The Binding of Isaac

As you're likely aware, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was just recently confirmed for release on Wii U and the New Nintendo 3DS. The Zelda-inspired dungeon crawler caused quite a controversy back in the early days of the eShop when Nintendo rejected the game due to its questionable religious content. Since then, times have changed, and now an enhanced remake of the game is finally making it over to Nintendo platforms.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Tyrone Rodriguez and Edmund McMillan - the game's creators - talked about the process that went into getting the game approved and why the old 3DS was excluded. Interestingly enough, the game was originally planned as a 3DS game until Nintendo shut it down. Rodriguez went on to say that he believes the reason for Nintendo pulling a one-eighty is due to its reliance on the ESRB and other ratings systems to determine the appropriateness of content, as opposed to its own judgement. Indeed, Nintendo's publishing of titles such as Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third certainly does point to a changing philosophy within the company. It still wasn't an easy battle, though, and three particular people at Nintendo were pivotal in getting the game on the eShop. These three people were Steve Singer, Mark Griffin, and Dan Adelman; the Vice President of licensing, Senior Manager in licensing game development and head of Indie development, respectively.

Once the game was approved for the 3DS after many years of deliberation, the developers faced the problem of getting the game to fit on the 3DS' humble hardware. Rodriguez likened the original vision of the game to an 8 ounce cup of water and the final version released on other platforms as a 16 ounce cup of water, it simply wouldn't fit. A prototype was made for the original 3DS, but it was significantly inferior and was quickly scrapped. The team then decided to switch it over to the New Nintendo 3DS and, in the process, they managed to be the first Americans to receive the New 3DS development kit.

Unfortunately, an old 3DS version is out of the question with Rodriguez going so far as to say:

Officially, I'm going to tell the internet no.

Rather disappointing, but understandable given the time and effort it would take to deliver what would ultimately be an inferior product. At the close of the interview, Rodriguez stated that while the DLC won't be available at launch, they would be looking into releasing it in the future.

The interview makes for quite an interesting read, you can read the whole thing here .

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[source polygon.com]