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interview

Earlier in the year, Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream published an interview with Phantasy Star series producer Satoshi Sakai and director Keisuke Nakamura. The two participated in an interesting chat all about Phantasy Star Online 2 Cloud for Switch. They spoke about bringing the series back to Nintendo platforms after the decade, the decision to make the cloud version for Switch, working with Nintendo on the Link collaboration, and more.

We’ve readied a full translation of Nintendo Dream’s interview with Sakai and Nakamura. Continue on below to read it in full.

Koei Tecmo has extensive experience working with Nintendo characters when it comes to its Warriors games. Both Zelda and Fire Emblem received their own games. Producer Masaki Furusawa says Nintendo representation was considered for Warriors Orochi 4, but ultimately decided against doing so.

Furusawa explained:

While Nintendo was at the top of its game during the Wii era, the same can’t be said of Wii U. Wii managed to sell 100 million units while Wii U unfortunately couldn’t even make it to 15 million. There were certainly dark times, but Nintendo navigated through those difficult years and has found success once again with Switch.

During an appearance at GeekSummit earlier this month, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was asked about how he and the company as a whole went about leading its staff during the Wii U era and keep them believing in their larger vision. Reggie’s response included a note about Nintendo’s constant reinvention, that the Big N is about doing things differently from others, and how “there will always be stumbles along the way.”

Ubisoft has spoken about how it started its partnership with Nintendo on Star Fox’s Starlink inclusion a few different times. It all started back when Ubisoft unveiled the project at E3 2017, with Nintendo expressing interest in collaborating after trying out a demo at the show. What we didn’t know is that Ubisoft already started on things before the team received permission.

In an interview with Okay Cool, producer Matthew Rose said Ubisoft “started right away” merely because the developers were excited by the initial conversations with Nintendo. Rose also mentioned that the team “started drawing concepts, we made a 3D-printed Arwing that had their proper connectors and toys in it so that you could take it apart and everything.”

WarioWare Gold

WarioWare Gold contains a ton of microgames from the series’ past entries. While it may seem like a simple compilation, there was a ton of work involved and a lot of little touches players may not immediately notice.

Speaking about what the team did, director Goro Abe told Kotaku:

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Who’s the most popular character in Xenoblade Chronicles 2? In an interview with USgamer, Monolith Soft’s Tetsuya Takahashi shared some insight. In Japan, that would be Pyra. However, Takahashi isn’t sure about the west.

In the same interview, Takahashi spoke about the Core Crystals and Blade system in the game. The team believed having different outcomes each time would encourage people to share what they obtained on social media.

Panic Button has been one of the most prolific studios when it comes to Switch ports. The company worked with Bethesda to bring over Doom and Wolfenstein II, with Doom Eternal to follow later. Panic Button also worked on Rocket League for Switch as well as the upcoming version of Warframe.

GamesIndustry published a new piece today with Panic Button GM Adam Creighton. One of the topics discussed was supporting Switch, of which Creighton had this to say:

In terms of popularity, Pokemon couldn’t be in a better place than it is right now. Pokemon GO created another surge for the franchise a few years ago while games on consoles continue to sell and the IP itself is known around the world.

Speaking with The Verge, Pokemon developer Junichi Masuda touched on the huge success of Pokemon GO, stating:

Eurogamer has come forward with its own interview for Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee. Once again, director Junichi Masuda and designer Kensaku Nabana have shared some comments about the new entry and other topics. They discussed the post-game Master Trainers, the handling of Meltan’s reveal, the possibility of an open-world game like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and more.

We’ve rounded up some of the more notable excerpts from the interview below. Read the full discussion on Eurogamer here.

IGN published a new article today about Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee. It includes comments from director Junichi Masuda and lead game environment designer Kensaku Nabana. One of the big things we learn is that the team experimented with “a more photorealistic approach” when it came to visuals, but ultimately felt that the graphics didn’t fit in with the vision of a “more kind and soothing and inviting experience”.

We’ve rounded up comments from IGN’s article below. You can read the full piece here.


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