#also! miyamoto or even the directors =/= the entire team

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Have you watched three of BatGames' rant videos about ToTK? I'm curious what you think about them

I'm sorry I had never replied to this ask!!! My brain was full of worms for my defense (it's a bad defense I know I'm sorry).

I have seen two out of three! But I pretty much agree with what I've seen. I would have liked to see the whole ideological shenanigans touched on, but it's a really *really* niche critique after all (unfortunately), so I, yeah. I think he paints a really good portrait of what did bother me otherwise, and even helped me formulate things I knew bothered me but I hadn't truly addressed in my head yet.

I'm not always super fond of all the theory stuff he does, but we're on the same wavelength when it comes to TotK's shortcomings!

[stewblog]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

If you’re not a little kid, how much you enjoy The Super Mario Bros. Movie will likely be in direct proportion to how much you love Nintendo’s marquee characters. 

I’ve been a fan of Mario, Luigi and crew since I first laid eyes on a Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1987. As I grew up, Shigeru Miyamoto was my Walt Disney: A creative visionary capable of conjuring delightful characters and worlds that sparked my own imagination. That love has never faded. 

There have been other attempts to translate Super Mario Bros. into forms beyond its 8-bit origin, but those efforts were either half-baked (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show) or too bizarre for their own good (the 1993 live-action movie.) This is the first time that Mario has made the leap beyond a video game into something that could unequivocally be described as “good.” No small feat, given that at its core Super Mario Bros. as a game concept is little more than “man jumps over/onto things.” 

So how do you spin “man jumps, saves princess” into a tale worth 90 minutes of an audience’s time? You lean heavily into the iconic imagery of the source material and emphasize the familial nature of the title characters. 

Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are the eponymous Super Mario Bros. (though it never specifies if their last name is also Mario), a Brooklyn-based duo desperate to make their mark as newly minted self-employed plumbers. When their first paid gig is a disaster-and-a-half, the brothers attempt to save face by helping solve a plumbing crisis that erupts from below their NYC burrough. But before they can wrench victory from the jaws of defeat, they find themselves sucked into a pipe transporting them to a magical land. With Luigi now captured and the fiendish Bowser (Jack Black) intent on laying waste to the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario teams up with the headstrong Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to find a way to rescue his brother and help save the day. 

The movie wastes no time in setting things into motion. Directors Michael Horvath, Aaron Jelenic and Pierre Leduc fully grasp that you’re at a Mario movie to see Mario do and be surrounded by the things gamers have spent decades seeing in the games, and they cut right to the chase. And if there’s a lingering, substantive complaint I have with the Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s that never stops moving at a breakneck pace. With the world and characters such direct translation of their game counterparts, it can be more than a bit overwhelming seeing this whirlwind of colorful chaos whiz by you with nary a spare moment to truly soak it all in, much less spend time truly getting to know any of the characters. Though that’s also a testament to the chemistry that Pratt and Day share and how relatively well the movie immediately establishes the relationship between Mario and Luigi that it really feels like a bummer that they don’t share more time together until the big finale. 

Speaking of Pratt and Day, the entire voice cast has to be commended for their work here. The Internet has been awash with cringing and complaints about Pratt’s vocal work since even before we heard a peep from him in a trailer, but he ends up fitting quite nicely with how the character is written in the movie. He’s doing a slight approximation of a Brooklyn accent, but it works. We’ve typically only heard Mario’s video game avatar shout and whoop or otherwise speak in cartoonishly over-the-top catchphrases, a style that would in no way serve a 90 minute movie with conversations and expositions and Pratt makes it work. 

The real stars, though, are Black and Taylor-Joy as Bowser and Peach. Jack Black is perhaps the most “no brainer” casting bit of the whole lot, and he delivers exactly the sort of performance you’d want and expect. Taylor-Joy, however, is the movie’s anchor. No longer relegated to merely being a damsel in distress, Peach is more than capable of taking care of herself (she mostly lets Mario come along to try and rescue Luigi) and Anya Taylor-Joy finds the perfect balance of “girlboss” energy and sunny disposition to present what will likely be to a new generation of kids what Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia was to me growing up. 

The result is a movie that sounds great (composer Brian Tyler’s renditions of classic tunes from across the game series are superb), looks great and moves like a rocket. It’s unquestionably the best movie that Illumination has ever made. But it’s a cotton candy movie, as colorful and sweet as it is thin. And that’s fine. It’s a kids movie and a better one at that than almost anything not made by Pixar these days. 

But for a longtime fan such as myself? As someone who learned to draw because he loved Mario and spent countless hours in the backyard and on the playground pretending to be Mario, seeing Miyamoto’s creations brought to such vibrant, lovingly rendered life was a joy enough in and of itself to be satisfied. 

[radwolf76]

Listen. I have trust issues about this, alright? Blame IGN's April Fool's Day 2008 fake trailer.

And looking at the details we have so far gives me mixed feelings.

Miyamoto teaming up with Avi Arad to produce — I'm down for it.

Tapping the Director of the Maze Runner movies for the Directors' chair here — OK, yeah, I can see it.

Partnering with Nintendo's mortal enemy Sony for minority share co-financing and then also worldwide distribution? That's a bold move, we'll see how it works for them.

The last time Nintendo and Sony tried to partner on anything, was when "PlayStation" was going to be a CD-ROM add-on to the SNES in the same way the Sega CD hooked on to the Genesis.

They couldn't agree on how to split the licensing fees, and Nintendo told Sony, "hey, if you don't like our deal, we'll just work with Phillips instead." Which made for a great villain origin story, because Sony just took all that game hardware development experience and rolled it into a standalone console.

Meanwhile, Nintendo's new partnership with Phillips had to play catch up for lost time as it was starting late in the 16-bit generation. As a stopgap, Nintendo licensed its popular franchises to Phillips to let them make games for their in-house interactive multimedia platform, CDi.

This resulted in the absolute worst entries in the entire Zelda franchise, pushing the laughably bad LoZ DIC cartoon that aired on Fridays on the Super Mario Brothers Super Show a few slots up from its previous spot at the bottom of the list. The CDi Zelda games even make Tingle look like a well-written reasonable character in comparison.

[voidsentprinces]

FGO is a mythological fanfic clusterfuck...

Prologue: You are an unassuming man or madam who briefly meets their classmate, Mash. And angers their tsundere superior in Chaldea. An organization made to stop the end of the world. The one guy standing around and dressed like “I am an evil villain”. Turns on Chaldea and all the people suppose to go get blown up before they can embark on their first mission. This explosion sends you flying into Fuyuki with your Tsundere Superior and your classmate turned servant. You are the worst choice to save humanity from the end of the world. But now the only option.

Storyline of Fuyuki: Ah, good to be back in OG Fuyuki. Except everything is one fire, most of humanity is dead, and you have to escort a tsundere superior around while your classmate learns how to be a servant. Everyone is evil except Cu Chulainn who is a wizard and is your drunk uncle here to impart wisdom and snark.

Storyline of Orleans: Jeanne D’Arc comes back as Darth Vader leading an army of other historical villains including Elisabeth Báthory , Dracula, Marie Antonette’s Executioner, the Phantom of the Opera, and Darth Lancelot. You team up with Jedi Master Jeanna D’Arc as well as a younger for some reason dragonkin version of Elisabeth Báthory (just to make thing confusing), Marie Antionette, Motherfuckin’ Mozart, Kiyohime and Sigfried to stop her. Also dragons are everywhere. Darth D’Arc exists because Bluebeard wanted to give her catharsis.

Storyline of Septem: What if Emperor Nero wasn’t completely off his fucking rocker, came back as a fashionable wife, and has to fight previous Roman Emperors to get back Rome? Including a rotund Julius Caesar, an incoherent batshit Caligula, a young Alexander the Great and his hapless future successor who is an adult and just as confused as you, and Romulus. Whose death spawns Attilla the Hun as a space dressed waifu. And just to make their roles in history null and void. You enlist the help of Boudica and Spartcus to aid you. Also Jing Ke and mecha Lu Bu are there too.

Storyline of Okeanos: What if Francis Drake was a big tiddie pirate wife. Alright what if previously to your arrival she 1 v 1′d Poseidon and WON!? Alright now what if after getting her help, you fought Eric Bloodaxe, got trolled by Euryale to re-enact the myth of the Minotaur. But then the Minotaur turned out to be a good boi and joined you. Also Artemis carrying around Orion, Atlanta and David, King of Israel is there. So is Jason and some of the Argonauts but like just Medea and Heracles. Replacing the other Argonauts with Hektor from the Trojan War. Also you have to punch Blackbeard with Mary Read and Anne Bonny.

Story of London: There’s fog every where. You have to join forces with Traitor Knight, Mordred, Doctor Jeckyll, a kid Hans Christian, and Frakenstein’s Bride. Contending with Jack the Ripper, Mephistopheles, Hoienheim, Mecha Babbage, a bunch of Mannequins, and then the Mist of London just sort of summoned Nicoli Tesla and Darth Arthur to fight too. At the very end Tamamo no Mae and Sakata Kintoki arrive just to exit stage left immediately.

Story of E Pluribus Unum: Medb wants to fuck Darth Cu Chulainn but he’s not that interested. So she decides to fuck up Wild West America instead. Making Beowulf the Warden of Alcatrez, Fergus mac Roich the Heavy, and then kidnaps Rama’s Wife before mortally wounding him. Also she has to fight against Lion Headed Mecha Edison, Helena Blavatsky. The two of which are using  Karna, Son of the Sun as the Bouncer. You convince a germ manic Florence Nightingale to aid you, pick up a wounded Rama on the way, as well as Robin Hood, Billy the Kid, young  Elisabeth Báthory again, Geronomo and Nero who is trying to be an actress to fight them all. Also Scathach, Fionn Mac Cumhill and Diarmid are there too. But they just do things at random and Li Shuwen randomly shows up too.

Story of Camelot: What if the entire round table was just a bunch of psychopathic zealots who worthship the ground Arthur walked upon. And then got into a fight with Ozymandius and Nitrocris for the lulls while launching a magical tactical nuclear strike on the entirety of Crusader State Middle East. All the legends of Hassan is trying to stop them but Arash is there too. Tawara Tota is also there to distribute a shit ton of rice. Nothing you do here really matters. But Bedivere shows up to aid in the lackluster ending. Xuanzang Sanzang is also there.

Story of Babylonia: Not Enkidu answers to giant Medusa who is pretending to be Tiamat. Bringing about a massive army of demons and monsters to wipe out humanity in prehistoric Mesopotomia. Leonidas, Ushiwakamaru, and Benkai are doing their best to fight off the hordes. After three Demons go out like bosses before your arrival. Also young Medusa and Merlin are there cause why not? After befriending a woman in a tiger kigarumi, Quetzacoltal, Ishtar, and Ereshikigal. You find out defeating giant Medusa was a ploy to summon the real Tiamat and shit goes down. You eventually drop Tiamat into the Underworld where the First Hassan dewings her after which Ishtar, Ereshikigal, and Gilgamesh work together to defeat her. Ushiwakamaru is captured and comes back as an evil version of herself but with the aid Nekai and Quetzacoltal going out in a blaze of glory you defeat them all.

Story of Saloman: Every servant shows up to fight off Soloman and his Demons, turns out Soloman is the daemon Goetia possessing the corpse of Soloman. And the true Soloman is actually your acting director and base medical doctor. After your classmate sacrifices herself you defeat Goetia and Soloman decides he’s good for now and peaces out taking Goetia down with him and restoring humanity. Bringing your classmate back to life in the process.

But wait THERES MORE! The remaining Demons who survive the Goetia fight decide they’re mad they lost. So create some singularities to air out their grievances. Trapping you and the staff of Chaldea in a time space continuum until you hunt down and take them all out.

Story of Shinjuku: The League of Evil comprising of James Moriarty, Yan Qing, Darth Emiya, the Headless Horseman riding the Spirit of Vengeful Wolves, and the Phantom of the Opera take over 1990s Shinjuku for the fun of it. You have to enlist of the aid of James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes, Darth Jeanne D’Arc, Darth Arthur Pendragon, and Edmond Dantes. Turns out Moriarty that was your ally was actually the true Moriarty and the one leading the League of Evil was the Demon you’re looking for. Summoning the power of all Fictional Detectives you defeat Moriarty. I shit you not.

Story of Agartha: Welcome to the Center of the Earth. Where the vast open plains are ruled by Darth Francis Drake, Penthesilea, and Wu Zetian. You are joined by Astolfo who takes the form of a cute anime girl but retains his gender, Chevalier d’Eon, and a young Fergus. Fighting the Queens and their respective empires with the aid of...sigh, Christopher Columbus. Surprising no one, Columbus turns out to be the true villain and with the aid of Shahrazad and a Demon almost Colony drops the Center of the Earth on top of the actual Earth, Age of Ultron style. But the power of friendship you win. Also Godzilla Heracles is running around.

Story of Shimosa: What if just after or before the Warring States period: Ashiya Doman, Yagyu Munenori, Minamoto no Raiko, Tomoe Gozen, Mochizuki Chiyome, and Shuten Doji showed up to fuck everything up? Including corrupting Hozoin Inshun just to be absolutely asinine? You get the power of a time traveling woman using the legend of Miyamoto Musashi to get into shenanigans. Also obtaining the aid of Fuma Kotaro and occasionally a robotic mecha Kato Danzo. The Demon sort of just appears backing Ashiya Doman.

Story of Salem: The Salem Witch trials but if done like the VVitch in a horror film manner. Not so much about the battles but about the atmosphere. As you, your classmate, Robin Hood, Charles Henri-Sanson, Nezha, Mata Hari, and the witch, Cirice posing as Medea for a few seconds there. Have to pose as a traveling circus of storytellers and entertainers. While the suspicions of the towns people grow darker. Ghouls and spirits begin to haunt the night. There are executions and the Demon turns out to be the one you least expect. The soul of a child is used to open up a gateway for an Outer God and shit goes down.

But wait there is even MORE!

Story of Prologue: You’ve hunted down and killed the demons. And now the world is back to normal. When a new force arrives to take over Chaldea in your stead. One of those new arrivals brings along an army to slaughter Chaldea and activates the end of the world by way of Alien Invasion. You get out of there in the nick of time via a magical meguffin mobile and now have to track down Lostbelts. Each one controlled by a King, a Master who was your former colleague who previously got blown up and now is now revived by the Aliens, and their servant as well. Good fucking luck chuck!

Story of Anatasia: Russia is fucked. Russia is SO FUCKED! That its been stuck in an Ice Age since the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The Russians are forced to use a magic to turn them into anthropamorphic beings and have been surviving barely due to the machanations of Saleri, Ivan the Terrible, Anastasia Romonov, the Master of this Lostbelt, and a particularly sadistic fox woman. With barely anything to go on and running out of fuel. You have to venture out into the eternal Russian Blizzard to get the aid of one of the locals, Avicebron and Darth Atlanta to defeat Anatasia, Ivan, and tear down their cosmic eldritch tree to restore humanity in that sector.

Story of Gotterdammerung: You made it out of Russia and into the Netherlands, where it seems on the cusp of Ragnarok. You are immediately facerolled by Sigurd being possessed by Sutr. Who is under the command of a master there. Enlisting the aid of Napoleon Bonaparte you fight back against Frost Giants, Valkyries, and Sigurd. Also enlisting the aid of Brynhildr to do so. You also have to contend with a girl made up of several goddesses and Scatach taking on the manter of Skadi.

Story of S I N: Out of the frying pan and into the China if it never left or evolved beyond the Qin Dynasty. Except for the Emperor who has become a giant space base, artifical intelligence reaching immortality. After having close calls with mecha centaur Xiang Yu, Qin Langyu, an older Li Shuwen,  Lanling Wang. The Emperor sees you teaching peasants how to read and coloney drops a piece of himself on the village. You send Spartacus to punch to meteor...I shit you not. And with the aid of Mordred, Jing Ke, Red Hare, and Chen Gong. You impress Emperor Qin to come out of his shell and reveal his butterfly god form. Also the Master in this Lostbelt is actually a fucking vampire.

And that’s all I’ve gotten to so far.

[sweetbitgaming]

The Development of the Zelda Oracle Games

Sweet Bit Gaming Mysteries: The Legend of Zelda The Seed of Courage

The Legend of Zelda Oracle series of games is often overlooked when it comes to focusing on the franchise as a whole. Certainly, there are more popular handheld Zelda games out there than the aforementioned pair; however, what if the entire concept for these games was fully realized? What if the trilogy Nintendo had promised fans was a reality and not just the topic of the day? Within this article, I’ll go over the development of the Oracle games. From many name changes to cut storyline ideas, this is the history of the Legend of Zelda the Oracle games. 

Some of the earliest information out there in regards to the Triforce Series of games came to the public on July 28th, 1999 within an article published by IGN. IGN would state that Nintendo is “hard at work” on six different Zelda Gameboy Color titles. Within the article, it mentions that four of the new Zelda titles were being produced in conjunction with the Japanese design studio Flagship. This development studio was headed by Resident Evil lead Yoshiki Okamoto. Okamoto had revealed earlier in the year that Flagship would be working closely with Nintendo’s EAD team in regard to future titles on the Gameboy Color. Within this same interview, Okamoto would also reveal that Flagship’s work was restricted to the design of scenarios and storylines. While not much information was given, this “leak” would take place roughly a month before Nintendo’s Space World 1999 event was set to take place.

Any hope for the public to demo the game was seemingly heightened by an IGN web article published on August 20th, 1999. Their source of information would be cited as Weekly Famitsu. IGN within the headlines were promoting they were the first to have screenshots of the upcoming Game Boy Color exclusive Zelda game. This article was published roughly a week prior to Nintendo’s Space World 1999 event, which took place on August 27th-August 29th of that year. The game at the time was believed to be called The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Acorn and was also cited as being published by Capcom and Nintendo.

In the preview of the game within the article, IGN would mention that Princess Zelda was managing the four seasons within the Land of Hyrule. Zelda would be kidnapped by Ganon and it would be up to Link to manage the Rod of the Four Seasons and track down the eight pieces of the Triforce to save Princess Zelda and also bring balance to Hyrule. With Hyrule’s seasons becoming jumbled up, chaos would ensue and Link would have to travel between Hyrule and this “other dimension” while being guided by spirits residing in the “Tree of Mystery” and also a strange “Uura Tribe” which would be found in this alternate dimension.

Ricky the Kangaroo and Maple the Witch were mentioned briefly within this article as well. Not much information was given on these characters other than they would be allies to help aid Link in his quest to save Princess Zelda.  Also mentioned were more details about the Rod of Four Seasons and how it would be required to solve certain elemental puzzles throughout the game. Possibly the most infamous amount of information detailed within this article is the mention of the Link System and how there would be three upcoming Zelda Gameboy Color games and they would all be a coherent story without getting lost within each other due to the Link System that Capcom and Nintendo were developing. 

With Space World 1999 taking place, a lot of hype and media focus was still latched onto the Nintendo 64 DD, another story within itself. Zelda Gaiden, later to be renamed The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was also playable at this event. Demo copies of The Seed of Courage were also seemingly playable at this event. An interview would be conducted with Miyamoto by Nintendo Power Source and Miyamoto would give more detail and insight on Zelda Gaiden and the recently renamed The Legend of Zelda: Mysterious Fruit.

Q: After hearing rumors of Ura Zelda for Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, Zelda Gaiden for the Nintendo 64 cartridge format was a pleasant surprise. Can you tell me how these two games came to be developed?

A: We are working on two follow-ups to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. "Ura Zelda" uses the same system as Ocarina of Time but uses the 64DD to add game data. The story in "Ura Zelda" will be similar to Ocarina of Time but with new maps and scenarios. Zelda Gaiden, on the other hand, is a completely different game, although it too uses essentially the same game system as Ocarina of Time. Everyone has enjoyed the Zelda series but there's typically at least a 3 year wait between sequels! People who are in Junior High School when they play one Zelda game would be in High School by time the next game comes out, and those in High School will graduate before the next game came out! So, we wanted to make a new game in the series sooner. "Ura Zelda" will use the existing Ocarina of Time cartridge but with different dungeons, and new locations for the treasures. Since the 64DD media is cheaper than a new cartridge, this is an inexpensive way to make a sequel. We may also consider using network technology for "Ura Zelda." Right now, most of the staff is concentrating on Zelda Gaiden.

Q: How involved are you with the different Zelda games?

A: As time goes on, my direct involvement has become less. On the first Zelda, my involvement in directing the game was, say, 100%. With Ocarina of Time, my involvement was about 60%. For Zelda Gaiden, it will be about 20% and for Zelda: Mysterious Fruit for Game Boy, only about 10%. Until Ocarina, I was the Producer and Director of the game-not of everything but some parts. For Zelda Gaiden I will be in a Producer role. In that capacity, I'll decide the overall direction of the game, but I won't write the actual specifications myself. If Zelda Gaiden turns out to be fun to play, from now on we'll see new entries into the Zelda series with shorter time intervals in between. And, I'll probably have less direct involvement in the games. I've been saying all along that I have a lot of confidence in my teams, and I think they will make some good games.

Q: What kinds of things do you do as a Producer?

A: I just tell the staff members what kind of game it should be. The staff then figures out the details of the scenarios. So far, we've had thee big meetings to reviews the game's scenarios. As Producer I approve and disapprove of ideas in these meetings. Mainly I say things like, "If you try to go in this direction, you will never finish the game!" I help set the development priorities, and make staff recommendations. Q: So, what are some of the overall directions you have given to your game developments teams on Zelda Gaiden? What are some of the things that you want the players to experience in this game? A: I had several ideas that I wanted to incorporate into Ocarina of Time but that didn't make it. I've already given those to the staff. In Zelda Gaiden, players will meet some characters that they previously encountered in Ocarina of Time. There were many characters in Ocarina of Time who were in the background-- those characters will be more involved in the story of Zelda Gaiden. You'll talk to them more, and in the end you'll feel a deeper connection to the story of Ocarina of Time. Another thing we want to work on is time in the game. In so many games, you have, for example, eight dungeons. Finish four of them, and you're halfway through. You can guess how far you have to go. But that's not the true nature of interactive entertainment-it shouldn't be like reading a book and knowing you're halfway through it. That's not just something we're working on for Zelda Gaiden, we need to improve this for all of our games. The beauty of interactive media is it is different from other types of media, so we need to concentrate on those differences. Finally, we really want Zelda players to come away from this game feeling that they've played something totally unexpected. Q: In Zelda Gaiden, the moon is slowly falling towards the planet, and the player has a limited amount of time to save the world before it is destroyed. So how does the time limit in the game work? A: What can I tell you….hmmm. There are certain time limits in the game, but, you can play it again and again. If you don't do something in one game, you can try to do it in the next game. The amount of different things you actually do in the game will depend on the player's ability. This isn't a totally unique concept, but we do want to try something new with game time in Zelda Gaiden. To do that we are working on improving the "density" of the world. For example, say you have three days of game time. We are trying to see how many different events we can fit into those three days. That is why we need the Expansion Pak for this game-to keep track of all the events that are happening simultaneously in the world. Q: So the world actually exists and different things happen in real-time, even if you're not there to see them. OK, how about the masks? How many different ones do you think will be in the game? It looks like there is space for a lot of them on the Subscreen! A: There are three main masks-these are the only ones that make you actually change, or morph, into something different. Several other masks will have "human" like faces, and will be necessary to trigger certain events. You can use these masks to disguise yourself as different people. As for the actual final number of masks in the game, that will depend on time. I'm aiming for just under 30 different masks, but that depends on how long things take to develop.Q: You mentioned that the story in Zelda Gaiden will be closely connected to Ocarina of Time. How about the Running Man-will you finally be able to beat him?

A: Maybe you didn't see him in the Space World version, but there is a Running Man who is four times taller than the one in Ocarina of Time! We are experimenting with this character to see if we can make him interesting and fun. Did you see the dogs? In Ocarina of Time, they would follow you. In Zelda Gaiden, their reaction will vary. When you morph into a Goron, they will bark at you and run away. As a Zora, they will approach you. Don't try to become a Deku Scrub if there are dogs around, though! They will try to bite you! Q: What about the other fairy that is shown with Navi in the introductory cinema scenes? A: I don't know, I need to ask the staff about that! I have a feeling it's going to be an important character! Q: Things are busy on the Zelda front with the Zelda games for Game Boy Color that Capcom is developing. How did that deal come about? What is the plan for these three titles? A: Well, it's the same situation as when our team develops a Zelda game-the quality has to be high. Mr. Okamoto (head of development at Capcom) is a young and energetic game developer who says he came into the industry because of games like the original Donkey Kong and Zelda. He came to me and was very serious about developing a Zelda game. He has great teams of developers and he promised to use his best people on this project. A company called Flagship has 20 or so people who are working on the scenarios. Some people have asked me if this means Nintendo will be allowing other companies to develop games using our characters. But this is a very special case. I felt good about Mr. Okamoto and his team. We're not going to be letting everyone work on our characters. We'll be checking the quality of these three titles. Q: What is the connection between the three titles?

A: This project originally started to convert the original NES Zelda to Game Boy Color. So one of the titles will be a perfect conversion of NES Zelda. However, in working on this game, we have come up with a lot of new ideas, so there will be some new features. Basically I can tell you that there is a connection between the three tales. You can start with any one of them, but if you play them in a different order than someone else, the two player's games will be different....

 In January of 2000 IGN would publish an article stating that a new Zelda game was planned to be released every six weeks. The first of these Gameboy releases in the “Tri-force Series” was set to be The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Acorn: The Tale of Power. After this initial release The Legend of Zelda: The Tale of Wisdom was set to be released and then the trilogy would conclude with The Legend of Zelda: The Tale of Courage. These games were also mentioned within this article to have the capability to link up with each other and exchange data. Miyamoto would do an interview with IGN on May 11th and state that the games would link up using a “password system.” No other details were given about the games during this interview.

By May 13th Nintendo would officially release some promotional images in regards to the Tri-force series games which were now titled: The Legend of Zelda: Mythical Seed of Power, Zelda, Mythical Seed of Courage, and Zelda Mythical Seed of Wisdom. Also on May 13th, IGN would conduct another interview with Miyamoto about the Triforce Series games and Miyamoto would disclose:

IGNpocket: What is your opinion on the Legend of Zelda trilogy in the works for Game Boy Color?

Miyamoto: Mr. Okomoto from Capcom is the producer on the games for the Game Boy Color, and he has been giving me the materials for the games. And what we have now is the games are becoming late, especially because of the "link system". With the link system, we're thinking about letting the gamer play whatever game first, and what happens in one game affects another game. And with that, the variable scenario is just increasing the work, and that's why we are late in schedule. But we can release the games later this year.

IGNpocket: How does the link system interface work?

Miyamoto: Well, for example, there are similar events in all cartridges. So if you've already finished one event on one cartridge, it makes the quest in another cartridge a little easier. Another example is if you find a specific item in one cartridge, then something special will happen on another cartridge.

IGNpocket: But how does that information get from one cartridge to the other?

Miyamoto: Password system.

By July 24th, Nintendo of Japan would decide to cut one of the games out of the Triforce Trilogy. It was reported that this was due to numerous delays and difficulties getting the link system to work properly. This was an effort to still have the other two games out by Christmas of 2000. Nintendo within this press release didn’t mention which game was on the cutting room floor. Nintendo of America hadn’t commented on the cancellation of the game at the time and it was unclear if the two remaining games would still be released six weeks apart from each other.  By October 20th the concept within the unique release schedule was scrapped and rumors were abundant on IGN that the games would release sometime in January of 2001 in Japan.

By November 9th, IGN would report a brief “Chapter” of the latest Zelda game, now being titled The Legend of Zelda Chapter of Time and Space. This is the game that had been covered mostly in American publications through screenshots and leaked information while the remaining Gameboy Color game would go without much new information being provided. This other game in development would be rumored to go by the name The Legend of Zelda: Chapter of the Earth. It was suggested that this game would play much like the other Gameboy Color game and a link system was still set in place for the two games.  By January of 2001, more information would be released by IGN in regards to the Chapter of the Earth title. This article would feature screenshots and storyline concepts for the upcoming games. By the end of the article, it was mentioned that the two games would be released in February and a potential American release date was planned before the start of Summer.

In an article published by Nintendo of Japan on their Director Interview series, Hidemaro Fujibayashi would be interviewed and give details on the origins of Capcom becoming involved with Zelda on the Gameboy Color.  Here is that interview:

t seems that you first started making Zelda with Capcom.

Fujibayashi　Yes. At first, it seems that my Okamoto  (Yoshiki Okamoto, managing director) had proposed to Shigeru Miyamoto,  "I want to make Zelda with Capcom." That was about two years  ago. After that, a free man started making 2D games based on the Famicom  Disk System "The Legend of Zelda". The concept is to convey  the goodness of Zelda in the NES era to children today.

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■ Was Mr. Fujibayashi also a Zelda  fan?

Fujibayashi　Yes, when it came to the Famicom Disk System, I  went to a toy store first to buy it. I remember squeezing New Year's  gifts and running to buy them.

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■ Did Mr. Fujibayashi participate  in the project from the beginning?

Fujibayashi At　first, I participated in the form of a clerk  who summarized the overall opinions. At that time, I was only told about  the concept, but gradually I became involved in the game production  itself. First of all, I decided to give a presentation to Mr. Miyamoto,  so I wrote a proposal based on Okamoto's concept.

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■ Was the content of the game  decided at the time of the proposal?

Fujibayashi　Almost the pillars of the current game have  been decided. In other words, it should be released as a Color Game Boy,  use the four seasons, and retain the taste of 2D Zelda. It was decided  that it would be released in a series of works, so I thought of a link system  as an idea to make use of it. For example, if I missed a bad guy in the  first game, I wanted to make the software so that the bad guy would appear in  the other game. Since Zelda is a game with a solid view of the world, I  thought that even a Game Boy could fully bring out the "living feeling"  of the characters expressed in the 64 series.

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■ How was Mr. Miyamoto's reaction?

It　was  your first time to meet Mr. Fujibayashi Miyamoto. I  went to a presentation with Okamoto, but it was my first time to work  directly with Okamoto, and I was thrilled because I was going to meet a  famous person from another company. While explaining the proposal, Mr.  Miyamoto was silent from beginning to end, so I was nervous. But when I  finished reading, I was told, "I was thinking of going into it because  there would be various holes, but it looks like it's done." I liked  it, "I think it's good."

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■ After that, do you work at  Capcom?

Fujibayashi　That's right. After that, I proceeded with  the scenario while reporting the situation to Okamoto. As a role, I am a  director and planner.

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■ I heard that Capcom games create  scenarios first.

Fujibayashi　Yes. However, I think that the scenario came  out in the Zelda series after the hardware specifications went  up. Originally, Zelda in the early days was a pure action RPG, and there  wasn't much talk about it. This time, I was hoping that the two could be  fused. However, at first I was supposed to make a work that was one  tenth of the current volume. However, as I made it, it got bigger and  bigger, and it gradually became my own work.

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■ Did you make "Chapter of  the Earth" and "Chapter of Space and Time" by different teams?

Fujibayashi　No, the same team made them in order. At  first, I was interacting with the scenario team alone. So, while I was  making the scenario, I secretly talked to the graphic artists and programmers  who thought "I like it" in Capcom. Such personnel were  actually decided by Funamizu (Producer Noritaka Funamizu), who reports  directly to me, but I thought it would be better for me to consult with him  first. I was angry at Funamizu, saying, "It's my job," but I  was able to get the staff I wanted.

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■ After that, I think it's the  work of actually making a game, but please tell me the procedure easily.

Fujibayashi At　first, I'll start with an image. After  thinking about what kind of terrain it is, start making a map. After  making it roughly, I thought about the character next. We will modify  the scenario while making the game.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ----

■ Do you sometimes rewrite the  entire field?

Fujibayashi　That's every day. If you actually move it  and think it's different, fix it. When about 60% of the total was  completed, Mr. Yamada of Nintendo participated as a supervisor. From  that time on, I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Miyamoto's story. So I  absorbed something like Mr. Miyamoto's view of Zelda.

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■ Are there any interesting  episodes about the joint development with Nintendo?

Fujibayashi I　was playing Nintendo games and thought that  every game had a common scent. When I met Mr. Miyamoto, it became clear  that there was a way to make sense in the game that Mr. Miyamoto  thinks. It was a great learning experience for our team to get  it. After that, Mr. Yamada and his colleagues ask the character that we  casually placed, "What is the name of this  character?" Certainly, giving a name brings the character to life  and makes the staff feel different. It seemed as simple as "give a  name", and the important thing was that I was surprised. That's  just one example, but I feel like I was taught the know-how of Nintendo's  "making warm games." What I was most happy about was that both  Mr. Yamada and Mr. Miyamoto treated me as if I were an employee of  Nintendo. Rather than Nintendo or Capcom, he talked to me as a staff  member who made games together. In the end, I think that kind of  personality is reflected in Zelda.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ----

■ At the same time, I think this  is a game that has a Capcom feel to it.

Fujibayashi It's　more about the individuality of Capcom's Zelda  team than it is about Capcom. I tried to make the world view interesting  with a slightly dark character. What is the difference between Kyoto and  Osaka? The place where a little outlaw character appears may be  Capcom-like. However, I don't think there is any difference in the  system in the game.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ----

■ Please tell me if there is a  story behind this.

Fujibayashi In　"Chapter of Time  and Space", there is a tower called "Tower of Darkness",  and there are people working there, but there are lines that say "I  can't finish my charge" and "I can't go home". Some of  our team couldn't go home (laughs), so I put them in a parody. However,  we are a very homely team, so I was happy with the Nori. The person who  came to give the message was involved in the meeting and talked for about 2  hours.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ----

■ That kind of homely atmosphere  may be oozing out in the game. Then, what are the highlights of  "Mysterious Tree Fruit" from Mr. Fujibayashi's point of view?

Fujibayashi　This time, Zelda was created with the  individuality of the entire team. The highlights are the many events and  mini-games, and the dungeon gimmicks. I thought about various big tricks  that Game Boy can do. The ideas of all the staff are included, and I  think it's quite full.

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----  ---- ---- ---- ----

■ What do you recommend for the  link system?

Fujibayashi If　you play the two software as a continuation of  the story using "Aikotoba", you can enjoy a deeper view of the  world. You can also experience the true ending after the story is  over. There will be new characters and there will be many events, so  please give it a try.

 On May 14th, 2001 both of the games, now titled the Oracle series, would release here in America. The games would receive positive reviews and critical praise for the link system that Nintendo and Capcom had developed. Over the years, the games have seemingly faded out of the minds of Zelda fans. Only hopes and rumors of potential remakes are the only true discussion these games draw these days. The concept within the trilogy of games was very similar to Ura Zelda to where Miyamoto wanted what was done in one game to affect that area in the other game. Also, did Majora's Mask overshadow these games? The development of these games runs parallel with each other and Majora's Mask is a beloved game within the Zelda community. Here's to remakes of these games happening on the Switch here in the near future. 

[mendelpalace]

GamePro’s SNES Criterion Collection

Back in 2011, the now-defunct GamePro published a piece including Criterion Collection-style covers for a handful of SNES titles, along with descriptions of the hypothetical bonus materials that would come with such deluxe rereleases. Though the cover images are still floating around online, a bunch of the descriptions are probably lost, including those for games like Street Fighter II, Donkey Kong Country, U.N. Squadron, Desert Strike, and Chrono Trigger. 

A few can still be accessed via the Wayback Machine though, so I decided to repost the ones I can still get to:

An old enemy brings bounty hunter Samus Aran back to Zebes, where she discovers that the Space Pirate threat is greater than ever -- and thus begins one of the most evocative games ever made. Thanks to its simple but powerful storytelling; outstanding soundtrack; and massive, lonely world, Super Metroid, created by Nintendo's well-known R&D1; team, is a masterpiece of design that has come to represent the Super Nintendo at its pinnacle.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

All-new 16:9 transfer optimized for high-definition televisions

Video introduction by writer/director Yoshio Sakamoto

Two Interactive Audio Commentaries: one by Yoshio Sakamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto; and one by producer Makoto Kano

New Leaderboards: Test your sequence-breaking skills against the best speedrunners in the world

DISC TWO

Return to Zebes (2011): A 90-minute feature documentary on the making of the game

From Zebes to the Bottle Ship (2011): A 30 minute documentary about the history of the Metroid franchise

Deep Red: Scenes from the film that helped to inspire Super Metroid

Sequence Breaking: Noted speedrunners offer a guided tour of sequence breaking in Super Metroid

Into Tourian Base: An interactive map of Zebes with developer commentary and notes

Play the complete, original Metroid for the NES

Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original press kit, and the U.S., European, and Japanese trailers

PLUS: Complete OST featuring original and remastered tracks from Super Metroid

A party of four child prodigies must band together to fend off a mysterious, malevolent alien force in this cult-classic role-playing game, scripted by influential Japanese copywriter and author, Shigesato Itoi. Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo embark on a fantastic adventure that spans a quirky, contemporary world, with a charming sense of lighthearted humor that shines through to the engrossing story’s awe-inspiring ending.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Fully animated opening and ending cinematics from Studio Ghibli.

In-game commentary from director/producer/writer Shigesato Itoi, designer Akihiko Miura, and composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka.

Live recording of the “Earthbound Orchestral Experience.”

Excerpts from the new translation of Saori Kumi’s Earthbound novelization, read by the author.

DISC TWO

The Man that Fell to Earthbound – Retrospective Q&A; with Shigesato Itoi about Earthbound’s critical and commercial reception.

It Hurts -- documentary feature chronicling the troubled production of Earthbound 64.

Outgrowing Onett - A short film from director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars) that bridges the gap between Earthbound and Mother 3.

Brand new trailer of “Mother 3DS,” the highly anticipated, “definitive” edition of Mother 3.

All-new localization effort overseen by acclaimed director and screenwriter Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant).

Complete HD reimagining of the original Mother.

PLUS: Concept art gallery, and interviews with the game’s development staff.

In a galaxy far, far away, join Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and even Wicket the Ewok as they wage intergalactic war against the evil Empire and the sinister Sith lord, Darth Vader. In this ultimate HD edition of Super Star Wars trilogy, you’ll experience the entire saga, including racing a landspeeder through Tatooine’s wastelands in A New Hope, battling colossal AT-ATs storming Hoth’s rebel base in The Empire Strikes Back, flying the Millennium Falcon through the Death Star’s core in Return of the Jedi, and many more memorable adventures from the classic sci-fi trilogy.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES DISC ONE

All three Super Nintendo classics in their original form: Super Star Wars, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Remastered 16-bit visuals and crystal clear audio optimized for high-definition televisions.

New inventory management menu allows you to hang on to your weapons and powerups through all three games.

Save system lets you save your progress at any time.

New beginner-friendly “Apprentice Mode” eases newcomers into some of the most challenging Super NES games ever mad

DISC TWO

Deleted Levels: Two new playable missions previously cut from the games including R2-D2’s battle through Jabba’s palace.

A History of Sculpted Software: A 15-minute documentary chronicling the developer’s daunting task of reenvisioning George Lucas’ epic science-fiction series for the Super Nintendo.

From Giant Scorpions to Frog Dogs: An all-new 10 minute documentary examining the genesis of Super Star Wars trilogy’s most bizarre enemies.

Digital Strategy Guides: Digital versions of the original strategy guides to help you master what are considered some of the toughest video games on the Super NES.

Ladies and gentlemen: Start your engines, and prepare to challenge some of Nintendo’s most famous gaming characters in a high-speed battle of skill, wits...and luck! A huge critical and commercial success, Super Mario Kart is a seminal race-combat game from the 16-bit heyday of the early 90s that is so well loved, it continues to rank highly on “Best Game Ever” lists almost 20 years since its first release. Its key to success is its finely tuned, beautifully balanced multiplayer battle system that feels as fresh and fun as it did nearly two decades ago. Now’s your chance to rediscover the multiplayer magic of one of the best Super Nintendo games in three different forms, including an all-new Director's Cut!

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Director’s Cut: Featuring all-new polygonal graphics, the characters and courses are completely reimagined for a stunning, cutting-edge visual experience.

Enhanced Edition: A digitally remastered 16-bit version, with 1080p sprite-graphics taken from the original release, and authentic original gameplay

The First Cut: The completely untouched original version of the 1992 Super Nintendo release

Battle On!: Watch as the game’s original creators challenge one another in multiplayer combat and talk about their favorite weapons and characters

The Kart Legacy: A documentary on the legacy of Super Mario Kart, its numerous sequels and ports through the generations, and how it spawned an entirely new genre of racing games.

DISC TWO

Beyond F-Zero. The Making of a Two-player Racer: An in-depth interview with creator Shigeru Miyamoto about Super Mario Kart’s multiplayer design philosophies.

Unlocking Mode 7: Tadashi Sugiyama and Hideki Konno talk about the technical aspects of using Super Nintendo’s Mode 7 to deliver a great gaming experience.

Digitally remastered music by composer Soyo Oka

Bios and gameography of each Super Mario Kart character: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., Koopa Troopa, and Toad.

Cities are living, breathing things -- just as much as the inhabitants that walk their streets -- and nowhere is this more apparent than in Will Wright's masterpiece. Providing one of the earliest examples of free-form emergent gameplay, Sim City for the Super Nintendo is a seminal work, grounded in reality but limited only by the player's imagination.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

Two editions of the game: The original Super NES classic and SimCity+, a specially optimized widescreen edition for modern high-definition televisions.

Social Play: Connect your cities to those of your friends around the world.

Video introduction by Will Wright and Jeff Braun.

Fully voiced tutorial and advice featuring Nolan North as the voice of Dr. Wright.

DISC TWO

Af Wubbas Do (2011): A 60-minute feature documentary chronicling the history of the entire Sim series, from City through Copter to The Sims.

Urban Canvas (2011): A 30-minute exposé of the radical computer artists who use the SimCity series' landscaping and planning tools to produce works of visual art.

The Full, Uncut Raid on Bungeling Bay for Commodore 64: The game that inspired SimCity's creation.

Interactive gallery of real-life cities modeled in the game.

Original press materials and trailers.

Digital copy of "Street Music," an album featuring music from and inspired by the series.

Years ahead of its time, Actraiser was one of the most loved games released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Genre-bending civilization-building simulation with side-scrolling action, the game didn’t continue as a decades-long franchise like some of its other contemporaries, but it was never forgotten. Stepping into the omnipotent shoes of “The Master” to save the land and its people from the evil Tanzra and his six lieutenants is not only many gamers’ first memory of playing a “god game,” for some it is also their fondest memory from the entire 16-bit era.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

DISC ONE

All-new 16:9 remastered transfer optimized for high-definition televisions

Switch between the original 2D art assets and the all-new polygonal art with the push of a button.

Video introduction by director Masaya Hashimoto and writer Tomoyoshi Miyazaki.

Audio commentary track with the game���s designers.

DISC TWO

“The Creation Story” (2011), a forty-minute short documentary on the development of the game.

“Lightning in a Bottle” (2011), a roundtable discussion with Masaya Hashimoto, Tomoyoshi Miyazaki and Peter Molyneux about ActRaiser’s influence on game development and the “god games” genre.

The complete Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.

An interactive gallery of over 100 never before seen sketches, concept art, and other design documents.

All that stands between a world’s freedom and its conquest by a ruthless tyrant is the intrepid pilot Fox McCloud and his dauntless friends of the Star Fox Team. Featuring the groundbreaking technology of the Super FX chip, Star Fox brought Nintendo into the world of 3D computer graphics. And flying through the sky and in space in the Arwing starship is perhaps the best way for Nintendo to bring polygons to its consoles.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES DISC ONE

Remastered audio and visuals, featuring Dolby Digital EX surround sound and a 16:7, HD presentation. Game’s original 1992 audio and visuals are also on the disc.

Two audio commentaries: One from the game’s executive producer, Hiroshi Yamauchi, and producer, Shigeru Miyamoto, and another with commentary from the point of view of Andross, the game’s villain.

Updated motion-comic version of the original Star Fox comic that ran in Nintendo Power from February 1993 to December 1993.

DISC TWO

“Defenders of Corneria”: a 90-minute documentary on the making of the original Star Fox.

“Fox Through the Ages”: A look at how Fox McCloud and the series has changed since their 1992 inception.

“Arwing Declassified”: A collection of other designs considered and rejected for the iconic Arwing starship.

“The Art of Star Fox”: Images of Fox McCloud, the Star Fox Team, and the memorable worlds from the franchise.

Original promotional ads from Japan, Europe, and North America.

PLUS: The Complete Original soundtrack.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Found in Translation - Why I Love "Yuri!!! on ICE"

It’s official! Yuri!!! on ICE is Crunchyroll’s Anime of the Year! Given that YOI swept most of the category awards, this result should come as no surprise to anyone, but I’m still stoked to hear the confirmation. In so many ways, YOI is an anime with a sense of international scope and ambition, and so it is entirely fitting that it would win the Crunchyroll awards.

  Not only has YOI caused a huge stir among anime fans across the globe, it was definitely one of my personal favorites of the year. There’s no single reason why I love YOI. This show had it all—an inspiring coming-of-age story, some of the hottest characters you’ll ever find in a cartoon, and some amazingly detailed ice skating sequences to boot. Yet despite all these great qualities, what will stick out most to me when I look back on this anime will be all the little details.

  Here are just a few of the things that made Yuri!!! on ICE such a labor of love.

  The Side Characters

    Every one of the skaters could have been the main character of Yuri!!! on ICE. The director Sayo Yamamoto and manga artist Mitsuro Kubo have stated that they went out of their way to create characters that are the stars of their own stories, and it shows. We learn of their motivations; we see how much skating means to them. All the contestants of the Grand Prix Final would have been poised to make history, whether it was Yuri Plisetsky as the youngest winner or Phichit Chulanont as the first Thai winner. As much as I love Victor and Yuuri, I couldn’t help but cheer for everybody to win.

  Even the characters off the ice are great, especially the female characters. My favorite characters are the Nishigori triplets, who are huge ice skating geeks despite their tender ages. They even helped bring Victor and Yuuri together in the first place by uploading a video of Yuuri skating on social media. I think that the Nishigori triplets represent the young, tech-savvy audience of international ice skating—in other words, many of the people who watch Yuri!!! on ICE. That’s why I appreciated the little details like them using a Russian streaming website from their home in Japan in order to watch Yuuri compete in Spain. As a Crunchyroll user in Australia watching an anime about a Japanese ice skater, I could relate.

    The Locations

  Like most anime these days, the backgrounds in YOI are based off real-world locations. The big difference, however, is that most of YOI’s locations are not set in Japan. In order to bring the world of YOI to life, the anime staff went to various competitions around the world and got as close to the action as they could. There are some things about the locations that you can’t convey through animation without actually going there, like the atmosphere and the level of excitement in the air, so I really appreciated that the staff went the extra mile.

  On that note, one of my favorite episodes of the series was episode 10. Besides being a wonderful showcase of Yuri and Victor’s deepening relationship, the episode also included a flash tour of Barcelona’s main tourist sites as you get to see the characters on their day off. You get a glimpse of the markets and some of the famous architectural landmarks. This episode even included Phichit taking a selfie in front of the world famous Sagrada Família!

    (Note: For more real-life versus anime comparisons for YOI, see Wilhelm's articles. Part 1 and Part 2.)

The Sounds of the Stadium

  Speaking of the locations, another thing YOI got right was the sounds of the stadium. Most viewers don’t pay particular attention to it, even seasoned ice skating fans, but one of the reasons why the skating scenes in the anime felt so realistic to watch was because there was so much attention put into the sound effects. According to an interview with the sound effects editor, the team changed the sound effects to match each venue according to the building’s capacity and crowd size. How loudly does the audience cheer? When do they hold their breaths? The creators considered all of these things as they were making the anime.

  On top of that, the team created the skating sounds for each sequence separately. There were no stock sounds that could be used for the specific sequences used in the anime, because each part sounds subtly different. Not even footage of professional ice skaters could be used for the anime, because the music in those programs usually muffles out the sounds. All the skating scenes in the anime are specially choreographed by the former professional ice skater Kenji Miyamoto, who also filmed himself performing every sequence. In other words, every skate sequence in YOI is unique to the anime, from the choreography to every subtle sound of the skates touching the ice. The anime staff even got a former professional ice skater turned commentator to perform the commentary of the skating scenes.

  Thanks to all of these careful details, watching the anime truly does feel like watching a professional ice skating competition performed at the highest level.

    Other Details

  The anime is full of other little touches that I appreciate a lot. From an animation perspective, the skating scenes may have their rough patches, especially in the later episodes, but they can be truly breathtaking to watch. In the early episodes at least, each character was handled by a different key animator, which probably explains why each character’s skating style looks so unique and individualistic. Even when Yuuri tries to copy Victor’s moves, the way he moves is so fundamentally different. They have different builds, and Yuuri seems to place a lot of care into his footwork, even between jumps.

  I also loved the music in this series, especially for the ice skating scenes. I appreciated how each character had their own unique theme song that expressed their personalities to a T. Who can forget the “Theme of King J.J.”?

    Honestly, I could go on forever about this anime, so I should probably stop here and pass the buck to you. How do you feel about Yuri!!! on ICE? Did you notice any little details in the anime worth sharing? Do you think YOI was the best anime of 2016, or was there another series that captured your heart? Sound off in the comments!

  ---

  Kim Morrissy is a freelance writer and translator. He writes about anime, light novels, and Japanese culture on his personal blog. You can also follow him on Twitter at @frog_kun.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[gamegeekzeu-blog]

E3 2017 is over. The dust has finally settled. Now that we have had time to take in all the information and form a decent opinion on the games showcased, we are finally ready to present to you our Best of Show top 10. Maybe you’ll agree, maybe you’ll have a completely different opinion on the games we like and love. Just let us know what you think about our chart and maybe our GamesCom 2017 top 10 will look a bit different.

In general, it was a decent E3 this year. We might have seen less of the titles we wanted to see, more than enough of the titles we wished didn’t exist and were even surprised to see titles we didn’t even knew existed. All and all we now know that there are still more than enough enjoyable games scheduled to release on home console this year and maybe even a few sleeper hits we didn’t see coming. Next year. Well, next year will be even better if we have to trust the release schedules. Obviously.

1. Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle [Switch]

While the big guys Sony and Microsoft tried to out-perform their rival, Ubisoft delivered probably their best show in years. No Aisha was Kudo number one, and then they announced some really nice fresh IP’s like Skull & Bones and Starlink. Hell, at the end of the show they even showed a teaser for the long-awaited Beyond Good & Evil 2. But the real surprise was a game nobody was waiting for to happen: Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Yves Guillemot took the E3 2017 stage and put on an awkward performance with no other than Mr. Miyamoto himself.

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The Ubisoft mascots team up with Mario and his friends in this turn-based-strategy game, in order to defeat all the Raving Rabbids and save the world. Mario + Rabbids roam the stages and confront their enemies in a mode that just is Xcom, and that is a really good move by Ubisoft Paris and Milan studios. Everybody carries a gun or weapon of choice and can make one move per turn. So you’ll want to get behind cover and shoot from the perfect spot.

The characters in your team each have different weapons they carry, and special abilities with a cooldown timer. The combat starts off relatively easy, but soon you’ll be introduced to complex Xcom tactics and use your alley as a trampoline to move twice as far.

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Although Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle sounds like the biggest mistake in the gaming industry this year, personally I think it’s the best we were shown at E3 2017. You can buy the game from August 29th 2017 and it also comes as Limited Edition alongside some nice statues of those crazy Rabbids.

2. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom [PS4, PC]

We were huge fans of the first Ni no Kuni game on Playstation 3 and were kinda hoping for a remastered version on Playstation 4 to be announced during the show. Well, there’s always hope for next year. Even though Bandai failed to announce a much wanted remaster at E3 2017, they did show us some more of the game’s sequel.

During the show, a new trailer was released and Sony even showcased a 9-minute gameplay video and interview for the game after the media briefing. Below you will find both the latest Kingsbond trailer and the gameplay video, followed by some information from Bandai Namco about the game. Are you looking forward to this new Ni No Kuni adventure? To become a rightful leader and develop his kingdom, Evan will first have to forge a Kingsbond with a unique creature called the Kingmaker. Watch the new Kingsbond trailer below:

Story and Gameplay

In the world of Ni No Kuni II, players enter the Kingdom of Ding Dong Dell, where cats, mice, and humans once lived in harmony. After a treacherous coup, Evan, the young boy king of Ding Dong Dell is forced to flee his kingdom. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom recounts the story of this deposed king and his journey to build his own kingdom and unite the entire world. Supporting Evan on his adventure will be friends he meets along his journey including Roland, a visitor from another world, and Tani, the daughter of the leader of sky pirates.

Players will encounter even more characters to join Evan throughout his quest including natural phenomena known as Higgledies. The Higgledies will provide invaluable support during battles including offensive and defensive buffs, increasing special attack power for Evan and his friends, and assist in attacking enemies. Join Evan on his quest as he fights powerful monsters, face perilous dungeons, and rises to once again become a king. Check out brand new gameplay, including combat, from Playstation’s after show below:

The game launches on PlayStation 4 and PC on November 10th 2017 and hopefully, Bandai Namco will announce an awesome Collector’s Edition or White PS4 Pro console (like with PS3) as well.

3. Monster Hunter World [PS4, PC, Xbox One]

Monster Hunter: World is considered a main game in the Monster Hunter series, according to the game’s producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and co-director Yuya Tokuda. Tokuda and co-director Kaname Fujioka were also directors for Monster Hunter 4 and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Development of World started about three years prior to the E3 2017 reveal, following a year of brainstorming on what the next main game in the series would be. Capcom re-evaluated where they wanted to take the series (since is exists for over a decade), and realized that with the hardware capabilities of the new consoles, they could realize a different vision compared to the handheld or WiiU versions.

Tsujimoto said that past games typically had arcane rules, and the zoned area structure made each zone feel isolated and wanted to change that approach. They have also wanted to implement living worlds and ecosystems, with complex artificial intelligence interactions between monsters and the environment but have been limited in the past by handheld gaming hardware. The team determined that they would pursue highly-detailed worlds that felt realistic, eliminating the disconnected zoned-map approach. This created a “ripple effect” of changes in gameplay; for example, elimination of loading screens meant players could not use the tactic of jumping to a different zone to heal in safety and thus allowed players to drink healing potions while walking. Tokuda noted that with these changes, the pace of the game also became quicker.

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Designed for the West.

Fujioka responded to some criticism of the Western-driven changes to the game, that they were not trying to make the game easier just to drive sales. “We’re not taking things that people in the west hate and fixing them to make Western players buy it. People sometimes make that assumption, or they’ve got that fear, but that’s not the case at all.” He continued “The new gameplay has to mesh with the new concept or else it would just be a mess.” Tsujimoto also said that as they have been working on the series for more than a decade, they are aware of what fans expect of a Monster Hunter title, saying “we want Monster Hunter fans to feel like this is a Monster Hunter game through and through when they play it”.

The subtitle World alludes to many facets of the game’s design changes from past Monster Hunter games: it reflects that the game will have a worldwide simultaneous release, that it will be playing on worldwide servers rather than segmented by region, that the maps are no longer connected zones but wide-open worlds, and that these maps represent living worlds. Capcom opted not to use a numerical title, such Monster Hunter 5, as that would give the impression that players needed to have completed other titles in the series to play this one.

Overall

With connected areas of the map, more accessible combat system and 4-player online play this Monster Hunter title seems to have all the right ingredients to do well not only in Asia but worldwide. Striking a monster with my friends could become the best PS4 experience I’ll have next year. I do hope they can implement some awesome matchmaking system, so we can make new hunter friends all over the globe. And maybe a photo mode to snap a selfie with your catch 😉 We’ll just have to wait and see because there will probably be a lot more Monster Hunter World at PSX in December!

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4. The Last Night [PC, Xbox One]

The soul of a cinematic platformer and the heart of a sci-fi thriller, The Last Night is set in a post-cyberpunk world with a deep, vibrant vision of the future. This visually striking game just is the best indie title of E3 2017 for us.

The Last Night is what we call post-cyberpunk – it’s not the kind of dystopia the genre is famous for, rather it depicts an alternate direction for society. One where the fight for survival doesn’t mean food and water, but a purpose for living. Human labor and creativity have been rendered obsolete by AI, so people are now defining themselves by what they consume, not what they create.

Charlie is a lower-class citizen who can’t interface with the systems and augmentations of the world around him, due to an accident during his childhood. He’s a citizen of the thriving metropolis and yet he’ll never be a part of it. Then, a chance encounter offers him the chance to be part of something else and take matters into his own hands.

5. Spider-Man [PS4]

Starring one of the world’s most iconic Super Heroes, Spider-Man features the acrobatic abilities, improvisation and web-slinging that the wall-crawler is famous for, while also introducing elements never-before-seen in a Spider-Man game. From traversing with parkour and unique environmental interactions to new combat and cinematic blockbuster set pieces, it’s Spider-Man unlike any you’ve played before.

Sony Interactive Entertainment, Insomniac Games, and Marvel have teamed up to create a brand-new and authentic Spider-Man adventure. This isn’t the Spider-Man you’ve met before, or seen in a movie. This is an experienced Peter Parker who’s more masterful at fighting big crime in New York City. At the same time, he’s struggling to balance his chaotic personal life and career while the fate of millions of New Yorkers rests upon his shoulders.

6. YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana [PS4]

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is a Japanese action role-playing game developed and published by the Nihon Falcom Corporation and the eighth installment in the Ys video game series. It was released in Japan in July 2016 for the Sony PlayStation Vita and for the PlayStation 4 on May 25, 2017.On February 17, 2017, a worldwide release was announced for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows set for fall 2017; however, rather than being published by long-time partners Xseed Games, Ys VIII will be published by NIS America.

7. Uncharted: Lost Legacy [PS4]

Watch the all-new story trailer for UNCHARTED: The Lost Legacy—a new adventure from acclaimed developer Naughty Dog coming August 22 to the PlayStation 4. In order to find an ancient Indian artifact, Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross must venture deep into the Western Ghats mountains, discover the lost cities of the Hoysala Empire, and face the ruthless warmonger Asav.

  8. Dragonball Fighter Z [PS4, PC, Xbox ONE]

Dragon Ball FighterZ is coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC early 2018. Developed by Arc System Works, get ready for 3VS3 2D fighting and the best graphics yet. Look forward to a Closed BETA on Xbox One and PS4 before the end of the summer and stay tuned because more info will be coming soon.

9. A Way Out [PS4, PC, Xbox ONE]

A Way Out offers something for everyone – may it be lean back or intense gameplay moments, action, adventure, exploration, puzzles, chase, stealth. Discover More: http://x.ea.com/33015

The narrative keeps you on your toes, offering a fresh, unique and compelling experience throughout. Get a unique look into the character’s personal lives and their driving motivations through their interaction with others as strong cinematic moments tie the plot together and propel the characters forward through their journey.

10. Code Vein [PS4, PC, Xbox ONE]

Code Vein is coming to PS4, XB1 and PC in 2018. In the not too distant future, a mysterious disaster has brought collapse to the world as we know it. Towering skyscrapers, once symbols of prosperity, are now lifeless graves of humanity’s past pierced by the Thorns of Judgment. At the center of the destruction lies a hidden society of Revenants called Vein. This final stronghold is where the remaining few fight to survive, blessed with Gifts of power in exchange for their memories and a thirst for blood. Give into the bloodlust fully and risk becoming one of the Lost, fiendish ghouls devoid of any remaining humanity.

E3 2017: Best of the Show GameGeekz Top 10 What do you guys think about our list? Please share your thoughts! E3 2017 is over. The dust has finally settled. Now that we have had time to take in all the information and form a decent opinion on the games showcased, we are finally ready to present to you our Best of Show top 10.

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Twilight Princess: A Game Stuck in Time

(AN: The following is an unproduced script for a proposed video series called BKLG (pronounced Backlog), which I unfortunately had to put on hold for the time being. It has been slightly modified to read as an article, but the writing below is perhaps a bit more conversational than it otherwise would be.)

Allow me a bold statement upfront: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess would not exist as it does today without a demo reel shown at Nintendo’s defunct trade show Spaceworld. At Spaceworld 2000, a demo reel for the upcoming Gamecube was shown to attendees to represent the graphical power of Nintendo’s new console. Twelve seconds of an unannounced Zelda game were shown and the fanbase lost it’s collective mind. IGN wrote a five paragraph essay about the clip, writing, “There's far too much detail to believe that Nintendo would scrap the models and make new ones. So, we think it's safe to say the new Link will look a lot like this. Overall, we're very happy with his new immaculate hero look.” Right.

IGN might’ve lost their minds, but behind the scenes, director Eiji Aonuma wasn’t pleased; in fact, he actually hated the design. A decade later, he told IGN it wasn’t the game he wanted to make at all. To him, it wasn’t Zelda.

So a year later, at Spaceworld 2001, Nintendo announced The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The internet revolted. This wasn’t their Zelda, they said. This was Cel-da. This was kid stuff. Where was their mature, grounded take on the series? I do wonder if that sounds like any other fanbase out there today.

Wind Waker was released in North America in 2003 to critical praise. Wikipedia has it listed on twenty-three separate Best Of lists. The HD re-release on the Wii U only gained the game further acclaim. The visuals have stood the test of the time, aging far better than similar games released around the same era.

But all of that didn’t matter. To fans, the cartoonish visuals meant the game was meant for children. As a follow up to Ocarina, its sales were disappointing, selling less than half of what the first 3D Zelda had sold. Nintendo directly attributed this slump to the reaction of fans in North America after the graphics were first shown in 2001. So, despite accidentally announcing in 2004 that an upcoming GameCube Zelda game had the working title of The Wind Waker 2, Aonuma became concerned that the game wouldn’t sell well in North America. After the game was announced at E3 2004, Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN that the art style of the new Zelda adventure was created to fulfill that customer demand created six years before Twilight Princess was even released.

So why spend a massive amount of time detailing the history of a decade old game? Because in a lot of ways, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and its HD remake, feel beholden to the demand of its fan base in a way not a lot of Zelda games are. Despite the preceding two games in the series, Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask, featuring spectacularly different play styles, Twilight Princess feels like a reimagining of 1998’s Ocarina of Time, and while this doesn’t make Twilight Princess a bad game by any means, it certainly makes it feel more derivative than any adventure game starring the Hero of Time deserves to feel.

So, in the honor of Zelda, let’s divide this into two needlessly convoluted timelines. There’s also one where I die while writing this, and it never comes out, so if you’re reading this now, please assume you aren’t in this timeline.

One.

Twilight Princess is a good game doing weird things.

Yeah, really, it is. All the fun of Zelda, right there, baked into it. It’s got some dark, goofy undertones and the game is weird as hell. The wolf segments are mostly fun, especially once you gain the freedom to turn into a wolf whenever you please. The characters are all really memorable in a way that I think is underplayed when people talk about Zelda. The Snow Yeti couple who are secretly possessed. Zant is a weird Twilight villain who is being played by Ganondorf. Colin’s storyline of overcoming the bullying and taunting of the rest of his friends makes him my favorite of the four children by far. And Midna is the best - the best - Zelda assistant ever. That’s a really low bar to clear, sorry Navi and Fi, and Tatl. Y’all can buzz off, because Midna has you beat for days. She is excellent, and never really a bother, even when she tells you something you already know.

The swordfighting in this game, particularly when fighting the Darknuts throughout the last chunk of the game, feels spectacular. I’m assuming this is less true with waggle controls on the Wii, but playing through the HD remake felt pretty spectacular. Some of the dungeon design is the best in the series - Snowpeak, for all its flaws and played out ice block puzzles, is perfectly built, and the Temple of Time’s reversal after the miniboss felt really refreshing. It also, and I cannot overstate this enough, had my favorite minigame in all of Zelda: snowboarding.

That’s not to say Twilight Princess is a perfect game. There’s plenty to nitpick - the puzzles don’t feel like puzzles! Why are half of the puzzles just shooting objects on a wall with an item! Why aren’t there more snowboarding levels! Why do half the items have almost no use outside the dungeon! Why aren’t there more snowboarding levels! Why can’t I ride the Spinner everywhere! Why aren’t there more snowboarding levels!

So instead of nitpicking on small things like, why aren’t there more snowboarding levels, let me go ahead and lay out the biggest flaw in this game, the one that everyone probably saw coming before you even clicked on this article: the opening.

Here’s how the opening tutorial for 1992’s The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past plays out: There’s a short cutscene before you gain control of Link. You leave bed and you grab the Lamp from the nearby chest. The guards don’t let you into the castle, so you head around to the right and you move a bush to let yourself into the dungeon of the castle. Your uncle, who has been defeated, gives you a sword and shield. Then you begin your journey through the first dungeon of the game, Hyrule Castle.

Cool. Easy. Done. Now here’s the opening tutorial for Twilight Princess: You talk to Rusl, you watch a cutscene, you run to the Ordon Spring, you talk to Ilia, you get Epona, you run through Ordon, you get to the ranch, you herd some goats in what is one of my least favorite mini-games in all of Zelda, you run back to Ordon, you talk to the kids, you talk to Uli, who can’t give you the fishing rod because she lost her cradle, then you talk to Jaggle, you summon a hawk, you shoot the hawk at a monkey, you bring the cradle back to Uli, and you get the fishing rod. From there, you go fishing, you catch a fish for the cat, you watch the cat run around town and back into the shop, where you can now get a free bottle. If you haven’t already, you run around collecting rupees until you reach the magical number of 30, in which you buy the slingshot and you show the children that you’ve bought it. Now you can re-enter your house and, would you look at that, the sword is there. The kids teach you how to use a sword. Then the kids chase a monkey into the woods. So, you summon Epona, you get the lantern, and you enter the North Faron woods on your quest to find Talo. You make your way through the woods in what is sort of similar to a dungeon, you free Talo and the monkey using your sword, and Rusl thanks you for saving Talo. Then you herd more goats - 20 this time, thanks Fado. Ilia claims that you hurt Epona or something, and she steals your horse. She’s also locked you out of the spring where she’s hidden Epona, so you sneak into the spring in a crawlspace, which triggers a cutscene, and boom, you’re a wolf stuck in prison.Technically, the wolf section is also a bit of a tutorial, but I think the point’s been made.

The opening of this game is terrible. It slows progress in the game down to a crawl right when the game should be trying to get you to sink yourself in. It takes hours to complete, and even longer if you haven’t played the game before and don’t know what you’re doing. And, in some ways, it’s indicative of a larger problem in the more modern era of Zelda games - not trusting the player to figure the game out on their own.

A quick note on the other divisive aspect of this game: tear collecting. I won’t comment much on it because it’s been talked to death and, to me, the tutorial is far more problematic in terms of game structure, but the tears fetch quest isn’t a whole lot of fun. At best, it’s inoffensive; at worst, it’s boring and yet another way to get players to put the controller down before the game reaches its second half. The HD remaster fixes the quest somewhat, lowering the required tear count from 16 to 12. It’s still cumbersome, but ending 25 percent sooner helps alleviate the negative feeling each section leaves on the player.

Two.

Twilight Princess is a good game unable to move beyond its past and its fanbase.

Majora’s Mask was released to critical acclaim, but it sold about half of Ocarina’s numbers two years earlier. Perhaps, Nintendo probably thought at the time, this had to do not with the quality of the game or what the fanbase wanted, but the required usage of the Expansion Pak and the impending launch of the GameCube.

As mentioned earlier, it was Wind Waker’s sales that scared the creative team into redirecting their efforts from a sequel to Wind Waker to an entirely new game with a new, more realistic design.

But Wind Waker’s struggles didn’t just change the art design of the new game. It ensured that the next Zelda game would be more like Ocarina of Time than both Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask, a direct sequel, ever would.

And they did it. Twilight Princess, more than any other game in the series, plays like a reimagining of a former game, in this case, Ocarina of Time. Especially in the first half of the game, both play out in incredibly similar ways, from your humble beginnings in a small village to your travels to Hyrule Castle, to the similarly themed opening dungeons, to your new companion following you around, offering advice. Majora’s Mask was a game that took chances, shook the Zelda formula up in ways no one had seen since Zelda II. Wind Waker stayed more true to the classic Zelda road, while still thinking up new ideas, from its presentation to its high seas setting. Twilight Princess is a good, safe game, seemingly designed to make sure that everyone who owned a copy of Ocarina of Time and had seen the Spaceworld 2000 demo would no longer feel disappointed about the cartoon stylings of Wind Waker.

And it worked. That feeling of nostalgia for Ocarina, combined with the success of the Wii, ensured the game would become the best-selling title in Zelda’s history, assuming you don’t include the 3DS remake of Ocarina into Ocarina’s N64 sales.

Of course, unlike Ocarina, nostalgia for Twilight Princess hasn’t fared quite as well. The game received an HD remaster in 2016, both as a 30th anniversary celebration of the series and as a pseudo-apology from Nintendo for delaying Breath of the Wild to 2017 in order to simultaneously release on the Wii U and the Switch. The HD remaster of Twilight Princess sold a little more than a million copies globally, a similar number to 2015’s forgotten spin-off, TriForce Heroes.

It took nearly another decade to get Nintendo to take more chances on changing up the Zelda formula. Ignoring the portable titles for a moment, 2011’s Twilight Princess follow up, Skyward Sword, was critically acclaimed at launch, but has, for the most part, been largely forgotten about in the five-plus years since its release. Skyward Sword often appears near the bottom of best-Zelda lists, and often doesn’t appear at all when the list is limited to ten games. That game has similar flaws to Twilight Princess, with a drawn out opening section and frustrating collect-a-thons like the music note section late into the game.

All of this is to say, I think we’re about to entire a new era of Zelda, or at least, a return to classic, pre-Ocarina of Time adventuring. Next week’s Breath of the Wild promises an open world with plenty to explore. The opening of the game seems to draw from the original and from Link to the Past far more than from Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword. What we’re looking at isn’t the end of Zelda, but the first of a new chapter.

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19 Things Nintendo’s President Told Us About Switch and More

A little over a year ago, TIME engaged Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima in a wide-ranging conversation about the company’s fledgling mobile strategy, its struggles with the Wii U, the rise of its toys-to-life Amiibo figurines and a mystery-cloaked next-gen platform then known only as “NX.”

Three mobile apps and a sold-out “classic” version of its 1980s NES console later, with a $299 hybrid/TV games console dubbed Nintendo Switch due on March 3, TIME caught up with Nintendo’s principal figure to talk Switch, mobile profitability, how he’s liking the job so far and more.

Here, following our recent chats with Nintendo EPD director Shinya Takahashi and Nintendo Switch general producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation with Kimishima.

TIME: What’s your relationship with Nintendo Director and Entertaining Planning and Development boss Shinya Takahashi like?

Tatsumi Kimishima: Mr. Takahashi started out as a designer, and then as far as his career at Nintendo, he really worked with various development teams, where he worked as a coordinator for different environments. He was the guy they would bring in to pull all of these disparate things together. That was his main job while working with development teams.

One thing that’s a little bit different between [Donkey Kong and Mario creator] Mr. Miyamoto, say, and Mr. Takahashi, is that Mr. Miyamoto is of course known as the father of Mario, as well as for the characters and games he’s helped develop. Mr. Takahashi, by contrast, is someone who really covers everything. Not only does he know an individual game, he knows the direction in which the development took place as well as the environment that was behind it. He’s been someone who knows the overall workings of each individual game. Because he has this history and this vast knowledge, he has all of my confidence in his ability to continue to do that job.

As far as my relationship with Mr. Takahashi goes, when Mr. Iwata was our president, Mr. Takahashi was there as his right hand man, supporting him, giving him information on progress through development and different directional advice, and so my relationship was through the window of Mr. Iwata. I wasn’t directly connected. It was through Mr. Iwata that I knew Mr. Takahashi, and we interacted that way. However, with the passing of Mr. Iwata [in July 2015], I’m now receiving the same support from Mr. Takahashi that he previously provided Mr. Iwata. So I now have a direct relationship with him, much in the same way that I previously had with Mr. Iwata.

One thing that’s different from when Mr. Iwata was president, is that Mr. Iwata was a developer, so in some ways hardware development also ran through him. Now, as I don’t have that background as a developer, Mr. Takahashi also works with Mr. Shiota [Ko Shiota, head of Nintendo’s Platform Technology Development Division], who is in hardware development. Mr. Shiota works under Mr. Takeda [Genyo Takeda, Nintendo’s “Technology Fellow” and counterpart to “Creative Fellow” Shigeru Miyamoto]. So Nintendo’s hardware and software development and its overall entertainment development happens under Mr. Takahashi, with this constant communication between software and hardware development. That’s different.

When we spoke in late 2015, you told me mobile was a means to drive people back to Nintendo’s core platforms. That was before the mania around Pokémon Go and Super Mario Run. Has your mobile strategy evolved in light of their success?

With our mobile business, we have three goals. One, of course, is because there are so many mobile devices in the marketplace and in the hands of consumers, this is a great tool for us to push our IP to a large number of people. This is a great way to introduce them to our franchises and characters, and thereby bring them back to Nintendo’s dedicated hardware as well as introduce them to Nintendo’s expanded software library.

Number two, we’d like mobile to be a pillar in and of itself—a business pillar that is profitable.

And the third goal for our mobile business, in the same way it worked for Pokémon, is to use games on mobile devices to increase the sales of other games we develop with the same characters. This is synergy, right? In this way we hope customers will purchase other related goods and services, too. We want to use this synergy.

I’ve spoken with publishers in the West who claim even the most popular mobile games are less profitable than many think. Can you comment on that in view of Super Mario Run‘s numbers?

At this point Nintendo has launched three mobile titles, Miitomo, Super Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes, which launched on February 2. With Miitomo, which was a game that involved Mii characters and communication, we really wanted to see how we could with this first foray into the mobile market communicate with the public. More than looking at profit we were wondering if we could get people interested in Nintendo characters on their mobile devices. And the result is that we think we’ve seen a commensurate expansion in that interest.

We haven’t reached 20 million downloads yet, but I think we’re around 18 million downloads for Miitomo, which shows how many customers we’re reaching. With regard to Super Mario Run, as of the day of our latest financial announcement, we’ve had 78 million downloads. With regards to how many people have paid money, we’re hoping for more than 10%, and while we haven’t yet reached 10%, at this point we’re somewhere north of halfway there.

However, if you analyze this, it’s pretty interesting. The game is being distributed in more than 150 countries, but it’s the top 20 countries that account for more than 90% of the total revenue. If we look further at the people who are paying for the game within those 20 countries, we’re not at 10%, but the number is rising. So what is it that I’m trying to say? If we look at the countries where the game is on sale, how many people are paying for it, the way the game is being monetized, for 1,200 yen in Japan and for $9.99 in the U.S., and we look at how customers are reacting to a one-time payment option, I think we can see that this a viable way to do business. I would also add that this is a new way of monetization and so not yet popular.

Lastly, Fire Emblem Heroes is a free-to-play style game in which you can purchase items. Less than a half-day after its release, it had been downloaded over a million times, and we’re seeing revenue today at $5 million U.S. dollars. The point I’m making is that we’re experimenting with different types of monetization. There’s the type I mentioned we’re using with Super Mario Run, and the different style we’re using with Fire Emblem Heroes. As a result of these experiments with monetization styles, we’re gaining what you might call confidence in our mobile business efforts.

Am I right in thinking of Switch as a kind of stealth campaign to deliver something core gamers will buy up front, then literally carry to a broader audience?

We looked at the launch of Wii, we looked at the launch of Wii U, and over the course of launching those games and supporting those products, we gained a lot of insight and experience. The entire time we were doing this, we were looking forward and saying, “Okay, how are we going to present and introduce and launch Switch to the public?” I think the public sees that Nintendo is doing something different. They can look at it and they go, “Okay, that’s a different-looking console.” They look at the third-party support, they look at what the developers are bringing to the platform. That’s different, and then the folks who are getting hands-on time with Switch are then having those beliefs confirmed through their own experiences.

I do believe that career gamers are going to need extra time to understand that we’re doing something different [with Switch]. They really need to get the opportunity to play. We need to get this into people’s hands. And so we are really, as you said, running a guerrilla marketing program where we’re just dashing around and trying to have as many events as possible and get it in the hands of players so they can experience the difference.

Now they’re going to be saying to each other, “Hey, this is a different gaming experience. This is something we haven’t seen before. I just played it, I did it, and I’m going to tell my friends and they’re going to tell their friends, and then the next person’s going to play it.” And if you’re watching the Super Bowl, you’re saying, “Wow, look, Nintendo really is going all out.” We’ve been trying all kinds of different ways to get that message out, so that people understand it is different.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima. Nintendo

Can you say any more about what Switch’s online service is going to look like?

So far we have announced that from the fall, Nintendo’s online service will be a paid service, and we have announced that the price range will be between 2,000 and 3,000 yen [$18 to $27] per year for that service. We’ve also announced that friends will be able to play online, and they’ll be able to use a dedicated smartphone application that enables voice chat during those games.

More details are forthcoming, but I just want to make sure that everyone understands that we will be going above and beyond to make sure that our customers are getting a service that is worth paying for, so we’re paying special attention to make sure that this is, again, a valuable service that they will appreciate from us.

How are you able to offer something ostensibly comparable to what your competitors do at that price?

I think if you look at some of our competitors, you think that when I say 2,000 to 3,000 yen per year, that’s a bit underpriced or cheap. But we are really dedicated to bringing our online business to the consumer at that price point. Online play with Switch is going to be something that’s key to the business, and we had a ton of discussion internally within Nintendo to come up with what we thought was a reasonable price on how we can connect with our consumers.

We really think that regardless of what others are doing or what services are being offered, it comes down to a battle of content. We feel it’s a matter of getting our content to the consumer at a price point that will make them happy, and then we’re willing to look at what else we can do going forward. This is just the starting point for us, so again, it’s a battle of content. We think we have what we need to win the battle on that front, and we hope to provide more details about the service going forward.

Is Switch powerful enough to emulate Wii U games, or would they have to be ports, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

We can take games and bring them and make them playable on Switch. So they can be remade for Switch, yes.

That said, Switch is not backward compatible with games designed for other systems, and is not currently compatible with controllers designed for other systems. Support for certain controllers may be considered for a future update. In some cases, games from past systems may be re-released for the Nintendo Switch system as either enhanced or original versions.

Will Wii U apps like Miiverse, Mii Maker and Wii U Chat make an appearance on Switch?

In terms of the applications available on Wii U, all of those are not necessarily transferred or installed. In principle, we think about which application needs to be improved or discontinued by looking at consumers’ reactions. Mii characters can be used to represent a user profile, for instance, but are not required. Users also have the option to choose a profile picture from an included library of Nintendo character images. Mii characters can still be used in games if developers choose to include them.

As for Miiverse, while Miiverse will continue to be supported on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems, our approach with the Switch is to make greater use of other established, broadly used social platforms. For example, capturing gameplay screenshots to share on popular social networks, and social features such as voice chat are possible with smart devices through our app.

Concerning Mii Maker, on the Switch the software to create Mii characters is now located in System Settings, and no longer resides on the Home menu as a standalone application. You can also create a Mii character from the Profile screen. Making Mii characters is similar to the method used on past systems.

Next, whether Nintendo eShop is fully supported and functioning for Switch at launch, we can confirm that it will be possible to purchase and play downloaded software at launch, but we are not sharing further details at this time. And in terms of the Internet browser, since all of our efforts have gone toward making Switch an amazing dedicated video game platform, it will not support it, at least at launch.

What about virtual reality? Is the launch version of Switch powerful enough to support it?

The very simple answer is yes. We’ve said this before, and I feel like we’re saying it a lot, but we are interested and doing research into this field. The question, of course, is “What is the best way to bring virtual reality to our customers as a form of entertainment?” Not just, “Hey, look! It’s realistic!” or whatever, but what is the best way to use this technology to bring something fun to our consumer base? We are definitely looking at that.

Thinking about 3DS and Wii U, do you still believe in the two-screen approach? Will we see a direct successor to the 3DS?

We are not creating a successor to the 3DS right now. We are, however, still thinking of portable systems. We are thinking of ways that we will be able to continue bringing portable gaming systems out, so yes, we are thinking of different ways to continue the portable gaming business.

Your mobile device history, from the original Game Boy to the New Nintendo 3DS, has seen you release new models more frequently than with your TV consoles. Since Switch is of both worlds, will it look more like your handheld or TV systems when it comes to newer versions?

We want Switch to sell for a long time, of course, and we hope it has really long legs. That said, technology, of course, advances quickly, and so I’m not going to say that we have a team working on the next thing. But we obviously have people looking at new technologies and thinking of new ideas even now as we speak.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima. Nintendo

You’ve said that your biggest worry about Amiibo is that buyers are collecting instead of using them in games. Have you figured out how to solve this?

As far as having people who are trying to collect Amiibo, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to be making a ton of Amiibo. With Switch and the Joy-Con, we do have an NFC [Near Field Communication wireless] reader. And so our goal, rather than producing mass amount of Amiibo for collectors, is to forge a better connection between gameplay and Amiibo itself.

Is the “quality of life” initiative still underway?

The development is continuing. Our challenge is to create a Nintendo product that will satisfy consumers.

We haven’t heard much about Miitomo lately [Nintendo’s first mobile app]. Is it something you intend to support going forward?

The number of Miitomo downloads is gradually but continuously growing. Many people are playing with Miitomo every day. It will soon be a year after its release and this app has played an important role as the first Nintendo smart-device application. We will continue to thoughtfully think about the role of this app for the future.

Is eSports going to become a Nintendo pillar?

We think eSports is the business that many consumers expect us to engage in now and in the future. We think titles such as Splatoon 2 and ARMS for Nintendo Switch have suitable elements for eSports. On the other hand, we are considering what Nintendo-like eSports can be in terms of the business model, and the rewards for the outcome of the battle.

You told me a story last time about solving Wii shortages in 2008 and 2009. Any thoughts on Switch availability solutions as the launch nears?

Looking at responses from consumers, we are seeing that launch day preorders have nearly reached the maximum available. We will deliver Nintendo Switch orders as early as possible after the launch. Our plan under the financial forecast is to ship two million units by the end of March, and we are increasing its production. We hope to see strong sales momentum like we saw in 2008 and 2009 [for the Wii]. Based on this experience, we have already started to think about how we should plan our production of Switch for 2017.

For years Nintendo has talked of revitalizing local face-to-face interaction. With Switch, you’re offering experiences so “local” that they literally take the “video” out of video games. We’ve heard a lot lately about the perils of social media, the chaos and noise and the siloing of thought. I know Nintendo isn’t into social engineering, and that in the end you think of yourself as an entertainment company, but is there any part of Switch that involves you trying to think at the level of social responsibility?

This is just my personal opinion, but of course, Nintendo, as you say, is an entertainment company, so we ask ourself, “What is entertainment? What is it to begin with?” It’s not just enough for us when we bring content to consumers, but we want to bring something that is comforting or comfortable. I think comfort is a word that comes up when I think about what it is that we have to provide for our consumers.

Now comfort might be too limiting of a word in English for me, but it’s enjoyable, it’s pleasurable, so all of these things together. Of course, there are different ways that people experience that, and there are different ways to bring that out. One of those ways would be, of course, a single player sitting in front of their TV playing a game. That’s an option. That can be enjoyable for them. But when I think of what it is that makes people happier, when I think of what is a pleasurable experience, I think of people working together to solve a problem or to overcome a challenge.

For example, if you have friends who are playing together to solve something, or I see parents and their children working together to accomplish a specific goal, it’s something I would put into my definition, that slot of what is comfortable, what is happy, what is pleasurable. Also, seeing other people happy. Being in a room where people are happy is a source of happiness, is a source of pleasure.

With Switch, it’s not just something that you’ll be looking at a screen to play. In certain cases you don’t even have to look at a screen. Again, we’re seeing people face-to-face as you said. We’re seeing that gap between people become smaller.

Mr. Yamauchi [Nintendo president from 1949 to 2002], towards the end of his life, said that if Nintendo was ever unable to go its own way, it would have to end. Do you think that’s still true today?

I heard this directly from Mr. Yamauchi. He said “This is up to you guys, but you have to create unique experiences, you have to do things that other companies cannot imitate, that is your mission.” And that is what we are planning to do.

The word he used was cleverness or craftsmanship, this ability to create something new that we haven’t seen before. We have this DNA running throughout the building, running through our company, not only with the hardware or the software, but in whatever we do. And part of what we bring to it is, of course, the IP that we have.

We have to be very diligent and very careful about how we use that IP, because it is a finite resource in my opinion. So we’re going to have to expand and change how we look at our IP, how we use it, how we come up with new IP. We have to think about the process by which we are cultivating that..

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2kodtDm

[sweetbitgaming]

Zelda Wind Waker 2 Brief History

Wind Waker 2 was first teased in March of 2004 during a Game Developers Conference entitled “The Evolution of a Franchise: The Legend of Zelda. Eiji Aonuma confirmed the sequel in a timeline picture showing “Wind Waker 2” is being set for a 2xxx release. IGN would report on this and mention several times that a 2004 release was possible for the game. Eiji Aonuma would mention during this conference that more information about the Wind Waker 2 would be revealed at the upcoming e3 event.  

E3 2004 would come, and a new trailer would be unveiled; however, it wasn’t a trailer for the Wind Waker 2, instead, it was for a more realistic Zelda game similar to Ocarina of Time.  The trailer seemed to fit the same tone of the Zelda Space World 2000 demo video which featured Link going one on one with Ganondorf in a sword battle. Fan reaction was electric to say the least as Miyamoto came out on stage carrying a replica of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield; however, where was the sea? Where was the King of Red Lions? Where was Toon Link? Well to put it simply, they were gone now.  

During a presentation during GDC, Aonuma would speak about what exactly happened to Wind Waker 2. Here’s an excerpt from that presentation “Let me backtrack a little. As I was busy working on the connectivity project, it wasn’t as though the Wind Waker 2 project that I spoke of earlier came to a halt. Not at all. As some of you know, at E3 2004, we unveiled the game that would become Twilight Princess, the realistic Zelda game, and we announced that it was developed by the team that had been developing Wind Waker 2. Actually, there was a reason that that decision was made at the time. At one point, I had heard that even Wind Waker, which had reached the million mark in sales, had become sluggish in North America, where the market was much healthier than in Japan. I asked NOA why this was. What I was told was that the toon-shading technique was, in fact, giving the impression that this Zelda was for a younger audience and that, for this reason, it alienated the upper teen audience that had represented the typical Zelda player. Having heard that, I began to worry about whether Wind Waker 2, which used a similar presentation, was something that would actually sell. In addition, because we knew how difficult it would be to create an innovative way of playing using existing GameCube hardware, we knew what a challenge it would be to develop something that would do well in the Japanese market, where gamer drift was happening.

That’s when I decided that if we didn’t have an effective and immediate solution, the only thing we could do was to give the healthy North American market the Zelda that they wanted. So, at the end of 2003, I went to Miyamoto and said, “I want to make a realistic Zelda." Miyamoto was skeptical at first. I was so focused on changing the look of the game as being the solution we were looking for without coming up with a breakthrough game idea, and he advised me that “If you really want to make a realistic Zelda, you should start by doing what you couldn’t in the Ocarina of Time. Make it so that Link can attack enemies while riding on his horse using the Wind Waker engine, and make your decision based on how that feels." This is something that went against everything that the staff had been working on and I expected to come as quite a shock to the team. Surprisingly, my entire staff was enthusiastic about this change, and the project on which progress had slowed was given a much-needed jumpstart.

Four months later, development had progressed to a point where Link could swing his sword in battle against enemies while riding on his horse in a realistic looking environment. When it was announced as a surprise trailer at the 2004 E3, it received a standing ovation by the media audience. This was a very exciting moment for us, but we were still very much in the early stages of converting the game into something more realistic. We knew that we had to create a Zelda game that would live up to expectations of fans in North America, and that if we didn’t, it could mean the end of the franchise. But I also trusted the ability of the team, which was able to bring the game so far in just four short months, and Miyamoto and I announced that this Zelda would be released in the fall of 2005.”

So, the project was canceled and was converted into Twilight Princess. Toon Link would continue his adventures on the Nintendo DS hardware and things would be at peace. However, it would be revealed many years later that a group of game developers was working on pitching a version of Wind Waker for the Gameboy Advance. David Soliani, developer of Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, another Nintendo game using first-party characters revealed in a Twitter post back in 2017 revealed that back in 2003 he and a fellow colleague were close to getting a demo version of Wind Waker on Gameboy Advance by their manager. The colleague mentioned was Fabio Pagetti. This is what Soliani had to say about the project "Long time ago, I guess it was the 2003, me and Fabio Pagetti (the artist who made the pixel art below) almost convinced our managing director to let us produce a demo for a GBA version of Wind Waker. No luck that time, but it was running nicely. We were dreamers,"

Nothing more has ever come out about Wind Waker 2 other than game developers wanted Link to be able to ride through Hyrule on horseback. This concept easily carried over to Twilight Princess which features an extensive amount of horseback combat. There was also talks of making an adult version of Toon Link to better suite the horseback riding mechanic; however, no footage of this has ever been leaked. As mentioned earlier, Toon Link will live on forever through the two DS titles he starred in; however, it’s always fun to think “what if?” when thinking of a direct sequel to the Wind Waker on GameCube.