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Iwata: All right, to start off, please introduce yourselves.
Aonuma: I'm Aonuma, from Entertainment Analysis & Development. I produced this game, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and I also produced the previous game, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.1
Iwamoto: I'm Iwamoto, of the same department. I acted as director for this game, as with the previous game.1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a stylus controlled action-adventure game, and the first Nintendo DS title in the The Legend of Zelda series. It was released in June of 2007.
Iwata: Aonuma-san, you're involved with both the Wii and Nintendo DS editions of The Legend of Zelda. Are there any differences in how you work on the two?
Aonuma: When I work on the Wii edition, I'm right on-site, and I often do my job from a director's perspective. On the Nintendo DS version, I do proper producer's work. ...That said, when I worked on the previous game, The Legend of Zelda:Phantom Hourglass, I was simultaneously making Twilight Princess2, so I couldn't keep a very close eye on things right from the beginning. Then, when The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was finished and I went to the Nintendo DS version's office, the development was already pretty far along. From my point of view, it was at a stage where I could really make myself useful.2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an action-adventure game that was released in December of 2006 as software for both the Wii andGameCube systems.
Iwata: So you're saying that you left the site for a while, and that let you see the Nintendo DS version with a new set of eyes. As a result, you were able to spot the places where you could put in a little more work and really improve things.
Aonuma: That's exactly it. So then - and I did feel bad to do so - I asked that development be extended three more months, and I worked on it during that extra period. Then, the more I worked, the better it got.
Iwata: Yes, I'd heard something about that, too. I heard that the quality of the previous game improved tremendously during the final stages of development.