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Nintendo just announced in a cocky press release that they sold about thirteen million Nintendo DS consoles worldwide, and the Nintendo DS is now officially sold out in Japan. This is the result of a very interesting strategy that goes beyond selling cute virtual pets and university-certified brain trainers. The past twelve months of Mitchell Corp. show it well.
Mitchell's latest console game, Tsuukin Hitofude, was released last october in Japan - precisely one month after the GB Micro. The game came out without much notice by the western media, but there are a few interesting things to point out about it, both as a GBA sequel to a DS title and as an understated example of the evolution of Nintendo's strategy in Japan.
Chokkan Hitofude (Polarium overseas) was a puzzle game developed by Mitchell for Nintendo and available at the launch of the Nintendo DS in Japan. It had officially reached more than 100,000 units sold by april. This was enough for Nintendo to announce a GBA version a few weeks after unveiling the Gameboy Micro. The new system was aimed at giving a new spark to the Gameboy Advance market without cannibalizing the Nintendo DS' sales nor killing the Gameboy SP. In order to do so, Nintendo targeted an older audience and did not focus on the strengths of the existing GBA catalog. They released the system around the 20th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., with a special Famicom version and a re-release of Famicom Mini Super Mario Bros. (allowing the game to reach the million mark recently). Another title that came out on the same day was the compilation of puzzle classics Dr.Mario & Panel de Pon, and a new version of the Play-Yan was released as well. Tsuukin Hitofude's little known role in the release of the system was to offer the new GB Micro crowd a product similar to the recent DS mainstream hits such as Otona no DS Training and Yawaraka Atama Juku.
Mitchell's awkward challenge was to adapt a puzzle game to the GBA which was designed specifically with the DS' touch screen ability in mind. Their solution was to focus on where and why people would play the game. As the promotional video hints, the general concept behind Tsuukin Hitofude is that it is a perfect game to play in public transports. The title is revealing as well. Tsuukin hitofude means "a pen stroke while commuting to work" (The DS' Chokkan hitofude meant "an intuitive pen stroke"). The promotional messages also frequently use tsuugaku, "commuting to school". Therefore we have a title created with the numerous japanese commuting workers and students in mind - it would become especially true when playing it on a system as small and light as the GB Micro (when questioned, Mitchell bossman Roy Ozaki did not deny this analysis).
Tsuukin Hitofude control method
This direction is reflected in both the gameplay and organization of Tsuukin Hitofude. Mitchell allowed the player to play using the left hand only if they chose, using the pad, select button and L trigger, considering a commuter would rather play with a single hand while the other is either holding to something or scratching some random bodypart (hence the success of cellphone games in Japan). The central mode is also centered around the idea of unlocking and playing one new puzzle per day, hence a total of 365 puzzles. There are a few new blocks as well to had some depth, but the smartest move from Mitchell was to remove the hard and stressful "challenge" mode, which would not fit the new audience, and strictly focus on the puzzle aspect of the game. The time attack mode is also done in a way that shows the player's progress, instead of promoting competition. It is still possible to create and share your own puzzles and, as with Chokkan Hitofude, the official website frequently offers some new ones. The latest one is even christmas-themed.
Chokkan Hitofude featured a clean and hip art direction that lacked a bit of identity. For the GBA version, Mitchell went for an even slicker design. They added simple graphic forms and various pictograms in the background, and used the game's font in more interesting ways. Silver and green predominate in the artwork - they are common colors for public transports in the Kantou region. Mitchell also used popular transportation-linked symbols such as the shoshinsha mark of new japanese car drivers. Hence the the art direction is not only coherent with Tsuukin's concept but makes better use of Chokkan's choices. Quite a great lesson of game design overall.
Some of you might remember Mitchell as one of the familiar faces of the arcade games' industry during its golden age. Because of their long experience in the harsh videogame market and their participation in Nintendo's strategy, I thought they'd be an interesting witness of the decline of the arcades and the evolution of the market as a new year takes off. So began this interview with Mister Roy Ozaki:
CHZ: Mister Ozaki, thanks for taking some time for this interview.
First I would like to know more about the origins of Mitchell. Your company is
now mostly known for Hitofude (Polarium) and mobile phone games. However
the company is quite old and used to be a famous name in the
amusement machine business. Could you tell me how the company was created,
and why it's called Mitchell?
OZA: Mitchell was started as a distributor of coin-op PCB in the late
1980s by Koichi Niida and myself. I am still the president and Niida is still
the vice-president. I've been in this business for close to 30 years. Around
that time (the 80s), we were exclusive overseas agents for most of the small video
manufacturers in Japan. The companies we represented include Visco, Video
Systems, Seta, Metro, Home Data, etc. You probably wouldn't know the
others. In other words we handled most games aside from Sega, Konami,Namco, Taito and the other giants. We did make money. Since I am not into fancy cars or yachts, we decided to make our own games. Besides, we were
getting tired of selling shitty ones.
Mitchell is called Mitchell because my father used to do import/export business, and that was the name of the company when he started it. After my father died, we just took over company - it had good credit with the banks.
Super Pang - check out a new superplay, while you're at it
CHZ: Mitchell was a well known arcade game maker in the early Nineties, with
games like the Pang series and Puzzloop. What were your impressions of the
market at the time? Did you anticipte the collapse of the arcade market?
OZA: Video coin-op got center stage after Pong. The arcade videogame market was
non-existant 35 years ago. Lately, video games don't make money in
the arcades. Markets always shift. But arcades are very strong with other
products - pushers, UFO catchers, etc. We still make stuff for arcades (not only video games).
CHZ: One thing that strikes me is how your company seems especially
linked to Capcom. For instance, most of your console ports on the Super
Famicom were published by Capcom. Mighty Pang (2000) and PuzzLoop 2 (2001) both run on Capcom's CPS-II board. And Capcom also published your arcade game Gamushara (2002), even though it ran on Namco's System 10 board.
OZA: We have long been a Capcom distributor for coin-op products. The guys that
were lowly salesmen 25 years ago are now executives at Capcom, and have spread to all sections of the company. They are my friends, and We trust each other. We know how we've both done business over the years. A long, long time ago Mr. Tsujimoto (Capcom's president) asked me join them - which I refused, but they have continued helping us. For over 10 years I am the marketing consultant to Capcom for sales of coin-op video games to Europe. We are quite close to them.
CHZ: Gamushara was actually rumored for a while to be the final game
for the CPS-II, before Capcom announced it was a System 10 game. Was Gamushara
ever planned for a CPS-II release, or was it just a rumor? And why did you choose
Namco's System 10?
OZA: Making your own PCB is very risky business. Over the years, we
tried to minimize the risk by using other system boards. We used Namco's
system 10 because Namco had surplus stock. Remember, we've been in coin-op for a long
time and know all the coin-op people.
CHZ: My favorite game from Mitchell is Cannon Dancer (known overseas as
Osman). I have been trying to buy the Jamma board of Cannon Dancer
since 1999, but whenever I go to the arcade shops "G-Front" or "Mak Japan" in
Akihabara when I am in Japan, they're sold out. It's now quite rare, isn't it?
OZA: Actually, I had some Cannon Dancer boards until October, but got rid
of all the stock. You should have contacted me then.
 
Cannon Dancer
CHZ: (That... hurts)
I know Mitchell's Cannon Dancer and Ganbare!Gondo!2 (known overseas as
Party Time 2 - another very good game) were running on a very specific board
created by Data East; the "156 CPU." Data East was a pretty interesting
company, what was your relationship with them?
OZA: Like I said, we did have our own PCB. It was called a Mitchell
board, but was made by Data East. Niida and I are both ex-Data East.
CHZ:
Was the 156 CPU a good piece of hardware? And was Cannon Dancer a
commercial success?
OZA: The Data East board was good. Cannon Dancer did alright here in
Japan but not overseas.
CHZ:
One memorable aspect of Cannon Dancer is its similarity to Capcom's Strider Hiryu. Strider Hiryu and Cannon Dancer had the same game designer, Isuke. Were other ex-people from Capcom working on the game?
OZA: You know that game people move around. We had some Capcom misfits in
the past.
CHZ:
Was Mitchell involved in Strider Hiryu 2? It was released on the
Sony ZN2 arcade board and Sony PlayStation, and there is an "easter egg" for
Cannon Dancer fans in the game, so I guess some people at Capcom liked
Cannon Dancer. (some information about the similarities can be found here)
OZA: We were not involved with Strider.
CHZ:
Mitchell is now producing games for mobile phones. How did you end
up doing mobile phone games? Was it a change out of necessity, or were you
interested in the mobile market already?
OZA: Metro had a mobile site, and they didn't have enough games for it. We promised to help.
CHZ:
I am a game designer for mobile phones myself. One
thing I learned is that it is very hard to create a convenient/playable game for this
hardware. The audience is different, its needs are different, and the
various mobile phones ergonomics are different. How has this affected
your creation process? Are there games that you could not do because it
didn't fit the mobile phone market? And what did you learn from the mobile
phone market?
OZA: As in other game formats, you don't sell unless the game is good.
I found the mobile market similar to coin-op. With the consumer market, you sell it
and it's done. With mobile and coin-op, you need repeaters.
CHZ:
I noticed most people in Japan prefer to play ports of famous
titles on their mobile phone. However in Europe, original titles often sell
better, because most of our our consumers are not gamers and don't know older
games. Do you think games for mobile phones should be specific and original
games? Or can they be ports of popular titles from the arcades or consoles?
OZA: I think mobile contents can be ports from other formats - that way it's
already known and you don't need promotion. Either way, fun games sell.
CHZ:
Did Mitchell ever have a mobile phone game so successful that you
eventually thought about releasing it in the arcades or on a home
system?
OZA: We do have one and we are thinking of it. Possibly within this year.
CHZ:
I was surprised that Mitchell never used the Naomi arcade
board, which is very popular among small developers such as GRev and
Milestone. What about the Naomi didn't appeal to you?
OZA: Naomi boards are expensive. And I don't believe all these fancy
graphics are necessary to make a hit. It ends up costing too much for
everyone.
CHZ:
Mitchell came back in the international spotlight with the release
of Chokkan Hitofude (Polarium). How did you end up working on
a DS game? Did Nintendo approach you, or the other way around?
OZA: Basically, I'm lazy. I never went to Nintendo. A Nintendo director
came to us through Capcom. We were showing him another game and, he spotted
Chokkan Hitofude. It was fate - it controls us all. We weren't
making it for the DS until we were asked.
CHZ:
Takamitsu Hagiwara is the Chokkan Hitofude game designer. Was he
working for Mitchell before? Is he also the game designer of Tsuukin Hitofude? Did
he come up with the original concept?
OZA: Hagiwara came to us right after school. He is a very good
programmer. You would know the titles he worked on before (we make games for other
companies too). He came up with an idea, so we put one graphic guy with
him to try out his idea. He has been with Mitchell for 10 years.
Takamitsu Hagiwara
CHZ:
Like many other DS games, Chokkan Hitofude was not an instant best
seller, but sold well over a very long period. By april 2005, we know it
sold over 100,000 copies in Japan. At the end of 2005, what were the total
japanese and worldwide sales of Chokkan Hitofude? Has this success
changed anything for Mitchell as a company or in its relation with Nintendo?
And can you tell us more about the release of Hitofude as the launching game
for the iQue DS in China?
OZA: Because of the contract with Nintendo, I am not at liberty to tell
you the exact figures. Believe me, it went well over 100,000 in Japan. Worldwide,
we did much better than some of the well-publicized games. We like to keep a low
profile.
In China, we were the first to localize and so it was bundled with the
DS itself. Nintendo told me shit about the population in China, but how
many people can afford the DS there. We did it not for the profit now, but
in the future. We did Puzz Loop for the mobile market there. Let's see what the profits are 3 Years later.
CHZ:
It is obvious now that Nintendo had the right strategy with the
DS, especially in Japan where the console broke a lot of records. But
Mitchell was one of the very first developers to support the system, back when
no one was sure whether Nintendo was doing the right thing. How did you look
at the console during the development of Hitofude? Were you afraid it might
not succeed?
OZA: If I were to answer anything involving Nintendo, it is in the
contract that I have to go through Nintendo to say it. (I'd rather spend money on games than on lawyers). Let's say I'm a fatalist. Also, I know that you get a lot of promotion when you are the first.
CHZ: The "daily puzzle" system really reminds me of Otona no DS Training. It really makes Tsuukin Hitofude look like an equivalent to otona no DS Training for the Gameboy Advance, and more specifically the
Gameboy Micro. I think the art direction is also better than in the first game, with
various new graphical elements such as themed wallpapers in the background. All of the choices seem very clever and deliberate - how did this come about?
OZA: Our guys get paid to think. Think well they did. Anyone in the
company can say anything, any ideas are welcome. We do not have rank titles.
People are programmers, graphics, designers - we are here to make a good fun
game; we have meetings and it's open. About the sound, this is what we
already do with coin-op. Hagiwara had the final say in everything because it was
his game; most of the ideas are his.
CHZ: Tsuukin Hitofude should be released overseas in 2006 as Polarium, right?
OZA: Eventually it will be out overseas, and on mobile. It's a matter of timing.
We are not a big company. We don't come out with our own IP much.
We will take care of Hitofude. Personally, I think Hitofude has potential.
CHZ: Mitchell has a new puzzle game announced for the Nintendo DS,
"Shokan Puzz Loop". Can you tell us more about it?
OZA: Sorry, again the contract binds me. But we don't use our brand name unless
I think it's a good product.
CHZ: With the success of your collaboration with Nintendo so far, you
must obviously be excited about the Revolution. Can you tell us your views
on the Revolution? Will Mitchell develop a game for the system's launch?
OZA: As Nolan Bushnell said, the control is excellent. (Again, because of the
contract, I can't say more.)
CHZ: I remember that in 2004 you intended to file a lawsuit against
Popcap for IP infringement with their game Zuma, a clone of Puzz Loop which can be
played on PC and Xbox 360 (via the "Live Arcade" service). I haven't heard
anything about this story since then. Was any solution or arrangement reached?
 
Puzzloop versus Zuma
OZA: My lawyers in Japan are supposed to be on this. Progress is slow
because if we do court battle in US, we would be at a disadvantage.
You know the Americans and their mentality. We will be up against
American jurors. You know how biased they are towards Oriental
companies. Popcap games' lawyer replied my mail and the one from my lawywers'
office. In essence, they don't give a shit. I think they knew what they were
doing from the start and they are bad businessmen. You know that to think of a game and
to actually make it takes a lot of energy and money. Ripping off
someonelse's idea is bad; they don't belong in the game business.
In a few months, you will see what I am doing. I am not a lawyer so we
will do battle in a different court. Did you know that Popcap also has a
ripoff of Puzzle Bubble?
CHZ: (Not to mention Magical Drop - and presumably the 'different court' is the release of Shokan Puzz Loop for DS.)
Speaking of Live Arcade, Capcom announced they would sell games
on Xbox 360's Live Arcade service, starting with Street Fighter II' Hyper
Fighting. Since you have had a long relationship with Capcom, do you intend to port some of the Pang or Puzz Loop games on
Live Arcade?
OZA: We will not do XBox 360. Capcom is doing it to keep up a good
relationship with Microsoft. Remember Capcom is a public company and they have to
keep shareholders happy. Any professional in his right mind knows that you
can't make money with XBox 360 in Japan. If Microsoft gives us a big enough
guarantee, we will do it.
CHZ: As you hint at, Xbox 360 was released recently in Japan, and suffered a very
weak start. The line-up at launch was lacking some important key elements of
Microsoft's strategy in Japan, such as Dead or Alive 4 and Blue Dragon. Some western
observers think part of the Xbox's and Xbox 360's lack of success in
Japan is due to a form of japanese protectionism. Do you think it's true?
What is your view on the Xbox 360's dissapointing start in Japan?
OZA: Tell Microsoft to hire you as a consultant. What game titles do
they have? Do they expect to sell their new console with Dead or Alive?
Tecmo doesn't have anything. The first Xbox Dead or Alive sold only
140,000. How can they promote their console with that? It is definitely not
Japanese protectionism.
E.A. games do nothing in Japan. Whereas they sell very well overseas. Microsoft
should have tied up with Capcom or Bandai. When you launch a new console you need at least 20 good titles. When Sony started Playstation, they
took Square away from Nintendo.
CHZ: Do you think Sega's Lindbergh, SegaSammy's AtomisWave and Taito's
Type-X can revive the amusement machine market? Is Mitchell interested in working on any of these boards in the
near future?
OZA: All the system boards are not making money. Video coin-op is
finished. Only big machines (like UFO catchers) sell. I have considered Type-X, it's not
worth it. Look where Taito is now, with Square/Enix. Taito is surviving
because of its phtsical arcade locations - this sales figure was attractive to Square/Enix.
CHZ: Thank you very much for your time. Congratulations to all of Mitchell for the success of Polarium and good
luck for 2006 and beyond.
chaz seydoux uses his free hand to attend his luscious sideburns.
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