'Make Pikachu more muscular,' Nintendo president recalls

"Make Pikachu more muscular," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recalled skeptics saying before Pokemon launched in America. "Will America accept cute monsters? No, they said."

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"Make Pikachu more muscular," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recalled skeptics saying before Pokemon launched in America. "Will America accept cute monsters? No, they said."

With lackluster Wii U sales, it's not difficult to find endless write-ups on how Nintendo is doomed. Nintendo must go multiplatform! However, Iwata reminded attendees at the B Dash Camp conference in Osaka that Nintendo has always had its doubters.

"If we followed their advice Pokemon would never have been the success that it was. Brain Training software (Brain Age) became a hit in Japan, and I proposed that we sell it globally. And even as I said that as the president, no one listened," Iwata said (translated via The Bridge).

It's also difficult to ignore the massive success of the original Wii and DS systems--both which also drew a number of skeptics. Given calls for Iwata's resignation, these comments are a reminder that Nintendo may weather their fortunes today.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 10, 2013 8:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, 'Make Pikachu more muscular,' Nintendo president recalls.

    "Make Pikachu more muscular," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata recalled skeptics saying before Pokemon launched in America. "Will America accept cute monsters? No, they said."

    • reply
      October 10, 2013 8:06 AM

      I don't think we have a problem with cute monsters.
      http://chattypics.com/files/WP7Upload_9kkn1jb230.jpg

      • reply
        October 10, 2013 8:49 AM

        Eh, she can thunderbolt my lightning rod all she wants.

      • reply
        October 10, 2013 8:49 AM

        She can thunderbolt my lightning rod all she wants.

    • reply
      October 10, 2013 8:06 AM

      Hey, we like watching cute little animals fight each other just as much as anyone.

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      October 10, 2013 8:55 AM

      Every time a story like this comes up the Nintendo response can always be paraphrased as "we ignore you silly bastards and just keep doing our own thing - it always works out in the long run"

      And it does. Imagine if Sega hadn't pulled the rip cord and kept trying to make game consoles (of course, you'd also have to imagine that Sega had the development chops of Nintendo, instead of what they wound up doing to Sonic).

    • reply
      October 10, 2013 9:01 AM

      I was expecting to see a picture of kenshiro =/

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