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Sega’s Naka & Nagoshi get personal

by Max Lake - August 2, 2001, 10:36 am EDT
Source: Nintendo Dream magazine

In a translated interview from Nintendo Dream, the presidents of Sonic Team & Amusement Vision talk about likes, dislikes and other cool stuff.

Over at ye ol’ Tendo Box, the “Galloping Gaijin” has struck again with his latest column. As part of it, he runs a translated interview with Sonic Team president Yuji Naka & Amusement Vision president Toshihiro Nagoshi from Nintendo Dream magazine. These two Sega legends will be showing off their GameCube projects at Nintendo’s fast approaching SpaceWorld show but here reveal a more personal side… Enjoy!

Nintendo Dream: What were you like when you were a kid?

Toshiro Nagoshi: I wasn't very sociable when I was at elementary school. I liked to make plastic models. I wasn't very strong as part of a team (although that is what I do now) and this worried my parents. At junior high school, I was made to join the soccer club, and this made me think about changing my attitude. When I did, my grades improved. A little (laughs). Among the young people who come to the company, some are sociable, others are not. But from my own experience, I know how to manage them.

Yuji Naka: I was a quiet child. I still think I'm quiet, but when I say that, everyone says "No way!" (laughs)

N.D: What did you want to be?

T.N: I wanted to be an engineer, making cars or clocks. I was very interested in design, which probably had something to with the plastic models. I've spent many hours taking broken clocks apart.

Y.N: I wanted to be many things. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a president. When I actually became a president (of Sonic Team), I found that sometimes I'd think that maybe it wasn't what I wanted after all (laughs). I also wanted to be a train driver and a pilot, just like most kids.

N.D: What's your favorite animal?

T.N: I like cats. I found this kitten when I was at the university, and I've had it for fourteen or fifteen years. Whenever I'd move or split up with a girlfriend, the cat has always been with me (laughs). It's name is a bit embarrassing (laughs), it really is embarrassing; it sounds like an old woman's name, but it's a boy - he's called Tsune, please don't ask me why (laughs). (Tsune is a popular name in Japan's seventy to eighty year old demographic)

Y.N: The panda. Whenever anyone asks me about new character for a game, I answer "a panda". I'm a big fan of the Japanese anime 'Panda Kopanda' by Hayao Miyazaki. After watching it, I came to love pandas. Everyone should see this cartoon.

N.D: What game have you played most?

T.N: Probably Super Mario. I played it so hard that my fingers were almost broken (laughs). I also ended up tearing the blisters on my fingers.

Y.N: What would that be? Probably Lemmings.

N.D: What do you hate the most?

T.N: Selfish people. I hate it when people don't care about others. If you live on this planet, the most important things are people, so I don't like people who ignore this.

Y.N: What would that be? I can't think of anything I hate because I'm a grown man (laughs). If you were talking about food, then it would have to be natto. ( Natto is a pungent dish of sticky, fermented beans, popular in Eastern Japan)

N.D: Has anything upset you recently?

T.N: Nothing really. I know how to live happily, so even if I feel disappointed, I know how to bounce back.

Y.N: I get upset every day about something, sometimes I get very angry. The thing that makes me feel bad, rather than upset, is the failure of the Dreamcast. Mr. Ogawa's passing upset me, I really wanted him to stay.

N.D: What have you enjoyed recently?

T.N: The fact that I'm working on Nintendo GameCube. I'm often asked if I enjoy my work every day, and there hasn't been a single day I haven't since I started working for Sega. Of course, there are difficult times, but the most important factor in the motivation of creators is being interested, so if it's interesting, you don't mind the hard times.

Y.N: Sonic's tenth birthday party. It was also very tiring too. I knew Sonic was very popular overseas, but I was happy to find there are many Sonic fans in Japan too.

N.D: What's the biggest mistake you've made in your life?

T.N: I've made so many mistakes. One thing is not being able to get all my ideas into my games. As a game maker, I regret it when I can't tell you what I wanted to say.

Y.N: I think I've been making a lot of mistakes. I'm king of excuses (laughs). I always pass the blame (laughs). When I make mistakes, someone else gets yelled at (laughs).

N.D: What games have influenced you most?

T.N: When I was a university student, I played action games like Super Mario, and RPGs like Dragon Quest. All of this was new to me at the time, so I can't pick one particular game.

Y.N: There aren't many games that influenced me. I'm usually influenced by the movies or daily life.

N.D: What do you pay most attention to when you make games?

T.N: Nothing specific. Just putting a lot of love into it.

Y.N: Things that affect the senses. I pay more attention to the feeling of satisfaction on the players part. It's not a tangible thing.

N.D: What sort of person is Naka/Nagoshi-san?

T.N: He's got an extremely strong will. He never doubts his decisions. This is really something, as I usually worry about things all night long.

Y.N: He's really scary looking (laughs). When I say this to him, he asks "Am I?" But seriously, he is (laughs).

N.D: What do videogames mean to you?

T.N: Something that helps people have a good time during their lives. Movies and amusement parks are the same, and they always involve memories. I'll be happy if people have memories that include games that I have made. When I was a student, I remember my girlfriend asking me what I wanted, and I said, a Famicom (laughs). I remember my girlfriend getting really angry with me because all I would do was play games. The background music to this memory is the Super Mario theme tune.

Y.N: It's something that's fun. It's something that's worth devoting your life to. Making games may seem incredibly fun from the outside, but that's all there is, making games. And we work very hard, sometimes too much. We should plan our working time better, as people practically living in the office isn't healthy.

N.D: What does Sega mean to you?

T.N: I appreciate it the most, because they opened the door to the games industry for me. I have no intention of quitting, unless it disappears.

Y.N: It's something that I love. We take care of this company, but there's something about Sega that deserves our care. Sega has done many things that I haven't understood, but I love it anyway.

N.D: What does Nintendo mean to you?

T.N: This is a company I wish were in Tokyo (laughs).

Y.N: I think it's an amazing company that's always been run like a toy manufacturer. It's also a very mysterious company. I've come to know people at Nintendo recently, and they're all just nice, regular people. Before that I had no idea as to what sort of people they were. There are still many things I wonder about. It might just be that Mr. Yamauchi is someone who is mysterious.

N.D: Which game creator do you most admire?

T.N: Shigeru Miyamoto.

Y.N: Miyamoto-san, of course, because he's sold over a hundred million games. Isn't that amazing? I don't think anyone will better that.

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