Metroid Database.com

By now you've probably heard about Wired's interview with Shigeru Miyamoto by Chris Kohler and the buzz about how he's retiring (the official word is he just says that to motivate his staff). If you haven't, it's a pretty good article, so you should go and check it out right now! There are some new Miyamoto ideas, such as his thoughts on smartphones, differences between Japanese and Western RPGs (or lack thereof...) and his advice to developers to "work on sequels as if making brand new products". What we're most interested though is what he has to say about Retro Studios.

Retro recently finished Mario Kart 7 with Nintendo EAD. Retro was responsible primarily for the course designs and graphics, while EAD produced the gameplay and controls. Both also collaborated to design courses with different tastes (Retro most notably designed the Donkey Kong stage). However, Miyamoto went further by speculating on future projects with Retro Studios. It's difficult to tell based on context, but I think the "we" here refers to Nintendo in both cases:

As you know, we have already collaborated with Retro for the Metroid Prime series in the past. And I think when we talk about any other franchise, Zelda might be a possible franchise for that collaboration.

This is certainly interesting! We're confident Retro Studios could make a really fascinating Zelda. Of course, Retro is constantly working on new prototypes and has plenty of opportunities to work with Nintendo franchises, so Zelda, while unexpected, certainly fits their track record. Note Nintendo's external producer for Retro, Kensuke Tanabe, also worked on Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, so the studio has been working with excellent Zelda talent already. While we probably won't hear about anything on this speculation any time soon, rest assured we'll let you know if Retro announces "Zelda Prime".

Until next time...
Captain Commando