NES Remix director talks about the series’ origins, development, more
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U eShop | 0 comments
IGN has put up a piece detailing the development of NES Remix up through the creation of the game’s impending sequel, including quotes from director Koichi Hayshida. You’ll find the full roundup of information below.
– Soon after Super Mario 3D Land came out, Hayashida and Nintendo’s Tokyo EAD studio needed to decide on their next project
– Super Mario 3D World was on the list
– NES Remix also came to mind
On the game’s origins…
“From the company side of things, they really wanted us to focus on Super Mario 3D World, but I sort of snuck off on my own free time and worked on getting some of the Famicom games up and running on Wii U. One of the results from my experimentation was [the NES-inspired minigame] Luigi Bros., which we included in 3D World. The other thing that came to fruition was NES Remix.”
– After working on Super Mario 3D World, Hayashida moved over to NES Remix full-time, in part out of nostalgia
“Personally speaking, I didn’t get to play a lot of Famicom [the Japanese name for the NES] games as a kid. So one reason, that might be a little selfish, was I wanted to play these games at work. And this was one way for me to do that. I wanted to go back and experience some of those titles.”
“That being said, as adults we’re busy people,” Hayashida continued. “And we don’t have a lot of time to play a game from beginning to end. For example, we don’t have time to sit down with one of the early Zelda titles and play it from beginning to end. So I really wanted a chance to play some specific scenes.”
– Hayashida designed 100 stages on his own before Nintendo hired developer Indiezero
– Indieszero helped to finish the game
– 3 more Nintendo employees joined 13 members from the Indiezero team
– Hayashida was concerned about the dated graphics
– Wasn’t sure if they would appeal to a younger audience
– Hayashida remembered the Double Mario concept from 3D World
“I thought ‘Wow, maybe we could take something new like that and apply it back to some of these classic games.'”
– The idea gave the team a way to add new elements into classic game scenes
On the importance of preserving the original games despite adding in improved graphical fidelity and other effects…
“I want these to be true to the spirit of the originals. There were things that happened based on the technology at the time. For example, there was object clipping. If too many objects were onscreen at the same time, the games would drop frames.”
“I think it’s really important to keep that flavor. To me, part of the challenge is, if you’re dropping frames, you’re moving slower. And the processing speed is dropping, but we need to recreate some of that because it did help make the game a little easier.”
– Hayshida understood that while it was important to add in new technology, it should not be at the expense of that original gameplay
On concerns from the fans…
“When we started development on NES Remix 2, we weren’t sure if the first NES Remix was going to be successful. I was really worried what the response for this title was going to be. Luckily, once it was launched, the reception was actually very good.”
– NES Remix was number one for four weeks straight according to Nintendo’s download rankings
– Hayashida believes it’s ranked in the top half of digital games currently available on the eShop
– With proof that the game was received well, and an audience asking for a sequel, Nintendo decided to spur development of NES Remix 2
– 12 team members were added to build the game quickly
– Original 13 devs from Indieszero grew to 25
On how the minigames in NES Remix 1 & 2 served an additional purpose…
“[Each one] represents the fundamental criteria to play these games. hey’re the famous scenes that everyone wants to play. It just so happens they naturally contain a look back to some of the strategic tip & tricks you would find in game magazines and things like that.”
“So a lot of these scenes are either encompassing things that you learned throughout the game, or they’re the parts that taught you how to play the rest of the game. I really think that playing these scenes would actually lead back to success in playing the main game. It’s an interesting effect.”
