We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.

Iridion 2 Interview at Nintendophiles

by Jonathan Metts - July 19, 2002, 9:31 am EDT
Source: Nintendophiles

Check out this interview with Shin'en, revealing the many new features of Iridion 2.

Discuss it in Talkback!

The guys at N-Philes scored an early interview with Manfred Linzner, game designer at Shin'en. You may recognize the company; they developed Iridion 3-D for the GBA launch, and their GAX sound engine has provided audio utilities to dozens of third-party GBA titles. Manfred herself actually composed the techno soundtrack for the handheld Tony Hawk games and others.

Anyway, this interview is all about the newly announced Iridion sequel, which abandons the first one's confusing Star Fox-like perspective in favor of a more traditional 2D gameplay design. Here's a quick excerpt:

N-Philes:What is the storyline? And what part does the storyline play in the game, or is it just a premise to set up the game and characters, etc.

M. Linzner:We don't want to reveal too much of the actual story by now but when you play the game in 'story mode' you will be guided with animated sequences and 'digitized speech'. The 'digitized speech' makes use of our proprietary GAX VOICE COMPRESSION which allows us to store upto 1 hour of speech on

a 4MB rom.

N-Philes:One problem with the original game was that it was just too hard for many gamers to beat.. have you tweaked the difficulty in the new game?

M. Linzner:Iridion featured a NORMAL and HARD difficulty setting. I2 features EASY, NORMAL & HARD difficulty settings. Overall I2 is easier then Iridion but features therefore much more levels and bonus stuff.

N-Philes:What all have you done to improve the gameplay? How did you improve upon the previous game engine?

M. Linzner:Iridion and I2 have a completly different game engine. As Iridion was our first GBA game we were at the very beginning of discovering the power of GBA. So for I2 we can show alot more effects and also audios are in much better in quality.

For the gameplay (beside the different game modes) we added alot of goodies and special weapons that were missed in Iridion. The player can now upgrade AND use DIFFERENT weapons at the SAME time. The player can use smartbombs and use two satellites. Those satellites are really a major game element as they have several features. They can be used as a shield but they also affect the behaviour of the weapons.

Hit the link above to read the entire interview!

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement