Nintendo changed the culture of retro studios after Metroid Prime Crunch
Thanks to a recent interview on Rhys Reilly’s Kiwi Talkz PodcastToday we have shared some interesting details about Retro Studios and Nintendo. We have a humorous story of how the blow mechanic was added to Donkey Kong Country Returns and some interesting development ideas Metroid prime trilogy… These nuggets were donated by Mike Wikan, who previously worked in the studio and played a key role in various major projects.
Another interesting segment for us was the discussion about crunch at Retro Studios. Of course, this is an important topic in the industry, and it’s no secret that extended working hours and unreasonable working conditions have been a major concern for various companies.
Vikan doesn’t specifically mention stories of Nintendo imposing unreasonable deadlines on the studio. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and talked about how the company stepped in when it realized there was a serious problem after finishing the first game. The decision to move forward with Echoes in its final form was a change in the parent company’s thinking, although the dark-and-light mechanic allowed the team to work smart and double-use rooms, for example.
After Metroid Prime 1, we rarely broke, we had a leadership change from 1 to 2 …
We had a little crisis (at 2), but this was not the nine month death march we had at the end of Prime 1. It was the worst.
I have had two times where I was there 48 hours straight with one hour of sleep and then a couple of 36 hour days, for the last nine months we have been there almost 24/7 …
After this time, everyone was ready to leave, we said: “We are finished.” I had two job offers from two different companies, and to their credit, Nintendo realized what was going on, took over the company and bought it out. They put Michael Kelbo in charge. He’s cute, very nice, he was the head of Nintendo’s quality control department. He said, “Guys, give me a few weeks to fix this. And he did it. “
… He restored faith in leadership and company. I enjoyed working at Nintendo.
Michael Kelbo continues to serve as President and CEO of Retro Studios and has been with Nintendo for over 14 years at the time of his appointment. Later in an interview, Vikan briefly talked about his plans for the game. Metroid prime 4, a long-delayed project that originally started somewhere before Nintendo changed course and turned it over to Retro Studios. He is confident that the current team will cope.
And Metroid 4 will be great. Many of the main designers on the team are the guys who were there when I was. They understand, understand what Metroid is.
Nintendo has been known to postpone some projects to avoid overwhelming teams, citing the need to take care of its employees when it initially postponed Animal Crossing: New Horizonsas one example. Metroid Prime 4, of course, does not currently have a meaningful release window, so there is clearly enough time to reload the project.
Let us know what you think of Wikan’s comments and if you’re still optimistic about Metroid Prime 4.
