Zelda: Breath of the Wild director on breaking series conventions, developing the world, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch, Wii U | 46 Comments
Over the past couple of weeks, Famitsu and 4Gamer both conducted interviews with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi. A lot of what was said has been covered extensively in previous interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto and series producer Eiji Aonua, but there were still some noteworthy excerpts. This was also one of the first times that we actually heard from Fujibayashi about the game.
According to Fujibayashi, the developers’ main goal was to break conventions, but they weren’t sure how far they should go to do so. During development, they took a look at what was core to Zelda games, and decided it was the sense of relief you feel after solving a puzzle. So with that as a base, they tried bringing dungeon gameplay to the field, and field gameplay to the dungeons. Puzzles were created with certain solutions in mind, but left open to the possibility of being solved by using other methods. They tried to fix the parts of puzzle-solving people found boring while keeping the interesting parts intact, and changed anything they saw as “standard” to be “nonstandard.”
Nintendo on Zelda: Link to the Past – scrapped idea, working with SNES, Master Sword importance, more
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 5 Comments
It’s not often that Nintendo talks about past Zelda games. Right now, all eyes are focused on Breath of the Wild. But in this month’s issue of RetroGamer, the magazine caught up with Zelda: A Link to the Past director Takashi Tezuka and script writer Kensuke Tanabe to look back on the classic game.
Most of the comments we have are from Tezuka, who talked about the game’s structure, scrapped idea, and more. Tanabe also chimed in with Tezuka at one point to talk about the advantages of working with the SNES at the time.
Head past the break for a rundown of Tezuka and Tanabe’s comments.
Final Fantasy XV director says Switch is “kind of like the dream machine”
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 130 Comments
Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata has once again weighed in on Switch. In an interview with Polygon, Tabata called the system “kind of like the dream machine” due to it being able to accomplish several tasks.
He said:
“Given my track record… I’ve worked on handheld titles, but I’ve also worked on console games. So the fact that Switch is both at the same time is really fascinating to me. I’m really interested in coming up with ideas and how to capitalize on that technology and how to create the best experience possible on the technology. But I’m not quite sure that I have it yet.
“You have your Switch sitting in front of the television and you’re playing on the big screen and then you take it out, put it down on the table. It becomes a monitor. You take out the two Joy-Cons, and you play with a friend … it doesn’t stop there, because in my mind, it would be really perfect if you could then take this new monitor and use it like a tablet, for example, and play different apps on it like you would on your iPhone or your Android. So basically, it’s accomplishing three tasks in one machine. It’s kind of like the dream machine.”
“While I may not be working on anything for it at this point in time, a lot of people on the staff are really interested in the Switch. Myself included! Many of the people on the dev team are older; they’re married; they have kids. One of the things they’d like to do is create something they could also play with their children, or that their children could play on their own, for example.”
More: Final Fantasy XV, interview, Square Enix
Pokemon president talks Switch
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 61 Comments
Pokemon president Tsunekazu Ishihara was recently interviewed by Japanese outlet Toyo Keizai. At the end of the talk, the discussion turned to Switch.
First, Ishihara was asked about his thoughts on the system. He started out by saying that he knew about it years ago and witnessed its various “twists and turns.” His feeling is that Nintendo finally revealed the system. In Ishihara’s opinion, the important factor will be making best use of HD Rumble.
More: interview, Pokemon, top, Tsunekazu Ishihara
Bethesda’s Todd Howard “can’t say” whether Skyrim on Switch is the original game or remaster
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 115 Comments
Two versions of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim exist. There’s the original game from 2011, as well as the Special Edition remaster from 2016. We know that the RPG is in development for Switch, but in what form is currently unknown.
Unfortunately, Bethesda’s Todd Howard isn’t providing any new insight. Polygon asked about the Switch release, but was told that Howard “can’t say” whether it will be the original Skyrim or remaster.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is planned to hit Switch this fall. Hopefully we’ll get a clearer answer about the game before then.
Aonuma shares his top three Zelda games, most underrated entry
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 92 Comments
In conjunction with its month-long coverage on Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Game Informer asked series producer Eiji Aonuma about his three favorite games in the series.
He ranked Twilight Princess third “because I wanted to create something better than Ocarina.” Ocarina of Time was next, which he says “is a game that gave me the opportunity to create a 3D world.” Finally, he picked Phantom Hourglass as his top choice.
More: Eiji Aonuma, interview, The Legend of Zelda, top
Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D creator on why the game took so long to make
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 0 comments
It’s taken awhile, but Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D is finally here. The game launches in North America tomorrow, and soon after in Europe.
We’ve been waiting a long time for Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D to say the least. It was first announced in June 2012, so it’s been almost five years since then.
In a new interview, creator Keith Webb explains why the project took so long:
“Yep, we did begin the development process a good few years back, but, as always, life gets in the way, and both myself, and the programming team, had to take other jobs to keep us ticking over whilst we worked on this in the background – evenings, holidays and weekends, that sort of thing. To cut down the dev time, we pondered just creating a simple, no frills port of the original, but I really wanted to include brand new content and create something special for the fans!”
“In the back of my mind I always knew it would eventually be completed, as the chance to bring it to the 3DS was too great an opportunity to miss. My main concern was that the 3DS would have been completely phased out by the time it was finished, but thankfully that hasn’t been the case! It looks like the 3DS still has a bit of life left in it these days, with several exciting titles coming down the line, so it’s still a relevant and exciting piece of hardware. The Switch doesn’t appear to be a direct competitor to it either, just yet, so there’s plenty of opportunity for both to co-exist in the immediate future, which is great news for everyone!”
Nintendo France on Switch sales expectations, games, 3DS
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Switch | 60 Comments
Gamekult has a new interview up with Nintendo France’s Philippe Lavoue. Among other things, Lavoue discussed sales expectations for Switch.
So far, Nintendo is seeing pre-orders similar to those of Wii in France. The company also expects to sell 800,000 units this year, which would be the lifetime sales of Wii U. That includes 95,000 units on day one with a near 100 percent conversion rate with Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Gray is currently more popular than the neon option at the moment. However, Lavoue thinks things will ultimately shift in the opposite direction.
More: interview, Philippe Lavoué, sales
Nintendo “pushed pretty hard” to have Ultimate Chicken Horse on Switch, dev says
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 6 Comments
As was recently announced, Ultimate Chicken Horse is heading to consoles. That thankfully includes Switch. We have Nintendo to thank for it happening (at least partially), since the game’s developer says the big N “pushed pretty hard” for it to happen.
In an interview with Just Pause, Clever Endeavour Games CEO Richard Atlas said:
“The Switch has been an obvious choice for UCH (Ultimate Chicken Horse) since we started hearing rumors of it as the NX. Nintendo is traditionally quite closed about information and working with indies, but they’re doing a better job now and have pushed pretty hard for us to come out on Switch. Now that the information about the console is public, it’s easy to tell why the game is perfect for a party system like theirs.”
Ultimate Chicken Horse should be on Switch this summer if all goes well.
Miyamoto, Aonuma on Zelda and fan feedback
Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 83 Comments
Update (2/20): Here’s the embed version:
Original (2/17): Game Informer once again has a feature on Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Today, the magazine caught up with Shigeru Miyamoto and series producer Eiji Aonuma to chat about fan feedback.
You can watch the interview for yourself right here. We should have an embed option within the next couple of days.
