January2018
News Sonic The Hedgehog Creator Yuji Naka Joins Square Enix, will "Strive To Develop Games"
The man behind the 'Hog has a new home
Japan's video game output has produced some of the industry's most talented and much-loved developers, but when you're the man who formally led Sonic Team and lead programming on the original Sonic The Hedgehog, you're afforded a little more fanfare when you join a new studio. That's why we're excited to...
November2015
News Yuji Naka Expresses Interest in Sequels to Ivy the Kiwi? and Rodea the Sky Soldier
Hopefully, they won't take as long to develop
As many of you are likely aware, the long awaited release of Rodea the Sky Soldier is only a few days away in North America and Europe, at last bringing the game's heavily drawn out development cycle to its conclusion. Rodea the Sky Soldier was a brainchild of Yuji Naka - the mastermind behind Sonic the...
March2015
Video New Rodea The Sky Soldier Trailer Features Plenty of 3DS Footage
The game's best hope of success?
Rodea The Sky Soldier has had a troubled route to release, undergoing a lengthy impasse between developer Prope and Kadokawa Games, in the process shifting from Wii to Wii U and 3DS. It's now nearly out in Japan, however, and is coming to the West later in the year. We've seen plenty of the Wii U version, but it's...
February2015
News Rodea The Sky Soldier Looks Set To Spread Its Wings For A Western Release
Kadokawa Games president Yoshimi Yasuda says "look forward to it"
Rodea The Sky Soldier has had a somewhat tortured development period. Originally slated for the Wii and overseen by Sonic creator Yuji Naka, the game has since been rebooted for the 3DS and Wii U under the eyes of Kadokawa Games when Naka bailed on the project. The fact that Rodea is...
November2014
News Rodea the Sky Soldier Now Flying Into a Spring 2015 Release in Japan, for Wii U and 3DS
Wii version dropped, unsurprisingly
Rodea the Sky Soldier has had a troubled history. When originally announced for Wii and 3DS this flying action title certainly caught the eye, with the development team at Prope being led by the highly regarded Yuji Naka, one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog. It then seemed to enter the publishing void,...
December2013
News StreetPass Games Producers Tell Origins of Mii Plaza's Playground
Also explain that pesky 10-Mii limit
With all the fond looks-backsie on the year that was in gaming, the creative, StreetPass-powered games pushed by that rabbit who suddenly appeared in the 3DS Mii Plaza tend to be overlooked. Stephen Totilo, a self-professed fan of the games at Kotaku, thought this was a shame, so he went straight to Nintendo to...
June2013
Hands On StreetPass Plaza's Downloadable Content
Play Coin guzzlers
A few days ago, Nintendo launched a surprise update to the 3DS's StreetPass Plaza in Europe and Japan. Previously home to Puzzle Swap and StreetPass Quest alone, users can now purchase a further four games to play with any Miis that they encounter when out and about. As with the other Plaza games, you can use the Mii of anybody...
September2012
News Rodea the Sky Soldier Still Has No Release Plans
Former Sonic man is keen to work on Wii U
Do you remember Rodea the Sky Soldier from Yuji Naka's PROPE studio, the man who many credit with creating Sonic the Hedgehog? It's supposed to be released on Wii and 3DS, with the handheld version being handled by another developer, Kadokawa Games, the same organisation in charge of publishing the Wii...
August2012
News Namco Bandai Hooks a Trophy for Family Fishing Sales
Prize catch
Namco Bandai's Family Fishing — known in North America as Fishing Resort — has proven itself a keeper. The Wii game has surpassed 200,000 shipped units in Japan during its first year, and as a reward Nintendo has sent the team a snazzy trophy. Developed by Yuji Naka's Prope and published by XSEED in North America, Fishing Resort...
November2011
First Impressions Fishing Resort
Is there a catch?
Yuji Naka's Prope studio has been responsible for some interesting Wii titles over the past few years, including Ivy the Kiwi and the upcoming Rodea the Sky Soldier. So when the developer announced Fishing Resort, many gamers were left wondering just exactly how a game like this would turn out. And while its cute look and feel is...
July2011
News Fishing Resort Tugging on a North American Line
Prope's fishing game reeled in this Fall
From hedgehogs to kiwis, Yuji Naka has been involved with games that star somewhat uncommon animals and his studio Prope is getting ready for the release of its upcoming Wii game that follows a similar trend: this time, it's fish. Since leaving SEGA in 2006, Naka went on to found Prope and along with fellow...
News Yuji Naka's Haunted Tower Never Made it to Wii
Never will
Yuji Naka, the father of Sonic the Hedgehog, has released a few games on Wii since starting up Prope: Let's Tap and accompanying WiiWare condiment Let's Catch, as well as the cutesy Ivy the Kiwi?. As with all developers however he's not had a 100% release record, and one of the projects that never made it to release came to light in a...
January2011
News Rodea the Sky Soldier Flying to Wii and 3DS
Check out Yuji Naka's newest project in action
We recently heard word that Yuji Naka, former head honcho of Sega's Sonic Team, was working on a brand new and highly secret project for both the Nintendo Wii and 3DS systems, but so far we've seen very little in the way of screenshots and absolutely no video of the game in action at all. Well the wait...
October2010
News Buying Ivy the Kiwi? Helps Save Real Kiwis
10p donated to Save the Kiwi Trust
You don't see many video games about kiwis, though this is Rising Star Games' second game to feature the flightless bird following DS romp New Zealand Story. The lack of kiwi-based games might be due to the increasing danger of extinction faced by its real-life counterpart, but if you want to do something about...
News Ivy the Kiwi? Emerges from its European Egg on October 29th
Yuji Naka's latest opus nearly hatched
Ivy the Kiwi? for Wii and DS is the latest game from Yuji Naka, best known for his involvement in the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog. It's been out in North America for some time, but a European release is just around the corner, with publisher Rising Star Games announcing the game will launch on Friday,...
August2010
We take Yuji Naka's unique platformer for a spin
Only getting a few minutes to play Ivy the Kiwi? at the recent E3 trade show in Los Angeles, it was difficult to get a good feel for what the games had to offer. While it was certainly fun getting to see them in action and having the gist of the gameplay fully explained, a part of me still wanted to...
News Ivy the Kiwi? Gets Release Date
Unique platformer is on the way
XSEED Games have just announced that their upcoming Wii and DS releases of Ivy the Kiwi have officially gone gold and are set to be released at North American retailers on August 24th. Ivy the Kiwi is a unique platforming title created by legendary Sonic creator Yuji Naka along with his Prope Studio developers and is...
July2010
News Download Versions of Ivy the Kiwi? Rated by ESRB
Tiny bird to fly to WiiWare and DSiWare
Last month we brought you our First Impressions of upcoming PROPE project Ivy the Kiwi?, as well as an exclusive interview with the game's creator Yuji Naka. In Japan, the game received small versions available via WiiWare and DSiWare, so naturally our intrepid reporter Corbie Dillard asked about the...
June2010
E3 2010 First Impressions: Ivy the Kiwi?
Yuji Naka shows off his newest project
For the three or four people on the planet who don't know, Yuji Naka is the former head of Sega's Sonic Team and had a hand in the creation of the Mega Drive Sonic releases. He was also heavily involved in the creation of NiGHTS Into Dreams for the Sega Saturn before leaving the team to pursue other projects...
News Ivy the Kiwi? to be a Rising Star in Europe
Home of Japanese Games picks up Yuji Naka's latest
You've probably only just wiped away your tears of sadness following yesterday's introduction to the story of Ivy the Kiwi?, but you may now start weeping tears of joy with the announcement that Rising Star Games is bringing the title to Europe this Autumn. Developed by former Sonic Team head honcho...
News Ivy the Kiwi? Story Might Make You Cry a Bit
Poor little lost bird
You may have heard Nintendo Life staff James Newton and Corbie Dillard discuss this title in the latest episode of the podcast, and Ivy the Kiwi? continues to gain momentum with new screenshots and details about the tiny bird's story hitting the 'net from US publisher XSEED Games. Developed by Let's Tap developer PROPE, headed...
May2010
News Yuji Naka's Ivy the Kiwi? to XSEED Expectations
The storybook-style aims to enchant Wii and DS gamers this Summer
Following on the Japanese retail and download release a couple of weeks ago, the creators of Let's Tap and Let's Catch are about to bring their latest title to an American audience. Yuji Naka – one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog – has unveiled more on the rather
April2010
Nintendo Download 20th & 21st April (Japan)
Ivy the Kiwi makes a multi-platform assault
After last week's slim pickings this week actually provides some choice on both Wii and DSi on the download front, including the first free app from Nintendo on the DSi since the Wii no Ma media viewer was released last May. Better still all of these are brand-new releases, without a catch-up title in...
May2009
Tap into a new game experience.
After the physical exertion of Virtua Tennis 2009, and with the shame of my first-round exit still hanging over me like a dark cloud, it was a pleasure to sit down for a bit with Let’s Tap. As a huge Yuji Naka fan I was dying to find out how his new studio Prope’s first game would play, and as soon as I got my...
February2009
News Sega's Let's Catch Gets OFLC Rated
Australia's OFLC ratings board has just recently given Sega's Let's Catch WiiWare title a "G" rating, which would lead us to believe that the game could be coming out there very soon and most likely worldwide shortly thereafter.
Let's Catch is basically a Wii Remote-infused game of catch that features both single-player and multiplayer...
