This interview appeared in the swedish magazine "Nintendo Magasinet" nr 9 1992. I´m translating and posting it just for fun.
It starts like this: Capcom is today one of the biggest and most famous game producing company for Nintendo. How did it start and what plans do they have for the 90´s? Gunnar Lindberg met Capcoms Scott T. Smith aat SCES in Chicago at the end of June. As always has Scott T. Smith named "businesscoordinator" bissy times in CES-times. But we managed to get a little chat with him in Capcoms (thank god) airconditioned booth.
Interview:
NM: How did it all start?
Scott: Capcom Japan started producing are arcademachines in the beginning of the 80´s and quickly became one of the most successfull companies in the business.
NM: And then there was Nintendo?
Scott: Yes, some time around the 1985 we released the arcade hit Ghosts ´n´ Goblins for the NES. It became a success even for the NES and after that in has continiued with titles like Gun Smoke, Bionic Commande and a lot of Disney titles. And now comes Street Fighter II for Super-NES which is on it´s own level. Totally we have probably released around 40 titles for the NES.
NM: No failures?
Scott: Well, we had one title, California Raisins, which we preannounced but never released. It just didn´t really hold the standard.
NM: High quality demands, is that the secret about the success?
Scott: Yes, that´s part of it. All development of games happens in Osaka in Japan, where we have our main office. We don´t bur ideas from the outside. All our ideas are original ideas for our own developers.
NM: Do your programmers cooperate in the development of arcademachines and video games?
Scott: No, actually not. It´s two completely different divisions. But usually an idea is transmitted to the home court if the game becomes successful out in the arcades. Totally there works about 200 people at the office in Osaka and about 50 in Santa Clara in California
NM. Which do you consider to be your biggest rivals?
Scott: Nintendo. A lot of people probably thinks Konami but i would like to say it´s Nintendo themselves. Konami´s titles wary to much in quality. They also don´t go as hard for as ideas and licenses () as Capcom.
NM: Which hardware company do you think will win the fight about the players?
Scott: For the start i think the customer wins on the hard battle between the companies. It forces even better technology and funnier games to even lower prices. I think that companies like Atari, NEC, SNK and the other small ones will disappear. Maybe not vanish completely but definitely disappear from the main market. Sega and Nintendo will battle many years forward though.
NM: The olders combatattants in the home computer business, Apple and IBM, har started cooperating to meet the concurrance from the outside. When will Nintendo start cooperating with SEGA?
Scott: That will most likely never happen (XD). And as i said before i don´t think there will be any concurrance from the outside in a few years and there won´t really be a reason for one game working for various consoles.
NM: Tell us a little more about Street Fighter II.
Scott: I´d love to (!). We are very proud of SF2 here at Capcom and we think it´s the best home video game ever created (!). Nintendo themsleves might not sign up on that but they do use Street Fighter II a lot in their campains for Super-NES. SF2 is a small technical wonder where our developers has done everything to get the right feel from the arcade version. It´s the first game for Super-NES that is a whole 16 mbit big. To really get everything out of SF2 we have created a special joystick with six different buttons for all the movements the characters in the game can do. Just like in the arcade version. But of course you can play without it to. SF2 will cost around 75 dollar in the U.S. The special joystick around 85 dollars. Both will be out in the U.S. for the autumn.
NM: Any plans on producing games för the Sega Mega Drive?
Scott: No, át least not in the close future. We do great with Nintendo. The new Super-NES gives us the challenge we need. And Nintendo probably wouldn´t be too happy about it anyway. But we have sold a license to SEGA once. We sold SEGA the home rights for the acrade title MERCS.
That´s it!
-Nils Jutblad/Airrider
