Nintendo First Party Thread |OT3| Internal x External x Publishing - What's cooking?

[K Samedi]

I think this is all obvious. The Wii was sold on Motion Controls, the Switch isn't - it just has them as one of its tools. The point is that Lyre was making it out to be like motion controls barely exist anymore in Nintendo's software which I think we've now pointed out sufficiently is simply not true at all. Nobody is arguing that they're a "focus" or anything they're touting as a big selling point or whatever.

Btw, Labo and Ring Fit are two motion control-only games, btw. Stop pushing them to the side all the time ^^.

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Im glad that games like Ring Fit Advanture exists because I love those type of games. I will be the last person to push those aside... but, what Lyre is pointing out is not what you think he's pointing out. Obviously, that poster is talking about stuff like Wii Sports, Prime 3 and Skyward Sword type of games. Games that don't focus on fitness and are games that can be played with joy cons alone and with a focus on motion. I will say the same thing. I want more games that focus on motion controls.

 

[Lyre]

Motion controls are a standard feature in most Nintendo games. Super Mario Odyssey's intended control interface uses the motion control option, as does Breath of the Wild, Splatoon, ARMS was entirely built around the concept of punching the air with motion controls. Mario Kart still uses the exact same input and even went deeper with the Labo integration later on. DKCTF retained its motion controls introduced in Returns. Pokémon Let's Go had you literally throw Pokéballs and they even released a dedicated peripheral for it. I'm not sure why you keep mentioning MP3 as this tentpole motion control game. Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey have the same levels of motion integration, the only difference being that they have an off-switch and alternate control methods. Gyro functionality finds its way into games that would normally not have had it/needed it (Luigi's Mansion 3).

I'm really not sure "they're not making them anymore" or "game series x has done away with them" holds any water.

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I mean you've listed a great example with Arms and made a great point about Mario Kart; however, to claim that BotW hasn't taken a step backwards in comparison with Skyward Sword is silly, the latter cannot be played without them. Likewise, Prime 3 is absolutely tentpole: they were deemed such a step forwards for the series that the first two Prime games were readapted to support them. If Prime 4 doesn't feature motion controls then that is absolutely HUGE news and it sends a real message with regards to their future use on Nintendo platforms.

Also do bear in mind that the Switch mini has recently released, which is another step away from them.

 

[TheMoon]

I mean you've listed a great example with Arms and made a great point about Mario Kart; however, to claim that BotW hasn't taken a step backwards in comparison with Skyward Sword is silly, the latter cannot be played without them. Likewise, Prime 3 is absolutely tentpole: they were deemed such a step forwards for the series that the first two Prime games were readapted to support them. If Prime 4 doesn't feature motion controls then that is absolutely HUGE news and it sends a real message with regards to their future use on Nintendo platforms.

Also do bear in mind that the Switch mini has recently released, which is another step away from them.

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You're really forcing this fear about motion control's future. I don't get why. " to claim that BotW hasn't taken a step backwards in comparison with Skyward Sword is silly," <- I didn't do that btw. Obviously BotW doesn't have the same level of motion integration as SS. MP4 will without a shred of doubt support gyro aiming. It's not even worth considering an alternative. Why wouldn't it.

The Switch Lite still has a gyroscope, it still supports motion controls.

If you want to specifcy your case and make this about split-controller Wiimote-like play then do that. But motion controls are omnipresent in a large selection of their games, just as they have been since they rolled out the Wii.

 

[Luke88]

Are we ever going to know what that Robot Arm from behind the Mario Statue is ? I can't see them including a tease like this unless they were 100% confident it would be part of a game that will come out, perhaps it's just a new character in Prime 4 ?

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Are we ever going to know what that Robot Arm from behind the Mario Statue is ? I can't see them including a tease like this unless they were 100% confident it would be part of a game that will come out, perhaps it's just a new character in Prime 4 ?

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Probably just a company mascot like Platinum Man.

 

[Luke88]

Probably just a company mascot like Platinum Man.

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But why keep a company mascot secret ? Next Level has its own mascot robot and they put it right next to their logo, wouldn't they have updated their website/social banners/logo if this was the case ? Would it make any sense to keep just a company mascot unannounced for over a year until you show the first trailer for Prime 4, especially due to them being hard at work on Prime 4 a company "face" overhaul could've gone a long way to advertise the team knowing they've been hiring since Prime 4 was rebooted.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Found this interview from two years ago with this guy who worked with Nintendo in the early 3D era. Interesting insights into how Nintendo operated back then and stuff like that.

Tales from inside 90s Nintendo - from the man who made Mario's face

In a history that's coming up on the 130 year mark, there have been many fascinating eras of Nintendo - the Yokoi years…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[laziboi]

Found this interview from two years ago with this guy who worked with Nintendo in the early 3D era. Interesting insights into how Nintendo operated back then and stuff like that.

Tales from inside 90s Nintendo - from the man who made Mario's face

In a history that's coming up on the 130 year mark, there have been many fascinating eras of Nintendo - the Yokoi years…

www.eurogamer.net

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There's a thread on this already.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

There's a thread on this already.

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I figured there would be but it's two years old so I thought I'd repost it here in case someone else missed it like I did

 

[TheMoon]

Giles isn't just "this guy" lol

 

[Astrogamer]

Transcribed the Animal Crossing New Horizons credits if anyone is interested

Animal Crossing: New Horizons/credits

These are the credits to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as of version 2.0. Aya Kyogoku Koji Takahashi Kazumi Totaka Kotaro Hiromatsu Makoto Wada Yusuke Amano Yasuhiro Takao Eric Miyashiro (flugelhorn) Tetsuro Toyama (guitar / ukelele) MATARO (percussion) Takashi Ebinuma (double bass) Saburo...

nintendo.fandom.com

 

[BestTestie]

Transcribed the Animal Crossing New Horizons credits if anyone is interested

Animal Crossing: New Horizons/credits

These are the credits to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as of version 2.0. Aya Kyogoku Koji Takahashi Kazumi Totaka Kotaro Hiromatsu Makoto Wada Yusuke Amano Yasuhiro Takao Eric Miyashiro (flugelhorn) Tetsuro Toyama (guitar / ukelele) MATARO (percussion) Takashi Ebinuma (double bass) Saburo...

nintendo.fandom.com

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How similar is the team compared to Splatoon 2?

 

[N75]

(Somewhat) Interesting notes:

Both Koji Takahashi (Art Director) and Makoto Wada (Script Leader) seem to be credited for the first time in a development role since Happy Home Designer over four years ago

Totaka is unsurprisingly the Sound Director. Yasuaki Iwata, who worked on BotW is the highest-credited composer. Main composer for City Folk/New Leaf, Manaka Kataoka is absent (likely working on BotW 2). EPD seems to have hired another new composer: Masato Ohashi.

Yusuke Amano, the director both Splatoon games is credited as the Planning Supervisor.

Isao Moro, who was the series director along with Kyogoku is credited under Special Thanks, implying that he was likely working on the title before he left Nintendo (shocking).

How similar is the team compared to Splatoon 2?

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Very little, which makes sense since both series have different leads. Though like I mentioned above, Amano was involved with the game's planning.

 

[Christo750]

Very little, which makes sense since both series have different leads. Though like I mentioned above, Amano was involved with the game's planning.

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Interesting. So most of that Splatoon team would have been free these last 3 years?

 

[N75]

Interesting. So most of that Splatoon team would have been free these last 3 years?

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Nogami already said that they had been focusing on extra content until the final Splatoon 2 update last year, compared to the first game where they started working on the sequel almost immediately.

He claimed Splatoon 3 wasn't in development at that point, but you usually don't have a full team working on post-launch content and some people have been speculating about a potential spin-off before the next main title.

 

[EAD Ninja]

Mario Club staff again helping out with script design. Monolith Kyoto and 1-Up Studio have art staff under the Asset Section. EPD's art team did all the lead art team (UI, houses, characters, animation).

 

[ILikeFeet]

Also NERD makes an appearance. Wonder what they worked on

 

[EAD Ninja]

Also NERD makes an appearance. Wonder what they worked on

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I think they show up on every first party game where the Nintendo SDK Team is also thanked. Probably dev tool related.

 

[BestTestie]

Very little, which makes sense since both series have different leads. Though like I mentioned above, Amano was involved with the game's planning.

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Makes sense, and great post. Do you know how similar MK8's team and Arm's team were? Wondering if EPD9 could be big enough to justify two teams now.

 

[Astrogamer]

Amano's role seems similar to that of Yabuki's role in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. I suppose it's more managerial experience for them since they're relatively young to be producers (assuming Amano will lead a Splatoon spinoff similar to Kyogoku did for the Animal Crossing spinoffs) .
Also, the thing about teams is that the teams aren't 100% separate excluding the staff in Tokyo (EPD8). Each team is basically a group of core leads and then the developers that are free. Some tend to work on the same set of franchises like the Mario Kart and 2D Mario games tending to overlap staff but, like every game has some staff from Breath of the Wild for instance. Several games like Nintendo Badge Arcade and Tomodachi Life had staff disperse throughout EPD since the division was merged. So while ARMS was overwhelmingly Mario Kart 8 staff, several of the people from ARMS have worked on Ring Fit Adventure, Animal Crossing and NSMBUDX. Many still haven't been credited though they likely worked on Mario Kart Tour considering ARMS wasn't that big of a team

 

[TheMoon]

Amano's role seems similar to that of Yabuki's role in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. I suppose it's more managerial experience for them since they're relatively young to be producers (assuming Amano will lead a Splatoon spinoff similar to Kyogoku did for the Animal Crossing spinoffs) .
Also, the thing about teams is that the teams aren't 100% separate excluding the staff in Tokyo (EPD8). Each team is basically a group of core leads and then the developers that are free. Some tend to work on the same set of franchises like the Mario Kart and 2D Mario games tending to overlap staff but, like every game has some staff from Breath of the Wild for instance. Several games like Nintendo Badge Arcade and Tomodachi Life had staff disperse throughout EPD since the division was merged. So while ARMS was overwhelmingly Mario Kart 8 staff, several of the people from ARMS have worked on Ring Fit Adventure, Animal Crossing and NSMBUDX. Many still haven't been credited though they likely worked on Mario Kart Tour considering ARMS wasn't that big of a team

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Anyone want to write-up a brief(!), clean, concise version of the whole "teams aren't teams" thing we're repeating every time so I can put this in the OP somewhere XD ...or got an idea how to lay it out in a simple infographic?

Mainly asking for when newbies join who don't know about the whole "team" thing yet so we don't have to go through that explain-dance every time. Know what I mean? :)

 

[Naga]

Nice to see all those credits for AC:NH already.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

Anyone want to write-up a brief(!), clean, concise version of the whole "teams aren't teams" thing we're repeating every time so I can put this in the OP somewhere XD ...or got an idea how to lay it out in a simple infographic?

Mainly asking for when newbies join who don't know about the whole "team" thing yet so we don't have to go through that explain-dance every time. Know what I mean? :)

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Something like this?

What's a Nintendo team?
Nintendo EPD has a large pool of engineers, designers and developers who work on a vast variety of titles - from the latest episode of The Legend of Zelda to a small, experimental project like Nintendo Labo. But when we are talking about, for example, "the Zelda team", we are referring to a small group of people (a manager, a producer, and a project leader/director) who are constantly working on the latest installment of Zelda. You often see claims like "Animal Crossing and Splatoon have the same team", but in fact, only 33 people who worked on Splatoon 1 also worked on Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The key element the two games have in common is the producer, Hisashi Nogami, while the rest of the "team" is constantly in flux, shifting from a project to another.

 

[TheMoon]

Something like this?

What's a Nintendo team?
Nintendo EPD has a large pool of engineers, designers and developers who work on a vast variety of titles - from the latest episode of The Legend of Zelda to a small, experimental project like Nintendo Labo. But when we are talking about, for example, "the Zelda team", we are referring to a small group of people (a manager, a producer, and a project leader/director) who are constantly working on the latest installment of Zelda. You often see claims like "Animal Crossing and Splatoon have the same team", but in fact, only 33 people who worked on Splatoon 1 also worked on Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The key element the two games have in common is the producer, Hisashi Nogami, while the rest of the "team" is constantly in flux, shifting from a project to another.

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Yea something like that. Anyone got any additions/suggestions for improvements?

 

[Secretofmateria]

So do we think that supposed direct next week is still on?

 

[TheMoon]

So do we think that supposed direct next week is still on?

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Ask the wild bunch in here, they will have thoughts^^

Nintendo Direct Speculation |OT7| March Madness OT

(was gonna use MS Paint but opted for flaming text dot com :]) I have never made an ERA thread before and I don't think I ever will again. But by the power of the gods, I have ensured that I was OP of OT7. This may prove to be our shortest thread yet but will be the thread that delivers us...

www.resetera.com

 

[EAD Ninja]

Something like this?

What's a Nintendo team?
Nintendo EPD has a large pool of engineers, designers and developers who work on a vast variety of titles - from the latest episode of The Legend of Zelda to a small, experimental project like Nintendo Labo. But when we are talking about, for example, "the Zelda team", we are referring to a small group of people (a manager, a producer, and a project leader/director) who are constantly working on the latest installment of Zelda. You often see claims like "Animal Crossing and Splatoon have the same team", but in fact, only 33 people who worked on Splatoon 1 also worked on Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The key element the two games have in common is the producer, Hisashi Nogami, while the rest of the "team" is constantly in flux, shifting from a project to another.

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I mean, it's exactly how every other game team works. No game team is an exclusive 100-300 people - but rather a lead core team and then hundreds of additional production and support staff that are part of the process.

 

[TheMoon]

NEW CONTENT WOOO

Explore a world of classic tabletop games!

Enjoy a diverse collection of timeless favourites, including board games, cards, toy sports and more, in 51 Worldwide Games on Nintendo Switch!

www.nintendo.co.uk

Nintendo EPD (possibly also ND Cube or indieszero, but they just label it "nintendo" for now)

it's Wii Sports Lite x Wii Play x Public Domain Board Game Extravaganza and I love it.

The Wii Play tank game is back! XD

Good Job!

Climb the corporate ladder by tackling bizarre office problems in Good Job! on Nintendo Switch!

www.nintendo.co.uk

developed by Paladin Games, published by Nintendo

 

[Astrogamer]

I saw Masanobu Suzui tweeting about the Direct so I wouldn't be surprised if indieszero did codevelopment on Clubhouse Games. Good Job! is probably another NST joint too

 

[GingerbreadMan]

Ah, I thought ND Cube was behind Clubhouse Games. The "toy" games are similar to the tabletop games in Wii Party U.

 

[TheMoon]

I saw Masanobu Suzui tweeting about the Direct so I wouldn't be surprised if indieszero did codevelopment on Clubhouse Games. Good Job! is probably another NST joint too

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Ah, I thought ND Cube was behind Clubhouse Games. The "toy" games are similar to the tabletop games in Wii Party U.

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for all we know they might be, I just threw EPD in there since the website straight up says "nintendo" which could mean any of those to be fair.

 

[Coríu]

I feel like everyone's forgetting this was a thing on the DS more than a decade ago.

 

[ILikeFeet]

developed by Paladin Games, published by Nintendo

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wonder if NST assisted with this one

glad Nintendo is still picking up these small games

EDIT: the studio's previous games

Games - Paladin Studios

paladinstudios.com

 

[TheMoon]

wonder if NST assisted with this one

glad Nintendo is still picking up these small games

EDIT: the studio's previous games

Games - Paladin Studios

paladinstudios.com

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Switch really is the Wii era all over again. Nintendo publishing original western indies.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Switch really is the Wii era all over again. Nintendo publishing original western indies.

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Still waiting on Sakura Samurai 2 and Dillon 4

 

[TheMoon]

Still waiting on Sakura Samurai 2 and Dillon 4

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TANABE GIVE ME DILLON DEAD-HEAT SPECTACLE BRAWLERS

 

[Deleted member 55807]

Yasuaki Iwata, who worked on BotW is the highest-credited composer. Main composer for City Folk/New Leaf, Manaka Kataoka is absent (likely working on BotW 2). EPD seems to have hired another new composer: Masato Ohashi.

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Interesting info. Turns out I've credited Manaka Kataoka wrongly for the Animal Crossing main theme on my channel!

Looking at the music credits for BotW I'd have thought Iwata would be the one staying on for BotW2 because he was more prolific in that game. Kataoka did some awesome work on Zelda but wasn't credited as much, and looking at her past history with Animal Crossing I figured she would return for New Horizons. Heh, turns those Nintendo composers are incredibly versatile =) .

I remember they assigned a new composer for the BotW Expansion. He might be working alongside Kataoka for BotW2.

BTW, what's Mahito Yokota up to these days? Is he still with Nintendo?

 

[BestTestie]

Anyone have information on the original developer for the DS Clubhouse Games, Agenda? I can't find much information about them online. Wondering if they're involved with this sequel in any capacity.

 

[Deleted member 51691]

Again, so weird that Nintendo decided to shadowdrop the ambulance game out of nowhere when they have given their other western indies more promtion. Maybe they just wanted to see if they could?

 

[Dr. Mario]

Oh wow didn't know Good Job was developed by Paladin Games, already thought it looked interesting before. Should support my locals I guess.

 

[N75]

Interesting info. Turns out I've credited Manaka Kataoka wrongly for the Animal Crossing main theme on my channel!

Looking at the music credits for BotW I'd have thought Iwata would be the one staying on for BotW2 because he was more prolific in that game. Kataoka did some awesome work on Zelda but wasn't credited as much, and looking at her past history with Animal Crossing I figured she would return for New Horizons. Heh, turns those Nintendo composers are incredibly versatile =) .

I remember they assigned a new composer for the BotW Expansion. He might be working alongside Kataoka for BotW2.

BTW, what's Mahito Yokota up to these days? Is he still with Nintendo?

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Iwata could still be working on BotW 2, but I think it's safe to say that Kataoka will be the lead composer. Shinobu Nagata hadn't been credited for anything since the amiibo update for New Leaf, so it's possible that she was put on New Horizons before Iwata but ended up doing less than him in the end.

The composer who worked on the expansion is Soshi Abe. He's also credited on the new Brain Training game, but I doubt that took much time.

Yokota is still at Nintendo, but he might have moved into a more managerial position. He was in charge of the recording of Smash Ultimate's main theme and the sound manager for Odyssey. He hasn't composed anything since 3D World and it seems like Naoto Kubo is his successor.

 

[EAD Ninja]

Clubhouse Games is from EPD Production Group No.02 / Nd Cube.

Ah, I thought ND Cube was behind Clubhouse Games. The "toy" games are similar to the tabletop games in Wii Party U.

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Yeah a few things are from the original, and others redesigned MP stuff.

 

[laziboi]

I'm wondering if Nintendo will suprise announce a new type of game outside of a Nintendo Direct like they did the last two years. 2018 gave us Nintendo Labo announced a week after the Mini Direct, and Last year announced Ring FIt Adventure a week after the September Direct. I bet there will be a similar type of announcement next week. Xenoblade Can't be the only thing they have for May, or April.

 

[EAD Ninja]

I saw Masanobu Suzui tweeting about the Direct so I wouldn't be surprised if indieszero did codevelopment on Clubhouse Games. Good Job! is probably another NST joint too

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Not out of the question that IndiesZero contributed a mini-game. But NDCube works usually have other assistants. One specific one.

Yokota is still at Nintendo, but he might have moved into a more managerial position. He was in charge of the recording of Smash Ultimate's main theme and the sound manager for Odyssey. He hasn't composed anything since 3D World and it seems like Naoto Kubo is his successor.

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Kondo, Yamamoto, and Yokota all wear manager hats but they still compose a track here and there. I just don't think there is single person OST's anymore at Nintendo anyway.

 

[TheMoon]

Kondo, Yamamoto, and Yokota all wear manager hats but they still compose a track here and there. I just don't think there is single person OST's anymore at Nintendo anyway.

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when was the last time this happened? gamecube? I know Majora was Kondo's last solo-composing work but I presume some of the smaller games afterwards still had one-person jobs. I'm not curious enough to dive into wikis, just wondering if anyone happens to know random examples off the cuff :D

 

[laziboi]

Do we even know how much of a role NDCube played in Clubhouse Game's development? My speculation is that this could be an in-house title with NDCube being a co-developer.

 

[TheMoon]

Do we even know how much of a role NDCube played in Clubhouse Game's development? My speculation is that this could be an in-house title with NDCube being a co-developer.

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The game was announced two days ago, it's a miracle we even know ND Cube is involved already :P

 

[Astrogamer]

Do we even know how much of a role NDCube played in Clubhouse Game's development? My speculation is that this could be an in-house title with NDCube being a co-developer.

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Considering EPD 2 has almost no planners let alone programmers or graphic designers, NdCube probably did most of the work

 

[TheMoon]

Considering EPD 2 has almost no planners let alone programmers or graphic designers, NdCube probably did most of the work

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Which is also just how all of EPD1 and 2's games are handled anyway.

 

[laziboi]

Considering EPD 2 has almost no planners let alone programmers or graphic designers, NdCube probably did most of the work

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Who's to say they can't hire any? Isn't the entire point of the EPD structure is that each group can hire staff when needed for each particular project. I've said it before, but there's nothing stopping the Groups that mostly oversaw external games before from making their own internal projects.