Find out how Kirby Returns to Dreamland came together in this behind-the-scenes look.

The Iwata Asks series of developer interviews always provide interesting insights into the development of games and the relationship between Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata and the numerous teams he talks to. The Iwata Asks for Kirby Returns to Dreamland has a special connection for Mr. Iwata as it is with numerous members of HAL Laboratory, where he used to serve as president.

It had been many years since a Kirby game was released on a home console before Kirby's Epic Yarn. As it turns out HAL have worked on, and abandoned, three different ideas in that time. These included a four-player simultaneous platforming game for the GameCube, similar to Kirby Returns to Dreamland, a 3D game that gave players control over where to go (right) and an idea that is described as "an animated pop up book" (left).

The interviewees discuss their frustration at these projects never being finished, for a number of reasons, but they began working on a Kirby game for the Wii last year that saw them build the game from the ground up with an eighteen month deadline. While this may have been a challenge the team had worked on a number of Kirby games and were passionate about making it and this time it worked.

According to Hitoshi Yamagami the team debated the merits of having all four players play Kirby, or whether they should player different characters. They kept both options in the final game but it goes to show that the team take the interest of fans seriously.

The rest of the interview discusses how Kirby Returns to Dreamland came to be, the history of the franchise and much more. For anyone interested in the game's new features, such as Super Abilities, or why they think the Kirby franchise is unlike any other Nintendo game be sure to check out the full interview.