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Miyamoto on Super Mario Run - Making new Mario fans, working with Apple, embracing mobile & more

by rawmeatcowboy
25 September 2016
GN Version 5.0

Coming from a Pocket-Lint interview with Shigeru Miyamoto...

Creating an experience for someone that's never played a Mario game before

"Our intent has always been that the side-scrolling new Super Mario Bros games would be simpler - games that more casual players could be able to enjoy. But what we've found is that even though they are designed to be simpler and easier to understand, the controls can still be difficult for some players and they have a hard time controlling Mario or making him run and jump at the same time. We wanted to ask how we can make the experience even simpler for somebody who had never played a Mario game before. That's been the focus with Super Mario Run: a game that's even easier to get into and play."

On embracing mobile

"For many years our mission in approaching hardware has been our goal of expanding the number of people playing games. Now, people are having these interactive experiences through their smart devices and so that's accomplished this great mission of helping to turn more people into gamers. We're using this opportunity to bring our characters to this audience and let them experience the fun of our games and hopefully bring them back to our platforms."

On wanting to incorporate GPS features/network connection aspects in DS games

"Even when we were working on the first DS system, we were thinking about opportunities to incorporate GPS or how to use a persistent network connection. We didn't do it then, but now with a mobile device we're looking into functionalities like the persistent network connection."

Sharing similar philosophies with Apple

"The iPhone and iOS are great to work on because it's stable. In terms of working with Apple, we found we shared a lot of philosophies and we found from early on it was easy to work with them. It's Apple's hardware of course, not ours, but that just means it's a framework in which you try to be as creative as possible - it's not a limitation, I look at it as a lot of fun."

Working with mobile, but staying true to traditional hardware

"We'll continue to look at the opportunities smartphones bring and when we see one we'll continue to design for that hardware in a way that takes advantage of the functionality there. But we'll keep designing for our own platforms as well."

[Link]