Can you tell us how you both were involved with the Nintendo Switch, and how the development started?
Takahashi: When development for the Switch began, it didn’t even have the codename “NX.” But at that time, there were discussions taking place between the late president Iwata (Satoru Iwata, former president of Nintendo), Takeda (Genyo Takeda, Nintendo’s “Technology Fellow”), Miyamoto (Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s “Creative Fellow”), and myself. The four of us began by looking at the entirety of our new hardware plans. When the discussion turned towards who should be at the center of the project, we decided to call in Koizumi.
Around what time were these discussions taking place?
Takahashi: That was about 3 years ago. You tend to discuss what sort of hardware you want to create whenever you’re on the verge of moving into something new, but Nintendo is always coming up with new ideas, so we had numerous materials and concepts already prepared. We decided the direction we wanted to go with these materials and the person we wanted to lead everything around the same time.
And that’s when Mr. Koizumi joined.
Koizumi: I was on the Tokyo production team at the time, but one day they suddenly told me I was to come to Kyoto. There, the late president Iwata told me to “create a tag team with Kawamoto” (Kouichi Kawamoto, the Nintendo Switch’s general director). I still clearly remember what he said back then, “I’ve chosen the most un-Nintendo-like people”. (laughs)
There's a lot more behind the link. The interview is very in-depth. ---