Interview:Nintendo Power January 1998

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Q: I heard that Eidos Interactive wants to develop Tomb Raider for the N64, but that Nintendo has to ask them to do it. Does Nintendo not want Tomb Raider on the N64? -Gamemastr5

A: I heard that too, and that didn't quite make sense to me. Nintendo won't ask a company to develop a game unless we want to publish it under the Nintendo label. We have our own characters, so if Nintendo wanted to do a game like that, why not make it with Samus? I don't think there should be any resistance to TR on the N64, but we prefer unique games or unique versions of games. If Eidos created an all-new, N64-exclusive version of TR, that would be way cool! (Editor's note: we later discovered that there had been discussions between Nintendo and Eidos concerning a possible Tomb Raider 2 game for the N64, but Eidos subsequently signed an exclusive agreement with Sony for this title.)

Q: Can you tell me how to get "Ninja Mario" in Super Mario 64?

A: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

MR. INSIDER As some of you may know, Dan once spent several months in Japan working closely with Shigeru Miyamoto's development team to write English screen text for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. He also lent his vocal talents to Super Metroid and the original Star Fox. With numerous connections within Nintendo and the rest of the gaming industry, Dan has a lot of reliable sources he can turn to for answers.

Q: Are those pictures of EarthBound 64 (that appeared in Nintendo Power and on Nintendo Power Source) real-time photos of gameplay? Or are they just fancy shots you put together to make the game look cool? -Jake

A: For this question, I'll turn to Mr. Benimaru Itoh, the self-described "Crazy Art Director" for E64: "Yes, the pictures are from actual work in progress. E64 uses real-time 3-D rendering, but we will also use pre-rendered pictures for objects in the far distance. Fortunately, E64 is not an action game, so we can use the N64's CPU performance for high quality pictures rather than game speed. Also, the Nintendo 64's anti-alias effects are great! That's why our picture quality is much better than before. Hurray for the N64!"

Q: What is this I have been hearing about Link getting older in Zelda 64? -Shrubey

A: I heard this too, but Mr. Miyamoto doesn't want to reveal much about it right now. Perhaps time will pass in the game, or different chapters of the game will take place in different time periods. Mr. Itoh said they were thinking about doing this in EarthBound 64, too.

Q: Hey Dan, I am eagerly awaiting Zelda 64, and I heard somewhere that it would have a lot of voices in it. PLEEEEASE do NOT give Link a voice! I hate it when video game characters, after years of successful silence, are given crappy voices. -Mike

A: Mike brings up an interesting point. So far, I haven't heard anything about it, but if I had to guess, I'd say there probably won't be a lot of voices in Zelda 64. I think Mr. Miyamoto would rather use the memory on other things. I know that Mr. M likes to leave things to the player's imagination. That is why he doesn't call Mario a plumber and why there isn't really a detailed story behind any of the Mario games. He feels players should be free to have their own image and world for Mario. I heard it took them a long time to give Mario a voice in Super Mario 64.