The last part of the Famitsu interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Lots of Metroid talk, Eternal Darkness, and Zelda!
Miyamoto-san speaks out about Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, and Zelda in
the latest issue of Famitsu. "http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=2822">In case you missed it, he also spoke about Mario Sunshine, and Star Fox Adventure, which can be found here.
About Metroid Prime
Famitsu: Let us talk about Metroid Prime. Honestly, we think that fans of
the series are worried. In short, they are worrying that Metroid is going
to become Doom.
Miyamoto: Yes. That is often said.
F: (laugh) Well it is not that we are saying Doom is a bad game, but the
first person shooting games have a tendency to appear as a foreign game.
M: It is not going to become the so called “Western game.” We have no
intentions for it to become that. People still think that despite the fact
that we are working on the game together from Japan. People from overseas
also said this kind of thing. It is probably because people seems like they
tend to categorize games by genre. (laugh) Since we only released still
screen shots, it gives you that kind of impression just by only looking at
the screen shots.
F: I see.
M: Well, Metroid is originally an exploration game. Of course you have
situations where you are attacking enemies, but at heart it was a game where
you had fun exploring. And if you look across the series, in Metroid games
the rooms and passage ways are not very wide. Within that narrow area, if
you take and move the camera outside of the character (editor note: a 3rd
person shooter), it becomes relatively difficult to control. This is very
detrimental to an exploration game.
F: I see.
M: That is why we are very troubled if you tag Metroid as a jumping game.
We think that Metroid is an exploration game, an adventure game. As a
result, as an adventure game that takes place in narrow places, we chose the
first person perspective because it was the best view. In other words, we
never thought about making a “first person shooter.” So when this game
releases, it should be an adventure game that sports a smooth controlling
scheme.
F: We understand.
M: Of course, we will always have the option to make a side-scrolling
jumping Metroid game. When we want to make that game, we will. Metroid
Prime does not mean that Metroid is going to stay forever in the first
person perspective.
F: So you are saying that this time you decided to go with a first person
shooter emphasizing on the adventure aspect.
M: Yes. And when you look at the GameCube lineup, there are quite a lot of
third person shooters. So you could say that the fact that Metroid Prime
diversifies the GameCube lineup has also more or less influenced the decision.
About Zelda
Miyamoto: Although we never officially released screen shots, everyone is asking what is going to happen to Zelda GC’s artwork. As a result, I did
not bring any images of Zelda GC to Europe. But I wonder why there are
still so much people asking the question. Whether it is The Ocarina of Time
or Majora’s Mask, since there are lots of people that like those games, it
cannot be helped for people do be concerned with the art work. However, I
would like those people to not just see the screen shots, but actually try
the game out. This is because once they actually try the game, I think they
will be satisfied. In the past, when we showed the footage, people found it
hard to picture how Link would move. However, compared to all the other
Zelda games up till now, Zelda GC actually does not pale in the aspect of
moving freely. Moreover, the most important point is how Link moves. Of
course, like Mario Sunshine since the frame rates has increased, control has
become smoother. From that perspective, we can say that the game has
evolved rightfully. Well, I think we should let the gameplay speak and not
the artwork, so please look forward to it. Release date? Hmm… Well, it is
going to be after the titles we announced this time. If I talk too much,
the company is going to get angry at me again. So please forgive me.(laugh)
About Eternal Darkness
Miyamoto: The game is a psycho-adventure. It is a piece of work with very
high creativity in the aspect of story and plot. It is developed by the
president of a Canada game company. The game development started with
writing things down. Among Nintendo’s close developers, they are quite a
unique team. Regarding the type of the game, it feels like Biohazard. The
focus is placed on the story. There are 12 characters, and you experience
each character’s past. By the way, the subtitle (editor’s note: in Japanese
version) refers to 13 people where the 13th person is the player.
Development is proceeding smoothly, but it seems there’s a bit more work for
the Japanese version. There’s a big amount of story, and it is taking a lot
of hard work to localize the details. And a very rare thing for Nintendo
games, there are a lot of movies. (laugh)