Next Level Working on Something New

[Aielyn]

People seem to keep speculating on titles, without considering what we know about the animator.

Can you really picture them bringing in a new animator to animate Mario and Luigi? We're not exactly talking about characters that are difficult to animate. They're certainly great characters, but they're not the most complex ones, and the kinds of cutscenes that would appear in their games wouldn't require that sort of expertise.

I can't see games like Punch Out being any more suited. Which leads me to think it must be something else.

They've recently been hiring UI artists, Environment artists, etc. And earlier in 2014, they were hiring level designers. The combination suggests to me that they're not working on Mario Strikers, Luigi's Mansion, or Punch Out. I can't help but feel like they might be working on something new based on an older IP. All that being said, Dan Pratezina has experience with the more cartoon-ish designs, so it's likely something in that range.

My ideal case would be an Ice Climbers game. The other possibility that would fit the requirements while being an old franchise is the Mother series, but it's a little hard to see them letting it be done outside of Japan. Both series would suit the kind of animation that Dan Pratezina has a lot of experience with. That being said, I could also see it being anything from a Pokemon game (his style has some resemblance to the Pokemon Orre games) to a new IP. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But I'm pretty confident it won't be a franchise NLG has worked on before.