Back in 2019, tumblr user Bowletta posted high res scans of a Nintendo Dream interview (all images featured in this post by them) with Goro Abe and Ko Takeuchi regarding the development of Mega Party Games. It wasn't available in English... until now! Thanks to Windiigitlord for the translation.
Made in Wario: Interview commemorating the CESA Game Award for Excellence
We'll let you in on a little secret of Lord Wario's game!
Made in Wario, a game I created, won the CESA Game Award for Excellence (well, that's no surprise). So, when the Nindori guys wanted to talk to me about it, I told 'em all about it!
Story told by these two:
"Gather! Made in Wario" Director / Game Designer
Abe Gorou
Born in Saitama, Japan in 1975, he joined Nintendo in 1999. Participated in Wario Land Advance as a programmer. He majored in Health Science Nursing at university, an unusual background. He learned programming after joining Nintendo.
"Gather! Made in Wario" Design Director / Character Designer
Takeuchi Kou
Born in Kouchi Prefecture in 1970. After working at a software house in Tokyo, he joined Nintendo in 2000. His first job was Tottoko Hamtarou (GBC), where he was involved in text production. In Wario Land Advance, he was in charge of design.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: As mentioned in the profile section, Mr. Abe, the director, majored in Health Science Nursing in college. So, even if some of the development team members collapse anytime after staying up all night, they may be safe with Mr. Abe?
Why Made in Wario was released for 3,800 yen
―Congratulations on winning the CESA Game Award for Excellence!
Abe & Takeuchi: Thank you very much!
―How do you feel about receiving the award?
Takeuchi: It was a surprise. Everyone was shocked.
―In fact, you were aiming for it (laughs).
Abe: Ahahaha. We weren't aiming for it, but we actually hardly knew there was such an award (laughs).
―What?!
Takeuchi: I'm sorry (laughs). We weren't really interested in those awards.
―So you were that dedicated to game development (laughs).
Abe: Actually, when we received the award, I looked it up on the website and that was the first time I was aware of it.
―In the first place, is it the first time that a part of the dev team received a CESA award...?
Abe: This is probably the first time.
―Makes sense. Congratulations indeed. And for the GBA version, it surpassed the half a million (500,000 copies) mark.
Takeuchi: It sold for quite a long time.
―Did you expect it to be such a big hit?
Abe: Well, some of our staff members said with a straight face that it would sell a million copies (laughs).
―That's very confident (laughs). But if the economy had been good, a million might not have been out of the question. Besides, if the NGC version was to be released, the sales of the GBA version would have increased at the same time.
Abe: That's true. It seems that many customers were motivated to buy the game after seeing the commercials.
―Did some people buy the GBA version by mistake? (laughs)
Abe: I don't think so (laughs). I think people who don't have the NGC saw the commercials and thought it looked really fun, so they decided to try the GBA version.
―The NGC version is now 3,800 yen, 1,000 yen cheaper than the GBA version. Why did you decide to release it at a lower price like this?
Abe: In the first place, when we decided to release the NGC version, we wanted to release it at a lower price. We had the GBA version, which was the basis of the game, and we wanted four players to play the game, so at first we even talked about bundling the game with controllers. But since many people probably already have multiple controllers, we decided to lower the price of the software and release it like that.
―Plus, it was released very quickly: the GBA version came out in March, and then the GC version in October. What made you decide to release it so early?
Abe: We finished the work on the Japanese GBA version at the end of January, and after that we worked on the North American and European versions. In March, all the work was finished, so all the staff members were on a compensatory holiday. When I came back to the office in April, my boss suddenly told me that we were going to make the NGC version (laughs).
Takeuchi: It was like, so fast (laughs).
Abe: Moreover, we were told that they wanted to release it by summer.
Takeuchi: As a graphics person, I thought I could never do it, but if I was told to do it, I had to (laughs).
Abe: So we started development under such pressure that there was no time to hold meetings, and we experimented with various things between April and June. The premise was that the NGC version had to be released in six months. There were many opinions about this, but as a general rule, we decided not to create new minigames.
―That's a little disappointing...
Abe: In the first place, the GBA version of the game was such that even if you were playing alone, everyone around you would enjoy watching you do it, and it was also the time when the GB player came out, so there were many stories of audiences gathering in front of the TV monitor. We thought it would be more fun to play with many people, so we started development on the theme of a four-player Made in Wario.
―I see. I'm pretty sure that when the GBA version came out, you introduced the fun of playing together on Wario's website.
*picture: Wario Company, which you can read about on Nintendo's website. It introduces how to play one GBA by turns.
Abe: Yes, that's right. Actually, the Wario Company website was created by the assistant director of the NGC version and myself. We also took turns writing the diary (laughs).
―It had a very nice groove.
Takeuchi: I felt that the game alone did not fully convey the lore, so I decided to make a website created by Wario. We wanted to make it look like it was made by an ordinary individual.
The true identity of the yukata beauty appearing in Four Seasons
―So, the NGC version has various modes that can be played by 4 players and is very enjoyable, but for those of us who played the GBA version, the two songs included in the movie select had a huge impact on us (laughs).
Abe: Ahahaha.
―I am especially happy about the enka, because not only do I know the lyrics, but it comes with a great video (laughs).
Takeuchi: That makes me happy (laughs).
―How did you shoot that video?
Takeuchi: Actually, I printed these out on a printer... (he then pulls out illustrations of the ninja sisters, Kat and Ana).
―What?! Wasn't that footage composited?
Takeuchi: At first, I was thinking of compositing, but I thought it would be a bit tasteless (laughs).
*picture: Illustrations of the Ninja Sisters lined up in front of Mr. Takeuchi. From close up, they look very tawdry, but that's okay.
Abe: There is a scene where Kat is running, and there is a human hand in the scene (laughs).
Takeuchi: That is my hand (laughs).
―Ahahahaha. So you ran with the illustrations! (laughs)
Takeuchi: I shot it with a "ready, go!" shout. It was like I was in a student film club. And I got mosquito bites (laughs).
―It was a summer shoot, wasn't it?
Takeuchi: We did that shoot about two weeks before completion.
―So it was right at the last minute.
*picture: If you look closely, you can indeed see a human hand in what looks like a ghost photo. This kind of cheapness is sometimes the great charm of Made in Wario.
Takeuchi: We shot a lot of footage. For example, a scene where Kat and Ana are placed side by side and they fall over due to the wind (laughs).
―That's so pitiable (laughs).
Abe: It was very nice (laughs). Unfortunately, we had to cut it because of the time to compile all that.
―There is also a beautiful woman in a yukata in the movie...
Abe: That's one of the staff members who worked with me on design.
―And the yukata she was wearing...?
Takeuchi: She brought her own (laughs).
―I knew it. That's why you were able to release the game for 3,800 yen (yen).
Abe: That's right. She basically paid for it herself (laughs).
Takeuchi: She also sang the song.
*picture: The yukata beauty was a designer. Her face is not shown at all, but she must be a beauty. Please appear on Nindori someday.
―She modeled and also sang. Perhaps you also made the video?
Takeuchi: I did (laughs). I used a regular home video camera I had and one from the company...
―It's a 3,800 yen game, after all (laughs). So where was the shooting location?
Takeuchi: After all, when you shoot on your own, you can't help but be in a place nearest to you.
―So that river is the Kamo River?
Abe: Yes, it is. Actually, it was filmed at the CEO's house.
―What?! Really?
Abe: That's a lie (laughs). Well, let's leave it at that. The truth is, I've been filming here and there, so I just can't pinpoint the location.
―I think this enka song should be in the karaoke repertoire. It would be a favorite of my father's (laughs).
Abe & Takeuchi: Ahahaha.
―That's why I was hoping for a karaoke mode to be included.
Takeuchi: We wanted to, but we didn't have time.
―Now that you have such good songs, are there any plans to release them on CD?
Abe: No, not at all (laughs).
―That's a shame. I thought of doing Wario's singing show for the next gig (laughs). By the way, I see your name in the staff roll in the voice section...
Takeuchi: Not only me, but most of the staff's voices are used.
Abe: The sound person called each staff member and recorded sample voices.
Takeuchi: Sometimes when I was drawing, I had some free time, you know. Then the person in charge of sound called me and told me to say "ah" or "hmm" or something like that. I quickly recorded my voice and he said, "Good work." After that, I have no idea what they used it for (laughs).
Abe: In the game, the voices are used in many minute aspects as sound effects, so even I don't know.
―Among the voice actors is Leslie Swan, who voiced Princess Peach in Mario 64.
Abe: Except for Charles Martinet, who did Wario's voice, all the English voices were done by NOA (Nintendo of America) staff.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: Mr. Abe originally had his sights set on becoming a manga artist. Then, when he was a sophomore in college, he happened to have a part-time job at a publishing company where he experienced CD-ROM production. This is where he became interested in game production and joined Nintendo.
The compiled movies are 90% of the total capacity!
―Also, in the movie select, there is Shiner Diner. I was looking at it, and at the very end, I found a picture hanging on the wall that caught my attention...
Takeuchi: (very shaken, but playing dumb) Huh? What's that about? (laughs)
―That picture is of the former president, Yamau—
Takeuchi: (interrupting) Dunno... I wonder what it is? (laughs)
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
―No matter how I slice it, that face with those sunglasses must be...
Abe: I found Takeuchi painting that picture. Maybe in the depths of his psyche...
―Takeuchi painted a picture of the person he admires the most (laughs).
Takeuchi: I was so busy that I don't remember what I drew anymore! (laughs)
―There are some other paintings of people on the wall, aren't there?
Takeuchi: Well, this is just speculation... (laughs) but it looks like my daughter is in one of the paintings.
―That's such a personal thing (laughs). How old is your daughter?
Takeuchi: She's only 11 months old. That's no good (laughs). I'm sorry, really.
*picture: The painting on the wall at the bottom right shows that very individual. And at the very top, there is a picture of a baby facing sideways!
―No, please keep doing these fun things (laughs). Are there any other hidden things?
Abe: Each person in charge hides stuff, so there are many things that the other staff members don't know (laughs).
Takeuchi: Basically, I enjoy doing things by myself, so I don't tell anyone (laughs).
―That kind of disorder is one of the advantages of Made in Wario. By the way, there are various opening movies in "Gather!", aren't there?
Abe: There are 12 kinds in total. In fact, 9/10 of the total capacity is occupied by the movies alone.
―Ninety percent of it is movies?! That's not something you would expect to see in a Nintendo software (laughs).
Abe: That's including karaoke movies.
Takeuchi: We made the movies mostly as we wanted. I made these movies in the last two weeks of development. But I had the most fun when I was working on them (laughs).
―This game is fun for us to play, of course, but I think the people who make this game are probably having the most fun.
Abe: Yes, that is true. I guess you could say that.
Takeuchi: Whenever we came up with an idea, we all tried our best to make the staff laugh (laughs).
Abe: So we would come up with materials that would never become Nintendo's products (laughs).
―Any examples?
Takeuchi: Something close to contemporary art.
―Oh, something like Picasso that might get caught in copyrights.
Takeuchi: Even with that kind of thing, we are desperate to entertain people (laughs).
Abe: I think hard all day long, and many of the ideas I come up with go to waste as a result. However, there were times when it led to other ideas, so I can't say it was all a waste of time.
―That is how more than 200 minigames were created, but how did you come up with the ideas?
Abe: In my case, I tried to come up with ideas from things I saw on the train or while walking to work. For example, I saw fireworks when I went back to my parents' house, and I thought that I would love to make a game out of it.
―So that Boom Box game was made by Abe. That is a simple game, but it is very nice to play.
*picture: The moment a pixel enters the square frame, press the A button and a beautiful fireworks display opens up. A simple but elegant minigame.
Abe: Thank you very much. I just wanted to make a game about fireworks, so I forced myself to make it (laughs).
―What kind of minigames did you make, Takeuchi?
Takeuchi: I made Manic Mechanic, where you combine a robot.
―Oh, that's a nasty game. I often make mistakes (laughs).
Takeuchi: I'm sorry (laughs). I put the letters "U" and "V" in there for no reason, too. I just tried to make the same heroes I've seen since I was a kid.
*picture: Manic Mechanic, a minigame created by Takeuchi. Looks easy but is quite difficult.
Abe: Basically, when making minigames, I used to write them on little yellow sticky notes (Post-it notes).
―Those sticky notes were introduced in an undercover report on Wario's website at Nintendo's headquarters.
Abe: Yes. We all carried sticky notes with us, and whenever we had an idea, we would write it down. The director would select the best ones and put them on the board where everyone could see them.
―How fast did you make the minigames?
Abe: It depends on the person, but in my case, I drew the pictures and programmed the games by myself, and on average, I made one game every three days.
Takeuchi: As for the graphics, we would make dummy graphics for now and revise them later, but I was so busy making movies that I could not get around to minigames. So the programmers drew whatever they wanted, and many of the tentative drawings were left as they were (laughs).
Abe: There were many games that I wondered when they would be fixed, but they were released as they were (laughs).
―Like On Point, the boss game. But sometimes the cheapness is for the better.
Takeuchi: Yeah, exactly. That's why I was told, "Thanks for not fixing it." (laughs)
*picture: If you mess up in On Point, you get a screen like this. It's not nice to be called sloppy by a sloppy drawing (whoever drew this, I'm sorry), but it's very tasteful.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: Takeuchi, Design Director, specialized in 3D modeling design at his previous company. However, his first job after joining Nintendo was to write the text for "Tottoko Hamtarou." It seems to be a tradition that a part of development is to do whatever.
Who is the owner of the 19 year old grandma cat Boji?
―In making so many minigames, there must be some silly backstories, right?
Abe: There are so many (laughs).
Takeuchi: For example, there is a reality minigame called "What's Your Beef?" and when we were making that, we went to a diner, Volks, during our lunch break.
Abe: In the end, though, we didn't use anything we took at that place (laughs).
Takeuchi: We just ate steak and came back. What were we doing there? (laughs)
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
Takeuchi: That's all we did (laughs).
―There is a minigame called Body Block that features people. What about that one?
*picture: In Body Block, you catch a falling ball from above. The models are also played by staff members.
Abe: We had one of our staff members lie down in a conference room and we photographed him in various poses. We decided that it would work, so we invited a short person and a tall person based on that person's height, and took pictures of them.
―So you also had your own models? (laughs)
Abe: That's right (laughs).
―What are some of these minigames you are proud of?
Abe: I want to brag about them at the time, but once I get them done, I forget about them.
Takeuchi: Abe did the game of sticking a finger up the nose.
Abe: The original idea came from another staff member, who drew a picture of a nose and a finger on a sticky note. When we decided to turn it into a game, we knew we were going to put the finger in the nose, but the minigame had three levels of expression. So, level 1 was the easy one where you put the pinky in, level 2 was a little difficult with the index finger, and level 3, well, what should we do? It was quite difficult to figure that out. That's why we decided to add two fingers (laughs).
Takeuchi: Izushi (Takehiro), the head of the development department, told me to put my finger in my nose in front of everyone at the Game Awards ceremony, but I couldn't do that, as you can imagine (laughs).
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
―I would have liked to see that (laughs).
Takeuchi: I thought the director was reckless.
―No, he had a point. Also, I like the minigame where you shake the dog's paw... who is that dog?
Abe: It's a dog owned by the female sound designer's family.
Takeuchi: She seems to love it very much.
*picture: When you fail to shake the paw, you get this sad look on the dog's face and you want to yell sorry. But some people fail on purpose?
Abe: As for cats... There's one in Club Sugar, but it is the designer's cat. He lent me pictures of it at the beginning, and I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted this one or that one (laughs).
Takeuchi: They are all so full of love for their pets (laughs).
―I understand how they feel (laughs).
Takeuchi: He really wanted it to be in a game, so I worked very hard (laughs).
Abe: He brought about 100 photos and asked me to choose my favorite (laughs).
―100 pictures! (laughs) But he must be very happy to have his own pet in the game.
Abe: And his parents' family seemed to be very happy because it appeared in a commercial too.
－So, what are the names of the pets?
Takeuchi: The dog is Jack and the cat is Boji.
―Bozzie?
Abe: No, "Boji." It is in the NGC version of Kit-tease, but I guess you have to write "'ho' syllable with two dots and 'chi' syllable with two dots" in hiragana.
Takeuchi: As an owner, that is not negotiable (laughs).
―Ahahaha (laughs)
*picture: This is Boji the Cat, a 19-year-old grandmother. Check out the Wario Company's website to see the pictures of two cats.
Abe: In the Roman alphabet, it's "Boji" (laughs). I made sure to show it clearly in the staff roll.
―Oh, Boji appears at the beginning of the Models section, but it was a cat, not a person (laughs).
What are the chances that Made in Wario 2 will appear?
―What was your impression of the response from users after the game was released?
Abe: I tried to get feedback via e-mail on the website, but there were a lot more young people, or elementary school students, than I expected. There were also a lot of comments from girls, such as, "My friend enjoyed it so much that she said she would buy it when she tried it." I was a bit surprised because I didn't think that many of the people looking at the website were that young. As a creator, I didn't have children in mind; I just wanted to have fun (laughs). So I was a bit worried about whether the children would enjoy it, but they genuinely enjoyed it, so I am glad to hear that.
―So Made in Wario is a game for all ages.
PR: It was the number one game that people wanted for about three months in CoroCoro Comic, and it had a good reputation among adult users on the Internet as well.
Abe: That's partly why we released the NGC version; children are inevitably more likely to own a GBA, so we wanted the NGC version to be a game that parents and children could play together.
―It's a game that can be played even when you are older. It may also help prevent blurring of vision (laughs).
Abe: When I received the trophy at the Game Awards ceremony, I was approached by Mr. Kudou, the vice president of CESA. He probably only said congratulations to the other winners, but when it was me, he said with a smile, "I've been enjoying playing the game" (laughs).
Takeuchi: I wondered why you were smiling as I watched you. I wondered if something was wrong (laughs).
Abe: That made me very happy (laughs).
―So, what about the ideas for the sequel?
Abe: We are not working on it yet, but it is a possibility.
―For example, is it possible to solicit ideas for minigames from users and make them?
Abe: If we do it that way, we are conversely restricted in some ways. For example, if we have an idea that we originally had in mind, but a user's proposal is close, we may have to respect that idea.
―I see. So there are stickies with ideas that you didn't use this time...
Abe: We have lots of those.
―So many that you can make a sequel soon?
Takeuchi: Ahahaha. Well, not that many (laughs).
―Finally, how do you want people to play Made in Wario?
Abe: The GBA version and the NGC version overlap quite a bit, and some people who have played the GBA version may feel that the NGC version for a single player is a bit bland, but we made it so that people can get together to play it.
―That is also reflected in the title "Gather!", isn't it?
Abe: That's right. So we want people to enjoy the NGC version when they get together, and the GBA version when they play alone.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: The new characters that appeared in Made in Wario were created by Takeuchi. In consultation with Mr. Kiyotake, the creator of Wario, and others who belong to the same development department, charming characters such as Jimmy and Mona were created.
Made in Wario: Interview commemorating the CESA Game Award for Excellence
We'll let you in on a little secret of Lord Wario's game!
Made in Wario, a game I created, won the CESA Game Award for Excellence (well, that's no surprise). So, when the Nindori guys wanted to talk to me about it, I told 'em all about it!
Story told by these two:
"Gather! Made in Wario" Director / Game Designer
Abe Gorou
Born in Saitama, Japan in 1975, he joined Nintendo in 1999. Participated in Wario Land Advance as a programmer. He majored in Health Science Nursing at university, an unusual background. He learned programming after joining Nintendo.
"Gather! Made in Wario" Design Director / Character Designer
Takeuchi Kou
Born in Kouchi Prefecture in 1970. After working at a software house in Tokyo, he joined Nintendo in 2000. His first job was Tottoko Hamtarou (GBC), where he was involved in text production. In Wario Land Advance, he was in charge of design.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: As mentioned in the profile section, Mr. Abe, the director, majored in Health Science Nursing in college. So, even if some of the development team members collapse anytime after staying up all night, they may be safe with Mr. Abe?
Why Made in Wario was released for 3,800 yen
―Congratulations on winning the CESA Game Award for Excellence!
Abe & Takeuchi: Thank you very much!
―How do you feel about receiving the award?
Takeuchi: It was a surprise. Everyone was shocked.
―In fact, you were aiming for it (laughs).
Abe: Ahahaha. We weren't aiming for it, but we actually hardly knew there was such an award (laughs).
―What?!
Takeuchi: I'm sorry (laughs). We weren't really interested in those awards.
―So you were that dedicated to game development (laughs).
Abe: Actually, when we received the award, I looked it up on the website and that was the first time I was aware of it.
―In the first place, is it the first time that a part of the dev team received a CESA award...?
Abe: This is probably the first time.
―Makes sense. Congratulations indeed. And for the GBA version, it surpassed the half a million (500,000 copies) mark.
Takeuchi: It sold for quite a long time.
―Did you expect it to be such a big hit?
Abe: Well, some of our staff members said with a straight face that it would sell a million copies (laughs).
―That's very confident (laughs). But if the economy had been good, a million might not have been out of the question. Besides, if the NGC version was to be released, the sales of the GBA version would have increased at the same time.
Abe: That's true. It seems that many customers were motivated to buy the game after seeing the commercials.
―Did some people buy the GBA version by mistake? (laughs)
Abe: I don't think so (laughs). I think people who don't have the NGC saw the commercials and thought it looked really fun, so they decided to try the GBA version.
―The NGC version is now 3,800 yen, 1,000 yen cheaper than the GBA version. Why did you decide to release it at a lower price like this?
Abe: In the first place, when we decided to release the NGC version, we wanted to release it at a lower price. We had the GBA version, which was the basis of the game, and we wanted four players to play the game, so at first we even talked about bundling the game with controllers. But since many people probably already have multiple controllers, we decided to lower the price of the software and release it like that.
―Plus, it was released very quickly: the GBA version came out in March, and then the GC version in October. What made you decide to release it so early?
Abe: We finished the work on the Japanese GBA version at the end of January, and after that we worked on the North American and European versions. In March, all the work was finished, so all the staff members were on a compensatory holiday. When I came back to the office in April, my boss suddenly told me that we were going to make the NGC version (laughs).
Takeuchi: It was like, so fast (laughs).
Abe: Moreover, we were told that they wanted to release it by summer.
Takeuchi: As a graphics person, I thought I could never do it, but if I was told to do it, I had to (laughs).
Abe: So we started development under such pressure that there was no time to hold meetings, and we experimented with various things between April and June. The premise was that the NGC version had to be released in six months. There were many opinions about this, but as a general rule, we decided not to create new minigames.
―That's a little disappointing...
Abe: In the first place, the GBA version of the game was such that even if you were playing alone, everyone around you would enjoy watching you do it, and it was also the time when the GB player came out, so there were many stories of audiences gathering in front of the TV monitor. We thought it would be more fun to play with many people, so we started development on the theme of a four-player Made in Wario.
―I see. I'm pretty sure that when the GBA version came out, you introduced the fun of playing together on Wario's website.
*picture: Wario Company, which you can read about on Nintendo's website. It introduces how to play one GBA by turns.
Abe: Yes, that's right. Actually, the Wario Company website was created by the assistant director of the NGC version and myself. We also took turns writing the diary (laughs).
―It had a very nice groove.
Takeuchi: I felt that the game alone did not fully convey the lore, so I decided to make a website created by Wario. We wanted to make it look like it was made by an ordinary individual.
The true identity of the yukata beauty appearing in Four Seasons
―So, the NGC version has various modes that can be played by 4 players and is very enjoyable, but for those of us who played the GBA version, the two songs included in the movie select had a huge impact on us (laughs).
Abe: Ahahaha.
―I am especially happy about the enka, because not only do I know the lyrics, but it comes with a great video (laughs).
Takeuchi: That makes me happy (laughs).
―How did you shoot that video?
Takeuchi: Actually, I printed these out on a printer... (he then pulls out illustrations of the ninja sisters, Kat and Ana).
―What?! Wasn't that footage composited?
Takeuchi: At first, I was thinking of compositing, but I thought it would be a bit tasteless (laughs).
*picture: Illustrations of the Ninja Sisters lined up in front of Mr. Takeuchi. From close up, they look very tawdry, but that's okay.
Abe: There is a scene where Kat is running, and there is a human hand in the scene (laughs).
Takeuchi: That is my hand (laughs).
―Ahahahaha. So you ran with the illustrations! (laughs)
Takeuchi: I shot it with a "ready, go!" shout. It was like I was in a student film club. And I got mosquito bites (laughs).
―It was a summer shoot, wasn't it?
Takeuchi: We did that shoot about two weeks before completion.
―So it was right at the last minute.
*picture: If you look closely, you can indeed see a human hand in what looks like a ghost photo. This kind of cheapness is sometimes the great charm of Made in Wario.
Takeuchi: We shot a lot of footage. For example, a scene where Kat and Ana are placed side by side and they fall over due to the wind (laughs).
―That's so pitiable (laughs).
Abe: It was very nice (laughs). Unfortunately, we had to cut it because of the time to compile all that.
―There is also a beautiful woman in a yukata in the movie...
Abe: That's one of the staff members who worked with me on design.
―And the yukata she was wearing...?
Takeuchi: She brought her own (laughs).
―I knew it. That's why you were able to release the game for 3,800 yen (yen).
Abe: That's right. She basically paid for it herself (laughs).
Takeuchi: She also sang the song.
*picture: The yukata beauty was a designer. Her face is not shown at all, but she must be a beauty. Please appear on Nindori someday.
―She modeled and also sang. Perhaps you also made the video?
Takeuchi: I did (laughs). I used a regular home video camera I had and one from the company...
―It's a 3,800 yen game, after all (laughs). So where was the shooting location?
Takeuchi: After all, when you shoot on your own, you can't help but be in a place nearest to you.
―So that river is the Kamo River?
Abe: Yes, it is. Actually, it was filmed at the CEO's house.
―What?! Really?
Abe: That's a lie (laughs). Well, let's leave it at that. The truth is, I've been filming here and there, so I just can't pinpoint the location.
―I think this enka song should be in the karaoke repertoire. It would be a favorite of my father's (laughs).
Abe & Takeuchi: Ahahaha.
―That's why I was hoping for a karaoke mode to be included.
Takeuchi: We wanted to, but we didn't have time.
―Now that you have such good songs, are there any plans to release them on CD?
Abe: No, not at all (laughs).
―That's a shame. I thought of doing Wario's singing show for the next gig (laughs). By the way, I see your name in the staff roll in the voice section...
Takeuchi: Not only me, but most of the staff's voices are used.
Abe: The sound person called each staff member and recorded sample voices.
Takeuchi: Sometimes when I was drawing, I had some free time, you know. Then the person in charge of sound called me and told me to say "ah" or "hmm" or something like that. I quickly recorded my voice and he said, "Good work." After that, I have no idea what they used it for (laughs).
Abe: In the game, the voices are used in many minute aspects as sound effects, so even I don't know.
―Among the voice actors is Leslie Swan, who voiced Princess Peach in Mario 64.
Abe: Except for Charles Martinet, who did Wario's voice, all the English voices were done by NOA (Nintendo of America) staff.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: Mr. Abe originally had his sights set on becoming a manga artist. Then, when he was a sophomore in college, he happened to have a part-time job at a publishing company where he experienced CD-ROM production. This is where he became interested in game production and joined Nintendo.
The compiled movies are 90% of the total capacity!
―Also, in the movie select, there is Shiner Diner. I was looking at it, and at the very end, I found a picture hanging on the wall that caught my attention...
Takeuchi: (very shaken, but playing dumb) Huh? What's that about? (laughs)
―That picture is of the former president, Yamau—
Takeuchi: (interrupting) Dunno... I wonder what it is? (laughs)
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
―No matter how I slice it, that face with those sunglasses must be...
Abe: I found Takeuchi painting that picture. Maybe in the depths of his psyche...
―Takeuchi painted a picture of the person he admires the most (laughs).
Takeuchi: I was so busy that I don't remember what I drew anymore! (laughs)
―There are some other paintings of people on the wall, aren't there?
Takeuchi: Well, this is just speculation... (laughs) but it looks like my daughter is in one of the paintings.
―That's such a personal thing (laughs). How old is your daughter?
Takeuchi: She's only 11 months old. That's no good (laughs). I'm sorry, really.
*picture: The painting on the wall at the bottom right shows that very individual. And at the very top, there is a picture of a baby facing sideways!
―No, please keep doing these fun things (laughs). Are there any other hidden things?
Abe: Each person in charge hides stuff, so there are many things that the other staff members don't know (laughs).
Takeuchi: Basically, I enjoy doing things by myself, so I don't tell anyone (laughs).
―That kind of disorder is one of the advantages of Made in Wario. By the way, there are various opening movies in "Gather!", aren't there?
Abe: There are 12 kinds in total. In fact, 9/10 of the total capacity is occupied by the movies alone.
―Ninety percent of it is movies?! That's not something you would expect to see in a Nintendo software (laughs).
Abe: That's including karaoke movies.
Takeuchi: We made the movies mostly as we wanted. I made these movies in the last two weeks of development. But I had the most fun when I was working on them (laughs).
―This game is fun for us to play, of course, but I think the people who make this game are probably having the most fun.
Abe: Yes, that is true. I guess you could say that.
Takeuchi: Whenever we came up with an idea, we all tried our best to make the staff laugh (laughs).
Abe: So we would come up with materials that would never become Nintendo's products (laughs).
―Any examples?
Takeuchi: Something close to contemporary art.
―Oh, something like Picasso that might get caught in copyrights.
Takeuchi: Even with that kind of thing, we are desperate to entertain people (laughs).
Abe: I think hard all day long, and many of the ideas I come up with go to waste as a result. However, there were times when it led to other ideas, so I can't say it was all a waste of time.
―That is how more than 200 minigames were created, but how did you come up with the ideas?
Abe: In my case, I tried to come up with ideas from things I saw on the train or while walking to work. For example, I saw fireworks when I went back to my parents' house, and I thought that I would love to make a game out of it.
―So that Boom Box game was made by Abe. That is a simple game, but it is very nice to play.
*picture: The moment a pixel enters the square frame, press the A button and a beautiful fireworks display opens up. A simple but elegant minigame.
Abe: Thank you very much. I just wanted to make a game about fireworks, so I forced myself to make it (laughs).
―What kind of minigames did you make, Takeuchi?
Takeuchi: I made Manic Mechanic, where you combine a robot.
―Oh, that's a nasty game. I often make mistakes (laughs).
Takeuchi: I'm sorry (laughs). I put the letters "U" and "V" in there for no reason, too. I just tried to make the same heroes I've seen since I was a kid.
*picture: Manic Mechanic, a minigame created by Takeuchi. Looks easy but is quite difficult.
Abe: Basically, when making minigames, I used to write them on little yellow sticky notes (Post-it notes).
―Those sticky notes were introduced in an undercover report on Wario's website at Nintendo's headquarters.
Abe: Yes. We all carried sticky notes with us, and whenever we had an idea, we would write it down. The director would select the best ones and put them on the board where everyone could see them.
―How fast did you make the minigames?
Abe: It depends on the person, but in my case, I drew the pictures and programmed the games by myself, and on average, I made one game every three days.
Takeuchi: As for the graphics, we would make dummy graphics for now and revise them later, but I was so busy making movies that I could not get around to minigames. So the programmers drew whatever they wanted, and many of the tentative drawings were left as they were (laughs).
Abe: There were many games that I wondered when they would be fixed, but they were released as they were (laughs).
―Like On Point, the boss game. But sometimes the cheapness is for the better.
Takeuchi: Yeah, exactly. That's why I was told, "Thanks for not fixing it." (laughs)
*picture: If you mess up in On Point, you get a screen like this. It's not nice to be called sloppy by a sloppy drawing (whoever drew this, I'm sorry), but it's very tasteful.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: Takeuchi, Design Director, specialized in 3D modeling design at his previous company. However, his first job after joining Nintendo was to write the text for "Tottoko Hamtarou." It seems to be a tradition that a part of development is to do whatever.
Who is the owner of the 19 year old grandma cat Boji?
―In making so many minigames, there must be some silly backstories, right?
Abe: There are so many (laughs).
Takeuchi: For example, there is a reality minigame called "What's Your Beef?" and when we were making that, we went to a diner, Volks, during our lunch break.
Abe: In the end, though, we didn't use anything we took at that place (laughs).
Takeuchi: We just ate steak and came back. What were we doing there? (laughs)
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
Takeuchi: That's all we did (laughs).
―There is a minigame called Body Block that features people. What about that one?
*picture: In Body Block, you catch a falling ball from above. The models are also played by staff members.
Abe: We had one of our staff members lie down in a conference room and we photographed him in various poses. We decided that it would work, so we invited a short person and a tall person based on that person's height, and took pictures of them.
―So you also had your own models? (laughs)
Abe: That's right (laughs).
―What are some of these minigames you are proud of?
Abe: I want to brag about them at the time, but once I get them done, I forget about them.
Takeuchi: Abe did the game of sticking a finger up the nose.
Abe: The original idea came from another staff member, who drew a picture of a nose and a finger on a sticky note. When we decided to turn it into a game, we knew we were going to put the finger in the nose, but the minigame had three levels of expression. So, level 1 was the easy one where you put the pinky in, level 2 was a little difficult with the index finger, and level 3, well, what should we do? It was quite difficult to figure that out. That's why we decided to add two fingers (laughs).
Takeuchi: Izushi (Takehiro), the head of the development department, told me to put my finger in my nose in front of everyone at the Game Awards ceremony, but I couldn't do that, as you can imagine (laughs).
Everyone: *bursts out laughing*
―I would have liked to see that (laughs).
Takeuchi: I thought the director was reckless.
―No, he had a point. Also, I like the minigame where you shake the dog's paw... who is that dog?
Abe: It's a dog owned by the female sound designer's family.
Takeuchi: She seems to love it very much.
*picture: When you fail to shake the paw, you get this sad look on the dog's face and you want to yell sorry. But some people fail on purpose?
Abe: As for cats... There's one in Club Sugar, but it is the designer's cat. He lent me pictures of it at the beginning, and I had a hard time deciding whether I wanted this one or that one (laughs).
Takeuchi: They are all so full of love for their pets (laughs).
―I understand how they feel (laughs).
Takeuchi: He really wanted it to be in a game, so I worked very hard (laughs).
Abe: He brought about 100 photos and asked me to choose my favorite (laughs).
―100 pictures! (laughs) But he must be very happy to have his own pet in the game.
Abe: And his parents' family seemed to be very happy because it appeared in a commercial too.
－So, what are the names of the pets?
Takeuchi: The dog is Jack and the cat is Boji.
―Bozzie?
Abe: No, "Boji." It is in the NGC version of Kit-tease, but I guess you have to write "'ho' syllable with two dots and 'chi' syllable with two dots" in hiragana.
Takeuchi: As an owner, that is not negotiable (laughs).
―Ahahaha (laughs)
*picture: This is Boji the Cat, a 19-year-old grandmother. Check out the Wario Company's website to see the pictures of two cats.
Abe: In the Roman alphabet, it's "Boji" (laughs). I made sure to show it clearly in the staff roll.
―Oh, Boji appears at the beginning of the Models section, but it was a cat, not a person (laughs).
What are the chances that Made in Wario 2 will appear?
―What was your impression of the response from users after the game was released?
Abe: I tried to get feedback via e-mail on the website, but there were a lot more young people, or elementary school students, than I expected. There were also a lot of comments from girls, such as, "My friend enjoyed it so much that she said she would buy it when she tried it." I was a bit surprised because I didn't think that many of the people looking at the website were that young. As a creator, I didn't have children in mind; I just wanted to have fun (laughs). So I was a bit worried about whether the children would enjoy it, but they genuinely enjoyed it, so I am glad to hear that.
―So Made in Wario is a game for all ages.
PR: It was the number one game that people wanted for about three months in CoroCoro Comic, and it had a good reputation among adult users on the Internet as well.
Abe: That's partly why we released the NGC version; children are inevitably more likely to own a GBA, so we wanted the NGC version to be a game that parents and children could play together.
―It's a game that can be played even when you are older. It may also help prevent blurring of vision (laughs).
Abe: When I received the trophy at the Game Awards ceremony, I was approached by Mr. Kudou, the vice president of CESA. He probably only said congratulations to the other winners, but when it was me, he said with a smile, "I've been enjoying playing the game" (laughs).
Takeuchi: I wondered why you were smiling as I watched you. I wondered if something was wrong (laughs).
Abe: That made me very happy (laughs).
―So, what about the ideas for the sequel?
Abe: We are not working on it yet, but it is a possibility.
―For example, is it possible to solicit ideas for minigames from users and make them?
Abe: If we do it that way, we are conversely restricted in some ways. For example, if we have an idea that we originally had in mind, but a user's proposal is close, we may have to respect that idea.
―I see. So there are stickies with ideas that you didn't use this time...
Abe: We have lots of those.
―So many that you can make a sequel soon?
Takeuchi: Ahahaha. Well, not that many (laughs).
―Finally, how do you want people to play Made in Wario?
Abe: The GBA version and the NGC version overlap quite a bit, and some people who have played the GBA version may feel that the NGC version for a single player is a bit bland, but we made it so that people can get together to play it.
―That is also reflected in the title "Gather!", isn't it?
Abe: That's right. So we want people to enjoy the NGC version when they get together, and the GBA version when they play alone.
Outta Bounds Made in Wario: The new characters that appeared in Made in Wario were created by Takeuchi. In consultation with Mr. Kiyotake, the creator of Wario, and others who belong to the same development department, charming characters such as Jimmy and Mona were created.
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