Nintendo's 'The Last Story' is new Mistwalker RPG; Xenoblade is Monado

by JC Fletcher on Jan 29th 2010 9:44AM

We didn't have to wait long to find out about Nintendo's two mystery Wii games. Xenoblade, as we guessed before, is the new name for Monado: Beginning of the World, the RPG by Monolith Soft, creators of Xenosaga. Nintendo has launched a site for the title, featuring little more than music and a bit of artwork for now. More of the game, as Monado, can be seen in last year's E3 trailer and screens.

Additionally, The Last Story is a new RPG for Wii being developed by Nintendo and Blue Dragon's Mistwalker. According to Andriasang's translation of a statement from an investor meeting, the game is an attempt at a "new form of RPG." The last time Nintendo worked with Mistwalker, the result was Archaic Sealed Heat, which Nintendo didn't bother to localize for North America.

Finally, a Metroid: Other M teaser site has also been newly launched. It doesn't really reveal anything about the game, other than confirming its summer 2010 release in Japan. Interestingly, the game doesn't appear to use the traditional Metroid logo, opting for something much plainer.

[Via Andriasang: The Last Story; Xenoblade; Metroid]

Source - The Last Story teaser site
Source - Xenoblade teaser site
Source - Metroid: Other M teaser site

Tags: metroid-other-m, mistwalker, monado, monolith-soft, Nintendo, rpg, the-last-story, Wii, xenoblade

Reader Comments (48)

great to hear. need all the wii games i can get.

Glad to hear that they are also RPG games!

I can't help but wonder if The Last Story is a riff on Final Fantasy, given the involvement of people who worked on the series.

I dunno, it seems like every jrpg nowadays has last or final or something similar in its name.

You're right, i think. Apparently there are a few Square Enix expatriates who are working on this, perhaps some sort of revenge on their part.

The Last Story XIX!

Yo, we’re actually serious this time. Everyone’s going to die.

The title sounds like a mix of SE's "The Last Remnant" and Mistwalker's own "Lost Odyssey".

the lead guy at mistwalker (can't remember his name) has made no qualms about his intent to create an rpg franchise that dethrones final fantasy.

It feels more like a Guns N Roses vs Velvet Revolver thing to me personally.

Oh come on, that's not even funny.
15 years from now, The Last Story 8 will be released.

The Last Story? Really?

They couldn't have come up with something at least a little more original?....

The guy who came up with the title "The Last Story" also came up with the title "Final Fantasy."

Hinorobu Sakaguchi = ex-Squaresoft producer, currently CEO of MistWalker

I know that, I just would have assumed after all these years he would be able to come up with a name a little more original.

It seem Nintendo gonna surpass himself his year
Go Nintendo^^

Hmmm. The Last Story. Final Fantasy. No, that's purely a coincidence.

Now the big question is whether or not either of these games will see release in the US.

Probably not.

The Last Story is supposed to be rather big. Sakaguchi described it as a AAA game before we knew what it was or where it was coming from, and that should mean something on a scale similar to Final Fantasy. Monado/Xenoblade might be iffy, but it was appearing on US release lists before

Remember that NoA has only neglected niche stuff. Not that it was right for them to do so (certainly they could have turned a profit on Fatal Frame, at least), but these games are not entirely comparable to what has been turned down before.

As optimistic as I tend to be about life and specifically video games, Glory of Heracles getting a retail release when we can't even get Mother 3 on WiiWare proves to me that NoA really has no rhyme or reason when it comes to these decisions

Mother 3, and Mother in general, seems to be in a unique place. I mean, they haven't released any of the games on Virtual Console anywhere at all, have they? No Famicom Mother on VC in Japan, no EarthBound anywhere

Something's just up with that franchise entirely, i think it can be safely set apart from their other localization decisions.

'eh, I think you're kind of casting a wide net for your definition of niche.
Disaster and ASH (and Fatal Frame) aren't games I'd really call niche. They're relatively solid entries in relatively popular genres. They're far from perfect games, but they aren't widely considered horrible, either.

I get the sense that NOA only really localizes the games they think they can make into the mega-sellers, unless NCL tells them otherwise. I'm still shocked that we have Rhythm Heaven.

I think there are legal issues keeping Earthbound (Mother 2) off VC. See this article for details:
http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/02/earthbound-legal-issues/

Mother 3 is another story - that's a GBA title and will never show up on VC unless they actually add GBA as a VC platform. In any case, it would require a full English translation which won't happen without good reason (i.e. a re-release on a major platform - not as a digital download). Mother 1 I don't know, theoretically they have a fully translated English version that was never released, but who knows. It's a fairly unique case.

How so? Bigger userbase in Japan to work with.

I really have no idea what to make of where they're going with Metroid Other M, what with this teaser site giving off a much more JRPG feel as opposed to the suplexing dinosaurs into lava motif of the trailer.

Still really excited for it regardless.

That's the only thing i'm really wary about with Other M, that they might go overboard on story, which was never really Metroid's thing.

I actually won't mind too much if it's heavily story oriented, so long as it's good; even though a lot of people say the story got in the way of Metroid Fusion, I really enjoyed it. No, the game wasn't as good as Super Metroid, but what game is? I'd put it right up there with Zero Mission though, and that's some good company to keep.

No, what has me worried is that this is going to turn into classic really over the top anime-esque story telling. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just keep it out of my Metroid.

It does seem weird to have a Metroid site with a melancholy piano tune on it, but my guess is that they're trying to appeal to Japanese gamers, who weren't nearly as enthralled by the Metroid Prime series as the West. I think it's a fair guess that the North American site - whenever it launches - will most likely focus on the darker, sci-fi related aspects of the game, since that's what Metroid is known for in the West.

Really need to see some gameplay for Other M. See if they lived up to their promises to keep the core Metroid elements, while really toning up the boss/large enemy fights.

Nintendo's getting aggressive again. And all for the better.

Man, if Other M ends up being a spiritual successor to Super Metroid with expanded elements, that would be the coolest thing ever.

Mmmh, RPGs. Delicious. 83 The Xenoblade music sounds like it's done by Tenmon, but I highly doubt that's the case. Last Story's music is gorgeous, too.

It's nice to see some rpgs with classically beautiful music, I miss that after the direction Final Fantasy has gone in being as bombastic/weird as possible. e_e

I have a feeling it might be Nobuo Uematsu for The Last Story, seeing as he seems to be doing most of the music for Mistwalker games.

Xenoblade kind of makes me think of Yuki Kajiura or Motoi Sakuraba when he's not blowing on every horn in existence or slamming on his synth. I'm hoping for Kajiura.

Could also be Yasunori Mitsuda, seeing as he scored Xenogears and Xenosaga Ep. I.

I'm going to bet that Motoi Sakuraba will be the composer for Xenoblade. Afterall, Monolith Soft has used him more recently than Yasunori Mitsuda (when Mitsuda scored the music for Baten Kaitos 1 & 2).

Whoops, I meant Sakuraba scored the music in Baten Kaitos 1 & 2.

The name, logo and the fact that its appearing on a Nintendo system has me hoping its going to have a lot in common with old Final fantasy games. The old FF fans like me have kinda been left behind when square went Hollywood.

I'm also hoping for an old final fantasy style game, my favorite is V, but I doubt it's going to be like V, nobody likes it.

The Last Story?

So in other words.. The FINAL FANTASY?

I was so hoping it would be Lost Odyssey 2 on the Xbox 360.

What a let-down this is (for me).

Hopefully Feelplus' new unannounced RPG for the 360 is LO2.

I will purchase this, just because it has Xeno in the title!!!!

This isn't mistwalker's only game is it? I thought they had something for 360 in the works like Lost Odyssey 2?

I disagree with all the Mistwalker hate -- there's no reason for this not to be awesome! Especially if Mistwalker has the budget and Nintendo's support. If Sakaguchi has the heart in it and the resources he needs this could be the start of something amazing.

Also, at the beginning of this gen, Nintendo was just working with third parties to develop more broad appeal (or "casual") games like Hudson's Mario Party 8 and Sega's Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics... but between Sora and other 3rd parties working on Smash Bros. Nintendo Hardware running Capcom's Tatsunoko Vs. arcade cabinets, Nintendo publishing Monster Hunter 3 in the West, Nintendo's long-time Metroid Producers' co-developing the Other M w/ Team Ninja & Tecmo, recently acquired second-parties like Mono-lith Soft working on a Xeno- RPG, and now Nintendo partnering with Mistwalker for The Last Story, I see a really good trend for "core game" development on the Wii...

Damn Nintendo!!!

They are going to make this E3 be their best for at least a few years, and I'm guaranteed to have exams within days of E3 meaning I need to prioritise and miss the fun of E3.

i'm a big fan of xenosaga, and still have faith that mistwalker can produce a really solid rpg (i enjoyed lost odyssey, but far from being a favorite; wasn't too big a fan of blue dragon). if both of these games are good i might just have to get a wii.

Yeah, it would be way smarter to release a major RPG on the 360, because so many Japanese gamers and RPG fans have that system. Or on PS3, where it'll be competing directly with Final Fantasy. Totally flawless logic there.

Mistwalker: Actually, we had the name "This Is It" ready for launch but we had to change it at the last minute. Red tape and all.

I like that the title "Last (final) Story (fantasy)" is such a blatant rip off. It shows that Nintendo might finally start being aggressively competitive with SE in the RPG space. It's such a shamless and deliberate shove at at FF. With the former FF developers jumping ship to nintendo it's kind of like what hapend with Call of Duty coming out of Medal of Honour devs.

360 and Wii fans want JRPG's too you know.

Can't wait for both games. Monado I am more excited about than the last story but if Lost Odyssey is any indication it will be a great game.

Very interesting.
Xenoblade could be very interesting, but my eyes are on The Last Story. I want it to be big, great, and a real competitor to Final Fantasy. I have hope on that, but of course, we're still to know more about it.
Metroid is already a must-buy for me. I'm just waiting to see about the gameplay. I'm still a little confused about it.

And what the hell with the music? The three sites have some amazing music, specially Xenoblade and TLS. God, that music hypes me much more.

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Nintendo's 'The Last Story' is new Mistwalker RPG; Xenoblade is Monado

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