Miyamoto on making Super Mario Run simple, Nintendo’s approach and future on mobile, more
Just when we thought all of the Super Mario Run interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto were done and over with, another one popped up on our radar. Pocket-lint was among several outlets that caught up with Miyamoto following the big news a few weeks ago. Topics in the interview included the importance of making Super Mario Run simple, how Nintendo is approaching mobile and its future there, and more.
As always, we encourage you to read up on the full article, which you can do right here. A roundup of notable comments can be found after the break.
On how a rethinking of what works on mobile was important…
“Over the years we have been making the side-scrolling games like the Super Mario Bros series and Super Mario Maker, and we also have the 3D games, like Super Mario Galaxy, where you’re running around in a 3D space. Our intent has always been that the side-scrolling new Super Mario Bros games would be simpler – games that more casual players could be able to enjoy. But what we’ve found is that even though they are designed to be simpler and easier to understand, the controls can still be difficult for some players and they have a hard time controlling Mario or making him run and jump at the same time. We wanted to ask how we can make the experience even simpler for somebody who had never played a Mario game before. That’s been the focus with Super Mario Run: a game that’s even easier to get into and play.”
On whether this is the next stage in accessible/casual games…
“For many years our mission in approaching hardware has been our goal of expanding the number of people playing games. Now, people are having these interactive experiences through their smart devices and so that’s accomplished this great mission of helping to turn more people into gamers. We’re using this opportunity to bring our characters to this audience and let them experience the fun of our games and hopefully bring them back to our platforms.”
On the bonuses of a smartphone over a conventional console…
“Even when we were working on the first DS system, we were thinking about opportunities to incorporate GPS or how to use a persistent network connection. We didn’t do it then, but now with a mobile device we’re looking into functionalities like the persistent network connection.
That will play an important part in the Kingdom element of the game where you have your own Mushroom Kingdom and you’re bringing the Toad characters into the Kingdom and expanding and customising it, using that network connection. We’ll continue to look at the uniqueness of each hardware platform and create mobile games that leverage this to do things that can only be done there.”
On working with Apple’s hardware…
“The iPhone and iOS are great to work on because it’s stable. In terms of working with Apple, we found we shared a lot of philosophies and we found from early on it was easy to work with them. It’s Apple’s hardware of course, not ours, but that just means it’s a framework in which you try to be as creative as possible – it’s not a limitation, I look at it as a lot of fun.”
On how important smartphone gaming will become…
“We’ll continue to look at the opportunities smartphones bring and when we see one we’ll continue to design for that hardware in a way that takes advantage of the functionality there. But we’ll keep designing for our own platforms as well.”
