E3 2012: An Interview with Nintendo's Katsuya Eguchi

Written by: Rocco DeMaro | June 09, 2012 at 12:00PM

Katsuya Eguchi





But let's start at the start.



I began by asking Mr. Eguchi what he's been playing.

"Recently, I'm playing Monster Hunter Tri G for the 3DS.  I've been playing it for quite a long time, actually, since it came out."

Given Mr. Eguchi's appreciation for Monster Hunter and his personal development history with Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Star Fox and more, I asked him how he's enjoyed working on more casual fare these days; things like Animal Crossing and Wii Sports.

"I like core games.  Sure, I miss working on them a little bit.  But my role in the company now is a role I'm comfortable with, making the types of games I'm making.  I enjoy my role.  Be they core or casual games, from a player's perspective, I like both kinds of games."

During his answer and the subsequent translation, I noticed Nintendo Land running on the display to Mr. Eguchi's right.  I asked about the company's decision-making process re: potentially packing the 12-attraction minigame compilation in with Wii U at retail.

"That's really something that's up to the people in charge of sales and those sort of things.  The development staff aren't so involved with those decisions."

He went on to remark how the development staff's job is to create compelling experiences that cater to both the software and hardware, and that the business stuff isn't really something he gets too involved with.

This would be the first in a long line of business-related questions that Mr. Eguchi either wouldn't or couldn't answer.

More on that as we move along… but a beat or three after his initial response… perhaps I appeared a bit unsatisfied?… Mr. Eguchi offered, "One thing that we have to consider when introducing software, especially at the launch of the system, is something that can satisfy a wide array of players.  Now, with Wii Sports, we kind of felt like it may have erred a bit too heavily on the casual side.  So with Nintendo Land one of our priorities was keeping in mind core gamers and focusing on putting a lot of depth into attractions and giving them more longevity."

Heartened by this, I asked which attraction might be the most 'core' of the 12 featured in the game.

Mr. Eguchi got a little coy here.

"It's hard to break it down to just one attraction.  Maybe I could show you here… "

He picked up the GamePad and began strolling through the wildly colorful and vibrant Nintendo Land, ultimately focusing on what sure looked like a Metroid-themed attraction.  He wouldn't officially confirm as much, but strongly hinted that the Metroid attraction would be his pick for the one that was most 'core.' You may remember Nintendo showed a Metroid-themed minigame for the Wii U at last year’s E3.

As a secondary option, he wandered over to what looked like a Pikmin-themed attraction.  Big smile on his face now.  In fact, Mr. Eguchi smiled and laughed a lot during our time together and seemed a genuinely happy and gregarious fellow.

So when will these 'hinted' attractions be formally announced?

"So… we haven't decided that yet."

From here, I directed the conversation to the Wii U GamePad.

Given the ubiquity of multi-touch capable devices that now dominate first-world culture (iPads, smartphones), why did Nintendo opt to make the GamePad single-touch?

"The number one priority we focus on in considering the touch interface is the precision of where you touch and the precision of how that's reflected in the game."

He went on to give examples of the precision required for the stylus in a given game and other similar instances in which hyper-precise movements are required to assure quality, reliable gameplay.  The screen is also able to detect "very delicate touches" with your finger, an allusion to the screen's sensitivity and a byproduct of going with a single-touch design.  The implication was that going with a multi-touch design could muddy the waters from a design perspective.  He used the word 'precision' at least four times in answering this question.

More on the GamePad now:

What will it cost, ballpark, when sold separately?

"Honestly, I really don't know.  What I can say though is that the GamePad really does have a lot of different functionality and technology packed into it.  But yeah, I really have no idea what a price could be."

Given the losses sustained by Nintendo in the most recent fiscal year, I asked how willing the company would be to take a loss on any piece of hardware, be it the console itself or the GamePad?

"Wow!  You ask some very detailed questions!  Well, considering the tech packed into the console and the GamePad, we're considering a lot of options regarding price.  But I don't want you to misunderstand; we're really not out to profit selling this hardware.  That being said, I really don't know this is something we would sell at a loss."

Pressed further, Mr. Eguchi offered, "We'd like to avoid taking a loss on the hardware, so we're gonna be seriously considering how its priced.  I can't really comment further than that."

While we assume that you’ll be able to stream Virtual Console games to the GamePad, we wonder if you’ll be able to take it away from the home and continue playing them.

"At this E3 we haven't announced any plans for Virtual Console for Wii U, but from my perspective from a gamer, if I have a Wii U console, I would certainly want to be able to play any sort of virtual console title on the GamePad… so I would have that expectation.  But unfortunately, I can't give any specifics here… but I'll add that one of the general concepts of the Wii U is being able to play games solely on the GamePad screen.  That's a big priority for us, freeing the player from the television.  The Wii U has been designed to support all sorts of different configurations."

If you haven't heard, the Wii U GamePad will have a pretty short battery life, on the order of 3-5 hours per charge.  Given that, the length of the charging cable would seem to be a relevant issue, especially given the inherent movement associated with GamePad-related Wii U gameplay.  So how long is that charging cable?

"I don't think you'll have to worry about the length.  We've definitely taken that into consideration."

At this point, I flatly asked Mr. Egushi how much the Wii U will cost.  Despite not being a fluent English speaker, he knew exactly what I was getting at.  He smiled, as if he'd been waiting for this question, a query I'm sure he's been asked dozens of times by now.

"I totally understand the curiosity regarding price and I apologize, but I personally don't know."

Next up, something less-straightforward.

As Nintendo's first HD console, the Wii U will have the capability of running games at 1080p, but many launch titles have been said to only be running at 720p, and some at around 30 frames per second to boot.

"As far as the resolution and framerates for any of the software goes, it'll obviously depend on whatever the developer feels is the best way to get the best experience to the player.  I can't personally speak for third-parties and their circumstances, but at Nintendo we have different teams working on different games that take into consideration the resolution… and if they think that by focusing on 720p and a certain framerate to get a certain experience, than that's ultimately how they make their decisions.  It's worth it to point out that we might consider using 1080p, but, for example, if we want to get 60 fps, at a particular stage of development, it may seem 720p is more realistic."

Here, Mr. Eguchi offered an off-record comment on the framerate of some upcoming Wii U titles.  Eventually he agreed to go on record with the following re: Nintendo Land's framerate:

"To be precise, almost all of the attractions will run at 60 fps.  There's just one particular case of an attraction that, playing at the absolute maximum number of players, would take a framerate drop… but by and large, all will run at 60 fps.  But for example, in the attraction that does have a framerate drop, we wouldn't make that concession unless we were sure the experience to the player was still up to our standards."

About 43 of my allotted 45 minutes had passed by this point, so it was onto the lightning round to end things, in the vein of some personal questions regarding Mr. Eguchi's consumption of popular culture.

Mr. Eguchi's All-time Favorite Band:  For some reason, Mr. Eguchi got a big kick out of this question and began laughing somewhat hysterically… which, in turn, had his translator laughing hysterically, which in turn had me laughing hysterically, which in turn had the pregnant PR rep laughing hysterically… all of which despite having zero idea of why we were all laughing.

It was a moment of abject cultural absurdity that we all enjoyed and culminated in Mr. Eguchi grabbing my interview crib sheet and jotting down 'Momoiro Clover Z' in his own handwriting.  You'll want to click on that link.

Eguchi Handwriting

Mr. Eguchi's All-time Favorite Movie:  He wouldn't cite a specific title, but professed a deep love of the horror genre.

Mr. Eguchi's All-time Favorite TV Show:  Again, Mr. Eguchi was shy about singling out a particular title, but he's a big fan of what he called, 'variety shows'.  I wish I'd have offered some pushback here and gotten an idea of what he meant, exactly, but I was already a minute over time following our collective laughing fit.

Mr. Eguchi's All-time Favorite Game He Hasn't Worked On:  The original Diablo.

Mr. Eguchi's All-time Favorite Game He Has Worked On:  "From a development perspective, the game that I'm closest to, that would definitely be Animal Crossing.  But from the perspective from myself as a gamer, I'd have to say Mario and Wave Race 64."

And with that, my time was up.

I offered a hearty arigato and went on my way, grateful for the time with the famed Nintendo designer and with a handwriting sample that'll forever remind me of Mr. Eguchi's infectious, bouncing laugh, his appreciation for inexplicable Japanese Idol bands and my time with him, sequestered in a small room high above the show floor at E3 2012.