Nintendo was desperate to release Mario Kart 7 before Christmas
I think it's safe to say that we all love Mario Kart (well, most of us do anyway) and the folks at Nintendo know this, which is why they wanted to rush Mario Kart 7 out in time for the holiday shopping season. Well, that and the fact that the 3DS is in dire need of some big name titles to lift itself from the rut its been in since its launch back in March. And when I say Nintendo rushed the game's development, I literally mean Nintendo rushed the game's development.
During the latest "Iwata Asks," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that the game almost didn't make the desired Christmas time deadline, so Nintendo treated it as an emergency situation and put the development team in full panic mode and even called in Retro Studios (the team behind Donkey Country Returns) to lend a hand, all in effort to get the game finished in time.
Neogaf also posted a few statements made by the developers about this whole frantic ordeal:
- Konno explains that with several production designers joining to finish Nintendogs+Cats for launch, and other "developments at Nintendo taking up other staff" there was "an act of emergency" to have Mario Kart finished by the end of the year. Konno needed more people to get this done.
- Designers from Retro Studios Inc who worked on Donkey Kong Country were called to help design and model some courses.
- Retro concentrated on redoing the classic courses while EAD Group No. 1 concentrated on the new courses.
Wow. That was crazy, but am I worried about the quality of the game slipping because of the rush? Not really. Nintendo may have rushed the development to get the game launched ASAP but the big N is ubber protective of its IPs and wouldn't want to release it if it wasn't a quality title and the fact that the crew Retro Studio worked on it is definitely enough to give me peace of mind. That and it's flippin Mario Kart. How do you go wrong with Mario Kart?
Now, will it and the recent release of Mario 3D Land be enough to dig the 3DS out of the deep, dank, misery pit of disappointing sales that it was pushed into during its pre-mature launch at the beginning of the year? All I know is that my gut says maybe.
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
leoua
As excited as I am for MK7, this is not a good sign. At All. Games should not be hurried, and this is especially ironic considering Miyamoto recently said that SS would've come out last year if they were worried about sales. Overall, I'm still pumped, but now a little bit skeptical. Merry Christmas Greetings || Christmas Greetings Quotes
Ztonken
They should have called in Retro studios for Dkc4 instead:)
The_SlaY3R
I don't own a 3DS but it's still a Mario Kart game so I guess it will do ok-good. Or even better since they're trying something new in this one. We can only hope for the best.
joeshadowman
Well I guess it's safe to say that this game wont be as good as we all hoped... Oh well I guess theres always next time.
SideSmash
As excited as I am for MK7, this is not a good sign. At. All. Games should not be rushed, and this is especially ironic considering Miyamoto recently said that SS would've come out last year if they were worried about sales. Overall, I'm still pumped, but now a little bit skeptical.
abraxus
I want to play Donkey Country Returns.
joeshadowman
It's an awesome game. If you have a Wii you need to own Donkey Kong Country Returns.
Board_games_r_evil
if it's just like the other mario karts with a working online component than i'm sold, u can't really screw up a good thing can you?
Schmooblidon
whenever i watch tv now here in the UK, its just 3DS ads constantly. every parent will be buying for their 12 and under kids. ages above that generally go to xbox360. i wont be surprised if its sold out in a lot of places.
TheSwedishGamer
I'm hopefully going to get this game on Christmas. Along with Super Mario 3D Land, my LONG bustrip to Italy with my friends will be a pleasure.