Nintendo of America sent out an email today for members of its mailing list with a letter from Masahiro Sakurai, addressed to Super Smash Bros. fans. It is reproduced here… read on!
(The manner in which the text is parsed is verbatim.)
Hello Super Smash Bros. fans,This is Masahiro Sakurai, Director and Game Designer of Kid Icarus: Uprising. I am also the Director of the Super Smash Bros. series.The character Pit, who appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, was the main character in Kid Icarus 25 years ago. In bringing him to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I designed him imagining, “if the series had continued and he had evolved with it over these long years, what kind of character would he be?”Link from The Legend of Zelda has appropriately changed and developed alongside the series, but in Pit’s case, he needed to change in one big leap. You all know the kind of role he played in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.It was through a very strange twist of fate that I came to create this new entry in the Kid Icarus series. I think being able to add your touch to a title of this nature is almost unprecedented. So, of course, I have made no compromises on content.It has a fun multiplayer mode that is brimming with variety, which it inherits from the Super Smash Bros. games. The weapons, powers, and stages combine to create different results every time. You never know what will happen. Please try to play it with six players.On top of that, it has a robust single-player mode. The theme of this mode is challenge, and it starts with the Fiend’s Cauldron. It’s not the kind of game that you play through once and are done with–you can play this mode many times, as often as you like. The story is also quite robust from a gaming perspective. I wrote the entire Japanese script myself, and it is rich with humor and plot shifts, which have been translated overseas by the staff at Nintendo of America. If you find it funny in your own tongue, it’s because of the efforts of NOA’s localization team.I hope you will enjoy Kid Icarus: Uprising.Sincerely,Masahiro Sakurai
Twenty-five years after the release of the original Kid Icarus on NES… Pit is back! Kid Icarus: Uprising has landed today in both North America and Europe (and on the 22nd in Japan!)
Nintendo’s presentation this morning featured a segment with none other than Sakurai himself explaining the ins and outs of multiplayer, weapons, and more! It even features a play by play of a multiplayer match. Check it out here, courtesy of Nintendo’s official YouTube channel:
Sounds like the AR Cards you’ll get packed in with the game are random! I wonder what other ways players can acquire cards…
The final milestone with Kid Icarus: Uprising has been reached. According to the man himself (courtesy of Twitter) we now know that the game has gone gold in Japan. Hopefully everybody can take a break before venturing onto the next grandiose project!
“Nintendo is including a free stand with all copies of the Kid Icarus: Uprising game for the Nintendo 3DS system. The stand holds the Nintendo 3DS at an angle above any flat surface and provides players with a comfortable option for playing,” the statement continues. “The game’s control scheme was designed to fit the game’s unique blend of flight, shooting and melee combat, and offers tremendous precision. Our product testing demonstrated that players found the stand to be comfortable and enjoyable.” – Statement by Nintendo of America
It seems the stand is completely free with purchase of the game, and will be available with the game for all regions of release. Sounds helpful!
In this video (also seen at the official Japanese site, or from Japanese Nintendo Channel), Sakurai oversees the creation of an enormous Kid Icarus: Uprising parade float featuring both the main character Pit, and the goddess Palutena. The float will appear in Goshogawara’s Tachineputa festival this August, carrying with it the Mii characters of those who submit their Mii on the official site for the promotion.
It seems that Masahiro Sakurai is once again in the Iwata Asks hot seat to discuss details, and answer the burning questions about the new Smash Bros. announcement. The interview itself took place before the info was made public, on May 11. It’s mentioned this date is actually the two year anniversary of the Project Sora office opening. In the interview (in Japanese), Sakurai gave a few hints about what players can expect to see in the new games.
According to Iwata, discussion of a new Smash Bros. began right after the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii in 2008; around the same time that Sakurai was asked by Nintendo to develop a new game for the Nintendo 3DS. The interview expresses that Iwata was unsure if asking Sakurai to create a new Smash Bros. game so soon would be okay. The decision was made to have Kid Icarus Uprising be Project Sora’s initial project. From there, the team would move on to Smash Bros. as the second game. Interestingly, this plan was actually kept a secret to the team itself until they were ready to announce the new Smash Bros. titles.
When Iwata approached Sakurai with the new Wii U console, Iwata had intended to present Sakurai with an option of which platform to develop for. However, for Sakurai, a realization set in that they would need to make Smash Bros. for both platforms. He goes on to describe the appeal of a portable version, stating that the experience becomes more personal. Players may become attached to data they have built up, and collected. Thus, Sakurai hopes the 3DS Smash Bros. can have players building up and customizing their character, and then transferring it to the Wii U version for battle.
Just revealed at E3 2011, Kid Icarus will feature multiplayer modes, one of which is called Light Vs. Dark. Up to three players join up on each team, and each has their own power meters. Defeated team members lower the meter, but players may also become angels, and the goal changes to a secondary objective of attempting to defeat the angels of the opposing team.
Also revealed was an AR-card mode, currently referred to as “AR Idol Battle”. With special Kid Icarus AR cards, players can summon 3D models of the characters associated with the cards, and a simple press of the “A” button initiates a battle when the cards are faced together. So far that is all it does, but this is just for the sake of example for now. It was mentioned that this mode would probably be expanded upon to be something a bit more. Eventually, the idea is to sell Kid Icarus cards packs separately.
With the announcement of the Wii U at Nintendo’s E3 2011 Press Conference, the audience was treated with an extra bit of information coming from Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata himself — the confirmation of two new Smash Bros. games being developed for the new Wii U and Nintendo 3DS! Masahiro Sakurai will once again head up the game with his team at Project Sora, creating both the 3DS and Wii U versions of Smash Bros. as their project immediately following Kid Icarus Uprising.
Progress on the development seems to be very early, as the team is wrapped up with Kid Icarus Uprising still. In fact, Masahiro Sakurai suggests on his Twitter that development on the game is not actually moving yet. “We really should not have announced it to the public at this time, but we made the notice since we have to assemble staff. The future will change based on the strength of the developers gathered.” Apparently, upon gathering a team, the first job will be to port Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s engine to Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
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