IAMA former Nintendo product tester.

Proof? Good proof in this case would be a paystub.

My paystubs for this job would be in a file with my parents maybe? I was still living at home when I was working there. Might not be available quickly.

Why would you do this AMA until that shit was readily available?

It was requested inside the other thread so I made it at work. I didnt think it would gain any traction.

Sorry you're getting downvoted so much. I followed you here from the thread where folks were asking for this, so I feel like you just got kinda screwed in the end. Thanks for trying, either way :)

lol thank you. Just imaginary internet points though, nothing too exciting. I feel like people were expecting me to be like, "and then Shigeru Myamoto comes in every morning and poops on everyones desk, which we feast on for the days rigorous schedule of playing nothing but mario and zelda!". Testing videogames, in my experience, is just like most jobs.

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I didnt think it was worth it but it was requested multiple times in another thread so I obliged. One of the guys that sat next to me for a while drank his own piss. Interesting enough?

Did you ever test any games that got scrapped or never got released?

Nope. Not to my knowledge.

List all the easter eggs u remember to have found!

Sadly none! I wish. Most of the "easter eggs" we found just ended up being bugs so they never made It into the final build.

how did you get your job

A family friend of mine is one of the heads of their product development team. I asked for an interview and after two of them was hired.

Biggest failure you've seen?

Hmm hard to say as I only worked on handful of projects, mostly ds titles. I would say that a few of the puzzle type ds games probably did fairly poorly, but the turn around time is so quick im sure its not their main concern.

what about some of those shovelware Wii games? You know, the stuff you can pick up for 5 bucks at the Walmart discount bin?

Tested a fair share of those. They made for the longest days.

Was testing fun or did doing it as your job feel like a chore?

It was fun for a while, especially when I first started new projects. Running that same game from the start for 8 hours a day does, as you can imagine, get a little old.

Were there any games that made you hate their developers? Like for being super frustrating to play, really buggy, or really hard?

There was this puzzle game for ds where you played as any number of animals in fancy suits. It was difficult to learn and unsatisfying to master. Given the few weeks I was on it the single jazz track got preeeeeeety old. I still hear it sometimes when I fall asleep.

what was your favorite product tested?

Definitley the ds Zelda title. Forgetting the name but you ride a train in it. Spirit tracks? Anyway...not my favorite Zelda title but way better to play 40 hours a week than backgammon or something of the sort.

You played it for 40 hours a week and you couldn't remember the name of it? Just lol.

Lol dude it was 4 years.

• Any secret that Nintendo would not want us to hear about?
• Any funny story while working there?

Not too sure about the secrets....but a few stories. They management there were kind of....kooky.

My body is ready

One of the head honcho managers there was kind of paranoid. He would like...hide behind cubicles and wait for people to start getting off topic or slacking and jump out to chastise them. Rumor was he also had to go to rehab for a WOW addiction.

Also there was a guy who drank urine that sat next to me.

wait wat?

Its pretty much exactly as it sounds. He claimed it was healthy, but only three times a day. You meet some interesting people testing videogames

This is why AMA is going downhill PESTER FOR PROOF BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS. He went and said some lame answers answering nothing then says we're getting "uppity" so he's done AKA he has no proof this is fake he wasted our time.

If you have a good idea of how to prove it then I would welcome it. Some people in the other thread wanted me to answer some questions so I made this one. No ones forcing you to read this and if you insist that I'm lying then just stop doing so. Nobody wasted your time but you.

Was there any instance where a project in its earlier stages was complete crap, but then once you tested a later version, it was significantly better? Or vice versa (seemed promising but then later was terrible).

Not that I can remember distinctly. Since we were testing builds that had already been worked on substantially by the Japanese teams they ended up being relatively clean and polished. Some were more buggy than otheres but on my experience they were pretty good representations of the final products. All the testing I did was software/hardware.

How much did you get payed? Did you get any enjoyment out of playing the games?

If I remember correctly it was around 10/hr. I did enjoy the environment and the people. The games were a means to a paycheck eventually.

Heyyyy I did this too! Did it in the summer 2010 through Aerotek. The work environment was nice, but the job itself gets incredibly tedious. Text-check on an RPG...I still wake up in a cold sweat.

Yeah man....options menu testing was my nightmare.

Do you get some sort of credit in games you have tested? Such as getting your name in the credits of a game.

I have heard of that, but generally contracted employees dont get listed in credits to my knowledge.

Why is reddit so easy to trick this is obviously fake. He has no proof can get no proof and is giving broad general answers and got the idea from the other nintendo worker IAMA but that guy had lame stories too since he wasn't a product tester or in marketing so this guy made this. Stop asking questions intil he provides proof everyone has ticket stubs etc.

Why would I have my pay stubs from. 4 year old job? I literally stand to gain nothing from lying about this. If your dissatisfied with my answers then don't participate in the thread.

How many hours of testing do games have to go through before they are released?

It all depends on the size of the project. Weeks to months.

How did you apply for the job? Via an ad or by contacting the company?

I got my first interview through a family friend and applied at the beginning.

Just out of curiosity, but wouldn't you have signed a NDA or two? Unless it expired very recently it seems you wouldn't really be able to talk about much.

Afaik im free to talk about products that have already been released.

What was your average workday like? Like when they asked you to play a game, did you have a very specific task that you had to do (e.g., use this item in this area in these ways for so many hours), or did they just give you a general idea of what to look for?

Sometimes if there was a specific bug they were trying to recreate to capture It we would do things like that but a lot of it was ad hoc.

So if there's an Aerotek near me, does that mean they're the one Nintendo works with?

I dont believe so.

What was the salary? (btw easily one of the coolest jobs ever, I would do it for free)

Pretty normal salary. 10/hr If I remember correctly.

I know its before your time, but do you have a mailing address for the person responsible for the power glove? I'd like my 50 bucks back.

Lol

What exactly did you have to do? Bugs, glitches, overall feel? what were you required to report?

I was required to identify, capture video of, and report any bugs or glitches according to their guidelines.

What's your opinion on the 3DS?

Sad to say I havent actually gotten around to trying it yet. Looks cool though! A little gimmicky, but that seems to be the idea these days.

What consoles did you test games on?

Ds and wii

Do you go home and play video games after work or are you too stir crazy to do that?

You know I really gamed just as much. I wasnt playing wii at the time very much so it helped that I could go home and play something different for a minute.

Have you played the Wii U Zelda game?

I played skyward sword, twighlight princess on thr gamecube though. Very impressed. Loved it. Would have been fun to test.

What is your favorite Nintendo game? (not specifically that you've tested, just in general)

Favorite non-Nintendo game?

Did you take the job because you're a "gamer" and you love to play video games, or was it more because you needed the cash?

Did you receive free copies of games that you tested, or get any sort of discount?

Thanks for the AMA, looking forward to your responses.

-Gonna have to go with Ocarina of time.

-hmm tough one....huge AC series fan. Probably my favorite one at the moment.

-a bit of both really. I was pretty young, and at the time it seemed like a ton of money to me. Plus we got paid weekly which I loved.

• not on the games I tested necessarily but there was a company store I recieved a discount at.

In general, how many games do you think you tested?

Its hard to say, depending on the size of the project you can be assigned to it for a few weeks or a few months. I would say I probably was a part of testing around ten titles with a little bit here and there with others.

Its hard to say, depending on the size of the project you can be assigned to it for a few weeks or a few months. I would say I probably was a part of testing around ten titles with a little bit here and there with others.

Oh he's also a barista.

I am a barista...

Can you recall any efforts made by Nintendo to make new series and franchises? I mean Mario, Pokemon, and Zelda are all great, but something new and fresh would really be appreciated.

Almost everything I tested was either an existing IP or a rehash of an older one.

I blame you for the Wii

2009 I worked there need I remind you.

Doesn't matter, this is the internet. I'm mad at something and now someone mildly associated with something close to it is around. You're probably the reason they're getting rid of dualshock controllers for the next PS, too

But really, my bad

Blasphemy. Ive heard nothing of thid dualshock business. Say it ain't so?

There are rumours of a touch-screen controller, perhaps laid out like the Vita. Rumours are rumours though. We'll have to wait until Sony officially announce something.

Hmm yeah E3 should settle this. I really hope they keep making dualshocks as an option though.

I'm very much looking forward to see what Sony and Microsoft are going to bring to the table this generation.

Im really excited for the new processors. I can't wait to not have to listen to my xbox (first generation) roar when I watch netflix.