Nintendo Japan Studio Changes, Rev SSB, Zelda: Full Report
Staff re-shuffle, game updates and more…
Nintendo Company Limited has given the world an update on the state of some of its most anticipated games and franchises via an article in the Japanese press. This week's Famitsu and various other Japanese publications carry scattered pieces of information which, when brought together, form a beautiful whole. To see the beautiful whole, simply read on.
First up is an update on the sleeper hit (arguably sleeping monster) that is Animal Crossing: Wild World for Nintendo DS. NCL revealed that there are already 400,000 outstanding pre-orders for the game in Japan alone, with around 600,000 forecasted before the game goes on sale next Wednesday. Nintendo expects the game to shift around a million copies in the first few weeks on sale. This is big, folks; as big as a small game can get. Expect updates on all things Animal Crossing DS here on SPOnG.
Next is an interesting piece of staff news. Masahiro Sakurai, formerly of HAL Labs and the man behind Super Smash Bros and several Kirby titles from the 1990s has arrived back at Nintendo following a stint in the wild. As you may be aware, Sakurai joined Sega dissident Tetsuya Mizuguchi at Q Entertainment where he was the driving force behind the acclaimed DS puzzler Meteos. He then left Q for reasons unknown (ego clashes were rumoured) to set up a new studio, Sora Games Entertainment, which announced it was working on two new game titles. According to NCL, this is all over, and the prodigal son is now returned.
Nintendo stated that Sakurai is heading up the team that is developing Super Smash Bros for Nintendo Revolution. It was not explained if Sora has taken on the property as an outsourced development studio or if Sakurai has taken a team in-house with Nintendo. We don’t suppose it really matters that much as long as the end product is up to scratch. How Smash Bros combines with the Revolution controller is an anticipated revelation indeed.
Explaining its development structure further, Nintendo outlined more new Revolution games, in development at Nintendo R&D1. This is good news as the lead developer is one Hirofumi Matsuoka, a Nintendo stalwart with Super Metroid, Mario Paint and most recently the pioneer behind the carnage that is WarioWare. Expect a Mario Paint offering for DS and WarioWare for Revolution. Nintendo gold!
Last, and by no means cliché - we mean least - is an update on what we can expect from the upcoming GameCube RPG monster that is Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Series lead and Miyamoto protégé Eiji Aonuma shed some light on the game, initially outlining that LOZ: TP has the biggest budget of any Zelda game ever, along with the largest development team to back it up. The game will take over 100 hours to complete; considerably larger in size than any Zelda game to date. Aonuma stated that the team had been allowed to make use of several story and gameplay elements that were originally earmarked for future Zelda incarnations but as the game slipped, it was decided to use everything available. It was also explained that a serious motion-capture operation is underway and that the animations and the movements of Link and various other characters already seen in the Zelda demos that have done the rounds will be different in the final game.
So there you go. Read, digest, enjoy and think yourself lucky we dropped that 'beautiful whole' pun so early in the piece.
First up is an update on the sleeper hit (arguably sleeping monster) that is Animal Crossing: Wild World for Nintendo DS. NCL revealed that there are already 400,000 outstanding pre-orders for the game in Japan alone, with around 600,000 forecasted before the game goes on sale next Wednesday. Nintendo expects the game to shift around a million copies in the first few weeks on sale. This is big, folks; as big as a small game can get. Expect updates on all things Animal Crossing DS here on SPOnG.
Next is an interesting piece of staff news. Masahiro Sakurai, formerly of HAL Labs and the man behind Super Smash Bros and several Kirby titles from the 1990s has arrived back at Nintendo following a stint in the wild. As you may be aware, Sakurai joined Sega dissident Tetsuya Mizuguchi at Q Entertainment where he was the driving force behind the acclaimed DS puzzler Meteos. He then left Q for reasons unknown (ego clashes were rumoured) to set up a new studio, Sora Games Entertainment, which announced it was working on two new game titles. According to NCL, this is all over, and the prodigal son is now returned.
Nintendo stated that Sakurai is heading up the team that is developing Super Smash Bros for Nintendo Revolution. It was not explained if Sora has taken on the property as an outsourced development studio or if Sakurai has taken a team in-house with Nintendo. We don’t suppose it really matters that much as long as the end product is up to scratch. How Smash Bros combines with the Revolution controller is an anticipated revelation indeed.
Explaining its development structure further, Nintendo outlined more new Revolution games, in development at Nintendo R&D1. This is good news as the lead developer is one Hirofumi Matsuoka, a Nintendo stalwart with Super Metroid, Mario Paint and most recently the pioneer behind the carnage that is WarioWare. Expect a Mario Paint offering for DS and WarioWare for Revolution. Nintendo gold!
Last, and by no means cliché - we mean least - is an update on what we can expect from the upcoming GameCube RPG monster that is Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Series lead and Miyamoto protégé Eiji Aonuma shed some light on the game, initially outlining that LOZ: TP has the biggest budget of any Zelda game ever, along with the largest development team to back it up. The game will take over 100 hours to complete; considerably larger in size than any Zelda game to date. Aonuma stated that the team had been allowed to make use of several story and gameplay elements that were originally earmarked for future Zelda incarnations but as the game slipped, it was decided to use everything available. It was also explained that a serious motion-capture operation is underway and that the animations and the movements of Link and various other characters already seen in the Zelda demos that have done the rounds will be different in the final game.
So there you go. Read, digest, enjoy and think yourself lucky we dropped that 'beautiful whole' pun so early in the piece.
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Comments
Ditto 18 Nov 2005 11:27
1/16
That makes even me feel mildly excited about Zelda: TP.
TigerUppercut 18 Nov 2005 11:57
2/16
Adam M wrote:
That makes even me feel mildly excited about Zelda: TP.
Zeld'a is going to be simply amazing. There's no way it won't. You get a vibe from Nintendo. They were clearly unsure about SMS but this is very different.
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Greg2k 18 Nov 2005 12:01
3/16
I fear this game will be the best game ever made, but Nintendo's 3rd place in the current gen market will hurt its popularity. While that won't alter the experience of those who do play it and do enjoy it, it would be great to see it rape the charts. And that takes a very, very large marketing budget. Here's hoping they have such a budget.
ohms 18 Nov 2005 13:31
4/16
Greg2k wrote:
... it would be great to see it rape the charts. And that takes a very, very large marketing budget. Here's hoping they have such a budget.
isn't it also coming out around the same time as the Revolution?
majin dboy 18 Nov 2005 13:53
5/16
altough nothing has been confirmed i think zelda will be with us early 2006 and revo about mid 2006.
LordVader717 18 Nov 2005 14:18
6/16
I think anyone still thinking TP is coming out for GameCube is naive. Think about it, it would be the stupidist thing they could do. They would be pushing a dead system and endanger revolution sales.
The last real oppertunity to release it for GC would have been this holiday season, and we know that's not going to happen.
The last real oppertunity to release it for GC would have been this holiday season, and we know that's not going to happen.
ann0uk 18 Nov 2005 14:26
7/16
Aonuma stated that the team had been allowed to make use of several story and gameplay elements that were originally earmarked for future Zelda incarnations but as the game slipped, it was decided to use everything available
This I find interesting, could it be that Nintendo will be releasing TP for revolution? it might also be possible that even if it does come out on gamecube that it will have an intirely different control mechanic when played on Revolution. Very much like the guy at the end of the show reel using his revolution controller as a sword.
majin dboy 18 Nov 2005 14:48
8/16
personally i want to see zelda for revo.but surely its been in devolpment for ages,and therfor designed around the gc controller.would it be to much if a hastle to change the whole control stle of the game?
from a business pov it makes most sense to release on rev.but since when have nintendo done things so straight forward.
from a business pov it makes most sense to release on rev.but since when have nintendo done things so straight forward.
Smelly 18 Nov 2005 15:20
9/16
Greg2k wrote:
I fear this game will be the best game ever made, but Nintendo's 3rd place in the current gen market will hurt its popularity.
Hmmm.. The cube is only JUST in 3rd place behind the xbox.. Worldwide their sales are fairly similar.
Also bear in mind the biggest market for zelda is japan, where the cube is in 2nd place by far.
So yes, it'll probably not sell well here, but since when had europeans had a taste in good games? They only care about pretty pixels.
As for it being a revo game.. Bear in mind the revo is backwards compatible. There wont be owt stopping them releasing it as a cube game which revo owners can still play is there?
TigerUppercut 18 Nov 2005 16:33
10/16
Zelda is still GameCube.
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
gamereview 19 Nov 2005 04:16
11/16
TigerUppercut wrote:
Zelda is still GameCube.
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
IM WITH U ON THIS, I CAN SEE A BUNDLE COMING WITH LOZ TP AND THAT WOULD SELL LIKE HOTCAKE WHATS BETTER THAN THAT HAVING A AWESOME GAME WITH AWESOME SYSTEM AT LAUNCH AND THAT ONE GAME WOULD KEEP U ENTERTAIN FOR A LONG TIME
Ditto 19 Nov 2005 11:27
12/16
TigerUppercut wrote:
Zelda is still GameCube.
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
Don't be surprised if it ships with Revolution though... ;-)
It depends if you mean "it will ship for the Revo and Gamecube, presumably in a Revo bundle" or "it will ship for Gamecube at the same time as the Revo".
If it ships as one of the Revo and Gamecube's flagship titles, or it ships for Gamecube and shortly later ships for Revo, gamers will feel cheated that Nintendo expects them to buy this game over again. It will also look bad for Nintendo, re-releasing a previous-gen game on their next-gen console.
If it ships at the same time as the Revo then it could harm Revo sales, as Nintendo fans are mroe likely to hold onto their Gamecubes before spalshing out on a Revo, especially if their launch line-up is poor.
If they shipped TP for Revo then they would have broken their promise to their fans, like they did with Mario 128, and this will cause them to loose loyalty to Nintendo. This could be the most damaging option.
OptimusP 19 Nov 2005 13:14
13/16
It will be for the Gamecube, as shigsy told himself "the last Zelda as we know it". Probably Nintendo will drop the Z-targeting and the context-senstive A-button which have become almost synonimious with Zelda and replace it with a more intuïtive approach using their remote.
Maybe...just maybe, if you put the game into a Revolution a techdemo will be playable showcasing what the revolution controller will be capable of in the next zelda, or some new shop pops up somewhere...nothing drastic.
Maybe...just maybe, if you put the game into a Revolution a techdemo will be playable showcasing what the revolution controller will be capable of in the next zelda, or some new shop pops up somewhere...nothing drastic.
soanso 19 Nov 2005 19:48
14/16
I've always thought it possible that TP will be sort of in between consoles. There is nothing to stop it running perfectly well on GC and then play in Revo with extra features ( higher rez graphics, controller, etc)
Remember Squaresoft did something similar with Final Fantasy. It had a demo or something for PS2 that came out before the console I seem to remember.
Remember Squaresoft did something similar with Final Fantasy. It had a demo or something for PS2 that came out before the console I seem to remember.
Joji 19 Nov 2005 21:42
15/16
I'm sure Zelda as a launch title will do nicely next to the Rev. To be honest people won't much care what it looks like just so long as it plays like a Zelda good game. That's what we all really want, another good Zelda game.
Though it hasn't been done before I still think Zelda TP will sell well with the new Rev and will highlight it's backwards compatibility option a lot more than it might have done. It would be okay to not include Rev options since other games can do that cool Rev stuff later.
Good to see Nintendo putting in that extra mile for us all too. It will pay off (don't forget the E3 fanfare it got upon unvieling, just the video). A lot of people will buy it.
Though it hasn't been done before I still think Zelda TP will sell well with the new Rev and will highlight it's backwards compatibility option a lot more than it might have done. It would be okay to not include Rev options since other games can do that cool Rev stuff later.
Good to see Nintendo putting in that extra mile for us all too. It will pay off (don't forget the E3 fanfare it got upon unvieling, just the video). A lot of people will buy it.
majin dboy 20 Nov 2005 03:20
16/16
yo gamerreview,wtf is up with ur avatar its just plain vulgar. looks kinda like fergie from black eyed peas.