E308: Iwata -- Mario and Zelda teams 'hard at work'

by Chris Greenhough { Jul 15th 2008 at 2:15PM }

Never mind the wicked -- there's no rest for anybody at Nintendo. Speaking at the company's E3 2008 press conference, whip-cracking president Satoru Iwata insisted that the Mario and Zelda teams were "both hard at work" on "new titles."

And? Um ... and that's it. No further hints, clues, or suggestive winks, though we're placing our money on Link and/or Mario being involved somehow (duh), and with good reason -- a future that lacks a Zelda game with 1:1 swordfighting really doesn't bear thinking about.

Tags: e3-2008, e308, iwata, mario, satoru-iwata, zelda

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Johnny c. @ Jul 15th 2008 2:21PM

This little "snippit" of info. was the only thing that had me excited at the conference...............

Josh @ Jul 15th 2008 4:26PM

It made me sad, because it signaled to me that no big games would be revealed, and they weren't... :(

8-bit.artist @ Jul 15th 2008 2:27PM

christ i hope its not another mario game.

give the other franchises time to shine.

Mr Khan @ Jul 15th 2008 2:35PM

And still nothing on the ground-up Wii Zelda

damn was today disappointing. Worse than last year's by a good step

WiiFTW @ Jul 15th 2008 2:37PM

God that was pitiful.

To me, this has confirmed that Nintendo has sold out to the casual crowd.

Dan @ Jul 15th 2008 2:43PM

Last year's was mildly disappointing. But this year was a flat out disappointment. They hit the new markets with Animal Crossing and Wii Music: kids, seniors, and girls. A follow up to Wii Sports will do huge numbers. But nothing for me, the core gamer, who really just wanted a solid action title.

This announcement might be the only nugget to keep me excited.

Santos L. Halper @ Jul 15th 2008 3:00PM

Why the hell would they aim their entire press conference toward the casual audience? They don't even know what e3 is and they're not gonna know about wii sports 2 until they see a commercial for it or see it sitting on a store shelf. It sucks that just mentioning that mario and zelda exist was the best thing to come out of nintendos conference.

Mike @ Jul 15th 2008 3:00PM

This item is non-news. Of course they're working on new Zelda and Mario games. Duh.

supa_s @ Jul 15th 2008 4:17PM

exactly. for all we know, they could be just sitting around, brainstorming.

Lijik @ Jul 15th 2008 3:44PM

They could have at least showed a Wario Land ad.
Really disappointing this year.

Tombstone @ Jul 15th 2008 4:25PM

I hope they be working on Pikmin 3. I want a new Pikmin badly D=

Especially after the disappointment of the Ninty Presser. Only good thing was Animal Crossing Wii sort of. But it still is a casual type game.

Here's hoping something might happen at E3 on Wednesday - Friday or TGS.

sxp151 @ Jul 15th 2008 5:27PM

Obviously Iwata didn't say "hard at work on new Mario and Zelda games."

Quite probably the Mario team is now hard at work on Toad Retainer's Whack-a-Mole, while the Zelda team is slaving over Deku Scrub Comb-and-Brush Love-Time.

But I don't mind. The Wii is dead, but it had a pretty good year-and-a-half run, much like the Dreamcast. I wish it had lasted, but I played a bunch of great games that first year.

Dan @ Jul 15th 2008 5:50PM

You have to think that males age 13 to 40 are less than 30% of the American population. There's money in going after girls, seniors, and kids.

The Wii isn't going to go away. But it has appeared to have gone away from *us*.

Gundam_Warrior @ Jul 15th 2008 5:47PM

Nintendo please bring some light and respect for the following franchises YOU OWN
:
Starfox
F-Zero
Pikmin
Punch Out
Kid Icarus
2-D Metroid
Kirby
Donkey Kong
Startropics
Sin and Punishment

But no we get more casual games that I am not going to pick up.

Abscissa @ Jul 16th 2008 12:13AM

Sin and Punishment is Treasure, not Nintendo.

Liam @ Jul 15th 2008 6:59PM

Bah, everyone else has already expressed their disappointment so I'll just agree there.

A Zelda game with 1:1 swordfighting would just be wrong though. I think worse than a Zelda game with full voice acting, because it's so much more wrong. Zelda games aren't sword fighting simulations and 1:1 fighting would shift the focus from everything else too much in my opinion.

Abscissa @ Jul 16th 2008 12:14AM

I sure hope, but doubt, that the Mario reins have been yanked away from the guy who did the last couple ones and given back to Miyamoto.

John @ Jul 16th 2008 1:07AM

WORK FASTER!!!!!!!!

Dylan F @ Jul 16th 2008 2:58AM

Ugh...Zelda was the only thing I was hoping they would announce. Doesn't Mario already have enough Mario franchises?!?

Dr. Mario
Mario Kart
Mario Party
Mario Baseball
Mario Strikers
Mario Tennis
Mario Golf
Paper Mario

And what does Zelda have!?

Geez I'm pissed...