Iwata Asks: Ridge Racer 3D - A chimp that plays Pac-Man, joining NAMCO by accident, similarities between brands, 3DS impressions, 3D making gameplay easier, why Ridge Racer pops up at system launches, 3D enhancing driving games, StreetPass talk, over 1...

Sakagami: Right. I was wondering what it was that I really wanted to do when I happened to see a documentary program on NHK about a chimpanzee named Kanzi.4 He was a really smart bonobo chimpanzee. When he wanted a banana, he would indicate the panel with “I want a banana.” written on it (in English).

Iwata: He could recognize words. Sakagami: Yeah. And he could play Pac-Man!5 Iwata: Huh? A chimpanzee was playing Pac-Man? Sakagami: Yeah! Iwata: Wow…

Sakagami: That was one of the experiments. Once it started playing Pac-Man, it gradually learned the rules and then played all the time. Iwata: Do you mean to say it actually understood that if you ate the power pellets, the ghosts would turn blue and you could eat them? Sakagami: Yeah, yeah! When I saw that, I was struck as if by lightning.

Iwata: It is quite shocking.

Sakagami: Yeah, really shocking. I realized then that if even a chimpanzee can enjoy video games, then they must have universal appeal, regardless of race and culture.

Sakagami: I was going to apply to KONAMI, but (in Japanese, ) their names are both composed of three katakana characters, so I got confused and applied to NAMCO! (laughs)

Iwata: Are you serious? (laughs)

Sakagami: Yes! A friend of mine was working at KONAMI. I told him I was thinking about getting into the gaming industry and he said I should give it a shot. At the time, KONAMI was headquartered in Kobe.

Iwata: Not far from your home in Nishinomiya.

Sakagami: Right. So I put in a phone call, but got NAMCO instead!

Iwata: (laughs) So if you hadn’t dialed the wrong number, you might not be sitting here today. (laughs)

Sakagami: (laughs) To go back to where we started, with Pac-Man, one of my basic beliefs is that anything that stimulates your instincts, is good. They’re all the same game. To me, THE IDOLM@STER, Tekken14, Air Combat and Ridge Racer are all the same. If I say that, you might say, “They’re completely different!” but basically you refine certain elements and mainly emphasize those, so there’s no difference in that aspect. For example, in THE IDOLM@STER, all these cute girls come out and singing and dancing isn’t a bad concept for guys.

Iwata: What was your impression when Nintendo first showed you the Nintendo 3DS system?

Sakagami: When I first saw it, I sensed something almost palpable in the screen.

Iwata: You mean the screen was like a window to another world with its own physical objects?

Sakagami: Yes. I really felt like there was something there. I’m not really sure how to describe it.

Iwata: Did you immediately think that you wanted to make a Ridge Racer game for it?

Sakagami: Yes. The moment I saw it, I thought I wanted to make something for the Nintendo 3DS system that revolved around cars. When I tried out Ridge Racer on it, and the cars were really there, and I tried to move them, I found the way that I concentrated on the game was slightly different than before.

Iwata: You mean that seeing the cars on a stereoscopic 3D screen feels different than viewing them on a 2D screen like before.

Sakagami: Right. Completely different. It was a totally new feeling. I felt that there was something substantial, not just about the cars, but about the courses as well. I thought the game would get easier to play.

Iwata: Because compared to the 2D games, it’s much easier to get a sense of distance depth-wise.

Sakagami: Right, right.

Iwata: I’m always hearing people at third party developers say the 3D makes a big difference. They say that racing games and flight games will get easier to play. We’ve realized that through our own tests, as well.

Sakagami: Yes. Actually, some people find racing games to be difficult.

Iwata: If someone has trouble grasping a sense of distance, racing games can be difficult.

Sakagami: Right. People who are better at it can imagine the distance in their heads, but with the Nintendo 3DS system, the depth is just the way it appears. You can simply play naturally, so I thought it was really great. But when I actually made Ridge Racer in 3D and tried playing it, my times were slower! (laughs)

Iwata: Why is that?

Sakagami: Ridge Racer is a kind of game that you could go full throttle in, but the courses feel much more realistic now, so on curves I couldn’t help but let up on the gas a little! Iwata: That’s interesting! (laughs) Sakagami: After I’d been around a few times, though, I began to get a sense of the timing, and my times actually improved!

Iwata: It seems like a new Ridge Racer game always comes out with the release of a new piece of hardware. It’s become a tradition. What does NAMCO pay particular attention to each time?

Sakagami: It’s a simple word, but we aim for speed. And the exhilaration that comes from that speed is where it all begins.

Iwata: You want players to experience the exhilaration that comes from hurtling along at breakneck speeds. What themes did you work with this time in making a game for the Nintendo 3DS system?

Sakagami: It’s 3D, so we wanted to make the best use of that—for example, in scenes where the car in front of you gets hit, loses control, and flips back and bangs into the front of your car. We thought something flashy like that would be cool in 3D, and at first it actually was cool when we put in scenes like that.

Iwata: Ah. But only at first.

Sakagami: Yeah. When you’re pleasantly cruising along and something like that happens, it doesn’t feel very good. But when development began, everyone around us was saying, “It’s 3D, so make it flashier!” They wanted the cars to slam into each other.

Iwata: Like they were flying off the screen? (laughs)

Sakagami: Yeah. (laughs) I can understand why you might want to do that, but when a car cuts across you all of a sudden, it breaks your rhythm. We’ve always wanted players of a Ridge Racer game to get into a rhythm and enjoy that feeling of speeding along.

Iwata: I heard that you tried other new features as well with the Nintendo 3DS system.

Sakagami: Yes. One stems from StreetPass. When you pass by someone, you pass your ghost data to them.

Iwata: You send it to them?

Sakagami: Yes. You can send it to them, and sometimes you receive a ghost from them. And you can race against that ghost in StreetPass Duel.

Iwata: When you pass by someone, you may exchange game data, and then you can race each other’s ghost anytime, anywhere.

Sakagami: Right. And when we went to put in the StreetPass feature this time, I remembered something. I was watching two boys play a racing game at a video arcade once, and what was interesting was how one would play and leave behind a ghost. Then the other one would sit down and race that ghost.

Iwata: Usually, you would just play together.

Sakagami: Right. But those two would play in turns and watch each other’s driving.

Iwata: You mean they would watch how the other one played and adjust their own driving accordingly?

Sakagami: Right. Like, “So that’s how you handle this corner…”

Iwata: When you race simultaneously, you get caught up in your own driving and can’t observe what your friend is doing, so I think that’s why they were playing it that way.

Sakagami: When you take turns like that, you improve more quickly, so I think that is one way of playing. I think players will have fun with Ridge Racer 3D if they compare their best times.

Iwata: How is the content volume this time?

Sakagami: The game may be for a handheld system, but we increased the volume. For example, there are quite a few more courses. We made several new courses and there’s quite a rich selection of cars. There’s also a Grand Prix Mode with various race locations. More than 150!

Iwata: Did you say 150?!

Sakagami: I did! So there’s plenty of racing to be done! There’s a variety of modes, too. For example, there’s the Tour Mode. Unlike the Grand Prix Mode, it allows you to select certain conditions—like you want to play for x number of minutes—and it automatically selects a course for you.

Iwata: Like, “I’ve got five minutes for a quick race.”

Sakagami: Right. There are a number of conditions for selecting a course. You can choose courses for their emphasis on speed or curves. And then there’s the music. We often hear that the music in Ridge Racer is good, so the staff originally in charge of the music in the series made 15 new music tracks. Including some old music, there are more than 40 tracks!

Iwata: That’s quite a lot! Sakagami: Yeah. It’s quite a solid game in terms of content.

Iwata: Ridge Racer 3D allows players to enjoy battles against ghosts gained through StreetPass and it has a massive amount of content. It was first announced at the E3 201017, right?

Sakagami: Right.

Iwata: This may be a little straightforward, but I felt like some people may have been disappointed when they saw the first screenshots you released. I thought they got the wrong idea.

Sakagami: Yeah.

Iwata: But the closer we got to the end of development, the visuals improved. Even I wanted to say, “If you could make it look this good, why didn’t you do it sooner?” (laughs) And I’ve thought that about the other games in the series sold on other hardware as well. The Ridge Racer team really takes off in the latter half of development. Why is that?

Sakagami: Well, to put it bluntly, the staff members are humble folks. They’re no good at bluffing.

Iwata: You mean they don’t want to release a screenshot they may not be able to deliver on?

Sakagami: Right.

Iwata: Oh, they’re honest! (laughs)

Sakagami: Yeah. Too honest. Even I get mad about it. The Ridge Racer team tends to want to release something right from the midst of development. Like it’s a progress report! (laughs) Iwata: (laughs) They release screenshots like they’re reporting the project’s current state. But your explosive progress toward the end is really incredible. How can you make something like this in such a short time?

Sakagami: This time, we got back to basics in developing Ridge Racer 3D.

Iwata: What exactly are those basics?

Sakagami: As mentioned earlier, we want a game that will sweep you up in its speed. There are other racing games, but most are driving games or simulation games, and they have their own appeal, but…

Iwata: Ridge Racer isn’t an exactly accurate and true to life physical simulation, but rather it puts the sense of speed first. You dare to pursue that aspect in order to strengthen the sense of immersion and the enjoyment by, for example, intentionally applying unrealistic graphics where you could actually make them look photorealistic.

Sakagami: Right. Ridge Racer began as an arcade game, and I view it as the origin of racing games. I’ve tried to pack in everything that’s fun about racing games, so I want players to fully enjoy the sense of speed that is the basic component of a genuine racing game.

I also hope they’ll use StreetPass to race ghosts at their own convenience and gather up lots of points. We tested the StreetPass feature at the company, and it was incredibly pleasing when the green light of the Nintendo 3DS system came on. So pleasing, actually, that it was mystifying. (laughs)

Iwata: I suppose it’s exciting to know that there’s someone there whose face you can’t see, but you were with that person at the same place at a certain time.

Sakagami: Yes, I really think so. And you know that person likes the same thing that you do. It’s pleasing simply to know that such a person is there.

Iwata: Right.