This is the 2010-2011 page of the Shigeru Miyamoto Archive.
| 1983-1996 | 1997-1998 | 1999-2000 | 2001-2003 | 2004-2007 | 2008-2009 |
| 2010-2011 | 2012-2013 | 2014-2015 | 2016-2017 | 2018-2023 | 2024-2027 |
| Lost, Suspected, Incomplete, Unscanned, Untranslated |
2010
Iwata Asks: Game Seminar 2009 The Road To Completing Tomodachi Collection Part 1
Publication Date: January 15, 2010 (translated July 18, 2016)
Subject(s): Tomodachi Collection
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Takahashi Ryutaro, Mai Okamoto, Asuka Ito, Hatahan Umino, Shigeru Miyamoto
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/etc/seminar2009/tomodachi/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220630101822/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/etc/seminar2009/tomodachi/vol1/index.html
Translator: Matt Walker for Nintendo World Report
Summary: He’s bad at drawing people, but he would sketch people’s faces on business cards he was given. The fun in games comes from playing around with interactive things. Computer assisted design software is the ultimate game. People who are bad at drawing get excited when they draw something well, so he has long tried making a game involving drawing portraits. Things don’t get more interesting when more is put into them, doing something small and weird is more interesting. The Mii editor led to the creation of Tomodachi Collection.
When he proposed Miis during a Wii meeting many were opposed because development was almost done. He is fond of using as little save data as possible, Miis ended up being 74 bytes. Many said the Miis didn’t look realistic enough, but it’s just fun to make and share them. Hoped that people would make Miis of their whole family.
Tomodachi Collection sold well because there’s a clear concept and a good framework for people’s ideas.
Nintendo Dream (How Super Mario characters got their names, untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: February, 2010
Subject(s): Meaning behind the names of characters from the Super Mario series
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unknown Nintendo Dream interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Japanese Link: https://www.ndw.jp/mario-220913-2/
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220913010733/https://www.ndw.jp/mario-220913-2/
Notes: In the February, 2010 issue of Nintendo Dream magazine Mr. Miyamoto was asked about the meanings of the names of several Super Mario characters. There is currently no scan available for that issue. In 2022 Nintendo Dream’s website republished this interview, which is linked.
4Gamer.net, Game.Watch (reported on by Kotaku, partially untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: February 8, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Reported on by Brain Ashcraft, unknown 4Gamer.net and Game.Watch reporters, Akitoshi Kawazu, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://kotaku.com/what-does-a-hamster-have-to-do-with-super-mario-galaxy-5466522
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230222204943/https://kotaku.com/what-does-a-hamster-have-to-do-with-super-mario-galaxy-5466522
Japanese Links: https://www.4gamer.net/games/092/G009297/20100208012/
https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/347371.html
Japanese Archive Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20100406011323/http://www.4gamer.net/games/092/G009297/20100208012
https://web.archive.org/web/20160723191053/http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/347371.html
Notes: A machine translation describes this event as the “13th Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival ‘Symposium for Distinguished Service Award Winners'”. Mr. Miyamoto was given a Special Achievement Prize at this event and spoke with Akitoshi Kawazu on stage.
Summary: He used the gravity of planets in Super Mario Galaxy so that the player could come back to where they started and not get lost, like a hamster running in a ball.
A new Nintendo employee drew the original Bowser.
NBC News: Nintendo aims to get consoles in schools
Publication Date: March 19, 2010
Subject(s): Using the DS as an educational tool, BAFTA Awards, art
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Raphael G. Satter, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna35952226
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230511232559/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna35952226
Notes: This is an Associated Press article that doesn’t seem to be on their own website.
Summary: He is devoting himself the most to turning the DS into an educational tool. It will be brought to elementary and junior high schools in Japan.
It’s an honor to be have a BAFTA Academy Fellowship alongside people like Alfred Hitchcock.
He’s never said video games are an art.
Game Informer: Miyamoto On Mario Galaxy 2, More
Publication Date: March 26, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Galaxy 2
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Jeff Cork, Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This doesn’t seem to have appeared in the magazine.
Summary: They always try to make the best camera for every 3D game they make. There are two types of cameras: one that emphasizes the atmosphere of the world and one that some games need for movement.
Camera work is needed with The Legend of Zelda games so that players can see the 3D world, while Mario games have the easiest play control. The camera has been improved in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
He’s always been interested in the structure of video games and he wants to explore more subjects from his daily life. He wants consoles hooked up to living room TVs to encourage communication between family members. By moving beyond the normal scope of video games he can encourage people to look at their lives through different perspectives.
They’ve been trying to utilize more connectivity between the Wii and DS. Despite their research they haven’t found a great idea yet. However, you can receive trial versions of DS games by connecting to the Wii.
He’s interested in the communication between new devices and media, like with Facebook games. They are working on implementing Flipnote Studio on Hatena Company Ltd.’s website.
He’s not in a position to talk about third-party games. His personal criteria is how he feels about a game, if he feels uneasy about something then they have to work on it more. If he doesn’t understand something about a game then the players won’t either. It’s not good for Nintendo when such games are released.
Eurogamer: Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: March 31, 2010
Subject(s): Academy Fellowship, game pitches, delegation, Super Mario Galaxy 2, hobbies, the public perception of video games
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Johnny Minkley, Yasuhiro Minagawa (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Links: https://www.eurogamer.net/shigeru-miyamoto-interview
https://www.eurogamer.net/shigeru-miyamoto-interview?page=2
https://www.eurogamer.net/shigeru-miyamoto-interview?page=3
https://www.eurogamer.net/shigeru-miyamoto-interview?page=4
Archive Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20220415104353/https://www.eurogamer.net/shigeru-miyamoto-interview
Notes: The first part of this interview took place February 22, 2010.
Summary: Before he joined Nintendo he wanted to make something that would surprise the world, but he realized he had no ideas about how to do that.
He was lucky to live while Space Invaders was popular.
He feels humbled and embarrassed about winning the Academy Fellowship from BAFTA since he can’t make video games alone.
He vividly remembers Gunpei Yokoi telling him to stop worrying about something because there was nothing else he could do about it.
He tries to make games where players can be creative by teaching them something basic and then challenging them.
He’s tough when someone pitches a game to him. Good ideas solve multiple problems, it’s not enough to solve one.
Since he can’t do everything he assigns work to others, but he still has to see the final product. He spends his days meeting people and his nights concentrating on specific games.
He’s eager to practice what he’s interested in and doesn’t want to be defeated.
Subtle things about his hobbies make their way into his games. He got a cat recently.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a bit challenging for new players. It’s difficult for people who beat the first game. They’ve put a lot of work into 3D movement and have tried to make moving Mario easy. With Mario games they always have the challenge of catering to people who have played the previous games as well as people who have never played a video game.
Nintendo has been trying for five or six years to convince the public that video games are convenient. They want playing games to be taken for granted.
His wife had been playing a lot of Professor Layton, but she lost the game and got very upset.
Many are scared of video game technology, it’s his responsibility to remove the hurdles so that your grandparents can play.
[On stage at the BAFTA Awards, after Mr. Miyamoto has been given the Academy Fellowship.]
He’s grateful tonight to be able to see the games younger people made. Video games have a way to go before they are as accepted as movies, so they have to continue making a great effort.
[After the ceremony.]
Aspiring game makers should be themselves, and be different from others. Even as one person working on a game your idea can stand out and appeal to players.
He wants to create the same emotional attachment in his games that he feels towards them. These emotions transcend any language barrier.
GamesTM: The Man Behind Mario
Publication Date: April, 2010
Subject(s): Retirement, King of Kong, Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, violent games, upending the tea table, motion controls
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unnamed GamesTM interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Scans:
Notes: This interview took place shortly after Mr. Miyamoto was awarded a BAFTA.
Summary: His best work is yet to come. Ten years ago he never could have imagined working on Wii Fit Plus or Wii Sports Resort.
Nintendo will retire him at some point. When sees older manga artists or movie directors he understands that they will never retire.
When he started a family he wanted to make games that could be played by a family. He’s never lost that passion for traditional games, though, which is why he’s worked on Super Mario Galaxy 2. He’s asking himself what kind of game he’d work on before death. The themes used in video games will be expanded in the future.
He was surprised at how people played Donkey Kong in unexpected ways while watching King of Kong. It was flattering.
The fact that Donkey Kong still has such a following reminds us how important the structure of video games are. The Virtual Console is good for game creators, so they can see how games used to be.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is unusual in that they rarely make more than one Mario game per system. They had so many ideas left over when they finished the original. Super Mario World was not Super Mario Bros. 4 because they wanted to convey that it had new experiences.
The Wii Remote can be used to take advantage of Yoshi’s appeal.
Several producers report to him, and it’s his job to assign work to them. When he works on Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii at the same time it’s so that other producers can work on more original games. Since there’s a limit to how many games he can work on at once he has to find a good balance of sequels and new projects.
He realized while working on Super Mario Galaxy 2 that no other games compare to theirs. He has never tried to compete with other games during his career. Their goal is to make unique games that cannot be compared to others. There is the fear that if there are fewer platform games being made then their audience will shrink.
3D action games are also difficult for new game players. 3D games in general can be hard because of boss battles, long levels, and players having a tough time controlling them. Although Super Mario Galaxy 2 is hard, it’s very easy to control.
He appreciates the variety of games that people are able to make, but many only work on excessively violent games. It’s Nintendo’s job to show the world that there are many other things that can be done in video games.
He doesn’t think he has ever upended the tea table. However, he likes Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii to be the kinds of games that can be started right away. Sometimes young developers present him with planning documents where there are a lot of frills that get in the way of this, and he has to tell them to remove those frills.
Technology is always evolving, and Nintendo will always integrate it into their products. They will use that technology to make something unique.
Nintendo only makes public announcements about projects when they know that it is something the public will enjoy.
He can’t say anything about the Wii Vitality Sensor. It’s fun to think of ways that new technology can be used with old gameplay. He should be asked if the Wii Vitality Sensor will make enemies tougher in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword when you are scared.
In regards to the PlayStation Move, if the Wii’s motion controls have become the industry standard they should welcome it.
He gets a lot of positive energy from the younger developers at Nintendo. Will Wright is special and has a unique way of thinking.
He would also like to see a Star Fox game on the Wii.
The Times: Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who made Mario
Publication Date: April 22, 2010
Subject(s): BAFTA Awards
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Nigel Kendall, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/82cd60ae-1a21-4030-998e-5c649ad0e444
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250308055851/https://www.thetimes.com/article/82cd60ae-1a21-4030-998e-5c649ad0e444
Notes: This interview took place the day Mr. Miyamoto received the 2010 BAFTA Fellowship, March 19, 2010. Thank you to Daniel Alba for assistance in finding this interview.
Summary: His hobbies show up in his work often. He started weighing himself every day, and he thought there could be a game based around that.
Accepting an award like the BAFTA makes him uneasy, games are made by teams of people. People like Alfred Hitchcock have won this award, he doesn’t know that he deserves to be in such company.
He never could have predicted Nintendo would become an international company. They’ve never developed a strategy for global expansion, it has come gradually. It’s a surprise that an industrial designer is receiving this award.
It fascinates him how old things are in Europe. There’s so much detail in the building, they must have been motivated by their love of God.
Nintendo Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars
Publication Date: April 27, 2010
Subject(s): DS, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Wii Remote, text messaging, Nintendo leadership, Nintendo culture, Gunpei Yokoi
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Osamu Inoue, Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: Parts of this interview with Mr. Miyamoto appeared in several Nikkei Business articles before eventually being included in this book. The interview appears in small pieces in over 15 places in the book and may not represent the entire interview.
I have listed this entry by the release date of the English version, but it’s not clear when this interview took place. The prologue states that all information is current as of April, 2009, so late 2008 is my best guess.
Summary: After being told by Hiroshi Yamauchi to make a device with two screens he thought it would be neat if one of the screens was a touch screen.
No one liked an early Wii Remote prototype that was disc shaped and had a star button. Another had a pointing device like a computer mouse, but they might use something like it in the future.
Kids have more fun sending text messages than they do with any Nintendo game. If they made a game where you had to write a text as fast as possible, it would be the most fun game in Japan. He was jealous of how phones integrated into their lives. He knew games had to do the same.
Super Mario Bros. and Pikmin’s settings come from Komugiyama and Tenjinyama mountains.
He had always wanted to work on dictionary and brain training games, but Mario and The Legend of Zelda always kept him busy.
Nintendo had always been ruled by one person at the top, which could become stuffy. Things changed when Satoru Iwata took over, due to his outsider’s perspective.
He still works with a lot of the same people he did 20 years ago.
He doesn’t get tired of trying to surprise people. He does say every year that he’s out of ideas, though. Feeling pressure wears you out, he tries to have as much fun as possible at his job.
Both Nintendo and Apple are good at predicting how customers will react.
A TV with a Wii connected is easier to use. Electronics companies have done poorly with interfaces. Their standards are higher.
Gunpei Yokoi would look at something and wonder what kind of product he could make out of it, and that’s remained a part of Nintendo’s culture. He knew the cutting edge wasn’t the only answer. Nintendo does not go for the cutting edge.
Hiroshi Yamauchi suddenly said “no more arcade games” and moved everyone to the Nintendo Entertainment System. He worried about whether it was a good idea at the time.
Iwata Asks: Iwata Asks: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Volume 1
Publication Date: May 11, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Galaxy 2
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/supermariogalaxy2/0/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040253/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/supermariogalaxy2/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/interview/sb4j/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221017153125/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/interview/sb4j/vol1/index.html
Summary: Development of Super Mario Galaxy 2 felt somewhat like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, they wanted to expand. It started as a 1.5, but new things kept being added.
It’s important for players to immediately know what an enemy does.
He said Mario games do not need stories or movies during development of Super Mario Galaxy, thought it was getting too like Zelda, so Super Mario Galaxy 2 would not have those. He talked with Yoshiaki Koizumi for several hours about how Mario games did not need Mario to talk, that it would make the games feel too childish.
A challenge with 3D games is needing to tutorialize new players, which can bore people who have already played it. Satoru Iwata suggested the tutorial DVD.
Gaming Media
Publication Date: May 14, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Vitality Sensor, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Interview (subtitled)
People: Unknown Gaming Media interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDkYj8LC3jY
Translator: Damir Halilović for Nintendo Prime
Notes: Gaming Media is a German site, and the video apparently originally appeared here, but it seems to no longer be available. This interview took place on March 17, 2010. Uploaded by YouTube user Nintendo Prime.
Summary: They usually don’t make two games of a series for a console, but they still made Super Mario Galaxy 2. They were supposed to do a Super Mario Galaxy 1.5, but it ended up being better to make a new one.
The awards he’s won make him feel older.
He can talk more about the Wii Vitality Sensor if it appears at E3.
For The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword it’s important to meet people’s expectations and to surprise them. Usually they do the video sequences first, but they started with the gameplay this time. They need to optimize the gameplay and make the controls user friendly.
It’s an advantage that as they develop hardware they can think about what kind of games they want to make, but doing so before the hardware is done is a disadvantage. They want their hardware to be flexible so that they can use it, that’s why they make demos.
Hiroshi Yamauchi’s history with the entertainment industry taught them a lot. In the entertainment industry it’s important to have something unique.
Players ask for the functions that other companies have, but what they really want is new features, things the others don’t have.
He wasn’t aware of how important his work on Donkey Kong would be as he was making it. Nothing good comes from pressure. You should make something unique. He goes step by step instead of having goals.
In Super Mario Galaxy 2 sometimes Yoshi has to pull a fruit out of the ground, he knows how that feels.
Edge: Nintendo’s Star Property
Publication Date: June, 2010
Subject(s): Hiroshi Yamauchi, Gunpei Yokoi, winning awards, employees at Nintendo, Super Mario Galaxy 2, online gaming, his greatest achievements, regrets
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unnamed Edge interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Scans:
Notes: Scans by mattandi.
Summary: He doesn’t remember any of his game proposals being rejected by Hiroshi Yamauchi. He had a lot of autonomy. When he couldn’t immediately say “yes” he’d start working on it secretly. Mr. Yamauchi is about his parent’s age, so they may have had a parent-son dynamic. He’d be furious if one of his games didn’t sell enough. Mr. Yamauchi had a knack for knowing how many copies a game would sell.
When he showed Hiroshi Yamauchi an early version of Donkey Kong he was told to stop work on everything else and to concentrate on it. He called an early version of Super Mario Bros. amazing. He never provided any presentation sheets to Mr. Yamauchi, just memos or some drawings.
He’s never reported to Gunpei Yokoi, but he was able to take his advice. Mr. Yokoi always provided a different perspective. He learned from how Mr. Yokoi trained his subordinates.
He has four or five lifetime achievement awards. Everyone else is younger than him at these ceremonies.
You can do more with technology now than you could before. He’s interested in the people around him and what they like. Before the Wii came out they had decided that the Wii would be connected to the living room television and used by the whole family. That’s why they made Wii Music, Wii Sports, and Wii Fit.
He tells his developers that multiplayer is expected now. They have to rise to the challenge.
Nintendo is proactive with online connectivity. The Wii is meant to be connected all the time. What they haven’t been proactive with is making a massively multiplayer online game. They need to figure out if there will be a monthly fee, or if it’s free but has an optional subscription with extra value.
Entertainment has always been Nintendo’s commodity and they always try to make something new. This means others may want to copy them, which is threatening and discouraging.
He heads the Entertainment Analysis and Development division and they are increasing how many people work there, but they can’t expand too much too fast. There are many non-Nintendo people who collaborate with them, too. Very few employees leave Nintendo, many of the 500-1,000 people he is in charge of have worked there for 30 years.
Their goal with Super Mario Galaxy 2 is to maximize playtime. The tutorial and cutscene times have been reduced to accomplish this. He’s also looked into the combo system, he wants people to enjoy the basic action. It’s action packed and a bit difficult.
When making a game first he starts with an unusual game functionality that he thinks players might like. He asks if they need an introduction or a story. He has strong disagreements when people want to make a big title by a certain release date, or want to make a smaller game. You have to provide the customer the thing you first thought of, and focus on the end result and the purpose. The most important thing is who is the manager. Smaller games allow for more personal expression.
Mario is one of his most important achievements. Expanding the gaming audience is also very important.
He always has some regrets after finishing a game, but he tries to forget about them. Some say Wii Music could have sold better, but that means they have an asset that can be tweaked in the future for greater success.
Try playing New Super Mario Bros. with four people and play Super Mario Galaxy to prepare for Super Mario Galaxy 2.
The Times: Games column
Publication Date: June 5, 2010
Subject(s): Making good games, Nintendo characters
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Nigel Kendall, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/48697ca3-f6d5-46e4-b678-56dec8015497
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250308175515/https://www.thetimes.com/article/48697ca3-f6d5-46e4-b678-56dec8015497
Notes: There is a link to a Charles Martinet answering machine message that no longer works at the end of this article. Thank you to Daniel Alba for assistance in finding this interview.
Summary: His secret is making it good. If they make a good game then people will like the characters. They have always said no when someone asked them to make a game featuring their characters. They think their characters are good enough to sell a game, but Nintendo’s games make Nintendo’s characters popular.
Nintendo of America: E3 2010
Publication Date: June 15, 2010
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Promotional video (dubbed), presentation (live translator)
People: Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Video:
Notes: Uploaded by YouTube user CARSLOCK.
Summary: [A trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword plays and Mr. Miyamoto appears in a prerecorded video.]
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be remembered as a turning point in Zelda’s history. Zelda games would not be possible without the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, map system, and items used to solve puzzles. The Zelda series is a history of refining the user interface used for these. For years he’s wanted it to be possible to use these naturally. When working on the swordplay in Wii Sports Resort he said “let’s make this the next Zelda”. The Wii Motion Plus isn’t just for swordplay, it also makes item use natural.
[Mr. Miyamoto comes on stage.]
The only way to beat the Deku Baba is to swing the same direction that its mouth is open. You can do spin attacks by swinging both hands. With a shield bash you can knock rocks back at the Octorok. Up until now items were assigned to a specific button. But now you can picture all of your items in a pocket, hold down the B button, and move your hand around to select the one you want. You don’t point at the screen to aim, you move the Wii Remote like a real slingshot.
[He struggles to aim the bow.]Seems like there’s some interference, is someone using wireless? It went well at rehearsal. You can shoot a beetle that flies around, you can fly around by tilting the Wii Remote.
The scenery is beautiful. You can use the whip to cut grass and grab items.
Iwata Asks: Miyamoto about Nintendo 3DS
Publication Date: June 15, 2010
Subject(s): Nintendo 3DS
Format: Interview (dubbed)
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyiGGiaIAc
Notes: This video is no longer on Nintendo’s Japanese website, but was apparently uploaded to YouTube by Nintendo before being taken down at some point. Uploaded by YouTube user NintenDaanNC.
Summary: His first project with Satoru Iwata was Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally on the Famicom Disk System.
3D has a universal appeal, which is why they have tried it so many times. There have always been doubts though, will people buy it, or will it require an accessory?
The 3D Mario games are harder than 2D, you can’t tell if you are lined up correctly. The 3D effect on the 3DS will allow players to do so, and it will give a greater sense of realism.
He asked designers to make an analog slider for the 3D effect.
He wanted to improve on the Tag Mode from the DS.
GameDeveloper: E3: Miyamoto’s Roundtable Talk On 3DS, Zelda, More
Publication Date: June 15, 2010
Subject(s): 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, StreetPass, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Q & A
People: Christian Nutt, Chris Kohler, unnamed members of the press, Bill Trinen (translator), Tim O’Leary (translator), Eiji Aonuma, Hideki Konno, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/console/e3-miyamoto-s-roundtable-talk-on-3ds-i-zelda-i-more
Notes: I am including some information from this writeup by NintendoWorldReport as well. There is a short YouTube video of part of this event too.
Summary: He can retire if the 3DS goes well.
When he first saw the 3DS’ screen he knew he wanted to revisit Hyrule again in 3D, and that is why The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is an early title.
Steel Diver has been in development for six years and it’s going well. It was originally for the DS, but they decided to move it to take advantage of the 3DS’ screens.
He wanted to work on a Star Fox game as soon as he saw the 3DS, but just porting these older games isn’t enough. Sometimes you have trouble judging distances in a 3D game, but the 3D effect will solve that.
Cats are like girls, it’s great if they come and talk to you, but if you approach them it doesn’t always go well.
The Bark Mode from Nintendogs has been expanded to a system feature of the 3DS. You can walk around with your 3DS closed and communication will happen automatically. It would be easy to do this via the Internet, but it’s more fun to do it with the real world. You wonder about the person who was nearby.
He likes the art style of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, it is like Paul Cézanne’s work. It would be done by now if they had used the same art style as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. They are trying to change the structure of The Legend of Zelda. They’ve been working in the item interface, it’s controlled by motion, not pointer.
After accepting a BAFTA award he mentioned he was working on Pikmin, they are still working on it.
Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Publication Date: June 16, 2010
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Interview (dubbed)
People: Satoru Iwata, Eiji Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQbXP4hllhY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw5_LCnTdCE
Notes: These videos are no longer on Nintendo’s Japanese website, and may not have ever been uploaded to YouTube by Nintendo. Uploaded by YouTube user NintenDaanNC.
Summary: Since they wanted a Zelda game for Wii at launch they ported The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but they had more ideas for a Zelda game on the Wii. If they have confidence people will see how the motion controls for the sword are the better way. Always talking with the team about what makes Zelda fun. You need a sense of realism, of being in Hyrule.
Joystiq: Interview: Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, on 3DS, Retro, Zelda and Pikmin 3
Publication Date: June 16, 2010
Subject(s): 3DS, stereoscopic 3D, cell phones, Nintendogs + Cats, Retro Studios, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Chris Buffa, Shigeru Miyamoto
Summary: Nintendo has been researching 3D games for more than 20 years, the first time they looked into it with an LCD screen was during the GameCube. They’ve been working on the 3DS for three years.
They made a lot of DS games that weren’t like standard games, like Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!. The 3DS’ 3D visuals allow for new ideas and enhance older games. They realized that Steel Diver would work better as a 3DS game than a DS one.
When cell phones took off about 10 years ago people asked if portable game systems wouldn’t sell anymore, which didn’t happen. Nintendo can do different things with their devices. People will carry their handhelds if they offer compelling experiences that can’t be had elsewhere.
Running around in 3D worlds on flat screens makes it difficult to discern spatial relationships. With a 3D screen it’s easier to hit a question block. New ideas can come to life now. The dogs in Nintendogs + Cats pop out of the screen, and using the touch screen feels like touching a real dog.
He got a cat and what’s interesting is that you don’t necessarily communicate with them. They add interesting gameplay in Nintendogs + Cats.
After the Metroid Prime games they thought it would be good for Retro Studios to try something new. They suggested making a Donkey Kong game, thinking they would say no, but they enthusiastically said yes. They thought Retro Studios could do something great, with their graphical capabilities.
For the 3DS they want use the best parts of the Wii’s and DS’s online services.
He doesn’t like to talk about Pikmin because it creates articles, but they are working on a Pikmin game.
Their focus with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is how they are separating it from the series, especially the control. The fluidity of moving from sword to items is important for immersion.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is visually closer to the older Zelda games. They strive for two things with Zelda games: making them easily understandable, and giving them a unique art style. Enemies have to include clear cues about how they are holding their weapons, which lends itself to an exaggerated style. It wouldn’t look good with realistic graphics.
IGN: E3 2010: Shigeru Miyamoto Likes Donkey Kong Country After All
Publication Date: June 17, 2010
Subject(s): Wii Vitality Sensor, 3DS, MotionPlus, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Donkey Kong Country Returns
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Craig Harris, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.ign.com/articles/2010/06/17/e3-2010-shigeru-miyamoto-likes-donkey-kong-country-after-all
Notes: The title of this article refers to the idea that Mr. Miyamoto was quoted as saying “Donkey Kong Country proves gamers will put up with mediocre gameplay if the art is good”. You can read more about this quote in the Electronic Games – Top Bananas entry.
This interview took place at E3 2010. There is a video available of part of the interview.
Summary: Development of the Wii Vitality Sensor is going well, but E3 is not the place to show it. He’s not directly involved with it.
They will focus on how to make online play unique and Nintendo-like. With the 3DS they want people to carry it around and notice changes in their game data, something surprising that feels like Nintendo.
He wanted to hold off on demoing a Mario 3DS game until it was more complete.
They will continue to create games with the intuitive MotionPlus for the next few years.
It’s good for video games that Sony and Microsoft have introduced motion controlled peripherals.
When demoing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on stage there was a technical issue, the game controls smoothly and easily.
When cell phones started taking off Europe people expressed doubt about needing a Game Boy. The topic has not come to fruition. If they keep making unique hardware people will keep buying them and carrying them around. You can’t do what the 3DS does on any other device.
Their past experiments with 3D, other than the Virtual Boy, have required a peripheral, which segments the market. The important thing with the 3DS was creating a single environment so everyone can experience 3D.
It’s difficult to show the 3D effect in advertisements or videos, but high definition TVs were advertised on standard definition TVs. People will be impressed when they see the 3DS’ 3D effect.
When they saw the 3DS’ screen they thought it would help Steel Diver shine, so they decided to move it there. He’s leaning towards it being a retail game.
E3 isn’t the best place to show WiiWare or DSiWare games. There’s so many games competing for attention.
One reason they are making Donkey Kong Country Returns is because people in North America have been asking for another Donkey Kong Country. People at Retro also got very excited at the idea of making a Donkey Kong Country game.
He worked closely with Rare in making Donkey Kong Country. There was a rumor he didn’t like it, but that is not the case. It was important that Donkey Kong Country Returns have a look distinct from Mario games.
They’re working on Pikmin, and might be near the stage where they add more developers. It is a Wii game.
IGN: Shigeru Miyamoto Stars E3 2010: Miyamoto Interview
Publication Date: June 17, 2010
Subject(s): 3DS, competition
Format: Interview (dubbed)
People: Unnamed IGN interviewer, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.ign.com/videos/shigeru-miyamoto-stars-e3-2010-miyamoto-interview
Notes: Also uploaded to YouTube by Kyle Harker here. This interview took place at E3 2010.
Summary: Since online connectivity is everywhere now they’ll be looking at ways to use it. They want to make it feel unique.
3DS users without wi-fi at home can connect to networks elsewhere. They could have made a tech demo with Mario showing this off, but worries about showing things off before they are done. They are working on a Mario game for the 3DS.
He hasn’t played all the demos at E3, but he’s glad party games are broadening.
When cell phones became popular in Europe people said they might not need a Game Boy anymore. Nintendo needs to make unique hardware and software.
USA Today: Creator of Mario sounds off on newest Nintendo games
Publication Date: June 22, 2010
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, 3DS
Format: Interview (live translator)
People: Mike Snider, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfR68TvKsSE
Notes: This interview took place at E3 2010, which was held June 14-17.
Summary: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time made people feel like they were exploring the world of Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will make players do the motions themselves, which will make the experience feel immersive.
The story will revolve around the sword you move with motion controls. They wanted to make the sword control more precise. Using motion controls means using one less button on the controller. You have complete control over Link’s basic abilities with just motion controls.
It was frustrating having to equip an item, activate it, switch to cursor control, and then find the pointer. With MotionPlus there is a seamless transition.
There are a lot of actions you can do in Skyward Sword, and they will be intuitive. You’ll learn and get better at those things over time.
They experimented with 3D on GameCube. They realized they didn’t want to require people to buy accessories to experience it.
IGN: Shigeru Miyamoto Wii E3 2010: Shigeru Miyamoto Reader Interview
Publication Date: June 24, 2010
Subject(s): Fan reactions, story and emotion, taste add-on, online services, Super Mario World’s development
Format: Interview (subtitled)
People: johnthe5th, starmin 76, nate38, Rawky-Roo, ProtoKogaFan, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.ign.com/videos/shigeru-miyamoto-wii-e3-2010-shigeru-miyamoto-reader-interview
Notes: IGN readers sent in over 1,100 questions, and five were chosen to be asked to Mr. Miyamoto.
Summary: They do check fan reaction to released games. The challenge is in making unique games.
The connection between the game developer and the game player is more important than the story. The player should be able to accept the game world.
There are some problems with making a taste add-on for the Wii that could be sold at a reasonable price.
They want every Wii to be connected to the Internet.
Ideas that he wasn’t able to use in Super Mario World have been used since then. This question makes him think about a Super Mario game on the 3DS that uses depth.
Los Angeles Times: Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo video game designer finds real world inspiration
Publication Date: July 4, 2010
Subject(s): School projects, elephant hangers, Nintendogs
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Alex Pham, Bill Trinen, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-04-la-fi-himi-miyamoto-20100704-story.html
Summary: He made strange things in school. There was an assignment to make a chair and he tied some ropes together.
For his interview with Nintendo he brought wooden hangers that would fit into the wall, painted with elephants.
He would recommend aspiring game developers to apply things they think are fun to a game. After he got his dog he thought he would make a game people can buy at the pet store.
GameSpot: Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: August 9, 2010
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Wii, the gaming industry
Format: Interview (dubbed)
People: Giancarlo Varanini, unknown dubber, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2QUb4Fx8o
Notes: This interview took place at E3 2010, which was held June 14-17.
Summary: With the MotionPlus they can include a variety of items that can be switched between freely.
He never expected gaming to change the way it has, he never could have envisioned something like the DS. There are many possibilities with the Wii.
Including peripherals limits the audience for a game, they have used glasses in the past for 3D.
Social networking is unignorable, but they wanted to make something that only Nintendo could.
As a development team gets bigger the leader spends less time making the game and more time managing.
It’s interesting how the gaming landscape has expanded due to things like the iPad. Older people are using the Internet.
Iwata Asks: Volume 1 : Shigesato Itoi Asks in Place of Iwata (Super Mario 25th Anniversary)
Publication Date: September 13, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Bros.
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Shigesato Itoi, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/0/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090745/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/interview/mario25th/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20150717030913/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/interview/mario25th/vol1/index.html
Summary: It’s a bit embarrassing seeing the places in Super Mario Bros. where they had to fudge a bit on modern TVs.
He doesn’t have what it takes to move people on the scale of a Hollywood movie. He often remains unimpressed at performances while people around him go wild, but he has come to appreciate art that is not technically impressive.
Mario games are made up on the run, but it’s been easy because they naturally change along with the technology. He has thought of the creator of the Rubik’s Cube as a rival.
Originally, all blocks with coins only had one coin, but it was discovered on accident that it was more fun for some blocks to have many coins. He hasn’t really felt that he is becoming out of touch.
Takashi Tezuka and Toshihiko Nakago always agree with him because they have the same awareness of problems. When thinking about something he first thinks about what can’t be done.
He is the type to come up with reasons not to do something, he imagines worst case scenarios. He suggests people write down their bad ideas and why they were no good and keep them in a drawer. Over time those reasons may not apply anymore.
He has to tell younger employees that it doesn’t matter how hard they worked on something. If a project is going poorly an idea that is half bad is worthless, but if the project is going well then the good aspects can be used.
Restrictions can be a big help, players can imagine the details. The managerial viewpoint allows you to see things simply. He has been keeping things simple for about 10 years, while the staff goes in a complicated direction. He’s been trying to figure out how to make them act simply.
He doesn’t like being presented with lots of options, the one presenting should have the responsibility of choosing. Proposals should only be one page, too much effort is spent on making them look good.
People say he has a standard consumer’s sense for things. His parents said not to change your vessel all the time, live at your own capacity, not the world’s. He always accepts invitations to the PTA and international exchange events, he always learns something.
Iwata Asks: Volume 5 : Original Super Mario Developers
Publication Date: September 13, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Bros.
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Toshihiko Nakago, Koji Kondo, Yakashi Tezuka, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/4/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090629/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/mario25th/4/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/interview/mario25th/vol5/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221201020200/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/interview/mario25th/vol5/index.html
Summary: In December of 1984 he asked people at Systems Research and Development to make a prototype with Mario twice as big as in Mario Bros.
Mario originally had a beam gun and flew on a rocket in Super Mario Bros. It was planned to be the last cartridge game, as the Famicom Disk System was coming out soon. They wanted to fit as much as they could into a cartridge.
It was a big help when Takashi Tezuka joined as another designer. He had Tezuka help him with Devil World.
When working on Donkey Kong Hirokazu Tanaka was the only person who could write music. He appointed Koji Kondo to sound, and he did the bonus screen music in Devil World.
The idea for warps came from Excitebike, and were for expert players to skip to the harder levels.
They decided to use coins rather than fruit in Mario Bros. because players might think it would hurt them, and everyone likes money.
He banned mini-games after Super Mario World. The main thread of a game should be made more interesting rather than rely on them.
It’s important to use the latest technology for Mario games and to do things no one has seen before.
Famitsu (reported on by 1UP)
Publication Date: Unknown (reported on October 20, 2010)
Subject(s): Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Reported on by Kevin Gifford, unknown Famitsu interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20110721223252/http://www.1up.com/news/super-mario-bros-25th-miyamoto
Summary: The Famicom Disk System was coming out soon and he wanted to put an exclamation mark on cartridge games with Super Mario Bros. He also wanted to build on the athletic game tradition. After making Mario Bros. he realized that if Mario jumps on a turtle, the turtle is going to be more injured than Mario.
The controls for Super Mario Bros. originally had A to shoot bullets, B to run, and up to jump. They scrapped a section where Mario rid a cloud and shoots enemies. They built the game on the scale of small Mario and made him larger in the final version.
People in folk tales wander into forests and eat mushrooms, which fits the setting of a magical kingdom.
The infinite 1UP trick was deliberate, but minus world was not.
Super Mario History
Publication Date: October 21, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Takashi Tezuka, Koji Kondo, Shigeru Miyamoto
Scans:
Notes: Super Mario History is a booklet that was packaged with Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition and was part of Super Mario Bros.’ 25th anniversary. The three people interviewed make a small statement about each Mario game. You can read more about it on Super Mario Wiki. Uploaded to Super Mario Wiki by Yoshi the SSM.
Summary: For Super Mario Bros. they wanted to get everything they could out of the technology and have a large Mario under a blue sky.
Super Mario Bros. 2 has a new feel due to being able to lift and throw things.
In Super Mario Bros. 3 the Tanooki Suit turns Mario into a statue, even if it didn’t make sense to people outside of Japan.
They were able to use multilayered scrolling backgrounds with Super Mario World.
In Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels you can get infinite 1-UPs in 1-1.
Mario runs like a hamster in Super Mario 64.
With Super Mario Sunshine he dove deeper into 3D.
Anyone can play New Super Mario Bros.
He wanted Super Mario Galaxy to be an easy 3D game to control.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii accomplished his dream of a multiplayer Mario game.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 pushed 3D games to the limit.
They’ve been able to make video games for 25 years thanks to semiconductor technology and the craftsmanship of their team. Thank you to everyone who plays these games.
Nintendo Investor Relations: Corporate Management Policy Briefing/Semi Annual Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ending March 2011
Publication Date: October 29, 2010
Subject(s): Shigeru Miyamoto’s hobbies, innovative 3DS games, PICA200 chip
Format: Investor Q & A
People: Unnamed investors, Nintendo executives including Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/events/101029qa/index.html
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20191025080347/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/events/101029qa/index.html
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/events/101029qa/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220521040210/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/events/101029qa/index.html
Summary: He has been told not to talk about his hobbies because they could hint what games are being worked on. He’d never start a hobby hoping to find inspiration for a game. He does not find himself special in using his interests in his work. Few people discuss Wii Music, but he wanted to make it because of his interest in music. They have been working on voice guidance systems for museums. They are planning on releasing DSi software that will help neighborhoods convey information.
3D games feel more alive and allow for more tricks, but some people can’t play 3D games because they are more complicated. Striving to make 3D games that can be played by anyone, like Super Mario Galaxy 2. New Super Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii are accessible to everyone. They’ll be making 2D and 3D games for the 3DS. You can more easily judge distances with the 3D effect of the 3DS.
With the Nintendo Entertainment System the hardware took care of everything, so they could anticipate stable performance. Nintendo decided to go their own way instead of following what others are doing. The PICA200 chip will allow for stable performance.
Super Mario Bros.’ 25th anniversary celebration at the Nintendo Store
Publication Date: November 7, 2010
Subject(s): Super Mario Bros.’ 25th anniversary
Format: Presentation (live translator)
People: Dave, Reggie Fils-Aimé, Andrew Gardikis, Tim O’Leary (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhm841jAMcM&t=257s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQNArgIJyDE&t=113s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqJ5C2BFPTs&t=1143s
Notes: All the videos I found were by the public who came to this event, not the press. I have included several videos since they cover somewhat different perspectives and events. At this event Andrew Gardikis attempts to beat his own Super Mario Bros. speedrun record in front of Mr. Miyamoto, and Mr. Miyamoto cuts a Super Mario Bros. themed cake. Uploaded by YouTube users Underbelly, SuperNatendo, and PeteDorr
Summary: Mario is almost 30 years old, but Super Mario Bros. is 25. Mario needs you in order to become fun and interesting.
Time: The Mythology of Mario: Q&A With Nintendo’s Legendary Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: November 8, 2010
Subject(s): Donkey Kong, Mario, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Wii Music
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Evan Narcisee, Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This interview is also included in 2025 and 2026’s Time Special Edition – Super Mario.
Summary: He doesn’t think of his legacy or position within Nintendo. He focuses on making sure he and his staff are having fun. You have to make sure people don’t get bored working on the same series and are thinking of new twists.
They focused on Mario instead of Donkey Kong because Donkey Kong was too big. They made Donkey Kong Junior to have a smaller, more manageable character. He also wanted to use Mario in many games, like in Punch-Out!! and Tennis. It’s sort of like Alfred Hitchcock appearing in all his movies. Mario is sort of his doppelgänger.
His industrial design background has enabled him to put his ideas onto paper.
He starts by thinking of a game system. It may start out as a Mario game but they realize partway that it would better as a Zelda game. Mario is like a go-to actor, he starts on a new system by seeing what Mario can do.
When they moved to 3D things changed and it seemed like they might lose customers because they didn’t know what it was. It was too much for him to bear, so they’ve focused on making games more accessible. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the culmination of this and was made to be challenging, familiar, accessible, and playable by everyone. A lot of people think simple is cool.
He gets embarrassed when playing older games he made. He looks at Super Mario Bros. 3 and says “this was it?”. The balance for that game was how it needed to be at the time.
The idea of mysterious foods with mysterious properties comes from European folklore, and Alice in Wonderland. But he’s not really sure where the mushrooms came from.
The Legend of Zelda series has elements of folklore, but Mario is more surrealist.
If they are play testing and see something that the player would want to do they need to make the game flexible enough to support that
Mario is mostly action oriented. He doesn’t fit the role of musician. Miis were used in Wii Music so players would feel like they were making the music. There will be a new interface for Wii Music.
They are always evaluating new technology, but they are also looking at pretty much the same things as the other companies. They focus on what the technology can do for them.
The goal is to make something accessible to all ages and skill levels. He wants to make something that makes him look cool, it feels cool to be Link.
Unlike many things from Japan, Mario is not seen as something exotic or from the Orient.
He’ll still be here in 25 years. Many people at Nintendo understand Mario. He can’t imagine what Mario will be like in 25 years because Mario evolves with technology.
USA Today: Q&A;: ’Mario’ creator Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: November 8, 2010
Subject(s): Donkey Kong, Mario’s origins, childhood, music
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Mike Snider, Brett Molina, Tim O’Leary (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This interview likely took place November 5, 2010.
Summary: When designing Mario for Donkey Kong he had a 16×16 pixel space to work with. Mario’s big nose and mustache helped him stand out. Since it took place at a construction site they made Mario a carpenter. Mario Bros. was underground, so they made Mario a plumber to fit the setting. They didn’t have to animate Mario’s hair because he wore a hat.
A survey found that Mario was more popular than Mickey Mouse. It was embarrassing to have Mario compared to a character that was 40 years old, but they decided to have Mario evolve with new technology.
The biggest advancement was going 3D and having to animate Mario.
Donkey Kong was a hit overseas so they try not to make games focused on one culture and use a universal approach.
He liked foreign comics as a child, so he drew characters with bigger noses. There was no deep thought to Mario being Italian.
Mario’s music is in good hands with Koji Kondo. He talks with Mr. Kondo about what makes game music different from other music. The music in Mario Kart picks up partway through. Since the melody will be heard over and over it has to be recognizable and catchy. There may be some bluegrass and ragtime influence because Mr. Kondo knows he likes it and is kind to him.
Super Mario World had all the action of Super Mario Bros. but also had a map that made players think about where they were going. Many of the people who worked on it became directors and producers.
He wanted to be a manga artist and a puppeteer as a child. His experiences being outside and playing influenced him. He wanted to make things and show it to people.
While making Super Mario Bros. they planned on Mario flying in the sky and riding on clouds. They might have planned on pressing up making Mario jump.
It can be difficult to judge distance in a 3D world presented on a 2D screen. That will be easier with the 3DS.
He’d like to step back and let the staff do more work but he also finds himself very involved, perhaps too much.
The Times: The man who reinvented playtime
Publication Date: November 14, 2010
Subject(s): Mario Bros., Mario’s origins, influences, Kinect
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Bryan Appleyard, Yasuhiro Minagawa (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/9bd52831-ec9a-433a-83a3-2b544df6ad60
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250308181221/https://www.thetimes.com/article/9bd52831-ec9a-433a-83a3-2b544df6ad60
Notes: This interview took place at Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto. Thank you to Daniel Alba for assistance in finding this interview.
Summary: He hasn’t practiced bluegrass guitar much lately.
Most video games are made by engineers. People like him who can draw are rare, but he was lucky.
Mario Bros. was going to be set at a construction site and Mario was originally going to be a carpenter. He wanted something more familiar than a superhero.
He had to make things to have fun with as a child. He had access to his grandfather’s carpentry tools and led him to eventually study industrial design. When it came to making games he was concerned about the player’s hands and their emotional response.
Substance is more important than surface. People want to win. Super Mario Bros. is violent, but the expression and description of it matters. His games are played by children but they are not completely harmless.
He is a fan of the pop culture of the United States. When working on Super Mario Bros. he thought of fairy tales. He is also influenced by the cultures of the United Kingdom, like Thunderbirds and Monty Python.
Computers in Japan started as business devices. The software available was in English. The keyboards had the English alphabet, which caused him some issues.
Nintendo was an entertainment company, and there were too many companies competing in the same categories. His family would gather in the living room and have fun, and he thought he could change the fun associated with that.
He does not fear competition from the Kinect. More people are accustomed to playing the way Nintendo proposed. The Kinect isn’t bad, but there’s room for improvement.
His children had to ask permission to play video games because they were his property. He makes games that allow children to be creative, rather than absorbed.
People are criticized for playing games obsessively, but they can also lead to better communication.
There is a lot more they can still do with video games.
Nintendo’s lobby is so bare because it is for business, not customers.
Iwata Asks: Jibun Detsukuru: Nintendo DS Guide (untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: November 17, 2010
Subject(s): Jibun Detsukuru: Nintendo DS Guide
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Takao Shimizu, Takao Sawano, Kenji Nishizawa, Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/interview/kg3j/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20101120030339/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/interview/kg3j/vol1/index.html
Notes: Jibun Detsukuru: Nintendo DS Guide is a DSi game that allows the player to take pictures and attach text or audio. When someone with the game gets near that location they can see the picture, text, and audio via wireless communication. It was only released in Japan.
James-Money has a comprehensive video about the Guide games.
Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: December 7, 2010 (approximate)
Subject(s): Super Mario Bros.’ 25th Anniversary, Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Bros 2., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Format: Promotional video (subtitled)
People: Shigeru Miyamoto
Videos:
Notes: These originally appeared on the Wii’s Nintendo Channel. Uploaded by YouTube user NintenDaanNC.
Summary: They wanted to pack in everything they knew about cartridge games into Super Mario Bros. He remembers it being released on Friday the 13th. They wanted to release it during summer break but didn’t quite make it.
He and Takashi Tezuka worked on the concept and design, a young designer helped with pixel art, Koji Kondo did the music and sound effects. There were seven or eight people total.
They were also working on The Legend of Zelda at the time, and wanted to make sure they both had a lot of depth.
They felt they could reach 1 million sales in Japan. He told Mr Tezuka that he thought they were onto something big.
They always keep the American market in mind, and luckily Super Mario Bros. came out in time for the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System. They bundled it with the system make sure everyone would play it.
He feels like he owns a talent agency, he could have put Mario in Wii Fit. Mario can appear in the most different settings.
He decided to use Mario in every new advancement of technology. His future depends on where technology goes.
He wanted to make Donkey Kong scroll, but the arcade board couldn’t do that. You can plan things out when playing a single-screen game.
Super Mario Bros. came about because he wanted to make a game where you can scroll a long distance, and he didn’t want to use a black background anymore.
There was an event called Dream Factory put on by a Japanese television station, they made Super Mario Bros. 2 in collaboration with that.
Mr. Tezuka started the work on Super Mario Bros. 3 and he joined later. They could do a lot more with bank switching by that point. The VS. System was based on the Famicom, and they decided to make a more challenging Super Mario Bros. for it. They made sure you could get infinite 1-UPs near the start.
It’s important for Super Mario Bros. to be creative, but players also need to be.
The New Yorker: Master of Play
Publication Date: December 12, 2010
Subject(s): His children, new experiences, game difficulty, graphics, subversion
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Nick Paumgarten, Yasuhiro Minagawa (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/master-of-play
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20140729083603/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/master-of-play
Notes: The actual interview starts about three-fourths of the way into the article. Parts of this article are a summary of a conversation, I have only summarized the quotes.
Summary: He hopes children can have experiences like the time he reached under a river rock and a fish bit him.
He used to draw cartoons just to show his friends. In the same way he wants people to be entertained by his games.
Nowadays he tries to find new experiences for people to get absorbed in. He also has to fix games to make them fun. He has to remind himself he is a perfect player and asks the younger developers to try testing their games with their hands switched to understand what it’s like for a new player.
If a game is too hard people may quit, but if the difficulty is just right people keep playing it again and again. In movies and novels the author is leading the audience to the end, but in games it has to be the player.
He has been changing the interior and exterior of his house, even moving the sofa at midnight.
Doing anything that isn’t necessary can be play. He doesn’t know why humans play.
When his children wanted to play video games he made it clear that they were borrowing his property.
He admires Will Wright.
Some games are well-suited to a realistic style, but he doesn’t like the idea that all games should be.
He has been impressed with how some manga authors subvert their own style as they get older, he wanted to eventually do that when he joined Nintendo.
Pocket Lint: Shigeru Miyamoto tells us why Nintendo is still the king of motion control
Publication Date: December 21, 2010
Subject(s): Motion controls, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, 3DS, vacations
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Nigel Kendall, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.pocket-lint.com/games/news/nintendo/107595-interview-shigeru-miyamoto-nintendo-zelda/
Notes: The publish date on the article seems to actually refer to when it was last updated.
Summary: The Wii isn’t something that people need to graduate from. He’s happy that motion controls are more popular. They aren’t trying to make trendy games, the motion controls should be meaningful. Their rivals should figure out what’s novel about them.
They want the gameplay to feel dense, they want people to replay The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword after they beat it.
Their sales are stable, Mario Kart Wii is selling steadily. Their audience is expanding.
They focus on doing something new more than they focus on their competitors. They want to reach as broad an audience as possible.
He’s excited about the sense of depth the 3DS brings, jumping on things is easier. Moving the camera farther back in Mario Kart works well. They’ve been experimenting with 3D for over 20 years.
As a child he had something that played stereoscopic 3D movies. Short 3D clips would be well suited to the 3DS. A full length movie would be possible.
He likes working so much that he only takes vacations for his family’s sake.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 was Nintendo flexing their muscles, if you can beat it, you can play almost any game.
Mario will never be in a violent game.
2011
2011 Nintendo Company Guide (untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: 2011
Subject(s): Nintendo
Format: Essay
People: Shigeru Miyamoto
Scan:
Notes: Nintendo periodically makes company guides to advertise to prospective employees and to welcome new employees. This picture was taken by Erik Voskuil and is from his blog Before Mario.
Iwata Asks: Volume 1 And That’s How the Nintendo 3DS Was Made
Publication Date: January 7, 2011
Subject(s): Nintendo 3DS, Virtual Boy, StreetPass, SpotPass
Format: Transcribed group interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigesato Itoi, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090509/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221116131958/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol1/index.html
Summary: It was important that you could control the 3D effect with a physical slide, that it not be digital. He was interested in virtual reality, but was busy developing the Nintendo 64 when it was being worked on. The Virtual Boy was more of an exciting toy than a gaming system, but others saw it as the successor to the Game Boy. It wasn’t a bad product, but Nintendo portrayed it incorrectly.
If they had just improved the technology of the DS, then the 3DS would be something anyone could create. Resolution was important for 3D, and the 3DS was finally strong enough. Not everything needs to be stick out, but some scenes are enhanced by it. His dog is more well known than him in his neighborhood. Kids might ask their father to take their 3DS on trips so they can get StreetPasses. Hollywood is taking Nintendo seriously, people want to make movies with their characters. Touch! Generations games won’t be used on 3DS, the system itself is closer to the concept than the games that will appear on it.
Iwata Asks: Volume 4 nintendogs + cats
Publication Date: February 8, 2011
Subject(s): Nintendogs + Cats, Nintendogs
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Hideki Konno, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/3/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090508/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/3/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol4/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221224063849/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol4/index.html
Summary: He didn’t feel like making a Nintendogs for the Wii at the time.
When he got a cat he realized there aren’t as many things you can do with one compared to a dog, so the game shows how dogs and cats interact. They had to make new animations for the cats.
Nintendogs was originally tested as a GameCube game.
Dogs move their head to watch something while cats move their eyes, they had to take that into account.
They didn’t include Siamese or Persian cats because they aren’t popular anymore.
Nintendogs + Cats is such an essential game that people will wonder why it isn’t included with the 3DS.
Iwata Asks: Volume 5 Asking Mr. Miyamoto Right Before Release (Nintendo 3DS)
Publication Date: February 25, 2011
Subject(s): Nintendo 3DS, Miis, Steel Diver, Star Fox 64 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/4/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090517/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/how-nintendo-3ds-made/4/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol5/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221224050702/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/hardware/vol5/index.html
Summary: Bundling software with the 3DS allows everyone to use it together. He wants to spread Miis around the world, wants them to be the world standard for avatars. They researched creating Miis automatically from photographs.
He has wanted to make a flight simulation game for a long time, but not like Pilotwings. He felt mortified when Steel Battalion came out, Capcom had beat him to making a huge machine simulator. Steel Diver wouldn’t be immersive if you just pressed the control pad and buttons to control it. The touch screen allows for dials and switches that stay in the state they were placed. It started development on the DS, but they decided it would look nicer on the 3DS. Players who set their own goals will find a lot to do.
The Legend of Zelda was plain and the fantasy setting was not mainstream at the time. When he works on plain games he encourages the development team, tells them it’s an accomplishment to make a plain game great.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64 were remade because the technology was so limited with the originals, it’s been long enough that young people haven’t played them, and to see them in 3D. There are new things for people who have played them before. Ocarina of Time was the Zelda game he was most involved with, but even he doesn’t understand why it had the impact that it did. There are a lot of firsts in the game, it was very open because they were making up what a 3D Zelda game was. His wife said it looked pretty, but she’d never want to play it. She had never expressed interest in a game before.
GameBlog.fr (untranslated from French)
Publication Date: April 21, 2011
Subject(s): 3DS
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Julien Chièze, Shigeru Miyamoto
French Links: https://www.gameblog.fr/jeu-video/ed/interviews/shigeru-miyamoto-notre-interview-integrale-95527
https://www.gameblog.fr/jeu-video/ed/news/shigeru-miyamoto-notre-interview-en-video-20316
French Archive Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20220705190258/https://www.gameblog.fr/jeu-video/ed/interviews/shigeru-miyamoto-notre-interview-integrale-95527
Notes: There were a number of articles about this interview that used machine translation, but I will not be relying on it for a summary. The third link is a video.
Edge (reported on by Computer and Video Games)
Publication Date: April, 2011 (reported on April 22, 2011)
Subject(s): Wii U
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Reported on by unnamed Computer and Video Games staff, unnamed Edge interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20110425151811/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/299098/news/wii-2-is-coming-admits-miyamoto/
Notes: This doesn’t seem to have appeared in the magazine, unless there was a very small section with no photograph of Mr. Miyamoto that I missed. There’s also no link elsewhere or mention of the issue this was in.
Summary: When the Wii launched they started working on new hardware, work on the 3DS was underway.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture
Publication Date: April 5, 2011
Subject(s): Childhood, joining Nintendo, Donkey Kong, Wii Remote
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Harold Goldberg, Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: The Selected Notes section of this book describes two chapters of this book as coming from three interviews with Mr. Miyamoto over the years, and one chapter as drawing on interviews with Mr. Miyamoto. It is not clear precisely what information came from these interviews and what was gleaned from other sources, so I am only summarizing a small portion of these chapters.
Summary: He loved to explore as a child, one time he found a cave in Flour Mountain.
He liked watching plants and animals on his Boy Scout trips on Mount Rokko.
He made a racing game with a steering wheel and belt as a child and also made model airplanes.
He was inspired by caves, waterfalls, and the ruins of a castle in his childhood home of Sonobe.
His father wanted him to focus on schoolwork, but his mother encouraged his artistic side. He drew, painted, and performed puppet shows.
He loved Disney movies, King Kong, and Godzilla.
He wanted to get a job as a manga artist, but one of his father’s friends got him an interview with Nintendo. At the interview he showed off clothes hangers with elephant heads and a drawing of an amusement park-themed alarm clock.
At Nintendo he worked on art for Disney-themed board games. It wasn’t challenging work.
When Hiroshi Yamuachi asked him if he liked video games he replied that he liked Pong and Space Invaders, but that games needed to tell a story.
He was told to improve Radar Scope, but didn’t feel it was an engaging game.
He started thinking about making a Popeye game, but made up his own characters when a contract with King Features was delayed.
As he took on more work he started going to pachinko parlors to escape his worries. He eventually replaced the habit with exercise.
If it took too much force to bowl in Wii Sports then Wii Remotes would fly out of people’s hands, if it didn’t take enough it wouldn’t feel real.
Edge: Miyamoto Reveals More On Mario 3DS
Publication Date: April 21, 2011
Subject(s): Super Mario 3D Land
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Nathan Brown, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20120612043837/http://www.edge-online.com/news/miyamoto-reveals-more-mario-3ds
Notes: This interview took place in London. I couldn’t find this interview in the magazine itself, it may be web only.
Summary: Super Mario 3D Land will be in between Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy.
It’s easier to judge the distance between floors in 3D.
The tail in the logo is what you think it is.
Gamekyo: Shigeru Miyamoto press conference in Paris: the full video! (reported on by Digital Trends, partially untranslated from French)
Publication Date: April 22, 2011 (reported on April 26, 2011)
Subject(s): Star Fox 64 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, 3DS
Format: Q & A
People: Reported on by Jeffrey Van Camp, unnamed Gamekyo interviewer, unnamed members of the press, Shigeru Miyamoto
French Link: https://www.gamekyo.com/newsfr40751_shigeru-miyamoto-conference-de-presse-a-paris-l-integralite-en-video.html
French Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20110520230916/http://www.gamekyo.com/newsfr40751_shigeru-miyamoto-conference-de-presse-a-paris-l-integralite-en-video.html
Notes: The title of the Gamekyo article has been machine translated. The “video” is actually the full audio of the press conference with a slide show of pictures from the article. The Vimeo embed on Gamekyo no longer works, but I found it elsewhere and uploaded it to the Internet Archive.
Summary: Star Fox 64 3D is finished and you can use gyro controls.
You can use the touch screen to manage items in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and it runs at 30 frames per second. There is a boss rush mode and a Master Quest mode, which is very hard.
Super Mario 3D Land is being developed and will be a mix of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Bros. He has ideas about how to make 3D Mario more accessible.
He’s been testing a game where you move an object to find out what it is. Another game being tested has images that can only be seen by one eye.
The 3DS might be usable as a controller for the Wii U.
The Times: The simple face of necessity
Publication Date: April 23, 2011
Subject(s): Making new characters
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unknown The Times interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/376b7f71-f7ab-4a3e-9b80-fced72bb0c94
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250308204706/https://www.thetimes.com/article/376b7f71-f7ab-4a3e-9b80-fced72bb0c94
Notes: This very short portion of an interview was posted to The Times’ website at the same time as the more substantial interview in the next entry. Thank you to Daniel Alba for assistance in finding this interview.
Summary: He designed Mario around the limitations of the technology at the time. You can make anything now, which makes it difficult to make new characters.
The Times: Super Mario creator ready for jump to the next level
Publication Date: April 23, 2011
Subject(s): Children playing outside, his pay, the future of gaming
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unknown The Times interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/988523c2-8289-4211-8a90-83e5dd483df7
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250308214940/https://www.thetimes.com/article/988523c2-8289-4211-8a90-83e5dd483df7
Notes: This interview was posted to The Times’ website at the same time as the preceding entry and they are likely the same interview. Thank you to Daniel Alba for assistance in finding this interview.
Summary: Children should play outside. He feels regretful if children only play his games and never go outside. He tells his children to go outside when it’s sunny.
It’s about teamwork and the budgets their games get, not everyone’s salary.
It’s hard to see what lies in the future for games. It could be holograms. It must be used in the family home.
The Guardian: Shigeru Miyamoto: ’I’m the person who saw things differently’
Publication Date: April 30, 2011
Subject(s): The future, 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Chris Schilling, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/01/shigeru-miyamoto-nintendo-donkey-kong
Summary: Gunpei Yokoi has been his biggest inspiration in design.
He wishes he had made SimCity.
He would like to teach young people game development when he leaves Nintendo.
They remade The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time because it would be more immersive in 3D. Gyro controls for the bow and slingshot are more intuitive.
Nintendo focuses on uniqueness rather than what others are doing.
He’s not thinking of retirement yet. He hopes to be remembered as someone who saw things from a different point of view.
The Telegraph: Shigeru Miyamoto interview
Publication Date: May 5, 2011
Subject(s): 3DS, Steel Diver, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Super Mario 3D Land
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Tom Hoggins, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8493624/Shigeru-Miyamoto-interview.html
Summary: They’ve had a good start with the 3DS. It’s hard to convey the 3D effect.
They want to release a lot of games this year. The ideal way to play Steel Diver is sitting in an office chair that spins.
Today’s children never got to experience The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but the 3DS version is a faithful adaptation for fans.
The 3DS eShop will need specific and meaningful software. With digital games you don’t have to switch game cards, they are always with you.
The stereoscopic 3D of Super Mario 3D Land will help you with tricky jumps.
The gyro controls can move the camera instead of a second analog stick, which is intuitive.
There is space for home consoles to be unique, the next system will be an evolution of the Wii.
Iwata Asks: Steel Diver
Publication Date: May 10, 2011
Subject(s): Steel Diver
Format: Transcribed group interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Giles Goddard, Takaya Imamura, Tadashi Sugiyama, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/steel-diver/0/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220614112707/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/steel-diver/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/asdj/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220819084243/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/asdj/vol1/index.html
Summary: Giles Goddard taught him how to juggle.
He made sure the submarine in Steel Diver felt real to control, not sleek and he didn’t want it to be another side-scroller. The movement is slow and requires a lot of skill, it is like a time trial.
Mario was originally made a plump shape due to collision detection at the time being square boxes.
He waited until development was almost done before telling developers to move it to 3DS, staying behind the scenes like a puppetmaster. Steel Diver is like a car with manual transmission. He focused on making the game replayable rather than having lots of content.
The Guardian: Nintendo’s guru: talking game design with Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: May 25, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, eShop, SpotPass
Format: Presentation, Q & A
People: Steve Boxer, unnamed members of the press, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/may/25/nintendo-miyamoto-interview-mario-3ds
Summary: They want to release a lot of 3DS games this year. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D will release in June, Star Fox 64 3D in summer, Super Mario 3D Land later this year, and Mario Kart 7.
Star Fox 64 3D uses gyro and the circle pad. You can aim perfectly because of the stereoscopic 3D. It can be difficult to use stereoscopic 3D all the time, but you miss some fun using 2D. Sitting in an office chair that can spin is the best way to play games with gyro controls.
Super Mario 3D Land is a combination of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64. If he talks about the tail in the logo there will be nothing to show at E3.
Ocarina of Time 3D will run at 30 frames per second and the graphics are better. You can place items with the touch screen. It’s easy to change your boots, and you don’t have to worry about pushing up or down to aim the bow, since it’s controlled with the gyro sensor.
He’s more involved with StreetPass than SpotPass. An update will bring SpotPass, a browser, and the eShop.
Nintendo will make meaningful games for the eShop. They might sell digital-only games from their big franchises on the eShop.
It’s important for game designers to understand the systems they are developing for. It’s also important to understand a game’s mechanisms. People should make good games since games and devices are higher level. A developer’s uniqueness should show in their games. You can’t just focus on putting more money into a game, you need to be focused on something.
Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: May 26, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/4/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221214073828/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/4/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/aqej/vol5/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221007060901/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/aqej/vol5/index.html
Summary: He did not find development of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time hard, and was glad for the delay. Considered making the entire game take place in Ganon’s castle.
He doesn’t like pre-rendered cutscenes because he can’t change them at the last minute.
Cowboy Westerns were a big influence on him.
He reworked villages to have more verticality for chicken gliding.
Some people still think Link is Zelda.
NGamer: Miyamotormouth
Publication Date: June, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unnamed NGamer interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Scans:
Notes: Scans by Out of Print Archive.
Summary: Controlling the bow and slingshots was inconvenient in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it’s easier with gyroscopic controls in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
In Star Fox 64 3D using both the analog controls and gyroscope is key.
Gyroscopic control will be important to Super Mario 3D Land, too. The gyroscope replaces one of the analog sticks.
He’d like to remake The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, it’s two layered like Xevious.
It’s easier to judge distances in 3D. Super Mario 3D Land will have a fixed camera.
They focus on doing what others aren’t. Budget doesn’t matter if you aren’t focused.
Nintendo of America: E3 2011
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Presentation (live translator)
People: Takashi Tezuka, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Eiji Aonuma, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Video:
Notes: Contains a segment at 49:55 with Mr. Miyamoto talking to Mr. Iwata that is essentially a shorter version of an Iwata Asks. Uploaded by YouTube user GameSpot.
Summary: This year is the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. The visuals and gameplay have evolved with each new system. Music is indispensable part of Zelda. Link has often had a musical instrument. For the 25th anniversary they have a Zelda game for each of their systems.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening will be available today on the 3DS eShop. This game was perhaps the one made with the most unbridled creativity. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D will launch next weekend. The framerate and graphics are improved. There are hint movies for new players, and a mirrored Master Quest mode for returning players. The DSi will see The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for free in September. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will release this holiday season for Wii. There will be a special gold Wii Remote for promotion. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D official soundtrack will be a gift to those who register first with Club Nintendo.
The Legend of Zelda series has been worked on by over 200 people at Nintendo. He would like to invite some of them on stage.
[Takashi Tezuka, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and Eiji Aonuma come on stage.]
He would like to end by thanking everyone who plays The Legend of Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Feature
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda’s 25th Anniversary
Format: Promotional video
People: Eiji Aonuma, Koji Kondo, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video:
Notes: This was made by Nintendo but it’s not clear where it originally appeared. This video begins with a montage of The Legend of Zelda games. Uploaded by YouTube user NintenDaanNC.
Summary: He wanted The Legend of Zelda to be a game you thought about when you weren’t playing it.
They wanted to make a big world since you could save data with the Famicom Disk System. Players can familiarize themselves with the game after playing it for a long time and they can get better by mastering the controls. This gives them a sense of pride.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has the best interface due to Wii MotionPlus, it allows you to change items quickly.
Nintendo World Report: Nintendo E3 2011 Roundtable #1 Liveblog, GameSpot: E3 2011: Wii U Pikmin revealed at Nintendo developer roundtable
Publication Date: June 7, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Mario Kart 7, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, WIi Vitality Sensor
Format: Presentation/demonstration, Q & A
People: Jonathan Metts, Michael “TYP” Cole, Tor Thorsen, unnamed members of the press, Nate Bihldorff, Bill Trinen (translator), Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Masahiro Sakurai, Shigeru Miyamoto
Links: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/26639/nintendo-e3-2011-roundtable-1-liveblog
Archive Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20230206004714/http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/26639/nintendo-e3-2011-roundtable-1-liveblog
Notes: I am combing both of these articles about the same event. They were both somewhat hastily written live. This Q & A took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Summary: They’d like to focus on the 3DS tonight and will start with a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D trailer. He played the original again recently and found it was still fresh and that he’d forgotten many things.
People who press up to move upwards in a flight game grew up as Sega fans. People who prefer inverted controls may change their mind with the Circle Pad, but he thinks gyro controls are best for up and down movement.
The flying style is his favorite part of Star Fox 64 3D. Players can use the gyroscope for moving up and down and the circle pad for left and right.
Retro Studios is helping with Mario Kart 7.
He told Eiji Aonuma that the Water Temple difficulty shouldn’t be changed.
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon may come next year, it is being made by Next Level Games. The original game was the first thing they used to test the 3DS’ 3D feature. The game is half action and half puzzle game.
They made Nintendogs before a Mario game on the 3DS. Some more casual games are included on the 3DS but they are working on more traditional games.
Women like Mario games, but Super Mario Galaxy sounds like a boy’s game. Some women thought Luigi’s Mansion was too scary. Star Fox was about the male fantasy of flying a jet.
The Wii Vitality Sensor is not stable enough to release yet.
They’re going to make Pikmin for the Wii U.
Nintendo Network @ E3 2011
Publication Date: June 7, 2011 (approximate time of filming, publishing date unknown)
Subject(s): 3DS, Wii U, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Pikmin 3
Format: Q & A (dubbed)
People: Unnamed members of the press, Bill Trinen (translator), Julian Chunovic (translator), Scot Ritchey (translator), Takashi Tezuka, Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scqmPTvuZ1A
Notes: There is a “Nintendo Network @ E3 2011” graphic at the beginning and Brian Corsetti introduces the footage as a “Nintendo Network exclusive”. The Nintendo Network did not launch until early 2012, so this would have been old news by the earliest time it could have appeared on Nintendo Network. Nintendo Network carried Nintendo Video, but lists of videos on Nintendo Network do not include this video. Similar videos with Brian Corsetti at E3 2011 are on Nintendo of America’s YouTube channel, but not this one. Uploaded by YouTube user NintenDaanNC.
Summary: The most important topic this year is what they’ll be doing with the Wii and DS. They announced the Wii U, but they’re going to focus on 3DS tonight. The eShop for 3DS launched and there are 10 3D trailers.
Those in the audience with the SpotPass turned on may have received his personal Mii.
He told Eiji Aonuma that if The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword isn’t the best Zelda ever they might be done making them.
They are working with Next Level Games on Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. They made it because he wanted to.
As he’s been working on the Wii U he’s wanted more and more to make a Pikmin game for it, so they are going to.
Iwata Asks: E3 2011: Wii U
Publication Date: June 8, 2011
Subject(s): Wii U, Wii
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/e32011/newhw/0/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040247/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/e32011/newhw/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/links/e3_2011/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220701084334/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/links/e3_2011/index.html
Notes: The E3 2011 press conference has a short video segment that is essentially a shorter version of this interview, see the entry for the E3 2011 presentation.
Summary: He started with the idea of a monitor to show the status of the Wii or games, like seeing your weight in Wii Fit. A second screen that only one person can see opens up new possibilities. It’s more convenient to have a keyboard on a screen you can touch. He’s looking forward to new ways to play, there won’t be a shortage of ideas.
He still debates if playable Miis in a Mario game are okay. Video games create situations where one family member wants to watch TV, and another wants to play a game. He has a feeling that Wii U will change the limits of consoles, something that people can’t imagine living without.
Entertainment Weekly: Wii U: Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto on the new system, and a Mario movie?
Publication Date: June 14, 2011
Subject(s): Wii U, new player experiences, making movies with Nintendo characters, mobile games
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Adam B. Vary, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://ew.com/article/2011/06/14/miyamoto-mario-zelda-wii-u/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230515232401/https://ew.com/article/2011/06/14/miyamoto-mario-zelda-wii-u/
Summary: When they saw how the Wii was being used they came up with the plan for the Wii U. They knew it needed to have high definition graphics. Some newer televisions take a long time to start up, so they wanted a second monitor.
People at Nintendo are core gamers. The DS and Wii were meant to reach a broader audience. The Wii U’s high definition graphics and the GamePad are meant to appeal to a core audience. It also has a touch screen and motion controls for the more casual audience.
There was a Pac-Man demo five years ago where each player couldn’t see what the other was doing, they made Chase Mii based on that. When you move a controller with a gyroscope up, you look up. With an analog stick, some people will press up, and some down, in order to look upwards. With the Wii U not everyone has to sit through the set up of a Mario game where the number of players are chosen, one person can do that on the GamePad.
What we react to in entertainment doesn’t change very much. The way the experiences are delivered keeps them fresh. They use new technologies to convey experiences in new ways.
Every game has to have a first-time experience for new players. Just adding new things on top. They constantly have to balance first-time players and existing gamers.
Television shows and movies have determined times, what you can do is constricted. There’s no limit with video games.
They’ve had a lot of offers to make movies based on their characters. They want people who play Mario games to use Mario the way they want to, not the way they saw him in a movie. He’d also want to check every detail of a movie adaptation. Maybe, if he met someone he felt really confident in, he might allow a movie to be made. He doesn’t feel brave enough for that right now.
Video games are no longer about the traditional console and handheld, there are PCs, tables, and phones. A lot of people said handheld gaming was dead when phone games took off, but they’ll be fine if they make games that only be played on their hardware.
Game Informer: Miyamoto Talks Wii U, Zelda, And Nintendo’s Past
Publication Date: June 17, 2011
Subject(s): High definition graphics, Wii remote, Wii U, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary, Super Mario 3D Land, Tanooki Suit, colorful hardware
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Tim Turi, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This interview took place at E3 2011.
Summary: They considered making the Wii support high definition, but didn’t for a few reasons. HD TVs became popular faster than they expected, so they knew it was important for the Wii U to support it.
They have ideas for console and handheld connectivity based on experiments they have done. Game Boy Advance and GameCube connectivity had a limited audience since not everyone had both, or the cable that was needed. Everyone with a Wii U has a GamePad with a screen, developers can count on that.
The relative lack of buttons on the Wii Remote lead developers to use motion controls to make up for it. The Wii U has motion controls and a touch screen, but also a full set of buttons.
It’s common for ideas to be rejected, it’s part of the development process. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword started as an experiment based on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. They figured out what gameplay styles and interactions they wanted to use. He was nervous about it early on.
He doesn’t own an iPhone or iPad but he checks on what’s happening with those platforms while at work. One of their challenges is figuring out the best game to make within an interface. Sometimes they make hardware around an idea. It’s a challenge to look at games on other platforms and figure out how to make them more intuitive or unique. The Wii U is about the dynamic between controller and TV.
The Wii U came from them asking where they want the future of console gaming to go. They wanted to interact with the TV in new ways and to change the living room experience. It’s a barrier when someone else is using the living room TV, or having to wait for the TV to turn on. They wanted to make something that can be turned on quickly to check up on your friends.
It was less important to show off the console than to convey the experience of using it.
As The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary came up they started thinking about how to let the fans celebrate. The series has a connection to music, so they thought having a concert made sense.
What’s valued the most about The Legend of Zelda is putting the player in the world and using their abilities to overcome challenges. This can make the gameplay feel linear. They try to give the player a lot of freedom and reward them for finding things. There are a lot of places to go and things to see in Skyward Sword, it’s open world.
Few people played The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures since you needed so many cables. With the 3DS you don’t need cables. For the 25th anniversary they made it available via DSi.
The Wii U’s circle pads are more advanced than those on the 3DS.
They focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary, 3DS, and Wii U at E3 this year, there was no room for Kirby.
Kirby’s name was partially from John Kirby, the lawyer who defended them from Universal. They had a list of potential names they were deciding between, which included Kirby. They thought it would be funny if there was a connection between the character and the lawyer. Kirby is also a soft, cute character, while the name Kirby is harsh, the juxtaposition is funny.
Super Mario 3D Land draws from Super Mario Bros. 3, but it is a Super Mario 64 type of game.
They had a lot of freedom when designing the Tanooki Suit. There are folktales about Tanooki holding a leaf to their head and transforming. Slowly falling down as you whip the tail back and forth is fun, and it’s meaningful in a 3D game.
He has wanted to make more use of color in their hardware, but people thought it was kid-oriented. Minimizing color makes the hardware appeal to all ages.
GameSpot: E3 2011: Miyamoto speaks his mind
Publication Date: June 20, 2011
Subject(s): 3DS, Wii U, third parties, power versus price
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unnamed GameSpot interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2011-miyamoto-speaks-his-mind/1100-6320234/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20131022100926/http://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2011-miyamoto-speaks-his-mind/1100-6320234/
Notes: This interview took place at E3 2011
Summary: They can remake games for the 3DS and give them new meaning and they can also create new games in old series.
They’ve been working on a Pikmin game for a while. The Wii U is a perfect fit for it.
It can be challenging to get the most out of new hardware. Some developers can do it on their own and some wait on help from Nintendo. Games in the launch window were made in a short period of time.
He wanted to bring Star Fox back to its origins. Kids haven’t played Star Fox 64 or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
His passion is blazing a trail for the future of video games. They want the Wii U to be like the Wii, something everyone in the living room. He also has fun with the small details, like he’s doing with Skyward Sword now.
Their first experiment with 3D on the 3DS was with Luigi’s Mansion. It worked well with the structure of the building.
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon isn’t that scary, but the horror theme is well suited to a small screen you are hunched over.
Satoru Iwata told him they were going to celebrate Super Mario Bros.’ 25th anniversary, and then it seemed sad not to celebrate Zelda’s 25th anniversary the next year. Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary Edition wasn’t typical for Nintendo and he wanted to do something different for Zelda. They decided to focus on music and to give players the ability to celebrate on their own.
He feels fortunate that people around the world enjoy his work.
He’s worked on the Wii’s U controller. They felt it was time to disconnect consoles from the television.
It’s a coincidence that there has been a tablet boom as they’re about to launch the Wii U, they’ve been working on it for years. There are unique ways to use the GamePad and its connection to the TV and Wii U.
They are careful about pricing at Nintendo, most parents have a line for how much they are willing to spend on something for their kids. Nintendo is the company most concerned with striking a balance between price and power. It’s somewhat reckless to include something like a tablet.
They try to show third-party developers how they can use the GamePad’s screen and the gyro controls so that they’ll think about how they can use those features in the games they are developing.
He wants to look back at the projects he worked hard on and say they had fun. His job is to unleash the creativity of the people he works with.
He feels a duty and responsibility to the people who have been playing his games their whole lives.
IGN: Miyamoto Discusses Wii U’s Origins
Publication Date: June 20, 2011
Subject(s): Wii U
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Richard George, Bill Trinen (translator), Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/21/miyamoto-discusses-wii-us-origins
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230417200622/https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/21/miyamoto-discusses-wii-us-origins
Notes: This interview took place at E3 2011.
Summary: You can use Wii Remotes with the Wii U. You can play a game on the GamePad while someone else watches TV. You can also use the touch screen for a map and items.
The problem they’re trying to solve is not being able to play because the TV is being used. They have a lot of ideas about how to use the second screen. With a first-person shooter you could see what everyone is doing online on the TV, and play on the GamePad.
High definition graphics means that assets will take longer to make.
With WiiConnect 24 they wanted people to always be able to receive information on their Wii, but they didn’t always have access to their TV. They considered that when making the Wii U. Satoru Iwata talks about one-foot versus 10-foot communication. You interact with a device differently if you’re holding it than if it’s like a TV. You can draw on a handheld device.
MTV: Nintendo’s Miyamoto: ’Not Our Goal’ To Become The Number One Online Gaming Company
Publication Date: June 22, 2011
Subject(s): Online connectivity
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Russ Frushtick, Shigeru Miyamoto
Summary: Nintendo’s goal is not to become the #1 online gaming company, but Internet connectivity will still be important to the Wii U. There are opportunities to expand a local same-room experience by connecting to the Internet. They have introduced Miis and hopefully everyone will have one.
Iwata Asks: Star Fox 64 3D
Publication Date: July 5, 2011
Subject(s): Star Fox 64 3D, Star Fox, Star Fox 64, Star Fox 2
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Mitsuhiro Takano, Tusuke Amano, Dylan Cuthbert, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/starfox/0/0
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220614112731/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/starfox/0/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/anrj/vol1/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220807183553/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/anrj/vol1/index.html
Summary: He was surprised Dylan Cuthbert could be a programmer at 18. They worked on their English and Japanese together. He wanted to make the Super FX Chip because he thought drawing sprites from so many angles in Pilotwings and F-Zero was a waste of effort. He was told the Super Nintendo Entertainment System wasn’t really designed for 3D, but then saw a demo for X.
Star Fox originally involved driving tanks. Arwings got their name from looking like a wing shaped like an “A”. He suggested animal characters in Star Fox because he had been drawing animals characters and didn’t want to do robots, superheroes, or monsters. You go through a lot of arches in the game, and that reminded him of a shrine associated with foxes.
Star Fox 2 used the Super FX Chip 2, you could fly 360 degrees. It got delayed and seemed outdated after the N64 came out, so it wasn’t released. Star Fox is about acceleration and deceleration.
He wanted to make a Star Fox game for 3DS, but not spend 3 years making a new one. The gyro sensor is universal, unlike the divide between normal and reversed vertical movement. In the Fushimi Inari Shrine near his house the spirit takes the shape of a fox.
Iwata Asks: Super Mario 3D Land
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Subject(s): Super Mario 3D Land
Format: Interview (subtitled)
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja6dP_1VANE
Notes: Uploaded by YouTube user TheBitBlock.
Summary: When they made Mario’s first 3D model they didn’t have to think about how he would look or who would design him anymore.
Anyone can play a 2D game, there’s only one way to go. Some people get lost in 3D games.
Super Mario games were about stomping turtles until Super Mario 64, it was harder in 3D. With Super Mario 3D Land he wants to challenge players to stomp again, so it plays like a 2D game. The name pays homage to Super Mario Land. It feels like a more advanced Super Mario Bros. 3. Every level ends in a flagpole.
Getting to world 8 is easy but it gets much more difficult from there.
There are many moves that you don’t need to beat the game.
He tries to make games that don’t require stereoscopic 3D, but there are some places that are tricky without it.
Iwata Asks: Special Edition: Creative Small Talk
Publication Date: October 18, 2011
Subject(s): The creation process. Part of a series of interviews about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Shigesato Itoi, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/zelda-skyward-sword/7/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090145/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/zelda-skyward-sword/7/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/interview/souj/sp/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220903151551/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/interview/souj/sp/index.html
Summary: He has “sporadic thoughts” at Nintendo at night when no one else is around
Meetings don’t go well when they are too organized.
When someone comes to him with an idea he says it won’t work about 70% of the time.
He wanted to be a cartoonist a long time ago.
When someone becomes a director they lose some passion and desperation.
He hates it when people pretend to be busy.
He stopped someone from adding the mechanic in Super Mario 64 where you grab Bowser’s tail and spin him.
Dreams are forbidden. History is a battle against restrictions.
He makes last minutes changes to E3 presentations.
He hates it when you can see how a game was made.
Iwata Asks: Volume 2: The Producers (Super Mario 3D Land)
Publication Date: October 27, 2011
Subject(s): Super Mario 3D Land
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Satoru Iwata, Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/super-mario-3d-land/1/0/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220826090752/https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/super-mario-3d-land/1/0/
Japanese Link: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/arej/vol2/index.html
Japanese Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210115141655/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/interview/arej/vol2/index.html
Summary: He looked back at processes from the Nintendo Entertainment System era for Super Mario 3D Land.
He’s had varying feelings towards coins.
Work went quickly because of the Tokyo Software Development team.
They put a lot of effort into movement and stomping.
He used to consider changing direction in mid-air bad, but eventually changed his mind.
Super Mario 3D Land is a 2D-like 3D game and he can barely stand how happy he is with some of the new things.
Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Cultural Extravaganza
Publication Date: November 5, 2011
Subject(s): Starting at Nintendo, Pikmin 3, originality, Pikmin, Mario Kart, how Japanese games compare
Format: Interview (subtitled)
People: Hitoshi Matsumoto, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video:
Translator: Matt Walker for The Famicast.
Notes: The YouTube subtitles have the English translation.
Summary: There weren’t a lot of games when he joined Nintendo. He wasn’t much of a gamer, but Space Invaders and Pac-Man hooked him.
Once they get into development he creates as he plays. It eats at him, wanting to know what others are feeling when they play his games. Ideally people will feel the same way he does. He used to want to show off, but around when he turned 30 he remembered he used to always want to do something different from everyone else.
He finally announced Pikmin 3 at E3 2011. Development had started and restarted for five years.
He struggles with requests to just make more of what he’s been doing while not wanting to keep doing the same thing. It’s fairly easy to expand on a game, but that makes it more complicated and less approachable. When he watches comedy he wants something new, but with games he falls into the trap of wanting something fancier. With other people’s games he tends to think “they’re doing that again?”
He likes to make things that are universal that will last, not what’s trendy.
He always thinks interest in games is decreasing, but he worries about how many he can attract. He wants to escape the boom cycle where one thing makes a lot of money and everyone copies it. People praised Super Mario Bros. for things that other games did well. Game makers make the mistake of assuming everyone else is as familiar with games as they are.
If you do what everyone else does you’ll have to one-up the competition. You have more options when you’re making something original. Being original is dangerous, but there’s a lot of space for it.
Occasionally he has told someone off as an example, hoping everyone else will shape up, too. He can get caught up in tense discussions during meetings, but when he sees someone else like that he wants to make them laugh.
He’s not sure where he gets ideas from. He didn’t get the idea for Pikmin while watching ants, but they were trying to re-organize a game and he thought it would be better if they were ants. Everyone understands ants, so that’s why he explains Pikmin that way. He didn’t watch ants in his garden. They were trying to come up with gameplay involving controlling lots of objects, but it was hard to come up with an objective. An ant’s goal is to get home. The figured it would make sense for the creatures in the game to go home by themselves, following each other. It’s difficult to explain so he came up ants in his yard to explain it.
A designer working on an early version of Pikmin had sketches of characters with leaves and flowers on their heads with black dot eyes.
He thought the completionist’s goal should be to beat Pikmin without letting a single one die. Pikmin measures your morals.
They always want to go back to the origin, to revisit an old idea with new technology.
If you stop to think about it you’ll question if it’s okay for Mario to be in Mario Kart. Picking up coins in a racing game is unfathomable. People with racing game experience thought it made no sense. In Mario Kart it’s about your last second actions.
With The Legend of Zelda games they’ll add this or that and it eventually becomes packed with content. Role-playing and adventure games have stories, but it’s boring to just follow the story, it would be better as a movie. Movies can make you cry, but games can make you cry due to the hardships you’re facing. He wants people to immerse themselves in that way.
He read manga as a child and wanted to be a manga artist. He started a manga club with his friend in middle school. He made his own manga, but as he got better he realized how hard it would be to be a professional manga artist.
He has lots of staff members that have been working with him for 20-30 years. Almost none of the 100 main members have quit.
The closer he gets to 60 the easier it is for him to step back.
There used to be charismatic leaders in all the industries, but they’ve disappeared.
He gives no thought to the difference between Japanese and non-Japanese works, there is no difference. Japan is good at making understandable games and working under technological limits. In America they push limits, power has overtaken volume. Now people say games from overseas are better.
When he listens to the Beatles it makes him remember old memories. He hopes games have a similar effect on people. He wants to make something interactive and memorable, so that someone will remember solving a puzzle with their dad.
It’s ridiculous when people say games are just for kids. It pisses him off when people underestimate children, they aren’t stupid.
Weekly Play News: Interview with game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario and Zelda series (reported on by Andriasang.com, partially untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: November 11, 2011 (reported on November 12, 2011)
Subject(s): Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Reported on by Anoop Gantayat, Momoko Kawai, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20111114160018/http://andriasang.com/comyxv/
Japanese Archive Links: https://web.archive.org/web/20120119173732/http://wpb.shueisha.co.jp/2011/11/11/7934/
https://web.archive.org/web/20111218192427/http://wpb.shueisha.co.jp/2011/11/23/8186/
Notes: The title is a machine translation. It’s unclear if the article reporting on this interview was using machine translation.
Summary: He test plays games and gives feedback, generally seven at a time. He writes a checklist of things to talk about with the game director. He plays up to 10 hours a day sometimes.
Super Mario 3D Land took about two years to develop, it went from two people to 30 people.
Famitsu (reported on by 1UP, partially untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: Unknown (reported on November 22, 2011)
Subject(s): Mario Kart 7
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Reported on by Kevin Gifford, unknown Famitsu interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20130306152018/http://www.1up.com/news/miyamoto-talks-mario-kart-7
Summary: Mario Kart is a stable series, Hideki Konno mainly handled the production. He makes the decisions about adding new gameplay to Mario Kart.
He was against the customization features. Winning money and buying parts can be fun, but it wasn’t part of the fun of the series.
Some people wanted him to look more closely at the game, but it’s pretty stable evolving in a safe manner. The online parts are neat.
Coming up with a title was troublesome, so they went with what felt best, and seven is a lucky number.
The Wall Street Journal: Nintendo Game Chief Sees Better Times Ahead
Publication Date: December 8, 2011
Subject(s): 3DS, Nintendo after he retires, online safety, physical controls
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Ian Sherr, Stu Woo, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/BL-DGB-23658
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20230514195014/https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/BL-DGB-23658
Summary: It was difficult to explain what you could do with the 3DS, but now they can tell people to try Super Mario 3D Land to see for themselves.
They have to structure Nintendo so that it can go on without him. It might be better without him, as it takes a different approach. If he dwells on this more there will be articles about him retiring, which isn’t true.
They have to be careful with freedom of expression when making online features that include children.
Games are about experiences, they are fine-tuning the details of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
CNN: Next for Nintendo’s creative leader: ‘Something really new’
Publication Date: December 8, 2011
Subject(s): Doing something new
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Mark Milian, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2011/12/08/tech/gaming-gadgets/miyamoto-new-role
Notes: This interview took place at Nintendo of America’s Redwood City, California location and lasted an hour, despite the small number of quotes in the article.
Summary: He wants to work on something really new that will be important to the future of Nintendo, something that could expand the boundary of video games.
They have to keep doing new things.
He thinks differently and he believes in the possibilities of video games. They can do something new even with existing technologies.
In Game: Nintendo’s Miyamoto scuttles ’retirement’ talk
Publication Date: December 9, 2011
Subject(s): Retirement
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Kyle Orland, Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This interview is in response to a preview of a Wired interview where Mr. Miyamoto talks about retiring. The full Wired interview had not come out yet when this article was published. In-Game was a subsection of MSNBC’s website.
Summary: He has no plan to retire, and he may not even be allowed to. Everyone eventually retires and Nintendo has to prepare for that.
He has been telling this to people at Nintendo for years to make them more responsible. He wants younger developers to take on more assignments and to be prepared.
Games aren’t made by single people, they are made by teams. Those teams are growing so that they’ll be able to make great things without him.
Spike Video Game Awards: Spike’s Video Game Hall of Fame
Publication Date: December 10, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda
Format: Award ceremony (spoken English)
People: Seth Green, Shigeru Miyamoto
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5j7ELPFodg
Notes: There were 11 Spike Video Game Awards but The Legend of Zelda was the only Spike’s Video Game Hall of Fame inductee, accepted here by Mr. Miyamoto.
Summary: Thanks to Spike TV and the fans. He’s grateful that people notice when they push themselves. Nintendo is humbled by the support.
Skyward Sword 25th Anniversary Fanbook (untranslated from Japanese)
Publication Date: December 10, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Unknown interviewer, Shigeru Miyamoto
Archive Link: https://archive.org/details/zines_skysword_25_fanbook
Scans:
Notes: Scans are by HistoryOfHyrule.
Wired: Q&A: Shigeru Miyamoto Looks Into Nintendo’s Future
Publication Date: December 13, 2011
Subject(s): 3DS, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Find Mii, retiring
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Chris Kohler, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.wired.com/2011/12/miyamoto-interview-transcript/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20140810000753/http://www.wired.com/2011/12/miyamoto-interview-transcript/
Notes: On December 7, 2011 Wired published a preview of this article focusing on Mr. Miyamoto’s statement about retiring. Before this full article was published Nintendo issued a statement saying that he was not retiring. I am only including this full interview, not the preview.
Summary: When developing for the DS he was looking to expand the definition of video games. With the 3DS he shifted to wanting to see how games could be changed with it. He doesn’t think they are directly competing with smartphones. To reach people who have taken a break from playing video games and women it might be a good idea to use the game mechanisms used to make the 3D world of the 3DS.
They wanted Super Mario 3D Land to take advantage of the 3DS’s capabilities. They want every developer to find their own uses for its features. They have no intention of forcing them to do so.
What he does to develop or design games hasn’t changed since Donkey Kong. He has to remember the limitations of the system while keeping the viewpoint of the player.
Retro Studios designed the courses of Mario Kart 7, while the gameplay and control was done by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development. People say Western and Japanese designers are different. He thinks this means they are good at different things. By joining forces Retro and Entertainment Analysis & Development could cater to a variety of tastes.
He doesn’t think The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was impacted by Western role-playing games. Recent The Legend of Zelda games lacked the freedom earlier titles had, so he wanted to go back to basics.
If a game is going after photorealism there isn’t much for the director to do. In deciding whether to include voice acting they have to decide if it’s important and if it makes the Zelda series more attractive. He is against it, voice acting narrows what characteristics people can imagine for the characters.
Nintendo has a lot of franchises, and they are supposed to make one after the other. Still, all the developers had the mindset that Super Mario 3D Land and Skyward Sword were brand new.
He doesn’t care if he works on smaller download-only titles, he’ll work on anything. Developers should decide once they have a fixed idea of what they’re making. He can see things from a broader perspective now. He has many options now, but he still can’t decide if a game will be a download-only until he has a complete idea.
The Find Mii developers were looking forward to people’s reactions. They had to start small because they didn’t know.
They included movies on the 3DS to get people to use it every day. They want new attractions with a new system, not just beefed-up capabilities.
The Wii U will be the successor to the Wii so of course it will use Wii MotionPlus.
He’s been telling people in the office that he is going to retire from his current position. He’d like to work with younger developers on a smaller title. He has been able to nurture developers that made other games. In his current position people kind of have to listen to him.
The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia On the 25th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda
Publication Date: December 21, 2011
Subject(s): The Legend of Zelda
Format: Essay
People: Shigeru Miyamoto
Notes: This is the foreword of Hyrule Historia.
Summary: He started work on The Legend of Zelda when the Famicom was about two years old.
They needed a launch title for the Famicom Disk System and he wanted to make a game where two players could make dungeons and share them with each other. The testers liked playing through dungeons more than making them.
He knew the title should be the The Legend of “something”. A public relations planner suggested making a storybook for the game where Link rescues a princess. This person suggested naming the princess after the wife of an American author named Zelda, and that’s where he got the name.
Link got his name because he links people together. Impa comes from impart. Link, Zelda, and Impa were the original trio.
He has worried about the game play relying too heavily on technology. He has gradually become a guardian of the series.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is well balanced. They have come up with many items in the series and adapted to different controllers. The Wii MotionPlus and Nunchuk are perfect for Skyward Sword.
He’s been part of many series, but only in The Legend of Zelda can the player enter their own name.
The Mercury News: A Q&A with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto
Publication Date: December 30, 2011
Subject(s): Wii, 3DS, smart devices
Format: Transcribed interview
People: Troy Wolverton, Shigeru Miyamoto
Link: https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/12/30/a-qa-with-nintendos-shigeru-miyamoto/
Archive Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220929145523/https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/12/30/a-qa-with-nintendos-shigeru-miyamoto/
Summary: The Legend of Zelda is known for its sophisticated controls. With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword they tried to make them easier and he think it appeals to people who have not played sophisticated action games.
Developers have not done a sufficient job utilizing 3D gameplay on the 3DS yet, Super Mario 3D Land reached about half of their goal. Nintendo has been said to be slow in online play, but they always do what makes sense from their business perspective.
Making unique devices that can’t be reproduced on other devices, like smartphones and tablets, is of the utmost concern. He hasn’t been able to find any games he likes on his smartphone.
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