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N-Philes: Speaking of Riviera, how did you feel about it being one of the best-selling handheld RPG's last year? And is that why we're seeing so many more GBA and DS games this year?Tomm: Heh, felt good. Riviera did surprise us. I mean we liked it––obviously since we published it––but we were kind of thinking it was going to be a sleeper. But then we got reorders and reorders and it was like, "We're out of Riviera, we need more Riviera!" I was happy, I worked on it a little bit, localizing a chapter or two, and I liked playing it; it's a fun game. And so Sting was so pleased that... you know most Japanese games have some English text in them, so they actually had us write the English text for Yggrda. So it's cool that they had faith in us because we did so well with the first game. And hopefully they'll move up to DS and other portables because their games are pretty solid.
N-Philes: Switching a little bit, I played a bit of Contact, and several members of our team played Contact, and the best we can sum up is that it doesn't seem like what we have is a good demo here, because everyone is having trouble wrapping their mind around what is being presented. Can you tell us more about it?
Tomm: Um... Contact is kind of weird, as you just said. Um... it's kind of––you had to ask the hard question. [laughter]
N-Philes: [laughter] Take your time, really.
Tomm: Ok, so the upper screen is the professor guy in that 8-bit laboratory, and then you're playing on the bottom. The professor has recruited you, the person playing the game, to help this other kid on the bottom screen. So it's supposed to feel like this [makes triangular movements with hands] three-way quest: the doctor's talking to you, and then you're guiding the guy on the bottom. Which is why the battle system is like, you choose the target and the character kind of acts on his own like Final Fantasy 12.
N-Philes: So you're not supposed to be embodying the character.
Tomm: Correct. You're helping him; you're guiding him. So for example, the "summons" in this game are decals. And so you go to the decal menu and use the stylus to peel it off and then you stick it on as if it were a sticker. And that's supposed to be you helping this kid by putting the sticker down that's going to do something to help his quest.
The storyline and the dialogue is kind of wacky. The professor's spaceship was shot down, and it dropped these "power cells", and the kid picked one up, so he went to get the kid, and then interstellar terrorists were still chasing him, so he recruited the kid to get back all these cells that fell out of his ship.
N-Philes: Wow. So how involved were SUDA51 and Grasshopper studios in development?
Tomm: Suda was the producer, and then the director was... the part of Grasshopper that did Shining Soul 2 on the GBA: it's that team, and Suda oversaw the whole project.
N-Philes: And Contact's coming out this summer isn't it?
Tomm: Eh, late summer. I think the date on everyone's list is July 25th, but that's totally wrong. More like August/September.
N-Philes: Ok so a little more time. And they're already making a Contact 2 in Japan?
Tomm: ... I didn't know that. I've been here; I'm where the news comes from, not where it goes. So I'm like, "Really? Smash Bros? That's cool!" So I don't know about that.
