8. Extra Time
As we still have a little time left, is there anything else you would like to add?
Well, I’m going to get back to work.
(checking to see Miyamoto has left the room) Now, I'm going to ask about all those things you don’t want to talk about in front of Miyamoto-san!
(laughter)
But once this interview comes out…
He'll read it and we'll be found out! (laughs)
(laughter)
Okay, while taking that into account, could you tell me what the harshest thing was that Miyamoto-san said to you?
The harshest thing was…
Given that he makes no allowances for planners…
It came as quite a shock when he said “Make another mode!” He would also constantly tell us things like: “You can’t do this!" He’d say things like: “If you carry on like this, we’re never going to get this finished!” He would always be kind enough to give us this kind of "advice".
(laughter)
I see – “advice”. (laughs) How about you, Yamashita-san?
I worked on a cycling race about which Miyamoto-san said: “This is incredibly dull!"
He doesn’t pull any punches, does he? (laughs)
He said: “What’s fun about this?” I had no choice but to respond by saying "Ah, okay. I see..." but actually it was really harsh.
Calling something “incredibly dull” is indeed harsh. There's nothing positive you can take away from that.
When we first started putting the cycling race together, we hit a stage where we weren't sure where to go with it. We started without having a clear plan of how to proceed.
That's something Miyamoto-san really hates.
But because he said those things, it ultimately presented us with an ideal chance to reassess the game's features, which is something we are all extremely grateful for. Hmmm… Did that sound a bit over the top?
(laughs)
But I think it’s really true. If he hadn’t said those things …
If you are working by yourselves without outside supervision, there is always a tendency to take the least challenging route. So in the end, it's good that Miyamoto-san got involved.
What’s more, we had to give a presentation, a kind of progress report, once every few months…
The dreaded progress report! (laughs)
“Dreaded” is exactly the right word! (laughs)
He makes each person stand for an hour.
He makes you stand? (laughs)
(laughter)
In order to explain games currently in development in front of Miyamoto-san…
He gets you to stand up to give these explanations.
Yes, he certainly does. (laughs) Each person has to go through about an hour with Miyamoto-san saying “That’s no good” and us saying “I see… I see…”
And with 12 sports and 24 modes, it's a hugely time-consuming process.
It certainly is. After I was put through an hour and a half of this…
After you “were put through this”… (laughs)
The planner responsible for archery... I'm not going to name the person in question, so let's call him H-san to preserve his dignity...
Okay, H-san it is.
Anyway, as H-san was overseeing archery, he was incredibly good at it. Normally he would have no problem in hitting the bulls-eye time after time.
But during the progress report meeting, when he was demonstrating archery, he was shaking really badly.
If you looked at the screen, you could see that he wasn’t able to hold it steady at all. I’d never seen anyone shaking so bad before when playing the game so I said: “You’re shaking!” He replied: ”It’s nerves!” (laughs)
(laughter)
Then after having it pointed it out to him, the shaking got even worse.
The arrows were flying all over the place. I wonder if the Wii MotionPlus is the world's first device that's able to detect whether someone is nervous.
(laughs) So did he get through that nerve-wracking presentation without Miyamoto-san giving him the thumbs down?
On that occasion…
As you might be able to guess, Miyamoto-san did indeed give him the thumbs down!
(laughter)
But following that, it improved greatly.
I suppose it’s these strict checks which form the basis of EAD11 software’s quality. Thank you all very much for taking the time to join me today. 11 EAD is the acronym for the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division of Nintendo’s headquarters in Japan.
