3. Upending the Tea Table

Iwata:

By the way, Miyamoto-san, you visited Next Level Games, didn’t you? I think it was twice?

Miyamoto:

Yes, that’s right.

Iwata:

How was Miyamoto-san’s visit to Canada?

Brian:

I remember that was the only time we wore suits! (laughs)

Ikebata:

Even people who almost as a policy only wear shorts all year long wore proper trousers that day.

Iwata:

Oh, I see! (laughs)

Brian:

And hearing rumours that Miyamoto-san was coming to Canada, people from other development companies were hanging around our company. They wanted to exchange data with Miyamoto-san via StreetPass8, so they held a Nintendo 3DS over their heads! (laughs)8. StreetPass: A communication system that allows users to exchange game data with other users that they pass on the street.

Everyone:

(laughs)

Chad:

Everyone was really excited that time.

Iwata:

Did actually meeting Miyamoto-san change your image of him?

Miyamoto:

Please, be honest! (laughs)

Brian:

Okay. (laughs) At first, I was surprised at how humble he is. At the same time, his sharp observations when evaluating what we were developing were impressive. We had him look at the

Video: Along came a spider...

By the way, Miyamoto-san, you visited Next Level Games, didn’t you? I think it was twice?
spider boss , and I was surprised at how he beat it right away, and, while playing, tossed out comments right and left.

Iwata Asks
Chad:

It was quite a nerve-wracking experience to collaborate with another company in making a game, but I was incredibly impressed at how Miyamoto-san put everyone at ease and created an atmosphere where everyone could speak freely.

Miyamoto:

This is turning into a Miyamoto-praise-fest!

Iwata:

Yeah. (laughs)

Miyamoto:

But Luigi’s in the spotlight this time.

Iwata:

Right. (laughs)

Miyamoto:

So, to talk about player controls in Luigi’s Mansion 2, we remade them more than ten times.

Iwata:

That many?

Ikebata:

Yes. At first, every time we met to discuss the game, we were like, “Let’s try a different type of controls.”

Bryce:

(nodding) Right.

Miyamoto:

Then, when the feeling of the controls changed, I would ask, “How are you programming the data?” and sometimes go inside. I felt like that is something that I was personally involved with to a fair extent this time.

Ikebata:

Yes. I remember we went back and forth with regard to that quite a lot.

Miyamoto:

I didn’t do much else, though.

Ikebata:

No, no, no, that’s not true! (laughs)

Miyamoto:

The game features a haunted mansion, so elements that were like a parody of haunted-mansion movies kept developing. But Luigi’s Mansion is its own unique world. So I told them they should develop more freely.

Iwata Asks
Iwata:

In other words, don’t be constrained by movies about haunted houses.

Miyamoto:

Right. With the usual sort of ghost parodies, things like “We’ve got to do this” and “We’ve got to do that” tend to pile up. But I thought if they strayed outside those bounds and had more fun and freedom, it would be more enjoyable when it was done.

Iwata:

You wanted them to make it freely, without being limited by existing conventions.

Miyamoto:

I also said that if you have a good time in development, it will work out somehow. But when I said such optimistic things, they would be like, “But that’s so irresponsible!” (laughs)

Ikebata:

Yes. That caused some trouble. (laughs)

Miyamoto:

For example, on the stage “Haunted Towers,” which has two towers flanking a big tree, we were talking about what to do for the boss, and I said, “How about making the stairs the boss?” and we went back and forth for a while about how we could achieve that. We came up with ideas together then.

Iwata:

So you also came up with content?

Miyamoto:

Yes.

Iwata:

But didn’t you just say you didn’t do much?

Miyamoto:

Yeah. (laughs)

Iwata:

Bryce-san, how were Miyamoto-san’s ideas?

Iwata Asks
Bryce:

I think that stairway boss was the first upending of the tea table.

Iwata:

(laughs)

Bryce:

At first, we were considering a plant boss.

Ikebata:

Because of the big tree on that stage.

Bryce:

But Miyamoto-san said that was too ordinary.

Miyamoto:

The boss that appears on the first stage is a spider. And, for example, sand is the theme on the “Old Clockworks,” so if you made a pyramid and had a mummy boss appear there or a sphinx boss – ideas that anyone can come up with – the result would be an ordinary action-adventure game.Thus, the setting is a mansion, so I tried to decide upfront that the stairs are the boss in this building, or the clock is the boss in that building. And apparently that gave everyone trouble.

Iwata:

Did you have trouble?

Ikebata:

Yes. (laughs)

Miyamoto:

First, they made a boss in the shape of stairs, but all it had was a gaping mouth, so it wasn’t very interesting.

Bryce:

Then we made it so that climbing the stairs itself was the purpose of the gameplay. We lined up three really long staircases and

Video: Scares on the stairs

By the way, Miyamoto-san, you visited Next Level Games, didn’t you? I think it was twice?
you had to go up, zig-zagging from one to the next, but if you messed up, you’d fall .

Iwata:

The stairs have traps.

Miyamoto:

Yes. If you run fast, you’ll sort of see a hint, so if you try hard to race up, you can clear it. Then, just when you’re relieved to finally reach the top, a boss in the form of a short staircase comes out – da-da-doom! – but it’s mostly for show.

Iwata:

That boss is weak?

Miyamoto:

Yeah, you can beat it relatively easily.

Bryce:

After running up all those stairs, if a really strong boss appeared, it would be stressful, so we decided to treat facing that boss as a special bonus for successfully climbing up the stairs.

Miyamoto:

We want to create a memory so that when looking back, players would think, “The boss in that building was the stairs!” (laughs)