The N-Sider Files Volume #4
The N-Sider files returns with a furious edition and a first detailed look into NCL's 2003 development cycle.
What To Expect
Nintendo has promised 2003 to be a very original year for the company. 2002 will see the release of Nintendo's two biggest franchises ; Super Mario Sunshine, and The Legend of Zelda (December release in Japan, early February US) will see domestic release by years end, and several other big name franchises like Metroid Prime, Mario Party 4, Star Fox Adventures, and Wario World. But what about Nintendo's secret plans for 2003?
Eiji Aonuma's Next Game
We long mentioned in a previous N-Sider Files of the Majora's Mask triple entente splitting up to work on three big GameCube projects. The tandum of director, main assistant director, and scenario writer all were charged with individual lead projects.
Yoshiaki Koizumi went on to direct Super Mano Sunshine.
Mitsuhiro Takano went on to direct The Legend of Zelda.
Eiji Aonuma went on to direct ???
N-Sider believes Eiji Aonuma's original game will debut at E3 2003 and will be set for release sometime in the Summer of 2003 for Japan (shortly afterwards for US).
Mario Debut Maker
One of EAD's sort of evolving sequels is based on an old Super Famicom game Mario Paint. Miyamoto and the EAD team went on to create a spin off title called Mario Artist: Talent Maker for the Nintendo 64DD. Talent Maker basically gave players the ability to create moving images. This included producing home made music dance videos, character models you could take photographs of, and even home made short films. The innovative title landed exclusively in Japan, and due to the 64DD's short life, it never saw release in the states.
In comes E3 2001 when Miyamoto first confirms a mysterious game called Marionette. The game was briefly confirmed as an internal project due out for release sometime next year (late 2002?). As it turns out Marionette was the project name of the GameCube edition of Mario Artist: Talent Maker which by E3 2002 was shown for the first time under the new world wide name Stage Debut. Stage Debut looks to take the series one step further and will push a new GameCube digital camera called the Game Eye. The game should be released world wide early next year.
Pikmin 2, and Luigi's Mansion 2
Pikmin 2 and Luigi's Mansion 2 are in development... well... ok .. they are not. But the Luigi's Mansion team and Pikmin team are in development with two big games for Fall 2003. Although we can confirm they are not sequels to GameCube titles, we have no specific information on the origin of these titles. N-Sider formerly believed Hideki Konno's LM team would be deep in development with a GameCube sequel to Mario Kart, however there is a definite possibility that Mario Kart may be in development at Nintendo Software Technologies in Redmond (source: PGC). For the time being N-Sider can only confirm two big EAD developed titles from the development teams responsible for 2001's launch software.
Pokemon
Director Takao Shimizu and his Pokemon Stadium 3 team have been developing this secret title for quite some time. Perhaps one of the few big NCL franchises still being developed at EAD. Expect a something different in the genre Nintendo will be pushing this as. It's not like Game Boy games, and not like the N64 ones, that is all Nintendo has promised about this high budget next-generation sequel.