is a series of interviews conducted by former Nintendo president and chief executive officer (CEO) Satoru Iwata from 2006 until his death in 2015. In these interview articles, Iwata discusses with various colleagues select details about Nintendo and other developers' video game titles, hardware, and various aspects of the company. The discussions reveal historical background information on the development of games and hardware as well as the mindset of the creators at the time. Additionally, these interviews often showcase the friendly camaraderie between Iwata and other members of Nintendo as jokes and laughter are shown to be commonplace. They proved to be one of the most insightful collections of information on the development of Nintendo products available. Times Matt Peckham referred to Iwata Asks as "a remarkable series" and "a Nintendophile's dream come true".
Content from Iwata Asks was featured in a book titled Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, published by Hobonichi. The book was first published in 2019 in Japan. An English translation was released in 2021.
A similar series of interviews called Ask the Developer started in 2021.
List of interviews Wii series Topic Date Interviewee(s) Title/Volume Englishlocalization Wii September 9, 2006 Genyo Takeda, Junji Takamoto, Kenichiro Ashida,Kou Shiota Wii console September 11, 2006 Genyo Takeda, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kenichiro Ashida,Akio Ikeda Wii Remote September 14, 2006 Takashi Aoyama, Tomoaki Kuroume, Kenichiro Ashida Wii Channels October 12, 2006 Katsuya Eguchi, Keizo Ota, Yoshikazu Yamashita,Takayuki Shimamura Wii Sports October 26, 2006 Yoshiyuki Oyama, Keisuke Nishimori, Koji Kitagawa,Atsushi Miyagi, Kentaro Tominaga, Aya Kyogoku The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess November 22, 2006 Yoshio Sakamoto, Goro Abe WarioWare: Smooth Moves Super Mario Galaxy October 4, 2007 Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takao Shimizu The Producer and Director Kenta Motokura, Futoshi Shirai, Norihiro Aoyagi,Hideaki Shimizu, Koichi Hayashida The Developers Masafumi Kawamura, Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo The Sound Team Shigeru Miyamoto Shigeru Miyamoto Wii Fit November 8, 2007 Shigeru Miyamoto A New Creation Takeshi Nagareda, Takao Sawano The Wii Balance Board Hiroshi Matsunaga, Tadashi Sugiyama The Wii Fit Software Arisa Hosaka, Mari Shibata, Yoshiyuki Oyama,Yohei Miyagawa, Toru Minegishi Sound, Design and Planning Super Smash Bros. Brawl January 30, 2008 Masahiro Sakurai E3 2005: A Beginning For First-time Gamers Versus, Co-op and Share The Subspace Emissary Plethora of New Features All-star Music Once in a Lifetime Experience Metroid Prime 3: Corruption February 29, 2008 Risa Tabata, Kensuke Tanabe Mario Kart Wii April 3, 2008 Shigeru Miyamoto, Kenichiro Ashida, Hideki Konno Link's Crossbow Training April 24, 2008 Shigeru Miyamoto Wii Music September 25, 2008 Shigeru Miyamoto Shigeru Miyamoto Makoto Wada, Junji Morii, Kazumi Totaka The Developers Kazumi Totaka, Koji Kondo, Shigeru Miyamoto Animal Crossing: City Folk November 13, 2008 Aya Kyogoku, Ryuji Kobayashi, Isao Moro,Hisashi Nogami Wii MotionPlus May 18, 2009 Keizo Ota, Kuniaki Ito, Noboru Wakitani,Junji Takamoto Wii Sports Resort June 4, 2009 Yoshikazu Yamashita, Takayuki Shimamura, Takuhiro Dohta,Kenta Sato Punch-Out!! July 13, 2009 Makoto Wada, Kensuke Tanabe, Shigeru Miyamoto,Genyo Takeda Monster Hunter Tri July 30, 2009 Kaname Fujioka, Ryozo TsujimotoWii Fit Plus September 29, 2009Dr. Motohiko Miyachi Volume 1Volume 2 Sin & Punishment: Star Successor October 22, 2009 Shingo Matsushita, Yurie Hattori, Hitoshi Yamagami,Masato Maegawa, Atsutomo Nakagawa, Yasushi Suzuki Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers November 6, 2009 Akitoshi Kawazu New Super Mario Bros. Wii November 13, 2009 Shigeru Miyamoto Volume 1 Toshihiko Nakago, Takashi Tezuka Volume 2 Sanae Uchida, Eiji Mukae, Takayuki Ikkaku,Shigeyuki Asuke Volume 3 Wii no Ma November 20, 2009 Yusuke Beppu, Masaaki Yukawa, Yoshihiro Suzuki,Tony Ellison NHK Kōhaku Quiz Gassen December 25, 2009 Kenji Suzuki, Kazue Sugata, Jun'ichi Nogami, Mihoko Ebata, Shin'ya Saitō Zangeki no Reginleiv February 4, 2010 Hitoshi Yamagami, Takehiro Honma, Masatsugu Igarashi,Toshio Noguchi, Kazuhiro Yoshikawa Andō Kensaku April 22, 2010 Han Gang, Kentarō Nishimura, Kentarō Soya, Yōichi YuiSuper Mario Galaxy 2 May 11, 2010 Shigeru Miyamoto Volume 1 Kenta Motokura, Takeshi Hayakawa (mistranslated as Kenzo Hayakawa), Kōichi Hayashida,Yoshiaki Koizumi Volume 2 Ryo Nagamatsu, Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo Volume 3Xenoblade Chronicles May 19, 2010 Tetsuya Takahashi, Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda,Manami Kiyota, ACE+ (Chico), Tomori Kudo,Kenji Hiramatsu Sound Tetsuya Takahashi, Yuichiro Takeda Story Yurie Hattori, Genki Yokota, Hitoshi Yamagami,Koh Kojima, Tetsuya Takahashi The Development Process Metroid: Other M July 29, 2010 Ryuzi Kitaura, Yosuke Hayashi, Yoshio Sakamoto The Collaboration Takehiko Hosokawa, Takayasu Morisawa, Hidekatsu Nagasawa,Yutaka Saito, Taiyo Aramaki, Kazutaka Otsuka,Ryo Koike Development Staff Wii Party August 5, 2010 Hiroshi Sato, Miyuki Hirose, Shuichiro Nishiya,Atsushi Ikeda The Last Story August 17, 2010 Hironobu Sakaguchi Kirby's Epic Yarn October 7, 2010 Emi Watanabe, Nobuo Matsumiya, Atsushi Kono,Kentaro Sei, Etsunobu EbisuSuper Mario All-Stars October 21, 2010 Ryo Nagamatsu, Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo The Music Naoki Mori, Tadashi Sugiyama The Developers Donkey Kong Country Returns December 1, 2010 Kynan Pearson, Mike Wikan, Tom Ivey,Kensuke Tanabe, Risa Tabata Pandora's Tower May 23, 2011 Chikako Yamakura, Toru Hoga, Hirofumi Irie,Takao Nakano, Hitoshi Yamagami Wii Play: Motion June 30, 2011 Toyokazu Nonaka, Etsunobu Ebisu, Yuichi Mizobe,Hirosato Funaki, Ryusuke Niitani, Takehiko Hosokawa,Keita Eto, Jun Taniguchi, Yuji Naka,Naoto Ohshima, Shinya Takahashi Rhythm Heaven Fever July 20, 2011 Takafumi Masaoka, Masami Yone, Ko Takeuchi,Mitsuo Terada, Koji Kamada, Hiroshi IidaThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword October 18, 2011 Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Ryuji Kobayashi,Ryo Tanaka Wii MotionPlus Inspires New Controls Haruyasu Ito, Yutaka Hiramuki, Shigeyuki Asuke,Hidemaro Fujibayashi The Dense Forest Yoshiyuki Oyama, Takafumi Kiuchi, Kentaro Tominaga,Hidemaro Fujibayashi The Dense Volcano and Enemy Monsters Koji Kitagawa, Yohei Fujino, Hiromu Takemura,Hidemaro Fujibayashi The Dense Desert and New System Masato Mizuta, Hanako Hisada, Daiki Iwamoto,Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fujibayashi The Dense Sky and Town Shigeki Yoshida, Hajime Yakai, Naoki Mori,Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Eiji Aonuma The Dense Script and Direction Hanako Hisada, Tomomi Marunami, Tomomi Iwasaki,Akiko Hirono, Arisa Hosaka Female Staff Eiji Aonuma Those Who Played The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Hundreds of Hours Go Vacation October 20, 2011 Masaya Kobayashi, Yozo Sakagami Kirby's Return to Dream Land October 21, 2011 Shigefumi Kawase, Shinya Kumazaki, Hiroaki Nakano,Tadashi Kimitake Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games December 6, 2011 Emi Watanabe, Tomoyoshi Yamane, Eigo Kasahara,Osamu Ohashi Kiki Trick December 27, 2011 Noriyuki Sato, Yoshio Sakamoto, Shinichi Sakamoto Project Zero 2: Wii Edition April 5, 2012 Keisuke Kikuchi, Makoto Shibata Dragon Quest X July 23, 2012 Jin Fujisawa, Yosuke Saito, Yuji Horii
Nintendo DS series Topic Date Interviewee(s) Title/Volume Englishlocalization Jam with the Band June 11, 2008 Shinji Kitahara, Noriko Kitamura, Koichi Kyuma Volume 1 September 2008 Masaru Nishita, Noriko Kitamura Volume 2 Rhythm Heaven July 11, 2008 Kyohei Seki, Takafumi Masaoka, Masami Yone,Ko Takeuchi, Kazuyoshi OsawaTsunku Style Savvy October 17, 2008 Norihito Ito, Yurie Hattori, Hitoshi Yamagami,Azusa Tajima Nintendo DSi console October 24, 2008 Yui Ehara, Kentaro Mita, Masato Kuwahara Hardware Shigeru Miyamoto, Yusuke Akifusa, Masahiro Imaizumi,Yoshihiro Matsushima, Tomoaki Kuroume Internal Software Satoshi Furukawa, Eiichi Shirakawa, Shinya Takahashi Browser Taku Sugioka, Naoko Mori, Goro AbeWario Ware: Snapped! Koichi Kawamoto, Shinya TakahashiBrain Age Express Hideaki Shimizu, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Junya Kondo,Yeppei NinomiyaFlipnote Studio Yoichi Kotabe, Shigeru Miyamoto, Yoshiaki Koizumi Yoichi Kotabe Personal Trainer: Walking October 27, 2008 Masaru Shimomura, Kiyoshi Mizuki, Naoya Morimura,Noriko Akita WarioWare D.I.Y. April 22, 2009 Taku Sugioka, Takumi Hatakeyama, Goro Abe Tomodachi Collection June 11, 2009 Masanori Nakagawa, Daisuke Shiiba, Ryutaro Takahashi Dragon Quest IX July 3, 2009 Yuji Horii, Koichi Sugiyama Mono ya Okane no Shikumi DS August 20, 2009 Shinya Takahashi, Toshiaki Suzuki, Kanako Tsugihashi, Shinji Kitahara Naruko Kodama, Hirotsugu Nagao, Michio Sakamura Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver September 4, 2009 Shigeki Morimoto, Tsunekazu Ishihara The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks November 19, 2009 Eiji Aonuma, Daiki Iwamoto The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks Toshihiko Nakago, Takashi Tezuka, Eiji Aonuma The History of Handheld The Legend of Zelda Games Nintendo DSi XL December 14, 2009 Takaki Fujino, Masaki Amano, Masato Kuwahara,Kazuo Yoneyama Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem July 14, 2010 Kouhei Maeda, Masahiro Higuchi, Toru Narihiro Pokémon Black and White September 10, 2010 Tsunekazu Ishihara, Junichi Masuda, Ken Sugimori Jibun Detsukuru: Nintendo DS Guide November 17, 2010 Shigeru Miyamoto, Takao Shimizu, Takao Sawano, Kenji Nishizawa Eigo de Tabisuru: Little Charo January 19, 2011 Risa Junna, Shinichi Nagano Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure April 22, 2011 Masato Kuwahara, Daisuke Fukumoto, Masahiko Ota Manabu Yamana, Tsunekazu Ishihara, Kaori Ando Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 June 14, 2012 Junichi Masuda, Takao Unno, Tsunekazu Ishihara
Nintendo 3DS series