Game & Wario originally conceived as pre-installed software
Game & Wario ended up as a retail product. That wasn’t always the plan, though.
In a new Iwata Asks, Intelligent Systems’ Naoko Mori and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata discussed how the title originally started out as pre-installed software for Wii U. Mori said that “it wasn’t actually conceived of as being part of the WarioWare series.” With the arrival of E3, the team “began working on something that we could present and which would be easy for people to pick up and play.”
Since this was intended to be included with the Wii U, “we didn’t want to make it overly quirky. We didn’t want something that would only appeal to a certain section of our customers.”
The full exchange between Mori and Iwata can be found below.
Iwata: When development started, you didn’t aim to create what’s now completed as the final product, did you?
Abe: No, we didn’t. The original plan was that the game would come pre-installed on the Wii U console, so it wasn’t actually conceived of as being part of the WarioWare series. E3 was approaching, and we began working on something that we could present and which would be easy for people to pick up and play.
Iwata: So we’re talking about the E3 that took place in June 2011, aren’t we?
Abe: Yes, that’s right. There are 16 games in the final Game & Wario, one of which is called ‘PIRATES’. We had a prototype of this game, known as ‘SHIELD POSE’ that we presented. You held the GamePad like a shield and blocked the arrows that flew from the TV screen.
Iwata: What was the original idea behind that game?
Abe: Well, as it would come pre-installed on the Wii U console, we didn’t want to make it overly quirky. We didn’t want something that would only appeal to a certain section of our customers. Our basic premise was that this should be a game that everyone could enjoy. The WarioWare team have always had free reign to come up with all kinds of zany ideas, but we now found that we had to restrain ourselves…
Iwata: So you knew that you had to apply the mental brakes, so to speak.
Abe: That’s right. As this was to be a pre-installed game, our overriding priority was to demonstrate the features of the system in the clearest, most elegant way.
