Miyamoto talks retirement, creating games before death, violent content, Vitality Sensor/Zelda ideas, and more

Finally, the full GamesTM interview with Miyamoto is online, and it’s chock-full of stuff you’ll want to read up on!

TM: Since you say that the best is still to come, do you foresee retirement in your future?

SM: Well, I am one of the company workers and the company has to retire me some time. So from that perspective, yes I may have to retire from Nintendo some day. But when I look around and see how aged cartoonists continue to work on their manga and how movie directors create new movies all the time, I understand that they would never retire. And by the same token, I guess I will still be making games somehow. The only question is whether the younger people will be willing to work with me at that far point in the future.

TM: Is there a definite sense that the type of games you enjoy creating are changing as you mature?

SM: Well I just don’t know, but when I look back I can tell that after I started having a family, I certainly wanted to make games that could be played with all the family members. That was definitely the big change in my life, as well as my career in making games. As I am ageing, naturally, how I want my videogames to be played must be changing. Having said that, however, I have never lost my passion for making the so-called ‘traditional’ type of games, which is why I have devoted so much of myself to the creation of Super Mario Galaxy 2. So all I can say is that the type of game I will be willing to work on must be varied and expanded in theme. Right now, I have to ask myself what kind of game I would be willing to work on right before my death. I just cannot imagine that right now, but in the near future I think the kind of themes we work in as videogame creators will be expanded, so I’m very excited to see what kind of games I can make in the future.

TM: Looking at the types of 3D action games that do appear on Xbox and PlayStation, they’re very violent in comparison to the games on Wii. Is there a reason that you or Nintendo prefer not to create so many violent games?

SM: Well, as a rule I am trying not to comment on the works of other people. But one thing I can tell you is that I really appreciate the variety of different videogames that are being made by so many different types of people. However, many people are working solely in a single genre that is concentrated on excessive violence, and the only competition there is who can come up with the most violent depictions. That’s not something that I really appreciate. And I think that when there are many people working in such a genre, the job of me and Nintendo is to try to establish to the world that there are a great many other ways to take advantage of the interactive format of videogames; to provide fun and surprise to the people around the world.

TM: You’re quite famous now for ‘upending the tea table’. Can you give an example of the last time you did that?

SM: Seriously, I don’t think that I have ever upended the tea table but some people have come out and said that secretly I have. So you might want to approach some of them and see what they have to say. However, there have been some recent incidents during the development of both New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Because I am such a great fan of this style of videogame, I really want to start playing and get absorbed in the game as soon as I have purchased the disc. On the other hand, the young developers these days prefer to add so many frills that can prevent us from getting started with gameplay right from the beginning. So, because of that, I should say that sometimes when they present me with the planning sheets detailing those kinds of frills, I have to sometimes tear them apart and say, ‘No, let’s delete those.’

TM: We understand that you won’t be revealing specific details about the Vitality Sensor until later in the year but, as a videogame device, do you see it appealing more to traditional gamers or to the sort of consumers who would buy something like Wii Fit or Wii Music?

SM: You’re entirely right that I cannot say anything about the Vitality Sensor right now. But, certainly, whenever we are going to use any new device it is possible to expand the appeal to those who are new to the videogaming world. At the same time, however, it is also fun to think of ways in which we might apply that new technology to existing forms of gameplay just like the way we are working on the new Legend Of Zelda together with Wii Motion Plus. So maybe you might like to ask me to incorporate the Vitality Sensor into Zelda so that as you become more scared, the enemies become even tougher.