Reggie on the state of Nintendo, sales, focus on quality rather than quantity
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Videos, Wii U | 3 Comments
More: interview, Reggie Fils-Aime, top
Sakurai again comments on clone characters in Smash Bros., roster approach
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 30 Comments
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has once again commented on some of the clone characters in the new Wii U and 3DS games. He was asked to touch on the difference between clone characters like Marth and Lucina versus alternative costumes such as the Koopalings for Bowser Jr.
Below are his full comments on the matter:
“With regards to Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, Marth vs. Lucina, there are reasons for each. Lucina was the first to be split-off, this is because we made Marth’s moves more standard so he could be easy to handle by novice players.”
“However, any character which gained some uniqueness through their balancing needed to be separated so their results and statistics could be counted properly. It wouldn’t have been fair to have the results counted together even though their strengths differ between the variations. In the end, what was needed for each of these changes was to reduce the work required to balance the game.”
“Hence all these characters were adjusted relative to their clone. For example, Marth and Lucina would only be tested against each other, until they were roughly equal and in balance.”
Sakurai explains why Ridley isn’t a fighter in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 101 Comments
Ridley is in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but he isn’t playable. The well-known Metroid villain only appears in the Pyrosphere stage.
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai was recently asked by IGN why Ridley isn’t playable in the new Smash Bros. Here’s his explanation:
“I definitely know that Ridley’s a much-anticipated name for fans, but if we made Ridley as a fighter, it wouldn’t be Ridley any longer. It’d have to be shrunk down, or its wings reduced in size, or be unable to fly around freely.”
“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to. If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”
Sakurai continued by noting Ridley’s presence in the Pyrosphere stage, which he felt would be more appropriate.
“Instead of going through a lot of very convoluted hocus-pocus to make Ridley a fighter, I figured it’d be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the correct way, and have it feel like a truly threatening presence. There are other icons, too, like Metal Face and the Yellow Devil, which help effectively portray each of their world settings. They go a long way toward deepening the game world, and I think it’s been fun to experiment with.”
Sakurai on how the amiibo support in Smash Bros. came to be, involvement with the figures
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 2 Comments
IGN has another round of quotes from Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, this time focusing on amiibo. Sakurai discussed the origins of amiibo support in Smash Bros., how involved he was with the figure designs, and more.
Head past the break for the full comments.
Sakurai on why Mewtwo isn’t paid DLC in Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 17 Comments
Mewtwo is coming to Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS, but the character isn’t paid DLC. So long as players have both versions of the game, they can obtain Mewtwo at no extra cost.
Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai explained to IGN why the character doesn’t require an extra payment:
“As for why Mewtwo isn’t paid content from the start, releasing that character is an experiment meant to act as a foothold in content distribution; thus it’s simply meant as part of the service we’re providing to gamers.”
Sakurai also clarified the following before speaking on Mewtwo specifically:
“Creating a single fighter involves a huge investment, and we’ve already been giving it our all and investing a lot of work in the characters currently available in the game, and I think it’s an incredible package in terms of the sheer amount of content in the game. But it might be that people may not understand and may think that I am not offering enough just by looking at DLC itself.”
Sakurai: No premium Smash Bros. DLC currently planned, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 28 Comments
Videogamer has posted a new interview with Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai fielded questions about paid downloadable content for the Wii U and 3DS games, plus much more. Read on below for the Q&A.
Mario Kart 8 director on choices behind the Nintendo DLC tracks, small tweak to improve lightweight racers
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments
Another interview with Mario Kart 8 director Kosuke Yabuki has popped up online – this time from GameSpot. Yabuki was asked about how the team decided on the Nintendo franchises for DLC tracks, revealed a small tweak made to improve the lightweight racers for collisions, and more.
Read on below for some excerpts from GameSpot’s interview. You can find the full thing here.
More: interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top
Mario Kart 8 director on the game’s DLC
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment
IGN passed along a few questions to Mario Kart 8 director Yasuke Kabuki as part of a new interview. Kabuki talked all about the racer’s DLC, and a tiny bit about amiibo.
Read on below for IGN’s full Q&A. Be sure to check out the site’s full article here.
More: Amiibo, DLC, interview, Mario Kart 8, top, Yasuke Kabuki
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker devs on the game’s creation
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 9 Comments
Polygon recently caught up with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker director Koichi Hayashida and producer Shinya Hiratake. The two spoke about how the game came to be, and shared plenty of development information.
Read on below for a summary of the interview. Also be sure to check out Polygon’s full piece here.
Hayashida on how Captain Toad came about…
“We began with Super Mario 64. While Super Mario 64 was quite an interesting game, we heard that roughly 20 percent of gamers found it too difficult,” he said, brandishing a copy of the Nintendo 64 game. We kept that comment that the game was too challenging and made games like Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World with that in mind.”
– In making 3D Land and 3D World, the team felt it was getting away from a fundamental design principle that made Mario 64 so special
– This was the idea that the levels were a sort of “diorama” or a “garden in a box”
– The studio was able to get back to that idea with the Captain Toad stages in 3D World
Hayashida on how Miyamoto suggested making Captain Toad into its own game…
“At the completion of 3D World, Mr. Miyamoto said, ‘That worked well; I think we should create a single spin-off title just featuring Captain Toad.’ The start of the conversation was, ‘Let’s take a lot of the elements that we have in 3D World and incorporate them’ into what eventually became Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.”
– The team started out by making 100 stages
– Two issues: Toad couldn’t jump, and they were still basically making Mario stages
– Action felt limited without being able to jump
– Since Toad can’t jump, this also means enemies are overpowered
– The team addressed this with the plucking action, and by implementing some stealth
– The process of making a level begins with what mechanics/gimmick they’re interested in
– Stage set in the haunted house was originally a puzzle stage
– The two devs wouldn’t confirm/deny a similar approach of making more Nintendo spin-offs with other franchises
“When we were doing 3D World and creating these diorama-style worlds… we tested them using Mario as playable character. Because Mario has ability to jump, the types of stages we came up with became impossibly large. Mario made those stages too big, which broke our whole goal, so… it worked out that we had this character there.” – Hayashida
