Man with the job of succeeding the best video game designer in history



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CEO Shinya Takahashi with Yoshiaki Koizumi, developer of the Switch platform, next to the console at the launch of the New York team Source: AFP

When it is asks if he would like to be in the trenches of the design of


video games
Before the current Parisian hotel comes to the press to talk business, Shinya Takahashi (Kyoto, 1963) burst out laughing. "What I would like is that they give me time to draw, although, of course, I would not dare to tell my bosses." When I was twenty-one, Takahashi was dedicated to that, to drawing. Like other key men in the most iconic video game society on the planet, he studied at the Kyoto School of Fine Arts and then made the jump to video game design.

Today, the Takahashi is already wearing gray hair. left the 50's behind) is the general manager of the entertainment planning and development division of


Nintendo
. In more specific terms: the captain who marks the creative direction of the company. Takahashi plays a role that until recently was embodied by Shigeru Miyamoto, the most important video game designer in history. Whoever gave birth to Mario, Zelda and so many others and
who received the Prince of Asturias Award for Communications and the Humanities in 2012.


  Shigeru Miyamoto receiving an award at E3 in June 2018; is considered the best creator of video games in history
Shigeru Miyamoto will receive a prize at E3 in June 2018; is considered the best video game creator in history Source: Archive

In addition, Takahashi has the added challenge of Nintendo going through the most crucial moment of his last years of life. history. The company, which was founded on 23 September 1889 as a Hanafuda card game manufacturer and has become the world's largest video game company, had a critical moment with its latest console, the Wii U (2012). However, its latest release, the hybrid between mobile entertainment and lounge known as


Nintendo switch
has
been an extraordinary success. 18 million units in its first year of life. Record numbers for sagas as old as Zelda or Mario. And a bet to merge the technological and the manual as the unusual and fascinating
cardboard toys Nintendo Labo. Not to mention the madness that marked 2017. Maybe it sounds like something:
Pokémon Go


  The Nintendo Switch has been a success for the company: it already has 18 million units sold in one year
The Nintendo Switch has been a success for the company: it already carries 18 million units sold in a year [19659002] Source: AFP

If I had to choose a single reason that explains the unexpected and immense success of Nintendo Switch, what would it be?

A year ago, when I was doing the promotional tour of Nintendo Switch,, many interviews. Meanwhile, I've tried to communicate the almost magical charm of Nintendo Switch, and one of the keys to this spell is the concept "the console you're wearing". In other words, you can take the console of your home and play with it anywhere, anytime and with any company. But I think the interviewers were not able to visualize just how much this ubiquitous console vision actually encompbaded.

We, as developers of Nintendo, knew what it was like to remove the console from the base and take it to the street. But verbally explain this feeling was very, very complicated. However, after the launch, people could start playing everywhere
The legend of Zelda :
The breath of nature [título de un lanzamiento de la Switch valorado como uno de los mejores videojuegos de todos los tiempos]. They finally understood the charm of this console and they liked it a lot. I really felt very comforted.

I suppose you will have taken yours more than once, is not it?

Many times. A lot of times. [Risas]. Another thing that explains the success that I think is our Joy-Con [los mandos de la Nintendo Switch que vienen equipados con tecnología como vibración HD, giróscopo y cámara infrarroja]. It's one of the things that make Switch unique. Transmit the body's natural movement, the ease they give to share a game or the sensations that our vibration conveys. I think we knew how to complement these hardware possibilities with the software that took advantage of each of these features, such as
Weapons ,
1-2 Switch or
Super Mario Kart 8

Something that proves this success of Switch is that it is not necessary to have the most advanced technology [la Switch es sensiblemente menos potente que sus competidoras PlayStation 4 y Xbox One] but it can to be overcome by offering something that others do not have. As we said, the Switch allows the player to interact differently. The power of our CPU is not the only parameter to take into account. Of course, it's a relevant parameter and the more powerful it is, the better. However, we believe that you must find the right balance between the technical specifications and the specific experience you want to offer.


  Lab, a series of cardboard accessories that allow new games in the console Switch
Lab, a series of cardboard accessories to arm that allow new games on the console Switch [19659023] I am interested to know how a great success that comes out of all forecasts changes the business plan in a product like a console, with a life cycle so long, it can reach 10 years. Is it improvised on the fly or is it planned in case?

Our philosophy, what we do and what we focus on has not changed [por este éxito]. And that has not changed for many years. Our philosophy is summed up in a simple way: to create fun and wonderful things. It has not changed and will not change. Speaking of Labo, we had a group of developers who had been trying very creative ideas for years. But of course, with a base of consoles sold so big, these risky ideas like Labo find a much more appealing way for the public.

You have to take a break to talk a little bit about Nintendo Labo. In February of this year, and not for the first time, Twitter broke out because of Nintendo. Hundreds of journalists from around the world have published articles on a revolutionary new toy that has turned the Nintendo Switch into something else. In many other things. A giant robot. A piano with all its notes. A fishing rod A motorcycle. And all these things were cardboard.

Nintendo Labo has been introduced to the world as an unprecedented fusion between the physical, the manual and the video game, always accused of being an entertainment that alienates those who consume it. The approach of Nintendo, geared in its first phase towards families, was to present cardboard toys whose badembly process was an experience in itself.

But the great magic came later. Thanks to Joy-con's infrared camera and reflective tape strips, Nintendo has been able to program visual recognition of these tapes and turn them into anything. For example, the notes of a piano. For example, the arms and legs of a flying robot. For example. What the user wants, since Labo has a specific section that opens the programming language to the user and allows him to invent his own toys.

With Nintendo Labo, they managed to blow up the Internet with a millimetrically constructed magic trailer How did your company succeed, for more than half a century in this sector, to stay true to this motto? which seemed surprising and entertaining, without diverting its attention from commercial pressures or market trends?

At Nintendo we are creative. And that means we are looking to invent new experiences for people's enjoyment. It's the heart of our thinking and motivation. So we always think of the same question: what are the things that can surprise? Thinking and focusing on this is the key.

You, like many in your company, have just graduated in Fine Arts, not a technological discipline. Do you think having so many artists has helped Nintendo keep this philosophy so different from its competition?

Well, there are also Nintendo executives with more technical training, in addition to artists like me. We are not only artists [sonríe]. Our strength lies in the fact that we each have a specialty, a field of specific knowledge that we master. And it helps enormously Nintendo.

To conclude the interview, we interviewed Takahashi on one of the big news of his company, the return of Super Mario to the big screen. Twenty-five years have pbaded since the terrible first attempt of Hollywood to turn the mustachioed plumber into a superproduct, a unanimously qualified attempt by critics and audiences of an absolute disaster. The answer from the company director is, perhaps, one that best sums up this almost zen approach to the businesses that Nintendo has, so against the excitement of the time they run.

In the end, it was Illumination Entertaiment, from Universal Pictures, who took the cat to the water
adapt Mario to the cinema for the second time.
Why did you decide to let Hollywood try again now? Is it to take advantage of the wave of success of the Switch?

For starters, in this particular project, Shigeru Miyamoto is the key person. And we have not stopped receiving [en estos 25 años desde la anterior película de Mario] a lot of Hollywood ideas on how to adapt the character. We have attended many meetings with many filmmakers about Mario. This problem has been discussed for many years. We do not take this decision lightly, swept away by the heat of the moment. But when we met Chris Meledandri [fundador del estudio de animación responsable de la saga Gru, mi villano favorito] we felt that he was someone with whom we could trust and work with

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