Huge Miyamoto interview – No retirement yet, balance between sequels and new games needed, more
Miyamoto on whether he believes that his honor is decades overdue/deserved due to Donkey Kong/Mario or more recent creations…
“I don’t really know… I think that my best work is yet to come, actually. I mean, in the past five years I’ve been working on such unusual game titles, like Wii Fit Plus or Wii Sports Resort. And, probably, ten years ago I could never have been able to imagine that I would be making games like that. I’ve really enjoyed making unusual titles like those, that can remind me that in the next ten years or so I’ll be able to have unexpected joy in creating some very different genres from what I can imagine today. That’s why I can say that the best is yet to come to me.”
Miyamoto on retirement…
“Well, I am one of the company workers and the company has to retire me some time. So from that perspective, yes I may have to retire from Nintendo some day. But when I look around and see how aged cartoonists continue to work on their manga and how movie directors create new movies all the time, I understand that they would never retire. And by the same token, I guess I will still be making games somehow. The only question is whether the younger people will be willing to work with me at that far point in the future.”
Miyamoto on whether the games he creates change as he matures…
“Well I just don’t know, but when I look back I can tell that after I started having a family, I certainly wanted to make games that could be played with all the family members. That was definitely the big change in my life, as well as my career in making games. As I am ageing, naturally, how I want my videogames to be played must be changing. Having said that, however, I have never lost my passion for making the so-called ‘traditional’ type of games, which is why I have devoted so much of myself to the creation of Super Mario Galaxy 2. So all I can say is that the type of game I will be willing to work on must be varied and expanded in theme. Right now, I have to ask myself what kind of game I would be willing to work on right before my death. I just cannot imagine that right now, but in the near future I think the kind of themes we work in as videogame creators will be expanded, so I’m very excited to see what kind of games I can make in the future.”
Miyamoto on the King of Kong film…
“Well, I was certainly flattered and glad to see the film. I was surprised to see people reacting so well to a game that I had worked on in various unexpected ways, and doing some very crazy things in the process. That really flatters me.”
Miyamoto on why he thinks that Donkey Kong has a big following…
“Well, I think it reminds us of the importance of the very basic structure of videogames. Knowing that basic structure when creating a new game will have a huge difference compared to if you weren’t aware of the basics. In the case of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, for example, from the perspective of new developers, we were able to take the basic structure and then change it into something new. And we also have the Virtual Console on Wii, of course, where people can enjoy the traditional, classic types of videogames. I think that can be a good thing for game creators as well, because they can now learn how games used to be. I think we need to repeat that kind of process. Whenever we are trying to make some step forward, we should understand what was the origin and how we started making some of those complicated things.”
Miyamoto on what he learned from creating Mario sequels on the NES that helps him make a sequel today…
“Well, yes, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first Mario game in many years to have a number 2 attached to the end of the title. And it’s very unusual software because we very rarely create more than one Mario platform game on the same hardware. In other words, this is a rare occasion when we’ve been able to create a sequel without the benefits that come from the evolution of technology between generations. And that is precisely because, as soon as we finished Super Mario Galaxy, we had to notice the fact that there were so many ideas that we still had left over from the first game. In fact, at the time, we felt that maybe we should start working on Mario Galaxy 1.5. In other words, we wanted to create experiences especially for those people who had completed the first game.
In the past we had Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 and 3 and then Super Mario World. And the reason Super Mario World was not Super Mario Bros. 4 was that we wanted to make it clear to the audience that this new game would give you some new experiences that you could not expect from Super Mario Bros. And although we originally thought that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would simply be made from additional challenges for those who had completed the first game, as we progressed with the creation of Super Mario Galaxy 1.5 we noticed that there were too many new experiences for it to be merely an incremental update, and that it felt more like a completely new game. But since it still uses many of the core Galaxy ideas, we’ve named it Super Mario Galaxy 2.”
Miyamoto on the differences of adding Yoshi in Super Mario Sunshine/Galaxy 2…
“Well, thanks to the use of the pointer on the Wii Remote, I think we’ve been able to create gameplay that can take advantage of the good appeal of the Yoshi character.”
Miyamoto on whether he worries that time spent creating sequels takes away time from creating unique IP or reviving old franchises on Wii…
“Well you know that, after all, there are several different producers that report to me, and my job is mainly to assign appropriate works to them. So, for example, when I am deeply involved in both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii at a hands-on level, I am taking on those jobs so that the other producers can work on more original works without my help. So it’s actually about striking a balance with how I allocate my priorities across my work. So it’s not an issue of how many titles I am supervising at any give time. There is an upper limit to how many projects I can take on, of course, so I have to make sure that there’s a good balance between sequels and new projects, and that I can devote myself to some hands-on development where needed.”
Miyamoto on whether he misses the competition from the old days or he enjoys that the market essentially belongs to Mario…
“Yes, exactly. That’s something that I was thinking about while making Mario Galaxy 2. I realised that there are no other games on the marketplace that compare to what we were doing. So, because of that, I think there is a great significance to the fact that we are making a game like this. From the beginning of my career, however, I have never approached development in terms of competing with any other existing or future game software from other companies at all. Our own goal is to try to make some unique games that cannot be compared with anything else on the marketplace, so I think that because there are no rivals to Mario Galaxy 2, we really needed to make a game that people consider to be very new. Of course, there is also some fear that if there are fewer creators working in this particular genre then that might mean that the audience for platform games will grow smaller. However, looking from a different perspective, I think that as long as we can successfully communicate the appeal of the genre then it is possible that a great many people will be intrigued enough to play. So we need to work carefully to market the product and work even harder to create extremely satisfying gameplay. If we can accomplish that then I think it will be a meaningful product for us.
Another issue is that the 3D action genre can be very difficult for novice players. On the other hand, once you get accustomed to how to move in a three-dimensional world, it really is a very enjoyable genre for anybody. So, even though we’ve made Super Mario Galaxy 2 a very challenging game, we’ve also made the play control as easy as possible, and I think many players will enjoy the game once they’ve tried it for themselves.
They say that 3D games are very difficult and challenging in general, and there are a few factors that can contribute to this. Sometimes the boss battles can be very hard, the stages can be too long and, in addition, some people have a fundamentally hard time with control and knowing where they are and where they’re supposed to be going in a full three-dimensional world. With regard to that last point, I think Super Mario Galaxy 2 is going to be something unique because I think we have created the most understandable, easiest 3D world where you can easily manipulate the Mario character. So although we’ve created the game with veteran Mario players in mind, with much more challenging bosses, for example, the ease with which players can control Mario and navigate the world should also make this the optimal way for new players to get to grips with the 3D action genre.”
Miyamoto on why Nintendo stays away from violent games…
“Well, as a rule I am trying not to comment on the works of other people. But one thing I can tell you is that I really appreciate the variety of different videogames that are being made by so many different types of people. However, many people are working solely in a single genre that is concentrated on excessive violence, and the only competition there is who can come up with the most violent depictions. That’s not something that I really appreciate. And I think that when there are many people working in such a genre, the job of me and Nintendo is to try to establish to the world that there are a great many other ways to take advantage of the interactive format of videogames; to provide fun and surprise to the people around the world.”
Miyamoto on upending the tea table…
“Seriously, I don’t think that I have ever upended the tea table but some people have come out and said that secretly I have. So you might want to approach some of them and see what they have to say. However, there have been some recent incidents during the development of both New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Because I am such a great fan of this style of videogame, I really want to start playing and get absorbed in the game as soon as I have purchased the disc. On the other hand, the young developers these days prefer to add so many frills that can prevent us from getting started with gameplay right from the beginning. So, because of that, I should say that sometimes when they present me with the planning sheets detailing those kinds of frills, I have to sometimes tear them apart and say, ‘No, let’s delete those.’”
Miyamoto on whether the Wii HD talk frustrates him…
“No, it’s not frustrating really. I think everyone already understands this point but technology is always evolving and Nintendo, just like other companies, is going to integrate those technologies into our new products as they develop. Whether that be a Wii HD, Wii 2 or an entirely new console, I am not in a position to say at this point. The only thing I can say is that technology is available to all equally today, and how we decide to make use of that technology and in what format is what will make our hardware unique in comparison to the hardware that comes from other manufacturers. So I think that in the next generation of hardware, the challenge is how unique and different a product Nintendo is able to make.”
Miyamoto responding to a comment that it’s easy to see what a difference HD can make while unfamiliar technology is more difficult to see how it will improve experiences…
“Well, you know, whenever we are working on something new and unexpected, that’s something very interesting and fun for us to do internally, so Nintendo will always continue to pursue such challenges. One thing I would like to tell you, and to tell your readers, is that whenever Nintendo makes some public announcement about some new project, Nintendo has done so only after being able to confirm internally that it is something that the general public will be able to appreciate.”
Miyamoto on the Vitality Sensor…
“You’re entirely right that I cannot say anything about the Vitality Sensor right now. But, certainly, whenever we are going to use any new device it is possible to expand the appeal to those who are new to the videogaming world. At the same time, however, it is also fun to think of ways in which we might apply that new technology to existing forms of gameplay just like the way we are working on the new Legend Of Zelda together with Wii Motion Plus. So maybe you might like to ask me to incorporate the Vitality Sensor into Zelda so that as you become more scared, the enemies become even tougher.”
Miyamoto on the industry’s shift towards motion-control…
“As you know, from the very beginning with the control pad of the NES up to the N64’s analogue stick and rumble pak, I am always working on new interfaces. As an industrial designer, I developed such interfaces in order to enable the types of play styles I hoped to create in my videogames. And from that perspective, once again, if we were able to establish the defacto standard of the industry’s control mechanisms then I should say that I think that is something we should welcome.”
Miyamoto on who inspires him in game design…
“I just can’t think of any particular person. Instead I feel that I receive a lot of positive energy from the younger developers who have been working with me. After all, those who work with me are in some ways my rivals… Now that I think about it, though, Mr Will Wright is a very unique person and someone very special because he has a unique way of thinking about everything that he does. So that reminds me how important the individual’s thinking style is when coming up with new and unique game experiences.”
