Sakurai on the origins of Kid Icarus: Uprising

– Around July 2008, Sakurai and Iwata went out together to eat
– Iwata told Sakurai Nintendo was working on a new handheld
– At the time, many people inside Nintendo didn’t know about the 3DS
– It wasn’t clear at the time if it would end up producing 3D graphics, but Sakurai know it was capable of better visuals
– Iwata wanted Sakurai to give him opinions about the 3DS and to make a game for it
– Iwata usually didn’t ask for input about new hardcore
– Iwata wanted an original game, didn’t ask for a specific genre
– Sora had no dev. team since the Smash Bros. developers were contracted or temp employees from Nintendo/other companies, only really had two people
– Iwata contacted Sakurai because he appreciated his directing skills

You can read Sakura’s quotes here.