Retro Studios’ collaboration with Nintendo EAD detailed in first Iwata Asks volume for Mario Kart 7
The first Mario Kart 7 Iwata Asks volume has been translated into English. The discussion focuses on the collaborative effort between Retro Studios and Nintendo EAD. The two companies discuss how Retro first became involved (and why), talk about development between the studios, and more.
Tom Ivey, Vince Joly, Ryan Powell, Yuji Ichijo, Masaaki Ishikawa, Yoshihisa Morimoto, Hideki Konno, and Satoru Iwata participated in the discussion. Volume 2 details are coming soon!
– Mario Kart 7 is the first time the series has seen international development
– Game started off at the end of 2010
– This was the same time as nintendogs + cats
– nintendogs + cats was coming out first, so more effort was placed into that game at first
– Only eight people were developing Mario Kart 7 at first
– When full-on development was needed for Mario Kart 7, there weren’t enough staff members to contribute because many titles were being developed in the department
– Part of this was due to the extended production of Zelda: Skyward Sword
– Konno asked if the game could be made with one of the companies Tanabe had worked with
– Retro Studio was just about done with Donkey Kong Country Returns, and this matched up with when the Mario Kart staff would start needing help
– Nintendo asked Retro for their assistance after everyone discussed the problem and took various requirements into account
– Nintendo wanted to ask a team with some real strength
– Retro was very close in terms of their working relationship with Nintendo and had already worked on Donkey Kong, which was a key title
– Tom thought it would be time to relax since they were finishing Donkey Kong; was also excited about the opportunity since he grew up with the series; he was also nervous since Retro didn’t know the team (EAD)
– Kosuke Yabuki gave a very inspired toast during a dinner event, and gained very positive impressions of EAD
– Yabuki and Tom started discussing how some of the courses needed to be different right before it was time to eat; Konno told them to eat first and talk later
Concept art Retro proposed to Nintendo EAD, which were used as new courses
– Vince was honored by the opportunity as he is a huge fan
– Morimoto thought Iwata was kidding when he first heard about it
– Ishikawa was confused and was concerned since EAD always made the Mario Kart games in-house
– Ichijo couldn’t wait and was very excited
– Morimoto was relieved when he met the Retro staff and thought they were cheerful
– Retro was very knowledgeable about Mario Kart
– Morimoto respected Retro for the graphics they pulled off in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Metroid Prime
– Retro came to Nintendo first, and then Nintendo visited Retro
– Development started in December, right after Donkey Kong Country Returns finished
– Nintendo made half the courses and Retro made the other half
– Nintendo first asked Retro to recreate the 16 past courses
– Tom liked this idea because Retro was familiar with the older tracks and could get used to the tools/methods EAD uses
– Tom was a quick learned and pointed out things when Morimoto got careless, like placing item boxes and course design
– Retro wanted to focus/work with EAD to ensure that the impression that the original levels gave them was maintained in the new art made for Mario Kart 7
– For the Luigi’s Mansion course, Ryan went back and forth between the game on GameCube and Mario Kart to try and bring the inside of the mansion as close as what he could do to the GameCube version
– Artists didn’t want to take the classic levels too far away from the original versions
– One designer was put on each course, and Ryan worked together with them
– Retro maintained constant communication with EAD and updated them on a weekly basis
– Regarding the characters, they made it so all of them could ride in the same kart
– Also had to make sure the characters’ head wouldn’t bump into the glider
– Retro made animations for what it would be live to drive the course, the feel of throwing items, and what would happen after a crash
– There were many discussions about how to make the characters energetic within the limits as Retro moved forward with their animation
– The jump action caused many headaches
– Movements needed to be even showier than normal for jumps, but characters were very close to bumping into the glider
– Ichijo sent screenshots of tools that were in Japanese, translated the text and translated the goals they were trying to get in
– Konno: Miyamoto-san often tells us, “It doesn’t matter if it’s just a box or a miniature landscape. First see if it’ll be interesting if it moves.” And there are actually staff members who create such things at Retro as well. They think of all sorts of things and work in lots of ideas as they create the course. It happened that way on this game, too. They’d build things, then tear them down and build them again, and were really positive about working hard.
– Retro used their experience from Metroid Prime/Donkey Kong Country Returns for this project
– Late one night, the video conference connection between Retro/EAD was bad, and EAD couldn’t hear audio, so EAD started making gestures instead
