I was actually discussing what Retro was working on the other day and I reached a conclusion with the help of some friends. For those of you who don't know, Retro studios recently went on a massive hiring spree where they got talent from studio's like Naughty Dog. This in itself doesn't sound that wierd, as it's obvious that Retro is 100% focused on WiiU and could use the staff with experience in HD. No, what does sound off are the following lines, taken from one of the new employees twitter.
Quote
Alas I am going to shelve it for a little while as I am going to work on another project that I am super excited about. I can't talk about it too much but if all goes well it might just be one of my crowning achievements as an artist....
Add this line to one of his tweets
With these two pieces of evidence, we can deduce a fair amount of whatever Retro is currently working on. The first thing that we can deduce is that Retro is NOT working on a new IP. The reasons for this are long and complicated, but the main supporting evidence lay in the fact that what besides reinventing an IP of Nintendo, one that is supposedly big enough to for him to consider it a crowning point of his career, could they be working on? I can certainly tell you that I clearly believe that a new IP, regardless of how new it may be, would not be enough to mark as a crowning achievement. No, whatever this achievement is, it has to be something being transformed for the WiiU.
From the second quote, we can deduce that Retro is clearly beginning to put full steam ahead on their project. In fact, it is during crunch time when many new employees join a company. We can also most likely deduce that this project is not gearing up for a demo for an event like E3, but it is instead the stages of a game. Most often, game demos do not begin to be made using the engine until roughly 1-2 months before E3. So all in all, we can assume that this crunch time is the final parts of the game.
A 3rd piece of evidence that we can use to determine what the new project Retro is working on is that they stated(Source needed) that they were working on a project everyone wants them to do. Let's take a look at the facts so far, shall we?For their current project, it seems likely that they are doing one of the big three Nintendo titles, which are Metroid, Zelda, and Mario. But using the process of elimination, we can determine what they are truly working on. Metroid, after the sales/reviews of Other M, seems to have been shelved. Zelda games sell for a long time, so why would Nintendo jepoardize one of their potential big sellers by releasing another game in the series? The other thing that disproves these titles being Retro's next project is that Nintendo has already made a Tech Demo for an HD Zelda and would most likely do Zelda's development in house. As for Metroid, I do believe Retro stated that they were done with Metroid after they finished Prime 3. This means that the only logical choice for their project is........
- Retro has hired a bunch of new staff on a project that is clearly something big
- Retro is entering crunch time earlier then a company would if they were pumping out a demo for E3
- Retro is working on a project that everyone wants them to do.
MARIO
I basically proven the point as to why it's Mario above, but the final nail in the coffin is that no one has really given any thought into what an HD Mario would look like. To make the world's most recognizable video game mascot HD would certainly be a crowning achievement for any artist, would it not? Also, the crunch time would make sense, as it's a proven fact that Mario can sell a console and Iwata seemed certain that the WiiU would not lose money in it's first year.
Nice post but I can't see it being Mario.