When Reggie Fils-Aime first came to Nintendo, he very much changed the culture of the company. They weren’t just going to be “the veteran game company” anymore, they were going to push the boundaries on how they connected with video gamers everywhere. This included the creation of the Nintendo Direct and the E3 presentations that they did some really fun things with during the Wii U/3DS era. Easily the most memorable one was the legendary Robot Chicken event that featured a special trailer with Reggie and the late Nintendo leader Satoru Iwata.
In the trailer, the two heads of Nintendo had an epic “fight” that was revealed to be a tie-in to Super Smash Bros via the Mii Fighters and the Amiibo reveal. The fight stands out because it’s very dramatic in setting, and yet very hilarious in its tone and visuals. Complete with Mario blasting Reggie out of the “arena” with his fireball. So, how did that fight idea come to be? Well, Reggie Fils-Aime sat down in an interview for the Kit and Krysta Podcast to talk about that:
One of the first things he revealed was that despite the two being “together” in the fight, they didn’t film the fight together. Reggie was in the US, while Mr. Iwata was in Kyoto at the time, so they filmed the two separately doing many of the moves. This honestly makes sense in regards to the background, which was a dark room. It’s easier to splice in footage on a simple background than an elaborate one.
As you might have guessed from rewatching the clip, there were stunt doubles used, but that created a problem. Why? Well, the stunt doubles were filmed in Japan, but Reggie is quite a large fellow, and thus they had to improvise because they couldn’t find a “suitable replacement”:
“They needed to shoot it at an angle to make the person look bigger. If you go back and look at the video, you can see it’s shot at an angle down low shooting out in part to drive that stature.”
They were able to make it work, and the video is an iconic piece of Nintendo history. One that many will remember fondly to honor the late Mr. Iwata.
Nintendo didn’t stop there with its presentations though, another classic one was the time when Reggie, Iwata, and Shigeru Miyamoto were turned into Muppets to start a presentation. It was ironically for one of their “less well-received” E3s, but it’s the thought that counts.
Some fans are asking for Nintendo to return to this style with their presentations. Whether they do or not is not something we can say for sure.
Source: Kit and Krysta Podcast
