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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Next Level games quick climb up Nintendo ranks is quite surprising

fireblazerx17 on 08 September 2014

Always down for more western devs to give Nintendo more variety/balance in terms of the styles and types of games and the approaches to them.



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fleischr on 08 September 2014
Incubi said:
fleischr said:
Clyde32 said:
They split off from EA. Nintendo liked what the team did while they were at EA.

Kind of OT, but worth saying: I'd love to see Criterion split off from EA. Based on their stellar job on NFSMWU on Wii U, their great track record, and their interest in other racing/alternative sports they'd be a great fit bringing back WaveRace and ExciteBike

On 3rd January 2014, it was announced that co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry have left Criterion to found a new studio.


I just read up on that. Seems as though a lot of Criterion's old staff got transferred to Ghost Games.

No announcement on what Ward & Sperry are up to, but I know from EA's e3 this last year that Criterion was very interested in "beyond cars" e.g. watercraft, dirtbikes. If this was the direction Ward & Sperry had in mind for Criterion, but have now left, teaming up with Ninty on those franchises would be a smart move.



I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016

Soundwave on 08 September 2014

What's your definition of a "quick climb"?

They've worked with Nintendo for 10 years now, Mario Strikers launched in 2005, meaning it had to be in development since 2004 at least.

In those 10 years they've made 4 games for Nintendo -- two Strikers game, Punch-Out!, and Luigi's Mansion 2.

Hopefully they've proved themselves enough to be able to work on two games at a time from now on for Nintendo, but who knows really. 

If Next Level and Retro were actually allowed to develop 2 games at a time and NST wasn't downgraded to a worthless Mario Vs. DK studio (and could also pitch in with 2 games in development at all times), that would go a long way in helping Nintendo's software output. 



WhiteEaglePL on 08 September 2014

They are a talented studio - I want to see their next game be on Wii U.



menx64 on 08 September 2014
cycycychris said:
menx64 said:
The coincidence with Retro is heavy Nintendo supervison. Level5 are exclusively devs to Nintendo by choice if I am not mistaken.

I think you mean't to say Next Level Games, since Level 5 releases a lot of there games on Nintendo consoles, but they still support Sony's systems

But Next level in January decided to sign on with Nintendo to be a 2nd party dev. They liked the job security they had with Nintendo and how they were giving them trust with beter and beter IP's. So they did go to Nintendo exclusive by there own choice. They actually announce there Nintendo exclusive and then, I believe, less than a week later they announce they have signed onto being a 2nd party dev.


 hehe, yep Next level games :P

 I was not aware they became an official Nintendo dev. Great news. They have a lot of talent, waiting for the next game!



Menx64

3DS code: 1289-8222-7215

NNid: Menx064

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menx64 on 08 September 2014
Vena said:
menx64 said:
The coincidence with Retro is heavy Nintendo supervison. Level5 are exclusively devs to Nintendo by choice if I am not mistaken.


Retro isn't all that heavy on supervision. Miyamoto pretty much gave them free reign on a locked-down IP after he saw their work on other games.

As has been pointed out, though, you meant Next Level Games. :P And, yes, they did it by choice.


 If I am not mistaken (and I do often ;P) Nintendo cancelled all retro games once Miyamoto visited their studio. Even raven blade was cancelled. I remember reading in a Iwata ask, that they had to talk to Nintendo almost every other day on how things were developing (which is common to Nintendo, I believe).

 But yes, Retro has a lot of talent, Nintendo's help only makes it better.



Menx64

3DS code: 1289-8222-7215

NNid: Menx064

Wyrdness on 09 September 2014
menx64 said:


 If I am not mistaken (and I do often ;P) Nintendo cancelled all retro games once Miyamoto visited their studio. Even raven blade was cancelled. I remember reading in a Iwata ask, that they had to talk to Nintendo almost every other day on how things were developing (which is common to Nintendo, I believe).

 But yes, Retro has a lot of talent, Nintendo's help only makes it better.


Nintendo didn't cancel them Retro themselves did out of embarassment when they saw what their fellow first party were doing, they literally burned anything they had at the time and started over, that's when Miyamoto took over to produce Metroid Prime.



Soundwave on 09 September 2014
Wyrdness said:
menx64 said:


 If I am not mistaken (and I do often ;P) Nintendo cancelled all retro games once Miyamoto visited their studio. Even raven blade was cancelled. I remember reading in a Iwata ask, that they had to talk to Nintendo almost every other day on how things were developing (which is common to Nintendo, I believe).

 But yes, Retro has a lot of talent, Nintendo's help only makes it better.


Nintendo didn't cancel them Retro themselves did out of embarassment when they saw what their fellow first party were doing, they literally burned anything they had at the time and started over, that's when Miyamoto took over to produce Metroid Prime.

That's laughably false. 



Wyrdness on 10 September 2014
cycycychris said:

I'm pretty sure Retro's Football game and racing games were all canceled out of Nintendo's request. But, Raven Blade was originally promoted my Nintendo, but the game ran into issue and they created a date to Retro that they have to have things change or they're canceling it. Things must not have gotten better and they canned it.


According to Retro the game was just crap and that was the problem they ran into, Nintendo liked the idea but Retro realized the execution was poor so it got canned with all their other projects.