Keiji Inafune Says Mario Is The Game Creator’s Development Bible

Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune has been tied up with development for Mighty No. 9 of late, but he’s been on hand to interview in IGN’s article, which celebrates the life of our favourite red-capped plumber, Mario. Looking at different stages of Mario’s life, several developers and ex-Nintendo employees have shared their memories when it comes to creating their own games.

Nintendo of America’s former VP of marketing Perrin Kaplan said that, to him and many Nintendo employees, Mario was “half digital and half real human” and that his most amazing memory was when Super Mario 64 launched, where Mario could fly in the air. And Jim Merrick, former technical director of Nintendo of America, was also of the same opinion. Merrick thought of him as a colleague and “the guy who brought to life so many of Nintendo’s new products and technologies”.

But Keiji Inafune remembers Mario not as a colleague or a half human, but as the King of the development industry, seeing him as the game creator’s “development bible”. His comment in full can be seen below, but if you want to check out what other developers said, you can view the article, here.

“If any creator has not played Mario, then they’re probably not a good creator. That’s something I can say with 100 percent confidence. Mario is, for game creators, the development bible. There are so many hints about good design, about cute characters, about innovation in using an existing gameplay system. It’s something you have to constantly look at and examine and take hints from as a game creator. It’s the anchor that grounds almost all games.

“I have total respect for Miyamoto, to the point where… It’s very strange that there are national cultural treasures – they’re traditionally sportsmen. I think it’s very strange that somebody as famous as Miyamoto hasn’t been designated one of those people. He’s talked about in all different countries. Lots of people know him. He’s pushed forward Japanese culture and interest in Japan all over the world. He’s somebody that deserves everyone’s ultimate respect, and a lot of that is due to being able to create Mario. And Super Mario Bros. 3, of course, within that, was a fantastic game.”