I found Billy Berghammer's Game Informer article about his first hands on with the Wii Remote (Revolution Controller) at TGS 2005. The article was posted September 17, 2005.
Courtesy of the WayBack Machine:
After months and months of Revolution controller speculation, trademark questions, fake documents, and the loads of other crap that typically floats around the internet, for the most part it can all end today. On the eve of the Tokyo Game Show I was invited to an extremely exclusive behind closed doors appointment hosted by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto to get a demonstration and go hands on with the Nintendo Revolution controller. Before you read any further I urge you to erase any thoughts of what a video game controller should be. If you thought Nintendo was changing the way people played games with the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Revolution controller will totally blow your mind – just as it did mine.
No, seriously – that’s it! What simply resembles a remote control is the main core of the Revolution controller. While Nintendo cringed every time the word “remote” came out of our mouths, that’s exactly what it looks like at first glance, and that’s how I will refer to it through out this feature. Trust me, I was in the same boat as you when we first saw it. Nintendo’s philosophy stays in line with what they’ve been saying recently in interviews. Simplicity is key. Nintendo wants people of any age and gamer type to pick up this controller and be able to play a game – whether you’re a hardcore gamer, or that hardcore gamer’s Mom who has never played a videogame before. As Miyamoto explained, “It’s not meant to be technologically advanced controller scheme-wise. We want to use new technology for new gameplay experiences.” Nintendo wants to completely stray away from the general controller paradigm - two hands on a controller. Miyamoto also joked, “Technology mothers buy tends to succeed.”
The controller has been in development since the launch of the GameCube by the same R&D team that has created the GameCube controller, as well as the past number of Nintendo controllers. Miyamoto’s role was industrial design. Even though Nintendo’s main intention is simplicity, and the ability for anyone to be able to pick up and play with it, Nintendo wants to keep the size small, so it wouldn’t be obnoxious to have four of these sitting on your coffee table.
Before the Nintendo faithful leap out of their windows, quite a bit of explanation is in order. In most instances, you do hold the controller just like you would a remote control. The main A button is just under the directional pad, and the B button rests on the underside of the controller which can be easily pressed by the user’s index finger. Not only is the D-pad used for movement, but the Revolution controller can control movement by raising and lowering, but also by twisting, turning, and moving the controller left, right, up, down or forward and backwards. Miyamoto calls this type of control “freehand style.” Rumble is still part of the package, and as you can see, the Revolution controller is completely wireless.
For the Revolution to recognize this movement there’s a separate thin bar with two black sensors that pick up how the controller is positioned. We’re assuming one bar will be used for all controllers. The bar itself doesn’t have to be part of the setup at all, and the controller’s movement will be detected as long as the two sensors are centered on the TV. These sensors can be above or below the TV, so depending if you have your TV on a stand, case, or even mounted on the wall, as long as you center the sensors and space them out accordingly and the bars are on the same horizontal plane, the controller’s movement will be detected correctly. Also, since the Revolution controller uses these sensors and not light gun or regular RF technology, the setup will work with regular analog televisions, as well as HDTVs or computer monitors. The controller itself is currently working wirelessly from about 10-15 feet from the receivers, which is less than the Wavebird, but should be a good standard for most living rooms. This distance could eventually change as well.
Since the Revolution controller is wireless, it will be powered by batteries. If this setup will use standard or rechargeable batteries has yet to be determined. The models we toyed with are prototypes, and the final design could change. There’s always the possibility that the controller could be charged through the port on the bottom of the controller. Even though Miyamoto said battery life should be rather lengthy, I’m hoping all this can be recharged. Battery life was great with Wavebirds as well, but if you didn’t use your Wavebird for a while it would still drain your batteries dry. Hey Nintendo! Mothers like to buy rechargeable things!
While Nintendo would not go into detail on what the power or home buttons would do, we can assume that the controller will be able to power the Revolution console on and off. Most likely the controller will instantly shut off when not in use for a specified time, and when turning the console off with the controller, the controller itself will be powered down to minimize battery drain. The Home button is a complete mystery at this point. Finally, at least four of these types of controllers will be compatible with the Revolution, and with the four small lights on the bottom of the controller, players will be able to figure out which controller number they are.
You’re probably wondering where the heck the analog stick is. Iwata-san stated that the company wanted to move in the direction of having a number of different peripherals, and with the expansion port at the bottom of the controller a number of different peripherals will be able to connect wirelessly. The only device they demonstrated was an analog stick setup, where your thumb can move the analog stick while your index and middle finger can press either of the two Z buttons (Z1 and Z2) which rest just under the top of the controller. Miyamoto called this design – the Nunchuck style of controller. It is also possible to use two analog sticks together as well for games that could take advantage of it. Drum Mania or Taiko Drum Master anyone? How about a boxing game?
Since the Revolution will be able to download the entire history of Nintendo titles, as you can probably notice that by holding the controller horizontally, it will feel much like a NES controller.
But what about for SNES or N64 games where there are more buttons or a need for a second analog stick? The Revolution controller can rest in a sort of controller shaped cradle which could add different buttons or control sticks to mimic the controller’s predecessors. For example the analog stick portion would work quite well in the center of a N64 shell. Whether or not these shell cradles will come in the box, or if third parties will make shell cradles is also not determined. Not only that, but the expansion slot will enable any controller type to be hooked up to it allowing for wireless gameplay including dance pads, konga drums, and the like. No specific peripherals have been announced, but the possibilities are virtually endless.
The Revolution Controller test drive:After we got the explanation of the controller, it was time for some hands-on usage. Nintendo created a number of demos to use with the Revolution controller that weren’t fully utilizing the power of the actual Revolution. Miyamoto said what we were about to experience would be GameCube quality or lower. This whole meeting was mainly to focus on how the actual controller worked, not to show the power of the Revolution. Each of these demos showed how the different functions of the controller functioned, regardless of how crude they were.
CubesCubes was a multiplayer game that more or less crossed
Asteroids with a shooting gallery, which is quite funny since one of Nintendo’s earliest ventures many years ago was a mechanical shooting gallery. By pointing the controller at the screen you could move your cursor around, and by pressing A you would fire a shot. Transparent cubes were worth 1 point, and solid cubes were worth 10 points. Cubes was an easy way to get the simple gist of how the remote style controller worked and felt, and within seconds after getting the cursor on screen I was blasting cubes out of the sky and racking up points. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite as fast as Miyamoto-san.
FishingThe main screen shows a very simple-looking hand drawn pond with fish where you use the Revolution controller as a fishing rod. This demo showed how the depth of movement of the controller works. To move the rod around the pond you move the controller left, right, forwards, and backwards. By lowering the controller you can dip the hook into the water. If you got a fish on the line the controller would vibrate. Once the controller indicated you had a fish you would pull the fish out of the water by quickly flipping the controller up – just as you would with an actual fishing rod. Could this be something that would work with
Animal Crossing’s fishing element?
Kuru Kuru KururinA Game Boy Advance and GameCube game that unfortunately never was released here,
Kuru Kuru Kururin has you pilot a rotating propeller through an obstacle course. Walls and objects along the path will cause your propeller damage, dwindling your stamina meter. Unlike the real game, however, nabbing coins in your path increases your Stamina meter.
The Game Boy Advance Version of Kuru Kuru Kururin. NOT demo footage.There are also springs along the path that will change the direction of your always rotating propeller. Pointing the cursor at the propeller you gain control of it to navigate it through an obstacle course. While you can’t stop your propeller from rotating, you can speed up the rotation by pressing A. Since I’ve played all the
Kuru titles previously it didn’t take too long for me to get the gist of the whole game and fly around the course. I think Miyamoto and the rest of the team was rather surprised how good I was at the game, but what can I say? I’ve got mad
Kuru skills. I can already say that I want this to be released as a full fledged game.
Air HockeyA simple air hockey/pong type game whereby moving the controller up, down, left, or right moved your player’s bar, and by twisting the controller you would rotate your bar to angle shots. This demo was rather tricky and didn’t feel as comfortable as the other ones. But there’s also the possibility that I had too much coffee today.
BasketballThis demo was a very quirky game of basketball. If you can picture a soft sort of basketball court, by pressing the B trigger you make an indent in the court that the ball would roll into. By letting go of the B button and pressing A launches a shot. Navigating the ball was rather simple, but since two players were making indents at the same time the ball got launched around more like a soccer ball at times.
AirplanePilotwings returns! This by far was my favorite demo of the lot. Set in the Isle Delfino level of
Super Mario Sunshine, this demo lets you pilot an airplane through rings. You can hold the controller like a remote control, but the easier way to pilot the plane is by holding it like you would hold a paper airplane that you were about to throw overhand. By pointing the controller up or down raises and lowers your plane, and by moving the controller left or right and twisting it at the same time turns your aircraft left or right. Pointing your controller up for a long time would cause your plane to do a loop. Diving under the bridges, doing a loop, and then barrel-rolling through a few rings took a bit of practice, but once I got used to it the experience was extremely fun.
Find The PokemonMuch like Where’s Waldo, this demo featured a big picture full of different Pokemon, and you must find one specific Pokemon with your cursor. Since the picture is rather large, you can move your cursor in and out to perform zooming functions. Once you find the specified Pokemon you zoom in on it to capture it. After playing the previous demos navigating the picture was quite simple.
Metroid Prime 2Retro Studios took a few weeks to adapt an early level of
Metroid Prime 2 to the Revolution controller with the Nunchuck style add on. By moving the main Revolution controller you direct where Samus looks, and the analog stick moves Samus forward, back, and strafes left and right. Pressing the A button on the main controller makes Samus jump, B fires/charge shot, and the Z1 and Z2 button on the analog stick controller deals with scanning. Miyamoto said this will be how
Metroid Prime 3 will work.
While it does sound rather confusing, in practice it was quite simple. Granted this was still a very basic setup, but it was more to demonstrate how
Metroid Prime or a first person shooter type game would play with the remote style controller and Nunchuck analog stick. Even though the lock-on function was available, you didn’t need it because you could look wherever you wanted – just like a normal first person shooter with a mouse. This control style might finally quell all the
Metroid haters out there who want non-lock-on aiming in
Metroid Prime.
Even though the control was very different, just as the other demos, within moments it felt like old hat. Unfortunately something seemed a little off once in a while with the point-look system, and at times it would twitch up – but as I said these are very early crude demos just made to demonstrate how this could work in a game situation. This could really take
Metroid Prime into a whole new level, as well as change how we play first person style games as we now know them.
We know “Touching Is good” – But “Is Feeling Better?”I’ve always been a fan of Nintendo’s controllers – especially the N64 and GameCube controllers. And while everything felt weird at first, within a few seconds it felt comfortable. But that’s always how a Nintendo controller feels right away to me. Even though the controllers are very ergonomic and light, regardless of what you’re holding up in the air for a while that items is going to feel heavy and your arms are going to get tired – much like playing an EyeToy game where your arms are raised for a while. When playing the
Metroid Prime 2 demo, they let me sit down in a chair. I rested my wrists in my lap like I would with a normal controller and had a slight space between the nunchuck and remote style controller and everything felt fine and operated consistently as if I were playing with a normal controller. But most importantly – it was comfortable.
While I do have hardcore gamer friends, many of them are more into games like
EyeToy or
Donkey Konga. We’ll come back to my place after going out and throw in one of those two games and play for hours. Depending on the games Revolution has, I can honestly see my more casual gamer friends totally digging how easy it is to pick up and play. How the hardcore will fare is an unknown, but at least for me, I can’t wait to see how Nintendo fleshes it all out.
Has Nintendo Lost Its Mind?The big question is: do I actually like it? At this point I have to say, regardless of how strange this whole concept is, it’s pretty damn cool. The demos we got to play, and the explanation about the whole concept from Miyamoto was really helpful to understand what they’re trying to get at. By just looking at pictures of this thing I’d probably think Nintendo was off its rocker. Just like the Nintendo DS you need to “touch it” and get your hands on it to really get it. But until I actually get my hands on a final Revolution title and see how it all comes together, I don’t have a final verdict per se. Just like all consoles and controllers – it’s always about the games.
It’s obvious Nintendo has decided to get the heck out of the way of Sony and Microsoft and let them battle each other. Nintendo has always had this “we’re going to do our own thing” attitude, but now they’ve taken that beyond the next level. As Miyamoto said, “Nintendogs is setting the example of what we want to do with Revolution.” Revolution is going to be all about completely different styles of gameplay. But as I just said, we didn’t see any actual Revolution games so how this will all play out in the end will be determined by final product and games.
I have to admit, my head started spinning as I walked out of the demo. How is this going to work with the expected Nintendo favorites? Mario? Zelda? Smash Bros? Animal Crossing? F-Zero? Mario Party? With Nintendo titles this could be very interesting, but could the Revolution corner itself into just having Nintendo-made games?
My biggest concern is third party support. Nintendo said that they’ve been working with third parties and that third parties are really excited about the controller. But seriously, is this the controller you’re going to play
Madden with? If I were a third party developer who’s porting a game to the different systems and wanted to make games for Nintendo as well, that’s three more teams – Nintendo Revolution, DS, and Game Boy Advance. You can port a game to Xbox 360 and PS2/PS3, and dumb it down for PSP. But moving a standard game to a Nintendo console now is going to need special work. Sure, Electronic Arts and other larger third parties can take that chance, but smaller developers and publishers have to be a little nervous about taking that leap of faith. But then again, it could offer up some interesting third party exclusives.
Well at least now it’s finally unveiled. But even though we now have the answer to what Revolution’s controller is all about, it’s seemingly raising more and more questions. Unfortunately, Nintendo was reluctant to answer a lot of questions from “Is this going to be the DVD remote as well?” to “How much will each controller cost?” to “Will the Nunchuck be boxed in with the regular controller?” While this meeting is supposed to compliment Iwata’s TGS keynote speech tomorrow, we’re wondering when we’ll get more answers and indications of how revolutionary the Revolution gaming experience will be.
The meeting itself overall was a pretty intriguing experience. Along with Miyamoto was quite a few people from NOA and NCL, and it was if we were guinea pigs for their little experiment and we were in some sort of Nintendo-esque Petri dish. They were analyzing our every move, emotion, laugh, and frown to see what we thought. It’s obvious Nintendo is taking a huge chance here with this style of game control, even more so than they did with the Nintendo DS or – dare I say it – the Virtual Boy. But I understand why they invited a select few gaming journalists to come out to see how this whole concept works in practice. If I was just like you, sitting at home looking at these screenshots, I would also be saying, “What the….”
While this whole Revolution controller concept is quite crazy, once you play with it for a few seconds, it all comes together. Nintendo is taking a massive blind leap into the unknown, but as you’ve seen with games like
Pokemon, Pikmin, Nintendogs, Electroplankton, and
Animal Crossing, Nintendo doesn’t want to play the same way as Microsoft and Sony. They truly want to create a gaming Revolution. If Nintendo can successfully pull this off, who knows the realms of gaming we’ll touch in the coming years.
We’ll have more on the Nintendo Revolution and its controller soon, but for now, if you want to ask me about this controller, hit up
this thread in our Game Informer Online forums, and I’ll answer your questions once I get a breather from TGS.
-Billy Berghammer
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