Nintendo Treehouse – secrecy, name origins, changing certain elements for localization, A Link Between Worlds dedication, more

Kotaku has compiled a massive feature on Nintendo’s Treehouse localization division. It’s filled with a bunch of incredibly interesting stories, facts, and more. We’ve pulled out a few quotes below, but encourage you to check out the full piece over at Kotaku.

On the Treehouse being kept secret…

“We’re keeping things confidential until we’re ready to share them with the world. We work really closely with the development teams to make sure that no information gets out before it’s ready.” – Treehouse manager Leslie Swan

“We have to develop that trust. If they’re not willing to share stuff with us early on about hidden characters or special items, that makes our job a lot harder… so we would hate for anything that they share with us to get released into the wild before it’s time.” – Tim O’Leary, also a manager

On how Treehouse’s name came from working on Donkey Kong Country…

“Because it was really confidential information and the visuals of that game were so confidential, they locked them away in a room where nobody else could have access and get into what they were working on. And Treehouse actually became a codename because Donkey Kong’s residence in the game was a treehouse.” – Swan

On how the process for localization starts in Japan…

“I guess it starts where we first talk to the folks in the Treehouse and tell them, ‘Hey, this is the kind of game we’re thinking about making.’” – Katsuya Eguchi, Animal Crossing: New Leaf producer

On the early localization for Animal Crossing…

“[We spent] three years working with the development team, cause again they consulted us really early, talking about it then some things like that. And then actual heads-down in the files… a year and three months.” – Reiko Ninomiya, who headed up localization on New Leaf

“Do you remember Starfy? Starfy is a very, very benign sort of chubby little starfish thing that makes his way through relatively easy platforming levels,” Bihldorff said. “And we were playing through it and I remember all of a sudden one of the ancillary characters is like ‘Shit!’ That does not belong in this game!” – Bihldorff

On how the Treehouse decides what to bring over and what to leave behind…

“Well, actually we have an evaluation system in place here,” said Leslie Swan. “And through that process we get the game in, do an evaluation of it to determine what we think the sales potential is, and it comes down to essentially if we don’t think the sales potential is great, we don’t do it.”

On localization of Animal Crossing for N64…

“When we first started working on Animal Crossing for N64, we really – on our side weren’t even thinking about having it localized for a foreign, for an international market. Of course, some voice came up at NCL saying, ‘You know, what about this game? Think it’s possible that people on that end would like it? Maybe this is the type of game that would catch on?’” – NCL’s Eguchi

“I’ll never forget [NCL producer Takashi Tezuka] coming here and saying, ‘If we’re gonna do this, you guys have to change everything.’ Because they had designed it so specifically for the Japanese market.” – Swan

On changing a washtub to a bucket in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time…

“There was a scene in [2005 DS game Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time] where, very typical of Japanese comedy, there’s a washtub that falls through the ceiling. It hits the person in the head and they kind of get knocked out. That is something very—you see that a lot in Japanese comedy, but when Nate saw that in the game, he was like, ‘People are not gonna understand that.’ So that was one instance of, well, regardless of all our best intentions, it wasn’t gonna work for an American audience and we had to address it.” – Akira Otani, a longtime NCL producer

On how the Treehouse is spending a great deal of effort on Zelda: A Link Between World’s enemy names…

“The developer might have put together this enemy that looks like a Tektite, but they’re not called a Tektite in Japanese. So it may have this name that’s based on the original Japanese for Tektite, and we didn’t even localize that particular thing, so it’s not fresh in our mind, but that guy is doing a very specific callback to a very specific enemy that means something very specific, and we have to sniff down, go all the way down that path and find that same character and make sure we do the same—if they’re just using the ‘Tek,’ maybe we’ll use the ‘Tek’ and make it a Tekling. Whatever.” – Bihldorff