Mukaitoge got his start as an architecture student, but moved to games after college, directing console music games for Konami before getting a chance to develop his two original Wii games. When the time came to create the original game, he says, the design followed from the Wiimote -- which seems kind of obvious when you play Elebits, the game of pointing at stuff.
The games were more popular in the U.S. than in Japan, which Mukaitoge theorizes is due in part to Japan's reliance on franchises: "Well I've found that mysterious myself, as well, but the Japanese market tends to purchase games that already have previous versions, like franchise games, instead of original ones. Maybe that is one of the reasons. It's not a good thing though..."
This startlingly candid interview is worth checking out. Towards the end, Sheffield and Mukaitoge begin riffing on obscure Saturn and PC Engine RPGs and talking about great Yuzo Koshiro music. It's always nice to find out that game directors put some effort into playing games occasionally.
