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This excerpt is from an interview with Yoshio Sakamoto from Simple Series magazine published June 1, 2003. The interview was conducted by Kiyoshi Oune. The translation is still being worked on so has not been properly proofed, but I felt it was a good time to share this story about Balloon Fight's development.

Oune: Balloon Fight was next?

Sakamoto: Yes, it was my second work. That was also Yokoi-san's idea. I had already experienced one project, there didn't seem to be any rules, and since it was a job I thought about, it was easy to make specifications. We went forward with the Famicom and (Arcade) VS System versions at about the same time.

Oune: Oh, the VS System version and home version were separate games?

Sakamoto: When we were developing them, they were still separate. The Famicom version was done by HAL Labs. The art was mostly the same, but with the VS System version, we added a part called "Let's Fight!" that would scroll up and down. Beyond that, I think they were basically the same.

Oune: Speaking of Balloon Fight, Iwata-san is the current president of HAL labs, but did you work together with him at the development studio?

Sakamoto: The Famicom version of Balloon Fight was a game that Iwata programmed by himself. As most people know, he was an excellent programmer. Back then, since the programming environment was very poor, you couldn't read the program source code on a PC like today. He ran around holding a printout that looked like a telephone book. If he said, "Fix this," the programmers would first flip through the pages to search for the parts he'd modified.

Oune: That was what you might call a "paper debug".

Sakamoto: It was a very difficult period for making even a few changes. In order to make changes to Balloon Fight, when a young Iwata came to R&D1 and secluded himself in a room, Yokoi-san came in suddenly, and after he said, "Hmm, I don't like this," Iwata replied, "Understood!" and fixed them on the spot immediately.

Oune: Did he have the entire phone book of the source code in his head?!

Sakamoto: Even Yokoi-san seemed very surprised when he came back from drinking tea and Iwata had just about fixed it. Of course, I was also surprised. Oh yes, I just remembered something else. Although we made the VS System version later than the Famicom version, he had a prototype running in no time at all.

Oune: The legends of Iwata-san are completely true! (Laughs)

Here Satoru Iwata plays Balloon Fight with the head of Game Center CX, a show in Japan similar to "Let's Play."

Until next time...
Captain Commando