A recent issue of Nintendo Dream contained a new developer interview for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and one section touched on Zelda herself. The magazine discussed her specific story in the game as well as her character and growth, her new hairstyle, and more with director Hidemaro Fujibayashi.

We’ve gone ahead and translated the excerpt below. Just keep in mind that there is a light spoiler touching on one of the cutscenes, though only briefly.

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Sonic Frontiers success helped pave the way for bigger updates

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

Sonic Frontiers received a few free updates, ending with The Final Horizon in September. It’s thanks to the fans that the game received as much post-launch content as it did.

In an interview with Famitsu, director Morio Kishimoto and producer Sachiko Kawamura spoke about how plans were expanded following strong sales and positive player feedback. You can read our translation about that below.

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Super Mario Bros. composer on first game’s music, Mario movie, more

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

NHK published an interview with Koji Kondo, who has been composing music for the Super Mario Bros. games since the very first entry on the NES. The discussion delved into various topics including his work on the first title, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and more.

Given how rare it is to see Kondo involved with such an in-depth interview, we went ahead and translated the full talk. You can read it below.

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Super Mario Bros. composer on making of Ground Theme

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

In an interview with NHK, longtime Super Mario Bros. composer Koji Kondo discussed the original game’s music and the making of the Ground Theme.

Kondo spoke with the outlet about how his first go at the track was scrapped. That’s because when it came to the actual gameplay and not just more of a still image that he initially saw, “the rhythm of that song didn’t really match.” Kondo also mentioned his overall goal for the game, which was to “create enjoyable music never seen before using only three notes.”

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Falcon on developing Ys X for Switch alongside PlayStation

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

Ys X: Nordics is a bit of a landmark release for Falcom as it’s the first time that the company’s Switch version launched alongside the PlayStation release. Of course, we’re referring to Japan here – NIS America tends to bring everything over to North America and Europe later.

Toshihiro Kondo spoke about developing Ys X for both Switch and PlayStation in a recent interview with Joshin Web. Falcom kept Nintendo’s console in mind from the beginning, and this version was actually completed first. Kondo did also pointed out how the company needed to consider Switch’s specs in mind during development.

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Spike Chunsoft on Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island origins

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is coming to Switch next year, and you can say that the fans helped make it happen.

In an interview with Famitsu, Spike Chunsoft said that Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate received strong support from fans and sold well. This helped paved the way for the new project, which will be the first new mainline entry in over a decade.

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Nintendo of America boss on crunch, not pressuring teams

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has again commented on crunch, and reconfirmed that the company doesn’t pressure its teams to meet a certain deadline.

Bowser was asked about the subject in a recent interview with Inverse. The site brought up the recent news topic about how the Super Mario Bros. Wonder development team wasn’t given a deadline during its prototype stage.

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder devs took inspiration from how 3D Mario games are made

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

In Nintendo’s latest interview for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the team spoke about taking inspiration from how 3D Mario games are made.

Producer Takashi Tezuka spoke about a “crisis” as the project began stemming from the thought that 2D Mario games might be too tough for some to complete. Tezuka said the team “started to think about what we could do to make players want to advance”. This led to Nintendo considering more freedom and using 3D Mario titles “as a reference point”, according to designer Koichi Hayashida.

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder originally had live commentary with optional Tsundere version

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

The developers behind Super Mario Bros. Wonder have revealed that the game originally had live commentary, and players would be able to choose between a “generic” voice or a Tsundere version. That news was shared in an official interview that went up today.

Game designer Koichi Hayashida said that Nintendo spent around six months of serious development on the concept. During the game, players would be able to hear voices that matched their actions. But the idea ultimately didn’t feel right to the team and there would have been a lot of work involved for voice variations. The original concept was scrapped, but the idea lives on with the Talking Flowers.

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder devs on how the Rolla Koopas came to be

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 0 comments

The developers behind Super Mario Bros. Wonder have opened up about the origins of the Rolla Koopas. This comes from Nintendo’s new interview that went out today.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder features a number of new enemies, and Rolla Koopas are a new take on the classic foe. Koichi Hayashida, one of the main game designers, mentioned how during the making of Super Mario World, the developers talked about changing up the look of the Koopa Troopas. That’s something the current Super Mario Bros. Wonder team tried again. Art director Masanobu Sato said “one of the designers came up with the idea of making the Koopa Troopas roll around on roller skates” – and you can check out some concept art above.