Nintendo's Satoru Iwata: Lost Interview 20th Anniversary Remaster

[@AdamDoree]

字幕あり -- new EN & JP subtitles available via options/cog (highly recommended!) -- for the first time, this new source-quality remaster reveals the full original Japanese and English content with new subtitles for both languages, and includes previously unseen material. 20 years ago TODAY on May 19, 2004 -- my website at the time (www.kikizo.com) scooped one of its biggest ever interviews. As global Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata was notoriously difficult to access 1-1, even for the biggest consumer games media. The newly restored video offers a glimpse into the mind of one of the most important people in gaming history, whose impact is certainly still felt today -- someone we described at the time as "full of ideas guaranteed to surprise fans over the coming years". At a time when Iwata hadn’t long been Nintendo president, DS was only just revealed, and the first glimpse of Revolution/Wii was a whole year away, nobody could have predicted how much Iwata-led Nintendo would truly shake up the industry. In fact, some of Iwata's comments are verging on prophecy, viewed in 2024... Like so many, I was sad to learn of Satoru Iwata's passing in 2015. Iwata's warmth of character, which became so well-known over the years in press conferences and Nintendo Directs, truly came across when we met him for this interview and on other rare occasions. Satoru Iwata was an inspiring and charming leader who will always be very fondly remembered.

[@37654]

Thank you for uploading this video.

[@phazon69]

Thank you!

[@tomjddavis]

"As the CEO and Manager of Nintendo, I should not be too concerned with very short-term share price fluctuations, otherwise we will lose sight of what's really important." We should frame that quote and send it to almost every CEO in the games industry today lol.

[@badwolf8112]

sadly other CEOs (or their shareholders / board members) seem to be fine with not just rushing things but the ever expanding micro- and macro transactions as they're effective. I don't know a lot about Japanese business culture but that's my guess -- their culture hasn't 'corrupted' so to speak, yet at least.

[@BBWahoo]

They'll chuck it right in the bin.

[@phazon69]

Yes! Yes!

[@wockio205]

Iwata not being around to see the enormous success of Switch will always be a great tragedy

[@zabrak999]

He saw its development, and so he likely had a gut feeling that the Hybrid approach would be successful 👍

[@coolchannelize15]

He did in heaven 😢

[@Dairunt1]

His last tweet being him apologizing for E3 2015 is so unfair.

[@obsidianchao]

Iwata was so well spoken both in English and Japanese. It’s so interesting comparing his speech to someone like Shigeru Miyamoto. Iwata always addresses thoughtfully with administrative intent, whereas Miyamoto always has a childlike floating wonder to his talks.

[@NiNGalaxU2]

I grew up with Nintendo during childhood and teenage years during the Iwata era. I never knew the man personally but I was always happy to see him in Nintendo Direct's or E3. There is one picture on the internet of Mr. Iwata, Mr. Miyamoto and Reggie putting their hands together at E3 and it will be always my favourite picture in regards of Nintendo. In my eyes, Mr. Iwata was a true leader who thought about his employees and truly cared about them whilst also knowing the industry in which he was a CEO extremely well due to his personal interest in it. His action to half his salary as a CEO during one of the weakest time of the Wii U in order to be able to finance his employees salary so that they will not have to think about layoffs and can continue their work in good mental health is an action that speaks louder than words. From my knowledge the Switch was again an idea of Mr. Iwata and I'm so happy that it brought the company back to the spot. It's sad he isn't able to see it but I'm still proud to own a Switch. He is someone who I look up to on how to be a good boss

[@Rizky-Gumilar]

Iwata was one of the greatest ceo ever. Gone too soon. RIP

[@tiwitiwi6202]

bro why are you here, your MS and sony are in verge of collapse 😂 day after day its getting worse for them

[@M64bros]

​@@tiwitiwi6202 Glad I'm not the only one that knows he does that as well, This dude is annoying as hell and He's a nut job

[@Goolix_Aero]

So Hiroshi Yamauchi came up with the idea of two screens. That's really surprising!

[@sora5501]

People like to hate him because of the Sony deal but he really was a genius and despite not playing games he understood what’s good about them

[@natirasohumana]

​@sora5501 why would people hate him for the Sony deal when Sony was the one trying to trick Nintendo? Lol. If you were to hate him for something that would be him calling gamers nerds and for selling rare to Microsoft

[@scikoolaid]

You realize they had made the game and watch back in the day with two screens right? It even looks how the DS lite ended up looking. If anything He probably reminded them, hey we done this before lets try bringing into the mix.

[@JuggaloDundee]

I was so lucky to meet him in person and play a game with him. He was an amazing visionary and a true gamer at heart.

[@punkydudester3]

Amazing, Whoop, Whoop! I wish I would have had the chance to meet him. Sadly I didn't know enough about him until he passed away. Then we had a bunch of videos showing who he was. I knew he was important but I didn't know that it was that deep rooted from the beginning of gaming.

[@codezero7981]

which game did you play with him?

[@BroskiPlays]

Iwata knew that these graphical powerhouses will not hold up. Just look at the switch, its destroying the competition despite being less powerful than the competition. It's about the gameplay experience, not the graphics.

[@MrVariant]

That's why the switch is scared about their successor. 3rd parties drive the market outside yet another milked mario, and stuff on consoles is prone to censorship between ff7, stellar blade and paper mario. Nintendo switch expansion isn't updated as frequently to justify paying over basic for more than a year. At least the price didn't go up and the family plan encourages social interaction to do up to 8 people as individual for both costs more than for 2 people, which is dumb. Why not just go pc/hybrid and get more demos, better performance with additional/xbox game pass storefronts, and not deal with obsolete game trials? Would've been nice if Nintendo at least made one of their new games free for a week. Ask Iwata was a good book, but yeah a lot of the good nintendo had died with him (free online multiplayer, nintendo selects $20 games) and when Fils-Aime left (and he had to leave gamestop once they felt he'd sabotage their trade secrets, which is impossible to suggest anything in that environment as an advisor, he did fight to bundle wii sports, which yeah better than waiting piecemeal and overpaying for switch sports, though it is better now with golf and wii matt cheat code for chanbara). I'd avoid reggie's book though. It's more his life experiences, has a typo warning and the audio book has an interview not on the written versions.

[@obsidianchao]

Iwata was educated by Yokoi, who firmly believed in making yesterday’s technology into today’s affordable and accessible toys. That’s why Nintendo still produces “weaker” systems, to this day. The original Game Boy was super underpowered when it came out and it was a huge hit.

[@MrVariant]

@obsidianchao I just wish they didn't make lame upgrades like gb micro, new 3ds and switch OLED. Game and watch for mario and zelda were underwhelming but at least switch online has one of the gbc games

[@BroskiPlays]

@@obsidianchao oh cool! I didn't know about that

[@NuiYabuko]

​@@MrVariant The Switch was set up by Iwata. If I remember correctly, Kimishima basically acted on Iwata's vision.

[@TheAdventuresOfJimiJaden]

That’s so cool you got to interview the great Iwata, he will be missed.

[@ShadowFuzzy]

Iwata-san was so forward thinking! I think a lot of things he said back then can be applied to today‘s gaming industry‘s landscape. A true one of a kind leader 😢

[@BBWahoo]

Your futures so bright you need shades to see it.

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

We lost him way too soon. I truly hope his wisdom is still found within Nintendo's walls to this day...

[@Agent505]

It's impressive today to appreciate how humble he was, especially when he misinterpreted the question about Miyamoto-san and how quickly he corrected himself. Still legendary, and yet it's easy to see why so many people admired him.

[@RogersBase]

What an incredible piece of Nintendo history. Thank you for saving this all these years!

[@linkenski]

He's a legend. I lost my dad to cancer. I was gutted when I realized Iwata got sick as well. Not the kind of ending he deserved, and the fact that Wii U was a fiasco made it even more tragic.

[@ああやあ-q5h]

The late President Iwata was originally a programmer and producer. So, naturally, he graduated from a science and engineering school. However, he was also fluent in English, and during his time at HAL Laboratory, he translated the text for Dragon Warrior (Japanese name: Dragon Quest), which was released in North America. He may have been the most amazing person in the industry. Once again, I pray for the repose of his soul... 亡き岩田社長は元々はプログラマー・プロデューサー。ですので出身校は勿論理工系。しかし、英語も堪能でHAL研究所時代には北米発売のDragon Warrior(日本名:ドラゴンクエスト)ではテキスト翻訳もされていたそうで。この業界では一番凄かったかたかもしれないですね。あらためてご冥福をお祈りいたします…。

[@AndersonTenecela]

The PS5 Pro announcement has brought me back to this interview. 2 decades later and Satoru Iwata was right about Sony’s obsession with better graphics isn’t the right strategy

[@triple_thrice]

These uncut, extended videos are truly priceless. RIP to a real one, F in the chat

[@murasyo]

岩田さんの貴重な映像を提供いただきありがとうございます。 Thx for providing extremely precious movie that is involved to Iwata San.

[@analog3302]

なんて貴重な映像でしょう。 岩田聡社長がおっしゃってることは現代にも通じますね。 本当に偉大な方を亡くしました。 改めてご冥福をお祈り致します。 ゲームをやらない母がはじめてのwiiのシューティングにはまりこちらが付き合わされたのは良い思い出ですねw その当時本当にゲームが複雑化していてゲームをやるのが億劫になってた僕にwiiはゲームの楽しさを思い出させてくれたゲーム機でした。 岩田聡社長本当にありがとうございました。

[@gacharesult6166]

Time has caught up with him. AAA game development is collapsing.

[@nonhmusic4570]

He read the competition like a book! you can see now how stagnated they are, with more and more power but less and less impactful differences Sad to see how he never got to experience nintendo's revival after the wii u's harsh reception, the switch really encapsulates what making an impactful console is, even if it has less power than the competition

[@Dairunt1]

Competition was running circles around Nintendo at that time. I wouldn't have been bold enough to make a console that's slightly more powerful than the one that released 5 years ago and believe motion technology was going to outperform the competition.

[@lukebrady65]

I miss Satoru Iwata. Nintendo isn't the same without him.

[@NuiYabuko]

They're like, exactly the same.

[@lukebrady65]

@@NuiYabuko No, they aren't. Iwata was in every direct, every E3. He was personal and spoke to fans directly. When was the last time you saw Nintendo's current CEO?

[@NathAnarchy45]

​@@lukebrady65 Yeah the new CEO hasn't really been very public for some reason

[@tiwitiwi6202]

@@NuiYabuko early days of the switch lets you play online without any subscription. lets not forget that

[@rafaelgamels9628]

@@lukebrady65 I wonder what is he up to ngl

[@aadarui]

そうそう、現行機の処理能力向上や解像度を上げるだけでは誰でも予想できる 任天堂は機能を上げるだけじゃ意味がないよねっと より面白い体験を沢山の人に提供させるのが任天堂の強みだとおもう

[@msu902]

現代にこそ刺さるよね いわっちのこの考え

[@jalmar40298]

PS4→PS5　みたいな感じね

[@kagami..]

​@@jalmar40298PS5は一応トリガー絞る機能とかゲーム体験を向上させようとはしてたからなぁ

[@aka-mt2pn]

しかも当時より現代は素人が見ても３Dグラフィックの細かい違いとか物理エンジンの細かい違いとか GPUとかメモリがどうとか解像度がどうとか わからないし関係ないんですよね。オタクとかマニアは別ですけど。

[@Gonzalouchikari]

Iwata's death is the perfect example of "k*lling a character for the sake of the plot, he was too OP"

[@M64bros]

During the 2020s, people would weaponize and use his death against the Nintendo DMCA legal team and thinking Shigeru Miyamoto, Sakurai and the other developers were affiliated with those decisions, but in reality they weren't. However, there are thankfully a bunch of casual and respectful Nintendo fans that are telling those types of people to knock it off. And finally and after the Super Mario Bros. Movie credit scene People are no longer weaponizing his death anymore and letting the man rest, He's still a legend as always and we will never forget him.

[@Brinta3]

It’s not a lost interview; it’s right here!

[@Foulowe59]

Wow I was just watching and reminiscing this sorta thing from E3 2004 since last night!!

[@Mohammed1000real]

No one will ever replace Iwata.

[@williamsanborn9195]

I saw a “meme” (using the term loosely) containing the controllers of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. PlayStation’s controllers had the caption “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I don’t remember what Xbox’s controllers said, but it’s Nintendo’s that holds true to the company’s philosophy: “Innovation requires risk.” Personally, I feel as though Nintendo is honoring both Gunpei Yokoi (father of the GameBoy and many others) and Satoru Iwata’s philosophies even though they’ve been deceased for a long time. Sure, Nintendo’s consoles may be a generation behind in terms of specs, but that’s what Yokoi’s “Lateral thinking with withered technology” philosophy comes into play. The technology has existed for a while, Nintendo’s designers are thinking of new ways to use said hardware.

[@wandering4104]

I remember that meme too - Xbox's caption simply said "change is healthy", except Nintendo's caption was edited to say "cocaine", because every controller was so wildly different, haha. But those crazy differences were genuine innovations, and allowed for new ways to approach designing games, found new audiences, created new waves of gamers. Iwata's philosophy for Nintendo has done wonders for the company, and had a massive positive impact on gaming as a whole.

[@Yeshua_Kristos]

A wonderful piece of Iwata's life and legacy. Good LORD, his thoughts are prescient as heck!

[@skansoul9315]

4:08 2004年5月の段階でこれ言えたのすごい…

[@ZeroXTRL]

Neku! how can you walk around with this!

[@Taketamachin]

天才的なプログラマーだったからこそ、視えたものがあったのかも(しらんけど🙃)

[@Aggrofool]

Thanks for this. This is the man who saved Nintendo.

[@pipeliner8969]

we need Iwata more than ever

[@ruebeb9418]

I just love his era and legacy: DS, Wii and Wii U!

[@shucaybkarie1389]

and 3DS, too.

[@riclargo911]

Tenía razón, las consolas más potentes solo significan más trabajo para los desarrolladores de los juegos y cada vez se nota menos la diferencia gráfica. Muy fuerte lo de "si creyéramos que eso fuera a funcionar, estaríamos haciendo lo mismo".

[@TheAleatoryFramesz]

Veía a largo plazo no como las empresas de ahora que solo veen a corto...

[@silentobserver888]

The secret in my opinion to great games is between art direction, gameplay, storytelling, immersion, performance and interaction!

[@Metalfy]

Thanks for uploading the whole interview!

[@obsidianchao]

Love how he states his design idealism starts and ends at “Is this game fun to play?” People don’t care how it looks. They care about FUN. They ALWAYS have. Atari 2600 looked like shit even when it came out but was still a hit.

[@Dairunt1]

Concord is the perfect example for that; it's not that the game was buggy or that it had flawed game design. It's biggest sin is that it was unappealing. If there's something worse than a bad game, it's a boring game. You can make a fun game with two rectangles and a bouncing square. There was no need to spend that much money at something and not ask yourself "Is this fun to play?"

[@MetaGamingDojo]

Satoru Iwata the "man behind most of these unique consoles and guided Nintendo as a company."

[@personalgamedevyt9830]

Thank you for releasing this interview!!!

[@turbo30988]

Woooooo! Iwata-san! Iwata-san made a revolutionary development in Console Game and... What a great interview! I'm glad to see a video like this Thank you so, so much!

[@bewater7465]

thank you for the piece of history, great work and miss him

[@Nomadnetic]

He was very forward thinking with his insight. His death left a big hole in the industry.

[@ChrisBrandrick]

Thanks so much for sharing Adam.

[@SFIT2000]

We miss him so much

[@widdowson91]

Man, I fucking love this channel. A true gem.

[@Mario500NOW]

(question: why the profanity)

[@burgergud2804]

レジェンドの人物がこの世から居なくなるのは本当に悲しいわ

[@RougeFlight]

Thank you for releasing this insightful video with the man who brought us many classic gaming moments. A real pleasure to watch.

[@TheHardStyleLife]

Thank You Mr Iwata for lifetime memories

[@codezero7981]

12:10 little did they know that Nintendo DS would become a runway success replacing the GBA effectively and becoming the PSP main competitor.

[@Dairunt1]

Poor GBA; I'm convinced they weren't planning for a successor until 2006 at the earliest, but the moment Nintendo heard Sony was making a "PlayStation Portable" they felt their skin crawl.

[@scikoolaid]

@@Dairunt1 If alot of developers dropped support to the powered up GBA for instead the PSP it could have happened, because you'd be comparing controls screen res, power, and PSP would pretty much trump a super GBA in terms of power. However I think in the long run even if that happened, Nintendo would have won them back with sustainable dev time and backwards compatibility. Which PSP did not exactly go that way.

[@jaxyn_b]

would be great to have this without the background music and additional conference footage spliced in

[@meppi64a]

Just wanted to say, thank you so much for uploading all of these videos. This really takes me back to a time when the internet was a much funner place, at least for me. Kikizo, The Gia, Magic Box... So many great memories.

[@ericjamesraackf]

Every time he said we and knew the final name xD what Wii should be doing. Thanks for surfacing this it's very informative and there's alot that I think people in similar positions can glean from this.

[@nikongmer]

Thank you for sharing this.

[@ポコパンツ-z1y]

本音で話してる感じがするねえ。 この「ハードの質よりソフトの内容」っていうイズムはいまだ健在だから、ほんと任天堂は信頼できるよ

[@denden_juku]

優しい笑顔だけど、眼差しは鋭い

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

This interview is Nintendo making a clear stance AGAINST doing straight power upgrades between systems. I believe the Switch 2 will be something completely new, unless Nintendo has lost this philosophy along the way, which I hope isn't true.

[@pipeliner8969]

it won't be. Switch 2 is the first console without Iwata's involvement

[@levihanson9342]

He was 44 at the time.

[@wandering4104]

For age 44 to be 80% through his life is a tragedy. The man died far too young.

[@jaykimjay]

Mr. Iwata was right. Nowadays because of powerful GPUs developers became lazy and stopped optimizing the games because the hardware is doing the heavy work. Nintendo is a success because they need to be creative using limited hardware and work on optimization and stylizing the graphics.

[@Dairunt1]

A big example of that is the Switch's OS. Many people criticize it for not having themes, badges, and all of those fun gimmicks the 3DS has. But it's so fast! People tend to forget the 3DS menu was a slideshow at the end of its lifespan. The minimalistic approach to the Switch OS is deliberate; it makes playing your games as quick and snappy as possible and it takes little out of the hardware to make space for the actual games. I wouldn't be surprised if Switch 2's OS is as minimalist and feature-lacking as the current one.

[@scikoolaid]

@@Dairunt1 It's a great thing they have strongly resisted the "it plays everything" type thing. Bloating the underlining OS for everything except the primary device purpose - play games.

[@GorgoDarius]

Are all interviews on the website inaccessible? you have a David Yarnton interview that sounds super interesting. I'm attempting to make a very in depth video on the details of Wii sports and there are many interviews and videos you landed that sounds intriguing considering it was made in September 2006, 2 months before Wii sports hit the public. Thank you! great channel as well been surfing through a ton of these videos they are very informative and rare to see.

[@AdamDoree]

Thank you for the request! I will add the David Yarnton and other Nintendo ones soon like Katsuya Eguchi from around the same time.

[@MrDarkNao]

Thank you for share this!

[@RyanMercer]

Nice.

[@msu902]

またすげえ動画が出たもんだ そして、挿入されてるどうぶつの森64の夜のBGMのセンス！分かってる！

[@shadow_dancer25]

Thanks for that! I hope it inspires nowadays CEOs

[@AndersonTenecela]

It’s crazy how Iwata’s prediction for the videogame industry 2 decades later became true. Nintendo has the weakest hardware with the Switch compared to Microsoft and Sony and yet it is now tye 3rd best selling videogame console of all time. Gameplay is more important than graphics

[@jordanwhite352]

2nd Now 😁

[@scikoolaid]

It's gameplay first, and now the quantity of games second. The new systems are unable to produce new games without relying heavily on prior work/games and just flat out remastering titles.

[@Ah44444-p]

Iwata would shoot for the sky if he knew he made the switch the dominating console of the 9th gen, the best selling console in his country, and one of the best selling consoles of all time

[@user-es7ju5ts6r]

まさに今の家庭用ゲーム機が抱えるジレンマ

[@nsgames24]

Rest easy, Legend 🫡

[@chelocheliniXD]

The legend

[@Brendo95]

Almost prophetic, but then again he was the CEO - extensive knowledge on his industry. His words ring true, where do we see the future of PlayStation and Xbox? Perhaps cloud based? Aside from adaptive triggers we are yet to see something out of the box. Iwata-sama is so right, time and time again Nintendo change the way we interact with the software we love. Here’s just a few things that are absolutely incredible and push their products to their fullest capability. Labo, Wii, DS, GB, Switch. Absolute game changers. Look at the surge in handhelds now, there are strong rumors of a Microsoft handheld. Specs aside Nintendo are the pioneers and all the rest can do is increase the amount of polygons on screen. As for the games though, we are spoilt with the fantastic software we have across the board but yet again Nintendo games are just so filled with soul, so full of life!

[@Dairunt1]

Xbox is definitely betting that cloud-based services are the future and they want to be the first in line. PlayStation is apparently adopting Apple's "whales first" strategy to their hardware, charging a premium for the thinest of hardware improvements and have "whales" lead the pack. I hope Nintendo still keeps their vision on making great software on affordable hardware. Hardware gaps are getting smaller and smaller so I think Nintendo just made a place for themselves with the Switch's form factor.

[@trj2010]

It is nice hearing from him again... Two things that concern me though are if it was somehow faked... And if there are more of these. I should go and watch it.

[@PersonaYuu]

後ろメトロイドだ

[@KinomotoAkito]

Iwata's telephone bill must be expensive with how much he called it for 20yrs

[@Nekotaku_TV]

He was such a well rounded and smart and funny man. It hurts. But why was it not released before?

[@AdamDoree]

This is being misreported slightly in some press. It was mostly published as an original English only video and transcript in 2004, but not in full language format and with some of the missing bits that are now here. This is the definitive and uncut version if you like.

[@Nekotaku_TV]

@@AdamDoree I see...

[@Saebaryo28]

Please low the volume of the music. Thanks for the video

[@TheSakanagare]

13:00 ここ何のBGMか分かる方います？

[@hitochiquito8952]

That's my guy right there

[@yujilee112]

looking back newer gen console is indeed loses it's way. back in the day it's use to be matured technology that console builds upon not these bleeding edge super advanced like sony and microsoft do. that likely to put pressure on developers and trend to make games ever harder to develop for. console should never try to be pc it's futile effort.

[@ポコパンツ-z1y]

毎日この動画の岩田社長に二礼二拍手一礼してから1日がはじまる

[@Asd-pq2sv]

4:42 -2024😅

[@A-M-B]

Damn I miss that man.

[@coolchannelize15]

The 🐐 🗣️

[@ilvron7515]

На его идеях до сих пор держится Нинтендо. Гений!❤

[@mariotaz]

Great

[@friedtofus3705]

i dont think this is a remaster. knowing this is upscaled from a 240p video, i only know see the scan lines clearer 😢

[@AdamDoree]

It's not upscaled from 240p, it's original DV source -- pretty much as good as it gets from DV.

[@Brendo95]

I hope the R&D team has been cooking whilst the Switch has absolutely taken the world by storm. Its going to be yet again, another revolution from Nintendo 👏

[@hi10shi_k]

How would Iwata-san design Switch 2? For an ordinary person like me, all I can think of is upgrading the specs.

[@Polengue]

Yeah, it'd be just like the transition from DS to 3Ds, minor changes, but a better hardware overral

[@natirasohumana]

If I were Nintendo, I would just beef up the Switch 2 to maintain compatibility with the Ps5 and XBOX I don't-know-what games to keep the foot on their necks and bring even more games to the new platform. Sony and Microsoft walked into a corner now 😂. But after Switch 2? I don't know. That's a big problem and I'm concerned as well. Maybe revisit some ideas from the Wii U and 3DS? I'm actually concerned for videogames overall tbh. The PS5/New Xbox gen is almost ending and it feels it didn't even start

[@inceptional]

I think there's a flaw in the idea of it being one approach or the other, when it should ideally be a combination of both imo.

[@Kara_Pabuc]

So, he acknowledged that simply putting another console on the shelves not going to cut it for Nintendo since the competition is steep. Thus, they came up with Wiimote... It's kind of funny that even though they're aware of being different in the market is important, they still launched Wii U as is... Since many people don't distinguished it as a new and different console then Wii. They literally fell in to the same trap that they foresee. Ironic.

[@LOLxUnique]

wii u was a failure in marketing not the product itself. in many ways it has things the switch and wii u do not have.

[@Kara_Pabuc]

​@@LOLxUnique Well, yes. People thought Wii U is nothing more than an accessory to Wii. That's why it's funny, because Nintendo knew that they need to distinguish their console, not only from competition. Yet, I think their stubbornness to not name their consoles with numbers, ultimately cause the demise of Wii U. Especially given the fact that Nintendo appealed the casual market with Wii which those people don't seek knowledge about upcoming devices. Nintendo should've known very well that Wii owners will dismiss Wii U. They need to market Wii U as a new and distinguish console that's more than Wii and other competitors. They epically failed at this. Also, as a side not, I don't think third party devs really love the idea of Wii U. So, in a way it was also a failure in product itself. I mean think about it, even if Wii U was a success, what sort of games do you expect on the system that utilize the controller? I doubt there will be any meaningful thing. Devs would put bunch of UI elements on controller screen and call the day. I think Nintendo partially fooled themselves with the success of DS. They really thought that having dual screen adds something meaningful to gaming. But it was nothing more than a gimmick.

[@Dairunt1]

@@Kara_Pabuc I think the biggest problem with Nintendo was that not even they were sure about the game-changing possibilities of the Wii U. I think the Wii U was the product of two devices that were released during that time: the iPad and the Kinect. The Kinect was kind of an overnight success, i'm convinced the Kinect had the "blue ocean" at their feet for the months that gimmick dominated. Nintendo realized the Wii Remote days were over and that they needed to find another way to bring back people. Something that, unlike the Kinect, NEEDED to be held in your hands. Nintendo's decisions mirror Apple since the 90s as they have a similar approach to their hardware (at least during the Jobs era). And just how the iPad was more than a giant iPhone, and could be used differently than an iPhone, Nintendo was looking at how a bigger screen would make a different experience than their handhelds, and how it could be used as a "couch device". I'm convinced that's what kickstarted the idea of the Gamepad. The problem is that both of these devices launched in 2010. They unveiled the Wii U in 2011. The concept, while novel, was severly undercooked. They overestimated the Wii's staying power and needed a new console ASAP. They needed the technology to implement something like this, but at the same time they needed the power to run games in HD, but not SO powerful that made the fans sound like a jet engine (requested by Iwata). They ended up with a sort of Frankenstein that did a lot of things but neither exceptionally well. This resulted in a sort of unimpressive console. And 2012's PS3/360 holiday deals were killer. They bundled 2-3 blockbuster games and had way more storage space than Wii U's 32GB. They were older consoles yes, but even me, back then a kid who was stuck in a "console wars" mentality and was blindly "Team Nintendo", realized it was a hard sell for the "blue ocean" to prefer a Wii U over the PS3/360, considering it was one of the best generations in gaming and the Wii missed most of it because of its low power. I ended up waiting for "a new Smash or a new Zelda" to get a Wii U; Smash For ended up releasing on the 3DS and I was satisfied with that, and Breath of the Wild ended up releasing on the Switch so, like many Nintendo fans, skipped the Wii U altogether but picked up a Switch at launch. Marketing tried to cover this by showcasing this as something that immersed your games in an unprecedented way, and they tried to so hard convincing you of the "New Controller" that people misinterpreted it at just that, a new controller. I don't think marketing helped but at the same time, I don't know if they could have made a much better job, as the questions would have changed from "What is the Gamepad?" to "What is the point of the Gamepad?" Miyamoto tried to justify the Gamepad's existence with Star Fox Zero but we know how that went. That's why the Switch was so effective in its marketing; it was so easy to understand. "Big games anywhere you want". It needed no software to justify its existence, and you didn't need to ask developers to put extra resources on a gimmick, since taking your games anywhere WAS the gimmick. So what could have they done differently with the Wii U? I'm not really sure, even a "Wii HD" would have had average sales, but technology was still far behind for the Switch to be something more than an upscaled Vita. I guess the Wii U was kind of Nintendo's canon event. It had to happened to prepare for the Switch.

[@Kara_Pabuc]

@@Dairunt1 Several things... Wii's success came from capturing non-gamer crowd. Wii was super successful because it attracted lots of people usually don't play games or casuals. When the 8th generation of consoles approaching, there was a fear of gaming market being dominated by smart phones. To combat this and attracted people to their device, Microsoft approach Xbox as a media center device. Sony double down on the games. Nintendo wanted to attract yet again those casual/non gamer crowd. Microsoft and Nintendo failed. Because much to everyone's surprise the people distinguished smart phone games and actual games. To this day this distinction still present. People who play games on phone tend to not play games on console/PC and vice versa. As for Switch, I see it in the Gameboy product line. Meaning that, it's not a home console, it's the successor to 3DS. And Switch captured the gamer crowd that prefers "actual" games over phone games but wanted on the go. This crowd is rather huge as we can see from Steam Deck's success. So, Wii U targeted a crowd that not interested in console games and marketing didn't helped either. It was death product since it offer nothing to anyone. Casual gamers didn't care, hardcore gamers find it weak.

[@Insill]

Iwata was right!

[@eglaiosdeminecraft9259]

4:09 : The future of sony VS microsoft : PC gaming but you barely own half of your PC

[@ВладиславПивоваров-к3у]

Hi, where i can find "Lost Planet Video Interview" Keiji Inafune in-depth interview?

[@AdamDoree]

I will add it to the channel soon, thanks for requesting.

[@ВладиславПивоваров-к3у]

@@AdamDoree Thank you )

[@Howardpower679]

THIS SON OF A GUN WAS TOTALLY RIGHT! HOLY SHIT!

[@RetroBreak]

Great interview, interesting to hear the reasoning behind the Wii being so different to the PS3 and 360, some of what he said still holds true today, and nintendo seems to be loosing that creative edge, the Switch 2 sounds like just a spec bump of the original switch which is exactly what Iwata was trying to move away from..

[@coyhCoyHerbert]

I mean, there is also the rumor of the magnetic joy-cons, they can also innovate through digital. It will probably be more like the DS to 3DS.

[@RetroBreak]

@@coyhCoyHerbert I think the 3DS innovated a lot more than people give it credit for (even though I think overall the original DS was a better system) it has a 3D screen, a widescreen display on top, a new analogue stick, gyro controls, 3D camera, new internet features (mii verse, friends list, virtual console etc. I don’t see the switch 2 changing much, maybe higher resolution, better specs and magnetic joy con, but it doesn’t feel like anything fresh or exciting.. maybe we’ll be surprised when it’s announced and this comment will seem very dated 😅 time will tell!

[@obsidianchao]

Nintendo’s often released iterative systems. Game Boy > GBC > GBA. Wii > Wii U. DS > 3DS. As long as the Switch 2 does more than update the chipset, I think they’ll be just fine.

[@NuiYabuko]

​@@obsidianchao Can't just use logic on people's nostalgia glasses.

[@NuiYabuko]

​@@RetroBreak So those fairly minor things are innovation, but then you downplay the Switch 2 as just a spec bump, even though we know nothing yet? Way to push a narrative.

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

Everyone when iwatq was alive: terrible president, needs to step down, ruining shitendo Everyone after he died: iwata was the best thing to ever happen to gaming

[@comfylain]

I only remember very positive comments about Iwata when he was alive, he was routinely singled out as a charming and fun part of the early directs.

[@tomgu2285]

Not true at all.

[@Yarlick]

Where did you hear that? He was always revered as a great president...

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

@@Yarlick I was around when this was happening bruh, since I am not a child like u i actually remember things that haplened 8 years ago

[@Yarlick]

@@technobladeleakedclips1827 What do you expect me to be? A Gen Z? Because you’ll have to guess again. The only thing your comments shows is your ignorance. Stop trying to give your narrative as the absolute truth to others because your comment is bullshit. It’s not because there were some questionable decisions that it makes him a bad president. He is the only one so far that had a paycut to avoid his people to be fired. Reggie Fils Aime was the one we were critical the most, not Iwata. So no, from what you’re saying, you certainly weren’t there. The next time you want your comment to hit home and not just feel like a troll, give some facts and try looking at profile before assuming people’s age.

[@Nigel222]

Was all downhill for the industry after his passing.

[@badwolf8112]

the philosophy of revolutionizing how to play in every generation is cool, but also scares me they might get rid of having a hybrid system

[@NuiYabuko]

Furukawa confirmed it's a Switch-like console.

[@HenryCasillas]

🧭

[@NoahAlcantarSUCKS-jf8so]

i like nintendo games and all, but it's deranged to make it seem their the all-purpose good guy in the industry, there isn't such a thing as a "evil or good videogame company" it's only amplied by games critics to give favorism who can't adapt to the mindsets of aging people