Interviews// Tekken: Katsuhiro Harada

SPOnG: What are the chances of seeing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on a home console?

Katsuhiro Harada: 100 per cent. It’s just a matter of timing. The arcade version is at 80 per cent development at the moment, so that has to come first.


SPOnG: How has your experience been in developing Tekken for the 3DS? Did you have any issues specifically with framerate in regards to switching on the 3D mode?

Katsuhiro Harada: Oh! That’s a good question, because you might know that a lot of other games, when they make the leap to 3D, have to drop the framerate. So Tekken’s always been at 60 frames per second, and that’s something we wanted to keep. That’s one of the things that stand out with the 3DS version that perhaps a lot of other games currently don’t do. You will get 60 frames per second with or without the 3D effect.


SPOnG: Was it a challenge to be able to pull that off?

Katsuhiro Harada: Yes, it was very difficult! The build that I have here (presents 3DS with interactive rolling demo) is just a tech demo, it’s not a playable game yet. But you can see the character models have a lot of detail and the whole thing still runs at 60 frames with the 3D slider up. But a lot of games, even if they’re not 3D, are still only running at 30 frames. It’s actually easier to count the games on the market that are in 60, like fighting games and Forza for example. But most are actually down to 30. That alone is something that people should take note of.


SPOnG: You’ve been working with Wii U hardware before it was officially unveiled at E3. Can you share any details as to how powerful it is or what it’s like to develop for?

Katsuhiro Harada: Although I did see the hardware before you guys, the name Wii U was just as surprising to us - it was the first time we had heard it too (laughs)! Nintendo has been referring to it as the ‘Wii Successor.’

As far as the power and specs of the machine is concerned, it’s hard to say because it appears as Nintendo is going to increase the specs of the console over time - more than what we’ve been initially told. Also, it doesn’t seem like Nintendo is really trying to compete with other companies on a power level, they always try to come up with ideas and concepts that make them unique. So maybe it’s not so important to think too much about the power.


SPOnG: You mentioned earlier that the Wii U allows for some unique game ideas. Do you think you would create a port of an existing Tekken game and add improved Wii U features, or would you consider making an entirely new title specially for the console?

Katsuhiro Harada: We’re not sure yet. We’re still evaluating the hardware and we’re currently just seeing what we can do with the basic elements that we need to make Tekken. We’re not that far yet.


SPOnG: Talking about Street Fighter X Tekken, was it difficult to merge the two games to work together?

Katsuhiro Harada: I didn’t really want to be a part of slowing down the creative process at Capcom when it came to Street Fighter X Tekken. I wanted to give Ono-san and his team a lot of creative freedom in order for them to give 120 per cent of what they are capable of. Although we gave them all the information necessary to understand the Tekken series and the characters involved, I left it up to them to decide what ideas to implement there. The opposite is also true for Tekken X Street Fighter. We’ll have complete freedom when we create the title.


SPOnG: Ono-san smashed up your offices. Are you going to get him back?

Katsuhiro Harada: (Laughs) Well, I can’t really say this out loud, but I guess as it’s a special kind of day I’ll tell you. I’ve actually started my first phase of getting back at Ono-san, and it involved cheating with Ono-san’s wife (laughs)!


SPOnG: Thank you for your time.

Katsuhiro Harada: Thank you!