iwata-asks
Latest
The Wonderful 101 initially starred Nintendo characters
Despite its cast being wonderfully original, The Wonderful 101 was initially conceived as a way to unite "world famous characters" with Nintendo's iconic characters, Nintendo's Iwata Asks series revealed this week. Wonderful 101 Director Hideki Kamiya explained that the original concept stemmed from Platinum Games CEO and President Tatsuya Minami's order to "bring together world famous characters with Nintendo characters at its center, appearing all in one game." While working with the original idea, Kamiya wanted to find a way to "please everyone by letting them play the whole game as their favorite character." As one would imagine, the involved licensing sunk the original concept. Nintendo President Iwata said that the game's "cover certainly [had] impact to make even me think twice, and I was the producer working hard to gather all the characters in the first Smash Bros.!" Nintendo Producer Hitoshi Yamagami reacted similarly, noting that "the moment I saw the cover, I winced ..." Several months after Platinum Games' initial pitch, Nintendo's Licensing Department contacted Yamagami concerning a revamped build of the game without Nintendo's characters. Once Managing Director of Nintendo Shinya Takahashi showed him a demo of the new project, Yamagami "knew the moment [he] saw it that this was that idea from Platinum Games."
Nintendo 3DS XL sports less reflective screen than its predecessor, improved parallax effect
Supersized screens may be the centerpiece of Nintendo's 3DS XL, but a new Iwata Asks interview reveals that its top display packs some new anti-glare tech too. Takashi Murakami, from the company's Mechanical Design Group, notes that each of the LCD's three glare-prone layers were specially treated to reduce reflectivity from the original 3DS' 12 percent, down to three. According to head honcho Iwata, anti-reflection coatings have been on the Big N's radar since the GameBoy Advance era, but were typically abandoned because they were too pricey. The Q&A session also confirmed something we noticed when we put the handheld through the review gauntlet -- the larger display increases the parallax effect, which translates to a deeper looking 3D experience. If your current handheld's screen bounces too much light for your liking, the XL can take its place starting August 19th in North America.
3DS XL's screen reduces glare
Nintendo's 3DS XL system may have a size advantage over the original 3DS console, but it will also feature a new LCD screen that is less reflective, according to a recent Iwata Asks interview. Takashi Murakami, who works in the mechanical design group for the console, said the reflectivity of the new LCD screen will be 3%, down from 12% on the 3DS."On a LCD screen there are basically three reflective layers, which all of them reflects and cause glare. So this time, we specially treated all the layers," Murakami said. Cutting down on glare for handheld systems has been a goal since the Game Boy Advance, which Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said had been abandoned most of the time due to cost.It especially seems to be in Nintendo's interests to reduce the glare on a stereoscopic 3D system like the 3DS XL though, which was also said to offer a broader depth of 3D than its predecessor, as the system includes a larger depth slider.
Kid Icarus: Uprising prototype began on Wii and PC
Before Kid Icarus: Uprising became the carpal tunnel syndrome-inducing good time it is today, it began development on the PC and Wii. In a new Iwata Asks column, designer Masahiro Sakurai shares the story of development and some neat prototype videos showcasing Kid Icarus: Uprising as it was way before its E3 2010 unveiling. At the outset, Sakurai's company Project Sora didn't even have 3DS dev kits, so they had to start on PC and Wii.The videos -- uploaded to YouTube by Siliconera and embedded above and past the break -- were created to illustrate Sakurai's vision to new dev-team members coming onto the project. Iwata admits the reason it took so long to get Kid Icarus: Uprising out the door was having to port the already established work on PC and Wii over to 3DS.%Gallery-145129%
Iwata reveals three canned Kirby games, more than a decade in the making
The relative ease of Kirby games usually result in their powderpuff protagonist avoiding death from start to finish -- however, Kirby's not immune to the most permanent form of death there is: Project cancellation. In the most recent Iwata Asks, Kirby's Return to Dreamland producer Shigefumi Kawase revealed that three installments in the franchise were killed off mid-development, explaining "We spent 11 years ... making and abandoning these three games." The three Kirby titles in questions would have been starkly different: One was a 2.5D four-player adventure title (sort of like Return to Dreamland, but with more depth), one was a fully-3D exploration-centric game and the other was an animated platformer with "pop-up visuals." They sound charming as all-get-out, which makes us all the more forlorn that they're dead as doornails. Goodnight, sweet princes. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Iwata Asks how Miyamoto learned English
Beyond founding Q-Games and helping to father the PixelJunk series, Dylan Cuthbert has done some other extraordinary things in his years working in the game industry. He recounts some of those adventures in a recent Iwata Asks column, woefully exclusive to Japanese readers for now, but thankfully summarized by Andriasang. But why is Cuthbert appearing in an Iwata Asks ... you ask? Because he helped create several of Nintendo's major Star Fox titles, of course (including the original), and he's heading up development of Star Fox 64 3D as director. Cuthbert actually didn't work on the Nintendo 64 title, as he had left Nintendo and was busy working on Blasto for Sony's PlayStation at the time. Also detailed in the piece is an interesting fact about how Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto learned how to speak English. When Cuthbert began working at Nintendo, he had only a rudimentary grasp on the Japanese language -- after initially impressing staff during a visit when he was 18 to show off a 3D Game Boy engine, he was hired on, regardless of language skills. Miyamoto had an equally unimpressive grasp on English at the time, and it seems that the two worked together to help each other out. Miyamoto is said to have had a particularly hard time in by of with prepositions. We feel your pain.
Xenoblade Chronicles gets European special edition, very European localization
While American fans are doing their best to fume productively about the localization prospects for Xenoblade Chronicles, Nintendo continues working on the European localization. And Nintendo is really hammering home the fact that it's a European localization. A video clip from a recently posted Iwata Asks interview reveals a surprising amount of Britishness in the voice acting. See the clip in question after the break, and find lots more in the interview itself. An announcement on Nintendo of Germany's site reveals that not only is Xenoblade being released in Europe on September 2, it's being released in a limited edition with a red Classic Controller Pro. That's like twisting the Xenoblade in the backs of already irritated Americans.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's development detailed in new Iwata Asks
Nintendo's regular Iwata Asks features are typically capable of dredging up some fairly magical feelings of nostalgia, but none have tapped into our happiness centers quite like the latest installment, which details the development of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Not only does it talk about the game's early prototypes (including that ill-advised, short-lived FPS version), it talks about the inspiration for some of the major revelations that made the game possible. For instance, Z-Targeting? That was inspired by actual ninjas. Seriously! Check out the full interview for more details, like the developmental relationship between OoT and Super Mario 64, as well as a long-overdue admission that, yes, Link is running around Hyrule in long, white underwear.
Iwata chronicles the history of Samurai Warriors
For his latest Iwata Asks interview, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata put the spotlight on one of the less-examined 3DS launch window titles: Tecmo Koei's Samurai Warriors: Chronicles. He speaks to Hisashi Koinuma, who is in charge of the Warriors series at Koei, and who has been with the company since 1994. Koinuma offers a few details about the 3DS game, like the fact that you can use the touch screen to select from a party of four warlords at any time, but the most interesting things he has to say are about the series in general. For example, while most non-fans can't really tell the difference between the Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors series, except that all the names are Japanese in the former and Chinese in the latter, Koinuma reveals that there are design considerations that separate the two. "In Dynasty Warriors 2, you fight on a wide-open field, but castles are more representative of the Sengoku (Warring States) period, so in Samurai Warriors, we decided to feature castles and the characters surrounding them in order to create a difference." Koinuma also offered the following information, which we didn't expect to be mentioned so openly: "The games in the Samurai Warriors series can be played by pure button-mashing."
Nintendo designers on Game & Watch's history
In honor of the new Game & Watch Ball reward available through Club Nintendo, the company released a translated Iwata Asks interview about Nintendo's first experiments with handheld games. The designers and engineers describe just how early the technology was -- it was based on calculator chips, and the games were all designed around the same limits imposed on calculators' numerical displays. "So if a chip can calculate eight digits," explained Takehiro Izushi, "that's 7 segments [each number is built from 7 segments] times 8 digits for a total of 56 segments. And there's the decimal point and symbols like the minus sign. We made the Game & Watch: Ball game using a chip that could display 72 segments." And 28 of those went into the score/time display! Elsewhere in the interview, the developers share early concept art for the devices (like the image above) and detail the process of making a new version of the Ball handheld for Club Nintendo.
Nintendo engineers explain 3DS design, brag about battery cover
In Nintendo's latest Iwata Asks interview, president Satoru Iwata pulled in the engineers that worked on the exterior design of the 3DS to discuss the process. For example, the unique three-layer color scheme, which is a break from the usual monochrome design of DS systems, is designed to represent "how all kinds of content would come in, not just when you went out walking around with it, but also when you just had it sitting at home," according to Yui Ehara from the design group. The layers represent an "accumulation" of content, as Iwata put it. Like ... sediment? Other new design elements include the 3DS's tapered top half (which makes the system easier to open) and a new, stronger material for the body -- "A type of high rigidity nylon with glass fiber in it," Hironori Akai from the product development group explained -- along with battery cover that comprises the entire back surface of the device. The team was especially proud of this feature, but sad that nobody got to see it at E3, since the back of the test units were covered.
Nintendo considering future 3D video recording 'update' for 3DS
In the latest excerpt from Nintendo's "Iwata Asks" interview about the 3DS, Shigeru Miyamoto excitedly revealed that "Iwata-san also wants to include 3D video in the future!" Iwata tempered that exclamation by saying, "I think it will be fun if we're able to include video recording capabilities with future updates." Clearly, that's no guarantee that such a feature will be added to the handheld's 3D camera functionality, but if Iwata thinks it would be fun, then don't be surprised if you find yourself shooting low-res 3D video with your 3DS at some point in the future! Later in the interview, Hideki Konno joined the group and discussed the StreetPass feature in Nintendogs + Cats. "When you're using StreetPass and exchange data with someone, in walk mode, that person's Mii is walking whatever puppy he or she has chosen," Konno explained. "Then your Miis and puppies talk and exchange gifts." The feature is designed to imitate the random meetings of people walking their dogs on the street ... without having to actually meet random people walking their dogs on the street.
Nintendo tried 3D on GameCube and GBA
In a new Nintendo-organized roundtable discussion with the excitable Earthbound writer and all-around Japanese celebrity Shigesato Itoi, company president Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto discuss how the 3DS came about, revealing Nintendo's long history with 3D experimentation. In fact, the company had 3D running on both the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance SP, which was also used as a test platform for the DS's touchscreen technology. "Making three-dimensional images that can be seen by the naked eye requires a special liquid crystal, so we tested it out by putting it in the Game Boy Advance SP," Iwata reveals. "But the resolution of LCD was low then, so it didn't look that great and it never made it to being a product." Of course, Nintendo's most famous dalliance with three-dimensional technology, the Virtual Boy (pictured), actually made it into stores, where it ... didn't do much. Miyamoto attempts to cast the odd goggle thing as a toy, like the Ultra Hand or the Love Tester, rather than what was intended to be the next step in the company's game console line. "I imagined it as something that people who were on the lookout for new entertainment or who could afford to spend a bit of money could buy and enjoy, even if the price was a little expensive," he offers. "But the world treated it like a successor to the Game Boy system." "That was also true within Nintendo," Miyamoto adds. "Our sales department treated the Virtual Boy as an extension of our licensing business." In hindsight, it does make sense for Nintendo to file away the Virtual Boy, along with its low sales and small game library, as a weird, one-off toy, instead of a true platform iteration. Of course, all the headaches it caused are probably best forgotten.
The Last Story's insane 'chat' system revealed
Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi and Takuya Matsumoto from co-developer AQ Interactive spoke to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata about The Last Story's online play in a new Iwata Asks interview posted by Nintendo of Japan. The game won't exactly have chat when played online, but it will have a bizarre, kind of useless, but also probably really amusing replacement. Basically, you'll be able to trigger voice-acted lines from the single-player game in multiplayer. Matsumoto offered the silly example of one of the characters being made to say "Father ... Father ..." repeatedly, which is weird, and hilarious. It would have been even more hilarious had Mistwalker not replaced the placeholder staff voice acting with professionals.
Iwata Asks the Mario team about the series
In honor of the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., and the release of Super Mario All-Stars: Limited Edition, Satoru Iwata has gathered up more members of the Mario team for another round of questioning. The developers probed include Katsuya Eguchi, who joined the team in 1986, and Super Mario Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi, who didn't join until 1991. As always, Iwata proves an expert interrogator, drawing neat information out of his employees. For example, New Super Mario Bros. on DS was originally conceived as a fifth game in the GBA's Super Mario Advance series. "After we released Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3," says Hiroyuki Kimura, "people were asking if a '5' in the series would be released. That's right when the Nintendo DS system came out, which was perfect timing, so I thought if we're gonna make it, it should be a new title." Additionally, Koizumi describes the experience of working with Miyamoto on Super Mario 64, which Miyamoto directed himself. While Koizumi expected written instructions, instead he got, well ... "it was just Miyamoto-san and me in the office, and he starts showing me how Mario is supposed to swim while saying, 'It's not really a breast stroke, and not a crawl, but something like this maybe...?' And he was completely sprawled out on the desk doing these swimming motions." This is the part where you laugh, perhaps nervously.
Super Mario All-Stars was almost 'Mario Extravaganza'
Before Super Mario All-Stars got the name we're familiar with (and the even more staid Japanese game "Super Mario Collection"), the team considered other titles, including the more exciting "Mario Extravaganza." That's one of the factoids revealed by this Iwata Asks interview with Naoki Mori and Tadashi Sugiyama, who worked on the SNES remakes of the NES series. It became "Super Mario Collection," as far as the two could recall, at the suggestion of Shigeru Miyamoto. After the break, we have a video detailing another factoid: the composition of Bowser's castle in both the NES and All-Stars versions of Super Mario Bros. We promise you've never paid this much attention to that castle.
Super Mario All-Stars U.S. box art revealed, Iwata Asks talks music
Listen, if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Wii owner who hasn't already purchased the entire Super Mario catalog on Virtual Console, you're probably going to pick up the 25th Anniversary Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition package. Nintendo recently revealed exactly what the game you'll be hunting for is going to look like, posting the game's official U.S. box art on the company's Twitter feed. Also, the latest installment in the Iwata Asks saga sees the president pressing a few Nintendo EAD composers about the music which will come in the bundle's soundtrack CD. Give it a read, if you're interested in the history of the franchise's timeless accompaniment -- just don't get surly with us if you get "Slider" stuck in your head for like, a month.
How Kirby's Epic Yarn challenges players through humiliation
In a new English edition of "Iwata Asks," in which Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata politely interrogates designers and employees about recent games, there's an interesting discussion regarding the difficulty of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Specifically, it's about how developer Good-Feel cut out deadly traps and objects in order to preserve the game's endearing, fluffy and fun atmosphere. "As a team, we were extremely opposed to the idea of an action game where the game wasn't over when an enemy got you," said producer Etsunobu Ebisu. "We debated that for quite a long time." At first, levels in Kirby's Epic Yarn (formerly Fluff's epic yarn) were full of thorns, a thrilling contrivance that didn't sit well with the game's warm aesthetic. Later, however, "we thought it would be fine if we just made a fun game the way we're good at," Ebisu explained. This led to the introduction of a different characteristic in obstacles, with failure to avoid them resulting in the loss of Kirby's collected beads. You can collect them once dropped, but the in-game currency -- used to unlock bonus levels, for instance -- acts as a strong measure of success at the conclusion of a stage. "When serious gamers play, they want to clear a level without any mistakes like running into enemies, so this game is made so you really feel regret when you run into enemies and a strong sense of achievement when you clear a level without any mistakes," said producer Nobuo Matsumiya. Or, as Iwata succinctly put it: "As a gamer, it's humiliating to bump into an enemy."
Iwata Asks about development of the NES
Indulging his inquiry habit, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata spoke with Masayuki Uemura, advisor to Nintendo's Research & Engineering Dept., and Hiroshi Imanishi, Ex-Director and GM, Corporate Communications Division, about their time working on the Famicom (NES) way back in 1981-82. The two veteran developers describe the impetus behind the decision to make the Famicom, the problems competing with Nintendo's own Game & Watch, and the lasting appeal of Super Mario Bros. Uemura shared how the Famicom came to use its (at the time) unusual 6502 processor. A friend at Ricoh cold-called him and asked for help getting the factory's efficiency up. While working on that, Uemura consulted with Ricoh about processors, and told their engineers about his desire to make a console that could run Donkey Kong. " When I think about it now, I think I was spot-on in asking 'Can we make Donkey Kong?' rather than 'Can we make a circuit like this?'," Uemura said. "It seems like the engineers at Ricoh were starving for the challenge of working on some new technology. Even more important to them was the idea that if they worked at it, they could take Donkey Kong home! (laughs)"
The Epic Yarn of how Fluff's game became Kirby's
Kirby's Epic Yarn bears little resemblance to traditional Kirby games, and it partners the beloved pink sphere with a new character, Prince Fluff. It turns out, according to an Iwata Asks interview with Good-Feel and Nintendo staff, that there's a good reason for both -- Epic Yarn was originally Prince Fluff's game. Wario Land: Shake It! director Madoka Yamauchi came up with an idea for "World of Fluff" and designed it around the Prince Fluff character. Nintendo loved the idea, but thought something was missing from the "warm" world Good-Feel had created. Nintendo proposed turning it into a Kirby game last year. Producer Etsunobu Ebisu said that having Kirby in the world gives Epic Yarn "a greater feeling of existing." Also, we're sure, Kirby gives it a greater feeling of hope for good sales.
