Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
| Xenoblade Chronicles 3D | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developer | Monster Games |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Platform | New Nintendo 3DS |
| Release date |  2 April 2015 2 April 2015 10 April 2015
|
- Not to be confused with Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D (simply titled ゼノブレイド, Xenoblade, although officially called Newニンテンドー3DS
Development[edit]
In 2006 and 2009 respectively, Monster Games assisted Nintendo in the development of Excite Truck and Excitebots: Trick Racing for the Wii. Their support on these projects led Nintendo to entrust Monster Games with the development of Pilotwings Resort, a title designed to showcase the capabilities of the newly released Nintendo 3DS. Following the release of Pilotwings Resort, Nintendo sought to port Donkey Kong Country Returns to the 3DS. The decision was made because the game originally launched near the end of the Wii's lifecycle, in December 2010, and Nintendo wanted to maintain the momentum and excitement surrounding the Donkey Kong franchise. Since Retro Studios, the developers of the original title, were already busy working on Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Nintendo assigned the port to Monster Games because they were available and had proven experience with 3DS development thanks to Pilotwings Resort.
Development of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D began around mid-2011 and concluded in early 2013. Both Retro Studios and Nintendo were reportedly impressed by Monster Games' excellent work on the port, particularly its technical optimization for the 3DS hardware.
Plans for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D began around mid-2013. According to a representative from Nintendo SPD, there was an internal debate about whether the port should be developed for the Wii U or the Nintendo 3DS. Ultimately, the 3DS was chosen because the team believed some players might lose interest in sitting in front of a television for a 100-hour JRPG. By contrast, a portable version would allow players to enjoy the game anywhere, offering a level of accessibility unique to handheld systems while preserving the immersion of exploring its vast open areas in full 3D thanks to the stereoscopic screen.[2]
Since Monolith Soft was occupied with Xenoblade Chronicles X, Nintendo once again turned to Monster Games, who had already demonstrated their technical ability by successfully adapting a Wii title to the 3DS.
Development began in autumn or winter 2013. However, after a small few months, the team at Monster Games realized that the scope and technical demands of Xenoblade Chronicles were too great for the standard 3DS hardware. Around this time, Nintendo informed them of the upcoming New Nintendo 3DS, which featured a faster CPU and additional RAM. With this new hardware in mind, the team decided to continue development more seriously.[3][4] Even with the improved specifications, the team faced major challenges. The game's environments were so vast that even the New 3DS initially struggled to render them efficiently. Performance was extremely low at first, prompting the development of an entirely new graphics engine featuring a custom visibility-culling system and a complex level-of-detail (LOD) framework. All of the world's art assets were rebuilt and optimized to maintain the original's look and feel while achieving stable performance. Interestingly, the most difficult area to optimize was Agniratha. A Monster Games representative explained that "the level had many places where the screen contained the highest polygon count in the entire game, so the artists and designers had to rebuild that level several times before it finally performed well."[5]
Monster Games also aimed to preserve the look and feel of the original game's UI while taking advantage of the 3DS's dual screens. The design team spent over a month creating and testing various UI mock-ups until they found one that worked. Once the screens were adapted for the New Nintendo 3DS, the artwork was brushed up to suit the smaller display, and the placement of interface elements was fine-tuned. Since the top screen often displayed too much information to remain legible, much of it was moved to the bottom screen instead. Given the multiple interface layouts and supported languages, this process took a long time.[6]
The Collection Mode was proposed by Monster Games' own developers, many of whom were passionate fans of the original Xenoblade Chronicles.[7]
The game was officially revealed on August 29, 2014, during a Japan-exclusive Nintendo Direct, alongside Shulk's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. 4 and the announcement of the New Nintendo 3DS.[8] During the Nintendo Direct of January 14th, the New Nintendo 3DS was revealed in the Americas and Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was confirmed to release in North America and Europe in April.[9] Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was released on April 2, 2015 in Japan and Europe, and on April 10, 2015 in North America.
List of changes[edit]
While the core game is the same and the story is unchanged, there are some changes compared to the original Wii version. Listed here are changes that are not simply minor bug fixes.
Additional content[edit]
- Players can exchange Nintendo 3DS Play Coins, use StreetPass, or scan the Shulk amiibo to gain tokens to unlock models to be viewed in the Model Viewer or music to be listened to in the Jukebox in Collection Mode, accessible from the main menu.
Other changes[edit]
- In order to support the weaker hardware, the quality of most if not all models, textures, and lighting has been downgraded compared to the Wii version.
- The HUD and UI have been reworked to take advantage of the 3DS's dual screens.
- The international version of the game only contains the English voice options, when the Wii version included both English and Japanese voices.
- During a cutscene in chapter 7 in the Wii version, the subtitles showed "seach" instead of "search", this was fixed in Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.
Update history[edit]
Ver. 1.1 (Released April 10, 2015)[edit]
- Fixed the issue in which the background music and certain sounds play in mono regardless of hardware settings.
Trivia[edit]
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was the first and only physical New Nintendo 3DS game until 2017, when Fire Emblem Warriors, Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, and Runbow Pocket also released.
External Links[edit]
Gallery[edit]
On other wikis
NWiki
Screenshots[edit]
Main title for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.
Japanese logo for Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.
Gameplay on the top screen, showing the vast Eryth Sea.
A settings menu with unique icons showing a Nintendo 3DS.
The party status displayed during gameplay.
Promotional videos[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ While it is known to be a port, it was called a remake during the Nintendo Direct from January 14th, 2015.
- ↑ Game Informer Interview
- ↑ Gamespot Interview
- ↑ NintendoLife Interview
- ↑ Game Informer Interview
- ↑ Gamespot Interview
- ↑ NintendoLife Interview
- ↑ Nintendo Direct – 3DS Direct, August 29, 2014 (Archived)
- ↑ Nintendo Direct, January 14th, 2015
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Xenoblade Chronicles
| |
|---|---|
| Versions | Xenoblade Chronicles • Xenoblade Chronicles 3D • Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Future Connected) |
| Development | Staff (3D • DE • FC) • Unused content • Bugs and glitches |
| Plot | Plot summary (FC) • Game script (FC) • Heart-to-Hearts • Quiet Moments • Back Home • Lore |
| Gameplay | Combat (Battle Art • Enemy • Chain Attack • Vision) • Items (Weapons • Equipment • Gems • Collectables • Materials) • Gem crafting • Quests • Colony 6 reconstruction • Time Attack |
| Audio | Music • Dialogue • Banter |
| Other | Merchandise • Advertisement |