Nintendo, Miyamoto Preview 2004 Releases

Thanks to Cube Europe for its article discussing forthcoming Nintendo products for 2004, including insight from Shigeru Miyamoto on his in-progress games. The information, sourced from Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK, "states that Metroid Prime 2, Geist, Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green will all be released in Europe before the end of the year", meaning a U.S. release for these games are also likely during 2004. Miyamoto is fairly guarded about his current projects, which also include Pikmin 2, and comments on the continued mystery behind the next Mario title: "With Mario 128 I have been challenging many unprecedented things, not found in existing video games... [and] prone to lose their freshness or to be imitated once they go public." Which Nintendo products are you most looking forward to this year?

Comments

Re:Sounds cranky

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be cranky too if all I was allowed to come up with were sequels. :) Think about it:

Metroid Prime 2
Geist (Halo clone)
Pokemon Fire Red and Pokemon Leaf Green
Pikmin 2
Mario 128
Zelda: The Next One

But Nintendo would probably not want to take risks at the moment after the lukewarm reaction to Zelda Windwaker. Their sequel obsession is understandable.

Re:Sounds cranky

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, a link to engrish.com on slashdot. You must feel special, what with nobody else here doing all of us that great favor. Were you hoping for that instant +5, Funny that all engrish.com posts always get here?

Miyamoto's command of the English language is widely known. Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights, his regular translator for a long while, has stated that Miyamoto has a good enough grasp of the language to be able to make useful commentary on Dyack's translations for things like public speeches.

Besides, do you not know how interviews like this one are typically conducted? Interviews are typically conducted using a Japanese translator provided by the interviewer, or an interviewer is selected because of his ability to speak the interviewee's native tongue. Think about how rude it would be to go to a foreign country to interview someone and expect that person to speak your own language with a fluency greater than yours in THEIR language.

Personally, I'm more embarrassed as an American with my inability to speak in more than one language with any less-than-humorous fluency than I am amused by non-English-speakers' inability to use English to perfection. I've been told that my pronunciation of the Japanese and French languages is excellent, but I know that this is simply a way of telling me that my grammar and vocabulary are horrible. My point in mentioning this is that this is to be expected, seeing as how I studied both languages for short periods, with only marginal interest. And since it's my understanding that English is about as useless in Japan as French is here, any typical "Engrish" reference is about as unhumorous to me as Americans with a penchant for speaking French poorly.

Re:Sounds cranky

[shadowcabbit]

As for pikmin.. it deserves a sequel.. and zelda... name a BAD zelda... it's not possible.

I'll name three: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker. I desperately wanted to like the 3D Zelda games, but they didn't have the charm or hooks that drew me in to the original series (or even the Gameboy ones, which I personally thought were the best). I know a lot of people think that the previous three have been the be-all, end-all of video gaming, but I just don't see what the thrill is.

Ocarina of Time was WAY too slow-paced and the battle system was so blasted awkward. When I heard that MM and WW featured the same system, as well as were "more of the same", I passed. I did get a chance to play each of them, of course, and they lived down to my expectations.

Oh, and this isn't a troll. I'll give you that the Mario games have been consistently great; I'm really looking forward to whatever Miyamoto chooses to do with Mario "128", because it's sure to be offbeat enough to capture everybody's attention. I just feel that they need to try someting different with the Zelda games, because I know I'm not the only one who despised the three 3D iterations.