Takashi Iizuka interview by Video Games Daily (October 6th, 2010)

This is an interview with Takashi Iizuka conducted by Rupert Higham for Video Games Daily (formerly known as Kikizo), and is mostly focused on the then upcoming Sonic Colors.

The Interview

We have been here many times before. There’s a new Sonic game speeding towards us across the sky-blue horizon and fans, like abused spouses, cling to promises that “this time things will be different.” Long-time Sonic stalwart, Takashi Iizuka, holds the reins at Sonic Team in Japan and is charged with all of the spiny blue mammal’s current adventures. Having spent the day being consistently surprised at just how much fun we were having with the blue fellow (predictably with the reliably 2D Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and more remarkably with Sonic Colours), we sat down with Iizuka-san to discuss his tenure at Sonic Team and why this time things really will be different.

VideoGamesDaily: You have worked on the Sonic series for many years now. How do you feel about the way the series has evolved?

Takashi Iizuka: Sonic actually has nineteen years of history for me and there are so many titles in the past. In terms of 2D Sonic it kind of started with the release of the 1994 game (Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles) and obviously 3D has been running since Sonic Adventure. I perceive this history by providing two different titles this year. While Sonic 4 is revisiting what classic Sonic has been and always should be – creating the best classic 2D Sonic possible – Sonic Colours is looking at the well received parts of 3D Sonic and also adding something extra, new surprises to it, so that’s the reason behind the two new Sonic titles, it’s a way of me revisiting those different Sonic franchises and living up to the strengths of two different kinds of games.

VideoGamesDaily: Sonic Colours appears to have combined many aspects of the previous 3D games with the classic 2D design of 16-bit Sonic. Which games have influenced Colours the most?

Takashi Iizuka: The direct comparison would probably be Sonic Unleashed‘s day time stages. In Sonic Unleashed we offered day time stages which is more like the pure Sonic side where as the night time stages we offered the werehog. In that title the day time stages were very well received and so that basic gameplay has been taken from Sonic Unleashed’s day time stages.

VideoGamesDaily: The Wii version of Sonic Colours is being developed by Sonic Team while the DS version is being handled by Dimps. How have you coordinated the two games?

Takashi Iizuka: The way I coordinated it is firstly, that the Wii version and the DS version are two completely different games though they will both be Sonic Colours. The Wii version is a 3D Sonic game and the DS version is a 2D side-scrolling Sonic game. They both have their strengths. I didn’t want to make a compromise between the two platforms but to live up to each of their strengths, so for the Wii version it will be the best 3D Sonic possible while for the DS version, Dimps have been very good with Sonic Rush using the dual screens, so we want both teams to concentrate on their own strengths and not focus on similarities but add any colour powers in their own way.

VideoGamesDaily: What kind of links are there between the titles?

Takashi Iizuka: There aren’t any links in terms of save data or anything but they share the basic parts of the same story. The DS version introduces the other characters like Knuckles and Amy as kind of the guest characters. They don’t have any direct influence on the gameplay but they act as the narrative to the background of the story, so if you play the DS version you get a better understanding of the story for Sonic Colours.

VideoGamesDaily: How much does player feedback influence the development of new Sonic games?

Takashi Iizuka: The team always looks at feedback immediately after we release a game and they are always looking to the pros and cons of the feedback and try to address those through the next game developed. They don’t really take it fully because they have their own thoughts but they do look at feedback and try to input as much as possible.

VideoGamesDaily: What are the main things that players have asked for?

Takashi Iizuka: That feedback is actually the story of how Sonic Colours came to be. The players had always wanted a pure Sonic action game. They always wanted to play as Sonic and they always wanted the high-speed action stages. That is how we started the project for Sonic Colours — that was the most important feedback to look into. With Sonic Colours we wanted the stage to start with high-speed Sonic action and end with high-speed Sonic action. We didn’t want to break it up by introducing other characters or other kinds of action so the feedback has really influenced this game.

VideoGamesDaily: Can you talk more about how the multiplayer game works?

Takashi Iizuka: For the DS version because we have two players looking at two different screens it made much more sense to do it in a racing style which is relatively familiar with the Sonic franchise, so that’s the DS multiplayer. For the Wii version because you’re most likely looking at the same screen with another person, it made much more sense to go with the co-op rather than race the other person. On the Wii version you really have to cooperate properly to make progress in the level. What’s unique about the Wii multiplayer is the use of the colour powers. You can use exclusive colour powers in multiplayer, for example if two players use the same colour powers it makes a bigger and better version and you can combine different combinations.

VideoGamesDaily: Can you tell us more about how Sonic Team is structured and how development is handled in the modern Sonic Team. How does it compare to when you first started making Sonic games?

Takashi Iizuka: Previously there were two studios running, one in Japan and one in America. Now that the American studio has been integrated back into the Japanese studio, I am looking after the entire Sonic Team. This means that while previous games may have gone in two different directions, the team now has a clear single goal while developing titles which is a real benefit.

External links

• Archived interview at Kikizo Archives