May 4^th, 2002 (12:00am) - E3 the biggest videogame show on the planet is just a few weeks away. A serious competition is a brewin’ and the stakes are high. Each one of the Big 3 have battle plans ready and Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata sheds some light on Nintendo’s plans with Japanese videogame magazine, Famitsu.

Here’s the entire interview (translated):

Famitsu: The release dates of several GameCube titles have slipped in the first quarter. As we head into E3, what are your thoughts on the GameCube software schedule?

Iwata-san: I think the delay situation has been exaggerated. While it’s true a few of our titles have been pushed back, our software schedule for the second half of 2002 will be impressive. In fact, we believe our software lineup this year will be our strongest in history. It’s a mixture of popular series from Mr. Miyamoto and some exciting new games.

Famitsu: How do you plan to realize this goal of the strongest software lineup in history? What can we expect to see at E3?

Iwata-san: We’re not planning to hold back, almost all the titles shown this year will be playable. We realize the importance of players actually experiencing a game rather than just viewing it. Zelda for the GameCube is at a state where we could just show new video footage. But because Mr. Miyamoto has taken the series in such a new direction, he wants player feedback now. Whether players like the graphics or not isn’t the issue, after all we’re not making a movies, we’re making games. It’s the impressions of players that Mr. Miyamoto desires the most. We’ve accepted the challenge of taking Zelda in a new direction, and the only way to know if we’ve succeeded is by having people experience it for themselves.

Famitsu: Aside from Zelda, what other games can we expect?

Iwata-san: At E3 we’ll have our main lineup which will include Mario Sunshine, Zelda, Metroid, and StarFox. Aside from that essential lineup, there will be many other playable games. E3 is where our vision of the ’strongest lineup in history’ will be revealed.

Famitsu: Pokemon is scheduled for release on the GameBoy Advance by the end of the year. Can we expect something to emerge at E3, perhaps some compatibility with the GameCube?

Iwata-san: Perhaps [laughs..] We want leave some surprises for the show, so I can’t comment on that. However, players can rest assured that we have an aggressive software lineup in development for the GameBoy Advance as well. We believe our software sales ratio compared to hardware will significantly improve this year overall.