Super Smash Bros. creator Sakurai reports on the time with the late Nintendo President Iwata

The names Satoru Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai should appeal to many fans of Nintendo, especially those of Super Smash Bros. and Kirby, be a household name, because the two are none other than the founding fathers of the series!

Satoru Iwata will also be remembered by many as one of Nintendo’s best-known presidents after he died in 2015 of a serious illness. This year it was in his honor Book Iwata-san published, which describes his career and goes into his personality. Inside there is an interview that Hobonichi published with Masahiro Sakurai to immortalize it in the book. Parts of the interview have now been published on the Hobonichi and Famitsu website, which are posted on Twitter by the user push Dustin have been translated into English.

The first part of the interview is about Sakurai’s first encounter with Iwata. He interviewed Iwata when he was at HAL when he was 18. Sakurai remembered Iwata’s smile and how exactly he listened. He had also made a lot of notes. Iwata was a person who always came along and offered his help whenever there was a problem. During the production of Super Smash Bros. Melee Sakurai had problems with various parameters when Iwata joined him and saved him. He always did this, even if no one had asked for help.

The second part is about various prototypes that the two developed. After Sakurai on “(Kirby) Super Star“He started to develop various prototypes for the Nintendo 64 in order to get a better understanding of the new game system and to use the possibilities. At first he did this on his own as the other employees did some aspects of Super Star the last He started studying 3D tools and animations before designing game designs, the first prototype that followed Ryuo: Fighting King, The game used all four controller slots and the special features of the N64’s analog stick. Another prototype he designed was an adventure game with a robot as the main character. Both prototypes were programmed by Iwata. The controls should feel like you are driving a remote-controlled car. The robot was supposed to explore a mysterious city that was underground. To get access, you needed a drill and only the robot could use it. Furthermore, the robot should hack into camera systems in order to be able to look further into the city. Finally, a game with a similar control mechanism came onto the market some time later: The original resident Evil,

In the relatively short third part, Sakurai explains that he told Iwata that he went among the freelancers and that he might also deal with game development on platforms outside of Nintendo. Iwata was apparently a little sad because of this. Sakurai was already planning a project he wanted to work on when he was developing Super Smash Bros. Brawl was engaged.

In the fourth part, Sakurai explains that he remembers the first time he was angry with Iwata. This was in Sakurai’s early days at HAL Laboratory, when the company was working on the Metal Slader Glory game, which took several years to complete and almost ruined the company. HAL rented some apartments for work and had to borrow a lot of money to drive the development forward. During a team meeting, Iwata got upset about how to get all the money back. He was dissatisfied with the situation, but never with the individuals. The second situation in which Sakurai saw Iwata was angry when he was appointed President of Nintendo. The company needed to be restructured and there was a meeting to talk about the technology. However, there were no real answers, which upset Iwata a little. Sakurai rated him as a very sincere person. Sakurai also recalls that he and Iwata drove from Tokyo to HAL in Yamanashi. The car was a piazza, which was similar to the car from the film “The Spy Who Loved Me” and Iwata loved it. Before Iwata passed away, he and Sakurai drove to Narita Airport in his newly bought sports car. He bought this car because he thought “If not now then when?“

The last part is about saying goodbye to Iwata. When he was hospitalized, Sakurai had no chance to visit him. The reason for this was the work he had stepped into. He was working on at that point Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, The news of Iwata’s death reached him through Takahashi Shinya, who called him at home. When Sakurai heard the news, he was depressed. He had the same feeling as when his grandparents died. Sakurai then decided to make the Super Smash Bros. series a complete success and he now feels that he is with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has achieved this goal. During the development of the Smash Bros. title for the Wii U, a Nintendo Switch version was already being discussed, which was to become the ultimate edition. Sakurai’s next task would still be in the stars, because the contents of the Fighters Pass, which he is now developing, are already beyond his original mission.

Finally, Sakurai mentions that he often met with Iwata when he was traveling to Tokyo. He had visited him in his hotel room and they would have eaten together every now and then. Iwata would have often recommended books to him. When Sakurai was still working at HAL, Iwata approached him with Sakurai-kun. When he left the company, Iwata started calling him Sakurai-san. Here too, Iwata was always very sincere.

Would you like a translation of the book into German or English?

Source: Twitter (PushDustIn) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 ; Amazon – News picture: © Nintendo

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