Nintendo Classic Mini: NES special interview – Volume 3: Super Mario Bros.

FamiConnichiwa, everyone! I’m Akinori Sao, a writer in Kyoto. This is my third interview with video game developers to commemorate the release of the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System. The topic this time is Super Mario Bros., the game most representative of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

As you may know, Super Mario Bros. was a huge hit that became an unprecedented worldwide phenomenon, so Nintendo has already shared a lot of behind-the-scenes anecdotes. For example, the Iwata Asks sessions covering New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3) and the 25th anniversary of Super Mario (Volume 5: Original Super Mario Developers) come to mind. These are all great reads, so if you haven’t already checked them out, please do!

This time, in addition to the first Super Mario Bros. game, we’ll hear about Super Mario Bros. 3, which came out three years later in Japan (almost six years later in Europe). In this interview, I spoke with Shigeru Miyamoto, who I also interviewed about Donkey Kong in Volume 1: Donkey Kong, as well as designer Takashi Tezuka and sound designer Koji Kondo. We’ll hear all about the development challenges of Super Mario Bros. 3, so please stick with us to the end!

And now for Miyamoto-san, Tezuka-san and Kondo-san…