Interview: Renegade Kid - ATV Wild Ride 3D

After having trouble getting the original ATV Wild Ride for Nintendo DS onto retail shelves, developer Renegade Kid have decided to give the game a 3D makeover and this time offer the game on Nintendo's 3DS eShop.

We recently got the chance to take the game for a spin and we thought now might be a good time to sit down with the developer and find out a bit more about ATV Wild Ride 3D and what we can expect from their new 3D racer.

Jools Watsham was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer some of our questions and you can find out what he had to tell us in the exclusive Nintendo Life interview below.

Nintendo Life: It's been about a year since the original ATV Wild Ride title was released. What prompted you guys to revisit the game?

Jools Watsham: I am very proud of what we accomplished with the original DS game. It’s a fun arcade racer that is fast and has great controls. Due to complications that I can’t go into, the game was not distributed widely at retail, which made it extremely difficult for anyone to find it. In fact, I never saw it on a shelf anywhere – except my own shelf in my office! I bought my copy on-line.

The game did not receive much exposure either in terms of PR or marketing. I think the game deserves a second chance for players to check it out. Developing an enhanced 3D port of the game, much like Nintendo did with Ocarina of Time, is a perfect way to introduce the game to new players.

NL: The first ATV Wild Ride on DS was obviously a retail title. Why the decision to go eShop with this 3D rendition?

JW: The retail market has always been incredibly difficult, and it continues to get increasingly more challenging for publishers. I think a game like ATV Wild Ride 3D could do really well at retail if handled by the right publishing partner. It would need to have wide distribution, reaching all of the major retail stores.

However, instead of walking down that prickly path we have decided to go solo and make the game exclusive for the eShop. I think the eShop audience may like to see a retail-quality arcade racer available on the eShop for a fraction of the price.

NL: Can you tell us how much the game will sell for on the eShop?

JW: This is not final yet, but I think $9.99 is a reasonable price for it.

NL: You can tell that the game has undergone a rather significant graphical upgrade. What are some of the visual changes you guys were able to make using the added power of the 3DS?

JW: We dug deep and pulled out all of our tricks to make the game look as great as possible. Some of the main aspects we focused on include high resolution textures, shadow maps, specular highlights, mipmaps, real-time lighting on the player, additional particle effects, and a revamped audio system. All of this brings the game from its humble beginnings on the DS to a console quality experience on the 3DS. And, all of this really shines in stereoscopic 3D.

NL: The 3D effect adds a nice new layer of depth to the tracks in the game. What does that 3D depth bring to the table from a development standpoint?

JW: Games that are viewed from a third-person perspective work especially well in stereoscopic 3D. I think having your character sit in front of you while the world comes to you just looks stunning. It really pops. From a gameplay perspective, being able to actually judge the turns is a big deal – it feels more natural. I know this probably sounds cheesy, but the 3D effect really does make it more alive and exciting. At least it does for me anyway.

NL: Will we see some old tracks make a return and how many new tracks can fans expect from this new 3DS release?

JW: For the games’ first outing on the 3DS we’re including the original 24 tracks from the DS game. These span six unique locations around the world, including Thailand, England, and Russia. If the players respond well to the game we’d love to revisit it and design new tracks.

NL: Will the game feature local and/or online multiplayer?

JW: Whereas the DS game only supported local multiplayer, we’re adding on-line multiplayer for the 3DS version, which supports up to four players.

NL: Any idea when we might see the game released in North America and is there a European release planned?

JW: We’re not quite finished with the game, so it is difficult to say when it will be released. I hope to have it released summer 2012. I will make every effort to make the US and European releases as close as possible. There has been a huge delay in release with Mutant Mudds in Europe, which is my own fault, and I’m not happy about that. I intend to improve upon this with our future eShop releases.

NL: Rumor has it that this game is just a set up for a Mutant Mudds kart racing game that's rumored to be in development. Any truth to this?

JW: Anything is possible!

NL: Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers in closing?

JW: Please check out the exclusive 3D screens that only Nintendo Life has to share with you in their upcoming ATV Wild Ride 3D preview, and let us know what you think about the game by contacting me on twitter.

NL: As usual, thanks for taking the time to take part in this Nintendo Life interview. We look forward to hearing and seeing more information about the game in the future.

JW: Thanks man – always a pleasure to talk games with you.

Stay tuned for our full preview of ATV Wild Ride 3D coming later in the week along with a few 3D screenshots of the game to give you a taste of what you can expect from this extremely cool eShop title.