In this interview in Iwata Asks, Iwata has and interview with Shigeru Miyamoto to discuss a wide variety of things such as the development length of the Wii-U, how the idea of the Wii-U came about, the potential for Mario(although he mentioned Zelda his main focus was on Mario) in HD, eye issues that were solved, its touch screen controller and much more. We now know that the Wii-U was actually in development for 3 years and that the tablet controller was also in development long before tablets were produced. Jump inside this post to see some of the key parts of the interview.

How Nintendo got the idea for the Wii U…

Miyamoto: We started from the notion of, “It would be nice if there was a small monitor of sorts other than the TV, where we could always see the status of the Wii console”.

Nintendo has been talking internally about Wii U for 3 years…

Iwata: It’s been just about three years since we started having meetings about [Wii U]. There was a lot of back and forth before reaching where we are now.

Miyamoto: Right, we did. We started from scratch many times.

Iwata: When we were first talking about this, tablet devices weren’t very common. It’s a classic controller with a screen.

But because people outside the company do not have an insight into our development process, when people see this for the first time in 2011 when this is revealed, they might think, “Oh, Nintendo is going to add a tablet to their console”. I think that’s how people may see it.

Miyamoto’s heart gets pounding when thinking about Mario/Zelda on Wii U…

Miyamoto: Um… I can’t really talk about [Mario and Zelda Wii U] a whole lot yet, but Nintendo is finally entering a level of HD graphics, where we’re now using shaders and such. In that way, it’s more… How should I put it, I think people can expect to play more immersive game experiences than before.

And with Mario… Let’s see. It’s actually a little heart pounding for me when I test the landings after Mario makes a jump, because the graphics are finer than ever before.

I haven’t really figured out the direction for this yet, in terms of whether it should be combined with the new controller, or using it as a sub-screen like in Ocarina of Time 3D, or whether it should be playable just with the new controller. With a Mario game, there are both possibilities.

Wii U makes viewing game content a bit easier on your eyes…

Miyamoto: What I noticed as we were making it was that when I was watching something like the website on a larger screen, I couldn’t see it very well with my eyesight!

Iwata: You end up getting closer to the screen anyways because you can’t see! TVs in recent years usually have a programming guide display on the screen, but with my eyesight even that’s pretty hard to see.

Miyamoto: I call it the magnifying glass feature: you’re able to see it in any size you like on the screen of the new controller in your hands so you can easily read what it says, while everyone’s enjoying the bigger picture on the big screen.

Text input through Wii U is much simpler than on Wii…

Iwata: There were things [with the original Wii] that weren’t suited to do [on a console]. Like when trying to enter text on Wii, even though we placed a lot of effort into it, I do not think we ever reached a point where we could proudly say that it was a stress-free experience. But this time, I feel that will change greatly.

Miyamoto: Yeah. It’s more convenient to have things like a software keyboard at your fingertips.

Source: GoNintendo, Iwata Asks