Nintendo discusses lack of online in Nintendo Land, how StarFox and Excitebike almost made the cut
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"The Wii U is a game system with a completely new structure, so we wanted to have a full line-up of games that allowed gamers to experience the system's features straight on. So out of all the prototype programs we put together, we made a collection of games that made decent enough use of the TV and the Wii U Gamepad." - producer Katsuya Eguchi
- dev started right after the team wrapped up Wii Sports Resort
"These games were all very divergent from each other, so we really struggled over how to put them all together. We thought about how to do this, and among the ideas was the keyword 'expo'. An expo is all about nations showing off all kinds of different things in the same place, so I thought that would be a good fit. So we went through that concept of making a sort of expo of games, and that led to Nintendo Land."
"Generally it was easy to match the gameplay from the prototypes with one series or another. For example, a game with air and ground battles works well with Metroid. There was a time when Metroid Blast was going to be a Star Fox title, but the prototype featured this vehicle that hovered around like a helicopter and we figured that'd never be a good match for an Arwing." - director Yoshikazu Yamashita
"I'll admit that some of the tie-ins, like Donkey Kong and Octopus, might be stretching it a little. With the way the courses are designed, we were originally thinking about making Donkey Kong's Crash Course into an Excitebike or 1080 Snowboarding title at first." - co-director Takayuki Shimamura
"With that game (The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest), that was the developers of Zelda: Ocarina of Time seriously making a Zelda for Nintendo Land, so the project document for that game was this really thick tome. We tried to produce a lot of stages for each of the attractions. With all of them, you can 'beat' them if you put in a little effort, but that's just the first set, and there's a nearly equal number of stages unlocked afterward. These stages are set up to be a lot harder, so I don't think you'll run out of stuff to play anytime soon." - director Yoshikazu Yamashita
Yamashita also went on to discuss the gameplay mechanics in Luigi's Ghost Mansion...
"Actually, that advantage changes in a major way once more strategy and experience is thrown into the mix. During development, our play-testers said 'The ghost is way too strong,' but then when the devs started joining in games with them, suddenly the ghost couldn't win at all.
You can go from that and, as you keep on playing, you'll be able to chase down the ghost more frequently. With the competitive attractions, they're set up so the more you play them, the more even the odds are that any competitor can win, so experienced players can have some really hot matches with each other that way."
Eguchi discussed the lack of online play...
"Nintendo Land's multiplayer attractions work because of the communication shared between the people playing them, so they were set up from the start to be something people in the same room could enjoy." - producer Katsuya Eguchi
"The Wii U offers a lot of new experiences, but we honestly believe that if you don't play this game, you're missing out on half of that value. With the GamePad, I think you're seeing a new dimension of multiplayer, something that hasn't been seen before." -co-director Takayuki Shimamura
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