Yuji Naka is a legend in gaming circles, having played a large part in the creation of SEGAs lead mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as working on the likes of Outrun, Burning Rangers and NiGHTS, amongst many other games. After leaving SEGA, though, he founded his own company, Prope, and the small outfit has so far released the enjoyable Lets Tap for Wii, as well as Lets Catch. Now, after success on the Windows Mobile format, Naka-sans Prope has converted its small project Ivy the Kiwi? to Nintendos Wii and DS platforms, and Rising Star Games has all versions down for a European release on 29th October. The man himself was in attendance at this years Eurogamer Expo and Cubed3 was lucky enough to get the chance for a quick sit down with him before he flew back to Japan. Read on for the transcript of the outcome
Mike Mason, Cubed3s Reviews Editor: Whats the feedback been like for Ivy the Kiwi? so far?
Yuji Naka, CEO of Prope: Its been getting very good, positive reviews by users, especially from those older-school, 2D, side-scrolling gaming fans. So Ivy the Kiwi? has had a very good start in Japan, and its getting quite positive reviews so far.
Adam Riley, Cubed3s Senior Editor: How do you feel about the results so far from the Japanese sales, and the US sales? Have they been impressive, and do you expect a better reception in Europe?
Naka-san: Its actually lower than I expected, very [much] the same for the North American market. I hope its going to be accepted and do well over here in the UK.
AR: Why do you think it wasnt accepted as well as you imagined?
Naka-san: [Long answer in Japanese]
Translator: Sorry, thats a no comment.
AR: Okay, sorry. I was wondering if maybe you thought that in the Wii market and the DS market now its very difficult to sell new ideas; everyones always looking for a well-known franchise. I wonder if that was perhaps something youd considered as a reason?
Naka-san: It is getting difficult to be successful in the DS and Wii markets, but at the same time you could say the same thing for other platforms, so its really hard to tell.
MM: Why did you choose to develop download versions [of Ivy the Kiwi?] as well? Was there not concern that they will eat into the sales of the retail versions?
Naka-san: Prope will be emphasising the packaged game. The downloadable game is something we have to do, but our emphasis is more on the packaged title.
MM: Is it true that the idea [for Ivy the Kiwi?] came up through a young programmer experimenting?
Naka-san: The idea originally came from quite a young team at Prope, who came up with this original idea of Ivy the Kiwi?. But I somehow saw strong potential in it, in its very early stage, so I decided to expand it. In that sense, it was quite accidental. I wasnt planning that from the beginning.
AR: How much actual hands-on involvement did you have with the game itself?
Naka-san: Since I moved to Prope – and this is something I could not do back in SEGA – Ive been getting involved in every process of game-making. This was the same with Lets Tap, the first game from Prope. Im very much involved in every process of game-making.
AR: I know in the talk [N.B.: The Eurogamer developer session that took place on Saturday, 2nd October, 2010] you mentioned that you dont want to do sequels – like Ivy the Kiwi? 2, for instance – but would you consider using the character Ivy in another game, a new type of game? Keeping the same character but changing it into a new idea?
Naka-san: That really depends on the sales, the sales performance of Ivy the Kiwi? over here [ in Europe ]. If the game proves to be successful over here, and if I see many demands, of course I want to convert the character to other games.
AR: Because its a very cute character, it could work as a very good mascot for the company.
Naka-san: I personally prefer to try something new, instead of making the second, or third, version, and trying different things with the character. I want to concentrate on making completely new games.
AR: We mentioned that it was a young developer who came up with the idea initially. Do you actively encourage the younger developers in your team to create new ideas and pitch them to you?
Naka-san: Yes, very much. I want to encourage the young game creators in Japan to work harder. That was one of the reasons I left SEGA; I had to show that skill to the young game developers.
MM: Do Prope own the rights to Lets Tap, and the Lets… series? The licensing rights.
Naka-san: Its co-owned by SEGA and Prope combined.
MM: Would you ever consider collaborating with SEGA to create more small, experimental games with the Lets… banner?
Naka-san: I still keep a very good relationship with SEGA, so if theres an interesting project coming up in the future, Id really want to do that.
MM: What was behind the decision to put multiple games into Lets Tap, on one disc? Was there ever any game that was the main game, and the rest just got added onto it?
Naka-san: The game was always targeted towards the family sectors, so thats why. With Lets Tap, we wanted to target more than one player.
AR: The Lets Tap games unfortunately didnt sell as well as expected. Would you ever consider breaking down the separate games in Lets Tap as download releases, to recoup sales?
Naka-san: I tried that with iPhone, with parts of games that you can download [N.B: known as the iPrope series], but they didnt work out, so thats not my plan any more.
MM & AR: Thanks for your time!
