Nintendo has unveiled several titles scheduled for release next year for multiple Nintendo platforms at E3 in Los Angeles.
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse for Nintendo Wii U will be an HD, stop-motion animated Kirby game featuring touch-screen mechanics similar to Kirby’s Canvas Curse for the Nintendo DS, developed by HAL Laboratory and released overseas in 2005. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is slated for release in 2015.
Yoshi’s Wooly World, developed by Nintendo and Japanese studio Good-Feel Company, will be a textile-themed Nintendo Wii U game, and is slated for release in the first half of 2015.
“We said we wanted to make a Yoshi game,” said Nintendo’s Takashi Tezuka in the announcement, “but we asked (Good-Feel Company) to use the yarn and fabric as materials for creating new gameplay mechanics to create a new kind of Yoshi game filled with those kinds of elements.”
Yoshi’s Wooly World will also include a two-player mode. “In tough situations, if there are two players, they can both overcome it,” said Good-Feel Company’s Etsunobu Ebisu. “Yoshi can eat up and spit out the other Yoshi wherever he likes. This is really important in co-op, and can be used in a way to attack the other player.”
Splatoon is an ink-gun/squid-morphing multiplayer game, also scheduled for release in the first half of 2015.
Mario Maker is a Super Mario Bros. map editing game for Nintendo 3DS, allowing players to build their own Super Mario Bros. levels. Mario Maker is slated for release in 2015.
A yet to be titled Zelda game for Nintendo Wii U will feature a fully open-world environment, and is being developed by Nintendo’s EAD Software Development Group No. 3.
“As far as what you can do with such a vast field to explore, as soon as those boundaries are removed, it means you can enter any area from any direction,” said Nintendo game producer Eiji Aonuma. “So the puzzle solving in this game begins the moment the player starts to think about where they want to go, how they want to get there, and what they will do when they arrive. This is a clean break from the conventions of past games in the Zelda series, where you had to follow a set path and play through the scenario in the right order.”
The Zelda title is set for release in 2015.
Project Giant Robot is being developed by renowned Nintendo game developer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo Wii U. The robot-steering exploration title is also slated for launch in 2015.
Project Guard, also being led in development by Miyamoto, utilises the Nintendo Wii U GamePad to control security cameras and battle robot enemies, tower-defence style. Project Guard is slated for release in 2015.
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. from Nintendo’s Intelligent Systems studio is steampunk-style RTS with action game and shooter elements for Nintendo 3DS, set for release in 2015.
A new game in the Star Fox series for Nintendo Wii U is also scheduled for release in 2015.
