Nintendo DS

In Iwata Asks I usually only talk to Nintendo staff members, but this time I'm joined by two members of IS (Intelligent Systems, Co., Ltd.¹). Please introduce yourselves, including your work on the WarioWare series. Let's start with you, Sugioka-san. 1. Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd.: A company that has helped develop Nintendo software (like the Fire Emblem and Super Mario series, among others) and development tools for our various game systems.

I'm Taku Sugioka from Intelligent Systems. The first game in the WarioWare series I worked on was WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! for the GameCube² system. I was a programmer then. After that, I worked on WarioWare: Touched!³ and WarioWare: Smooth Moves⁴ as director at IS and main programmer. This time, for the DSiWare title WarioWare: Snapped!, in addition to planning and directing the trial phase, I performed tests and managed actual production. 2. WarioWare, Inc., Mega Party Games!: Released for the Nintendo GameCube console in April 2004 in NA (North America). The second game in the series.

3. WarioWare: Touched!: Released for the Nintendo DS system in February 2005 in NA. The fourth game in the series.

4. WarioWare: Smooth Moves: Released for the Wii console in January 2005 in NA. The fifth game in the series.

You've known Goro Abe of Nintendo for quite a while.

Yes, that's right. Abe-san, how long has it been?

After the original WarioWare⁵ game came out, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! came out half a year later, so I'd say about six years.

5. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!: The first WarioWare game. Released for the Game Boy Advance system in May 2003 in NA.

It really was overdoing it to come out with WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! after only half a year, but I was the one who requested it. (laughs) I said, "I want you to remake the original WarioWare, Inc. for GameCube. And I want it fast." They said, "How fast?" I said, "As soon as possible!" We haggled over it, and development of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! began. After a little while, Abe-san told me there was a talented programmer at IS, and it looked like it could be done. That was when I first heard about Sugioka-san.

I myself was worried about whether we could really do it in such a short time.

Did you think I was asking for too much?

Well, if you try, it'll work out somehow. It turned out to be a good experience, and proved beneficial to my next development project.

We won't be talking about it today, but Abe-san and Sugioka-san, you two also combined efforts on the Nintendo DS game Made in Ore⁶, didn't you?

6. Made in Ore (Japanese title): DS software scheduled for release in Japan in 2009. Software that allows players to make and play the microgames appearing in the WarioWare series.

Yes. Development of Made in Ore was taking so much of my time that when it came to WarioWare: Snapped, I pretty much left everything to Mori-san, here beside me.

Mori-san, would you please introduce yourself?

I'm Naoko Mori from Intelligent Systems. The first WarioWare game I worked on was WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Games! I was the art director. Next was WarioWare: Touched!, for which I was the designer... No, before that I worked on WarioWare: Twisted!⁷

7. WarioWare: Twisted!: Released for Game Boy Advance in May 2005 in NA. The third game in the series.

You worked on WarioWare: Twisted!, too?

Yes. Next was WarioWare: Smooth Moves. I was the art director.

Partying, twisting, touching, and making smooth moves, you must have been really busy! (laughs)

I was! (laughs) For WarioWare: Snapped, I was the director at IS.

Abe-san, I don't think you need to mention what past WarioWare games you've worked on, but could you tell us what kicked off development of WarioWare: Snapped?

It started with a proposal from IS back before we knew about the Nintendo DSi system. DS Face Training for Adults⁸ came with a camera for recognizing faces. IS suggested the possibility of using that for something like WarioWare.

8. DS Face Training for Adults: DS software for training facial muscles to make various facial expressions. Released in Japan, in August 2007.

Making Face Training proved incredibly useful when we made Nintendo DSi. For example, we developed the Nintendo DSi Camera application for a long time using the camera for Face Training. Because the Nintendo DSi hardware didn't exist yet. WarioWare: Snapped! is another example.

Right. IS was also involved in the development of Face Training, so I borrowed the camera from the Face Training team to make a test model.

The first one we made resulted in a really strange style of play. You held the Nintendo DSi system in your left hand, and held your right hand in front of the outside camera.

A feeling of speed is essential to the WarioWare games, so in order to increase processing speed, we made it so the hand captured on camera appeared in silhouette.

How did you play the games?

For example, if there were a ravine and characters couldn't cross, you could use the silhouette of your finger as a bridge to allow them to cross. But when we started testing it out, we learned the camera was having difficulty detecting the hand.

Depending on the illumination, shadows would form, and the camera would detect those by accident.

So we laid a black mat underneath so shadows wouldn't form. Someone with a dark suntan wouldn't be detected.

He'd blend in with the mat. (laughs)

So we made a finger sleeve for the players' index finger. Anyone, regardless of variations in skin tone, would be able to play.

For a while we were even using gloves.

We were seriously considering selling the game together with the finger sleeve and black mat.

I doubt anyone would buy something like that. (laughs)

Yeah. (laughs)

(laughs)

The whole idea of using one hand to hold the DS and moving around your other hand to play was bound to fail. So then we tried out a bunch of stuff, like capturing your feet on camera...

Your feet?! (laughs)

Yes, your own feet. (laughs) That way you could hold the DS with both hands. But we weren't sure it would make for good gameplay...

And it would look weird! (laughs)

We tried other things-like secretly capturing the face of someone facing you on camera and then sticking that person's head into nose holes during the game-but nothing seemed to feel quite right.

So we gave up on the outside camera and tried using the inside camera to capture the player's own face.

We created a test model that could be played by setting the DS down, which was all right in its own way, but it didn't quite have the feeling of speed that previous WarioWare games did. The project was getting bogged down.

Anyway, it had been decided to set the DS down, so at the very end, I asked them to present another proposal. And the catchphrase for that was WarioWare: Don't Touch?!

Don't Touch? (laughs)

In addition to the proposed style of play, the last page was a "bonus" section.

A bonus section?

There were weird photos... Uh, it looks like we'll have to talk about you know what.

You know what...what?

Something that shows up at the end of the game.

Oh, that! (laughs)