Each Nintendo building has a dev team that's not always clearly defined. They each have a masse working on multiple games at the same time in small groups, and those groups often change composition. It's not as impossible as you think it is.
I think with Donkey Kong this is more feasible considering the prominence of the character in their multimedia endeavors (film and theme park). Whether that’s a one-off or something that gets sustained really depends on whether such an experiment takes off.
I was planning to tweak it a bit more before posting it here; at least denoting Jump Rope Challenge and Pikmin 4 as using Unity and UE4 respectively; but I guess it’s fine as-is
Supporting the idea that EPD Tokyo would take back the IP and try do something special with it is the fact that the IP is very important. You are talking about the original IP that launched Nintendo world wide and Shigeru Miyamoto's career. Most importantly, with Donkey Kong's presence in the film and theme park, the company is likely to capitalize on the resurgence of the IP's notoriety.
they're already taking away resources for a 2D project according to their own recruitment they did back in 2020 tho
The same Donkey Kong IP they're seemingly basing an entire theme park on? A theme park opening next year?
www.polygon.com
Jungle Beat exists. And it was made by EPD Tokyo. Nintendo has tried to pick up DK when nobody had him in hand by the past (Miyamoto putting Rare then Retro on the case)
they're already taking away resources for a 2D project according to their own recruitment they did back in 2020 tho
without knowing how big their team is, how many people they recruited over the years and how many studios are assisting them through outsourcing you can't really make claims like that.
Donkey Kong is a big IP. It could easily be one of their most important IP with some work being put behind it.
Did you know that Astral Chain began development before PlatinumGames was brought on to Nier: Automata, with concepts floating around 2014?
So they’ll take 8 years to make a Yoshi or Wario Land, but not the much bigger IP in DK
Surely it won't if you keep giving the franchise long hiatuses and give it games on failing consoles... DK was pretty huge in the 90s, to the point the N64, a failing console, could still take 5 millions out of it. After Rare and the IP didn't get a new Country game until a decade later, then got its follow-up on the worst console flop of Nintendo's history (Virtual Boy put aside). It still made on that last game over 5 millions with time and a re-release. So yeah, I'm thinking somebody could get DK a 15m seller just like Rare made DKC a near 10m seller, 30 years ago. And EPD Tokyo as it is now is certainly up to the task if you give it some time.
I can't take any argument seriously that says DK isn't big enough. DK was the second most consistent selling platformer series of all time when it was active, and even with just a port it arguably still is. When you have Kirby, a franchise that usually relies more on merchandise than game sales, selling like a DK game without a theme park and movie appearance, thinking that a 2D DK game would only sell 6m at best is insane. It's especially funny when you've already said that the next EPD game could be Wario Land or Yoshi.
I think it's weird you keep going hard on this. This timespan isn't as important as you think. Even if we don't count covid (which was a huge disrupter), many many games can last years and years because development can go through many changes and phases. So much so it makes your head spin. They could have started doing concepts and whatnot in 2018, but then decide they needed to shift to something else the next year. And then another direction the year after that. Especially since we know now from Wonder that Nintendo does allow for this less restrictive development environment.
I know that was what you were arguing originally. And I don't think your original arguments were wrong in some sense. But along the way as you explained your viewpoint more, some arguments came up that were pretty bad - ala the timeline, DK not being big enough, etc.
well well 64 didn't sell too bad either. Guess as long as it has the Donkey Kong name it's pretty strong.The same Donkey Kong IP they're seemingly basing an entire theme park on? A theme park opening next year?
Super Nintendo World theme park expands with Donkey Kong area in 2024
Universal Studios and Nintendo to grow Super Nintendo World by 70%
The same Donkey Kong that has its Country games hitting consistently the 5 million sales range (if not more!)
It is weird that they didn't bother to get it out on Switch though?
we don't even know when the switch 2 is releasing, so anything seems fair game. releasing it near the theme park's opening does seem sound though
So the "other" section exist because those games dont have engines known?@MondoMega created an updated EPD engine table. The games with question marks in the corner of their game icon means that it's speculated to use the engine it's placed in.
The other I think, refers to games that run on licensed engines rather than Nintendo's own.
Some of the "other" section uses known third-party engines (for example, Pikmin 4 is Unreal, and I think Jump Rope Challenge is Unity), while others are proprietary in-house engines that may or may not have known names. Metroid Dread for example uses MercurySteam's own Mercury engine.
Nintendo doesn't talk about their tools, so we'll never know
whispers…the next 3D Mario (and DK) game.
well yeah, but in the 7 years of switch having just two titles is so weird. Like others are general producer at least but not even that he is, hes barely credited outside of special thanks so it seems hes not that involved maybe except for management of EPD as deputy general manager
I mean he worked on hardware for Switch also. I don’t find it weird when what he does hasn’t shown up, then neither will his name.
I guess that settles the debate on whether modern WarioWare counts as co-developed or not. A Wikipedia editor recently removed all Nintendo EPD mention on post-Gold Wario games it appears that was unfounded.This one we can rule out pretty easily now, thanks to the copyright info for the games featured this time.
WarioWare:
He's moving up to a more executive role I think. As now he's also a company director at Nintendo Pictures.
I do wonder if the whole unity fiasco is going to make Nintendo once again suspcious of outside engines@MondoMega created an updated EPD engine table. The games with question marks in the corner of their game icon means that it's speculated to use the engine it's placed in.
I think that epd 8 2d platformer is a new ip. Not only because all the 2d platformer ips already have someone who could make a new one that isn't epd 8, but because Nintendo said in 2021 that they're focusing on original ips, likely refering to switch 2 Games:https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-original-ip-switch-updates/
They have custom deals for any 3rd party engine they use, it doesnt affect them. For example do you think Nintendo is giving 5% of Pikmin 4 revenue to Epic? That's 3M per every million the game sells
no, because that's ridiculous given how the development process is. big companies will strong-arm Unity into deals that make them exempt. if Unity doesn't allow that, there are plenty of options including bolstering Godot and W4
I think the idea is that EPD10 may have a higher number of younger staff than other divisions, if we wish to entertain the "C-Team" claim at all.
