Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that Nintendo intends to apply the philosophy behind its Touch Generations titles to its 'franchise games'.
When asked whether by 1UP whether Nintendo's new focus on user-friendly controls and playability will influence future versions of Mario and Zelda, the designer replied:
"Frankly, some of the so-called 'franchise games' are quite difficult for nongamers to play, so making accessible games for these players is key. With Zelda, we have to consider how to make it accessible for new gamers to pick up and play and enjoy just as hardcore gamers have.
"For example, we've got the Touch Generations series. Now, we're not necessarily going to make our 'franchise' games in that style, but we'll take what we know and have learned -- the philosophy behind those games -- and incorporate it into franchise games. That's a philosophy that's very strong at Nintendo."
Company president Satoru Iwata said this week that "The Zelda and Mario teams were hard at work". Hopefully they'll take a cue from what Peter Molyneux seems to be doing with Fable II and not compromise gameplay for accessibility.
Oh God. This does not sound good to me. Zelda is for the damn well gamers. None gamers can pick their casual sh*t to play aslong as I get a proper Zelda. Nintendo are heading down a rocky road...
"For example, we've got the Touch Generations series. Now, we're not necessarily going to make our 'franchise' games in that style, but we'll take what we know and have learned -- the philosophy behind those games -- and incorporate it into franchise games. That's a philosophy that's very strong at Nintendo."
In other word; Nintendo: "We couldn't give two s**tes about our hardcore following, as they'll follow us no matter what we do. What we're interesting in is the money and that means dumbing down Zelda and Mario games so your mum or grandma can play them and help us rake in the cash and dominate the world!"
C'mon doom-mongers, Phantom Hourglass had accessible controls, and I thought that urinated all over Twilight Princess from a great height.
Link To The Past FTW!
Hourglass is the worst Zelda I've played. Very easy, crap dungeons and far to short. Dont get me started on having to revisit the same dungeon over and over. IMO of course.
I've got to agree with Deejuk. Phantom hourglass was developed with this philosophy in mind and in my opinion it was as good as any zelda game ever. TP never went far enough with the controls as it was just a Gamecube game with waggle tacked on. If they took the PH approach with the motion plus, its got the potential to be awesome.
The day that Zelda loses it's appeal to me and all other hardcore gamers. This shall be the day I'll stop having faith in Nintendo. Come on Nintendo! Your fans are hanging on to you (by a thread) cause they crave that sweet Hardcore Nintendo-magic. We know you can do it! Please don't disappoint us!
I am sure it will be fine. They have to be aware that they need to keep the controls in context with the game.
For example... Fishing on Zelda. With 1:1 motion fishing will be even more fun and accessable. Although it was fine as it was. There are lots of other things they can do. Remember Zelda always had quite a few subgames in there to help you make a few extra rupees.
C'mon doom-mongers, Phantom Hourglass had accessible controls, and I thought that urinated all over Twilight Princess from a great height.
Link To The Past FTW!
My thoughts too! A certain section of gamers will be up in arms and reading too much into this, but you only have to look at Phantom Hourglass to see what Miyamoto is getting at. Accessible controls do not represent an absence of cutting-edge dungeon design.
I suppose though, that Nintendo's secrecy surrounding in-house development at this years E3, is not working in its favour. Gamers are becoming very cynical and sceptical of anything they happen to say.
Have faith. Miyamoto will not turn Zelda into a casual joke, and don't forget, he said the same thing of Super Mario Galaxy, wanting to make it easier to pick up and control for non-gamers. Look how fantastic that turned out to be!
I'm still not convinced. The PH control system was great, but I wouldn't want to control Link on the Wii by pointing. It wouldn't feel right. At least with the DS there's some kind of tactile experience - you're pushing against the screen. But holding a Wiimote up pointing at the top right of the screen for a while would be really boring.
I can also see there being even more mini-games built into the next Wii Zelda, which it doesn't need. They mostly don't even fit the storyline. "I need to rescue the princess and the world? Alright, no problem. But you're gonna wait until I've landed myself a 16lb goliath of a fish..."
C'mon doom-mongers, Phantom Hourglass had accessible controls, and I thought that urinated all over Twilight Princess from a great height.
Link To The Past FTW!
Hourglass is the worst Zelda I've played. Very easy, crap dungeons and far to short. Dont get me started on having to revisit the same dungeon over and over. IMO of course.
The revisit dungeon made my stop playing. I liked the other dungeons though. PH was crap though for a Zelda game.
Things like this work better with the DS anyway, as Dajmin has said. Using a Wiimote doesn't give the same effect.
I'd like to ask casual gamers why waving a remote around is harder than pushing some buttons I mean we all got into games at one point...
Nintendo should buy out Fisher Price soon, and then they can finally be excluded from actual games discussion for good.
I'm not too bothered by the difficulty levels of Zelda and the like. What I am worried about is the possibility of Nintendo sacrificing the hidden depths of Mario and Zelda in order to make them 'more accessible'.
Zelda games have an instruction booklet and a tutorial. That's as accessible as they need to be.
But when you read what he said, there's not much wrong with it.
All he's basically saying is that they are prepared to use some of the better ideas from their other games on the primary franchises where they hopefully would make them better because of it...
It doesn't mean we're going to be seeing Zelda Brain Training...
I'm not too bothered by the difficulty levels of Zelda and the like. What I am worried about is the possibility of Nintendo sacrificing the hidden depths of Mario and Zelda in order to make them 'more accessible'.
Zelda games have an instruction booklet and a tutorial. That's as accessible as they need to be.
So lets forget about making better user interfaces and simpler control methods and lets stick to old outdated methods. Hey while we are at it lets get rid of graphics and go back to plain old text adventures.
Come on people, any improvement that can make the games more accessible to new gamers without sacrificing the depth of the games has to be welcomed.
Come on people, any improvement that can make the games more accessible to new gamers without sacrificing the depth of the games has to be welcomed.
That's just it, though. I am worried about sacrificing the depth of the games to make them more accessible, and if you'd read my post you'd realise that.
This just in - Phantom Hourglass is the worst Zelda I've played since the original.
Come on people, any improvement that can make the games more accessible to new gamers without sacrificing the depth of the games has to be welcomed.
That's just it, though. I am worried about sacrificing the depth of the games to make them more accessible, and if you'd read my post you'd realise that.
This just in - Phantom Hourglass is the worst Zelda I've played since the original.
Personally, I thought PH was the best, bar Ocarina and possibly LTTP and the Zelda games are just about my favourite franchise ever.
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I mean we all got into games at one point...
