While Nintendo has an archive section where fans can revisit old installments of the popular Iwata Asks series, not every Q&A the former Nintendo president ever sat down for is there, because not all of them were translated into English by the company.
One such example of that is an interview about Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, a Wii game that was released back in 2009. For the game’s release, Iwata spoke with executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu, but most of us never got the chance to read the interview.
We do now though, thanks to a translation by Nick Mosier. He’s working his way through the six chapters of interviews, but the first part is done and ready for reading at Nick’s site. Here are some highlights:
Iwata: We actually share a connection in that we both attended the Tokyo Institute of Technology at the same time.
Kawazu: Yup. And if I’m not mistaken, I was three years your junior. (laughs)
Iwata: We were in different fields of study when we were students so we never met back then, but when I learned about you and what you were doing in the industry and that we graduated from the same university, I felt that we had a mysterious connection. For our generation, it’s rare that schoolmates both end up making games for a living. We’ve met many times over the years, but this is actually the first time we’ve been able to have a 1 on 1 chat, right?
Kawazu: That’s right. (laughs)
Iwata: So you were immersed in games as a student, but how did you get in making games with Square (currently Square-Enix)?
Kawazu: It’s an embarrassing story but… It started with a part-time job listing magazine. Occasionally, they would have job postings, but I didn’t know anything about a company called Square. However, right when they released 水晶のドラゴン [Suishou no Dragon], they had an ad with one of Gen Sato’s illustrations and it caught my eye.
Iwata: Game software and the company that made that weren’t related, right?
Kawazu: Right. On top of that, there wasn’t much recruiting for jobs making games at the time, so I decided to apply. I received a call and the first thing they said was, ‘The deadline was yesterday.’
Iwata: (laughing)
It’s not exactly the most important game—to be honest I’d forgot all about it until coming across this—but hey, I think we’d all agree it’s nice to be able to get a “new” Iwata Asks in 2019.
You can stay tuned to Nick’s site for the rest of the interview.