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3DS

Kid Icarus: Uprising to Use Circle Pad Pro

by Pedro Hernandez - January 10, 2012, 11:04 am EST
Total comments: 33 Source: (Official Nintendo Magazine), http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/34138/ki...

Now everyone can fully enjoy Pit's newest adventure!

Kid Icarus: Uprising will use the 3DS Circle Pad Pro, game director Masahiro Sakurai told Official Nintendo Magazine.

"The way we are using the Circle Pad Pro in the game is to provide support for left-handed gamers," explained Sakurai to Official Nintendo Magazine. "We've made it possible to use the right Circle Pad in place of the left one."

He also explained that "I didn't know the specs of the Circle Pad Pro, or what it looked like, until Monster Hunter 3G was announced, so we weren't able to do anything big with it in the time we had. Even if we had known about it from the start, I don't know whether we would have used both Circle Pads in that way."

The Circle Pad Pro will be released in North America on February 7. In Europe it will be released on January 27, and will come bundled with a copy of Resident Evil: Revelations. Kid Icarus: Uprising is set to release in North America on March 23.

Talkback

I still wish they allowed you to twin-stick it, but this is acceptable for me.

geoJanuary 10, 2012

I was extremely excited for the headline until I read it was just a lefties mode.  I was really looking forward to a twinstick mode.

KDR_11kJanuary 10, 2012

The CeBit demo I played worked fine with touchpad-aiming. I much prefer that to dual analogs, in fact I was pretty annoyed when I found that BFBC2 on the Xperia Play used the analog "sticks" as analog sticks instead of using the right one like a trackball (which Dead Space does).

Chocobo_RiderJanuary 10, 2012

Wait one second, will this allow CPP aiming or not?

CericJanuary 10, 2012

Quote from: NinSage

Wait one second, will this allow CPP aiming or not?

No

Chocobo_RiderJanuary 10, 2012

Quote from: Ceric

Quote from: NinSage

Wait one second, will this allow CPP aiming or not?

No

How could they...?
Why... would they..?
... I don't....

*head esplode*

CericJanuary 10, 2012

Quote from: NinSage

Quote from: Ceric

Quote from: NinSage

Wait one second, will this allow CPP aiming or not?

No

How could they...?
Why... would they..?
... I don't....

*head esplode*

Development time.

EyothrieJanuary 10, 2012

As a lefty, I'm thrilled that I will get to play this now. 

Ian SaneJanuary 10, 2012

What a waste.  If you're going to support it why not offer dual-stick?  A left handed option is nice but it isn't a selling point.  Dual-stick could have sold Circle Pad Pros while this is more like something left handed players will use if they already have a Circle Pad Pro.

The paranoid conspiracy theorist in me can't help but think that they're not supporting dual-stick on purpose so as to not expose their mistake in only offering one stick to begin with.  It's like how Nintendo used to support the Classic Controller on the Wii but stopped providing the option as frequently when it became apparent that in those games classic controls were often the preferred method of play.  If everyone uses the Classic Controller then the Wii fails to differentiate itself from the Gamecube so then why did it have to be a new system?  The Wii starts to look like a rip-off then.  Motion control HAD to be the standard so they made sure that was the ONLY option and shoehorned it into every game, often with just a were waggle replacing a missing button.

If Kid Icarus supports twin-sticks, and that ends ups being clearly the preferred way to play, then it exposes the flaws of the 3DS design.  "Why didn't Nintendo include a second stick to begin with?  Did they sell it seperately on purpose to get more money out of me?"  They don't want the public to think of such a thing.

Hell, thinking about it that's probably why they didn't push Motion+ as hard as I thought they would.  The obvious question it brings up is "why didn't the Wii come with this to begin with?" and then it doesn't take much to suspect that Nintendo did that on purpose to sell us all controllers twice.  I don't think that's the case but Nintendo wouldn't want someone thinking that.

AdrockJanuary 10, 2012

Nintendo already exposed their mistake of not including a right circle pad by simply offering the Circle Pad Pro. Otherwise, they could have kept insisting that the one circle pad was more than adequate. I don't think it matters much to Nintendo. They'll swallow their pride albeit without openly admitting it was a "mistake" since doing so gets them a juggernaut like Monster Hunter.

Not allowing analog aiming may have something to do with competitive balance in the online multiplayer. I could see them not wanting to give an advantage to people who are playing with the CPP as opposed to the standard layout.

Weird that that would be a concern for Sakurai, considering you could play CC vs Wiimote only in Brawl's MP.

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

Not allowing analog aiming may have something to do with competitive balance in the online multiplayer. I could see them not wanting to give an advantage to people who are playing with the CPP as opposed to the standard layout.

Or we could just take Sakurai's statements at face value. He's not one to bs like corporate Nintendo. The game is behind schedule already. Adding new controls would have pushed it back even more.

I'll freely admit that I don't know much of anything about making games, but even if he learned about the CPP when we did, that was still almost three months ago, and the game's not out for another two. Does it really take that long to just add a second control scheme?

Probably not, but that assumes they're doing nothing else with their time.

CericJanuary 10, 2012

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

I'll freely admit that I don't know much of anything about making games, but even if he learned about the CPP when we did, that was still almost three months ago, and the game's not out for another two. Does it really take that long to just add a second control scheme?

It considers how it was done.  It could be as simple as a modifying a single self contained well document class, but it could be so integrated in and strung about that extracting it out could be such a pain and a testing nightmare that the gain isn't worth it.

Chozo GhostJanuary 11, 2012

There is no reason both dual analog and left handed support can't both be provided at the same time. Just make games dual analog compatible, and then provide an option to allow the sticks to be swapped from left to right while having them both used. Not only could that be done, it would be very easy also, and then everyone could be happy.

CericJanuary 11, 2012

Quote from: Chozo

...
it would be very easy also
...

Any change so late in the process is going to never truly be easy.  More than likely the Control Scheme has been in its mostly final state since near the start of the project.  This isn't tweaking a few variables or duplicating the function of a stick to the other side.  This goes into a rewrite of code that has probably been pretty locked for a while.

I can see adding another button being easy but translating the touchscreen to an analog stick.  I can't think of a way that would be easy.

Luigi DudeJanuary 11, 2012

Iwata probably wants Sakurai to get started on Smash Bros Wii U as soon as possible which is why they aren't going to bother taking extra time to implement something that wasn't originally even planned on being in the game.  Smash Bros Wii U is going to take at least 3 years to make, Sakurai and Iwata both know it, and so getting to work on that is more important than adding another control option to a game that even if it sells well, won't hit numbers anywhere close to what Smash Bros will.

Chozo GhostJanuary 11, 2012

If Icarus sells well enough to warrant Nintendo making a sequel then its very possible this sequel will be built from the ground up with dual analogs in mind.

CericJanuary 11, 2012

Quote from: Chozo

If Icarus sells well enough to warrant Nintendo making a sequel then its very possible this sequel will be built from the ground up with dual analogs in mind.

For the Wii U.

BlackNMild2k1January 12, 2012

Looks like Kid Icarus also comes bundled with a stand
http://andriasang.com/comzml/kid_icarus_stand/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

http://i44.tinypic.com/os8sxh.jpg

Chocobo_RiderJanuary 12, 2012

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

Looks like Kid Icarus also comes bundled with a stand
http://andriasang.com/comzml/kid_icarus_stand/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

If that's true, I am starting to get sad because Kid Icarus is a series that I would love to see succeed and lead to several sequels.  But between the CCP "half" answer to the request and this thing?  It seems like Nintendo is unwittingly placing nails in the KI coffin and just waiting for gamers to nail them down  :'( :'( :'(

CericJanuary 12, 2012

The stand needs to be more Virtual Boyee.

Luigi DudeJanuary 12, 2012

Quote from: NinSage

If that's true, I am starting to get sad because Kid Icarus is a series that I would love to see succeed and lead to several sequels.  But between the CCP "half" answer to the request and this thing?  It seems like Nintendo is unwittingly placing nails in the KI coffin and just waiting for gamers to nail them down  :'( :'( :'(

How is bundling a stand going to hurt the game sales?  This last gen has taught us the complete opposite, where basically ever game Nintendo bundles with something sells really well.

Chozo GhostJanuary 13, 2012

Its important that this stand be compatible with the CPP because the game allows you to use both, but can you use both at the same time? That's the question. I also wonder if its going to be compatible with future 3DS revisions down the road. I really hated how the DSi made a lot of things like the rumble pak peripheral unusable. I hope Nintendo's engineers have thought this stand through and future proofed it with the inevitable revisions which will come.

BlackNMild2k1January 13, 2012

Nintendo should have put a stylus on the right side of the CPP since it blocks the one in the 3DS.

But this stand should work fine with the CPP, except for the fact that you need to take your stylus out ahead of time and set it somewhere you can access it if you are supposed to switch from buttons to stylus controls and back again (I don't know anything about the game outside of a few pics I've seen).

Quote from: Chozo

Its important that this stand be compatible with the CPP because the game allows you to use both, but can you use both at the same time? That's the question. I also wonder if its going to be compatible with future 3DS revisions down the road. I really hated how the DSi made a lot of things like the rumble pak peripheral unusable. I hope Nintendo's engineers have thought this stand through and future proofed it with the inevitable revisions which will come.

It's a hunk of plastic with a little shelf on it; the word "compatible" doesn't really apply.

Chozo GhostJanuary 13, 2012

It is just a hunk of plastic, but it still has to line up properly with the 3DS so it can snap onto it.

BlackNMild2k1January 13, 2012

It's literally a plastic shelf. There is nothing to "snap" onto. Go look at the picture again.

Chocobo_RiderJanuary 13, 2012

@ Luigi Dude

You're right - in theory, more can't be a bad thing.  I'm just concerned that between the CCP and this stand people (outside of online forums) will start perceiving that the game may "need" these peripheral helps and is thus fundamentally flawed in some way and not necessarily worth purchasing.

Did that make sense?

It's not a train of thought I expect everyone to ride.  But I am just overly concerned about this game because it means so much to me!!!

Chozo GhostJanuary 13, 2012

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1

It's literally a plastic shelf. There is nothing to "snap" onto. Go look at the picture again.

Okay, but with the CPP the 3DS becomes much thicker. Is it still going to be able to sit securely on that little narrow shelf? That's the question that still remains unanswered.

Mop it upJanuary 13, 2012

Lefties represent.

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