan reaction wasn’t too positive. Fans weren’t impressed with what was shown, which even resulted in #DelaySonicFrontiers trending on Twitter for a bit.
VGC recently was able to speak with Sonic Team studio head Takashi Iizuka, and asked about the reaction. Iizuka said that it wasn’t “that surprising” given how the open zone format is such a different take for the series, but feels players will get a better understanding once they try it out for themselves.
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic Frontiers, top
Original Pokemon games almost didn’t have multiplayer battles
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
According to Pokemon producer Shigeki Morimoto, the original entries in the series almost left out multiplayer battles.
That news comes from a Japanese Pokedex book from 1996, which was recently translated by Did You Know Gaming. Morimoto mentioned how he thought multiplayer battles “would be a pain to program”. Additionally, Game Freak was running out of time. Nintendo, however, essentially demanded for the feature to be included.
Sonic Team creative officer still wants to make a new Sonic Adventure
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments
Takashi Iizuka, the creative officer of Sonic Team, has again expressed interest in revisiting the Sonic Adventure titles with a new game.
This isn’t the first time Iizuka has commented on revisiting those prior entries. In 2018 for instance, he mentioned that he’d be up for a remake.
More: interview, SEGA, Sonic Adventure, Takashi Iizuka, top
Nintendo on how Spocco Square was created for Switch Sports
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Although Nintendo Switch Sports is naturally about the sports themselves, the game introduces a new setting in the form of Spocco Square. In an interview shared today, the developers explained how the setting came to be.
Interestingly, Spocco Square wasn’t the original plan. Art director Junji Morii said Nintendo considered going with “a place where intercollegiate sports are played as well as a setting that looks like an ancient Olympian stadium.” In the end though, “none of them seemed to match the feelings that players would experience playing this game.” That led to the teaming coming up with “a gym where people could drop by more casually, with a stylish facility that makes everyone want to visit.”
Nintendo reveals early Switch Sports character concepts
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Nintendo has provided a look at early character concepts that were considered for Nintendo Switch Sports with brand new concept art.
While the game ultimately has human-looking characters and Miis, the team almost went in a different direction. Early on, college students were considered. There was even talk of using robots that made it to the prototype stage.
Developers Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita, Shinji Okane, and Junji Morii revealed the following regarding character concepts for Nintendo Switch Sports:
Nintendo explains why Switch Sports took so long to come out
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
A bit over five years into the Switch’s lifecycle, we finally saw the arrival of Nintendo Switch Sports. The announcement took many by surprise as some thought this would be the type of title we’d see earlier on.
Director Yoshikazu Yamashita and producer Takayuki Shimamura explained the long wait in a just-published interview on Nintendo’s website. According to Yamashita, Yoshiaka Koizumi requested a new entry in the Wii Sports series. However, Yamashita felt “that there weren’t any sports left to be added.” That led the team to create gameplay “without swinging the Joy-Con controller”, but “it didn’t go well in the end”. After realizing they took the wrong direction, years passed and Nintendo went back to the drawing board.
Here’s the full excerpt from the interview:
Tantalus talks Zelda: Skyward Sword HD development challenges and more
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Tantalus has opened up about the development of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on Switch, including the challenges involved.
CEO Tom Crago discussed the game on a recent episode of the Fragments of Silicon podcast. To start out, he commented on the technical challenges. Tantalus ended up boosting the resolution and frame rate, as Skyward Sword HD runs at 60 FPS and a maximum resolution of 1080p.
Chrono Cross producer on why the remaster happened and challenges, future, more
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition finally saw the return of classic RPG after two decades, and producer Koichiro Sakamoto spoke about the remaster during a lengthy interview.
Square Enix recently published the discussion with Sakamoto on its site. In it, he commented on why this was the right time for Chrono Cross to return (and revealed that work started with the 20th anniversary in mind), the challenges involved with the remaster, the future of the Chrono series, and more.
Below is the full interview:
Nintendo hasn’t approached Tantalus about bringing Zelda: Twilight Princess HD to Switch
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments
There are a few first-party Wii U games left that fans are hoping will be brought to Switch, including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. Thus far though, it has yet to happen.
Tantalus – the team behind Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – originally worked on Twilight Princess HD for its release on Wii U in 2016. However, according to CEO Tom Crago, the company hasn’t asked the company to work on a Switch port yet.
Live A Live dev on how long the remake has been in the works and more
Posted on 2 years ago by Jarop(@gamrah) in News, Switch | 0 comments
In a recent interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu, original Live A Live director Takashi Tokita spoke about how the team made the upcoming Switch release a reality.
In addition to explaining how the remake ended up in HD-2D, Tokita spoke about the game’s short development cycle, which began at the beginning of 2019 and continued through the pandemic.
Our translation of his full comments can be found below.
