Nintendo, as a company, is seemingly arrogant in the confidence it has in its products. And why shouldn’t it? As of late, it’s rarely missed. Example: When it announced a scale that could be used as a controller for a fitness game, Wii Fit, some laughed. A year later its a huge hit, and its follow-up, Wii Fit Plus, will likely follow suit.
But when I got the chance to ask Nintendo’s legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto a question at a roundtable discussion in New York City, I had to ask: Was there any one product or game where the response — positive or negative — caught him by surprise?
After some thinking, he said he couldn’t remember a particular instance. He then admitted that he felt “there may still be some possibility with” Wii Music, Nintendo’s peripheral-less music title that was met with a so-so reception.
“I think that the development team members and directors of Wii Music were maybe a little shocked by the reaction,” he said, “and thought that it would get a better response than it did.”
But there’s always hope for future iterations of the title, he continued.
“I think if we were to do anything, it would be a matter of getting back together with them and trying to understand what their expectations were, and where the gap was between their expectations and what the result of the product was.”
But don’t think that means you’ll be seeing Wii Music 2 or Wii Music Plus anytime soon.
“We have talked about it,” he admits, “but it isn’t anything that’s concrete at this point or that we’re working on or can talk about.”
