Shigeru Miyamoto is upbeat about Retro Studios’ work, but says communication with Texas would be a problem.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the game design genius behind some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, has gone on the record as saying that Texas based Retro Studios could make a Zelda game. He added the qualifier “with a good proposal,” but that said, Retro’s already got Donkey Kong Country Returns and several Metroid games to its credit, thanks to Miyamoto’s encouragement; Miyamoto already knows Retro does good work.
There is a catch. Even though Retro Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo, there’s still that pesky Pacific Ocean to consider. Nintendo is very reluctant to let its code cross the water. “Even if Retro Studios is qualified,” Miyamoto said, “Nintendo would have to be in very close contact with the company that were to create this Zelda and, being outside Japan, the distance and the timezone differences would make the communication more difficult.”
It’s not as though the distance is an insurmountable barrier, nor is Retro an unknown quantity as far as Nintendo is concerned. Not that long ago, Nintendo spokesman Kensuke Tanabe claimed that Retro meshed so well with its parent that the studio was starting to think like Nintendo. Possibly Miyamoto has unpleasant memories of his relationship with Rare back in the 90s, or perhaps he’s just playing coy, when he talks about logistical issues; but if the man who made Zelda publicly states Retro can handle his franchise, you have to wonder whether Retro isn’t about to get tipped for the honor.
Source: VG24/7
