Samus costume was proposed for Axiom Verge, but Nintendo decided against the idea
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 48 Comments
Axiom Verge takes some inspiration from Nintendo’s classic franchise Metroid. The two are very different in the end, but they do have some similarities in the gameplay department.
Interestingly, a Samus costume was proposed for Axiom Verge that would have been included in the Wii U version. Dan Adelman, who is handling the business-side of things for creator Tom Happ, said in a Reddit AMA that Nintendo “ultimately had to decide not to give us permission to do that” following “a lot of internal discussion”.
Adelman’s full words:
“We would have loved to have a secret code to have Trace where a Samus costume. Some people inside Nintendo really liked the idea, but after a lot of internal discussion, they ultimately had to decide not to give us permission to do that. I think the idea that someone could play the entire game of Axiom Verge looking like Samus Aran was too big of a concern for them.
There is a similar kind of callback, though. If you type JUSTIN BAILEY into the passcode tool, it has Trace in a leotard, just like in Super Metroid.”
By the way, Happ commented on whether an Axiom Verge amiibo was ever considered. He noted that they didn’t pursue it “since it’s an out of pocket cost that probably wouldn’t cover itself.”
More: Axiom Verge, Dan Adelman, indie, interview, Tom Happ, top
Antipole developer on publishing on Wii U, new content in Antipole DX
Posted on 8 years ago by Zack in 3DS eShop, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
In a recent interview with Real Otaku Gamer, Antipole developer Edward Di Geronimo spoke about why they decided to publish their game on the Wii U, and how much has changed between the original Antipole, a DSiWare title, and the new Antipole DX.
When asked about what kind of additional content can be expected in Antipole DX, Geronimo said this:
There’s not a lot left that’s the same! The code is largely the same, but we’ve replaced all the assets. The graphics are all new, with a pixel art style that feels like a 16-bit era game. Last time around the audio side of the game suffered due to the tight space restrictions of DSiWare. The music and sound effects are all new this time around, and are much higher quality now that we don’t have to worry about space restrictions. Players familiar with the original game will still find plenty of surprises in the DX version. The levels have all been recreated from scratch. I usually tried to stay faithful to the original designs, but there are plenty of cases where I removed or changed sections that I wasn’t happy with. I made sure to add new sections to every level, and also included several all new levels. The DX version is on track to have about 50% more rooms than the original game did.
On publishing Antipole DX on the Wii U, Geronimo had this to say:
Nintendo has been developing high quality platformer games for decades. I think their audience is highly receptive to them. They also have a core audience that’s been gaming on their systems for decades. This crowd grew up playing pixel art platformers. I think the audience is going to be very receptive toward games like Antipole DX.
You can read the full interview here.
Paper Mario: Color Splash producer on working with Wii U, limited resources in battle, giving Toads personality, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 42 Comments
USGamer recently spoke with Risa Tabata, co-producer of Paper Mario: Color Splash. During the conversation, Tabata talked about topics such as working with Wii U and having more power, limited resources in battle in the form of cards, and giving Toads personality.
Continue on below for some notable excerpts from the interview. For the full talk, visit USgamer.
Metroid Prime director on making the game, Nintendo’s influence, leaving Retro
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News | 32 Comments
Game Informer recently spoke with Mark Pacini from Armature Studio. Although some of the discussion touched on Batman: Arkham Origins – Blackgate and his new game ReCore, he also spoke quite a bit about his days at Retro and directing Metroid Prime.
One interesting anedcote was about when Retro was meeting with Shigeru Miyamoto and other folks from Nintendo’s main headquarters in Japan. After the meeting, Pacini’s boss said that they were upset with him. Why? Pacini didn’t have a pencil and paper at the meeting, so Nintendo felt he wasn’t listening. Pacini called it a “very noobie mistake” on his part, and wanted to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.
Making Metroid Prime was the toughest project for Pacini from a development standpoint and getting it completed. “I think it was just the amount of stuff we were trying to do in the time we were doing it,” he said.
More: interview, Mark Pacini, Metroid Prime, Retro Studios, top
Dragon Quest VII team on visual updates, new content and possibility of future remakes
Posted on 8 years ago by Zack in 3DS | 4 Comments
USGamer has published an interview about the Dragon Quest VII remake with the producers of the title, Yuu Miyake and Noriyoshi Fujimoto. The interview goes into the history of the Dragon Quest series and its remakes, how the Dragon Quest VII remake is unique among those and how the team has tweaked the game for its 3DS release.
On the subject of the visual redesign and improved graphics for the Dragon Quest VII remake, the producers had this to say:
DQVII has the most magic, attributes, and jobs in the series, so we really wanted to reconsider how the users could have fun with it. One of the biggest additions, one of the things we wanted to show the fans was, how fun it was to change the occupations. To enhance that, we added different animations for these characters, for critical hit motions and whenever they change occupations, so there’s unique animations for each of them. We wanted the users to enjoy and experience these types of new additions through graphics by changing jobs and adding this new element.
Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice devs on Maya’s return, strikes system, Nahyuta, fan feedback
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News | 4 Comments
Siliconera had the opportunity to send some questions to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice producer Motohide Eshiro and scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki. The two commented on Maya’s return, the change inpenalty system, Nahyuta Sahdmadhi, and fan feedback.
These excerpts can be found after the break. Head on over to Siliconera for the full interview.
Renegade Kid co-founders on shutting down the studio, updates on future plans
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 6 Comments
Earlier today, Renegade Kid co-founders Gregg Hargrove and Jools Watsham announced the closer of the studio. The two will now be in charge of their own companies, Infitizmo and Atooi respectively.
Speaking about the decision to close Renegade Kid, Watsham said:
“The video game industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years that we’ve been developing games as Renegade Kid. From the very beginning, it has always been a challenge to secure partnerships with publishers to fund the development of original games, and since the advent of self-publishing – when digital distribution became more mainstream – it has shifted our business model towards becoming more dependent on revenue instead of seeking funding from publishing partners.
As such, it has been a great financial challenge and an extreme workload for the entire team to maintain a balance between cash flow, staying competitive with our games, and spending quality time with our families and friends. Couple these realities with the desire to achieve personal goals, Gregg and I came to the difficult decision to each pursue solo ventures and close Renegade Kid.
Starting fresh with small, lean teams enables us both to focus more on less moving parts and potentially achieve better success. It puts both Atooi and Infitizmo in more advantageous positions.”
Renegade Kid may be gone, but the developer’s franchises are not. Hargrove is holding onto the 3D titles while Watsham will own the 2D franchises. Watsahm says Treasurenauts will launch next year (with news coming “very soon”), and a new game will be announced this week. Meanwhile, Hargrove mentioned that he “would love to explore Cult County.” He also stated that he would like “to expand on both Moon and Dementium in the future and there is a new mystery project in the works for the near future.”
More: Atooi, Gregg Hargrove, indie, Infitizmo, interview, Jools Watsham, Renegade Kid
Tantalus talks working with Nintendo on Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 11 Comments
Nintendo worked with a somewhat unexpected partner on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. Rather than handling the project internally, they opted to team up with Australian developer Tantalus, who also made the Wii U versions of Mass Effects and Deux Ex: Human Revolution.
Nintendo reached out to Tantalus about the two sides potentially collaborating back in 2013. About Twilight Princess HD, CEO Tom Crago said:
“Nintendo approached us. We had worked with them before on Top Gear Rally on GBA, and had remained in close contact in the intervening period. I guess they were impressed by the work we’d done on Mass Effect 3, which was a launch title on Wii U. It’s not every day someone from Nintendo asks you if you’d be interested in making a Zelda game, so definitely it was happy moment. By that stage Tantalus had shipped around thirty games on Nintendo platforms, and so certainly it felt like a natural fit. A huge thrill, but a natural fit. We worked with Nintendo very closely. A dedicated team in Kyoto worked with us throughout the duration of the project, and senior members of our team made several trips to Japan”.
By the way, in the same interview, Crago mentioned that he’s “very excited about” the NX.
Producer talks about making the Nintendo CD-i games, cancelled Mario title, and more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 19 Comments
It’s not too often that we hear about the Nintendo games made for the CD-i. And there’s good reason for that: they’re largely considered to be some of the worst titles out there. They weren’t actually created by Nintendo, as Philips handled them instead.
Philips worked with two developers on a few Nintendo games for the CD-i. There were a trio of Zelda titles, along with Hotel Mario.
Stephen Radosh was one of the people who was very involved with the Nintendo efforts on CD-i. On Hotel Mario, he was executive producer. While he wasn’t there for the initial negotiations Philips had, Nintendo was said to be quite cooperative.
Radosh told Game Informer this month:
“They could have kept saying no, and then it would have never hit the market. I was expecting nothing but combative, and I got the exact opposite.”
“I still had to get approval from Nintendo on everything, because these were their trademark characters. And anyone who owns trademark characters will tell you, you don’t want Link having sex with Zelda on the ramparts of the castle.”
More: CD-i, interview, Philips, Stephen Radosh, top
Sumo on making Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Mario Kart 7 reaction, open to another sequel
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 11 Comments
Sumo Digital worked with SEGA to release Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing in 2010. It was a racer starring Sonic and a bunch of other characters based on SEGA’s various franchises. The game was well-received, and the two companies then returned in 2012 with the sequel Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The racing was just as good, and Sumo did everything it could to make an even bigger and better game.
While reflecting on the sequel in last month’s issue of EDGE, executive producer Steve Lycett told the magazine:
“It was basically, ‘What if we had vehicles which transformed and [travelled across] land, air and sea?’ That was the initial back-of-a-fag-packet idea that became the basis of Transformed.”
“We made everything fourplayer; we made sure every single track had its own individual [style]. In a way, we almost didn’t care what Sega thought, as long as the fans were happy. We said we wanted to deliver absolutely everything we could, and we never pulled back from that, to the point where we were sneaking updates and various bits and pieces under the radar.”
