Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse director on how the game originally came to be made with Nintendo

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse recently went multiplatform as part of its re-release in March, but some might not know that it was originally published by Nintendo. The game originally came out for Wii in 2008 – though only in Japan.

Makoto Shibata, one of the original directors on Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, recently reflected on Nintendo’s involvement in an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu. It turns out that the company reached out directly to Shibata. After creating a proposal, it was accepted.

Here’s our translation of the interview excerpts:

What led to this game being developed jointly with Nintendo?

Shibata: At the time, there was a trial expo for the Wii for developers, and I went to play just as a gamer. There, Nintendo said to me, “You would be able to make a horror game for the Wii, wouldn’t you, Shibata-san?” It might have just been a light-hearted joke, but I thought that the console would work well with horror after actually playing on it. While wondering if I would get scolded for bringing in a scary game, I made a proposal, and to my surprise it was accepted. That was the beginning of my cooperation with Nintendo.

How close was your relationship with Nintendo while developing together?

Shibata: During the development of the original version, they were already doing detailed checks, and discussed their thoughts and opinions on the story or game, so it was quite a close relationship. For the remaster, people who oversaw development of the original were assigned, and they sharply pointed out how things differed from the original.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse finally saw its first English release on Switch and other platforms back in March. This time around, Koei Tecmo published it directly.

Translation provided by SatsumaFS on behalf of Nintendo Everything.