Iwata Asks Volume 4: on Wii Fit planning and development

How does Nintendo manage to create innovative products such as the Wii Fit and Wii Balance Board? In the latest volume of Iwata Asks, Nintendo head honcho Satoru Iwata sat down with key members from Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD) division to discuss about the long process that eventually lead to the first fun weight balance gadget. Check out the full article for more details.

The latest entry in Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata‘s series of interviews is now up on the company’s official website, where you’ll learn more about the hard work that went into developing the health conscious’ best friend – Wii Fit. Key members from Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD) arm who worked on software that accompanied the Wii Balance Board shared their experiences with creating a very innovative product.

Interesting enough, coming from Nintendo EAD, a good number of staff members including Yoshiyuki Oyama, Yohei Miyagawa, and Toru Minegishi were mostly involved in the more core gamer-oriented Zelda series before getting their hands on the family friendly Wii Fit. The division which took up the Wii Fit also employed the expertise of female software developers Arisa Hosaka and Mari Shibata to get a fair sense of their perspective.

The road leading to Wii Fit‘s release, from what we can tell, was definitely difficult. Fortunately, veteran game designer Shigeru Miyamoto kept things in check. While reminiscing the early days of developing Wii Fit, Hosaka told Iwata, “I suffered the wrath of Miyamoto-san because we werenÂ’t coming up with enough ideas.”

Hosaka added, “We all started panicking and just throwing around ideas, hoping that something would stick.” Iwata was able to confirm her confessions, saying, “Miyamoto-san is really merciless when it comes to planning!” followed by a burst of laughter.

Mario’s genius father was able to contribute a lot into Wii Fit‘s development, such as sending hints through e-mail that say, “I didnÂ’t realize the Wii Board was so light!” which is probably one of those cryptic messages Nintendo’s Yoshiaki Koizumi talked about. Miyamoto also suggested that there should be a chubby middle-aged man instructor in Wii Fit.

Learn more by clicking on the via link below, which will lead you to Nintendo’s Iwata Asks pages.