Nintendo lifted the lid on Project Giant Robot back at E3 2014. The game was touted as an experimental Wii U experience made by Super Mario Bros. creator and industry stalwart Shigeru Miyamoto. While a number of journalists got to play a tech demo of the project at the convention, we haven’t heard anything about it since.
That’s strange, because Nintendo touted it as being a true showcase of what the Wii U was capable of. The Wii U had been out for a year and a half by the time Project Giant Robot was revealed, and Nintendo was hoping to recover from a dire launch period for the console.
Then, a little more than two years later and no word of Project Giant Robot since, Nintendo revealed Switch, its new home console.
So where does that leave Miyamoto’s fascinating project? Well, apparently the game is still in development and has a planned release as a first-party title. Whether that’s for Wii U, Switch, or both remains to be seen.
Included in Nintendo’s financial report and listed under “Launch Schedule of Primary Nintendo Products”, Project Giant Robot is planned for a release in all major regions. Unfortunately, there’s no release date.
At this stage it seems doubtful that Nintendo would focus resources on a project such as this, which is disappointing because it seemed to have potential. Miyamoto has been quoted as saying the project was never in more than testing phase, and he and his team simply haven’t had time to turn it into a full game.
The question remains, then: why would Nintendo even show it off in playable form? Maybe we can add this to the pile of “cool and/or weird stuff Nintendo reveals that never gets released.” Remember the Vitality Sensor?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVDgpaTExnE[/youtube]
