The latest in our ongoing series of exclusive Iwata Asks interviews sees Nintendo’s head honcho chatting with Olympic champion Chris Hoy shortly after winning his famous sixth gold medal for Team GB
IWATA: Today I am joined by Chris Hoy, an Olympic cyclist for Team GB.
HOY: It’s nice to be here, Mr Iwata, though I’m not really sure why I am. I don’t get much chance to play games during my hectic training schedule, you see.
IWATA: You don’t often find time for other forms of entertainment because your day is taken up with a lot of cycling practice.
HOY: That’s more or less what I just said, yes.
IWATA: I see. That is perfectly understandable. After all, I don’t often find time for cycling practice because my day is taken up with a lot of being Nintendo president! [Laughs]
HOY: [Smiles]
IWATA: [Laughs]
HOY: [Laughs]
IWATA: Enough. You have recently won your sixth gold medal for Great Britain in the Olympics. At the moment Japan only has four gold medals. Does this mean you are better than the whole of Japan?
HOY: Actually, those six golds were built up over the course of my career. Only two of those medals were won at London 2012. So I suppose you could say I’m half as good as the whole of Japan! [Laughs]
IWATA: We would crush you.
HOY: Sorry?
IWATA: I would like to talk about your cycling technique. We released a game in 1984 called Excitebike, in which the competitors rode motorbikes. It was fun. Can you relate to our fun game?
HOY: Well, I don’t ride a motorbike, I have to use my legs to power it.
IWATA: And then a year later we released a game called Mach Rider, in which a man rides a motorbike with a machine gun attached to it. Is this something Team GB has secretly attached to your bikes so you can win all these races so easily?
HOY: Ha! No, our medals are won through a lot of hard work and determination. I don’t think the IOC would allow us to attach machine guns to our bicycles. [Laughs]
IWATA: I wonder if there will ever be a time where it could become a reality. Perhaps I could ask Miyamoto-san to pay the IOC a visit and ask them to allow us this for Rio 2016.
HOY: Maybe then you’d actually beat Team GB in a race! [Laughs]
IWATA: Or maybe then your silly magic bikes will be crushed under the might of Eastern athleticism.
HOY: [Stares]
IWATA: Finally, I am curious to know if you use bikes instead of karts in Mario Kart Wii because of your profession.
HOY: I’ve never played it.
NINTENDO REP: We end now.
IWATA: [Fumes]
Also, time for our girls to have revenge against the Japanese! Let's go girls!
