The legendary video game developer Shigeru Miyamoto has talked with Japanese magazine Casa Brutus about the Mario games that have impressed him most and left a lasting impression on him. The two games are Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo and Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. He said that during development of Super Mario World he felt like he had mastered 2D platforming and that Super Mario 64 reminded him of his childhood, during which he wanted to be a puppet master, and that the visuals reminded him of puppet theatre. Here’s what he had to say:
“I have a deep emotional connection to all of my works. By the completion of Super Mario World, I felt that I’d, to a degree, mastered the two-dimensional Mario world. But then, with Super Mario 64 going 3D, I was reminded of my childhood. Going back even further than my manga-drawing junior high school days, in grade school I loved the NHK puppet shows, such as ‘Chirorin Village and the Walnut Tree’ and ‘Hyokkori Hyotan Island’, and I thought I wanted to become a puppet maker. I’d construct these ‘monster dioramas’ and shoot them with my camera. Creating Super Mario 64 felt like a return to that time. Two-dimensional Mario felt like drawing manga, while 3D brought me back to puppet theater… It’s somehow all connected, you know?”
Mine would be smb3 and Mario world.
Mario bros 3 because I was amazed how much better it looked than super Mario bros and super Mario world because I was again amazed how much better it looked than super Mario bros 3.
They are definitely my favourite Mario games if I had to pick 2
Super Mario Land 2 was pretty impressive in its time. Felt like Mario was going on a proper adventure after the first game, which felt kind of strange even if you didn’t know why. But yeah, Mario 64 was unlike anything the world had ever seen. That just can’t be topped.
He mastered nothing, until completing Yoshis Island SMW2.
What do you mean he mastered nothing?
This is such a sweet quote ngl
Dw it’s bait lol
(Also oops replied to this with my other comment)
Nearly all of his works are impressive for the time period and hardware constraints.
Super Mario 64 is the game of my childhood. It was one of the first games I ever owned, it’s the first game I ever beat and saw the credits roll for, and Charles Martinet (the voice of Mario from the 90s to 2023) was my childhood hero and an inspiration for me to want to go into voice acting. It taught me to try again if I lost a life and got kicked out of a level. The world and level design fueled my imagination. To this day, the credits music can bring me to tears from the nostalgia.
I wouldn’t be the first to admit that this game has some facets that haven’t aged well- it does have its flaws. But I will tolerate no baseless slander of one of the games that most influenced the person I’ve become.
I agree with him.