The State of Nintendo
Part 5: Dolphin and Game Boy Advance
Contents
Part 1: Acclaim Entertainment
Part 2: THQ
Part 3: Activision and Konami
Part 4: Nintendo and Rare
Part 5: Dolphin and Game Boy Advance
Dolphin. The word causes much division in the gamer community lately. Nintendo devotees claim it's going to bring about another Nintendo Golden Age, similar to that of the days of the SNES. Critics think that it's going to be just another "Fun Machine", a system for the kids. Will it make its scheduled global launch this year, or is it destined for a yearlong delay? At this point, it's impossible to reach any definite conclusions because there hasn't been a whole hell of a lot of information available on Nintendo's next generation system yet. However, anything is still possible at this point.
One of the biggest reasons for doubt concerning a possible launch this year for Dolphin is software. The thought is that to have a successful launch, Nintendo will need to have a large lineup of launch games as well as a killer app, and that the lack of talk concerning Dolphin software means that there's not going to be enough time to finish up titles in time for a launch by the end of this year. But is this really the case? At this point, we enter the realm of informed speculation. Going on the information that's presently available, does Nintendo have the software in development necessary for a Dolphin launch by this holiday season? The brief answer is: possibly.
At NCL in Japan, Miyamoto hasn't had any big projects since the latest Zelda release. Anyone who actually thinks he's just been sitting around in his office for the past 16 months picking his nose and dreaming of Super Happy Fruit Trees doesn't have a very strong grip on reality. Traditionally, the newest Mario game is the killer app that sells Nintendo systems, and a Dolphin Mario title is in the works and has been for a while. Although very few details have been released about it (other than a more "mature" Mario and the inclusion of Luigi), it's an almost guaranteed launch title, and gamers can expect it to contain just as much "wow" factor as Super Mario 64 did at its release.
So a Mario title is a given; what else is being worked on? That question's a bit trickier, but it's fairly clear who is working on titles. Nintendo has their whole army of second-party developers working on Dolphin titles, and those developers all keep very tight lips. Rare hasn't said much officially, but that's fairly typical Rare style. It's obvious that they are working on at least one Dolphin title, and chances are we won't know any more until Nintendo starts making Dolphin announcements. Rare is very capable of keeping secrets, as shown by the surprise launch of Diddy Kong Racing. NTC is hard at work on Dolphin deve |