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Smash Bros. Creators Behind New TMNT Game

Posted by Soulskill on from the totally-tubular-dude dept.

The Opposable Thumbs blog reports that work is underway on a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for the Wii. They note that "Game Arts, the developer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, will be creating the four-player action title for Ubisoft." According to the press release, the game is set to launch in late 2009 to celebrate 25 years of the TMNT franchise. The game won't be tied to any particular movie or TV series.

29 comments

  1. Unfortunately that does not mean quality by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Time and again it's been shown that good devs don't automatically mean good game. A lot of the quality lies on the shoulders of the beancounters. Namely, how much time (and thus money) are they willing to throw at the game? Nintendo really didn't want its Mario franchise get polluted with a crappy game (not that it never happened before, but they at least TRY to avoid it). The train of reason is plain simple: Good franchise, good games, people buy without hesitation. Don't ruin it by releasing crap, or people will not buy without first trying to find out whether it's worth it.

    TMNT is no game franchise, no name to be wasted. So it comes down to whether the beancounters want the game to be a quick buck or a foundation for further games.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by Sterrance · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well many people in their 20s to early 30s have great memories playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade games. So the franchise definitely has an audience in younger kids and the MTV Generation.

    2. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Namely, how much time (and thus money) are they willing to throw at the game?

      Doesn't matter, they just have to supply enough pizza.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    3. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      TMNT is no game franchise, no name to be wasted. So it comes down to whether the beancounters want the game to be a quick buck or a foundation for further games.

      I agree. But they do have a limit of uses of "From the creators of Smash Bros".

      Let's hope they did take into account that if the next game was also good, they could start a creator franchise somewhat separated from the games themselves, like Blizzard.

    4. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by BarneyL · · Score: 3, Interesting

      To be fair Ubisoft are one of the few 3rd party publishers who seem to "get" the Wii. Games like No More Heroes and the Raving Rabbids games (one of the few mini games collections where creative use of waggle adds rather than detracts from the quality of the game) suggest TMNT is in with a chance of being pretty good. From what I read they are not simply taking from the children's cartoons but using comic books and the films as a resource as well which is a positive sign in itself.
      I still have hope it will turn out to be Brawl 1.2 - largely the same with a few balance tweaks and a decent online system.

    5. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by GoochOwnsYou · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ubisoft didn't make No More Heroes, Suda51/Grasshopper did, its a Japanese title. Ubisoft just published it for North America

      But I do agree Ubisoft do get the Wii more than others but they too had a slow start, they just started earlier. At launch they had Red Steel (which sucked) plus bad ports of Farcry, Monster 4X4 and GT Pro Series with 2 winners, Splinter Cell DA (the Wii version is different but still pretty darn good) and Rayman Raving Rabbids. After gaining experience with what works they even managed to beat Nintendo to be the first ones to have a good Balance Board game with Shawn White.

      So far Capcom have delivered us Zack & Wiki plus some really good ports like Okami and RE4.

      I agree with grandparent post, sure these guys gave us Brawl but there is no guarantee that will spill out into a game on Brawl's level, we can only hope.

      Personally the real winners for the Wii in 2009 seem to be all published by Sega: House of the Dead: Overkill, The Conduit and of course MadWorld, a game who's anticipation doesn't touch the likes of upcoming sequels to Bioshock and F.E.A.R but still very keen on getting my hands on.

      --
      This sig has been distributed under the Creative Commons license.
    6. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by anss123 · · Score: 1

      (not that it never happened before, but they at least TRY to avoid it)

      I'm detecting a subtle jab at Mario is Missing!

    7. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      Namely, how much time (and thus money) are they willing to throw at the game?

      Doesn't matter, they just have to supply enough pizza.

      Cowabunga, dude! No anchovies.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    8. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Ah, that's a bunch of crap. One of the most famous videogames of all time was produced in less than 6 weeks.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    9. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      I've played both console versions of that game and I still refuse to believe it exists.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    10. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you call SSB's online system "decent"?

      i've sat for hours in there, have never had a game online before

    11. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's hope they did take into account that if the next game was also good, they could start a creator franchise somewhat separated from the games themselves, like Blizzard.

      I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. Blizzard has produced games in the Warcraft and Starcraft universes--intentional ripoffs of the Warhmamer and Warhammer 40k lines of Games Workshop, respectively.

      They bought out the indie developer making Diablo, and renamed them Blizzard North.

      So, er, what franchise did you have in mind?

    12. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by inotocracy · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Yeah, famous for being crap.

    13. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      I've played both console versions of that game and I still refuse to believe it exists.

      You realize that if you disbelieve its existence, that means your own imagination has to take the blame for it...

    14. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by dangitman · · Score: 1

      No anchovies.

      Heretic!

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    15. Re:Unfortunately that does not mean quality by TheSpoom · · Score: 1

      Stop! My brain can't take the idea that there's such horribleness in the world!

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
  2. Argh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why are they working on this when they could be giving us a Lunar title. Come on Game Arts, you owe us for the rubbish that was Dragon Song. A new Grandia wouldn't go amiss either

  3. Whew by Veggiesama · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried to click this link, but I accidentally clicked the "Global Warming Irreversible" link by mistake.

    Phew, for a second I almost read something worthy of front-page news.

  4. Half and half by SuperBry · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If this game is half as fun as TMNT: Turtles in Time and half as easy to pick up and play as Brawl it will be one of the best games on the Wii and probably be one of my all time favorites.

    1. Re:Half and half by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iunno. TNMT Tournament Fighter on SNES was pretty bitchin'

    2. Re:Half and half by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn right. Turtles in Time was great.

  5. Sora developed Smash Bros Brawl, not Game Arts by TheBlackSwordsman · · Score: 4, Informative
    Sora, headed up by Masahiro Sakurai, was responsible for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, not Game Arts. Game Arts was simply one of many developers who contributed to the game because the project was so massive. In fact, much of the game's music was composed by people who work for companies other than Nintendo.

    From the game's Wikipedia page:

    Nintendo enlisted outside help from various developer studios, including Game Arts, who spent excessive amounts of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee.

    Calling Game Arts "the developer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl" is pretty disingenuous. But it certainly is a good way to make people think that your game probably won't suck, attaching the Smash Bros. name to it like that.

    1. Re:Sora developed Smash Bros Brawl, not Game Arts by 7Prime · · Score: 1

      Correct.

      Sora hired the Game Arts administrative staff to do a lot of the office work in getting the project off the ground. I think a few of the programmers from GA stayed on board for the project as well. However, none of the design team or the creative staff were from GameArts.

      The thing that angers me about this thread's title is that GameArts has, itself, done a lot of great work, specifically the Lunar and Grandia series of RPGs, that are quite notable as well. Why wasn't the title of the thread, for instance, "Lunar Creators Behind New TMNT Game"? Unfortunately, GAs last three outtings: Grandia Extreme, Lunar Dragon Song, and Grandia III all recieved less than complementary reviews, though.

      I just realized something. The voice actor who used to play Leanardo in the TV series, Cam Clarke, is a common video game voice actor (most notably for his work as Liquid Snake from the MGS series). Well, he also voiced the protagonist, Ryudo, for one of GAs best selling (and arguably the most reveared) titles, Grandia II. It's the only time you hear "Leanardo" (TMNT) voiced opposite of "Ariel" (The Little Mermaid). So this won't be Cam's first time contracted by GameArts to do a voice for them.

      --
      Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
  6. Unlockables by Applekid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean the game will ship with only Leonardo being playable, and the other turtles being unlocked after meeting certain requirements such as "time spent playing" or "number of times system turned on"?

    --
    More Twoson than Cupertino
    1. Re:Unlockables by Frigga's+Ring · · Score: 1

      You think that's bad? Wait until it's ported to the PS3 and 360 which will have all of the turtles on the disc, but you can only unlock them by purchasing "downloadable content"

  7. Yeah! Turtles in Time! by Gizzmonic · · Score: 1

    Turtles in Time was one of the greatest games for SNES. However, the arcade game was kinda different. It had weird bosses like "Cement Man" that weren't in the SNES version. It was still a better game (4 player co-op overrules anything else) but it's strange they changed the bosses for the SNES version. Not that I'm complaining, mind you-it was a definite improvement!

    --
    (-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
  8. Scared to have hope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TMNT games have sucked balls since arcades were still popular ... like 10 years ago. If they start by looking at that it could be good. But if they even glance at recent games it will be garbage. And who cares about the Smashbros makers? Brawl kinda failed compared to melee or the original. If like brawl they target the casual (shitty) player, this game will suck. Maybe like the last TMNT game they will have NO punishment for death.

  9. Only a developer by BenoitRen · · Score: 1

    Game Arts is only a developer. They develop video games. They don't design them.

    Nintendo designed Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and UbiSoft is designing this new TMNT game.