Nintendo’s head developers took the stage at tonight’s Nintendo Developers Roundtable at E3 featuring Shigeru Miyamoto, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and Eiji Aonuma. Lots of information was shared, some questions were answered, and some big announcements were made.
The conference started with a showcase of 3DS trailers shown earlier today during their media briefing – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3DS, Mario Kart 3D, and Kid Icarus Uprising.
When mentioning Zelda, Miyamoto noted that this is Ocarina of Time’s 13th anniversary and he had forgotten a lot about the game since he first played it. Following the 3DS talk, they showed a demo for Skyward Sword and mentioned some new fire areas in the game and a new race of people called Mogmas. They basically played through the demo and showcased the Wii Motion Plus features (more impressions to come!)
Next, Mario developer Yoshiaki Koizumi took the stage to talk about the new Super Mario game for the 3DS. The game plays very much like Super Mario 64, with Mario’s signature dashes and double jump. He wanted to make the most “Mario-like” 3D Mario game, Koizumi said, so you’re going to see donut blocks and flags. Also, the game features Bowser’s children as bosses. There is even a Zelda-inspired stage in the game in honor of Zelda’s 25th anniversary!
Afterwards, they announced that Luigi’s Mansion 2 will be out in early 2012. The game is being made by Next Level Games that worked on titles like Punch Out and Mario Strikers. Luigi’s Mansion 2 will combine action and puzzles and implement gyro sensors and motion controlls. The game will feature Professor E. Gadd as well as Toad.
Following this presentation, panelists could ask the developers questions. One of them asked the differences in how boys and girls experience games. To this Miyamoto responded that, while women tend to like the Mario games, most of them were turned off by its “galaxy” name as it resonates more with a male audience than a female one. He also stated that Skyward Sword may be the last game on the Wii before his team shifts their focus onto Wii U.
One last announcement made at the end of the roundtable is that this year is the 10th anniversary for Luigi’s Mansion and Pikmin. They had been working on a Pikmin title for Wii, but later realized that the Wii U would be a better fit for it.
Look for Pikmin for Wii U to come out perhaps with the system next year!
