Dear Reader:
Paper Mario: Color Splash interview discusses how jokes differ, painting cards and more
This comes from a Game Informer interview with Paper Mario: Color Splash's producer Kensuke Tanabe...
How the jokes between the Japanese and English versions differ...
''For this English translation, we took extra care (even more than usual) to preserve the original text’s nuances especially the keywords that were used as hints. Even then, there were some nuances that we just could not reproduce. In those cases, we had the translators substitute it with regionally appropriate expressions. In the part you were referring to (there’s a joke about Mario’s “Lost Levels”) for the Japanese version, Huey just gets surprised because the color disappeared from the Little Paint Star and turned white. There is really no joke here. English translators added the joke about Super Mario Lost Levels in English text to make it funnier but Japanese audiences will not understand it as it is tied to English words and phrases.
That reminds me. I worked on the localizing the text for Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 which released on Super Nintendo but it was so full of hard to translate jokes (jokes that would not be understood in Japanese), so I rewrote them into completely different jokes or useful hints by looking at the game graphics. As result most likely the feel that the European/American audiences get from the jokes in the Donkey Kong Country series are very different from what the Japanese version provides.''
On how you need to take many steps painting the cards...
''We prepared other advanced controls and button controls for the combat UI. If you use the advanced controls, after you are done painting a card you can flick the card without pressing the button. Actually, at first we were developing a UI very similar to the advanced controls. However, as a result of monitoring the staff themselves, we realized that control mistakes were made frequently playing using the controls without fully understanding the controls. Considering Nintendo’s user base, we need to anticipate that children around the ages of 7-10 will be playing as well, so it is reasonable to think that they might play without being able to thoroughly understand the controls. So we decided to make the UI such that you have to carefully check each individual step to proceed for the basic controls even if that was frustrating. Then, we thought that once users understood the control steps, they could transition to the advanced controls.
Incidentally, the goal of this UI was actually unrelated to painting. The core of our discussions in the office was often how to create controls that you can only experience on the Wii U. For example, we wondered whether we could adequately express the feeling when you are playing cards and you glance down at your cards, pick out a card quickly, and flick it into place, or whether the actions themselves would feel cool once users become able to quickly get through these controls.''
How they go about developing games and ensure to meet fan's expectations...
''When I joined Nintendo 30 years ago, my direct boss at the time was Miyamoto-san, and he drilled Nintendo’s game philosophy into me. At the heart of that philosophy is this. “When you develop a new game, the game system has to be novel and creative.” I have basically followed that idea while developing games for the last 30 years. So at the same time, this isn’t an expression of self, but rather what will the player find entertaining, or what will they enjoy? We have developed games with an awareness of that viewpoint as well. The result of all of this is that games made in this way will sometimes meet fan’s expectations, and sometimes they won’t. That said, no matter the series or the kind of game, the thing I believe fans want most is for us as developers to put our sincere utmost into doing everything within our power to make an enjoyable game. In that sense, our entire team put their utmost effort into making Color Splash. To everyone, I say that we would be very happy if you enjoy playing it.''