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Maybe they got folded into #4? Labo group seems like a good fit for them ... not like the Wii Fit series is continuing though.
Yeah, I think everyone is ready for a new Wario platformer. Hal Labs and Arzest can work on Kirby and Yoshi platformers, if Nintendo desires. Although I'd like an expansion on the Hey Pikmin! Concept. Granted I'm unsure if Arzest has the resources for Switch mainline titles. They may just do eShop titles or be an assist studio.
It feels as if NST has started to get more significant projects than anything they've done post-Project Hammer. They've been posting hiring ads. Perhaps Nintendo is slowly building them back up. If I recall correctly, they worked on the single player SMM 3DS and Captain Toad port and Captain toad DLC which were well received. I could see Nintendo slowly building them up by assisting EPD projects and ports with the occasional eShop title. Overtime they can have more freedom to decide what projects they want to work on as well as their own original content. If NST performs well it can expand and take on more projects.
During Iwata's tenure, I felt the western gaming development side was sidelined and fell apart. Silicon Knights, Rare and Factor 5 were major losses for Nintendo, imo. N-space and High Voltage Studios were not significant losses but they were losses. NST more or less dissolved due to Project Hammer. Monster Games had a falling out with Nintendo after DKCR 3DS. Retro's produced stellar content but they have now gone 5 years since they released an original title. I'm holding out hope that we may see an original title from them release by March 2020. Then MP4 in 2022-23. NLG has been a major player and strong partner for Nintendo. Mercury Steam was also a surprising collaboration for Samus Returns and I suspect they are working on Metroid V.
I'm curious if Nintendo is going to rebuild the western gaming development scene from them. In an ideal scenario, they would build Retro up to be a western Monolithsoft. Meanwhile NST would be built up to be the western 1up studios/hal labs. Finally, NLG would be built up to operate like a western Intelligent Systems. They could slowly grow Retro to a ~180 person sized team with them being responsible for the 3D Metroid series as well as a new/different ip at the same time. They would also have a large support team that would assist Nintendo published titles that are developed in the west with art assets, level design, player feedback, polishing, etc. NST would slowly grow to a 100 person team. Have them have one team that handles ports or assists NLG with a project, one main team that handles the DK series(with Retro providing assistance) and one smaller team that works on eShop/mobile titles. NLG slowly grows so that it is capable of handling 2-3 projects at once. They have 2 titles in active development and one in planning and pre-development stages. NST, Retro, and NLG could as a whole could handle series such as 3D Metroid, Luigi's Mansion, DK series(2D/3D platformer and/or Diddy Kong Racing sequel), Mario Strikers, Punchout, Star Fox, F-Zero, Wave Race, Pilot Wings, 1080, as well as some original content.
Overall, the west saved Nintendo during the N64 days among other systems. Back when Nintendo had a lot larger and more active western development team, it seemed to translate to much larger sales in the west. I think if they prioritized developing in genres such as FPS/shooting, Sports, Adventure and Racing those could fill and attract a larger Western audience, imo. They could even potentially have Retro assist other 3rd parties such as Bethesda with developing titles that are using Nintendos ip. As someone else suggested it would be a dream come true if Nintendo worked out a deal with Bethesda for Mikami to develop a new Eternal Darkness. Have Retro provide assistance where needed.
Dont forget they are also assisting with development of Fire Emblem Three Houses and developing that Persona 5 Musou game for Switch/PS4.
I think we will get one sooner or later. The Switch is slacking in Survival Horror titles. I could see Nintendo release a Zapper and Camera Labo set. Have them heavily push those two with releases that support the labo set such as Fatal Frame, Links Crossbow Training, Resident Evil Chronicles, House of the Dead, Dead Space Extraction, Pokemon Snap 2(developed by Creatures Inc, Akira and Genius Sonority), camera labo functionality added to Animal Crossing, etc.
I really hope the Switch starts to get some good survival horrors. RE4 and REmake is a baby step. I'd buy RE5 and RE6, so I can play them on the go. The Chronicles games seem like good candidates for ports to eventually happen. I could see Capcom developing a Revelations 3 with Switch as the lead platform but also ported to PS4, X1 and PC. It's a toss up if they think any of their dead rising titles are worth porting to Switch. In some fantasy universe, Capcom will decide to revive the Dino Crisis titles and have them continue the gameplay style of RE4-6 and release it on Switch/PS4/XB1/PC. I'd love Bethesda to port over Evil Within 2. Some poster suggested a Mikami developed Eternal Darkness and now I'm sad that we will never get it. I'm certainly not gonna hold my breath over EA porting over the Dead Space titles including Extraction but they would be pretty cool to replay on the go.
I think the most likely developer for Mario Strikers, outside of NLG, would probably be Namco. I think Camelot will probably have Mario Golf ready by 2020-2021. I think a lot of people would be happy for Strikers to return. If another developer doesnt develop a Strikers title. Perhaps NLG will develop it and have it release in 2022.
the evil within games seem like good choices for bethesda to port. the first one is originally a last gen game too so it shouldn't be too hard.
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EAD Tokyo formerly being three teams was speculated to have been a mistake anyway since that fell right in line with Koizumi being promoted and seemingly having given his position of group manager to Hayashida instead of Hayashida running his own, third group in Tokyo.
Also, if you scroll down to the quote block from EAD Ninja where he lists his speculated group project reveal schedule, you'll see his note about how the omissions come from it still being very much unclear who is even running some of the groups and if some of them are one-offs etc. It's all still very much up in the air and some of those group numberings are straight taken from the old order (for example, I think EPD 3 being the Zelda group is just speculative to put it somewhere since we don't have official confirmation if that's their EPD number again)
Only problem there is that they'd need to port the older versions of IdTech again and find someone other than PB who has bandwidth to do it well. I really wish they would find a way. And a will.
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SMM 3DS single player was mostly EPD, the credits are full with EPD level designers.
I'm curious if EPD Tokyo is large enough to handle multiple projects at once. Monolithsoft appears to assist with art assets for 3D Mario titles and 1up studios has been helping out a bit. Given Odyssey 2 doesnt have to create a new engine unlike with the development of Odyssey. I think it could be possible that they were able to split up into two teams. I'd love to see them try the 3DW style again. It could be a DK platformer that plays like 3DW meets TF with influences from Jungle Beat and DK64. Have it be developed on a refined 3DW engine. Have that game release in late 2020 with SMO2 as a mid 2022 release.
Unlike on previous consoles, 3D Mario and 3D Zelda are performing like evergreen titles that show no sign in sales stopping. I think it may be a wiser decision for them to create similar but not competing experiences. For example, they could release a 3D DK platformer in the vein of SM3DW. It would offer a gameplay experience that would appeal to a significant portion of people that purchased Odyssey without directly competing and undercutting Odyssey's sales. Likewise for BotW, they could create a Sheik spinoff. Still have it be open world 3D action-adventure like BotW but with a much heavier dungeon and story focus. Have it offer a gameplay experience that should appeal to most people that purchased BotW and/or 3D Zelda fans but without directly trying to replace BotW.
yeah i guess if they wanted to port games from that engine wolfenstein 1 would have already happened.
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EAD Tokyo was churning out Mario 3D Land, NES Remix 1+2, Mario 3D World, and Captain Toad in fairly short succession, suggesting simultaneous development of some of them at least. I'd wager there's always room to have a small team work on similarly smaller projects.
That was my thought, though checking some of the credits of the old Wii Fit teams, they seem to have just been scattered? Kinda makes sense, given that Wii Fit U needed Ganbarion to co-develop; not enough of a team there to do much on their own, I guess.
That makes sense, yeah. We'll probably get a better sense of what happened to EAD5 if/when Takaya Imamura resurfaces.
Monolith Soft's art/asset team has not been involved with EPD Tokyo or the Mario series.
I think I briefly posted something on this, but there is some information behind the scenes I received a bit ago that insinuated that the 3D Mario team and 2D Mario team were merging into the 2D/3D? Mario / Mario Maker group. While the rest of Tokyo was continuing to work on another project. Then Mario Maker 2 surfaced with clear development effort from the 3D Mario team.
So I'm not sure if this means Tokyo team was split into two so that one could expand the Mario teams, while the other works on new projects. Or if this just means some 3D Mario staff works with the 2D team, and the Odyssey team remains independent working on Odyssey 2.
Hayashida and some staff join Kimura in PG10 to work on 2D and 3D? Mario games together?
Younger producers take over PG8 and either do Odyssey 2, or new game?
Producers work on multiple games, and manage multiple teams, at the same time. Directors are the ones who lead single development of a game. Amano and the Splatoon team, Kyogoku and the AC team, two different leads and core teams, that all fall under Nogami's production goups.
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the Tokyo team working on a non-Mario project is super exciting
Don't forget SMG2 in 2010 and Jungle Beat NPC in 2009. They were making games close to once a year. I'm curious with 1up assisting them, larger staff size and only one platform. If they will transition from the 3D Mario platformer to the 3D Platformer. I'd be interested if they could explore different 3D platforming experiences with different series. They've already done Captain Toad. Perhaps DK would be next with Yoshi, Wario, and Kirby being considered in the future as well.
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Thanks for the info. For some reason I thought Monolith assisted with Galaxy 2 and 3D World.
Curious what the merging of the 2D/3D Mario teams mean. As you said, is the Odyssey team incorporated into this team or is it it's own thing? Where does Hayashida fall into all of this? Also if the 3D Mario team is assisting the 2D Mario team, is that freeing up staff to work on other projects such as Pikmin 4.
This theory does match up as well given NST worked on SMM 3DS and Captain Toad, that would also align with this new merging of the 2D and 3D Mario teams between EPD Kyoto and Tokyo with 1UP and NST being Mario assist teams. Both 1up and nst have posted hiring ads recently, so they are expanding. Given the development team size of EPD Tokyo, perhaps Nintendo is restructuring them to be able to take on more projects at once. Not just be the 3D Mario team with smaller side projects.
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Checking Star Fox 0 and Guard on there, looks like most of that crowd has been quiet for the last three years. I know they had external assistance on those, but maybe that team stayed together to cook up something?
It'd be itneresting to see what they'd do. Wanna see them take on something meaty, either new or a revival or spin-off.
aye, that's 1Up's role
maybe they're the ones doing Donkey Kong 3D
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MonolithSoft's assist studio (run by Honne) is in Kyoto 10 minutes down the street from EPD's Kyoto dev center. 1-UP Studio is in Tokyo, hence they're the ones predominantly assisting EPD Tokyo with their titles: https://1-up-studio.jp/works/index.html
I got swept up in the football and couldn't respond to this directly but I just want to say I really appreciate this information!
This is one of the most insightful posts I've read here honestly, especially as the General Producer role has tripped me up for years.
I'd mistakenly thought Miyamoto was in direct creative control of the recent 3D titles and as such the GP role must be akin to Director in film or Producer in music. I realise I've majorly undervalued Koizumi for years!
I think I've got it all straight now, so thanks a lot :)
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Well you're not totally wrong there with how Miyamoto and others have the creative control in terms of influence, it's just not that they're sitting around brainstorming ideas on the ground floor. If you read up on interviews about Captain Toad specifically, they talked about having to pitch the concept to Miyamoto (when he was still GM) and others to get it greenlit. That gives you a tiny window into how this works. They just always like to bring him out for the Marios or the Zeldas because of his Big Name Status and those two series being his babies. They do check in with him (the story about the early BotW development where Miyamoto was just climbing up and down the same tree again and again to see how that feels), of course but all the nitty-gritty everyday stuff isn't really their job to worry about. Where he did have a special interest role was Star Fox Zero which, as he talked about in interviews, had been cooking as some sort of tech demo idea he and a programmer came up with for years on the side so he wound up with a supervising director and producer credit on that one instead of his usual default title. But also, yea, Koizumi was your 3D Mario-man for the past 15 years or so - not sure how that's now working out with Hayashida who we've not seen at all during SMO's press rounds, just Motokura (director) and Koizumi (the latter being credited as producer alongside Hayashida). Tezuka is hands-on for the 2D Mario stuff.
The EPD director went on to co-direct Super Mario Run. The EPD/SRD programmers split up into a variety of games. Mainly LABO.
Unfortunately we don't have a good answer as to why Nintendo bailed on their Western studio focus. It was quite lucrative for them during the SNES and N64 generation, and even helped rebrand the company's imagine after the Mario/Pokemon spin off saturation. But it just doesn't seem like they are embracing the current trend of a "world wide studio network" like Sony, Microsoft, or Ubi Soft. It just doesn't seem like NST or Retro Studios will ever become "2 game studios". At this point they have both struggled to release a steady stream of premiere products the last 10 years. Oddly enough, Next Level Games is probably their most prolific Western First-Party studio, and they are working off a contract (agreement?) rather than any public ownership.
This is very interesting stuff. So both Kyoto and Tokyo EPD are working on Super Mario Maker 2? In theory, both groups would collaborate on an Odyssey 2 as well then?
I wonder what else Tokyo EPD would be working on asides from Mario? They did a fantastic job with Donkey Kong Jungle Beat all those years ago, so perhaps they could revisit the series.
Why does nobody ever mention left field. Excitebike was one of the best things I played on n64. Back when Nintendo thought sports were important.
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Direct talk is not for this thread. That's why we even have a second and third OT now, because the first OT got spammed with all of that hype chatter.
Because ultimately "nobody" "cares" about licensed sports games :) (loved me some NBA Courtside, back in the day)
But Excitebike 64! ... Still waiting on a sequel, Nintendo.
You're right of course, but there is a sports hole in their library. Id love a new super soccer (which Nintendo published in Some territories.)
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edit: damn, completely different franchise. did not know Super Soccer wasn't related to International Superstar Soccer at all oO
Nintendo is porting good Wii U games for Switch left and right, with point that SM3DW is one of lasts best Wii U games that still isnt ported,
and point that would be great fit for Switch (local multiplayer 2-4 players and very different compared to other Mario games),
I would be very surprised if we don't get SM3DW port or SM3DW 2 for Switch.
Also, when Mario Maker 2 arrives on market, Switch will be still less than 2.5 years on market, I highly doubt that after that (so in around next 3 years) we will have just onother 2D/3D Mario game on Switch.
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That line never was true.
MK8 (early 2017)
Bayonetta 1/2 (early 2018)
DKC Tropical Freeze (early 2018)
Captain Toad (mid 2018)
NSMBU (early 2019)
Pokkén (Pokémon Company game, not Nintendo)
Hyrule Warriors DX (Koei Tecmo game, not Nintendo)
They port Wii U games occasionally.
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It's a combination of both with further enhancements and additions.
Nintendo exclusive Wii U games that were ported to Switch:
-Zelda BotW
-MK8D
-Bayonetta 1/2
-DKC Tropical Freeze
-Captain Toad
-NSMBU
-Pokkén Tournament
-Hyrule Warriors DX
Even if we dont count last two games from list, we talking about 7 ports (Bayonetta 1 and 2 are two games) released in less than 2 years of platform on market.
Mario Maker, Splatoon, Smash Bros, received sequels on Switch so there is no point in porting them,
so from best and big Wii U games that are not still ported to Switch we talking about Pikmin 3 that was heavily rumored, SM3DW, maybe Zelda WW/TP HD and Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE, while Monolith Soft said that XCX port is unlikely.
So yeah, its fact that Nintendo is porting good Wii U games for Switch left and right.
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Is it possible that EPD Tokyo is working on the Link's Awakenings remake? Yoshiaki Koizumi (now at EPD Tokyo) had a big role in that game's development, while Eiji Aonuma hadn't even released a Zelda title at the time of the original's release. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Yoshiaki Koizumi involved in the remake's development instead of a person with no development connection to the game?
Aounuma had an interview where he hinted that 2D Zelda team was working on a new 2D Zelda game.
Unless there's yet another 2D Zelda in the works, it has to be Link's Awakening.
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Koizumi was responsible for the manual and the story. His role wasn't "that" big. Aonuma had no connection to A Link to the Past and yet A Link Between Worlds happened.
You just reposted the same list of games and ignored everything else :)
Two of them are not theirs and three of them were bundled up in the first half of last year. They port Wii U games occasionally.
"not Nintendo"
They're licensed games, so Nintendo was definitely involved in agreeing to the ports and committing publishing resources to them in the Western markets. Not quite the same as porting them themselves, but definitely not completely divorced from the process.
No I didnt, you didnt mentioned Zelda BotW, despite cross gen release its a Wii U port thats before Switch launch ported to Switch hardware also,
and I disagree with you, I wouldn't say that releasing 6-9 ports in less than 2 years is occasionally and with my point of what else from potential Wii U ports left.
Also despite Nintendo didnt port alone two mentioned games (Pokkén and Hyrule Warriors), those games coldnt be ported without Nintendos involvement and arraignment.
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"not nintendo" to the point of them potentially and possibly not being the driving forces behind it since they are merely publishing/localizing these in the West (HW moreso than Pokkén even) which is a different breed than clearly deciding "hey let's bring Captain Toad to Switch," for example.
I really don't count BotW since that is a simultaneous release. My point is they bundled up three (or four if you want to count HW) ports early last year when they had little else and have since then only released and announced one port with NSMBUDX, showing they're not porting games "left and right" but sporadically. At this point, I'd be surprised if they announce more than one port at all this year (doubtful they'll give E3 time to a port at this point, instead saving that as a new reveal for a Late Summer Direct).
Marvelous seem to have reconfirmed that Daemon x Machina is set for Summer 2019.
https://japanesenintendo.com/2019/05/13/58719/
https://japanesenintendo.com/2019/05/13/58719/
Not that I had any doubts, I'm just curious how much they were able to improve the game compared to the demo.
Also wanna know what third party games they're going to push next year, besides SMTV ofc.
:'(
Yeah I was focusing on NST and Retro Studios because they were first-party studios that survived the GameCube onslaught that ended Left Field, Rare, Silicon and Knights. Monster Games was the spiritual successor studio, but they surprisingly left the fold to pursue working on their first love, Nascar games.
It may have made sense for them to put the 3D and 2D Mario teams together to share resources/assets/ideas. That's how the Zelda teams work after all.
Judging by the last two games Monster worked on for Nintendo (DKCR 3D and Xenoblade 3D), it seems that Nintendo wasn't so interested in their racing/vehicle based output anymore. They probably didn't want to be stuck working on ports.
I didn't realize that the Zelda teams worked the same way! Makes sense, though.
For some reason I thought it was already announced for August. That's about where I expect it I guess. Then or early September.
If it's August then this game and Astral Chain will make it a great month.
2D and 3D Mario being under one production group is very interesting. Could do wonders for infusing some creativity back into 2D Mario!
I've been (stupidly) predicting that Hayashida's group is making a new IP before returning back to 3D Mario. Hope that is ever so slightly more likely with this new set up.
I've been (stupidly) predicting that Hayashida's group is making a new IP before returning back to 3D Mario. Hope that is ever so slightly more likely with this new set up.
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The Mario Maker 2 Direct showing how increasingly distinct Super Mario 3D World's game style is and even the way Story Mode is presented would support this, I think.
Yeah the 3D World (and some Odyssey assets/models) portion is really extensive.