Miyamoto - Mario 128, Pokemon GC & More

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu recently held an interview with renowned Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, in which he both confirmed and quashed certain rumors and idea's that have been flying around the gaming community as of late. Thankfully it's all pretty much good news as well.

1.Despite constant speculation fueled by staff mumblings at American offices Miyamoto stated that Mario 128 is still in development for the GameCube, not the Revolution and there are no plans for that to change. However he did not say when Nintendo expects the game to be released.

When analyzed Mario 128 on the Cube has both positive and negative connotations, whilst it means that the GameCube will see another top notch, high selling game it also means that it is unlikely that the Revolution will see a Mario title at launch, a scenario which Nintendo will be stupid to relive after the mess that was the GameCube launch lineup. Of course the only other option is that they have two teams working on two different Mario projects, this however means that development may be somewhat fragmented and unsteady, putting further stress on the final result.

2.The recently announced Mario Baseball is a joint project between Namco and Nintendo in a continuation of their ever strengthening ties (see Star Fox Assault). News that also is sure to give a large boost to the Triforce arrangement between Nintendo, Namco and Sega which has been under strain to produce something of substance in recent times.

3.Pokemanics will be pleased to find out that Nintendo is working on a new Pokemon game for the GameCube, whilst Miyamoto didn't give away any specifics he stated that the title is being developed with, "strong allies". A statement which is sure to create a mass of speculation amongst the online Nintendo community.

4.The Nintendo DS's online capabilities will be utilized much sooner that most have been expecting by both 1st and 3rd parties. See point

5.A while ago it was revealed that Square-Enix had been toying with the possibility of using their Play Online service with the DS. Mr. Miyamoto has now confirmed that Nintendo is working with Square-Enix to get the DS online and to create a solid service for it to do so.

6.As if it isn't about time already Nintendo have finally woken up and realized that Online gaming is something worth getting into. They believe that within the next 3-4 years the idea will begin to boom/move into the mainstream and as such Miyamoto has said that Nintendo are working to implement online services into their future projects.

Keep your eyes glued to NZGamer and we'll bring you any updates and developments on the above projects.

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