Nintendo Dream: December 2014 Issue Preview (Miyamoto, Sakurai, Nintendo staff)

[Ryce]

I have scans of the Sakurai interview, but it needs translating.

plz help

 

[Garou]

I have the issue. The Miyamoto-interview is based around the Pikmin-short movies, haven't read the Sakurai one yet.

 

[Garou]

Started reading a bit of the Sakurai-interview, small excerpt from the second page. The interview was done shortly before the release of the Wii U version in Japan.

-------

ND: These games were produced together with Bandai Namco Games, how did this happen to be?

MS: When we created Kid Icarus 3DS we assembled people from several places, but we experienced problems and had some regrets with that. I had to do interviews and other HR-duties, which amounts to a lot of time and work. Obviously, everyone has different levels of experience and different ways of working, so bringing everything together was difficult. To solve this problem we thought it would be better to have one single company work for us, so we choose to work with Bandai Namco Games who produce Tekken and other games. When thinking about a Japanese company that can make a large-scale fighting-game, there was only this one company. It would be quite difficult for other companies I think.

ND: Are you content with how the actual production went?

MS: I learned how to hold it in and not go to the toilet. It was quite far away from my seat (laughs).

ND: Please don't do that! You actually had some health-concerns, right? We heard you couldn't move your right hand anymore.

MS: Even now a tendonitis or something like that hasn't healed yet, I for example use my left hand to move a trackball. Smash Brothers is always a extremely hard development-process. Thinking about it now, I was quite lucky not getting sick in the past. I took care of myself a little better this time and it kind of worked out.

-------

 

[Gleethor]

Thanks for the translation.

 

[sörine]

Only this one company? Ouch for Sega/Capcom.

 

[The Bankslammer]

MS: I learned how to hold it in and not go to the toilet. It was quite far away from my seat (laughs).

ND: Please don't do that! You actually had some health-concerns, right? We heard you couldn't move your right hand anymore.

MS: Even now a tendonitis or something like that hasn't healed yet, I for example use my left hand to move a trackball. Smash Brothers is always a extremely hard development-process. Thinking about it now, I was quite lucky not getting sick in the past. I took care of myself a little better this time and it kind of worked out.

by the time this man is done with game development, there will not be a single functioning part of his body remaining

 

[Roo]

by the time this man is done with game development, there will not be a single functioning part of his body remaining

If he weren't such a control freak he probably wouldn't have so many health problems.

 

[Boss Doggie]

wait, Sakurai has incontinence?

 

[Neiteio]

by the time this man is done with game development, there will not be a single functioning part of his body remaining

Sakurai will be a brain in a jar when he develops the next Smash.

 

[MannyToons]

Sakurai will be a brain in a jar when he develops the next Smash.

Laughed way too hard at this.

 

[JazzmanZ]

Sakurai will be a brain in a jar when he develops the next Smash.

I guess only Sakurai has the brains to make Smash bros.

 

[ika]

No Takahashi interview / Xenoblade X preview, or at least a mention in Miyamoto feature?

Oh, well....

Hoping to read news about Mario Maker and Star Fox at least...

 

[Garou]

Another snippet from page 3-4

-----

ND: When not you are not developing and there is a new title or character released, you are not thinking about "How about that one in the next Smash Bros?", right?

MS: Absolutely not! I'm always thinking that doing Smash Bros. again will be impossible. Impossible, impossible...is what I always think, but I ended up making it again (laughs). But once I decide to do it, I'm very fast about creating moves and such. For example Greninja, even before his name was decided I received several illustrations. I took them home in the evening and around midnight I had already done all his actions, normal moves, special moves and pose-pictures and sent them around asking "What do you think?".

ND: That's incredible speed! By the way, when deciding on which characters to use, are you looking into unreleased new games?

MS: At the very beginning I did that. This time our project-proposal is dated May 2012, at that time all characters were decided already. Then as production moves on we will say "We won't put that chracter in" and cut out low-priority-characters.

ND: That means in your project-proposal there are more characters than ended up in the game?

MS: Yes, but I won't tell which of course.

ND: (laughs). We were wondering all the time "Which characters will be in", and then the "long-time heroes" are announced just like that. We were wondering if that was the right way to announce them.

MS: After all we were planning on including so many characters, in the end this pace of announcing them was enough. Each and every character has fans, we wanted to drop as few as possible. About the order of which character has priority, the characters that don't have a new title coming up have an overwhelming disadvantage...even characters that we ended up including could have been left out if development had progressed differently. But even if 1 former character is left out, for the fans this is a huge thing. On our side, we are re-creating characters from the previous title, and keep on adding more, so the word "reduce" is not appropriate. There are cases where we simply couldn't make it in the end, but on the whole we did a good job I think and the people at Bandai Namco Games did a great job. We had discussions on giving up on something many many times, Bowser Jr. was on the brink of being cut but the staff said "We'll do our best!" and we made it.

ND: Were there Smash Bros. or Nintendo-fans among the staff of Bandai Namco Games?

SM: Of course. People who love Nintendo, people who love the characters, people who aren't a fan of something specific but love games as a whole...it depends on the individual.

ND: Was there something you didn't ask for but got created because one of your staff was obsessed with it?

MS: There are several cases of this. For example, Sheik's movement is completely different to Brawl, someone made a proposal to me for those motions.

-----

So once you hear about a new Smash Bros. being in development you are not asking for which characters to be included, but which characters shouldn't be cut.

 

[Garou]

wait, Sakurai has incontinence?

I would read it as he doesn't want to leave his seat, because on the way to the toilet and back people will catch him and he will end up doing more work.

 

[Nightbird]

Thank God for Bowser Jr not being cut! I really like him and the Koopalings.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Thanks a lot for the translations.

The date of the proposal makes sense why any Platinum characters couldn't be included.

Bowser Jr. being closest to being cut pleases me. I love the character and the Koopalings alts but I felt it was wrong for Mario to get that much representation while other series (Metroid, Donkey Kong) were lacking.

I wonder if any of the cut characters from the initial proposal where not veterans? I'm sure Mewtwo, Wolf and Lucas was on the list. I gonna guess Dixie and Chorus Kids may have been too. I wonder if Ridley was before they decided he couldn't be done?

 

[Spinluck]

Smash development is the most fun to read up on. Always some fun interesting facts.

 

[Jobbs]

wow. bowser jr. almost got cut. he's one of my favorites. glad he's in. very fun and cool character -- tons of flavor with the different koopa kids all as different skins.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Thanks Garou!

 

[Orniletter]

Only this one company? Ouch for Sega/Capcom.

Maybe he was refering to Tokyo based Developers ?

Capcom is located in Osaka...not sure about SEGA.

 

[Ryce]

MS: At the very beginning I did that. This time our project-proposal is dated May 2012, at that time all characters were decided already. Then as production moves on we will say "We won't put that chracter in" and cut out low-priority-characters.

ND: That means in your project-proposal there are more characters than ended up in the game?

MS: Yes, but I won't tell which of course.

:-(

 

[RomanceDawn]

:-(

Fear not. They will be coming as DLC.

The competitive community is erupting over this interview. I love being competitive with Smash and I feel like Sakurai pulled a lot of positive moves for that community. Ain't no body never happy bout nuthin!

 

[Tenki]

Thanks Garou for the translation!

I wish we had more characters, even via DLC

 

[Joey Fox]

No one wants to translate the info on an amiibos game?

 

[MrSaturn99]

Will you be doing the whole interview, Garou?

The competitive community is erupting over this interview. I love being competitive with Smash and I feel like Sakurai pulled a lot of positive moves for that community. Ain't no body never happy bout nuthin!

I shouldn't be surprised, but what's the hubbuh stemming from? Nothing really jumps out to me in what we've seen so far (in regards to competitive Smash, anyway).

 

[Tom_Cody]

:-(

Someone should reverse the order in which they are standing.

 

[TheMoon]

Great stuff in there. Keep the translations coming, please! Even if they're just summaries!

 

[Spinosaurus]

:-(

Now I'm sad again

 

[Not75Drops]

So Bowser Jr was likely the last non-clone character finished then. I wonder how far in development characters have to be finished before they get the axe. The veterans aren't so bad but there was that whole thing with Jigglypuff apparently being one the last additions to Brawl.

 

[Jezan]

If only I knew Japanese.
And lived in Japan.
And worked at Nintendo while we're at it.

What about your uncle?
Mine told me that....

Another snippet from page 3-4

MS: There are several cases of this. For example, Sheik's movement is completely different to Brawl, someone made a proposal to me for those motions.

Thank you whoever did this! Sheik is now more ninjaish and I love the new jumping animations. Thank you mystery person!

Probably that same person is the one that wanted Zero Suit Samus to animate different (looking by the jumping animations which are similar to Sheik's)

 

[Starphoenix]

:-(

Makes sense why Chorus Men may have been cut: technically challenging character with no new game on the horizon = low priority. At least they could have sprinkled some tracks in the game, you know? Or a stage? Oh well.

 

[Blues1990]

Thanks Garou for the translation!

I wish we had more characters, even via DLC

There aren't any characters in the roster that represent the GBA or the Famicom Disk System, and I thought Issac from the Golden Sun series & Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle would both have fit the bill. I'm happy that Takamaru made it in as an Assist Trohpy, in hopes that he will get the Little Mac treatment in a future installment of the series.

 

[IntelliHeath]

the cuts in Smash 5 might be a huge and disappointing.

Edited: Someone said that Sakurai were talking about DLC and Third Party in article so can you clarifying that please?

 

[Garou]

From the Miyamoto-Interview, they have a Yes/No-style questionnaire, including his answers from the past.

Q: Are you having fun at work?
Now: Yes
9/06: Yes
12/97: Yes

Q: I often dream of work
Now: No
9/06: No
1/99: No

Q: I consider myself of good fortune
Now: Big Yes (Waving the answer-plate)
9/06: Big Yes
1/99: Yes

Q: I want to make games until I die
Now: (after thinking about it) No --> Maybe
9/06: Yes
1/99: Yes

Q: If I were reborn I would work for Nintendo again
Now: Yes ("This answer is kind of suspicious" (laughs))
9/06: Maybe
2/98: Maybe

Q: I want to be president of Nintendo once
Now: No
9/06: No
1/99: No

Q: I don't fully understand what young people are talking about
Now: Yes ("I'm actually trying to stay in the loop but..." (laughs))
9/06: Maybe
1/99: No

Q: I'm a morning-person
Now: No
9/06: No
2/98: No

Q: I'm a good husband
Now: (thinking about it) No ("If I say No, the reality might actually become a Yes")
9/06: Yes
12/97: Yes

Q: I'm a good parent
Now: ("This one is the same I guess") No
9/06: Yes
2/98: Maybe

Q: I'm being loved by my subordinates
Now: ("This one as well" (laughs)) No
9/06: No
2/98: Maybe

Q: I'm glad I was born Japanese
Now: Yes
9/06: Maybe
2/98: No

Q: I want to live until I'm 100 years old
Now: No ("I don't think I'm going to die, so I'm contradicting myself" (laughs))
9/06: Yes
2/98: Yes

Q: I don't like planes
Now: Yes ("When travelling inside Japan I will always take the Shinkansen bullet-train")
9/06: Yes
2/98: Yes

Q: I want to fall in love again
Now: Yes ("This will always be a Yes")
9/06: Yes
12/97: Yes

Q: I want to make a movie
Now: No
9/06: No
12/97: No

 

[Garou]

From the Sakurai-Interview "The reason why those 50 (-47) fighters are in the game"

Mii-Fighter
MS: This time customization was a factor, I thought that we had to take a step towards being able to create something to your own liking during development. Although, we were thinking a lot about whether people would be happy to see the Mii Fighter as their opponent. For example if "My mommy" would come up as an opponent, would that really become a heated battle...? As we thought about that, if the character were to look and come out nonchalantly like in Mii Plaza, this would have been a definite failure. In the end by having the head of the Mii and changing up the body as well as giving them proper moves we managed to bring it into existence.

The reason for the return of Dr. Mario
MS: Actually all "Model-change"-characters that we have now were originally just supposed to be color-configurations. Just like the Little Mac-wireframe or how Olimar and Alph are included, we planned to just make the look and maybe the voice a possible configuration. But, when talking about Dr. Mario, including his abilities he had a lot of individuality in Melee compared to Mario. Also there were fans that said things like "I'm a doctor!", or "A back-alley doctor!" when they chose the black color-config. When you have such fans and you just change the character-model and leave it at that and it becomes "The same as Mario", we thought people might get angry (laughs). That's why we forced ourselves and changed that. But, unlike we did in the past when we separately added abilities and monitored the results, this time we used the customization-system and entered the adjustment-process by starting with a "Mario that's a bit heavier, with added attack-power". Although even then it still took a lot of work. During the regular adjustment-process we have each fighter battle all others and try to grasp the "strong" and "weak" problem areas, but in this case we had Dr. Mario go against Mario and tried to adjust it so it would most likely result in a tie. We did the same for Marth and Lucina, as well as Pit and Black Pit.

The reason for Duck Hunt joining the battle
MS: You think Duck Hunt is a rather minor character, right?
ND: We...think so. (laughs)
Everybody: (laughs)
MS: Please try to have a look at the sales-numbers. It might be the most-sold shooting-game in the world. It might be because it came bundled with the NES outside of Japan, if you look at worldwide numbers you come up with a huge number. I thought to create a character based on that would be appropriate, so we included that character from the very beginning of the project.
ND: So it was a candidate all along for the whole Smash Bros.-franchise?
MS: No, that would be exaggerating...in past titles we had our hands full with the characters we included back then. Even if we had tried even harder back then we couldn't have included it. But this time it was fun to do "Duck Hunt" and its shooting-like presentation. Like having a third person intervening the action, being able to say "It's actually a trio" was fun. That's how we finalized it during development of the concept, saying "That's how we can make it work!".

 

[Boss Doggie]

So the reason Dr. Mario/Lucina/Dark Pit is playable is because of the fans.

Well, we now know who we can pin the blame on!

 

[Orniletter]

Thanks for the translation, Garou.

Q: I'm being loved by my subordinates
Now: ("This one as well" (laughs)) No
9/06: No
2/98: Maybe

His subordinates are not fond of upended teatables.... I see. *cracks whip*

 

[NEO0MJ]

: I'm a good husband
Now: (thinking about it) No ("If I say No, the reality might actually become a Yes")
9/06: Yes
12/97: Yes

Q: I'm a good parent
Now: ("This one is the same I guess") No
9/06: Yes
2/98: Maybe

Q: I'm glad I was born Japanese
Now: Yes
9/06: Maybe
2/98: No

These are really strange answers. Funny how he wasn't happy to be japanese in the past, I wonder why.

 

[bomma_man]

These are really strange answers. Funny how he wasn't happy to be japanese in the past, I wonder why.

Rising nationalism?

 

[Zalman]

So Bowser Jr was likely the last non-clone character finished then. I wonder how far in development characters have to be finished before they get the axe. The veterans aren't so bad but there was that whole thing with Jigglypuff apparently being one the last additions to Brawl.

I imagine Jigglypuff being one of the veterans with the lowest priority (outside of clones like Falco, Toon Link etc.) The franchise is already heavily represented in the game.

 

[MrSaturn99]

Hahaha I love how Sakurai acknowledges how amazing Dr. Mario's black costume is.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I know myself, as a fan of Doctor Mario in Melee, I would have been a little disappointed if he went from playable character to alt costume. I like how they maintained his unique moves and gave him a Melee feel, it makes him stand out as a unique fighter more. I hope he stays in the series going forward.

Lucina is good too, she has a unique model, a decent change from Marth and is a popular character.

Dark Pit doesn't even have a unique model though. Alph is more visually different than Dark Pit. I'm not one of those that rages against his inclusion, but I do find it a little strange they even bothered, since he's exactly the same character and pretty much the cloniest character the series has ever had.

 

[Ryce]

I really appreciate the translations, Garou.

 

[maxcriden]

Thank you SO much for the translations, Garou!

These are really strange answers. Funny how he wasn't happy to be japanese in the past, I wonder why.

Unless I misunderstood, what he means is that if he tells himself he is not a good parent/husband, that will only cause him to become a better one.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

Miyamoto interview still not translated

Truly this is suffering

 

[TheMoon]

Miyamoto interview still not translated

Truly this is suffering

And it's not like there are no people who can read Japanese and care about this stuff :/

 

[maxcriden]

And it's not like there are no people who can read Japanese and care about this stuff :/

I'm learning Japanese but it's pretty slow going. Sorry guys. I'm so psyched for when I can help with stuff like this though!

 

[TheMoon]

I'm learning Japanese but it's pretty slow going. Sorry guys. I'm so psyched for when I can help with stuff like this though!

What are you doing here? Go go study! Expecting translations by the weekend!

 

[maxcriden]

What are you doing here? Go go study! Expecting translations by the weekend!

わかりました!

 

[maxcriden]

Nintendo Everything posted a new translation! No game info, more fun facts.

ND: Favorite food?
SM: It’s pasta. Or more specifically I like noodles in general.
ND: Your answer hasn’t changed from our interview 18 years ago.
SM: I became convinced recently. Noodles is my favorite food. If it is noodles like ramen [Chinese-style noodles] or udon [Japanese wheat noodles], everything goes. Anyway, if it isn’t noodles, I’m greatly troubled.

ND: Do you think you’d like to try living outside of Kyoto?
SM: Not really.
ND: What are the good things about Kyoto?
SM: You can go everywhere with a bicycle. As I’ve been living there, it has a very nice mood. Therefore I will certainly continue living in Kyoto.

ND: Least favorite food?
SM: It’s liver.
ND: The answer from 18 years ago was also the same. You couldn’t overcome it, right? (laughs)
SM: I could not. (laughs) I can’t overcome liver in eternity.

ND: There have been more people cosplaying Mario recently, don’t you think?
SM: There have been many alright. I’m thankful for it. It increased during Halloween and there was this television thing from Mercedes-Benz…
ND: Wasn’t that an official television commercial? (laughs)
SM: Luigi and Peach were also nice in the recent commercial. (laughs)

ND: Favorite animal?
SM: Pikmin. (laughs) If not, I have always liked dogs, however I like cats about as much, too.
ND: As you have both currently.
SM: I like both dogs and cats.

ND: A happy thing that happened to you recently?
SM: I really like bluegrass music (acoustic American roots band music), you know?
ND: Yes.
SM: The mogul of that bluegrass music world, a Dobro player Mr. Jerry Douglas, visited Japan.
ND: What is a Dobro?
SM: A resonator guitar made of metal which can be used in many ways in country and bluegrass. I too play it just a little, but Jerry is a genius player. He performed in a park in Osaka, but thanks to guidance from a friend of mine, I was able to bother him backstage and got an exciting meeting. There I took a commemorative photo with Jerry and two others. Jerry also has a camera of his own, and I heard that a commemorative photo that was taken together was later on his Twitter. (laughs) Anyway, I met the musician I had longed for and the performance was also the greatest of Japan tour, so it was truly an impressive night. Furthermore, the young bassist of the band was a fan of Nintendo’s Star Fox.

ND: What is your current obsession?
SM: My current obsession… I wonder what I’m fascinated with currently. “I forgot” isn’t an answer, right? (laughs)
ND: Ahahaha (laughs).
SM: However, one year prior I was fascinated with creating Pikmin short movies…

ND: How did you spend a vacation lately?
SM: I returned to swimming recently. Ah, that’s right, my current obsession is swimming.
ND: Swimming has really came back, right?
SM: That’s right. Although it had already been roughly 20 years, recently I set a few new goals…
ND: Was that distance or time?
SM: It is both distance and time. As I continue, I increase each a little. Swimming has been the specialty of my wife since she was a kid, so we have gone to the pool together for several years and thus I rival her in swimming technique. If possible, I also visit the gym during vacations, so that and swimming are both my current obsessions.

ND: Tasty food which you ate lately?
SM: Ah… I wonder what that was?
ND: What did you eat yesterday?
SM: (replying in no time) Cod roe spaghetti!
ND: You remember that well. (laughs)
SM: Tasty food which you ate lately… errr… why do you ask such a thing?
ND: It’s the question we came to ask all along. (laughs)
SM: Well I was trying to find the real answer and be funny while saying “Why?” (laughs)
ND: (laughs) If you don’t remember that, you can also send the answer via fax later.
SM: Ah, I remembered: hitsumabushi [chopped eel on rice]. I came to Nagoya [city] to eat hitsumabushi. As I thought, hitsumabushi was delicious there.

http://nintendoeverything.com/miyamoto-talks-about-some-non-gaming-topics/