Nintendo Dates “Star Fox Zero” and More 2015 Games.
We don’t know why there’s a flurry of Nintendo news all of a sudden, but doing everything at once and taking the rest of the year off seems to be very much the theme when it comes to Nintendo’s release dates this autumn. After the big screen disaster that was Super Mario Bros. in 1993, Nintendo made the decision to guard its valuable collection of characters from the movie-making world—a move that proved prescient given the string of bad game-related films that would follow for the next 15 years.Everyone should be familiar with the game-producing company Nintendo because of the undeniable popularity of “Donkey Kong” and “Pacman” during arcade days, as well as the 90s hit games “Mario Brothers” and “Pokemon.” In this day and age, where movie adaptations of games, or characters of games, are coming out one after the other, it hasn’t been the same case for Nintendo as the company continues to refuse film adaptations.
Game-to-movie adaptations are notoriously bad, and you can’t discuss the medium without acknowledging the ghoulishly freakish attempt that was 1993’s Super Mario Bros’ film. But as convergence has become the norm in the entertainment universe, the company has started to rethink that stance—and is now ready to once again entertain Hollywood’s advances. In an article with Fortune, Nintendo creative guru Shigeru Miyamoto revealed a return to film development may be part of the companies plans to extend their intellectual property beyond video games.
And the best news, for gamers, is that that relationship will be overseen by Nintendo’s Software Planning & Development (SPD) Division—the group run by the company’s creative mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto. “For Nintendo IP, a more active approach will be taken in areas outside the video game business, including visual content production and character merchandising,” the company said. Its last movie released as an official adaptation would be the “Super Mario Brothers” in 1993, which, as everyone remembers, has been nothing but a disaster. That’s also just a day after Star Wars: Battlefront (all EA’s release on a Thursday now), which we assume is not a coincidence as both feature sci-fi dogfighting – although only Star Fox has them on both a planet and in space. The article references an interview between Miyamoto and Fortune at this year’s E3 convention, in which he explained that the inherent differences in the mediums make their relationships hard. The full game will be $49.99, but those who want to sample first can play it as a “free-to-start” game and experience the prologue, chapter 1, and most of chapter 2 for free.
However, recently, moviegoers are seeing some Nintendo characters more often in cameo roles such as in Disney’s “Wreck-It-Ralph” and Adam Sandler’s “Pixar.” One of the reasons why Nintendo might have agreed to be in these movies is because it was able to maintain its characters’ animation forms, unlike in the 1993 Mario Bros. movie, which was a live-action one. But there’s also action role-player Xenoblade Chronicles X, which has already been given a release date of December 4, and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival – which is the only game not to have a specific date yet. Legendary game creator and designer Shigeru Miyamoto recently spoke with Fortune about how the company is now opening its doors a bit more and sharing a willingness to entertain the idea of big screen adaptations. Just because Nintendo is open to partnering with Hollywood doesn’t mean we’ll see it happen anytime soon simply because the company already has quite a bit on its plate. Nintendo’s characters have appeared in cross-brand productions like Wreck-It Ralph in the past, but no standalone features have been made in years and years for any of their characters. “And we’ll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future”.
Speaking of amiibos, Nintendo has announced a new Green Mega Yarn Yoshi amiibo that looks likely to cost around £30 (or £300 by the time it appears on eBay, no doubt). That didn’t go so well—and almost didn’t happen at all. “After months and months of meeting with the board of Nintendo they agreed that we were going to treat Donkey Kong with respect and the proper gameplay, which was very important, and bringing Donkey Kong into the film was a slam-dunk for us,” Columbus told Wired. A rumor made the rounds earlier this year that Nintendo was talking with Netflix about a live-action series based on The Legend of Zelda, something the game maker was quick to deny. Nintendo is dipping its toes into Hollywood’s shark-infested waters after the failure of Adam Sandler’s video game-themed blockbuster Pixels, which is now circling around 16% on Rotten Tomatoes.
While Nintendo would usually release loads of information like this through one of their Nintendo Direct sessions, but this time we will have to make do without it. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, co-developed by Koei Tecmo Games, launches exclusively in the Nintendo eShop on Wii U on Oct. 22 for $49.99, just in time for Halloween. Runbow is an up-to-nine-player action platform party game that includes guest characters from some of the Nintendo eShop’s most popular indie titles, like Azure Striker Gunvolt, Shovel Knight, Guacamelee! and Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien.
Additional LEGO Dimensions Level, Team and Fun Packs will also be available on Sept. 27 at the respective suggested retail prices of $29.99, $24.99 and $14.99. Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games – winner of more than 100 awards, including many “Game of the Year” accolades – is coming to retail stores.
The game comes with one complimentary amiibo card, so players can experience how to use the cards to bring additional Animal Crossing characters into the game. A bundle also launching on Sept. 25 includes the game, one amiibo card and the Nintendo 3DS NFC Reader/Writer accessory at a suggested retail price of $49.99.
Iconic Nintendo character Bowser and his Sky vehicle, Clown Cruiser, are available in the Skylanders SuperChargers Racing Starter Packs for Wii and Nintendo 3DS, and can also be played on the Wii U system.