Even the the most offhand mention of Battletoads enough to send even the calmest of seasoned gamers into a fit of uncontrolled rage, but beyond the red mist are genuine feelings of nostalgia. Will we ever see another game from the franchise? How about Blast Corps or Banjo-Kazooie? Turns out these aren’t far-fetched dreams, but distinct possibilities, according to Microsoft.
Talking with the folks at The Inner Circle, Ken Lobb, Microsoft Studios creative director, says the company isn’t keeping these IPs warm just because — it wants to do something with them, it just doesn’t have a time frame yet:
So will there ever be another Banjo, Viva, Blast Corps, Battletoads? Yeah, some day, and I think the reason you see things like Battletoads revived is because we know there’s value, so we renewed the trademark.
And, you know, does that mean it’s coming this year? No. Does that mean it’ll never come? Absolutely not.
We have a lot of passion internally for each of these games that you mentioned and we have surprises in store in the near and long future, but understand that what it’s really about is we want to build this suite of IP that we can add to that list of “Let’s build some new things”, “Let’s build some recent sequels” and “Let’s do some crazy stuff”.
Here’s the podcast in full, though the comments in question start at the 25:20 mark:
Unfortunately, Lobb doesn’t comment on whether any of these franchises are being worked on right now, so for now we’ll just have to trust that Microsoft isn’t toying with us because that… that would be cruel.
The Inner Circle special – Xbox One Exclusives talk with Ken Lobb [YouTube, via DualShockers]
Comments
12 responses to “What About New Battletoads Game? ‘Yeah, Some Day’”
I don’t want to see a Microsoft version of any of those. I think I’d die a little if MS announced a new Blast Corps game.
You realise that the name “Microsoft” appears there because they own Rare, right? Don’t think of it as a Microsoft game but as a game by Rare, the original creators.
I’m well aware that MS own Rare, but it’s not the same Rare that made those brilliant games in the first place, the talent moved on.
Yeah but there should be at least half a dozen teams around the world that MS could outsource it to – like Killer Instinct.
Get Twisted Pixel to make a new banjo game, want a new perfect dark – get Crytek/Deep Silver UK (whatever they’re known as now) to do it.
If anything MS’ big mistake with Rare was to get then to do their own IP when they seemed todo much better with new stuff (Viva Piñata, Kinect Sports etc)
Yeah, I’ll admit that Viva Piñata was a pretty neat little game. It’d be pretty nice if MS did what you suggested, I could see myself looking forward to any of those partnerships.
Yes, and while we’re at it, let’s commission some modern composers to make a sequel to Clair de Lune, or perhaps get a few painters to add the ouvre of the great impressionists.
Trite hyperbole aside, modern studios still make brilliant games, this can happen without chasing nostalgia to keep IP in check.
Not Nostalgia – there is no game like Banjo Kazooie currently available on the market anywhere.
I’m pretty certain the original creators have left rare!
I would love a remake of Battletoads, just need to balance it a bit. every thing was outstanding about the NES version except the insane difficulty. I am not saying make the game easy, just make it possible for mere mortals to beat the game with out cheating.
The question though is “Why?”. We don’t *need* another Battletoads despite what our subjective, nostalgia-tinged memories might desire. Even though I am a huge fan of the original game, I don’t want to see a new game in the series, I want to see a new IP that borrows the good design elements and applies modern technique to it rather than something that will never live up to the ideal in my head.
I wonder how many people remember the snes sequel Battlemaniacs and how it wasn’t as good.
Blast Corps. Such a great little game. Did many of you guys play that one?
Some of those levels were brutal, especially the platinum medals. Getting to space was awesome though!
Used to love the Pac-man level as well as the space ones.
Gotta keep movin’!