"The makers of F-Zero, Killer 7, Pac Man, Harvest Moon, Kirby, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy tell us what they think.

Japan's gaming elite have spoken out on Nintendo's Revolution controller. The latest issue of Nintendo Dream features commentary and impressions on the device from developers at Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Konami and more.

Here's a run down on what each creator has to say:

Ken Sugimori (Game Freak, art director of Pokemon): Sugimori was surprised when he first saw the controller. He feels that many people have been thrown off from gaming due to increased button counts of controllers, but states that it takes a good amount of courage to actually decide to reduce the number. "You'll be able to do things with the Revolution that you could never do with consoles before," he says, adding with a laugh, "Personally, it's the kind of hardware where, more than making games, I'd rather play them."

Kouichi Suda (president of Grass Hopper Interactive, the studio behind Killer 7): "In truth, I have yet to get my hands on Revolution," Suda admits, but adds that he expects to get some hands on time shortly. Once he saw the controller at the product announcement, he felt that there was no choice but to make games for it. "I've already finalized a plan. Now, all that remains is to make it." Judging by Suda's comments, we can probably add Grass Hopper to the list of Revolution developers.

Toshihiro Nagoshi (Sega -- producer of F-Zero GX/AX and Super Monkey Ball): "I was surprised when I saw it, I was surprised when I touched it, and when I played the sample games, I was even more surprised!" Nagoshi states. "I doubt that there's a creator who doesn't get tickled after getting their hands on this. It combines all the elements required to let you enjoy games while feeling that you've become the character." Continuing, Nagoshi states that he expects the controller to open up new paths for all genres.

Tooru Iwatani (Namco -- father of Pac Man): Iwatani feels that the Revolution controller is one of the solutions to interface problems with games, adding, "Just as input with the Nintendo DS pen gave birth to new game contents, there are great possibilities hidden in this remote-like controller." He gives a couple of examples of game ideas, including a text input style game that targets people who've become used to inputting text with their thumbs on the cell phone. The controller gives the creative spirit of game creators a jolt, Iwatani states before finishing up his comments by asking that Nintendo continue from here on out to stimulate gamers and creators alike in new ways." [more]

¶ D.Vader // 10/23/2005 07:09:00 PM // PermaLink

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