Miyamoto talks Mario and the future of the franchise

Legendary video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto has sat down with Japanese art and architecture magazine Casa Brutus to talk all things Mario. While he has stepped away from video game development Miyamoto says that he plays the first thirty minutes a new entry to be assured that it feels throughly like a new Mario adventure.

“Nowadays, I have teammates who help maintain the world of Mario, so I entrust much of it to them,” he said. “Even so, I always personally play through about the first 30 minutes of the game and check the interface thoroughly — to make sure it really feels like Mario.”

Mr. Miyamoto also spoke of the eagerly-awaited The Super Mario Galaxy Movie which he’s confident will deliver the fun and thrill which viewers are expecting. He is heavily involved in the production of the movie and says that the main thing is that he wants the film to be fun.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie was possible because so many people took action and worked together,” Miyamoto said, via machine translation. “As a producer, I tried to make sure the team functioned smoothly. Many of the people involved said they’d like to work on the next project as well, so I guess that means we succeeded to some extent?”

 “The setting for the next movie is, just as the title says, the galaxy — that’s all I can really say. We’re in the final stages of production now, but I think it’s going to be fun. I usually just say, ‘I’ll keep working on it until it becomes fun,’ so that alone should tell you how confident I am (laughs).”

The Mario series is busy celebrating its 40th anniversary and Mr. Miyamoto says that he looks back on the classic games fondly. He admits that back when development of Super Mario World on the SNES was finished he thought the team can’t do any better and then new technology came along in the shape of the Nintendo 64 and they were able to bring about a fully 3D Mario platforming experience.

“By the time we finished Super Mario World, I felt we had thoroughly explored what could be done with Mario in two dimensions,” he said. “Then, when we moved into 3D with Super Mario 64, it brought back memories from my childhood.”

“With the help of many passionate people outside our company, Mario has expanded into theme parks and movies, and I’m really looking forward to how things will develop from here,” he said.

“Up through Super Mario Odyssey, I feel we’ve done just about everything we could on the Switch. In the past, whenever a new console came out, we always released a new Mario game, so I do wonder how the current team will take on that challenge.

“But maybe I’ll say, ‘I won’t look anymore!’ (laughs) I just hope to stay healthy until Mario’s 50th anniversary!”

Thanks to Greatsong1 for sending in the news tip!