Zelda and Mario teams hard at work

By Kristan Reed Published 15 July, 2008

But Nintendo coy on what.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed that the Zelda and Mario teams are "both hard at work" to "bring new titles to Wii".

Speaking at Nintendo's E3 2008 press briefing, Iwata-san stopped short of revealing what those title were, or when they may arrive, leaving observers with few clues of the company's plans for its most historically popular 'core' brands.

Instead, the Nintendo boss focused on reflecting how dramatically the fortunes of the company had changed since 2003.

Iwata-san said that at E3 2003 "almost everyone attending held a pessimistic view of Nintendo's future."

"That view was not enjoyable," he admitted, "but I knew people were just using what seems to be a common sense view of the videogame market.

"I must admit that even Nintendo employees could not have imagined five years later that the market could respond so quickly that we could be selling millions of...bathroom scales," he added, referring to the current worldwide success of Wii Fit. "Common sense doesn't make as much sense any more!"

Indeed, Nintendo's 'common sense' approach of old would have been to wheel out a stellar new sequel. That, however, was well and truly abandoned this year, with almost zero concession made to its so-called 'core' audience throughout the 70-minute briefing.

With many seasoned observers expecting at least one major 'core' gaming announcement, fans of Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, or even Starfox were left wondering when, or even if, the Japanese veteran will be unveiling its latest additions to its pillar franchises in the near future.

For more on Nintendo's E3 press briefing, check out our Livetext report.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MightyPenguin #1 4 years ago

    Christ. At this rate we'll never get a Pikmin 3.

  • AlcohollicA #2 4 years ago

    I would be surprised if their was a second Mario title for wii although it would be more than welcome.

    Of course there will be a zelda wii. Twighlight Princess doesnt count.

  • daz_john_smith #3 4 years ago

    I think we could see another Mario game on Wii, since I don't see the Wii following the usual-ish 5 year lifespan.

  • ianegg #4 4 years ago

    If anything, the console Zeldas need to be getting harder, rather than more accessible.

    Agreed. They've stayed very enjoyable but gotten gradually easier over the years. I'd like a challenge please!

    Phantom Hourglass meets 4 Swords would make me a happy chappy though.

  • smelly #5 4 years ago

    >At this rate we'll never get a Pikmin 3.

    See, people always berate nintendo for relying on sequels and existing franchises.. and when they dont.. they get berated again!

    damned if you do, damned if you dont...

  • smelly #6 4 years ago

    I still want to see a PROPER 3d pokemon (in the style/gameplay of zelda)

  • Razz #7 4 years ago

    They're all snorting coke and eating sushi off naked hookers. :(

  • Dafub #8 4 years ago

    What they realy need is some new more mature(but it does not need to be res 4 or manhunt like in content.)
    IP. and they need it soon.

    The third partys do not appear to be investing in purpose built "core" audiance games for the wii at all.
    And a new call of duty or medal of honour every year does not count.

    And considering how No more heroes turned out and not to convinced by mad world.

  • smelly #9 4 years ago

    "Get the development team behind the Gameboy games to do a console Pokemon. It's that simple."


    Get the development team behind zelda windwaker to do a console pokemon...

  • Crovax20 #10 4 years ago

    Sigh, at least animal crossing got announced. Just take a look at the character roster of brawl and you can think of a few new "old" games.

    A game with Kid Icarus
    A game with Ice climbers
    A game with Pokemon (a REAL pokemon game for the wii)
    A game with Ness

    Seriously, some of those games are so old that if they made a new one it wouldn't count as a sequel. It would be like Metroid Prime was.

  • lemonfist #11 4 years ago

    Fuck this GTA on the DS shit. Where's the next 2D Metroid?

  • smelly #12 4 years ago

    >I was praying for Metroid Prime 4 thoug

    Metroid 3 sold like balls though.. so you can understand why not...


    Still as i keep saying MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM NINTENDO TOMORROW...

  • Kami #13 4 years ago

    Nintendo = business. A business that makes money is a successful one. A business that makes shitloads of money is a winner. And let's not get into ratios of shit games because the Playstation brand don't come out smelling of roses in that arena either.

    Nintendo did their bit for the Wii, they need to push the technical stuff as well now - again, they're a business and they used their time to promote new concepts. Fine. Other developers will now move in having seen what can be done and replicate it, or push the boundries a little more. Nintendo alone cannot carry it on it's big names, they've thrown it all out much sooner than they ever would have done in the past. Nintendo have forcibly left a big smoldering crater that people can't ignore. They've done their bit. The Wii is there, it's seen as a console for all people, and now Nintendo want to get on to expanding that. Sell outs? Hardly. Nintendo have thrown out some stunning titles already.

    The failure of the Gamecube and N64 was the lack of third party support. Whatever awesomeness or wierd new gadgetry Nintendo have, you need stuff in the middle to look forward to as well or it does seem bleak. SEGA have done just that with MadWorld. And more will join them this week and in the future is my bet. MadWorld tells me that companies are willing to take risks on the Wii, they are willing to cater for more adult audiences. The install base is huge. The Wii is seen as cheaper to develop for. The Wii will get interesting games, and not all of them now will be from the stables of Nintendo. And nor should they all be.

    In short, Nintendo haven't sold out any more than Sony and Microsoft have by already trying to copy the Wiimote. But the strength of the Wii is in expanding the control mechanisms, and Nintendo can't do everything at once. Now is the time for the third parties to move in and flex some muscles...

    And if MadWorld is any demonstration, I think the Wii's future isn't going to be too bad at all.

  • Ryze #14 4 years ago

    They should make an F-Zero game, a Starfox game, and convince Rockstar to make an enhanced, optimised GTA San Andreas Stories game for the Wii, ala Bully Scholarship Edition.