It looks like Shigeru Miyamoto had to do two Spaceworld press conferences - one with a translator for the foreign press which you can now read on Gamers, and one with a Nintendo spokesman for the local Japanese magazine crowd. This is a transcript of the latter.

Quite a lot has already been said on other interviews about what he thinks of the new Nintendo Gamecube, but there are still a few new revelations to read about in this five-part transcript, including the very low cost of developing Gamecube titles and Nintendo's efforts to get a somewhat older audience for their new systems. If you can wade through fen's poor translations, then maybe you can trip over a pearl or two. That's my motto.

Note that: Q = the press, M = Miyamoto, and S = the unidentified Nintendo PR dude that was with him.

PART ONE

"I'm telling you, it was THIS BIG!" "Yeah, right, Mr. Miyamoto"

Q: Umm, I have a question about Pokemon.
M: Right. Who do you wanna answer it?
Q: Umm, Mr. Miyamoto...
M: Oh, me? (laughs)
Q: With the popularity of the card game, I was wondering what kind of impression you have of the Pokemon card game from the standpoint of the software version's producer.
M: Mmm, well, Ishihara was interested in card games from even before Pokemon, and I always think it's better for the final product if the producer's interested in what he's working on. It's not just a business deal, but something he wanted to make, so considering how well it goes with the software Pokemon I produced, I think it was done really well. It played a major part in the whole media mix that has come inevitably from the software. Like, the original product plan was originally mostly from Fuji TV [producers of the TV series], but it's working well from the streets, too.

Q: I wanted to ask about the target audiences for the Gamecube and GB Advance, but was the Gamecube designed for the same group as the N64? Also, the Advance will have downward compatibility with portable phones. However, regular GB software will still be sold, so what position is the company trying to put it in?
M: Well, I'm not sure how well I can answer this, but I think you're right on the money on the Gamecube design, in how it'll be used. Most of our developers are gamers, after all, so it's not like we totally ignored them, but in order to get as many people as possible to use it... the controller design is the same way; it's gotten more complex but we wanted to keep some simple aspects in it, is how I wanna call it. I mean, I'll be using this machine for the next 5 years or so, so even five years from now, when the Super Mario generation begins to become parents themselves (laughs), I want the system to be supported by the family.
Q: But, from the N64, will the users still be the younger age group?
M: I'd like to expand that. Mm-hmm.
Q: You're still hoping for them, though, right?
M: Well.. the design is such that adults wouldn't have any problem with it, either. And as for the GB Advance, I've done a lot with that but it'd be better to let the spokesman talk about that.
S: Thank you. I'm sorry, I wasn't here at the time of the question...
Q: It was about the target audience of the GB Advance, but with the regular Game Boy's new cell-phone system, you seem to be aiming for a young audience. I was wondering if you were going for an older age range in your user target.
S: Well, it's not as if we are all of a sudden aiming towards adults with the GB Advance, but if I say that, then Miyamoto'd say becuase it's the "Game Boy" we've been aiming at nothing but boys all this time...
M: (laughs)
S: It doesn't really matter if it's Game Boy or Game Adult or Game Lady, but the freeness, being able to play anywhere, that concept defines the Game Boy, so now thanks to advancing technology we can create games more interesting and more fun. It's because of that we can release the GB Advance. So the basic concept is completely unchanged from the original Game Boy. As for the previous question, you can't really divide them like that. The same question came with the Game Boy Color's debut, about what was going to happen with the GB Pocket now. What everyone thought Nintendo thought was, you know, it's not that a black and white screen necessarily means it's fun, so maybe color's not so important after all? So the hope was that the sales would be good, Color or no. But then, strangely enough, once people tried Color they didn't want to go back to black and white. It's not like we're being told that here, but when Advance comes out, people will realize "Wow, this is great. I'm not going back after this." But if you ask me if we're expecting 100% turnover to Advance, we're not thinking of that. It's a gradual change, I think. For example, the GB Pocket sold all right; about 10 percent of our sales are still the Pocket, actually. It's smaller than the Color, and it's cheap, after all. And when you get down to playing, you can definitely still enjoy it, so we figured about 10 percent. As long as users like that are around, we can sell what we had before, but we won't know how many Advances and how many Color systems will be out until we see. I'm sure as long as the need is there, Color will continue.
M: The Game Boy was already out when the N64 was created, so we wondered if we could connect Nintendo's products together for new, different play possibilities. We made a lot of plans for that, but it was still just a tacked-on solution. With the Gamecube and Advance, they were designed at the same time, so the Advance got delayed becuase of that, but (laughs). We wanted the concept of playing in a wider area, connecting to a larger pool. I think there's a photo of how you can use it wherever you want above, but if you have the Nintendo family of products you'll find yourself open to a whole new range of possibilities. That's what we're aiming for now.

To part 2