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Iwata Asks: Rhythm Heaven Fever - full summary

by rawmeatcowboy
26 January 2012
GN Version 4.0


- Tsunku♂ believes the Rhythm Heaven series got popular due to the pick-up-and-play nature, as well as the universality of rhythm
- the focus for the Wii version of Rhythm Heaven is 'pushing and pounding'
- they also focused on inspiring family members to try the game out
- the dev team tested gameplay with motion, but felt it was too strenuous and didn't allow for precise input
- the team also tried 3D models for the graphics, but found 2D allows for snappier movements
- Nintendo feels that abstract 2D art makes more sense for a game like this
- Tsunku♂ wants one person to play while others watch, but some 2-player modes were included
- a great deal of attention was paid to the sound effects, in order to make them stick with you
- moving Rhythm Heaven to a console allowed for 'silly things to look better'
- Iwata feels there is a big focus on visual content for bystanders to watch, as well as a dynamic contrast between large and small
- often Tsunku♂ would find that the dev team would create visuals that were completely different from what he imagined
- the game called Bossa Nova features volleyball action on a floating cloud that rotates
- the dev team admits to just running with ideas that they want
- the whole team decides the names for each game
- Bossa Nova features some sexy voices, which were the idea of Yone
- you can only hear those voices in the main game, not practice
- in Hole in One, the golfer is left-handed because it's easier for people to follow something from left to right
- Karate Man features a guitar performance
- playing on TV makes for a richer sound experience
- Iwata wants people to crank the volume when they play
- the Ringside game came from Yone's notebook of ideas
- Yone admits that the idea for Ringside came to him while taking a bath
- the Ringside idea actually stemmed from Yone thinking about cutting cake at a wedding
- at a wedding, you have to cut the cake and pose for pics at the same time, making for a rough situation
- development took awhile, but sped up in the latter half
- this is when the remixes came together
- the team also added more people towards the end of development
- the staff was three times as much as the last Rhythm Heaven game
- the younger staff members were given basic suggestions and allowed to run loose with them
- two more sound people came on that were fans of the last game
- they were given instructions to draw out their individual style
- it was important to create sound that left an impact
- the staffer working on the Endless Games came up with all sorts of ideas that turned out to be great
- TNX always found it striking to work separately from Nintendo and then come back to see their ideas for the title
- Iida did some of the illustrations this time
- many of the game's voices were recorded in-house
- One of the games is called Love Rap, which features a lot of bounce to the music
- this game caused some late hours at work in order to tweak it
- the dev team eventually replaced all the original voices they first put in
- Tsunku♂ makes sure all the voices stay on beat and sound good together
- Tsunku♂ feels its important to keep the rhythm with your body, by using your feet or chest
- Tsunku♂ recommends playing standing up
- figuring out what songs got grouped together into remixes took a lot of time
- the remixes were tested with old and young staffers, and they were found to be too hard
- the team set out to broaden the appeal of Rhythm Heaven with this game
- you'll get more examples and players are given more demos
- Iwata believes that good games have to be fun for bystanders to watch
- Tsunku♂ feels making that one-on-one connection through music is important
- Tsunku♂ looks forward to working with people that have grown up playing Rhythm Heaven

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