FAST Racing NEO Developer Shin’en Multimedia Would Love To Stick With Nintendo Hardware In The Future

My personal highlight of E3 to be honest when they brought this to the Treehouse.

I loved both the F-Zero and Wipeout series for their blistering sense of speed and their awesome aesthetics and FAST certainly looks to be carrying that tradition well. I've already put it up there (along with 90s Arcade Racer) among my short list of most wanted Wii U titles.

Right up there as a day one buy, would just like to know when that day is!

I'm there with my monies

There is a fine line between the brilliance of f-zero and the humdrum of clones like Wipeout and Extreme G. I will wait for a demo before I let myself pay for another title I will regret.

Part of me cringes at the increasingly abused "provided X title is a success first" logic branded around by multiple developers in this day and age. While I can accept that low sales for Fast Racing Neo (or any other game) would hamper support for future titles, a growing number of developers seem to be using it as a disguised blackmail. "Do you want us to develop great games for your system?" they ask. "Then our previous (often worse) titles had better sell well first" is the follow up. Like it's all down to consumers.

Developers Ready At Dawn did this with The Order: 1886. They produced a lacklustre game yet claimed that a sequel would be far better, providing that sales of the original were good. So does that mean we gamers have to support a poor product just in the hopes of getting a better one (if the developers deem us worthy) later on? Why aren't developers making more effort and trying to win fans over with good games in the first place, rather than hollow promises?

So I desperately hope that Shin’en Multimedia aren't going down this route. Fast Racing Neo looks like a promising title, one I'm looking forward to, but if any developer wants my future support then they're going to have to earn it rather than demand it.

I will do my utmost best to promote the game when it hits, just like I did with the original Wii release.

@Jimtaro well said

@Jimtaro

Wow, that was a whole lot of nothing.

Nothing wrong with a developer saying that if the first game in a potential series sells well/is popular that they would like to have the opportunity to make more.

This happens with books, movies, television series, etc.

Not exactly a groundbreaking concept, or something worth writing a manifesto over.

Everyone buy this game. It looks awesome anyway

I'm ready for it, Shinen. And Ninty better snatch'em asap, before someone else does.

Nintendo should HIRE those guys. Give them support and a new F-Zero

@Jimtaro I can always retort with "Provided the game is good enough, I'll buy it!"

I've seen uninterrupted gameplay footage, so I'm all set for the game since I won't be able to buy digital for my 3DS soon :^)

When is this out on the eshop in Europe?

@AtlanteanMan would you know when 90s Arcade Racer gets an European release?

@Jimtaro yeah, I agree. It's one thing to really, truly know whether a console's or console-maker's audience is there for you, but that kind of message comes off too aggresively some times. Like, i'm not putting in more effort to doing your job of selling the game, so don't go after my emotions like that. As if the bad sales happen because I didn't tell x number of people to buy a game.

I'm very much looking forward to this. And its great to see some eShop & Nintendo love!

Can't wait to get this game

@BrizzoUK: Me too!!! I've have been clammering for a worthy successor to Star Wars E1 Racer and this looks to be it (althouth I'm curious as to what Disney Infinity 3.0 has to offer in the pod racing department). Anyway, looking forward to this one!

Release it and I will buy it.

Excellent, can't wait!

Please give me a release date already

Heh, from the YouTube comments and the Nintendo life faithful response. I don't see this as being too hard.

Of course I want to see Shin'en continue to make games for Nintendo only! They've made some really good ones in recent years. As soon as this comes out, I'm buying it!

@HollywoodHogan
Not quite Hulk, you've almost got the idea though. If an author released a bad book, then told readers that there wouldn't be a sequel because no one bought the bad book, then whose fault is that? Now it may not be the same case here, I really hope not, but a lot of game developers are adopting this standpoint of expecting consumers to support their 'bad books' by (falsely) promising us bigger and better next time. But hey, I appreciate you reading my manifesto so it didn't fall on deaf ears.

They have my support - I enjoyed nano assault quite a bit. it seems they recognize there is a market on the wiiu, despite the sluggish sales, by filling a void created by the companies who abandoned the platform. It seems like a unique position for a developer; sure, they can release their game on the more popular PS4 but they'll be competing against a glut of similar developers rather than releasing on the leaner wiiu where they get more exposure. I mean, if they were planning to release on the PS4...do you think they would've had a showcase at E3 like they did with Nintendo. I don't think so.

This was my highlight from Nintendo Treehouse at E3. Looking forward to a release date. I'm not expecting much but a good racing game that is blistering fast.

@TheWPCTraveler Why is that???

Cool. More supporters of Nintendo hardware is always a good thing.

@Spoony_Tech I'm sick and tired of having to deal with NoA, that's why. Once I buy A-Train and maybe a few more games that deserve it (the Arc Systems Works games localized by Natsume, and that FF Tactics look-a-like), I'll see if importing from other regions is worth it.

It's childish, really, but NoE at least tries to get things done. Fatal Frame V being digital-only is the last straw.

That said, I'll still buy games from Atlus and Xseed. You know, physical! Besides, I've found a treasure trove of unsold Atlus LEs, and they happen to be games I don't have yet. EO2U, EMD, SMT Devil Summoner Soul Hackers, all unsold and on the cusp of a price drop. And, if my intuition is correct, a store near me will order lots of copies of Senran Kagura Deep Crimson...

I'm still debating with myself whether to pirate that MGS theme or not, though, considering how Konami has gone.

This developer makes the most graphically impressive games for Nintendo console. Nano Assault still remains as the best looking indie game for 3DS.

Well, since F-zero is still in limbo, I can't see why not getting it.

So the sales of a futuristic racing game will determine if they make a sequel to the water jetpack game on WiiU?

Straight up fanboy blackmail, but they do join fine company like Capcom with the tactic.

@TheWPCTraveler We're lucky to get Fatal Frame at all. They're probably losing money even with the digital release. The series is extremely niche. The highest sales so far has been 140k... on the PlayStation 2, a system with a 155 million install base.

@IceClimbers The game has lived on sales that are worse than that for a long time now.

The fact of that matter here is that they have no excuse here because NoE is localizing it and providing a physical print run. They did the same for the fourth game on the Wii.

To me, this reeks of incompetence.

For all the people being so incomprehensibly negative about this: "To glasses always half empty!" Cheers, I think I'll pass...

People that know Shin'en and have played their games know full well that they always put a lot of effort into their games, so except for maybe one or two not so great titles, all of their games are consistent in both their quality and playability. They are masters of getting the most out of the hardware, and this game is yet another testament of their skill.

They performed miracles with the 40MB limit of the Wii's Wiiware, making games that looked even better than some of the Wii's commercial offerings on disc. In essence, you can buy most of their games in the blind, since they are nearly always good.

This game, from the looks of it and from all the play sessions I've seen, seems to deliver in spades, something the original already did on the Wii. and now they have made it look gorgeous as well, and it is ridiculously fast, so it certainly does honor its name...

For those who have never seen or played the original, here's an extensive review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mntwh53AcU (and remember: this is a 40MB game)

As for their "foul" tactics to make people buy this game: they are a small company and they have invested a lot of time and money into making this game the best it could be on the Wii U, so you shouldn't just put them on the same heap as larger publishers that make similar claims, because their reasons for doing so are entirely different.

And with the level of quality they deliver, why the heck wouldn't you want to see their games on the NX? Seems like a no-brainer to me...

I'll wait for the reviews just in case, but everything on this game looks so good... They are going to sell well, I'm pretty sure of that. But anyway, I'd like Nintendo to get this company so they could release their games in physical copies too. It's always better to sell, I'm my opinion it's a mistake that this awesome game is going to be only available in the e-shop... I'd like to have it in my shelf.

From what I know of Shin'en, their sales expectations are usually pretty reserved, so it won't be hard too please them. Though it may be different for this game considering how much sheer effort is being shoved into this game compared to their older ones.
Honestly though, the people complaining and claiming blackmail are hilarious. Devs are simply being more transparent than they've been before and despite what Nintendo and their fans like to think inside their bubble, the games industry is always rapidly changing in one way or another.
Fast Neo was likely very expensive for them to develop. Before, they mostly developed for handheld, which were usually much cheaper to dev for since their technology was usually way older than home consoles. They successfully transitioned to home consoles probably because Nintendo now develops their home consoles (Wii amd Wii U) with a similar design principle as their handheld i.e. using ultra old hardware and really getting the most out of it. But even with Nintendo slowly moving into 7th gen-level development with Wii U (they're still struggling to get a grasp of it it seems; I worry for when they release their 9th gen home console with 8th gen-level capabilities), it's likely that it's still pretty expensive for an indie that loves to push visual boundaries to do. So I'm hoping they sell a lot of copies. They're hoping they sell a lot, and they want people to know, especially with the current climate in the industry and in the Nintendo area specifically.

@TheWPCTraveler
You mean the remake of the second game on Wii right? 4 never left Japan.

Looks like the perfect developer for Nintendo to bring on to develop a new F-Zero game since Miyamoto and Nintendo can't seem to understand why their fans want a new game in the series. I even read an article where Miyamoto stated he could not come up with a way to make a new F-Zero interesting.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/06/miyamoto_unsure_nintendo_can_make_another_great_f_zero_game

All we need is a high sense of speed, amazing HD backdrops, fully customizable vehicles, and perhaps a build your own course system. I think with those things done properly the game would be a huge success.

@Jimtaro a lot? Who are these developers? what are those bad games you talked about that developers are forcing you to buy? I cant seem to remember any that fits your comment.

@Tubalcain
Capcom were waiting on sales of the Resident Evil HD Remaster (now joined by sales of the Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster) before deciding on Resident Evil 4. As mentioned, Ready At Dawn have suggested that their sequel to The Order: 1886 will be a much better game, if sales for the weaker original improve. The God of War games are in a similar state with sales of God of War 3 HD determining if remasters of the previous two games come or not and I believe Gears of War is following the trend. By all means, if companies want to release games then do so, but using weaker entries to fund and gage interest in bigger projects just doesn't make sense.

@Jimtaro In all honesty, those are some valid examples, but like I said earlier: they aren't ALL like that, so you can't just condemn one company based on what a couple of others do.

And Shin'en does have a VERY good track record of delivering the goods, so they haven't really done anything so far to warrant any suspicions concerning their motives, so I don't think this is going to be a lousy game that they desperately want to sell in order to cash in or something like that.

Maybe try and keep an open mind?

@Jimtaro well none of those are bad games, even The Order, its not bad just short and not worth the price for its length. You said we are hostaged into buying bad games. None of those are bad games. How the heck can you say that gears of war as a weaker entry, the other examples are remasters, remasters are mostly used to gauge the demand for such games. Lastly Even nintendo does what you complain of, they just dont articulate their reason. Case in point Lots franchises are no loner used due to poor initial sales

It doesn't seem like my kind of game but I hope it sells well.

"Provided the title is a success" It better be a success i want more from these guys. Cause they look like they actually care.

@TheRealThanos
Oh I agree about keeping an open mind. Like I said twice before, I really hope that Shin’en Multimedia aren't like that, my whole gripe is that some companies do use such tactics and that it's becoming popular so I hope they weren't joining suit.

@Tubalcain
You've got to address me if you want me to respond dude. Whether you consider a game to be weak or not is entirely up to you, that's no biggie, but in using Gears of War as an example a lot of impressions are that it isn't as much of an upgrade as hoped. Not as much as what has been promised for the second, third and spin off games at least. In that case, why is the fate of what is essentially a better game being based on sales of a likely weaker game? Because of course the sales for the weaker game are going to be lesser, that is the point that doesn't make sense.

@Jimtaro Sorry i forgot to press the reply. Anyway, are you referencing to Gears of War 4 or Gears of War: ultimate? Because the gears 4 does not depend on the performance of gear: ultimate???

@Jimtaro To be fair, Shin'en has practically been Nintendo-exclusive for a while, now. Any big Nintendo fan knows that these guys always praise Nintendo and their hardware.

My guess is that FAST Racing Neo was really costly to produce, which is partially backed up by the lengthy development time. As such, this bit of PR reads more to me like they're reminding people, "Don't forget to buy the game, by the way!" They're putting their trust in the community to back up the online hype, but they still need to remind people in general that the game exists.

So I do hope this game to sell relatively well. But I want a new trailer soon.

@Jimtaro also, with regard to remakes and developers sales expectation. Developers do not expect that the remake will sell as much as the next main installment, they just have a threshold and bottomline to guage interest. They do actually make market studies you know.

@Genesaur
Fair enough then, I've not been their biggest follower so their reputation is still relatively new to me. If they're committed to good games for Nintendo then that can only be a good thing.

Im valling it now. This will be one of the best racers ive played in recent years and everyone who buys it will think the same, yet the game will sell less than 10,000. Because gamers

@Tubalcain
I should have been clearer, I was referring to GOW: Ultimate. You're correct the fourth game won't depend on the success of Ultimate, but if you want fans to purchase the ultimate editions of two and three, wouldn't it be better to encourage them by example (a good release of ultimate one) rather than promise them that things will be better next time? Actions speak louder than words and all that. Even market research can only tell you so much but means nothing without the effort.

Give us a release date and I'm there, day 1 purchase!

@Jimtaro

I think you are just looking too much into it. The truth is, most of the time bad games get bad sequels, bad books get bad sequels, bad movies get bad sequels and viceversa good things get good sequels.

If something is bad, and it by fair reasons sells bad, why would you or anyone else want anything with a sequel to it? Either the idea or the team sucks so most likely a sequel would suck. ERGO, you let it rot and don't pester the team asking for a sequel.

Bad game + bad sales: Sequel is not made and it shouldn't be "demanded" from a logical standpoint. Who would want more bad games?
Bad game + good sales: A sequel is made, most likely just as bad. This is the basis for every developer to believe that any game no matter how bad or lazy can justify a sequel given enough sales.
Good product + bad sales: The sequel is not made, there is some logical demand for it, but the developer has even more logical reasons to avoid a sequel.
Good product + good sales: Everyone is happy.

Of course there are many variables (kick starter, IP acquisitions, deaths and firings inside a company, publishing deals) but in the end, sales are sequels, as it should be.

Looking forward to buying this games day one. It looks masterful.

Automatic purchase for me, the wiiu is crying out for a futuristic racer

Can they port the WiiWare game to the 3DS?

@Jimtaro #55 Well, if you don't really know them yet, then you might be in for some pleasant surprises then. I already posted this WiiWare video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mntwh53AcU) in my previous comment, but have a look at their other games, going backwards from Wii U to Game Boy Advance...

And you also might want to take notice on how close the handheld versions resemble their console counterparts; these guys really know their stuff, and on a regular basis they pull some nifty tricks to make the hardware do things that it originally wasn't designed for (such as in the case of the Game Boy Advance games at the bottom of this list) or they simply shame other third parties with their decidedly humbly sized team by making better looking and more playable games than a whole bunch of bigger developers/publishers.

And if there are genres of games in this overview that you like, you can hardly go wrong buying one of Shin'en's games to satisfy your needs in that department, just look up reviews of the game in question and you'll see that most of them are quite positive.

Anyway, here goes, enjoy:

Wii U: (skipping FAST Racing NEO since that is already shown in the article)
Art of Balance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4W66y503bs)
Nano Assault Neo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etgOmyJgyGs)

3DS:
Art of Balance Touch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu5rW84HsUo)
Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC4QzrlVZak)
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P1MYF5VXIw)
Nano Assault (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGkYxVNuXtU)

WiiWare: (also skipping this version of FAST Racing, since I already linked to it earlier)
Art of Balance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ll6wNCtBdA)
Jett Rocket (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDl7NGYP9n8)
Fun! Fun! Minigolf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7JmbcEQF7Y)

Nintendo DS/DSi:
Nanostray (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8r97yPoHjE)
Nanostray 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq5CyVn0xrs)

Game Boy Advance:
Iridion 3D (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXQJ5TsAv44)
Iridion 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oBLgk6RELo)
GBA Racer (prototype, never released) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nok9bMha8JU)

Cheers!

@readyletsgo,

Sorry, I only just read your post/question. I honestly have no idea regarding release dates for anything on the Wii U's digital platform. Digital releases often tend to remain hidden right up until the day they come out, sadly.

@TheRealThanos Nano Assault and Nanostray were fantastic.

@Genesaur I've also had a lot of fun with both Iridion games, and on the Wii I used to play a lot of FAST Racing, Fun! Fun! Minigolf and Jett Rocket.

All of them very solid and enjoyable experiences.

Absolutely buying this! I would have preferred a physical version, but this just looks so good.

Okay, somehow missed this game entirely at E3 this year. I could not be more excited about this title. Day 1 buy - I don't care what it costs.