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Miyamoto Talks Dolphin at Space World '99

TOKYO - We sat down with master game designer Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo's Space World '99 to talk about Nintendo's new system and more.

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One name is most often associated with Nintendo's most
popular games-Shigeru Miyamoto. He has created a
majority of Nintendo's hit titles, from Donkey Kong to
Zelda 64. As he turns his attention to the Dolphin (the
current codename for Nintendo's next system), we had
the chance to ask the master a few questions. Here's
what he had to say:

Q: What projects are you currently working on?
A: That's not a very easy question, actually. I want more
and more younger people to work on the games now. I'm
getting old now and even though I say that I have been
working as a producer, my involvement in each game
goes deeper than just being a producer. I hope that I can
be more of a producer taking care of and supervising
many different projects at the same time-- with the
viewpoint of Nintendo five years from now, as a
foundation, in a sense. That's where I am right now, but in
the same sense, I want to make some games myself--at
least one. I am focusing on the Dolphin project when it
comes to my own game.

Q: To what degree are you involved in Zelda Gaiden?
A: I can't be involved as completely as I usually am. From
time to time I'll be involved at certain points in the
development, but I have restrained myself from making
specifications for the game.

Q: What types of games do you want to see re-made or
sequelized for the Dolphin?
A: I think the biggest difference between being the
producer and being the director is, if you are director you
can check each phase of the game yourself in order to
confirm that it's your game so that you can feel how it is
like to touch the game itself. That is the biggest
difference with being the producer of the game. For
example, F-Zero and Yoshi, when you look at these
games, you realize that they have more of the touch of
other directors. I'm kind of trying to oversee the overall
process, and then ask each of the directors to take care
of the game so they can reflect on their own individual
touch. While, as with a game like Legend of Zelda, I want
my own touch to be reflected sharply. So I think from now
and even on Dolphin, there will be Nintendo games [and
sequels] and although I won't be deeply involved in their
development, you are going to feel the Nintendo touch in
many games.

So in other words, while I won't be deeply involved in the
process of developing a sequel, you can feel the same
way when playing those games--that I once worked on
them.

Q: Personally, would you like to see a Wave Race game
on the Dolphin?
A: Yes, definitely (laughs). Even when we were working
on Wave Race, we realized that the N64 was not powerful
enough for that kind of game. Specifically, we wanted to
make very detailed movements for the waves, at least as
detailed as what Wave Race was for N64. In the case of
Dolphin that should be easily done.

Q: What about the Dolphin technology is most exciting to
you?
A: Even though N64 was much advanced, much more
than the previous technologies (Super Famicom), I still
have to admit that we have to pay our total attention to
game development in order for the game to run on the
system. When N64 was introduced I think I said a similar
thing, but now it is easier for us to make a game on
Dolphin when compared with when we were first
beginning on N64.

In other words, when we are going to try some new
experiment based on the hardware... with the N64 we had
to pay total attention to every point so that the system
can still run. But in the case of Dolphin, we don't have to,
so we can put our maximum attention into those kinds of
details. The system can easily run so you can try
something quite new. I think that's the most exciting
thing to me with Dolphin. Also, with the N64, at the
beginning we made games for the first time in 3D.
Through the course of that we realized so many things,
especially we encountered the inefficiency of making
these types of games on the N64. I believe those
inefficiencies and problems have already been solved on
the Dolphin hardware, so it's going to become a very
cost-effective product.

For example, in the case of 3D fighting games. You see
a lot of 3D fighting games on other platforms because it
is one of the easiest ways to make use of the hardware's
function. More specifically, if it's a fighting game you have
only two characters to put into RAM, and that's relatively
easy. So that's why there are too many fighting games
out there on those platforms. In the case of Smash
Brothers you see up to four players on the screen
simultaneously, but at the same time, the character
models are much simpler than the ones in those involved
with only two players. That's the kind of limitation I am
talking about.

But if you are a creator and you are told, 'if you like, we
can make it five or ten players without any problem.'
That's what the situation is with Dolphin. Dolphin can do
that, N64 cannot do that. Your energy can then be
concentrated not on how to increase the number of game
characters, but how you are going to make use of these
five or ten more characters on the screen. Having said
that, it may put you as a creator into another problem,
because now you can use as many players as you want
and you've got to sort them out in your own mind so that
you can manage to control that in the end.

Q: Nintendo and Rare are creating games based on the
Disney license. Are you involved in that, or would you like
to be involved?
A: I am not involved and if possible I try not to be involved
in the product. Please don't misunderstand me, I love
Disney characters. But Disney is a kind of company I'm
going to compete with.

Q: How is development progressing on Super Mario for
the Dolphin?
A: Perrin [from Nintendo of America] told me not to say
anything about that.

Q: So it's confirmed then?
A: At least I am working on it...

I am the kind of designer who starts with an experiment.
In the case of Wave Race, I started from the experiment
of making waves. If Mario is surfing on the wave, it's going
to be a Mario game, if it's Link, then it will be a Zelda
game. That's how I decide what game to make.

Q: How does the Dolphin's use of DVD affect the way you
develop/create a game?
A: I still believe that cartridge is the best media for the
software development, so I have to tell you that I feel
some inconvenience making games on DVD as the new
media for the new platform. But at the same time, it's
very important that the cost for the media is going to be
stabilized and it's good for our own teams because we
don't have to take into consideration that the memory
size will decide the cost of the software to the retailers.
Now all we have to be mindful of is how much time and
energy we are going to spend in the creation of new
software. That is going to be reflected upon the final price
at retail.

Dolphin may follow the same concept of N64, which was
originally called Project Reality. It will have much more
functionality with advanced technologies, like AI. People
talk about AI for gameplay nowadays. But now it's
actually pseudo AI, pretending that to be incorporated
into the main characters. Now it is becoming much
easier for us to install actual AI into the game characters
because we are going to have a much more powerful
CPU, which should be enough to realize this concept.
Rather than the calculation ability, it's the ability to
simulate something real. That is going to be heightened
or advanced. Until now, the freedom in making games
has been expanded with the advent of new technologies
in the game field. But we have not come far enough as to
make something very free. Except, I should say that
there are new games like music and dancing games, and
those are really appreciated. We should be able to make
more power available to free our ideas so that in order to
make much more unique and different games on Dolphin.

Q: The other competing systems all have very ambitious
online gaming plans. Do you see the Internet as the
future for the Dolphin as well?
A: There's got to be something Dolphin has with the
Internet, because from now on we can't create
entertainment without thinking about network
communication. At the same time, we are an
entertainment company so we have to take into
consideration the cost associated with network games,
and the ages of the users, who are actually going to
make use of it. If we consider these two points right now,
I have to tell you that there is not a big market right now
for Dolphin to involve a significant Internet business.
Nintendo, as an entertainment company has a
responsibility to parents and children so that the parents
can always feel secure to provide their children with
Nintendo machines, hardware and software. So because
of that I don't think network capabilities will be the core of
the Dolphin project.

Q: With game development now, especially FFVIII and
Rare's Jet Force Gemini, approaching a movie-like feel,
are you thinking about creating your games more like
movies with the Dolphin?
A: In the case of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, we
made use of technology used in the movies. But we didn't
try to make Zelda like a movie. In the case of Dolphin,
too, I have no intention of making games like movies. I
believe we are going to continuously make use of the
visual or sound effects already established in the movies.
But by doing this, what we're trying to do is make
something unique and unprecedented. So in the case of
Dolphin, of course, I'm going to study what they are doing
in the movie industry, but I will never make movie-like
games. I would like to make something that is very
special by making use of some established thing.

In the case of Final Fantasy, what they are doing in order
to make a movie-like game is using pre-rendered
technology. In games like Jet Force Gemini and others,
we are doing similar kinds of effects by using real-time
motion. Actually, these are past technologies and
concepts. I believe that it's not that we are approaching
movies, but rather, movie producers try to adapt this kind
of new approach, in other words, real-time motion, for
their movie production.

Q: What is your impression of Pokemon's popularity,
especially in the U.S.?
A: I am also the producer of Pokemon, too. When we
started this project in Japan, one of the first things I was
told was that this kind of thing would never appeal to
American audiences. So from the very beginning, I never
thought there would be an English version. Now, it's just
as popular in the United States [as in Japan], and I
realized that we shouldn't always believe the opinions of
conservative marketers. Before, they said, 'because the
characters are like Japanese animation, you cannot sell
them to Americans.' But now, because it is very
Japanese-looking, they can sell in other parts of the
world, too. But when I come to think more on it, the
biggest reason it has become that popular is Mr. Tajiri,
the main developer and creator of Pokemon, didn't start
this project with a business sense. In other words, he
was not intending to make something that would become
very popular. He just wanted to make something he
wanted to play. There was no business sense included;
only his love involved in the creation. Somehow, what he
wanted to create for himself was appreciated by others in
this country and is shared by people in other countries.
And there are other works and staffs included to make a
very large Pokemon world. And that's the point - Not to
make something sell, something very popular, but to love
something, and make something that we creators can
love. It's the very core feeling we should have in making
games.

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