Unearthed interview with Satoru Iwata shows how the DS informed 20 years of Nintendo: "When it comes to entertainment, I think we know the best"
Jan. 5, 2024“Everything Nintendo is going to create shall be very varied and revolutionary”
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The interview was originally conducted for aNew York Times articleby longtime gaming journalist Stephen Totilo, but that story only ended up using two quotes from the full discussion with Iwata. Now, 20 years later, Totilo has finally transcribed some larger bits from the interview for hisGame File newsletter, unearthing some fascinating insights from Iwata.
“We have come to understand that we are reaching limits in this direction,” Iwata said. “When Nintendo leads [it] has been a world-leading entertainment company, and when it comes to entertainment, I think we know the best. We have some final destiny in entertainment, and that is [that] whatever gorgeous or wonderful thing we may be able to come up with, in the future, people are going to get tired of it.”
Iwata said that the company “believes that we definitely need a paradigm shift in this industry.” That paradigm shift included new control schemes to help expand the gaming audience - something Nintendo was about to do with the DS, and would then double down on with the (then unannounced) Wii.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, Iwata’s predecessor, also had a strong influence on the direction of the DS. After Nintendo’s hardware development team finished work on the GBA SP, Iwata explained that they had begun “working on what they should do with the successive machine after the SP. And that is exactly when Mr. Yamauchi proposed the idea of: ‘Look, you definitely have to come to some dynamic change, including the possibility of adapting two screens.'”
Iwata said he was convinced of the dual screen concept after he and Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the possibility of including a touch panel. “There were many discussions about different ideas and possibilities but the finalization of the idea to include the touch panel was, I think, mainly due to Mr. Miyamoto’s judgment,” Iwata said.
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“Come to think about it, whatever future product Nintendo might make, it’s not the small changes we are going to be introducing,” said Iwata. “Everything Nintendo is going to create shall be very varied and revolutionary. If we cannot come up with that kind of great change, I’m afraid people are going to get tired of it pretty soon.”
This is as good a time as any to revisit thebest DS gamesandbest Wii gamesever made.
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