Game Details:
Developer: AmbrellaPublisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date(s): August 11th, 2011 (JPN), October 24th, 2011 (USA), December 2nd, 2011 (EU), December 8th, 2011 (AUS), July 12th, 2012 (KOR)
Mode(s): Single Player, Mulitplayer Co-op
Rating(s): CERO: A (JPN), PEGI: 7 (EUR), ESRB: E (USA)
Controller(s): Nintendo 3DS
Extra Contents: Super Scramble Main Page, Passwords, Iwata Asks Rumble
The following is a transcription of an interview conducted by Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata. It was originally posted on the Official Nintendo website.
Table of Contents
- "Even My Wife"
- Thirty Billion Varieties of Pokémon
- “I Want to Play Again!”
- The first Pokémon game for Nintendo 3DS
1. "Even My Wife"
Ozawa and Matsumura: It’s our pleasure.
Iwata: First, Ishihara-san, would you tell us what you did for Super Pokémon Rumble?
Ishihara: Sure. Thanks to the fans’ long support of the previous game, the WiiWare1 game Pokémon Rumble2, I was quite satisfied with it, so I had a strong desire to bring a sequel out for the Nintendo 3DS system. The only people who could achieve that were Ambrella3, so my job was saying to them, “You’ve got to make this for Nintendo 3DS!” (laughs)
1 WiiWare: The service where users can purchase and download new Wii software, that is not available in shops, to their Wii console via the Internet. The service began in Europe in May 2008.
2 Pokémon Rumble: An action game available for purchase and download as WiiWare from the Wii Shop Channel in Europe since November 2009.
3 Ambrella Co., Ltd.: A video game developer established in 1996 in Tokyo. In addition to Pokémon Rumble, they have made such games as Hey You, Pikachu! (Nintendo 64), Pokémon Channel (GameCube), and Pokémon Dash (Nintendo DS).
Iwata: Yes. (laughs) And now to you two from Ambrella who accepted that request. Who shall we start with?
Matsumura: I’ll go first, I’m Matsumura.
Iwata: Alright. Go ahead.
Matsumura: I was this game’s director. Last time, for Pokémon Rumble, I felt like we started making it without first establishing a firm enough in-house consensus, so it was really hard. However, this time for Nintendo 3DS, we already had the experience of the previous game so we were able to concentrate on development without faltering. (laughs)
Iwata: When you started, you had the foundation laid by Pokémon Rumble, so you had a clear idea of what kind of game to make, and that made development easier this time.
Matsumura: Yes.
Ozawa: I’m Ozawa from Ambrella. This time, we were moving from Pokémon Rumble, which was WiiWare, to packaged software for the Nintendo 3DS system, so our target at Ambrella was to make something with impact. The scale of the project became larger, so we had to communicate with Ishihara-san and Nintendo more often. I listened to the opinions of the staff at Ambrella, and served as a sort of coordinator.
Iwata: Matsumura-san, some of our readers may not be familiar with Super Pokémon Rumble. Could you tell us a little about what kind of game it is?
Matsumura: Alright. Pokémon are creatures that battle. In the main series of Pokémon RPGs (role-playing games), you use commands to fight, but in Super Pokémon Rumble, you battle in real-time. The Pokémon appear as toys... Well, they crash into each other in real-time.
Iwata: They crash into each other? (laughs)
Matsumura: Yes. It’s labelled an action game, but it doesn’t require anything too difficult.
Iwata: It doesn’t demand any mind-blowing button pressing techniques.
Matsumura: That’s right. You move with the Nintendo 3DS +Control Pad or Circle Pad. The A Button and B Button are for moves. And that’s all. Like that.
Iwata: Yes. (laughs)
Matsumura: It really is that simple to play. When it comes to controls, it’s pretty straightforward, like games from the days of the NES era, so it’s an action game that you can feel comfortable playing.
Iwata: It may be like a NES game in style, but it draws on the increased power of today’s hardware.
Matsumura: Yes. Over 200 Pokémon appeared in the WiiWare Pokémon Rumble game, so it’s a jumble of lots of Pokémon fighting and presented in a way that’s representative of the Wii console. The players can only use one Pokémon at first, but you crash into the Pokémon you meet, then defeat and befriend them.
Iwata: And you rapidly become able to use the Pokémon that are now your new friends.
Matsumura: Exactly. The fun grows as you bring out a new Pokémon, try it out, and think, “Wow! It has this move!”
Iwata: Over 200 Pokémon is quite a number.
Matsumura: So adjusting them all was tough. When players who enjoy the main Pokémon RPGs see the Pokémon they encounter in this game, they make all kinds of new discoveries with regard to the moves they can use. I think it would be great if this series served as a sort of introduction to the broader Pokémon series.
Iwata: I see.
Ishihara: Earlier, Matsumura-san said that this is an action game you can play comfortably, but at first we didn’t think we could make a Pokémon action game even if we tried.
Iwata: You didn’t think Pokémon were suited to the direct controls of an action game.
Ishihara: That’s right. But when we made Pokémon Rumble as WiiWare, we came up with the idea to make them wind-up toys, which worked, and as a result, we made something that everyone could play.
Iwata: It’s an action game with simple controls, so you felt like it was accessible to all.
Ishihara: Yes. You move the Pokémon around on a flat field, beat opponents, and move on. I actually like this kind of action game best.
I hesitate to talk about my personal life, but my wife is so bad at action games that she says, “I hate action games!” so she won’t play the Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda games. Sorry, Iwata-san. (laughs)
Iwata: Huh?!
Everyone: (laughs)
Iwata: That’s quite a statement! (laughs)
Ishihara: Well, she says, “I can’t play them.”
Iwata: I guess there are lots of people who back away just by hearing the words “action games”. But those people are among our customers, too.
Ishihara: But my wife really liked playing the WiiWare Pokémon Rumble game.
Iwata: Oh, okay.
Ishihara: Only Pokémon Rumble. Each day, she would befriend a few new Pokémon, move on to the next stage, and say, “I wonder if I’ll get a stronger one!” She just keeps on going.
Iwata: Why do you think she can keep making progress?
Ishihara: She isn’t so much playing an action game as she is enjoying popping bubble wrap.
Iwata: Popping bubble wrap?
Ishihara: Yes. There was a mode last time called Battle Royale. Lots of Pokémon come out on one screen, and you fight until only one is left. That’s what she played.
Iwata: It’s fun for her to just hit buttons to somehow be the last man standing.
Ishihara: That’s right.
Iwata: When you just pound buttons, you eventually get tired of it, but Ishihara-san’s wife has been able to keep going for a long time. Why do you think that is, Matsumura-san?
Matsumura: Hmm... Actually, when we started making Pokémon Rumble for WiiWare, the balance of the moves was off, and there was a relatively long period when people within the company weren’t crazy about it.
Iwata: Why wasn’t it balanced?
Matsumura: Well, we thought we could take care of it anytime, so we said, “We’ll handle that later!” (laughs) But no one liked it, so I sneaked into the company during the weekend and sorted it out.
Iwata: All alone? (laughs)
Matsumura: Yes. (laughs) Then everyone suddenly took to it.
Ozawa: When I played it, I could tell there was a clear improvement between the before and after versions.
Matsumura: The rhythm and pacing really improved. That may be one reason she can play for so long.
Ishihara: And it’s a game with depth. Even if you just punch buttons at first, you gradually pick up all kinds of moves, and as a result, go on a sort of “quest” to find slightly better Toy Pokémon. Once you get absorbed in that, you can play forever.
Iwata: And that’s what your wife does.
Ishihara: Yes. She’s off on a quest! (laughs)
2. Thirty Billion Varieties of Pokémon
Ishihara: Pokémon Rumble provided its own level of satisfaction, but I kept wondering what we could do next, and I thought I wanted to make a Pokémon Rumble game for playing on the new handheld, the Nintendo 3DS system.
Iwata: You wanted to release the first Pokémon packaged software for the Nintendo 3DS system.
Ishihara: That’s right! I don’t know why, but for some reason, Ambrella gets a lot of projects that are firsts. (laughs)
Ozawa and Matsumura: (laugh)
Ishihara: Pokémon Dash4 for the Nintendo DS system is an example.
4 Pokémon Dash: An action-racing game released simultaneously with the Nintendo DS system in Japan in December 2004.
Iwata: Even if the hardware isn’t complete yet - it’s still a work in progress, so to speak - we can say, “Do you want to try it?” and as you do, you look like you’re having a ball. (laughs)
Ozawa: Yes. We love doing that! (laughs)
Iwata: That’s why Nintendo makes so many proposals for new, half-finished hardware to Ambrella. You had Pokémon Rumble as a foundation, and the sequel was going to be for Nintendo 3DS. What did you think at first?
Ozawa: We had actually made a prototype for the Wii console of a successor to Pokémon Rumble, but when we tried to make the same thing for the Nintendo 3DS system, it wouldn’t run the way we wanted it to at first.
Iwata: Because it was new hardware.
Ozawa: Yes. So we began experimenting. If we had started making a new title for Nintendo 3DS from scratch, we may have decided on an easier approach - not overdoing it and matching what we did to the hardware’s capabilities.
Iwata: In other words, if you had jumped straight into making a new game for the Nintendo 3DS system, you might have been satisfied with a lower hurdle, but you had gone ahead and made a Wii prototype, so you had already set the bar high.
Ozawa: That’s right. It took a lot of work, working with the programmers and designers, before we could make it look like a Pokémon Rumble game should.
Iwata: What were you thinking as you began adapting the Wii prototype for a handheld device that can also be played outdoors?
Matsumura: For a handheld, we wanted to make something that you could play spontaneously and just as easily take a break from.
Iwata: Pokémon Rumble on WiiWare was also originally that kind of game, but this time you wanted to give even more thought to that.
Ishihara: Yes. We adjusted it so you repeat gaming sessions of about 15 minutes, with breaks in-between. Then, once you get into the second and third stages, the game feels like it has grown exponentially and feels new again, so you want to keep playing again and again. That is a big way the game has evolved since Pokémon Rumble on WiiWare.
Matsumura: And rather than making it a compact game because it was for a handheld, we wanted to give it serious volume. Packaged software has to be worthy of sale in stores.
Iwata: That’s right.
Matsumura: In the WiiWare version, there was only one mode - which was Battle Royale - but we added two this time, for a total of three modes. In Battle Royale, as in the last game, lots of Pokémon battle together until there’s only one left. And we added a Team Battle mode, in which you form teams of three. In this mode, the Pokémon battle automatically apart from the one you control.
Iwata: So it’s important to choose good Pokémon to be on your side.
Matsumura: That’s right. Another mode we added is Charge Battle. In this mode, you clash with tens of opponent Pokémon, one after the other.
Ishihara: You know how sequel video games tend to gradually become more complicated as you make them?
Iwata: They tend to get complicated, and that leads to increased difficulty.
Ishihara: Another job of mine this time was repeatedly saying, “Whatever you do, don’t make it a game that’s easy at the start and gradually gets more difficult.”
Iwata: Oh yes. (laughs)
Ishihara: It got easier to play when we added the Team Battle mode, and when we got to Charge Battle, it got even easier. Thanks to those two modes, we were able to provide gameplay that’s easy to understand.
Iwata: That’s because you had the goal that you mentioned earlier of making an action game that anyone could play.
Ishihara: That’s right. I think what’s great about Pokémon Rumble games is that anyone can play them. I kept an eye out to make sure that it didn’t become too complicated or difficult when it became packaged software.
Iwata: It’s easy to say that anyone can play them, but lowering the difficulty too much could make it kind of boring, couldn’t it?
Ishihara: Yes.
Iwata: How did you find the right balance?
Ishihara: As mentioned earlier, as you play, you pick up lots of moves. In the Pokémon Trading Card Game5, there are some with Special Traits, like Dark Charizard.
5 Pokémon Trading Card Game: A collectible card game that represents battles between Pokémon. A wide variety of cards have been sold around the world since the game was first released in 1996.
Iwata: Yes.
Ishihara: We used those in Super Pokémon Rumble, too. Some of them move fast or make your comrades stronger, so it’s important to gather as many Pokémon with Special Traits as possible.
Iwata: So as you - in your words - crash into various Pokémon, you look for and gather Pokémon with beneficial Special Traits tacked on.
Matsumura: Yes. (laughs)
Iwata: About how many Pokémon with such Special Traits are there?
Matsumura: This time, we have added in the new Pokémon from the Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version6 games, so more than 600 Pokémon appear. When it comes to the combinations with various Special Traits, there are about 30 billion types.
6 Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version: The most recent games in the series, released for the Nintendo DS system in Japan in September 2010.
Iwata: Thirty billion?!
Ishihara: So each encounter with a Pokémon is unique.
Matsumura: You should treasure it when you run into a really great Pokémon.
Ishihara: For example, you can determine your tactics however you like - “Now that I’ve got this Pokémon, I’ll make this kind of team.”
Iwata: Like putting together your deck for the trading card game.
Matsumura: Exactly. For example, you go into a Team Battle with three Pokémon, so which kind of team you assemble is important.
Iwata: Then there are various ways to play.
Ozawa: Yes. For example, a player who doesn’t want to plunge headlong at the opponent can choose teammates with strong offensive abilities so they can concentrate on lending support from the fringes.
Ishihara: Your teammates will automatically attack effectively, so you can rely on them and operate from further back.
Iwata: Sometimes you can heal your teammates while you hang back somewhere safe so as not to take damage. (laughs)
Ishihara: Yes (laughs), you really can!
3. “I Want to Play Again!”
Ozawa: Yes. But when someone comes up with an incredibly effective method, those of us developing the game have to adjust it. (laughs)
Iwata: Oh...
Matsumura: Because it’s too strong.
Iwata: Someone finds a way to always win.
Ozawa: They go to all the trouble of finding it out, but then...
Iwata: You crush it. (laughs)
Matsumura: If you reveal it, it gets crushed.
Everyone: (laughs)
Matsumura: A staff member will say, “I won’t tell you then!” and we say, “No, you have to tell us!” (laughs)
Iwata: Did members of Mario Club7 also find such surefire strategies?
7 Mario Club Co., Ltd.: It conducts debugging and testing on Nintendo software during development.
Ozawa: Yes. We got reports like, “If you use this move with this Special Trait, you can win really easily.”
Matsumura: If we think that’s too much of an advantage, we crush it, but if we think, “Well done for figuring that out!” then we’re more, “Go ahead and use it!” and leave it in. You never know what winning strategies are hidden in the game, so I hope that players will work hard to find them.
Ozawa: There’s an enormous amount of combinations, so I’m sure you can find fun ones that haven’t been discovered yet. And this time, I worked for a long time with the debuggers, and there was something that made me really happy as a game developer.
Iwata: What was it?
Ozawa: After debugging was over, they said, “Once the product goes on sale, I want to play again!”
Iwata: Oh, I heard about that - that the debuggers really liked it. What do you think they liked so much?
Ozawa: Perhaps one reason is that they sensed what I just mentioned, that there are still a lot of fun combinations to be found.
Ishihara: I think another reason may be that they wanted to actually experience using the StreetPass8 feature out on the street.
8 StreetPass: A feature that allows users who enable it to walk around with their Nintendo 3DS system turned on to exchange game data with other Nintendo 3DS users that they pass on the street. The Nintendo 3DS system can exchange data for up to 12 games even if the Game Cards are not inserted.
Iwata: I see. Debuggers can experience StreetPass, but only within the limited space of the company.
Ishihara: That’s right. As mentioned in the session of “Iwata Asks” over Pokédex 3D9, we emphasised the SpotPass10 feature in that game, but unfortunately we couldn’t implement StreetPass.
9 Pokédex 3D: Software available for free download for the Nintendo 3DS system via the Nintendo eShop application since June 2011. It allows players to view the new Pokémon that appear in the Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version games from whichever angle they like in 3D. The software also allows users to use Pokémon AR Markers to take photographs with Pokémon. This Iwata Asks interview will be available soon for European readers.
10 SpotPass: A feature in the Nintendo 3DS system that, when activated, receives various information and content just by being near a wireless LAN access point.
Iwata: With Pokédex 3D, each set of data is too big, so you couldn’t quickly send it via StreetPass.
Ishihara: That’s right. So with Super Pokémon Rumble, we wanted to create a kind of gameplay that would link people together through StreetPass. We put a lot of detailed effort into the StreetPass elements of gameplay, including the general atmosphere and allowing players to view each other’s Mii characters.
Iwata: How did using Mii characters come about?
Matsumura: At first, we didn’t think about the Mii characters.
Ishihara: That’s true.
Matsumura: At first, we had a relatively closed world in mind, but Ishihara-san, with perfect timing, suggested an idea to us.
Iwata: And what idea was that?
Matsumura: He said, “Why not create a world that uses Mii characters to expand beyond the confines of the game into the outside world?” When we heard that, we thought, “Alright, great idea.”
Ozawa: (laughs) Yes, that’s right.
Iwata: Why did you accept so readily?
Matsumura: I think because what he suggested felt like something that might really exist. Mii characters gathering in a toy store, communicating, and enjoying battles is like a real-world gathering.
Ishihara: “Dagashiya” (snack shop) used to be like that.
(Editor’s note: Around the time of Mr. Ishihara’s childhood and adolescence, small family-run snack shops called “Dagashiya” were commonly seen throughout Japan. These stores mainly catered to children and sold snacks, sweets, toys and trinkets. They also served as a meeting place where children would hang around.)
Matsumura: We decided to make a place for the Mii characters to meet, where they could exchange messages with people they had encountered, fight, and benefit from winning.
Ishihara: My first idea for it was horrible though. In a toy shop inside the game, children would be playing with dioramas, and, for example, a diorama would catch on fire, and the Pokémon inside Super Pokémon Rumble would shout, “It’s hot! Fire!” and raise a commotion. (laughs)
Iwata: A chaotic world for the toys! (laughs)
Ishihara: Then someone said, “But if it all burns up, then what?” and I thought, “Oh...that’s right.” (laughs)
Iwata: (laughs)
Ishihara: We wondered if you could really make those Toy Pokémon and made this.
Iwata: It’s papercraft.
Ishihara: We decided to make this an early purchase incentive11 for Super Pokémon Rumble.
11 The incentive for early purchases of Super Pokémon Rumble was only available in Japan. Please see the official site for Super Pokémon Rumble for details on pre-order bonuses for your region.
Matsumura: Wow! Do early purchasers get this as an incentive?
Iwata: The customers put it together themselves.
Ishihara: Yes. As I mentioned in our session of “Iwata Asks” over Pokédex 3D, another early purchase incentive is a collection of the Pokémon AR Markers, so I hope people will line up the Pokémon AR Markers and papercraft and take pictures of them with Pokédex 3D.
Iwata: I see. Now I’d like to hear you each recommend something to people who know the previous Pokémon Rumble and to people who don’t. Ozawa-san?
Ozawa: Oh, starting with me? Okay. Well, I’m sure even people who don’t know the previous game can play it, so I hope they’ll pick it up.
Iwata: When you say that you’re sure they can play it, you mean that they can play it regardless of their skill at action games or how much they know about Pokémon.
Ozawa: That’s right. The game is such that even people who have never played video games before can enjoy it.
Iwata: You’ve prepared a game that continues to deepen the more you know. It’s simple, so you don’t grow tired of it quickly.
Ozawa: Yes, that’s right.
Iwata: What do you recommend to people who do know Pokémon Rumble?
Ozawa: Hmm. I suppose I would say, “This is the real thing!”
Everyone: (laughs)
Ozawa: So please, play this one, too!
Iwata: You mean that people who played Pokémon Rumble on Wii will find playing this one to be incredibly fun as well.
Ozawa: It’s fun. Yes, I think so.
Iwata: You’ve beefed it up all over the place.
Ozawa: Yes, that’s right.
Iwata: You’ve beefed up places where people will be looking for it as well as some unexpected places?
Ozawa: Yes, that’s right. Like that. Thank you.
Matsumura: (whispering) Ozawa-san isn’t very good at talking.
Everyone: (laughs)
4. The first Pokémon game for Nintendo 3DS
Matsumura: It’s refreshing.
Iwata: Brisk and refreshing?
Matsumura: Yes. (laughs) It’s refreshing and summery! No, it’s fun to play in the winter too, but it’s summer now, so play it like a cool breeze!
Iwata: Is it a good fit for a handheld?
Matsumura: Yes, I think so. What I thought first when making the shift from WiiWare to the Nintendo 3DS system was how the game’s value would be determined by how many people it causes to miss their train stop. If it causes people to miss their stop, I hope they’ll tell me. I’d be really pleased. We wanted to make a game that people would get that absorbed in.
Iwata: In Tokyo, trains come frequently and the interval between stops is short, so if you overshoot one stop, it’s no big deal, but depending on where you are, you could get in a lot of trouble! (laughs)
Ozawa: On the Shinkansen (trans-city bullet trains), you’d really be stuck! (laughs)
Matsumura: Oh, I suppose so...
Everyone: (laughs)
Iwata: If something like that happens, you are blessed as a game developer.
Matsumura: Yes. So if you play on the train, be careful not to miss your stop!
Iwata: Okay. (laughs) What would you say to people who played the previous game?
Matsumura: When we made the WiiWare game, we put a lot of effort into fine-tuning it, so the key point was how great it felt. This time, we polished that even further.
Iwata: It feels even better?
Matsumura: Yes. And even though it’s for a handheld, we increased the amount of gameplay, so you can play it for a long time.
Iwata: Rather than just simply ending, it can be a game that stays with you for years to come.
Matsumura: I hope it does. And we prepared something special for after you clear it. I think people who have played the previous game will fully enjoy that.
Iwata: For those who played the previous game, is it as if the challenge really starts after you clear it the first time?
Matsumura: Yes. It’s a little hard, but we play it, too, so I would love it if everyone else does.
Iwata: Alright. Ishihara-san?
Ishihara: How a videogame captivates first-time players as soon as they start playing is very important. When we made the WiiWare Pokémon Rumble game, I thought that if the first 30 minutes were thoroughly satisfying, then the rest would follow.
But this time, with a handheld game, I thought the game’s reputation would be determined by whether we could get people into the game or whether they found it a little tiresome in the first ten minutes, so I put a lot of care into polishing the first ten minutes.
Iwata: There was a lot of back-and-forth among the staff members with regard to those first ten minutes, wasn’t there?
Ishihara: Yes. We wove a solid story this time, so in the early stages we felt like talking a lot about what the toy world is like, what kind of problems arise there, and what you have to solve.
Iwata: The bigger the setting, the longer the setup tends to grow. Too much of that, and even in an action game, you may end up doing very little actual playing at the beginning!
Ishihara: That’s right. In an action game, it’s important that the action starts as soon as the screen appears. What’s most important are thoughts that drag you in, like “What should I do next?” and “Oh, I didn’t know this was here!”
We made this game so that players will be able to tell in the first 10 to 30 minutes how fun it is. Then, if they think, “Even I can play this!” they’ll play to the end. It definitely has lots of Pokémon types and depth of gameplay, so please try it out.
Iwata: Thank you. And what would you say to those who played the previous game?
Ishihara: To them, I would say, similar to how Ozawa-san succinctly and firmly declared that this is the real thing that it’s like a grand culmination of a Pokémon Rumble game.
Iwata: It is a Pokémon Rumble game evolved to the extreme.
Ishihara: Yes. So I hope that those who played the WiiWare game will experience this fully evolved version of Pokémon Rumble for the Nintendo 3DS system to the fullest.
Iwata: Is that why you added “Super” to the (Japanese) name of the game?
Ishihara: Yes.
Matsumura: One idea at first was to remove “Ransen!” (Melee) from the name in Japanese (Ransen! Pokémon Scramble) so it would just be Pokémon Scramble. But we thought that might be hard to understand.
Ishihara: It would feel like something had been lost. A Pokémon Scramble game without something like “Ransen!” just wouldn’t strike the right note, so we wanted a word that would suggest how the series had evolved. And here at Nintendo, we like using “Super.” (laughs)
Iwata: (laughs) So that’s why, eh?!
Ishihara: Yes. (laughs)
Matsumura: We also thought of Dairansen! Pokémon Scramble (Pokémon Scramble (Great) Melee). (laughs) But we felt like we’d seen something like that somewhere, so...
(Editor’s note: This is a reference to the Japanese title of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is similar.)
Iwata: Yes. (laughs)
Matsumura: I do think we settled on a great title if I do say so myself.
Iwata: I agree. There’s one last thing I would like to ask you, Ishihara-san.
Ishihara: Yes? What is it?
Iwata: Of all the many Pokémon games, what is it you are trying to say to the world with this packaged game as the first one for the Nintendo 3DS system?
Ishihara: That it’s the easiest to play. A new piece of hardware holds various new possibilities and functions, but with the Nintendo 3DS system, there are tons!
Iwata: It does have a lot of new features.
Ishihara: A product will have a long life retail-wise if it makes abundant use of new features to expand play, while also allowing players to simply and smoothly enter into it and play for a long time, so when I wondered which Pokémon title was most suited to that...
Iwata: That was Pokémon Rumble.
Ishihara: That’s right. As I said at the start, my wife, who doesn’t much like action games, could play to the end - which is really saying something! And I learned that women could really enjoy the element of collecting the Toy Pokémon, so I wanted to make this.
Iwata: Both people who like action games and those who aren’t crazy about them can enjoy it.
Ishihara: Yes. It’s a game for everyone, perfect for being the first one to come out for the Nintendo 3DS system.
Matsumura: We’ve mentioned Ishihara-san’s wife, but the wives of staff members at Ambrella are also enjoying the game, so I’m glad the package design turned out so cute.
Iwata: The WiiWare game didn’t have a package.
Matsumura: That’s right. I can’t wait to see it in shops.
Iwata: Understood. Thank you for your time today, everyone.
Everyone: It was our pleasure!
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