Tag: Iwata Asks - Page 2
News Monster Hunter 4 Video Was All Real-Time, All the Time
Actually playable
If, like us, you were wowed by the Monster Hunter 4 video Capcom revealed back in September but thought "that can't possibly be accurate" — apparently it can. A recent Iwata Asks interview (via Andriasang) reveals that not only was it real-time footage of the upcoming 3DS game, it was actually played by Capcom staff...
News Iwata Asks Sheds Light on Mario Kart 7's Creation
Retro and Nintendo in harmony
By now you've presumably read our Mario Kart 7 review, giving the latest 3DS racer a well-deserved 9/10 score. If you want to know more about how the game was put together, Nintendo's got you covered with an Iwata Asks interview all about MK7. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata spoke to series producer Hideki Konno and...
News Nintendo Finishing Mario Kart 7 Was an "Act of Emergency"
Calling all cars
Mario Kart series producer Hideki Konno has revealed Nintendo saw finishing work on Mario Kart 7 as an "act of emergency", according to a new Japanese Iwata Asks article (via Eurogamer). Konno reveals the game started development with just eight staff attached, but that once team members were peeled off to wo
News Nintendo Delayed Skyward Sword To Get It Just Right
The Nintendo way
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword spent five years in the works at Nintendo, but a recent Iwata Asks reveals the game could have seen the light of day last year. Shigeru Miyamoto said it's feasible the game could have been released last Christmas, but that plan wouldn't have been the best move for its quality: If we'd only been...
News Miyamoto: "Super Mario 64 Was Boring"
Wasn't always a classic
We now know that Super Mario 64 is one of the most important genre leaps in gaming history, taking Nintendo's mascot from 2D into 3D with enormous skill and craftsmanship. However, creating the game wasn't plain sailing, as a new Iwata Asks reveals. The discussion — which comes in at a colossal 26 pages — reveals that...
News Skyward Sword Had Nintendo's Biggest Audio Visual Teams
A huge undertaking
Nintendo has said before that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is one of its biggest-ever developments, and the latest Iwata Asks reveals just how vast the creative team was. The sound team alone took in ten members, the biggest sound team a Nintendo game has ever had: with five composers and five staff handling effects and the...
News Super Mario 3D Land Made for Snacking, Not Gorging
Handheld finger food
3DS might be as powerful as Wii, but it's in a very different setting, as Super Mario 3D Land director Koichi Hayashida explains in a recent Iwata Asks. According to Hayashida, if Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a grand imperial banquet, Super Mario 3D Land is fast food, designed to be consumed quickly in short bites: [Super Mario...
News Skyward Sword Nearly Had Button Combat Controls
Things could have gone very differently
We know that Nintendo nearly dropped MotionPlus from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but it nearly had even less motion for your money, with the revelation in a recent Japanese Iwata Asks article that combat was nearly a button-based affair. The interview (via Silic
News Tennis As a 3D Classics Release Was Way Out
Don't need Hawk-Eye to tell us it's no good
Tennis for the NES has already been released via the Wii Shop Channel as a Virtual Console game, but at one point, it was also in the process of being brought over to the 3DS as part of the 3D Classics range. The latest Iwata Asks centres on the Nintendo eShop and reveals why that re-release never came to...
News Ocarina of Time at One Point Confined Within Ganon's Castle
Could have turned out very different yet still familiar
One of the things that we love about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is how easy it is to just take Epona out for a ride; whether it's a quick boost from point A to B, or just making prints in Hyrule Field to past the time, horse riding has now become a staple of main Zelda games. As the...
News Iwata: "We've Finally Reached the Digital Sales Starting Line"
eShop is a fresh start
The 3DS eShop has been available for a week now, and if you've read our Nintendo 3DS eShop FAQ you'll know there's plenty to discover in Nintendo's new downloadable store front. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is proud of the company's achievement, as he discussed in a new Iwata Asks article. Speaking to key members of the...
News Sakurai Talks Connecting Smash Bros 3DS and Wii U
New experiences planned
Last week at E3 Satoru Iwata announced that Smash Bros. is coming to Wii U and 3DS, and there was much rejoicing, particularly when Iwata confirmed the two versions would be able to communicate with each other. A new Iwata Asks between the Nintendo President and Smash Bros. head Masuhiro Sakurai has delved a little more into...
News Wii U Hopes to Rectify Problems that Wii is Experiencing
Terms like "core" and "casual" pop up, again
Without getting into semantics, the Nintendo Wii was and still is a huge success. With all the people that the console managed to please, there's naturally a percentage of people it failed to win over. With Nintendo's next console, the company hopes to fix several issues that come as a result of being...
News Iwata Asks Delves Into Wii U Development
Console started life three years ago
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, and head of the Entertainment Analysis and Development Shigeru Miyamoto sat down for a wide-ranging interview about Wii U, revealing the machine first reared its head in Nintendo meetings back in 2008. The seven-page chat also addresses the perception that Nintendo's addition of a...
News Nintendo Originally Intended Steel Diver to Surface on DSiWare
Jumped to retail to increase depth
Recent 3DS release Steel Diver has had a long, long road to release: starting out as a DS demo back in 2004, the title eventually wound up on 3DS, but it could have been released much earlier if its original course had been followed. A recent Iwata Asks article focuses on the 3DS sub title, with producer Tadashi...
News Miyamoto Explains the Chubby Appearance of Mario
Nothing to do with ordering extra cheese
How many rotund heroes can you think of? Okay, it doesn't actually matter how many you can think of, the only chubby hero that matters for the sake of this article is the one and only Mario, and Shigeru Miyamoto explains why the plumber looked the way he did when he first appeared on our screens. During the...
News Iwata Asks About the Music of Xenoblade Chronicles
Scoring an epic
Nintendo is localising Xenoblade Chronicles for Europe at least, and players anticipating the game's score might want to read the latest Iwata Asks about the game. Producer Tetsuya Takahashi reveals the reasons behind asking renowned composer Yasunori Mitsuda to write the final track, but it's veteran game musician Yoko Shimomura who...
News Super Street Fighter IV is All About the Community
Ono, it's true
Capcom brawler Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is one of the stand-out titles in the list of 3DS launch games, so much so that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata sat down with Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono to discuss the title's origins and how it takes advantage of the 3DS's features. Considering the machine's power and 3D screen...
News Ridge Racer 3D Packed with Content, Despite Being on a Handheld
Plenty of ghosts, locations, and music
In the latest volume of Iwata Asks that focuses on third-party developers, Satoru Iwata talks with Yozo Sakagami, producer of Ridge Racer 3D, and explore the ideas behind racing games and in particular, the upcoming 3DS instalment in the Ridge Racer series. After an introduction into Sakagami's background in...
News Nintendogs Nearly Went for a Wii in Your Living Room
But went outside instead
DS mega-hit Nintendogs has sold millions of copies worldwide, shifting more DS units than you can shake a stick at, so the revelation that series creator Shigeru Miyamoto considered bringing the series to Wii shouldn't really be a surprise. The latest Iwata Asks finds Miyamoto and colleague Hideki Konno discussing the...
News 3DS Too Full of Gadgets to Make a 3DS Lite Possible
Iwata talks, size matters
Ever since before the 3DS was officially unveiled, gamers claimed they would wait until the so-called "inevitable" revision that has accompanied all Nintendo's portable hardware over the years: you need only look at the number of iterations of the original GameBoy, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS consoles to...
News Top Screen Backlight to Blame for 3DS Battery Life
Too bright by half
There's no dressing it up: the 3DS's battery life of 3 - 5 hours is disappointing. Ryuji Umezu, the system designer, talked to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata about the many features that sap away the machine's battery life, with the main culprit, as you would expect, the 3D top screen. Explaining that the most energy-hungry...
News What Do You Make of This 3DS Prototype?
Better than the real thing?
Nintendo consoles go through countless prototypes before the final version hits the shop shelves, so it's no surprise that the 3DS didn't always look the same way it does now. The newest instalment of Iwata Asks, in which Nintendo President Satoru Iwata chews the fat with his colleagues, reveals a few interesting...
News Sakaguchi: To Succeed Internationally, JRPGs Need to Change
Will Last Story lead the way by example?
There have been many Japanese games that never made it out of their own country but far from publishers being lazy or concerned that localisations won't be profitable enough for the hassle, perhaps the reason genres like Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) sometimes struggle to find success in the Western...
News Iwata: Making Consoles is Like Buying Sushi, and Other Insights
Crazy comments from top dog
We could have had 3D gaming years ago, had Nintendo's experiments with the Virtual Boy, Famicom Disk System, GameCube and GameBoy Advance gone better. Does this frustrate President Satoru Iwata? Of course, but it also seemingly makes him hungry, if his comments in the latest Iwata Asks are anything to go
News Iwata Hints at 3D Video Recording with Future 3DS Updates
Another string to the 3DS's bow
Along with the games that are in production for the upcoming 3DS, it seems Nintendo has allowed itself enough room to experiment with other uses and applications for the device. In a 3DS edition of Iwata Asks, the President of Nintendo Japan Satoru Iwata talks about the popularity of 3D cameras and hints at the...
News Iwata Asks About 3D Gaming on the Famicom Disk System
Early 3D experiments under the microscope
Nintendo's history with 3D goes back years before the 3DS was ever announced: the GameCube was 3D-compatible with an LCD accessory, Satoru Iwata still has a 3D GameBoy Advance in his sock drawer and of course there was the much-maligned Virtual Boy. But the love affair goes back still further, as discussed...
News Latest Iwata Asks Opens Eyes to Nintendo's Tough Standards
Retro Studios in the hot seat
Donkey Kong Country Returns developer Retro Studios recently sat down with Nintendo top man Satoru Iwata to discuss the game's development and the difficulties of long-distance relationships. The Texas-based studio spoke of the inherent troubles of 5am teleconferences with Japanese producer Risa Tabata, who often would...
News Unconventional Camera Work will Capture the Action in Last Story
Making sure the game remains exciting
Following the revelation that Mistwalker's latest game – Last Story for the Wii – will be hitting Japanese shops in January 2011, the second half of the Iwata Asks column dedicated to the RPG has now been published on Nintendo's Japanese site. The game's director and Misterwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi, and...
News Read About the Birth of the Famicom in Latest Iwata Asks
Go right back to the start
Nintendo's Famicom is a piece of gaming history. The company's first cartridge-based gaming system, it set the revitalised the industry and set the standard for what was to follow. Satoru Iwata sat down with two of Nintendo's behind-the-scenes heroes for his latest "Iwata Asks" feature: R&D advisor Masayuki Uemura and...
News Miyamoto and Itoi Discuss Mario, Rubik's Cubes, TV and More
Top Nintendo designers shoot the breeze
Nintendo's Iwata Asks series has provided us with plenty of fascinating insights into the creation of the company's games, the minds of its creators and the creative spirit that defines its output. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo legends Shigesato Itoi (creator of the...
News Pokémon Black & White to Explore New Territory
Iwata Asks about the game setting and Pokémon design
With Pokémon Black & White's upcoming Japanese release of September 18th fast approaching, the Nintendo president has taken part in another Iwata Asks with Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO at The Pokémon Company, as well as Pokémon Black & White director Junichi Masuda and 2D art director Ken...
News Thirty Years of Nintendo Handhelds Stem from Make-Up Cases
Clamshell design inspired by compacts
The most recent Iwata Asks article is a fascinating insight into the development of the Game & Watch series, showing off unseen design documents and now revealing the origins of the system's iconic style that lives on through Nintendo's current and next-gen handhelds. But where did the folding feature...
News These Game & Watch Documents are All Kinds of Amazing
Black and white and oh so right
Currently enjoying a resurgence due to many rereleases on DSiWare, Nintendo's portable Game & Watch consoles are the subject of the latest Iwata Asks over at Nintendo Japan's site. Most of the development team, minus the late Gunpei Yokoi, dropped by on Mr Iwata to chat about these seminal titles and hardware and...
News Find Out More About Super Mario Galaxy 2's Creation
Yoshiaki Koizumi reflects on latest outing
That didn't take long: Super Mario Galaxy 2 producer Yoshiaki Koizumi was interviewed by Famitsu Magazine about his feelings towards the newly-released sequel and its production. Covering everything from the game's conception as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5 to their awareness of not alienating Mario veterans,...
News Miyamoto Loves it When Games Resonate
Latest Iwata Asks translated
It's been well-documented that the development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 posed a few tricky decisions for the team: starting out as Super Mario Galaxy 1.5, the role of the story was much-discussed inside Nintendo, with different team members arguing for more or less story. All this led Shigeru Miyamoto to a realisation: he...
News Iwata Asks for Super Mario Galaxy 2 Reveals Many, Many Informative Nuggets
Too many for this tagline to contain
Always informative and surprising, the Iwata Asks series of articles is a treasure trove of Nintendo experience and and information, so you won't be surprised to hear that the latest article, covering Super Mario Galaxy 2, is chock-full of interesting facts. Yoshi was originally planned for the first Super Mario...
News Monster Hunter 3 Team Helped Design Classic Controller Pro
Nintendo President asks Capcom producers about bringing the popular franchise to the Wii
In the current edition of "Iwata Asks" – a series of interviews that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has conducted with colleagues to give fans insight into the creative processes at Nintendo – Monster Hunter 3 Tri director Kaname Fujioka and...
News Iwata Asks About Zelda Handheld History
Ancient documents unearthed, and the US drama that inspired Link's Awakening
A newly translated Iwata Asks has popped up on the Nintendo Europe site and this time the focus is on past releases rather than a current title. Inspired by the old stories that were recalled in the New Super Mario Bros. Wii edition, Mr Iwata asked Toshihiko Nakago, Takashi...
News Miyamoto: I Wanted To Patent Jumping In Games
Nintendo's latest Q&A session reveals an amusing tid-bit
Nintendo's regular "Iwata Asks" Q&A sessions have thrown up some interesting points and the latest one - featuring Shigeru Miyamoto - is no exception. Miyamoto: After Mario Bros., there were a fair few jumping-style games released by various companies and I felt that this kind...
News Sin & Punishment Team Talks N64 Development Hell
The console "didn't work at all"
The paradigm shift from 2D to 3D that game developers faced in the 32/64-bit era was so drastic that not only did developers have to grapple with new tech but also figuring out how on earth their games would work in a new dimension. It didn't always work out so well, but when it did it was magical. Nintendo CEO...
News Iwata Goes To Rhythm Heaven
The latest edition of Iwata Asks, featuring an interview with the team behind Rhythm Heaven for DS!
Although Rhythm Heaven is just now making its way outside of Japan, it has actually been in around for quite some time now. Beginning on the GBA under the title Rhythm Tengoku, it quickly garnered the attention of players with its quirky style and...
