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[L~A]

So, Nintendo finally put online the English version of the Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney Iwata Asks. Here's a link (to the first page, this time )

There's also a puzzle to solve on the official website!

Takumi: That’s right! (laughs) After the second Dino Crisis title was released in 2000, Capcom set up an internal project in which they gave you a year to work on whatever you liked. It was aimed at developing the skills of younger staff members. “This is my chance!” I thought, and I started to think about the basic principles of my plan for Ace Attorney, something I’d just had on the back burner until then.

Iwata: Was that initial plan similar to the game we have today?

Takumi:Well, I’d started by thinking about an idea for the game system before anything else, but I think the basic plan was pretty viable. Specifically, since the style of previous detective games had been one in which the player selected an option in order to act – A, B or C – I wanted to create a new kind of interface for the procedure of making deductions and solving mysteries.

Iwata: How did you go about creating the story for this collaboration?

Takumi: For the first six months or so, I would visit LEVEL-5’s Tokyo office to have face-to-face meetings with Hino-san and other members of the team, and we’d all just present various ideas to each other. There, we were shaping up the idea of witch trials, and someone from LEVEL-5 suggested a story about a supervillain who writes stories that come true. We basically then fused each other’s ideas together.

Iwata: Did this process of “presenting ideas” that you mention ever become competitive? Like a battle of wills, rather than a discussion?

Takumi: No...I never personally thought it was competitive. It was a little different to what I was used to, though. Usually I completely devote myself to a story, and get really deeply involved with it within myself. I’ve also got complete control over it. This time, other people contributed various elements. That was the biggest difference I think. Having other people write things that I would never have dreamed of and contribute all sorts of ideas was a really interesting experience.

Iwata: In terms of the make-up of the team who produced this title, how were various duties shared among staff members from LEVEL-5 and Capcom?

Hino: Broadly speaking, LEVEL-5 was responsible for the programming, while Capcom were in charge of art direction. Both companies were responsible for parts of the story and the music.

Iwata: Oh my! The usual arrangement is that one party takes the overall lead. I find it interesting that you worked on the story and music together.

Takumi: The music for the Professor Layton part and the Ace Attorney part were created separately, but there were crossovers too, as both teams used what they could from each other’s compositions.

Hino: Another issue we had to deal with was the fact that the programmers were working in LEVEL-5’s head office in Fukuoka, so we had a number of meetings between Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. There were quite a few clashes, weren’t there, Takumi-san?

Takumi: Yes, there were.

Iwata: What kinds of things did you clash most fiercely about? Were there matters on which both parties would refuse to budge?

Hino: As you might imagine, we both felt strongly about the characters. There was quite a conflict about Layton’s graphics, for example.

Iwata: When I was shown some images from the game, I did think they looked more familiar than I expected. I don’t suppose it was just a case of taking the characters from both series and lining them up next to each other, though. There must have been an awful lot of hard and painful work involved in getting things looking as they do now?

Takumi: There were certainly some pretty painful moments! (laughs) Characters’ heads and bodies would be made bigger, then smaller again...

Iwata: It sounds like there were a lot of adjustments.

Hino: If I may say so, I think Professor Layton was adjusted to match Ace Attorney’s style! (laughs)

All: (laugh)

 

[cw_sasuke]

Can't wait for it, it's been a long wait for this one.

Btw.

I would love to have a dedicated Iwata Asks iOS/Android App compendium. Do it Nintendo or include in your upcoming Nintendo App.

 

[Aostia]

Day one for me, now I'll read the Ask with pleasure

 

[L~A]

Come to think of it, we didn't get an Iwata Asks for Ace Attorney 5, did we?

Edit : there's a puzzle to solve on the official website