A Kid Icarus: Uprising Sequel Would Be "Difficult", Says Masahiro Sakurai

I'd take a port at this point, just give me SOMETHING.

The multiplayer on that game was suprisingly fun and the main-game was good too.

Honestly, it was just a good game in general.

Real shame. Sakurai managed to make Pit relevant again after so long away (Smash Bros excluded). Can only hope that one day someone else will be able to do the same.

@Kalmaro beat me to it... haha I was going to say Okay fine, we'll just take a remaster!

If Kid Icarus is difficult to make sequels for, I guess that means Super Mario is very very very easy.

Nintendo should be making enough $$$$ to be producing new content. I am calling BS.

Following in the footsteps of 'we don't know what to do with it so we'll just let the series fall into obscurity' mentality.

Man this game is 9 years old now? It was the first game I picked out for my 3DS. Had fun with it but never beat it.

@Kalmaro They ported or remade Miitopia so I could see this being possible.

How about a real Kid Icarus game? A platformer! I don’t consider Uprising a Kid Icarus game!

I'd rather Sakurai make a Kirby Air Ride sequel!

Sakurai remembers kid icarus? Wow.

Do a remake for now then?

He's being polite IMO and says he won't be involved in any sequel should it happen. Which seems unlikely.

One of my fav 3DS games. SIGH

Shame. This game was so magical and good, even with it's big obvious flaws. KI would be the perfect franchise for a nintendo spin on rogue-likes. Uprising already had some rogue-ish qualities. but also a remaster would be amazing!

Also, when he says difficult, I would assume he means it would be an impossible pitch due to kid icarus being such minor franchise

i would love a spiritual successor to the nes game! maybe a 2d or 3d platformer?

Maybe let him oversee a port/remaster for the original?
He seems like he needs a break after Smash anyway

That "little" 3DS game packed more gameplay than a lot of so-called AAA titles....heck, more than 2 or 3 combined.

I think if he gave up on the oddball control scheme it would be doable. I loved the heck out of the game, was fine with the controls but I can acknowledge they weren't perfect. It was basically a Starfox game if you think about it. Left stick could control Pit and right stick is where you aim. Boom you got Kid Icarus

yeah, there should be a port of a Kid Icarus game or something

I have only played two god of wars, both of them the portable psp games, both of them being great fun but only one of them really clicking well with me, even still, I prefer kid icarus over them. I feel Nintendo should follow their own path hopefully a better path but I would love for kid icarus to be Nintendo's god of war success story.

Some of the most well done battle systems, the entire package for me just screams most presentable package possible. I still use my kid icarus stand for my switch in tabletop sometimes.

Even now I feel Battle Network 3d and a Kid Icarus with co-op in the story should have been launch titles for the switch.

Uprising was great. The 3DS controls were a bit awkward though, so I think this game would benefit greatly from a port or remaster.

I'm joining the choir asking for a mere port as well. ^^

I never got to play this on 3DS, but I keep hearing about it.

i cant overstate how wonderful the game was on 3ds, it was absolutely packed for a handheld game. id be more than happy with a polished up hd remake just to relive the game on a big screen

@Pod This won't happens

Not only is it hard to make a sequel, but Kid Icarus isn't really one of Nintendo's top franchises out there. I'm not sure if there is really a demand for a new game. I have nothing against Kid Icarus, but this series really can't compete with the likes of Mario, Zelda, Kirby, or DKC.

All that put me off about Uprising were the controls, I just can't do it with the strain of the little DS on my ape-palms. If this was adapted to twin sticks it would be a day one purchase for me!

@Tourtus @TDRsuperstar2 Yeah, I'd love to just play through it again this time with better graphics, maybe motion controls.

I never actually beat the original, for whatever reason.

Enjoy the Ninten-coast everyone...

: (

9 years damn it doesn't feel like that long ago.
Controls might have been hit or miss but the game is a criminally under rated gem . Tons of character

I'd accepted a remaster. I still can't believe they port" Miitopia" and let so many games that should be done first.

This would be such a good fit for the Switch. And Star Fox. And Warioware .

Let's face it, everything is difficult for Nintendo. Pikmin 4 has been "near completion" for 6 years.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/02/feature_its_been_nearly_five_years_so_where_in_the_world_is_pikmin_4

And I know some people have bene waiting a lot longer than that for the next F Zero game.

And where' Metroid Prime 4?

But don't worry, I'm sure we'll get a sequel to Federation Force or amiibo Festival any minute now. 😝

I would love to see a sequel or a totally new take. The ground sections would actually benefit from traditional controls, but the flight was nearly perfect for a 3DS game.
Just imagine Nintendo taking a break from LoZ for a few years and doing a Nintendo, Monolith and Sakurai collaboration to really do Kid Icarus justice? It would be like BotW but with the breadth of a Xeno game, have flight and be chock full of Sakurai craziness. It won't happen but it would be amazing.

I was hoping for a sequel with ground combat in more of a dmc/bayonetta style. I feel like they could do more complex combat without being limited by the 3ds. They could even have bayonetta herself in the game and have her fight pit as a boss or something.

I hope if they don’t do a sequel soon, then they could at least do a port. If the port sells well enough, maybe the sequel becomes less difficult.

@rjejr

I don't get the whole "we don't know what to do with F-Zero" thing that Nintendo keeps going back to when asked about when the next game is coming.

Do the same thing you have done with Mario Kart for the last 20 years. Some new characters, new tracks, new music, better graphics...that's all people want.

I think if you combined the style and movements of like Splatoon and Bayonetta everything would be just fine.

I've actually never played the game, but I did recently buy it and have it sitting in my New Nintendo 2DS XL. I might start it up this weekend. I've heard great things about the game, and read many positive reviews. The only thing I'm worried about are the controls, but I'll probably get used to them pretty quickly.

It's only difficult until the fans made one and then Nintendo came coming with a C&D and the excuse of hey we were gonna make one anyways.

Maybe after Sakurai spends a few years resting between projects can he come back to this. The man is never allowed to pause.

Kid Icarus Uprising is a wonderful game. I think I speak for just about anyone when I say that. While I haven't beaten the game yet, but I have enjoyed what I played so far. If a sequel for this game is damn near impossible, at least give us a port for Switch. This game has way more personality and content than most AAA titles we have today.

Great game, not a fan of the controls. On switch this would be awesome, but yeah file this in the f zero cabinet! Xxx

Heart braking to hear this.

I've been holding out hope they would be doing something to build on this incredible game.

I'd wanted to believe another team would be working on it and maybe consulting Sakurai over direction as he is too busy with smash to direct it.

Maybe a direct translation would clarify this but I should probably just abandon all hope... 😩

I love how to the point Sakurai often is, but this just hurts to read.

I would love a HD port. The game was packed with content and the multi-player was fun. Loved the dialog and visuals as well.

To be fair, every game Sakurai makes is difficult from a development standpoint.

Am I the only one who bought Kid Icarus with a plastic stand so that you can play it on your desk and avoid getting cramps?

For someone with large hands, the controls of this game was fine. Truly a fun game, would love more of the series.

@mafalb : My copy came with the stand as well, but I never used it.

@Yosher tbh did the Uprising game even sell that well(I guenuinely asks since I never really followed the franchise)? I wonder if sales/etc is one of the factor at play there.

I mean, nintendo may values their IP in couple of ways but also some fans ARE so passionate that outright saying "Sorry, your fav just didn't sell enough to warrant support in a way we would feel worthwhile" is kind of a.... "complicated" PR thing to pull off politely.

It's not to say it couldn't return but I figure that if it does it'd likely have to either come through a massively remastered re-release to try to give the current format a second breath or an entire re-imagining while trying not to end up with a copy of another franchise that could end up selling better anyway due to being better known in the first place.

Which is what some suspects, for an example, might be the problem with F-Zero being it's spot as "nintendo's racing game" was kind of taken by Mario whereas it's scifi and more bare-knuckles, no fancy "items", racing style of gameplay might not be as "mass-appealing" than either the party-game style racing of Mario Kart or more mainstream "realworld" car racing of mainstream racing games.

Like... how to make a "Kid Icarus" game that feels fresh but doesn't end up in a spot already better filled by another franchise.

Kid Icarus' origins kind of placed it in a sort of odd spot where it was a... platformer, but also had some metroidvania(?)-like format but linear so kind of a platformer still. And Kid Icarus was itself kind of an action platformer(with flight sequences that kind of reminded me of Starfox from and outside glance?) but also linear-ish afaik?

So I feel like it'd have a hard time forging an independent identity because it kind of already straddles stuff like the "fantasy adventure" trappings that already got cinched by Zelda hard, meanwhile action platformer(which Uprising did stray from with like... ground-combat systems?) is already kind of tackled by Mario and the flight combat.... like said, from an outside point of view kind of feel very Star Fox-ish but I feel the kind of "rail shooter" space combat/flight of Star Fox might not have superbly aged well sadly which I suspect has been part of that selfsame franchise' own slow decline/identity crisis.

Since in Star Fox case I feel the games had a clearly identified niche but to a degree it's kind of grown trapped by that niche as it's less relevents to mainstream players these days?

So in a way I guess what I mean isn't that Nintendo has "forgotten" about IPs but instead that their niche has become less relevents to players over time and Nintendo is itself struggling reimagining those titles and finding them a new niche to prosper in without having to be one where they'd have to compete with other (better known) Nintendo franchises. Which... with the "better known" advantage of those other franchises could lead to a kind of "trying to stuggled with one hand tied behind their back" kind of issues.

Would it be a licensing issue? Or is it "difficult" because the 3DS game relied heavily on the touch screen for gameplay and any Switch game would require either all-button gameplay or a mix of button for docked and touch for portable? I mean there's ways around this and it's not set in stone that any Kid Icarus Uprising sequel would need to follow the 3DS' control scheme at all. And Sakurai doesn't even need to be the one who develops it. Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Starfox...all these series are some of my absolute favourites and frankly I'm getting sick of the excuses from execs at Nintendo and their 2nd party partners saying it's "difficult" to offer any additional games in those series.

I'd imagine Sakurai isn't the type who would ask Grezzo or some other developer to remake Uprising. Even so, Nintendo probably hasn't done anything about it yet because there isn't as big of a demand... yet.

Don't talk about a sequel. Instead focus on doing an awesome port/remake of the 3DS version and get it on Switch!

@KillerBOB ""we don't know what to do with..."

or 2D Mario platformers. Or Smash. Or Splatoon games.

3 Splatoon games in 8 years, how different are those? 🤷‍♂️

One of the few 3DS games that deserves a Switch remaster almost entirely due to the controls.

Sadly, Sakurai is probably too preoccupied with Smash Bros and will likely remain so for a long time. Not sure who would bother with making a 3DS remaster - Kid Icarus isn't all that big of an IP at all.

Don’t worry. Ubisoft made a Kid Icarus game in the BOTW style: Immortals Fenyx Rising

That’s a shame. Imo Nintendo need to revisit more old IP like this (F-zero, advance wars, wave race etc).

I get why they keep releasing the same IP in relative short succession like Zelda, mario, AC, splatoon but their variety is lacking more now than ever...

But I want it so so much

Yeah every mention of this game saddens me to no end, Uprising 2 would be one of my most wanted sequels but unfortunately I don't see it happening, like ever.

If noone at Nintendo wants to do it, Platinum would be such a perfect fit for this game.

Thats a shame cause Kid Icarus was easily one of the best 3ds games for me

Wish they realized that this game, an online shooter with nigh smash bros 3d mechanics, would do amazing for their online play reputation.

@Yosher @Ludovsky Yeah, I think a lot of comments like this where they say the game is "difficult" or "needs something unique" is just PR speak for "the game didn't sell enough for us to make more". If you take those statements as is it makes no sense why they would need unique ideas for the likes of F-Zero or Kid Icarus, but they keep pumping out fairly samey 2D Marios, Zeldas, etc. They pump them out because those games sell, the niche IPs fans are begging for do not.

Really hope Metroid Prime 4 sells well or we're going to be seeing the same comments about why they can't make Prime 5. Metroid deserves more sales than it's gotten.

Let me guess. They can't think of a way to "reinvent the wheel" as it were? Innovation is good (when done right) but it's not always essential. I could hardly care less about Kid Icarus, but this stubborn attitude also seems to be killing any possibility for a new F-Zero game.

Why on earth would take notice of what he says, he doesn't even pick the characters in his own game!

All three Kid Icarus games are awesome, so I'd jump at a fourth on day one!

@ludovsky @bolt_strike but it didn’t sell poorly. It sold 1.18 million in its first year and its lifetime sales surpassed games like Miitopia (which is getting a port), Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, and Bravely Default. It’s listed as one of the 3DS’s top selling games.

The 3DS game COULD have been and SHOULD have been ported to WiiU.
It would have been another great title that only that system could do (loved by collectors, hated by haters, endlessly enjoyed by those who actually had one).

I loved the asymmetric play on the WiiU. It's sad that new styles of game play often struggle and so each new console generation is more of the same of what we got last generation.

Kid Icarus was different - that is why it would be hard to port. (the same is true of many great, and unportable, games in the WiiU library)

Did the original even sell 2 million copies? It makes sense that they aren't willing to put the work in on what was a great, but underappreciated game.

I'd be okay if the game never got a sequel, as the ending of Uprising felt pretty conclusive. If the game can be ported to another system, that would be great, but if it can't, they could just do the Star Fox thing and reboot the series again with different controls and level design to accomodate, even if it means alienating the fandom.

I bought it. I liked the game itself and it's story.

I tried to find some silver lining in the control style. But its the one thing that had made it easy for me to move on and not touch the game again once it was over.

And I'm sure I'll get some flack from it's diehard fans on here. But the fact that they had to pack in an additional accessory (whether or not the controls were in issue for all or only some) should have been a clue that more discussion and thought should have been put into whether it was the right choice.

Mmm, the music in Uprising was sublime. Would love to hear it again on the Switch.

@Kalmaro The multiplayer was nutty and the weapons were surreal. I mean I could launch a planet with one of the clubs across half of the world. The multiplayer was insane!

I enjoyed uprising. My only gripe is the reliance of the touch screen to move was weird for my hands. Twin sticking it is the way to go.
Could let Tecmo Co develop it.

@Chunkboi79 I loved how, when you did well enough, you'd force Pit to come out in team battles and then the game turns into protecting Pit. It was a really cool idea.

So it really will be another 20 years until the next game, then...or whatever it is that Hades said at the end of the game. lol

@Radbot42 That's how uprising was controlled; the C stick controlled the camera/recital. Me and my wife always used our styli though.

One of the best shooters ever made full stop. Real shame we might never see a sequel.

Just sayin, a good year after Smash's dlc is wrapped up, we could at least get a remake.....
Maybe...

Great game visually speaking and even from a technical standpoint. Alas I never finished it due to the sinfully bad control scheme... I honestly think it would sell infinitely better on the switch, and the control scheme can be sooo much better. Like someone said above if it doesn't sell, it gets shifted down the priority rabbit 🐇 hole. Shame...

What does his "difficult" answer really mean though? Difficult, because they do not own the character? System limitations? Story line? Just posting that it would be "difficult" is not really an answer at all. It could mean a million different things. If they can pull off a descent Metroid on switch they could do an Icarus game.

Im afraid the Nintendo of years to come will play it very safe when choosing the franchises they'll work on. We probably wont see any risk taking with franchises like Kid Icarus. Or Wario. Or Star Fox. F-Zero we already knew wouldnt be on Switch. Which is a shame. Imagine an open world F-Zero with combat and gun fights, hopping in and out of your vehicle.

@Bearzilla823

Difficult as in, "higher ups wont allow us to put our work force on a posibly little return on investment game". Thats it. I understand but if they keep pushing only Mario and Zelda, people are gonna get tired of them after some time.

If he can't do it why not give anther company a try? We have seen some amazing remakes come out recently from other developers, someone will take a chance.

Keep in mind, this is also the man who's thought he wasn't going to make another Smash at least twice.

The more I learn about Sakurai the more it seems like he's carrying Nintendo on his back. Maybe he needs to offload some things to other talent in the company? What's the ARMS guy doing?

Unfortunately when you have as large a stable of IP as Nintendo, you also have a graveyard. Sakurai is letting us know that he know’s where the series is with respects to Nintendo. And if it’s in Nintendo’s graveyard, it likely means they’d rather gamble on the creation of a new IP than put the resources into it again. That’s just my feeling about how Nintendo operates, because that’s how other entertainment businesses operate.

@NikHogan
Of Myths and Monsters is on the Gameboy!
But yeah, how can it be so hard to make a new one? Just let some indie company make an all-new 2D (sprite-based) platformer with all the spirit of the first two games. HD and 60 fps. Instant cash.

I love Mario and Zelda, not a huge fan of Pokemon and Animal Crossing, lukewarm on Splatoon, but it seems Nintendo has all these IPs they just sit on.

If you don't want to make the game yourself, farm it out to one of your other studios, or heck, give a third party a shot and see how they do.

The Switch is fantastic, but we still have no F-Zero, no Metroid (I know Prime 4 is coming, but outside of the NES/SNES games on Switch Online, nothing), no Kid Icarus, no Pilotwings on the console.

Sakurai: Yeah... that would be... <sucks teeth long and hard> that would be... difficult.

Interviewer: Could you rephrase that for our American audience?

Sakurai: Oh, I see. In that case... “No way Jose, not a chance in hell” ...Will that do?

Interviewer: Maybe still a touch ambiguous. Could you try that again in all caps?

Sakurai: NO WAY JOSE NOT A CHANCE IN H... <explodes>

Honestly, the controls are the one reason I'm not swooning at the idea of a Switch remake. Despite the complaints, Kid Icarus Uprising had fantastic controls. Joystick aim will never be able to match the speed and accuracy of the touch screen controls, it's really the next best thing to using mouse and keyboard.

Well at least for the remainder of the year, he'll be working on Smash, and who knows what 2022 will bring. Smash may not get any more fighters after the second fighter pass, but we don't know if that even means Smash will be completely done at that point, or maybe they'll just keep on working on it, getting 4K patches ready for a Switch Pro, maybe even adding in other features and options beyond fighters like, new/returning modes. Something like Smash Run added into Ultimate could be a huge and time consuming undertaking.

So for all we know, he's saying that he isn't thinking or looking too far to the future, because he knows that for the foreseeable future he may still be working on Smash Ultimate.

yeah, there should be a port of a Kid Icarus game or something

@anoyonmus You're not being sarcastic, are you? Asking for ports around here can be... a daring decision. (Personally, I agree with you - assuming you're being serious.)

To quote a certain character in the game: "I have...what? 25 years until the next sequel?"

@COVIDberry not being sarcastic, man

I really hope he'll at least consider porting Uprising to Switch, similar to Miitopia.

@Radbot42 So you'd just make the control scheme even worse by making it a lame dual analog shooter, huh? The controls on the 3DS were certainly somewhat awkward, but dual analog sucks much worse in comparison!

Unfortunately, the way it works as a 3rd person shooter doesn't really work with gyro controls. If the Switch had an IR sensor, maybe they could translate the control scheme into a good motion-controlled shooter, but alas...

@rockodoodle It's not always about money.

@KillerBOB exactly, that’s a BS excuse they came out with. I’m not sure why Nintendo feel they have to reinvent the wheel every time.

Games like f-zero just need new tracks, graphics etc and we’ll be happy!

(Also you’re avatar’s freaking me out, just like Bob did in twin peaks lol)

@stevep or any other genre. Since the two mainline games are so vastly different it gives them free reign to take the series into any direction it wants!

I wonder Masahiro Sakurai have seen or played Immortals Fenyx Rising?

Kid Icarus Uprising and Samus Returns would both benefit from the better dual-stick controller scheme on the Switch but Nintendo thought it was wiser to port MIITOPIA. oh well.

A remake then? Pwetty please?! 😂😊

Uprising was hands down one of my favourite games on the 3DS, and there's definitely loads of potential to build on it! Even a port would be an instant buy for me!

I remember all the hand cramps I used to get from playing this game, but I kept dealing with it because of how good the game was. I definitely wouldn't be against a port if it used traditional dual stick controls though I don't know when I would get around to playing it after spending well over 100 hours in it. It was a great experience on a handheld console at the very least. Not a bad level in it.

@Bolt_Strike

What you say is so true in that N does ‘milk’ their hot selling franchises but occasionally they revive one and it takes off and gets rejuvenated. A good example is Fire Emblem which they were threatening the end of when releasing Awakenings on 3DS... it was a solid hit commercially which led to more fine games on 3ds and then the super awesome Switch 3 houses.

The other thing they have done particularly well on Switch is modernize some of those key franchises. MarioO, ZBotW, and FE all saw big overhauls that produced best in the series offerings. So I would love to see them do the same to other IPs...Imagine what they could do with FZero if became an open world online modern game with the great fast play and pretty grafx it has been known for. I have wanted another 3D DK since the last one and much lesser IPs like Excitebike and Wave Race would be welcomed back. We would all love to ‘run’ Nintendo but they have their own ‘ways’. Thankfully they have become more receptive to their consumers with Switch so lets hope it continues.

@QuickSilver88 Fire Emblem is an interesting case because it didn't sell that well, but it got a ton of support (seriously, it got 3 main series games, 1 remake, and 4 spinoffs in the course of 8 years), but its highest selling game is 3.02 million. So it's supported like Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon but it sells like Metroid). I think that 1-5 million range can go either way depending on other factors like developer interest and the strength of the current console.