Hello, this is Nagata from Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. Three years after the production of MOTHER 3 was restarted, I interviewed MOTHER 3 creator Shigesato Itoi. This wasn’t a conventional interview, with a third party lobbing questions, because I accompanied Itoi on most of his visits to the team during development. As a result I feel that we were able to set aside the usual pleasantries and atmosphere-building and reach the genuine core of the matter without embellishment. Consider these the liner notes for a new work, released after a twelve-year hiatus.

This article is available in Japanese, English. ＞ Japanese（日本語）

Part 6

Crafting the Vessel of a Game

Until development got on track, I had the impression you had a hard time communicating with the team.

Itoi
Well, that’s inevitable. We’d learned our lessons from the original game’s cancellation, so we had Nintendo introduce us to the game developer Brownie Brown to develop the game for the Game Boy Advance. It was important for us to work with a team that could work quickly. Our relationship began at the bare minimum of exchanging business cards, so it was practically a blind date. It took time for us to get to know each other and develop a close relationship with strong communication.

It sounds like there was some mutual frustration on both ends: for you as the client and Brownie Brown as the provider.

Itoi
I think it was harder on Brownie Brown at first. We had a very particular way of creating MOTHER, after all. I’d bring the team a really broad concept, they’d pull something together and show me, and I’d ask for more from there. It wasn’t uncommon for me to come back with, “No, that’s all wrong.” But once they had something to bring me, I could point at what to fix and provide guidance on it, which allowed us to have practical meetings about it. So in that way, I’m incredibly thankful for Brownie Brown. It’s easy to just write it off as their job, but if they’d pushed back and just told me they couldn’t do it, then we wouldn’t have the game today.

How long ago did things start to come together that way? Two years or so?

Itoi
It started after I began visiting Brownie Brown’s office in Kichijoji regularly. We collaborated more closely, and once they got a feel for which parts they were able to take and run with, things really started to move. I don’t know if it was a matter of gaining courage or that they were able to enjoy themselves more, but over time the art got way closer, with silly little monsters, castles filled with ghosts—things like that. Eventually I was just letting them know how great it all looked. Their team has always been extremely good at pixel art and detailed 2D animations.

Yeah. But what’s unique about MOTHER is the method in which the game comes together. It’s not like the art is created alongside the scenario to steadily bring the game to completion.

Itoi
That’s true. (Laughs)

Earlier, you mentioned that you restarted development on the game once you figured you could complete it with a full month to concentrate on writing it. To put it extremely, the first two years were spent making the “vessel” of the game for you to put the script into.

Itoi
Right. People often say that the script is the essence of the MOTHER series, but it’s not going to be of any use if I’m over here putting sushi ingredients on bread. So we spent two years poring over the parts the team was working on, until we got to a point where it was just a matter of finishing the text.

Ah.

Itoi
That was certainly easier said than done, since there was no telling if the text would actually be the last step. Iwata often warned me, “If you write all of the text at the end, it’s going to change the game.” But there’s a part of me that just can’t help myself.

Oh, really?

Itoi
Really.

Even you?

Itoi
Yes. I’ve at least got enough experience to know it’s about more than just what I think is good.

That’s different from just feeling confident or not.

Itoi
I’ve got confidence. Enough to say, “All that’s left to do is put in the text.” But I can’t be the only one with that confidence or conviction. It takes at least one other trusted person to confirm. It’s almost like you need a double axis in order to establish a center. Like using a compass twice just to check.

Ahh, I see.

Itoi
That’s the case for everything, really. Always seek something from two angles; when it’s just one person’s perspective, you get misunderstandings.

That’s so important.

Itoi
It really is. I can’t just bring one extra-enormous compass of my own and call it good.

That must mean that before you put in the text—before the team bunks together for those overnight work sessions—you only had a single compass.

Itoi
I suppose, yes. That’s how it was for two years.

And once it was time for the overnight sessions, it all came together as MOTHER.

Itoi
It did. (Laughs) But my conviction comes from having two compasses—four in this case, really.

(To be continued)

2006-04-25-TUE