by Eric Caoili - 05.23.06
CVG recently met with Goichi Suda (51) and Takeshi Ogura of Grasshopper Manufacture, the studio behind last year’s eccentric Killer 7. Suda talked about his impressions and plans for the Wii, briefly alluding to Heroes, a newly announced project for the console. Suda and Ogura spent the rest of the interview discussing their latest production, a WiFi-enabled (online) game for the Nintendo DS.
Contact, Grasshopper’s first foray into handheld gaming, is fast-becoming one of the most anticipated portable titles for RPG fans this summer. This quirky and vibrant title promises an experience that you’re just not going to get anywhere else. DS Fanboy posted a synopsis covering the game’s creative concept:
The impetus of Contact is that you’re not in direct control of the main character. Instead, you act as a mysterious external force that helps out a young boy as he searches for the parts of a weird professor’s downed spaceship. The bottom screen of the DS allows you to guide your character through some wonderful looking environments, while the top screen always shows the professor scurrying about and doing work in his lab. He constantly communicates with you, making odd remarks, providing useful information and generally hurling a wrecking ball through that pesky fourth wall.
Despite the lukewarm reception Contact saw in Japan, Atlus will be bringing the game to US shelves this August/September. Suda also confirmed a sequel at this year’s E3, though he has yet to reveal which Nintendo console it will appear on.
Suda 51: Contact Established
Suda 51 Confirms Contact 2
E3 Impressions of Contact - 1UP, Gamespot, PGC, & DS Fanboy
source: GoNintendo
Awesome… cant wait
kid a - 05.23.06 1:57 pm
I really am looking forward to this. I want a good RPG for the Ds. I was thinking Lost Magic, but iot looks to much like a GBA game.
courtney - 05.23.06 2:12 pm
I hope by “US shelves” you mean North America. I might just pick this game up, if it’s coming to Canada.
amanaplan - 05.23.06 2:21 pm
US always means canada, it doesn’t make sense for stores located in both countries to exclude one of them.
RockSteady - 05.23.06 3:50 pm
Amazon Canada has the game on their listings. Although, oddly, the game is listed for Sega Genesis.
Really looking forward to this. Atlus had a great line-up for DS, GBA and PS2. Not to mention Wii.
Tony - 05.23.06 4:27 pm
We need to make contact a million seller people. I may have to buy 4 copies just to help the cause. Support Suda 51!!!
John - 05.23.06 4:51 pm
Suda 51 is the man, so much so that Kojima wants tow work with him on a project. Ill be picking up contact day 1
Kuma - 05.23.06 5:18 pm
Nitpicking: It isn’t their first handheld game, they did Shining Soul II (or so GameFAQs says). Odd, I know.
Impossible - 05.23.06 6:06 pm
I read the buyers comments on the japanese amazon page. Some people seemed to like it but I would say that the overall impression from the Japanese was that the game wasn’t so good. I want this game to be amazing as much as the next person but here are the comments.
From Amazon.co.jp:
Good points:
)
- the beginning of the game is fun
- you might like it if you played the mother series (or it might have said you should pay the mother series instead
Bad points:
- it gets boring quickly
- people said they didn’t feel there was any replay value
- don’t expect much from the WiFi (that comment wasn’t explained very well).
- the costumes that you find cannot be stored and used again later (I am not sure what that means. I would have thought that there was an item inventory).
- person enjoyed Lost Magic more.
matt - 05.23.06 10:24 pm
I don’t care if it’s not super good. I’ll buy it and play it through… if it sucks I’ll trade it in for probably half the value and be satisfied that I had my fun for what I paid for it.
The critics hated Killer 7 when it came out, and that game is just awesome.
AdamBot - 05.23.06 11:30 pm
Adambot same here man, I think too many people put too much emphasis on the newness of a game and reviews when the experience you get from a game is most certainly not directly proportional the price you pay.
I paid £15 for Mario Sunshine second hand, a little pricey considering it is £17 new these days.. but I’m glad that I’m having fun.
Spence - 05.24.06 10:28 am
the game looks really good!!!!!!
funkeboodha - 05.24.06 1:38 pm