Nintendo Roundtable E3 2011: Miyamoto exiting the Wii, Retro working on Mario Kart, more
Nintendo's E3 2011 round table was full of news, including the pleasing reveal of Retro Studios involvement with Mario Kart 3DS and a Zelda surprise in Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Skyward Sword producer Eiji Aonuma confirmed the new Zelda game will have greater replay value than the linear dungeon stylings of previous games, Gamasutra reports.
"Last year I mentioned I really wanted to try some different ideas and concepts in Skyward Sword, and now the areas that even lead to the dungeons are there for you to solve," he said.
"Typically when you've been to an area in a Zelda game you solve the puzzles... And then move on... because you've done everything you need to do there. But this time there will be new puzzles to solve... in areas you have been to before."
Designer Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed the game will have a lengthy lifespan.
"This is a game that you can play for a very long period of time," he commented, "and it's one where understanding the map of the world is going to make the game much more interesting to play, so we've spent a lot of effort on improving the game's map system as well," Miyamoto observed.
As part of Zelda's 25th anniversary celebrations, the recently revealed Super Mario Bros. 3DS will have a Zelda-themed level, but that's not where the effort ends.
"Since we do have the 25th Anniversary, I do want to make it the kind of game we can close the Wii chapter on," Aonuma said of Skyward Sword.
"I told Aonuma that if this wasn't the best Zelda ever, we might have to stop making Zelda games," Miyamoto chimed in.
"And I told the Star Fox 64 producer that if we can't re-convince people to play Star Fox games, it might be the last one we make - so everyone is working very hard," he added, ominously.
Asked if Skyward Sword is the last major Wii title from Nintendo, Miyamoto said there are more, unannounced titles on the way, but he personally is bidding the ageing console goodbye.
"From my perspective, I feel one of my biggest responsibilities is to be developing for the newest upcoming platforms, so from my team's perspective, it's not the last but perhaps one of the last coming from our teams," he said.
Discussin the upcoming Mario kart 3DS, Miyamoto gladdened hearts by revealing that Retro Studios, the lauded developer behind Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country Returns, is lending its talents to the racer.
Rewarding well-behaved journos, Miyamoto chose to reveal the new Pikmin game, and confirmed Next Level as the developer of Luigi's Mansion 2.