Former Sega Dev Yuji Naka: Nintendo changed and it's good

https://nintendosoup.com/yuji-naka-cadence-of-hyrule-gives-me-the-feeling-nintendo-has-changed-a-lot/

This is regarding Nintendo's move of giving out the Zelda license to a small indie developer.

https://twitter.com/nakayuji/status/1108526462758461440?s=19

Yuji Naka, the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, recently posted a very interesting comment on his personal Twitter account.

After Cadence of Hyrule, a crossover between The Legend of Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer, was revealed, Naka said Nintendo lending an IP to an indie studio made him felt that the company has changed a lot.

Naka explained that in the past, he approached Nintendo to ask for permission to use Mario in a video game, which we can safely assume is a Sonic game. Naka said Cadence of Hyrule, in some way, reminded him of Nintendo “shooting down” his proposal.

Definitely good signs coming from Nintendo.

They did put a Mario reference in a Sega game, but promply removed it. The shrinking and fireball mechanic however still exists.

Just a friendly joke, but no doubt Nintendo being Nintendo, would have tried to sue them shitless, just like they try to with their own fanbase.

A truly awful company.

I guess that’s good. I’m not sure if I’m really all that interested in Cadence of Hyrule myself though. I’ll probably just end up sticking to the Nintendo developed games but I guess it could be nice to have the option there of something else possibly catching my interest.

@hrt_rulz01: How so, this isn't the first time they've let an outside developer use one of their IPs, Zelda being one of them ages ago.

I don't know that Sonic and Mario should mix in a platformer. And that's mostly because Sonic has had a lot of missteps as a platformer. I guess if Nintendo co-developed it, maybe... it could lead to an interesting mix of platforming in one game... Maybe you could have them both platform together, switching between the 2 with the press of a button or something. I wonder if there are fun levels you could design around that idea. Would be tough, with how different the two tend to feel.

Because I just think it's yet another positive sign, along with their support of Indies on the platform, that shows Nintendo making a concerted effort to change and make their systems more open.

@uninspiredcup: Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was one of the greatest 8-bit hack & slash platformers!

I didn't know who Mario was when I first played it, so I didn't realise that was a Mario parody until years later.

that must be the reason why this caught my attention.... I'm like huh a Zelda that's just kinda out there, eh maybe that's not an issue really.