ARMS – Nintendo character models used during development, Barq originally imagined as a support item
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 7 Comments
A recent issue of Famitsu contained an interview with Kosuke Yabuki, the producer of ARMS. Much of what was said has been covered in interviews that have appeared over the past few weeks, but there were a couple of highlights we wanted to mention.
First, during development, Nintendo temporarily used 3D models of characters such as Mario, Link and some others. But because their heights didn’t fit well with gameplay, they decided to use Wii Fit Trainer who is taller. She has well-trained muscles and it was easier to differentiate each part of her body. It was a good fit as your character or your opponent.
More: Arms, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, top
Nintendo not specifically making games for eSports, Doug Bowser on what went right with Switch and third-parties
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 43 Comments
alistdaily published its own interview with Doug Bowser, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America. Among other things, Bowser weighed in on eSports, Switch’s success, and the status of third-parties now that the system is catching on with consumers.
You can read these excerpts below. alistdaily has the full discussion here.
More: Doug Bowser, interview
Mario Odyssey director on having Mario travel the world, says he’s human, considering “many characters”, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 11 Comments
Vice recently spoke with Super Mario Odyssey director Kenta Motokura. Motokura talked about why Mario is traveling the world in this game, noted that Nintendo is considering “many characters” for the game including potentially Luigi, and more. The developer also confirmed that Mario is human even though he may look out of place in New Donk City.
We’ve picked out the notable highlights from Vice’s interview below. For the full discussion, head on over here.
More: interview, Kenta Motokura, Super Mario Odyssey, top
Yacht Club “would love” to make a Shovel Knight 3D platformer and have the character in Smash Bros.
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 24 Comments
After the final round of content for Shovel Knight is wrapped up highlighted by the King Knight campaign, you can count on Yacht Club Games taking a break from the series for a little while. If and when the studio does return to the IP though, one possibility could see Shovel Knight entering the 3D space with a N64-type game.
This is something we’ve heard Yacht Club talk a bit about before, but the studio’s Nick Wozniak really seems interested in the idea. Wozniak stated the following when asked by AppTrigger where he’d like to see the franchise be taken next:
“Anything? I think one of the things we want to work on in the far future is definitely like a Shovel Knight 64, a 3D platformer. We would all love that. We all love Mario 64 to pieces and would just love to be able to jump into that.”
Sakamoto on Chozo inspiration, MercurySteam’s understanding of Metroid, remaking Metroid II
Posted on 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 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.”
