Uprising director says novelty of experience would wear off, suggests another 25 years could pass before Nintendo gives angelic hero another game.
Before the March launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising on the 3DS, the cherubic Nintendo mascot Pit went more than two decades between adventures. In a new interview, Uprising director Masahiro Sakurai told IGN he thinks the wait will be even longer for Kid Icarus' next outing.
When asked if Uprising could spawn future projects, Sakurai quickly squashed the notion. "If by 'lasting universe' you mean to ask if there's a sequel, the answer is no," Sakurai told the site, adding, "because we pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game. For now, my thought is that perhaps we'll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years."
Released in March, Kid Icarus: Uprising saw Pit take on the forces of Medusa once again, combining air-based target shooting with grounded platforming and considerable customization. The game also features a multiplayer mode where up to six 3DS owners can take each other on in teams of three.
For more on Kid Icarus: Uprising, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Sakurai is a master at directing games, look at the Smash Bros., Brawl released at 2006, but until today a lot of people play this! (I play this until today.) Maybe what Sakurai wants is the people to enjoy this game not being anxious about sequels. Maybe it won't take this long like 20 or 25 years. If we waited about 6 years for a sequel of Smash without getting anxious, we can do that with Kid Icarus. Also, he has the Smash Universe to work, he wants an amazing result just like KIU.
I wasn't really a Gameboy guy, so I can't say this for sure, but I'm guessing the first sequel didn't sell well back in 1991. If I'm right, then this makes plenty of sense; only good can come from learning from experience. Besides, let's look at the big picture: if he's done with Kid Icarus, it means it's time for some Smash Bros.!
MAybe they could make a sequel that doesn't turn people's hands into hideous claws.
Maybe not a another sequel now, but I'm going to want something eventually. Possibly a sequel for the next handheld?
2 Like Well. the director wants everyone to "live the moment" and stop being too anxious for sequels! In other words, if you really love Nintendo above all, you'll forgive them and grab Mario, Zelda etc.
Another 25 years?!? I'm not even 25 yet! I understand not wanting to get stale, but 25 years is overkill! I adored this game! It's the best 3DS out there! I think a good pace would be one for each system. That would be less than Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon while still continuing the franchise.
And to those saying it's only been 21 years, not 25. The sequel in 1991 didn't come out in Japan for some reason, so Sakurai knows what he's talking about. Which should be the case considering, he probably knows more about the franchise than most at Nintendo.
1 Like GS, it's 21 years (not 25) since the last game of the series was released for Gameboy in November 1991 called Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Sakurai isn't a good game developer. The franchise would be in much better shape in different hands.
4 Like So, I will assume that you do not know that he is behind the Kirby and the Smash Bros. franchises? plus 2 more games that elude my mind now.... Besides the game was not bad... actually it was really good and well done... The only comment I will add to the game is that the Circle Pad Pro was not done properly.
Just because you or others did not like it, that does not make Sakurai a bad game developer. Besides your comment is overly simplistic that leads to the assumption that his input on the game was the downfall of it. Just because he is stating that the next Kid Icarus game will not be produce in a while does not mean failure..... Maybe some other franchises need a bit of time off from once in a while.
I don't think Sakurai will make it but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a Kid Icarus game for the Wii-U in a few years. It seems like a natural fit for the system because you could play it with so many different control methods. I hope Nintendo gives it a shot. I loved Kid Icarus on my 3DS. I still play it quite often, pushing that intensity level up and up and unlocking and building new weapons. It is a great game.
2 Like I'm surprised he says this but it sounds like others say Sakurai always says this. To be honest Kid Icarus is the first title that made me feel I should become a Nintendo loyal fan, it was just very enjoyable and when combined with other titles like fire emblem, pokemon and zelda that would have been enough to keep me hooked on the Nintendo handhelds (along with enjoying 3rd party exclusives too of course). Kid Icarus just appeals to me since I like fantasy and it's a pretty stand out game with not much else like it so it holds it's own as a more unique exclusive which is exactly what the 3DS needs to stand out.
3 Like Sakurai JUST HATES when he does an awesome game and people 1-2months later are already asked for a sequel
for now let the man focus on Smash Bros WiiU/3DS
if there is one in the future at least let him do something that kight surpass this awesome game, not just a cash-in
Seems like this guy isn't to confident of his teams work. The only reason to get this game is for nostalgia reasons for adult gamers that played it back on the NES.
4 Like @Vodoo And yet I never played that NES game adn found this to be one of the best handheld games I ever played. It's simply fun and has a challenge to it due to the increasing intensity along with the weapon collecting / upgrading adding a bit of a customisable touch as you will find your own favourite weapons and powers. It was a great game whether you played the original or not.
3 Like Eh, he said similar things about the Smash Bros. series after Brawl was released. If Uprising is successful, there'll be a sequel, whether Sakurai directs or not.
On another note, it's kind of funny (or pathetic?) the way so many of the comments on this article are bashing Nintendo. I wouldn't expect this much whining at an emo concert.
2 Like @Dr_Corndog I agree with you... lately every time there is a news regarding Nintendo in Gamespot (whether is positive or negative), the negative side of the gaming sector comes and leave the worst, unintelligent comments ever.
2 Like Yet you churn out Mario parties and Mario Racing like there not tomorrow? Man nintendo you nothing but a joke right now.
1 Like Kid Icarus: Uprising was a good game. It would have been a lot better if it was optimized on the Wii or Wii U.
Maybe Nintendo lacks the creativity and ambition to create lots of good games starring Kid Icarus. Nintendo could create more mature themes for Kid Icarus battling demonic and evil forces from mythologies and religions around the world. No more 10 year old Pit stuff. Create a 16 or 20 year old Pit. Kid Icarus could be a standard bearer for adventure-action games in the 3rd person perspective with hand-to-hand combat, melee weapons, and projective weapons for flying combat and land battles.
1 Like Kid Icarus: Uprising (KIU) and God of War have similarities, but, overall, they are different games. Kid Icarus started way before God of War. Kid Icarus and GoW have different main character personalities (the former is young, humorous, and lighthearted, but the latter is mature, angry, and serious), different secondary character personalities, different stories (KIU mixed in ancient to modern to futuristic themes, but GoW pretty much stuck to ancient Mediterranean themes), and different gameplay. Kid Icarus: Uprising involved a lot more flying than GoW. KIU offered more weapons (e.g., melee weapons and shooting weapons) and more weapon customizations than GoW. KIU provided more vehicle/transportation choices than GoW. KIU created a single player mode and a player-vs-player multiplayer mode. Kid Icarus is an exclusive for Nintendo. GoW is an exclusive for Sony Playstation.
1 Like Great marketing idea. The future generation won't know what the hell it even is resulting in poor sales.
1 Like I never liked anything about Pitt in Smash Bros Brawl... his song, level, character and just concept were all annoying to me.
2 Like I don't think Nintendo will ever learn... you can't revive a long dormant series, or a long running one, and perform the same tricks or commit the same errors. This was a nice try however, but I think it would have benefited greatly from a fresh developer, as many Nintendo series would.
When will this gamespot people start doing a better job with matching the review with the score they gave the game? Once again it seems they were going to give the game a score between high 8.7s to a 9.0 score and they ended up giving the game a low 8.0.
the raseon there not makeing a sequal is cuz the gane sucks so bad and even nitedno nows it
1 Like In a way I get this though Nintendo doesn't seem to let that stop them from putting out new Mario and Zelda games all the time. At the same time, it's easy for a series to stagnate and get sick of it real fast. Remember when we were sick of Sega constantly churning out medicore to bad Sonic games and kept begging them to stop?
6 Like If they gave it normal controls instead of the crappy gimmicky ones they gave it it would have done alot better.....
10 Like "Yeah, but you guy's have no problem with churning out Mario and Zelda pretty often."
Exactly, right now they are a 3-horse company Mario, Zelda, Pokemon. And when they do let out classic characters in their own games they're on gimped platforms or not given the same treatment as those other 3 titles.
Come on Nintendo have some respect for some of your other creations that people would like to play too. I was 10 when Kid Icarus came out, 35 when Uprising was released and will be 60(!) when a sequel comes out.....
Gimme a break, that's just stupid....
1 Like @uncle5555 Well said. And, I couldn't agree more.
Even the likes of Fox McCloud and Samus Aran get shafted when it comes to Nintendo... they're either handed off to developers that can't do them justice, ignored completely or, as you said, thrown onto a system that's the equivalent of the back burner.
I mean, when you hand off a license to a talented developer, you get things like the Metroid Prime trilogy and Donkey Kong Country Returns. If only my favorite Nintendo characters (the aforementioned Samus and Fox) got the same treatment Link and Mario did... *sigh*
I'd love to see Kamiya make good on developing a Star Fox game at Platinum Games that he wants to do, or Retro have another crack at developing a Metroid game... possibly a 2D Metroid IV. But alas, Miyamoto must focus his efforts on Pikmin, Mario and Link.
7 Like Yeah, but you guy's have no problem with churning out Mario and Zelda pretty often. What gives? As much as I like those two, I wish Nintendo would branch out a little bit more. I'm not asking for more Kid Icarus games, but maybe something completely new wouldn't be bad. It's about time.
2 Like Damn, 25 years before a sequel is likely? I'll be 42 years old! That's kind of an insane number of years for another game in a franchise.
3 Like I am ecstatic to see a developer not want to milk a series for once. He recognizes that a franchise gets stale if they are constantly releasing games. Kudos, Sakurai-san.
5 Like
Having too much of anything is a bad thing, but so is having too little. Striking the right balance is key.
1 Like 25 years is a bit much; kinda overkill. I get wanting to preserve what he wants to preserve, but that can be acheived with a much less wait time. Perhaps, he is thinking that someone else will take over at some point in the future after a solid break, and was just exaggerating for the sake of exaggerating, and playing off if the time between this game and the last.
Good. There was no point in the first sequel since it was NOTHING like the Original. Nintendo milking names instead of creating decent games that don't rely on worthless gimmicks. I gave up on Nintendo long ago. They do absolutely nothing to interest me since the glory of the Gamecube.
After the absolute mess they made of the controls in Uprising, it's hard to be saddened by this news.
1 Like Do people just not realize that there was a second game in 1991? It's 21 years, not 25...
I think the 25-years reference is quite a running joke in Uprising as even the final boss character (whom I will not identify for those who have not played the game) believes that the sequel will have to wait 25 years. I believe there will be a sequel to this game in less than half that time.
Even though the final boss character has been defeated does not mean he will appear in the sequel. I expect he will and I am interested on how he will come about which is more likely to get revenge on Pit.
You reboot the series with weird design choices and then you say oh we aren't gonna make another. If it was a mario game you'd make one with no question about novelty.
2 Like i sincerely hope he is joking because if he isn't it has to be one of the stupidest things I've heard in awhile.
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