It may not be word-for-word perfect, but this is about as close as I can get...believe it or not, my microcassette recording of the interview is even harder to hear than the MP3; apparently compression drowned out some of the bass and made it easier to hear Kelly.

Regardless, here's the semi-rough but complete transcription of our interview with Team Nintendo's Kelly Powell at the Atlanta Nintendo Cube Club.

Planet GameCube: Hey, this is Jonathan Metts with Planet GameCube. We’re sitting here with a guy from Team Nintendo, at the Nintendo Cube Club in Atlanta, Georgia, and could you tell us your name and what you do?

Kelly Powell: Kelly Powell, with Team Nintendo...going on club tour, also gameplay counselor and gameplay writer with Nintendo of America, Redmond.

PGC: So ah, gameplay writer, what exactly does that mean?

KP: We play the new games before, well actually not new, before they come out, and play through to get all the tips, tricks, items, things like that for our 900 line and also players guides for Nintendo Power Magazine.

PGC: Ok so, if you pay twelve bucks for that Luigi’s Mansion strategy guide, this is the guy who did that. So tell us about the Cube Club and what it was like setting it up and getting all the equipment in...have you ever been to E3?

KP: Yes I have.

PGC: So would you say it’s a little bit like that, getting it all set up?

KP: It’s obviously, for those of you that aren’t here, obviously not as large of a venue, it’s our own private event we’re having. 42 game stations as well as four private suites. As far as setup’s concerned, I’m kind of a non-strenuous labor kind of guy, so I wasn’t really involved with that. I did help install some of the games, move some of the TVs around, but they have staging companies that do like rock concerts, things like that, to do setups, the heavy materials.

PGC: So, were you involved with the Team Nintendo Game Boy Advance tour?

KP: Right, I visited Planet GameCube actually, Billy in Minneapolis, with Super Mario Kart Advance: Super Circuit as well as Advance Wars. So, I did get to meet him, was quite interesting and fascinating.

PGC: Yeah, yeah I remember that. So um, you say you’ve got a Japanese GameCube? What do you think of it so far, with just the three games you’ve got to play on it?

KP: Extremely impressed. Luigi’s Mansion is pretty difficult for somebody that doesn’t read Japanese. Wave Race, it’s not so much a problem, except I learned the hard way how to erase your memory card. Did that on accident, but I’m really really impressed with Wave Race. I’ve gotten quite addicted to it, and it’s fairly difficult but a lot of fun. And that’s the only two I have.

PGC: Ok, well other than those two, what is the North American launch game that you’re most looking forward to really sitting down with the final copy and seeing how people react to it once they’re able to get their hands on it?

KP: Pretty cliche, but like everyone else, I just can’t wait for Star Wars, Rogue Leader 2. I don’t wanna play too much of it right now because I want to wait until I get my own copy. I want to really enjoy it and be surprised. It’s the prettiest-looking game I’ve ever seen on any home console, and I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about it. And some of the levels...I’ve seen all twelve levels, ten regular and two hidden, and it’s amazing. You can play as Darth Vader, and...I just can’t say enough about it. That and Madden football.

PGC: So can you tell us anything about the two hidden levels that you played?

KP: Afraid not.

PGC: Alright. So when you were in Redmond, you once gave a tour to Shigeru Miyamoto through Nintendo of America headquarters?

KP: Yeah, I helped give a tour, yeah.

PGC: So what did you think of him, being able to talk to him being that close to him?

KP: He’s just the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, he really is. Signing autographs...he traded an autograph to an employee for a stick sign of Mr. Arakawa, our CEO, one of those little paper faces on a popsicle stick you get at basketball games. So he traded...that was pretty funny. Just a really classy guy, real happy, just a real fun guy to walk around with. I felt like I was getting the tour.

PGC: That’s awesome. I guess my final question is, what do you think of the crowd that’s showed up and what are the reactions that you’re getting from people who basically came off the street, heard about this on the radio, really don’t know what’s going on and they come in here and play these games. Some of them probably don’t even know what the GameCube is until now and they’re actually getting to play it.

KP: Yeah, it’s definitely impressive, the amount of effort and marketing Nintendo has put behind this. I think they let in about seventy people when it first opened the doors, and I haven’t seen anyone leave. And there’s people waiting outside who can’t get in because there’s too many people in here and no one will leave. And we can’t really...we never put a time limit on it, so it’s like how can you ask people to leave. I haven’t heard anything bad about it, you know, families who have never heard of GameCube before sitting down playing some Monkey Ball, you know, Smash Bros, they obviously like games like that. It’s been a great buzz, it’s been a lot of fun, I’ve never done anything like this. I feel kinda like Carlito’s Way, you know, he owned a nightclub, walking around. Getting people on the list such as yourself, that kind of thing, it’s been a lot of fun. I think it’s going really well, any city you go to.

PGC: So what’s gonna happen during the twenty-one and over event tomorrow night, how is that going to differ from this?

KP: Well aside from there only being people over twenty-one, it’s being sponsored by some more mature companies, I believe Maxim, as well as Stuff magazine, Seagram’s wine coolers. I don’t know if alcohol is being served or not, but you know, it’ll just be kind of a more mature time. Probably won’t be that big of a difference.

PGC: So, no wet t-shirt contest?

KP: Not that I’m aware of...at least not one that I’ve been entered into, thankfully. ~laughter~

PGC: Alright, well thanks for talking with us man, now we’ve got to go play a lot more GameCube before we have to go home. Appreciate it.

KP: Yeah, good luck with your site.

Interview conducted by Jonathan Metts. Thanks to Kelly for talking with us and being so cool!