Shigeru Miyamoto recently shared some thoughts about his new responsibilities at Nintendo, having been given a bit of a role change, recently.

“I am acting with the understanding that one big hit title can change… a situation in the entertainment business. And I feel that finding such one big hit is my basic job,” he described.

Additionally, “The basic idea is, I’m reminding myself to exercise patience.  I end up using less of my energy and, as a result, I am starting to have time that I can spend for myself…. I am spending more time than before on finding new ideas for new developments rather than focusing my energy on work in my (development) teams in order to solidify the contents of (existing) franchise titles.” He also expresses the belief that Nintendo has reached “the stage where quality software titles with a high completion level have been developed without [his] active involvement.”

No doubt all of this is true, and  Nintendo tends to have strong first-party games already, and generally, that’s their strongest point, and probably always will be.

While Miyamoto focuses on this though, I hope Nintendo also keeps in mind that they need to have strong third party support on all of their systems too, and makes sure that ‘big hit titles’ can come from them, too. Here’s hoping that the Wii U is as ‘easy’ to develop for as Team Ninja recently assessed.

Source: GameTrailers

[http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/2012/01/31/miyamoto-big-hit-titles-must-be-the-solution/]

Team Ninja, a known third party developer working with the Wii U (Ninja Gaiden III is coming for it), recently made some interesting comments. Fumihiko Yasuda and Yosuke Hayashi from the company had said, “(it’s) very easy to develop for… We’re finding it very similar to develop for Wii U as for Xbox 360 and PS3.”

Alex and I were a little puzzled by that comment, and what it means, exactly; the PS3 and 360 are really not equal in terms of developing games. Commenters on the source article say as much. I suppose what Yasuda and Hayashi are trying to say is that they’re not experiencing anything really unusual or problematic from what they’re used to dealing with in the other consoles (keep in mind they did develop Metroid: Other M, so they have worked on the Wii before). I imagine their implication is also that the Wii U is more like the other two current consoles than the Wii is, which has been hinted at by Nintendo already.  Also note they do specifically say it’s ‘easy’ to develop on the Wii U, and that’s a good thing.

My hope is, if the Wii U really is that easy to develop for and it can match wits, or more so, with its competitors, then it will have a lot of major third party support, which is critical. Nintendo has begun to release more details, such as a little on the Nintendo Network, that will hopefully start getting other major companies more and more interested and excited to develop on the Wii U. We can only hope…

Yasuda and Hayashi also comment that “The hardware is still constantly changing” and Nintendo has been “listening to [Team Ninja's feedback] and making changes.” That’s a good thing, too, but at the same time, it makes me wonder how stable the Wii U has been in concept, and if other third parties currently working on titles will be able to keep up. I’m sure this kind of thing does happen a lot, and I don’t pretend to know much about hardware and software development. It just makes me wonder a little.

Source: GameTrailers

[http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/2012/01/31/team-ninja-wii-u-hardware-in-flux-very-easy-to-develop-for/]

Nintendo officially revealed details on their Nintendo Network last week. This new online network for the Wii U and 3DS will allow for multiple user accounts on one device, downloadable content, and Nintendo is considering offering complete retail games for download, as is often seen on other networks.

So in other words, Nintendo has basically announced they’re finally catching up to their competitors, Sony and Microsoft.

This is both good news and perhaps not as good news. It’s obviously good because, well, it’s about time, Nintendo. What took you so long? Fans have longed for these kinds of experiences that they can find on competitors’ machines, and frankly, in this day and age, the lack of most of these services likely lead to Nintendo losing a lot of customers, even though the Wii was still a smash hit. This may not be as good news though because if Nintendo is only just now going to start catching up, well….they have a lot of catching up to do, and well, one has to wonder if Nintendo really can truly make up for it now, to some degree. There have also been rumors about Microsoft’s next console lately, and how ‘much more powerful’ than the Wii U it will possibly be; although, Nintendo World Report posted a hilarious article about how confusing these rumors are, and how numbers literally don’t add up. But rumors are like that, and that’s not the focus here.

Granted, as I mentioned, the Wii was a phenomenal success anyway, even without these common online features; going online isn’t why people wanted a Wii. However, Nintendo fans, and critics of course, have still hammered the company excessively for ignoring the possibilities that had been forsaken, as well as communities of fans themselves by excluding what many would call a basic necessity of a major console or game device in this day and age. I’ve learned not to underestimate Nintendo, but that doesn’t mean I agree with all of their decisions. I don’t, and haven’t.

Will Nintendo be able to win back disgruntled (former) fans with these new but overdue features? It’s hard to say; hopefully enough. I know a lot of folks are just too bitter with Nintendo, and some have become hardened to them, so nothing Nintendo does will make any difference. Although I don’t agree, I understand some of these feelings. What will matter the most, as it always has, are the games themselves, and if Nintendo builds up a very strong, solid line-up of premium titles that are fun to play, and keeps fresh marketing going. They also have to make sure they have strong third-party support as well, and so far, it sounds like they have some decent Wii U backers already.

Nintendo also revealed that the Wii U’s controller will have NFC, Near-Field Communications technology, which allows it to communicate directly with other devices with the same functionality via radio waves, if such devices are in close proximity. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata explained that “by installing this functionality, it will become possible to create cards and figurines that can electronically read and write data via noncontact NFC and to expand the new play format in the video game world.”

So….the purpose of this functionality is for Nintendo to make and sell toys that don’t do much else? Granted, Nintendo is a company that does indeed make things to sell, obviously, but my point is, Iwata isn’t making any other clear purpose for this feature except as a way for Nintendo to make more merchandise that may not even be necessary to play any games. Now, it’s Nintendo’s right to do that, and I’m not saying they can’t, but once again, Nintendo is being too vague, and this probably isn’t going to be a good selling point right now for some players. Also, it just sounds kind of strange to me that Iwata mentions this as a way to interact with ‘cards and figurines.’ Maybe Nintendo has big, secret Pokemon plans?

I’ve mentioned before that Nintendo needs to start making the case for the Wii U before the next E3, and it sounds like they have with these little, but crucial, bits of information. It may be a good start, but Nintendo has to do better than this, too. Why are these online features  worth the wait for all the years that Nintendo hardly had any? Why is the NFC feature on the controller a big deal, and why should players be interested in connecting to toys? I’m sure fans, semi-fans, and detractors alike are all wondering the same thing.

I love Nintendo, and I’m not picking on them here; I’m just wondering where this is all going and building to, as many fans and even haters are.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for more news!

Sources: IGN

[http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1217360p1.html]

-Nintendo World Report

[http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/29076]

[http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/29094]

I wonder if this is ‘the future of Mega Man’ that we Capcom reported they had their ‘top men’ considering. Capcom has revealed two more fighters for Street Fighter X Tekken, their part of the corssover event; Pac Man, and Mega Man.

But this isn’t the classic, semi-chibi Mega Man we all know and love. No…But he is familiar; it’s the….Mega Man as seen on the infamous terrible box art of the original Mega Man NES game, except he has more of a gut now.

Seriously.

Now, I have a sense of humor, and I can appreciate this for all its silliness. I mean, they’re bothering to add Pac Man into this game, too; and  it’s Pac Man, not a guy dressed in a Pac Man suit. Also, Mega Man is not a Street Fighter character, nor is Pac Man a Tekken character, so the fact they’re even in this game is weird enough (but then again, Gon, a non-Namco character, was in Tekken 3, so..).

Consider this though; other fans might consider this as being a sign that Capcom isn’t taking Mega Man seriously enough anymore, and well, it leads you to wonder what the real future of him may be. So far, Capcom has scrapped two Mega Man games within close time of each other, and they were both games fans were really looking forward to seeing completed, and playing. This is especially true of Mega Man Legends 3. Capcom then leaves Mega Man off the Marvel VS. Capcom 3 rosters, whereas he was in the other previous games. It does make you wonder, just a little bit, if Capcom is just mocking the fans by saying, ‘Okay, we’ll put Mega Man into this game instead. But we didn’t say which Mega Man! Here, have this one! Afterall, retro is in, right?’

My point is, other fans probably won’t be so forgiving about this, and this may not be something Capcom even considered, assuming they care. Again, you really can’t help but wonder if this is a sign that Capcom is seeing Mega Man differently, now that Keiji Inafune is out of the company, and well, maybe they don’t feel the need to take him or his fans with as much respect as before. That would be a shame if that is the case, and I hope it isn’t, nor am I claiming that it is. It’s just something to think about.

Source: IGN

[http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1217354p1.html]

Nostalgia is ‘cool’ in media outlets  now. We all know that, and game companies have been a part of this, too. You see throwbacks to classic gaming released sometimes, such as making both Mega Man 9 and 10 as 8-bit games, Bionic Commando returning as a platformer, and Contra 4 and the New Super Mario Bros. games look and play a lot like their old 2-D predecessors. This got me to thinking about what other games/series should be brought back into ‘new throwbacks,’ if you will. They don’t have to be ‘remakes,’ and a lot of these kinds of games aren’t to begin with; they just need to take you back to the past with some good old classic gaming, but with some more modern-day techniques.

Here are my ideas-

The Lee Brothers deserve better than this box art, too...

-Double Dragon- It’s really sad that the good old Lee Brothers were brought back, sort of, in an iPhone game. As Alex already said in his review though, it’s terrible. The series deserves better than this. I’d like to see a new Double Dragon that has cel-shaded, more cartoonish graphics. It doesn’t have to look like River City Ransom‘s style, although that would be awesome, too! I just think it…definitely doesn’t need to be yet another game brought back as yet another ‘grim-n’-gritty’ or dark, depressing and dramatic revival. You know that someone would want to do that, thinking it’s the ‘best’ approach. Well, it isn’t. A  game can still be serious without looking more ‘natural’ in style.

Anyway, keep a new game as classic, 2-player brawling action, with that overhead view, too. If they can come up with a couple of new characters who don’t suck, like the two from Double Dragon III, then sure, make it a 4-player game. That could be good, too. It doesn’t need to be much more complicated than this; it’s Double Dragon.

I am aware that a redux of Double Dragon II is supposedly still coming to XBox Live Arcade, but it seems to have sort of dropped off the radar a bit. I had trouble determining if it ever had been released or not. Some fans didn’t seem to think it looked too good, so I don’t know. Hopefully it’s not bad.

-River City Ransom, and Crash N’ the Boys- Speaking of! Both of these definitely deserve some new, revamped-but-still-simple comebacks. Like Double Dragon, I’d give these games cel-shaded looks, and keep their classic chibi styles; make them look like interactive cartoons. The art style already looks like a cartoon anyway! Think about what Punch-Out! on the Wii looks like. It could definitely be awesomely hilarious.

I'm still waiting for the Ice Challenge...

Multi-player is essential for these games, too, especially Crash, as a sports game. Of course, you’d have to keep all the ridiculous power-ups from the original game, and some new ones to make it sillier. You know, they could also make the Judo event into a bonus, separate game in itself, which would basically be a fighting game; with chibis! Unlike Pocket Fighter though, this one wouldn’t suck! At least, ideally.

Come on, Capcom. Just make a new one. It can even look like this! That'd be cool.

-Gargoyle’s Quest- Fans have already been given the ultimate tease from Capcom by including Firebrand into Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3. It’s time to take the red beastie back to his roots, and into a new platforming-type game that Capcom is known and loved for. Everything fans know and love should be there; fair challenges, the power-ups, beautiful scenery and spooky designs, etc. I’d also say this game wouldn’t need to have that ‘grim-n’-gritty’ look either, or look ‘realistic.’ It should look colorful and appealing, though. They could even take it in a completely different direction and make it look ‘cuter’ will cartoonier visuals for a change, but it could still be just as awesome.

A new Paperboy game would be the best news this kid could deliver.

-Paperboy- Oh yeah. Why not? Now, for those that didn’t play, or have…possibly never even heard of this, game before, you may have a hard time understanding what was so appealing about it. Well, that’s just it; it’s nostalgia. For younger players, it may not be a game for them to appreciate. For us old-schoolers though, how funny could it potentially be if someone brought this game back into a new form, but retain that classic style? This is also yet another game that definitely does not need to be rendered any kind of ‘believable’ style; it can look better than the NES game, but doesn’t need overly-advanced visuals.

Think about all the different kinds of games people play, even outside consoles, like Angry Birds, or FarmVille; why not  Paperboy, then? If done right, it could be a nice time-killer game on the go on various devices. Not that I think it shouldn’t be on consoles; that’d be cool, too. You know what else might be funny is if this game was remade and a complete 1980′s theme to it. Keep in mind, the original was released in 1984; why not play with that and make it the game’s theme? You could also have the option of listening to 1980′s music as the soundtrack, in addition to original tracks. I’m tellin’ ya, this could work!

Squenix has revealed their 25th anniversary logo for Final Fantasy! That’s right, the first game premiered on the Famicom on December 18, 1987. Reportedly, the upcoming Theatrhythm Final Fantasy for the 3DS will be the first game to sport this emblem.

Life has been good to Mog since he was in a hit game

As fans are already taking note of, this logo features art work of Mog, pretty much as he appears in original art from Yoshitaka Amano.

The classiest Moogle around!

Does this hint at a possible Final Fantasy VI redux coming this year? Personally, I’m not going to read too much into this right now. On the other hand, Squenix has said before that they’ll consider an FF6 redux on the 3DS, assuming the system does well. I guess it’s possible. We’ll just have to see!

Sources:

Gematsu- [http://gematsu.com/2012/01/final-fantasy-25th-anniversary-logo-revealed]

The Escapist- [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101648-Square-Considering-Final-Fantasy-V-VI-Remakes-On-3DS]

This is a fitting move that probably won’t surprise too many folks. It’s been announced that Minecraft will soon have its own series of Legos.

What’s more interesting though is the way this came about. Mojang had been working with Lego to get the project going through the use of Lego CUUSOO, a web site where ideas are submitted for candidate possibilities of future sets. A project must get 10,000 votes to qualify for candidacy and…well, Minecraft Legos got the support it needed, has passed its review as a possibility, and development will now begin.

No word on when we might see any glimpses of the project, but I’d guess you should look around Summer, during the big convention season. San Diego Comic-Con would probably be a good bet. If not sooner, of course.

Source: Game Informer

[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/24/minecraft-legos-made-official.aspx]

A report out now is saying that “there are top men,” at Capcom, ” thinking about and actively discussing” about what to do with Mega Man “for the next ten years.” This comment was made Capcom  Senior Vice President Christian Svennson in a new Ask Capcom session.

Curiously, Svennson also commented, “I hesitate to say exactly what [is next for Mega Man], because I don’t want people reading more into it than is there.” So. It sounds like Capcom has some idea? That would especially be nice, considering the last two games, Mega Man Universe, and Mega Man Legends 3, were both scrapped within a relatively short time of each other. Some employees at Capcom had also publicly blamed fans for the demise of MML3.

Also, this year is Mega Man’s 25th anniversary! You’d especially think Capcom would want to do something really special with this! We’ll have to wait and see. Personally, given the two fan-anticipated games that were both scrapped, I have wondered if Capcom simply doesn’t know what to do with Mega Man anymore, with the departure of Keiji Inafune from the company. Compare this to Square-Enix also seeing Hironobu Sakaguchi leave eventually, and the general disappointment a lot of fans have had in the Final Fantasy series since then; as if, the company has just lost their way. While this could be another topic in itself, my point is, maybe Capcom also just can’t find the right direction to go in with Mega Man anymore. Being one of their key series, and one that has been with gamers for so many years, you’d think they would indeed want to really focus on something and figure it out. It may not be an easy task, but I’d say it’s a necessary one. If nothing else, they should definitely bring back MML3; fans want that game, and Capcom knows it. Just find a different way to make it than what they were doing.

Afterall, I’d definitely rather not Capcom just be the Resident Evil company now…

Source: Nintendo World Report

[http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/29071]

The New York Times recently posted an article about George Lucas that made the rounds this week, as Lucas revealed he is ‘retiring’ from making ‘blockbuster’ movies. This doesn’t count a fifth Indiana Jones though, which he and Spielberg are still looking to have made. I assume he may still work to some degree on The Clone Wars, which is a TV show, and then the other Star Wars series, when they finally get that off  the ground, but I’m not sure.

The article itself is very telling of Lucas of though, and how he seems to feel about fans, critics, and how he just doesn’t accept the fact that he may not always have the best ideas, and does not take criticism well.

On page 3 of this very long article (I’ve warned you!), it reads–

“On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says, referring to fans who, like the dreaded studios, have done their own forcible re-edits. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’ ”

This is nothing new from Lucas. We all know he feels this way. The fact that he still expresses this view though just goes to show you he hasn’t learned anything after all these years. He is still completely detached from the fans and doesn’t understand that it’s never so much been the case that he ‘can’t’ do something with his movies, so much as it’s a case of whether he should or not; and most fans say no, he should never have, and shouldn’t still keep altering his movies.

However, the next paragraph reads-

“Why would I make any more,” Lucas says of the “Star Wars” movies, “when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”

Wow. This really says a lot. To me, Lucas is painting himself as a cry-baby, and a victim, here. Oh it’s everyone else’s fault, basically; the fans and critics are so mean to me!! So I’m just gonna go home and not make Star Wars ever again! Please, grow up, George.

While I do imagine it’s probably tiresome for Lucas to keep hearing a lot of hatred for him from fans and critics, the fact is, he still doesn’t understand where all of this is coming from; that his ideas simply are not the best. He probably didn’t have a lot of people around him who told him ‘No’ in regards to many ideas he used in the New Trilogy, or if he did, Lucas just flat out ignored them, and thought they were all wrong. Nope, his ideas are always #1, and that’s all that mattered to him. This isn’t that surprising either though, when you think about it. Lucas has always thought of himself as someone who was always ahead of things, and everyone else needed to catch up to him and his ideas and visions. This may have been the case when he was making the Original Trilogy, and especially A New Hope; afterwards though, not so much.

While it is also true that people do just love to hate Lucas now, and a lot of comments are just hate-filled insults, the fact also remains that fans have also been continuously giving Lucas actual, constructive criticism for years, and he just hasn’t been listening; evidently, because he thinks all of his fans are wrong, most of the time. I can name some things, mostly little, that Lucas did do that could be fan service, such as putting Aayla Secura into the movies, mentioning Quinlan Vos in Revenge of the Sith, and not having JarJar Binks around much in the last two movies. Then again, did Lucas do any of those things because of the fans, or because of himself?

It is really sad to see this kind of thing happen; that the creator of one of the biggest IPs that ever existed and one of the biggest companies ever doesn’t understand the fans that supposedly his company works and makes things for. Instead, he just blames them and his critics for why he simply ‘can’t’ make Star Wars movies anymore; because everyone is just  too mean. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing.

On the other hand, whatever reasons he’s now claiming, I didn’t expect Lucas to ever actually make another Star Wars movie again. He’s made that point clear already that he’s done with the movie series. Yeah, we all know Lucas said long ago he originally planned 9 movies; he’s denied this over the years, but we all know he said it. However, I do think he planned years ago to leave the movies for the rest of his life. Not only that, the thing about Lucas is that he really didn’t make movies that often at all; he hasn’t made too many. Think about the long period where he did almost nothing in movies, after Return of the Jedi. My point is, Lucas saying he’s done making blockbusters doesn’t really mean that much or change anything because he hasn’t made very many movies in his career to begin with; The Phantom Menace in 1999 was the first time he actually directed a movie all himself since A New Hope, in 1977.

This brings me to my next point; I get the feeling that Lucas possibly doesn’t really like actually making movies. He has a passion for them, loves discussing them, and discussing filmmaking and filmmaking techniques, but when it comes to actual filmmaking itself, I don’t think he likes the process that much. He certainly doesn’t seem to have a true passion for that; he’s clearly not the kind of person that has to keep making movies or  he’ll….die, or something.

However, it is also mentioned in this article that Lucas actually does plan to keep making movies; just ‘personal,’ ‘art house’ movies. Comparisons to some of the works of Lucas’s mentor and colleague, Francis Ford Coppolla, are made. No other specifics are given as to what kind of movie like this Lucas might have in mind though. Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it, too. I personally wonder if Lucas really does have it in him anymore. Yes, I know THX-1138 and American Graffitti preceded Star Wars, but hence my use of the qualifier ‘anymore;’ after so many years of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I’m having a hard time imagining Lucas can sit through making a movie like this either, especially when he’s evidently never truly happy with anything he makes. His expectations of others are too high, especially in performers and what he demands they do. This is all still up in the air, so we’ll just have to wait and see if he actually does anything.

A lot of fans are probably actually happy to hear Lucas getting away from making effects-heavy, expensive, ‘blockbuster’ movies, given his most recent track record. To many, this is a blessing, and it’s unfortunate that it’s come to this between Lucas and fans. It’s also unfortunate, but not surprising at all, that Lucas is blaming fans and critics, at least in part, rather than consider that maybe he didn’t make all of the best choices, and should have listened to the fans more. Afterall, he owes his success to fans who kept seeing his movies, and buying his related merchandise. He’s going out kicking and screaming like a whiny child  who wants everything his way, and hasn’t quite learned that isn’t going to happen. As I’ve said before, it seems that Lucas has learned very little as an actual filmmaker over the years, or at least, he’s missed some very important lessons that he just can’t be bothered with.

I don’t think fans are going to miss that from Lucas, either.

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/george-lucas-red-tails.html?pagewanted=1&hp

This is kind of an odd story. Clyde Mandelin, alias Tomato, who is a professional translator and worked on the Mother 3 Fan Translation Patch, recently told of a strange, anonymous letter he received before the Patch was released in 2008. The letter, “from a member of the game industry,”  basically begged Tomato and his team not to release the patch.

Part of the letter says-

“It’s true that no company has ever brought legal action against a fan translation–and I think so far, that’s been the right decision, since fan translations in the past generally haven’t posed any threat to an IP. This project sets a new precedent, though: never has there been a fan translation this good, and never has there been one this public. This time it doesn’t feel like a fan translation; you’ve taken your work to a professional level, and for that reason you’re suddenly stepping on people’s toes.”

First of all, again, Tomato already is a professional translator, having done work for Funimation, for example. So technically, his work has already gone to ‘a professional level.’ Perhaps the writer didn’t know this, or is otherwise trying to raise the Patch to some kind of different level? I’m not sure.

Continuing-

“Why would the publisher give Mother another thought when their largest target audience for the series would rather bombard their office with phone calls or tacitly condone what basically amounts to mass piracy than wait patiently for them to find a way to release the game in a way that’s profitable (part of those profits go back to the Mother creators and future development of the IP, by the way) whether they do it next year or 10 years down the line? If you love the series as much as you say, why would you be a driving force behind killing it off for good?”

You’re right; why would Tomato do that? He wouldn’t, no. I think he’s also trying to suggest how Nintendo of America would or did view fans. So, what, with the release of the Patch, Nintendo was going to just give up (or give up on the series more so than they already did) and say ‘Forget it, these people would rather pirate the game. Might as well not release it, and take all that fan money’?  What company says that? I think that’s a pretty poor argument; Nintendo knew that fans wanted the game legitimately, and there were people that would buy it instead of ‘mass piracy.’ Maybe Nintendo of America didn’t think enough people would buy it, but they still knew they had potential buyers. On the other hand, an official release published by Nintendo, with decent marketing and promotion, could potentially have reached a lot more people than ‘mass piracy.’ We still don’t know for sure why Nintendo didn’t release Mother 3 here, not officially anyway, but the implied reasoning here I find to be dubious.

Speaking of ‘mass piracy,’ the Fan Translation team did encourage fans to buy an actual copy of the game, to support the developers. Also, there evidently is a way to utilize the Fan Translation Patch into a game cartridge itself, though I am not sure how. The team did encourage fans to use as many absolutely legitimate and legal ways as possible to play the game. Did Nintendo know this, or care? Who knows, but it seems that what Nintendo didn’t care too much about was ‘mass piracy’ of Mother 3. They knew about the Patch, and didn’t do anything to stop it, or otherwise try to look into possible piracy, that I’m aware of. They also didn’t release the game as a means to try to cap piracy either (although I suppose doing that would have been unlikely, to begin with).

The writer even adds earlier that the original  Fire Emblem was finally being released here,” after 19 years in the vault.” I believe this refers to the DS game, Shadow Dragon, which was a redux of the original NES title that we never  saw in North America. The DS game was released in North America in 2009.  The writer then continues, “It was always possible that Mother would make a return. But if your patch comes out, there go all its chances.”    Why does this writer think the patch would ‘kill’ the chance off ‘for good’ though, and…what does that have to do with a Fire Emblem redux coming here?  That isn’t really made clear to me. I don’t make the connections. A few Fire Emblem games were at least released in North American before Shadow Dragon, so NoA clearly saw some reason to continue. The DS game coming here made some sense. Also, I don’t think a DS redux of an NES game exactly counts as being ‘in the vault’ for 19 years. This also suggests that Nintendo of America has a translation of the original Fire Emblem to begin with, which is not true, from what I understand. I’ve never heard otherwise. Maybe the writer didn’t mean it that way and just chose words poorly.

Tomato responds to this letter by calling some of the points made here “debatable, like the fact that fan translations = dead IP; I released a Star Ocean translation in 2002/2003 yet an official release of the first game still happened years later on the PSP. Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Final Fantasy V, and Tales of Phantasia are other examples I can name off the top of my head.” I agree, and add that again, people generally want to have official releases for games, including Mother 3, and had NoA released it, the patch would have ceased to be, and perhaps the buzz spread by fans from the patch would have actually proven to be a good marketing tool. We’ll never know. Tomato also reminds that “We did indeed have a policy of, ‘If Nintendo announces anything or even just asks us, we’ll halt the project immediately.’” That, of course, never happened.

As far as who sent Tomato the letter, it’s only signed as “Anonymous Localization Producer (Who Knows He Will Not Be Popular For Writing This).” Tomato also mentions that it was sent to him from “clearly a throwaway Yahoo e-mail account,” and that after checking out the mail header information, it seems to have come from Japan. That makes it sound a little more strange, but I suppose it could have been just about anybody, ‘localization producer’ or not. The writer’s points don’t sound entirely like those you might expect a ‘localization producer’ to necessarily make, and other points needed more clarification.

Still, just an interesting bit of information that adds more to the history of Mother 3 in North America. You can read the whole letter on the link!

Earthbound Central- [http://earthboundcentral.com/2012/01/the-mother-3-e-mail/]