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Shigeru Miyamoto, Yuji Naka translated interview from 2001 emerges

by br26
10 June 2015
GN Version 5.0
Shmuplations has recently translated an interview way back from the December 28 2001 edition of Famitsu magazine. Here are some interesting snippets...

Where they first met:

Miyamoto: We’ve talked several times before, but I think this is the first time we’ve had a proper face-to-face discussion like this. I’ve known all about Naka for a long time, though. (laughs) We first met about 10 years ago, I believe. I think it was right after the first Sonic was released, at a game show?

Naka: I remember it well. You could say it was the very first “near miss” encounter between myself and Miyamoto. I was standing there in the event hall, listening to that famous creator Lord Biritsh explaining his new game, Ultima Underworld. Then all of a sudden a voice came from behind me, “Do you find this interesting?” I turned around and it was none other than Miyamoto. That moment was our very first exchange, though I wouldn’t exactly call it a conversation. (laughs)

Miyamoto's first impressions of Sonic:

Miyamoto: After we made Mario, a lot of games came out with characters imitating that jump-action platformer system, right? Of all those I think Sonic had a certain uniqueness. “This game has real personality,” I thought. “The creators are young and it’s a little rough around the edges, but I can tell it was made by people who understand what the joy of games is all about.” Although I was pretty young too, back then. (laughs)

Yuji Naka's thoughts on Nintendo's recent games of the time:

Naka: I was really jealous of Pikmin. I had wanted to make something like that someday. Actually, I love Lemmings, and I wanted to make a game like that, updated in a more modern style. But of course, the minute I think that, Miyamoto comes along and beats me to the punch again with Pikmin. (laughs)

Miyamoto: Well, you made ChuChu Rocket!, and that game had a lot of little characters moving all around.

Naka: ChuChu Rocket came about because I said “Let’s use the next-gen hardware to make a game where 100 sprites are moving at once.” One trend with evolving hardware is increasingly beautiful graphics, but another path you can take is trying to squeeze the most processing power out of the hardware and using it to its fullest. I wanted to do more stuff like that, and then Miyamoto had to go and release Pikmin. (laughs)