Konno and Yabuki on how F-Zero led to Mario Kart, struggling with anti-gravity in MK8, Sunshine Airport came from previous entry’s development
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
IGN has put up some new comments from Nintendo producer Hideki Konno and Mario Kart 8 director Kosuke Yabuki. The two ended up sharing interesting bits about Mario Kart’s origins, the difficulty in implementing anti-gravity for Mario Kart 8, and how the racer’s Sunshine Airport course came about from a previous entry’s development.
Continue on below for a roundup of what’s included in IGN’s report, which you can find in full here.
More: Hideki Konno, interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8, top
Mario Kart 8 director on the possibility of including characters outside of the Mario universe in future entries
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News | 3 Comments
Each entry in the Mario Kart series has adapted a fairly safe approach with the character roster. That does make a fair bit amount of sense when you think about it, as this is “Mario Kart” we’re talking about!
Still, some fans have been interested in seeing Nintendo shake the roster up by including characters outside of the Mario universe. Mario Kart 8 director Kosuke Yabuki recently commented on the possibility in an interview with Nintendo Life, telling the website:
We’re always considering ways to make the Mario Kart games more appealing, but I don’t think that just increasing the number of characters would make the game better. Of course, I’m not ruling out the possibility of such an approach in the future though.
More: interview, Kosuke Yabuki, Mario Kart 8
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed producer wanted to include Ristar on the roster
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed finally reached Japan very recently. With the game’s arrival, 4Gamer caught up with a couple of the game’s developers, including executive producer Steve Lycett.
One of Lycett’s more interesting comments came about when 4Gamer mentioned how choosing the characters must have been tough. Lycett said in response:
Selecting the characters really was difficult. Basically, one of the premises we wanted to represent in the game was a correct balance between old and new IPs from SEGA. From such a wide range of material, as well as a balance between male and female, animals, and robots, I chose not to be biased.
Lycett followed up by discussing what the criteria was in selecting characters. While talking about this, he revealed how he originally wanted to include Ristar on the roster, but things sadly didn’t work out.
Another round of Hyrule Warriors details and dev comments
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 16 Comments
Even more Hyrule Warriors details and developer comments have come out of this week’s Famitsu. Once again, the information comes from producers Hisashi Koinuma and Yosuke Hayashi as well as Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma.
Here’s the latest information from the magazine:
Koinuma on whether we’ll see a similar selection of wide-ranging characters…
“Out of all the playable characters [in Hyrule Warriors], there are some surprising characters that made us say ‘why did you pick this one?!’” added Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma.
– Koinuma said Aonuma didn’t have any requests for certain characters to be included
– Tecmo Koei took care of most of this
– He also joked that Hyrule Warriors has so many characters, that his own staff would get mad at him if he were to ask them to do something similar
– Hayashia said characters can change their weapons and have a completely different fighting style
– Weapon enhancements and character growth systems included
– The Fire Rod-type item seen in the trailer isn’t from the Zelda series
– If a rod like that existed in The Legend of Zelda, we wouldn’t be able to use it in the same way
– Weapons and other important in Hyrule Warriors are acquired through treasure chests
– Hayashi also said that the iconic treasure chest opening animation has been prepared for all of the playable characters
“This is actually a very valuable scene [in The Legend of Zelda]. And this also applies to Hyrule Warriors.” – Aonuma
– According to Hayashi, The Legend of Zelda games have very high-quality boss fights, and if Tecmo Koei were to try emulating something similar, they wouldn’t stand a chance
– Bosses will instead have a Warriors touch by having instances where you’ll face a bunch of smaller enemies to charge up your meter, then unleash a special attack on the boss
– There will also be more Zelda-like features, such as strategically using items that can be found around stages to take on the boss
Message for the fans…
Koinuma: “We plan on having Hyrule Warriors’ first playable demo at E3 this year. With E3 being the opener, we’ll be releasing more and more new information afterwards, so please look forward to it!”
Hayashi: “After watching the trailer that will be shown at E3, it would make us happy to know that you guys will get a better idea of what we’re trying to do. We’ll sequentially reveal the other playable characters, so don’t miss it!”
Aonuma: “I believe it’s safe to say that this title was born as one of the answers from thinking of a new The Legend of Zelda game. By all means, we’d love to have as many people possible enjoy this game.”
HAL Laboratory very interested in making a fully 3D Kirby game
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
VG247 has published a new interview with Kirby Triple Deluxe director Shinya Kumazaki, HAL Laboratory managing director Yurie Hattori, and the team’s public relations staff Satoshi Ishida. One of the more interesting responses came about when Kumazaki and Hattori were asked about potential interest in making a fully 3D Kirby game somewhat like Super Mario Galaxy.
Both of the Kirby devs expressed significant interest in creating such a title, with Kumazaki stating that he believes “there are also more than a few users who’d appreciate being able to freely run around a sprawling map, fighting with copy abilities.” He also said, “I hope that one of our next challenges will be to produce a Kirby game in full 3D that still maintains the same depth of play our fans have come to expect.”
Check out Kumazaki and Hattori’s complete comments below.
Yacht Club Games on Shovel Knight sequel interest
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment
Yacht Club Games’ Nick Wozniak has commented on the possibility of future Shovel Knight games.
Making a new entry – as said by the studio before – is something that the team would “love to do”. Yacht Club could explore more titles based on the 8-bit theme, though a new entry with a 16-bit style “or even a Shovel Knight 64” are also possible.
Wozniak told Red Bull:
“We don’t have any plans set in stone but we would absolutely love to do another Shovel Knight. It would make a lot of sense to do one or two more in the 8-bit style, but we would also love to do a Super Shovel Knight done in a 16-bit style. Or even a Shovel Knight 64!”
More: indie, interview, Nick Wozniak, Shovel Knight
Nintendo says it’s “hard at work on Shin Megami Tensei IV’s localization” for Europe
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News | 5 Comments
Shin Megami Tensei IV was announced for Europe during a Nintendo Direct over a year ago. Since then, we’ve barely heard a peep about the game’s release.
Despite the silence though, the 3DS RPG still seems to be planned for Europe. Nintendo France’s Stephan Bole told Le Figaro in a new interview that the company is “hard at work on the French translation of Shin Megami Tensei”.
More: Atlus, interview, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Stephan Bole, top
Rumor: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to include NFC functionality
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 11 Comments
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U might be incorporating NFC functionality, new comments from Nintendo France general director Stephan Bole suggest. Bole told Le Figaro in an interview, “The NFC will be used in the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.” While the interview is certainly trustworthy, we’ll need an official announcement before we can say this is confirmed.
More: interview, NFC, Stephan Bole, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, top
Hyrule Warriors devs talk all about the game’s origins
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 8 Comments
Siliconera has translated parts of Famitsu’s interview with the developers behind Hyrule Warriors. Supervisor Eiji Aonuma, producer Hisashi Koinuma, and producer Yosuke Hayashi discussed the game’s origins in-depth. You’ll find translations from the interview after the break.
Comcept on using Wii U and 3DS’ two screens in Mighty No. 9, DLC, sequels, working with Nintendo
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Wii U eShop | 8 Comments
Always Nintendo recently caught up with Comcept producer Nick Yu and game director Koji Imaeda to talk all things Mighty No. 9. The two commented on interest in taking advantage of the two screens offered on Wii U and 3DS, DLC, sequels, working with Nintendo, and more.
Check out those interview excerpts below:
On the Wii U/3DS’ dual screens and Miiverse…
Imaeda: Compared to other systems, the 3DS or Wii U run on two screens rather than one, and that is something I’d like us to make good use of. As for Miiverse, weeeell… I haven’t thought that one through yet. I’m sure we’ll think up a few ways of linking it with the game…
Nick: The project has only just made it out of the alpha stage, so we haven’t started working on the ports to each platform yet. That’s one of the steps we’ll be looking at from here on out. If we can get support for this from Nintendo it’s not out of the question, but for now we don’t have any plans.
On DLC plans…
Imaeda: Of course! We are crafting the game with the possibility of future DLC in mind. As for the type of DLC, we’re still trying to figure that out.
Nick: The cold reality you have to face as a producer is that Kickstarted projects come with a built-in ceiling where the budget is concerned. In other words, the amount of pledges you get during the KS campaign itself is all the budget you’re going to get. We don’t have the wiggle room to make any additional content that wasn’t promised during the campaign. However, we can get that wiggle room if the game ends up being a hit, and that’ll be a whole different story…
On possible Mighty No. 9 sequels…
Imaeda: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves! (laugh) First and foremost, we need to devote all of our time and energy into making the first game a success, so we don’t have the spare time to think about sequels! Although… the idea “if we do this in the first game, how about this or that for the second or third!” often comes up in discussions with the dev team. Everyone on the team definitely has what it takes, so I’d like to make sequels happen.
Nick: I’ve yet to meet a creator who doesn’t think about sequels! (laugh) Our Mighty No. 9 team is no exception. Depending on how well the game does, you might not only see sequels, but maybe spin-offs as well! Let’s do it, everyone!
On Comcept’s experience working with Nintendo…
Nick: It’s a little nerve-wrecking, but at the same time it’s quite an honor. I do think Nintendo has a knack for making hardware that offers unique ways to enjoy games. Making games for such systems is the ultimate creative challenge for creators, and a fun one at that. Given the opportunity, we’d love to make more games for them.
