In a new interview published today, Shigeru Miyamoto commented on the Pikmin series and said he’s wondered why the games haven’t sold more and why people think they’re so difficult.

For Pikmin 4, it sound like Nintendo wanted to make the game as approachable as possible. The company’s Yuji Kando said the team “prioritized ease of play and experimented with making the controls easy enough for those who aren’t used to playing games.” Camera and AI improvements were a focus as well. Miyamoto added that Nintendo wanted to “retain the depth of gameplay that makes Pikmin so interesting, while providing the functional support to address the challenges around controls.”

Here’s the full interview excerpt:

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Nintendo devs reveal Pikmin origins, started out on N64

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Switch | 0 comments

The original developers behind Pikmin have discussed the game’s origins, including how it was originally being developed for the N64.

Masamichi Abe, who was director at the time, said in a new interview published today that “discussion of this project started during the transition from Super NES to Nintendo 64, so we had a strong aspiration to utilize its ability to display a large number of characters on screen.” Shigefumi Hino, who also was director, added that it was originally “envisioned a game that would control a lot of characters with AI.” The interview includes a number of concept art / images as well, and character designer Junji Morii talked about being inspired by Tim Burton.

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Nintendo director salaries for Shuntaro Furukawa, Miyamoto, and more shared in 2023 annual report

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Nintendo’s latest annual report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, which was just issued today, outlines the salaries of the company’s top directors including president Shuntaro Furukawa and Shigeru Miyamoto.

As the head of Nintendo, Furukawa earns the most with a salary of $2.51 million. Miyamoto follows in second with $2.02 million. The rest of the list rounds out with Shinya Takahashi (one of the hosts in the last Nintendo Direct) at $1.61 million, Satoru Shibata at $1.91 million, and Ko Shiota at $910,000. Note that these figures were converted from yen.

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Miyamoto says Nintendo was hesitant to make a backstory for Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Mario games are always about the gameplay, with the story often having a minimal impact. However, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the plot and its characters needed to take center stage. This created an interesting dilemma of sorts for Nintendo.

If you’ve seen The Super Mario Bros. Movie or any of its trailers, you obviously know that there’s more to Mario compared to the games – including a bit of a backstory. But Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said Nintendo felt some hesitation there since “we want Mario to be without restrictions” and going into more of his character “might become a disadvantage for future games.”

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Miyamoto says Dr. Mario shouldn’t be trusted

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Random | 0 comments

In the words of Shigeru Miyamoto, Dr. Mario is a character that shouldn’t be trusted.

IGN recently spoke with the Mario creator as part of an interview for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Miyamoto talked about how the film brought out a new side of the character as an everyman hero. However, when it comes to Dr. Mario, he’s a character shrouded in shadiness.

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Miyamoto on why Nintendo has been reluctant to make movie adaptations for its games

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has discussed why Nintendo has been hesitant to have its games adapted into movies.

To say this is a field that Nintendo hasn’t explored much would be an understatement. After taking Mario to the big screen with a live action film in 1993, the company hasn’t done much with other adaptations. That finally changed this week with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was created in partnership with Illumination.

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Nintendo and Illumination up for more movie collaborations

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie marks the first collaboration between Nintendo and Illumination. The two sides haven’t announced any additional projects, but it’s likely that their partnership will continue in the future.

Recently, Screen Rant spoke with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination’s Chris Meladandri. Miyamoto noted how he’s “sure we will continue working on this partnership.” Meladandri also brought up how he’s a part of the board of directors at Nintendo and mentioned that “we’re working together into the future with me in that capacity.”

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Miyamoto says he’s not against shooters and violent games

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

Speaking with Variety, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto clarified that he’s not against shooters and violent video games.

Some have had the perception that the Mario creator is opposed to violence in these types of experiences. That’s not the case, but Miyamoto feels it’s his “mission to find other ways to make an interesting and fun game.” When it comes to Mario, he’s “a character that never hurts other people”.

Miyamoto’s full words:

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Miyamoto on why Mario has been so popular

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

When you think about games and the most popular characters in the medium, Mario has to be there as one of the top choices. He’s been around for decades, in multiple titles and genres – and now he’s even getting his own animated movie.

So what’s been behind Mario’s long-term popularity? Shigeru Miyamoto, the character’s creator, recently shared some thoughts.

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Miyamoto doesn’t think Nintendo will change much when he’s gone

Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

In an interview with NPR, Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about what Nintendo will be like when he’s gone. But in his view, he doesn’t think much will change.

Miyamoto explained to the outlet that many people within the company – including those who work on Mario games – “all have this sense of what it means to be Nintendo.” He also pointed out how many new ideas often have the essence of Nintendo.

Miyamoto’s full words: