Nintendo Dream Interview with Toby Fox from 2018
This is an old interview from 2018 where readers from Nintendo Dream magazine would send in questions for Toby Fox to answer.
Please let tell us the names of those two girls in Hotland! I want to cosplay them but it's a bit of a problem not knowing their names...
Toby Fox
This is a good question!! Sadly, I can't think of names for them... Oh I've got it!! Why don't the readers of Nintendo DREAM come up with their names and I'll pick them in next month's issue! ...Huh? What's that? I'm not going to be in the next issue? What?!?! Come on!! I wanted to know their names!!! (*The dog's body begins to fade...)
When I talk about UNDERTALE on social media I sometimes receive comments in English. I suck at English so I can't give any good replies. Please teach me some really cool phrases in English!!
Toby Fox
Normal phrase: Thank you so much! Really cool phrase: Yo, thanks. Honestly, I don't really know English, but I memorized this sentence because I wanted to give you a cool response.
Are there any plans to continue working on hard mode?
Toby Fox
Oh well you see...
(*The dog winks)
(*The camera zooms on the dog's eyelid)
(*On it "NO" is written in large letters)
Why did you not use "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans"?
Toby Fox
Well, it says "might" in the title, right?
I'm trying to get determined about my future. Toby, what's a time when you've been filled with determination?
Toby Fox
Your future huh... Well first you want to picture your goal in your mind. What are you shooting for. More than what why, why do you want to do this? What's most important is thinking about what can make you and those around you the happiest. Hm... A moment of determination for me... It was one day when I didn't want to get out of bed and then I heard the main theme from Final Fantasy (FFIV Version) and was immediately filled with the will power to hop out of bed. And then I ate breakfast.
I'm a big fan of UNDERTALE. I'm also a big fan of cats. Where can I meet some cute kittens?
Toby Fox
Well, there's always cat cafes but I've heard the cats aren't taken care of very well there sometimes... My recommendation is to make friends with someone who has a cat and make up any reason to keep going over to their house. That should be easier than taking care of one yourself.
Toby, do your characters have conversations in your head? If so, what have they been talking about recently?
Toby Fox
When I'm writing dialogue they're usually talking in my head. When I'm not writing though they don't talk. In the UNDERTALE Alarm Clock app which I'm hard at work at, I'm planning on having a lot of those pointless monologues in it.
UNDERTALE was the first game I've ever played, and it shattered any preconceptions I had about them. With that said, here's a question. Which *is* harder the Junior Jumble or Crosswords?
Toby Fox
That's a tough one... The crossword is a higher difficulty and is aimed at adults while the junior jumble is a simple puzzle for children... Which one you believe to be more challenging says a lot about your personality.
It seems like Sans reads books to Papyrus, so I was wondering what kind of books has he been reading to him lately?
Toby Fox
You mean besides the children's books and manuals on puzzle construction that everyone already knows... Lately they've been like this:
Toby Fox
...They've just been reading recipes from UnderNet. Maybe Alphys has been sending them.
I love your work! Please tell us where mom from the ruins gets the ingredients for the butterscotch pie. Are there places in The Underground that the human doesn't go through? -Mr. Toilet
Toby Fox
Ah Mr. Toilet, thank you for your wonderful question. Your parents had a real knack for naming their kids.
It's exactly as you said. There are places in The Ruins and Home that the human never sees. Although nobody lives there anymore it's a whole city and it seems like there's quite a lot there...
Speaking of this is also the case for New Home, the player only sees a portion of it. Within the entire underground half of all monsters live there (At least that's what I think) It's a large city with many places the player hasn't stepped foot in and many monsters they've never met.
When looking at the core from the outside I get the same feeling that the inside must be much larger than what is seen.
We never see the school those two girls from Hotland go to, or the company the businessmen work at... There are probably many other places we haven't seen. But I'm leaving that to your imagination!! Because I'm not working on this game anymore!!
Why did you decide to call the game UNDERTALE?
Toby Fox
I noticed that titles of two things I love the game EarthBound and the webcomic Homestuck both are made up of two words stuck together. So, for my game I wanted something similarly catchy.
The title of a game I love in English is Cave Story. The word 'story' means the same thing as 'tale' so I swapped those out and the game takes place in the underground, so I used 'under' instead.
Oh, right the developer of Cave Story recently put out a new game on Switch called Kero Blaster. Please give it a try! There are cute frogs in it!
It's been a while since the Switch version was released. Has anything changed?
Toby Fox
No.
Congratulations on winning the award of excellence from the Japan Game Awards 2018, do you have any comments?
Toby Fox
It's a great honor, I'm glad! I'm grateful to everyone involved and to all the fans!
Thank you for answering everyone's questions but it seems like it's time for us to end it here. Do you have any closing remarks?
Toby Fox
If you have anything you want to do you should start now without fear. No matter how old you are. If you start now, you'll come up with good ideas along the way, and you'll gain a lot of EXP. Wait, this is supposed to be the serious part! When it comes to game development, music, or art, there are a lot of free tools online!! So please j-just G-g-google it or something...!
S-somehow... Please... Do... It...
(*The dog's body fades away...)