Wii U is very misunderstood console. Today it’s normal to mock its poor sales and to ridicule the bad marketing. It was a commercial disaster, but by no means it was a bad console. No, it was damn good – a console many of us truly love. And maybe lots of developers are glad to forget about its existence, some continue supporting it with interesting games. Zordix from Sweden is one of those companies.
Yesterday Zordix released Aqua Moto Racing Utopia for Wii U. Today we spoke with Matti Larsson – the CEO of the company.
Zordix has just released Aqua Moto Racing Utopia for the Wii U. Previously, we’ve also seen versions for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. What made you release the game for the, well, dying console? We’re at Nintendo News still play Wii U and absolutely adore it, but the industry as a whole (even, seemingly, Nintendo) seem to be only glad to forget it as fast as possible.
We’re happily playing a lot on our Wii U devices at home and in our studio, since the games are so good! We could only speculate that more and more of the Wii U games will come out on Switch and/or later devices in remakes.
Is there anything that you particularly like about the Wii U?
From the start we very much enjoyed the whole idea of a separate screen with all the buttons in place for playing serious games. I think that’s the main strength that also is now a big hit with the Switch.
There are some similarities between Aqua Moto Racing Utopia and the fabled Wave Race. What separates your game from the others? Are there particular Wii U-specific features? What kind of gamer will appreciate it the most?
Aqua Moto Racing Utopia (AMRU) is like three games in one game. There is first a whole Game Division where you drive Runabout watercraft, which is the main vehicle type from our own previous games in our franchise. We wanted in this game to add two more game modes, Ski just like Wave Race and a Freestyle division where you make your own stunt tricks! I think our split-screen Party game modes and a lot of other features are really unique as well, and very suitable for the Wii U. Both family and hardcore gamers can enjoy the game. We wanted a game that was easier to control than Blue Storm for casual players, while it is more challenging for hardcore gamers doing stunts and tricks to train hard to really master it in full. You’ll have to train hard to be the best!
Apart from that we aimed to do the most beautiful Wii U game ever, with great-looking water simulation, and we think we landed somewhere up in the top.
Now, within any studio people are the most important element. What do guys and gals from Zordix like to play? Are you fans of Nintendo hardware? Are there any particular games that are close to your hearts?
Many love Zelda and Mario Kart as you might expect, and I’m very fond of the Fire Emblem series on the Nintendo side. Apart from that I think we play a bit of everything. We also go riding water jet skis and snowmobiles together, which is one of the best things when working at Zordix!
What do you think about the Russian (Ukrainian, Belorussian, etc) game industry? Anything of interest? We a know a lot of new indie studious and feel like there’s a definite increase of quality titles.
Yes, there is a boom of surprisingly great developers. As you said, some produce extremely high quality. We are actually in the process of initiating contact for possible future cooperation for new and even bigger games. I look forward to some travel, especially to game gatherings. In the future Zordix will be looking to invest in new upcoming game companies to grow, so just let them know we’re always interested to meet.
Aqua Moto Racing Utopia is our for Steam, PS4, Switch and Wii U.