After dropping the Smash Bros. bomb last night, Shigeru Miyamoto and Smash Bros. producer Masahiro Sakurai sat down for a series of pre-written and impromptu questions from the gaming journalists in the theatre. Here's what they had to say about the Wii, HD, Super Smash Bros Bash and, of course, farting.

Has the Wii inspired you to go back create games with existing franchises that the fans have been asking for?
Miyamoto: I think you'll see that with the inclusion of Pit from Kid Icarus, that we're looking at some older franchises, but I've got so many other ideas now that I want to work on those.

What are some of your ideas for games for the Wii that you havent shared?
Miyamoto: There are not really any new ideas I'm prepared to talk about today. One thing I've always wanted to do was have one player play Mario and have others help him out. We want to have a multiplayer mode with other players helping him out, getting in his way, it could make for some interesting gameplay.

How will Super Smash Bros. Brawl utilize the Wii controller?
Sakurai: Rather than just trying to implement too much of the functions of the Wii controller, we want to keep the control simple. I'll just say now that you might not want to throw away your Gamecube controllers just yet. Mr. Miyamoto and Nintendo have encourage developers to use the controller in new and different ways. I look at my role as offering something different. I'm trying to deliver something that has a more standard control scheme.

Will Wario have a fart move?
Sakurai: Yes he will.

Will the roster be expanded to control more characters than what we've seen?
Sakurai: Of course, there are plenty of other characters we want to include, but nothing I can speak about today. I want to ask what you want to see.

(Audience shouts, "Sonic! Mega Man! Mr. Iwata! Reggie! Fawful!" Translator then tells Mr. Sakurai who Fawful is.)

Will the game take advantage of WiFi connection? Will it be online?
Sakurai: My plan is to include WiFi and online functionality. Actually one of the reasons it was created was that the staff said that when the console went online, the first game should be SSB. I'm going to try very hard to do that. But, I think it may be a lot of work to come up with a system with 4 players simultaneously and figuring out who's first, but we may look at other ways of bringing 4 people together.

I was happy to see that the Wii version of Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess displayed in 16:9 widescreen 480p. Will Wii titles have HD resolutions?
Miyamoto: Our standard is going to be 480p, if you put that on a nice TV, it will look very nice. As for widescreen, with Zelda, we'll display in WS. I think its up to developers.

What is your fav Wii game so far and why?
Miyamoto: Right now, I'm having a lot of fun with Tennis. When everyone picks the controller up, they understand the game right away and are all at the same level.

Sakurai: I've only just played Mario and Zelda today for the first time, but I did like the plane demo.

How different is playing Zelda TP on the Wii versus the Gamecube?
Miyamoto: In terms of the experience, the interface is different. I've gotten used to the Wii controller with Zelda and incapable of going back to the Gamecube. The 16:9 widescreen is obviously a big difference. With a game like Zelda, seeing more of the landscape is important. Obviously on the Gamecube version, the sides will be cropped in 4:3.

Will SSBB be a launch title?
Sakurai: It will not be. I have been told I can say it will launch in 2007.

Does Samus have any special fart moves? Just kidding.
(Much fart-based laughter)

What were some of the biggest challenges to overcome when developing the Wii hardware?
Miyamoto: It was really in terms of the controller. How many buttons to have, where to put them. That was the hardest thing.

Could you describe the story for the new Metroid title?
Miyamoto: I'm not producer on Metroid Prime this time around. Mr. Tanabe who has handled production since the first MP would know more about that.

What type of moves will Snake have? Special moves?
Sakurai: We thought a lot about what to do with Snake. He always walks around with a gun, I didn't want to bring guns and weaponry that people can get in the real world. But, I thought we could use things like rocket launchers and other explosives, that we can use in a comedic fashion. He may wind up only using explosives. He'll also use a cardboard box.

Given that the Wii is such a physical system, how do you plan to make that appeal to casual users?
Miyamoto: I think that when creating games, one thing I think about is how do people look to people who aren't playing the game. People who are watching them play will also want to pick up a controller and play. There's a stereotype that youre in a darkened room, that the television is lighting their face, and thats kind of a negative image. I want to change that.

Why is Wii not an HD system?
Miyamoto: If you look at the technology thats out there and the companies that Nintendo partners with we could have done that very easily. It's not just about graphics, its the gameplay, it's about art direction, it's about the interface. We felt that this time, going in the HD direction, the balance was too much on the graphics. Five years down the road, I think its a given that Nintendo will create an HD system. We thought it would be better to allow you to interact with any TV, not just for people with access to this expensive technology.

Will the single player of SSBB be the same as it was on the GC?
Sakurai: No we're going to try to make a single player mode that they could enjoy more than the GC version.

Miyamoto: This is something Mr. Sakurai and I have disagreed with eachother on for a long time. Mr Sakurai always wanted to have a strong single player game, but I said focus on the multiplayer. He has much more time to develop now, though.

DId Nintendo approach Konami about Snake in SSBB or vice versa?
Sakurai: What brought about the Snake character, when I was developing SSBM for GC Hideo Kojima contacted me and practically begged me to put him in there, but at that time we were deep in dev and it was too late. I just kind of gave up on the idea, but now that we had time, I remembered he asked me that and we decided to put him in. This is not so much a corporate level discussion, but a personal discussion, between Mr. Kojima and I. We're looking at other possibilities for 3rd party characters. At a corporate level, there may be discussion going on right now. Snake is the only 3rd party character that has been confirmed. But that might open up other opportunities to have other characters available. Its more about having a character thats fun to be in there.

What 3rd party character would you like to see in the next version of SSB?
Sakurai: If there was such a character I would just put them in this version. Its difficult finding the right balance between these characters. I'm sure that everyone has their own opinions about what they'd like to see, so thats while I'll be gathering as much feedback from everyone. Theres a SSB web site that I've been operating in Japanese, but it will be updated in japanese and english as Smash Bros. Dojo, with the movie you've just seen, as well as the main theme.

2:19 PM ON THU MAY 11 2006
BY MICHAEL MCWHERTOR
24,792 views

Read More:
 E For All Ends Early With Blackout
 Medal of Honor Heroes 2 Wii Hands On Impressions
 Yahoo Exec Joining Nintendo?
 Dojo Dump: Pork 'n' Peach
 EA Playground, Your Wii Sports Jr.

AD
track

Comments

you say:

Login with your username and password below. New User? Here's what to do.