Given the clamour of excitement surrounding the release of F-Zero GX for GameCube, Polygon caries a transcript from Sega’s Amusement Vision boss Toshihiro Nagoshi as he headed an open question and answer session with fans of the series in Tokyo this week.
Speaking of his roots in the gaming world, and again underlining what a massive videogame fan he is, the cryptic one said, “I had played some games when I was young, but I really didn’t become interested until I was in college. Then I became obsessed with Sega games such as AfterBurner and OutRun – mostly games dealing with vehicles. Nintendo’s Famicom console was very popular at the time and I very much enjoyed that as well.”
Talking about how the deal, that amazed the industry at the time, was struck, Nagoshi said, “At the time Sega had just shifted its focus to multi-platform software development and began to support GameCube. We began working with Namco and Nintendo on arcade hardware based on their console dubbed TriForce. From that point forward we began to exchange ideas regarding cooperative software development projects.” He continues, “I was interested in several of Nintendo’s franchises, but they approached me and thought it would be best if I handled F-Zero. Once that was decided, I thought an arcade and home version should be developed.”
And on working with Nintendo: “I really appreciated the opportunity to work on the series. I respect the opinions of Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto and I often sought his advice on the project and leadership. Sega's approach to software development is much different from that of Nintendo, it was a very refreshing experience. For example, I thought aspects of the game engine itself were most important. Nintendo was interested in designing the vehicles themselves and then deciding on track design and other things. In the end, both approaches to development were incorporated.”
We westerrners will be able to get our mitts on the GameCube version of F-Zero in October of this year. Oh yeah!
Speaking of his roots in the gaming world, and again underlining what a massive videogame fan he is, the cryptic one said, “I had played some games when I was young, but I really didn’t become interested until I was in college. Then I became obsessed with Sega games such as AfterBurner and OutRun – mostly games dealing with vehicles. Nintendo’s Famicom console was very popular at the time and I very much enjoyed that as well.”
Talking about how the deal, that amazed the industry at the time, was struck, Nagoshi said, “At the time Sega had just shifted its focus to multi-platform software development and began to support GameCube. We began working with Namco and Nintendo on arcade hardware based on their console dubbed TriForce. From that point forward we began to exchange ideas regarding cooperative software development projects.” He continues, “I was interested in several of Nintendo’s franchises, but they approached me and thought it would be best if I handled F-Zero. Once that was decided, I thought an arcade and home version should be developed.”
And on working with Nintendo: “I really appreciated the opportunity to work on the series. I respect the opinions of Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto and I often sought his advice on the project and leadership. Sega's approach to software development is much different from that of Nintendo, it was a very refreshing experience. For example, I thought aspects of the game engine itself were most important. Nintendo was interested in designing the vehicles themselves and then deciding on track design and other things. In the end, both approaches to development were incorporated.”
We westerrners will be able to get our mitts on the GameCube version of F-Zero in October of this year. Oh yeah!
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