Hononichi, the website of MOTHER creator Shigesato Itoi & publishers of "Iwata-san", the book chronicling the philosophies of the late Satoru Iwata, has published the first part of a 5-part interview with Masahiro Sakurai about his memories of Iwata 1101.com/about_iwatasan…🇯🇵
Hobonichi x Sakurai, pt.2! 1101.com/about_iwatasan…🇯🇵 this part talks about the making of the Smash prototype with Iwata—in fact, they made prototypes for two different games, and this interview goes into detail about that other abandoned prototype for the first time
the other prototype was for an adventure game with a remote-controlled robot; the premise was that the robot had been sent down to explore an underground city, and the action would be viewed from fixed angles via surveillance cameras that could be hacked and so on
Sakurai compares the proto to Resident Evil & notes that both RE & the robot proto had the same inspiration, Alone in the Dark
ultimately, the cancellation of another game forced Sakurai to rush something into production & he determined the fighting game would be quicker to make
ultimately, the cancellation of another game forced Sakurai to rush something into production & he determined the fighting game would be quicker to make
skipping around a little: because Sakurai was director on Kirby Super Star, he had duties that extended beyond the release of the game—overseas versions, supervising strategy guides, press, etc—which meant that, by the time he was done, everyone else was on other projects, so...
...when he was finally done he had no choice but to start pitching new games, completely on his own
that's where Iwata came in—because nobody else was available, Iwata came in on weekends and programmed prototypes for both of Sakurai's proposals, just to get the ball rolling
that's where Iwata came in—because nobody else was available, Iwata came in on weekends and programmed prototypes for both of Sakurai's proposals, just to get the ball rolling
Hobonichi x Masahiro Sakurai, pt.3! 1101.com/about_iwatasan…🇯🇵 in this part, he discusses Iwata's shock announcement of a new Smash game for Wii at E3 2005 and how he came to be involved, despite having quit HAL several years prior
this story's been covered before but the short version is, Iwata announced it out of the blue, then arranged a meeting with Sakurai where he asked him to direct & told him they'd probably just re-release Melee with online if he declined, as he didn't think anyone else could do it
from there he talks about how he weighed up his decision, why and when he said yes, how they both made rather drastic arrangements to make it happen, etc
again, this has been discussed publicly at length, including with Iwata for Iwata Asks iirc
again, this has been discussed publicly at length, including with Iwata for Iwata Asks iirc
Hobonichi x Masahiro Sakurai, pt.4! 1101.com/about_iwatasan…🇯🇵 in this part, he discusses Iwata's "freakish sincerity" and the very few times he saw Iwata get mad
one story: during the Smash 4 era, Iwata bought an open 2-door sports car & when Sakurai asked about the uncharacteristically flashy purchase, Iwata said "once you pass a certain age, you can't get away with driving cars like this"; Sakurai suggests that it wasn't that he (>)
necessarily loved the car, but that he was always cognizant of taking advantage of opportunities while they exist
Sakurai doesn't think Iwata was thinking in terms of mortality at that point, but his passing did, in its own way, reinforce the validity of that way of thinking
Sakurai doesn't think Iwata was thinking in terms of mortality at that point, but his passing did, in its own way, reinforce the validity of that way of thinking
