Prior to his passing in 2015, former Nintendo President and CEO Satoru Iwata had an interview series with their staff called “Iwata Asks.” Now, Nintendo is looking to compile these Iwata Asks interviews into an Iwata Asks book.
With Iwata Asks, Iwata would go around and talk to various Nintendo software developers and hardware designers. Here, they would go over development and design philosophies, as well as the thought processes that went into creating Nintendo games.
These interviews were originally conducted and published in Japanese. However, a number of these from the Nintendo DS and Wii era were eventually translated into English. These are still available online at Nintendo’s official English Iwata Asks site.
Hobonichi director and former Famitsu editor Yasuhiro Nagata showed off a photo of the book’s cover over Twitter. He also stated that more details about it were set to be released next month. Hobonichi itself was founded by another Nintendo alum, Shigesato Itoi, who created the Mother series, or Earthbound as it’s known in the West.
For those wondering if the new book will also be released in English, sadly TinyCartridge is reporting that it’s only set to come out in Japan.
Iwata’s time as CEO was known for being transparent and open to its fans. In addition to his interview series, Iwata also launched, and actually acted as presenter of, the Nintendo Direct videos in 2011. These videos allowed the company to showcase new products and titles directly to their fans instead of going through trade shows or other outlets.
That said, it’s still the Iwata Asks interview series that allowed fans their most intimate look into how Nintendo makes games. With this in mind, Nintendo compiling these into book form is a great tribute to someone who helped open up the company to fans. Here’s hoping that Nintendo eventually decides to release the book outside of Japan.
