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Retro Studios

Retro Studios president Michael Kelbaugh and Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe commented on how the two companies cooperate in the development of projects in the latest issue of ONM.

To begin, Kelbaugh explained how the process is ultimately “a symbiotic relationship” between Retro, Nintendo SPD, “and other entities throughout the Nintendo family.”

He said:

“Tanabe-san and his team at SPD are our primary contacts at Nintendo. Please let me be clear: games developed at Retro Studios are a collaboration between members from Retro Studios, SPD and other entities throughout the Nintendo family. It’s a symbiotic relationship that consists of members from all over the world; we are very honoured to be working with such a talented team.

“When we worked on Mario Kart 7, we were working on Tropical Freeze at the same time. Part of the team was working on creating assets for Hideki Konno’s group, the Mario Kart team, and part of our team continued making progress on Tropical Freeze in conjunction with Tanabe-san and SPD.”

Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh commented on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze’s new 3D camera and how the Metroid Prime games influenced the company’s Donkey Kong titles as part of an interview with GamesTM this month. In doing so, Kelbaugh revealed that Metroid Prime’s engine and tools were used to make Returns.

Kelbaugh told the magazine:

With every game we make, we get better. In that sense, yes, the experience we gained working on the Metroid Prime franchise was invaluable.

Specifically answering your question about 3D to 2D, what you may not realise is that we constructed the levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in very much the same manner as we did the levels in Metroid Prime. However, levels in Returns and Tropical Freeze are much, much larger and more detailed. And I’ll share this with you; we used the Metroid Prime engine and tools to develop Returns, so technically, the lessons learned on Metroid Prime were directly applied.

Game Informer has put up an insightful interview with Retro Studios CEO Michael Kelbaugh and Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe. The two spoke about how the game’s delay benefited development, revealed Monster Games’ involvement with the project, talked about the possibility of a 3DS version, and more. Tanabe also teased, “we may consider not just the Donkey Kong Country series but a broader range of possibilities for Retro’s next project.”

You can find the full interview breakdown below. Game Informer’s entire piece is located here.

Like many Wii U games, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze supports off-TV play. But if you happen to be playing regularly – on TV that is – the controller will go dark. Retro implemented the functionality in order to “save battery.”

While we’re on the topic of controllers, Tropical Freeze will support a whole bunch of them. You can use the GamePad, Pro Controller, Wiimote and nunchuck combo, or Wiimote by itself (sideways).

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