This is an interview with the interactive music DS game Electroplankton creator Toshio Iwai. Cubed3 got him talking about his past with Nintendo and his latest invention.
Cubed3: Please could you tell our readers a little bit about your background and how you became involved in the gaming Industry?
Toshio Iwai, Creator of Electroplankton: The first game I created was OTOCKY, for NES, released in 1987. I myself have acted as a media artist for a long time, and always wanted to create creative software played on the game platforms other than game software. This concept has not changed since OTOCKY right through to Electroplankton.
C3: Where did the idea for Electroplankton come from? Was it Nintendo that approached you or did the idea stem solely from you?
TI: I was originally creating art works that can create music and video pictures interactively, which became the basic idea of Electroplankton. It started when Mr. Iwata, the president of Nintendo, and Mr. Miyamoto, invited me to create some software for DS. However, the idea was what I came up with myself.
C3: Electroplankton unfortunately did not receive the high sales it deserved in Japan, but was met with much more popularity via its online-only sales outlets in the USA (where it garnered 12,000 sales as of July 2006). Considering the amount of positive feedback received across Europe, especially from top DJs using it, do you believe your game to be more suited to this Western audience?
TI: There have been cases where my personal art works were appreciated more in Europe than Japan, so I hope Electroplankton will be received well.
C3: Having played the game extensively and listened to the feedback of other gamers, it seems to be the general consensus that the lack of a save function is very restrictive. Was there any particular reason why this was left out?
TI: We have discussed a save function many times, and finally concluded not to included it. There are following 2 reasons:
* The first reason is that I wanted players to enjoy Electroplankton extemporarily and viscerally, and I thought if the save function was added, the software would become more like a tool. I did not want a play style where players have to open additional menus or windows, or have to input file names to save.
* The second reason is that it would require large volume of flush ROM and it would take a lot of time to save and read the data in order to save many voice files for Volvoice and Rec-Rec. I thought players could play the software without stress if I got rid of the save function, rather than incorporating the save function and letting players wait for a long time before it’s saved or being told that only little amount can be saved.
C3: Would you consider doing another Electroplankton title in the future? Possibly expanding on the idea for a system such as the Nintendo Wii, with its unique features being used (such as the WiConnect24 for downloading new pieces of music or instruments and the control system being utilised for music creation)?
TI: If I have a chance sometime I want to create the sequel or something totally different with the same concept. Yet, I have not come up with a concrete idea.
C3: You have previously worked on Nintendo systems dating as far back as the NES with Otocky, however the very intriguing Sound Fantasy for the SNES was never released. Is there any main reason for this and is it true the game was re-worked and released as SimTunes via Maxis?
TI: I do not know the reason why “Sound Fantasy†was not released, since it was decided by Nintendo at the time. It might be because music or creative software was, unfortunately, not appreciated at that time compared to the situation now.
Sound Fantasy contained 4 types of the software, and SimTunes by Maxis was created by recreating one of the pieces of Sound Fantasy software with added various functions. I only created the one for PC.
C3: Currently you are working on a new venture with the Yamaha Corporation, Tenori-on. Could you please provide us with some information on what exactly this is, and its potential for the future? And can any parallels be drawn between Tenori-on and Electroplankton?
TI: As for me, Tenori-on and Electroplankton are created based on the same concept. Both of them are just like instruments that you can manipulate – video pictures and music, as well as light and sound – by yourself. However, Electroplankton is software operated on Nintendo DS, while Tenori-on is the system, whose hardware itself is created from scratch. I can say that Tenori-on is something more like an original instrument.
After his last answer you might be wondering what the Tenori-on looks/sounds like. Here’s footage of the demo Toshio Iwai gave at ArtFutura05.
It’d be hard to overlook the similarities with the Electroplankton software he made for the DS. To close off with, here’s a trailer of the music game.