#...about the interview immediately

[desultory-novice]

Nintendo Dream May 2023

Return to Dream Land DX Interview w/ the Staff

[Note: This was 8 pages long. I bought it the moment I could and wrote down/quickly summarized everything I could find that was of interest while reading through it. I didn’t even edit it or spellcheck it ^^ It’s not a full translation, there could be some bits I misinterpreted, and there’s some technical stuff about the development and staff that I left untouched, but this should be all the good stuff!]

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They spent a long time debating whether the game (in Japanese) should still be called "Kirby Wii" but decided that since it WAS "Kirby Wii" it should keep the name.

They originally thought of giving RtDL a title like the novel version had.

Giving the characters the outlines took a hefty amount of processing power.

Even among the staff, RtDL is considered the origin point of modern Kirby.

Kumazaki's keyword to the staff was "nostalgia filter" - to not just remake the game as is, but to add enough features that it was even better than how people remembered the original.

They didn't force themselves to release all three games (Forgotten Land, Dream Buffet, DX) for the 30th anniversary, but they considered being able to do so ideal. As such, they began working on it while FL was still in development.

As to the borders, they knew it was difficult to introduce a new visual element to a series midway through, but they regretted how easy it was to loose sight of the characters in Star Allies, which is why they added them in. That and the fact that it make the characters look more like they were artwork, as well as fitting in with RtDL's naturally more fantastic and cartoony look, which also helped visually distinguish it from SA that used a lot of similar looking locales to RtDL

As for Dedede's redesign, they mention that he's partly redesigned to best represent what he's used for in each game. In TDX, he was an enemy and an ally, so he was meant to look cool. In Star Allies, he was friendly and a bit goofy. In FL, he was designed to fit with the look of the Beast Pack. DX's Dedede is meant to kind of mix FL and Star Allies, partly because FL Dedede became so popular and had such recognition. (They also note that, regrettably, RtDL's original Dedede had to have his body made smaller because of bounding box issues.) They weren't able to make him the "large and in charge" powerful type they wanted before now.

All the voices were rerecorded for this game, including the masks.

In regards to the opening animation, they talk about how there was no specific situation in mind, but note that Waddle Dee looks like he was sent flying. The reason is because Waddle Dees were still considered generic enemies at that point, and so it made sense that something had sent this random Waddle Dee flying off, which is why it happened. (They also note that because of the timing, it looks like Meta Knight was the one responsible, but it's just a random enemy thing.)

"Helper Magolor" started out from the idea that Watanabe and Tanifuji both had young kids and they wanted a game that their children could play, without sacrificing the depth that veteran gamers enjoy. Kirby is made as an entry game for gamers of all levels, and they feel they opened it up to even more players with this. Really young kids, and people who aren't good at action games but want to enjoy the story. (They were a little surprised at how much the little kids struggled with FL's 3D action elements. While it's natural for us to use inhale and then swallow for a copy ability, little kids and gaming newcomers would forget about that, thus, the auto-copy feature.)

It made sense to make Magolor the helper because he was the key character in the story, and that it would seem he was giving you assistance for you helping him fix his ship.

They debated between some 60 different ideas for new copy abilities before settling on the two that they did. The deciding factor was abilities that seemed like they would belong in Kirby but also be fresh and new.

"Festival" is back not just because it's an anniversary game, but because it fit the feeling of a 4-player adventure. (And also, with Helper Magolor on, it gives a way to increase Magolor's presence in the game.)

They mention that Kumazaki rewrote all the ability descriptions and added all the pause screen lore. That they did like the figure-based methods of lore in FL but wanted to stick with the classic style for RtDL DX. (Also, Watanabe mentions that Kumazaki is a very fast writer. What Watanabe would've taken a day, Kumazaki finished in only an hour. Maybe even faster than than that, Watanabe adds!)

Originally, they only planned for about 40 dress-up masks. Then Kumazaki decided to ask for 86, mostly to please the fans. They choose things that would be easiest, such as characters who already had a 3D model, characters that would make fans the happiest to see, or characters who were simple to make. They chose masks instead of just making them playable because they didn't want to disrupt the setting of RtDL. (And also, because souvenirs like that are a staple of theme parks.)

One question is "Why did Magolor build Magoland in Dream Land?" (For those wondering if it was really in Dream Land or not. Kumazaki answers that you  have to understand Magolor's character. He's someone that loves making things and also loves surprising people. When the idea of turning the sub-games to attractions came up, and which Kirby universe character would be responsible, it just had to be Magolor who made them. Magolor has become a character that's really easy to involve in the series. "If something is making something particularly entertaining in the Kirby series, it's Magolor's turn," says Kumazaki. "Magolor has both magic and technological abilities, which he uses to make things with."

As for the "when" and "where" of Magoland, Kumazaki notes you can kind of get the real picture if you play the game till the very end, but if you're not too concerned with the details, it's okay to just think "So, he made an amusement park at some point!" That said, he implies it supposed to be a bit of a mystery/a bit up in the air. Did he want to make something Kirby and the others would enjoy after all his experiences with them? It's up to the player's interpretation.

The possibility of putting Magolor on the original box art existed, but since he was "just a one game character in a series of games" they left him off to focus on the four person appeal of the original game. But Magolor appeared in more and more things and became popular enough that he finally earned his place on the box art.

Kumazaki mentions that every character starts out as an unknown. Even mega popular characters like Meta Knight were once just a lone boss in a "new" game. His becoming a major player thanks to "Revenge of Meta Knight" and being a character who fulfills an important role helped him to become more recognizable. Magolor has stopped being one of these "newcomer" characters and evolved into his own fully-fledged character with this game.

Kumazaki confirms that in general there's not a straight, forward-flowing timeline in Kirby as much as there is a series of loose connections. And that in-between events, the characters are generally imagined to be living peaceful, ordinary lives - just like in the opening movie. "There, Kirby has a cake and is being chased by Dedede. There were all sorts of fights before then. And maybe King Dedede was causing trouble again and Kirby had to stop him and that led to them running off with the cake...The details are left up to the imagination."

The interviewer mentions that competing over cake makes it seem like it's continuing off of Squeak Squad. Kumazaki notes that though Kirby and Dedede fight with each other, generally speaking, they get along well. As far as the relationships with the characters and how they interact, Kumazaki says, "there are times where, if the Halberd becomes necessary for a game, it's more natural to just make it the Halberd than to have a brand new unknown battleship appear out of nowhere."

"We don't have a story/timeline" he quotes himself, while noting that the truths that have spread among the players as well as the relationships between the characters and their quirks have to be preserved to a certain degree or it's like you're meeting a new cast each time. So they DO keep certain truths and relationships in mind as they make the series. Sometimes this means putting the role of the "bad guy" on King Dedede, but that doesn't change the fact that he and Kirby are "rivals." (But that he will occasionally be unfair too...) That's a fairly recent, "unchanging fact" of the Kirby world. They mention that even Bandanna Waddle Dee goes from being Dedede's vassal to a friend of the group. though recently he's been recognized more and more as "one of the group."

Meta Knight is the same as Dedede. He's someone who will fight Kirby if circumstances call for it. Like how here, in the opening, he's calmly reading a book in between his sword-training, but he pauses to see if Dedede is causing trouble, or if something threatens the peace of Dream Land.

Kumazaki says, noting the inclusion of Magolor's theme park in this game technically makes RtDL DX an alternate universe to the original RtDL. But the information you learn after 100%ing the game challenges the idea of a single flow of time. With the existence of "Another Dimension" that can cross over both space and time, players are free to see that the passage of time does not lead to one single result. That should also help explain why Kirby and the others are able to warp between Magoland, which exists in its own faraway universe, to the main game.

He adds that this is mostly for people who are concerned about the fact that main mode Magolor is depressed about his ship but Magoland Magolor is happily running his theme park.

There's also a note at the end that Landia was named "Landia" instead of something like "Dark Dragon" to make it seem more natural that they could become an ally. They were also designed to look like they could be friendly. (There's also a comment - not from the dev staff - in the "Games Magolor has been in" page that "Magolor uses the same sword as Kirby! Proof that they're friends?!)

Finally....

THE INTERVIEW WILL CONTINUE NEXT MONTH! (Where they'll discuss more about Merry Magoland and the Magolor Epilogue!! Also, Kumazaki will be looking back over the 30 years of Kirby!)

[recny]

what's the musical inspiration for the vampire lestat?

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

forever obsessed with dynamics between vampires, specifically that of a maker and fledgling, as a way to explore abuse. the creation of a vampire itself can so easily be a literalization of the lasting impacts of trauma and also much more simply the ways a perpetrator might shape their victim’s very identity. the extremes of isolation in the way that the new vampire, in most narratives, must cut all ties to their mortal life, or else go through an elaborate charade to maintain the facade of humanity, while forever still being removed from it. and the sheer dependence and vulnerability of being in an entirely new state of being, wholly uncertain of what it entails, and relying on another person to define… everything.

[laniidae-passerine]

don’t get how you can watch iwtv and be a sincere diehard lestat hater. like the world’s biggest lestat hater is louis and that man can’t even commit to it for more than five minutes before literally hallucinating lestat wearing a wedding ring and talking pretty to him. this show is about louis and every road leads back to lestat for that man

[loumandforyou]

[slutforpringles]

"Just cos Max is a little bit of a friend to Lando, you can't expect Max just to give him a victory."

vs

"Max said tomorrow he's not going to fight too hard. He said, if you get the start, I'll just defend the rest for you."

[howlerbat]

he can, in fact

[yuwuta]

JJK OLYMPICS OHHH YOURE A GENIUS

head spinning w sooooooo many athlete aus rn….. 

satoru honestly isn’t half as cocky as the media makes him out to be but he could be because you bring up world champion men’s freestyle swim times and it’s his name on the scoreboard ten times before someone else shows up. he’s faster than himself by fifteen seconds all around, he’s earned a bit of cockiness. mentioned in the last post that whenever he’s at a competition and he finishes a race, he looks at the camera and signs a little infinity sign and then blows a kiss to you. some bitter old coach always calls him out on it, and gets him fined for unsportsmanlike conduct, and he’s happy to pay the fees if it means getting a message home to you, but eventually you two come up with a new code; and at his next race, he places gold, turns to the camera, crosses his middle finger over his pointer finger and smiles. when he’s in his post-race interview, he makes sure to explain that he does it for you with the widest smile on his face.

megumi nepotism baby but not in the same sport. toji was a multi gold medalist back in his heyday for shooting, so it’s not really a surprise to anybody that megumi has scary good aim, but he takes to archery instead of shooting. actually the idea of megumi being an emo little kid and throwing rocks at a tree when his dad pissed him off his hilarious, and even funnier is toji watching him, slightly amused and a little scared because megumi is maybe six and hitting the exact same spot every single time. he grows to be very blase about it—it’s more of a release/hobby for him that he happens to be really good at, and well, now good enough to earn a few olympic medals. megumi is not a fan of having his dad ruffle his hair on international television after he’s won, but he supposes it can’t be helped.

i don’t know where to put yuuta…. tennis…. tempting….. him in his little white shorts…. little grunts after he serves…. cries….. a complete 180 in his personality when he’s playing vs doing anything else. so charming and sweet and kinda shy when he’s being interviewed, and the second he steps on the court his eyes are so cold it’s scary…. need him… extremely nerdy about his rackets, and shoes, and clothes, and rambles to you about aerodynamics and posture and torque whenever you ask him to teach you, and you always have to shutup him up with a kiss and remind him that yeah you sort of want to learn to play tennis for him, but mostly you came bc he looks hot doing it. once he got asked in an interview if he ever thinks about you while he’s playing and his response was very concise, “no, never. it would be a big distraction,” and did not realize the implications of his heavily televised words. 

also…. not to make this post 40% yuuta but we could pull from canon a bit and make his sport fencing. he doesn’t excel because he’s the strongest, it’s because he’s learned to treat the sword as an extension of himself and a good strategist… also because i like the image of him pulling the helmet/mask off and shaking his hair out………..

don’t even know where to put yuuji…. volleyball? basketball? track and field??? the irony of him easily being the most athletic but canonically does not want to play sports 😭 but i can see him playing a sport because someone scouts him and it turns out to be a way to make steady money to support himself and his grandpa :( by the time he’s qualified and made it to the olympics, wasuke is doing much better (thanks to yuuji having landed some preemptive sponsorships and being able to afford better medical care), but not so well enough that he can travel across the world to watch yuuji play. wasuke tells you that you should travel and be with yuuji, but yuuji is so touched by the idea that you would stay with his grandpa and be by his side when he’s away :(( he wins gold, of course, and he doesn’t even wait until the closing ceremony—which, he’d mentioned in all of his interviews, so nobody can be too upset. he’s on record saying, “i’m excited to play, but i’m even happier to be going home. my girlfriend and my grandpa are watching me and i miss them!” several times— he’s on the first flight home with flowers, and tears in his eyes. puts his gold medal on his grandpa’s neck as a thank you, and spends probably thirty minutes straight hugging you and kissing you and honestly don’t put it past him to propose now that he’s got nike ambassador money 

nanami started judo as a way to relieve the stress of his overbearing job, and someone at the gym/training center notices he seems to be a natural despite being a beginner. he starts to draw a crowd, which annoys him at first because the point of judo was discipline and release from having to deal with too many people at his office job, but nanami supposes he can’t be too mad when you introduce yourself as a talent scout and offer him professional training. there’s irony in him accepting your offer, because it was definitely not based in professionalism at all… quitting his job as a salaryman to become a professional athlete in his mid-twenties was not on his bingo chart, but if it means he will have met you, then so be it. you’re with him all the way, through his training, competitions, world championships, qualifiers, all the way until he’s on the podium. you’re the first to congratulate him, but he interjects by telling you he’s quitting. you ask him why—he just won at the olympics for crying out loud, but nanami just shakes his head, puts down his flowers and his medal so his hands are free to hold your face and tell you, “it would be unethical to kiss my manager, so i am quitting.” (later, when everything is said and done, and you two are cuddling, you mention to him that he could just hire a new manager, and not quit his new career, to which he blushes because yeah… that’s probably more rational, but rational was not in his train of thought at the time)

[ironinkpen]

hands down one of the best pieces of subtle world building this season is the name High Five Heroes and the way it doesn't mean anything. the Bad Kids and the Maidens' names actually say something about their respective groups and what they've done/been through. meanwhile High Five Heroes is clearly a name that was handpicked by Kipperlilly long before she stepped foot in aguefort on the first day or actually met any of her party members. it's a pre-approved inside joke specifically designed in a lab to be as bland and palatable and inoffensive as possible—a middle manager's attempt at manufacturing camaraderie. the most generic, perfectly marketable name she could come up with for her Perfect, Optimal Adventuring Party.

[faunandfloraas]

Thanks, Chris!

[cozylittleartblog]

i dont know how i didn't think to make a sticker out of her until somebody outright asked for it a couple weeks back, but here you go, queen sticker. (stickers ship free in the US! 💙)

[asthedeathoflight]

So I actually thought that Assad talks about how to pronounce his name in this interview so I went back and rewatched the whole thing and he does not BUT everyone please go watch this interview anyways. Assad the number one Armand Understander as always. This was a beautiful moment in time right after episode 5 dropped when he was free from the AMC snipers so he just talks about his Armand Opinions and I’m obsessed.

Highlights include:

- he auditioned for Rashid and only finding out later he was going to play Armand

- the 2x05 fight was partially improv???????????

- what the Maitre/Arun dynamic means to Armand

- Armand’s monologue about his past was one of the last scenes Assad filmed so he felt like he’d had the time to really live in the character and make that monologue feel truthful

[judasisgayriot]

the one or two people one person

[ivyithink]

His dark child, his love, evil of his evil. The one who broke his heart.

[platoapproved]

Okay I knowwwwwwww I keep posting about the Nicki & Lestat breakup in TVL but hear me out:

[jakeperalta]

thinking about the pwmov movie.... thinking about how tom blyth said when harry met sally is his ultimate favourite in his letterboxd top four interview and I have Been saying that pwmov is the literary spiritual successor of whms..... oh it is all coming together