Kid Icarus: Uprising’s director would love to make a sequel, but says it “seems difficult”
by Danny Craig · 7/6/23, 7:30 PM
Nintendo
Nintendo legend Masahiro Sakurai has revealed that he is interested in making a sequel to 2012's Kid Icarus: Uprising, but he believes that creating another game will be challenging.
The details:
- In a new video posted to his "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games" YouTube channel, the designer explains the reasoning behind some of the concepts and design decisions that the team behind Kid Icarus: Uprising had to make during its development. The development of the game began when then-Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata asked Sakurai to create a game for the 3DS, which was still in development at the time, prompting him to attempt to create a third-person rail shooter.
- Sakurai went on to explain that the decision to make it a Kid Icarus game, a series that had been dormant since 1991, was motivated by the redesign of protagonist Pitt for inclusion in Super Smash Bros Brawl. The redesign led fans to demand that the franchise return, prompting Sakurai to incorporate the IP into his new shooter.
- Sakurai says near the end of the video that he'd love to see a new game in the series, but he believes it's unlikely as the studio behind Uprising, Project Sora, has been inactive since the game's release. He then called the game a “showpiece title,” saying it was a "shame" it was only available on the 3DS and that he'd love to play it on a "bigger screen with smoother graphics." He concludes by saying that "crafting a follow-up seems difficult" even with a team dedicated to working on the title, implying that he would prefer a brand new release over the remaster treatment that other older Nintendo games have received on the Switch.
More gaming news:
- Chihiro Fujioka, the director of the original SNES Super Mario RPG, is not involved in the remake, which is set to be released later this year, but he has stated that he is "very pleased" and eager to play it. Fujioka stated that the news of a remake "surprised" him, implying that Nintendo did not approach him about returning to work on the project.
- The designer of F-Zero believes that the franchise has been dormant for nearly two decades due to the popularity of Mario Kart. While Metroid has recently seen a revival in the form of Metroid Dread and Prime Remastered, he stated that the decision to outsource the projects was made after "careful selection" of the developers in charge and that the returns of releasing a new F-Zero may not be worth the overall cost of development.