Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, has revealed that he rarely plays video games anymore, with one notable exception: playing with his grandchildren.
Miyamoto's Gaming Habits
In an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu, the 73-year-old designer was asked if he regularly plays the Nintendo Switch 2. 'Well, I don't really play by myself that much anymore,' Miyamoto replied, according to a machine translation. He explained that he keeps games at his house to prevent his grandchildren from playing too much at their own home, telling them, 'Come to Grandpa's house when you want to play.'
Miyamoto added that his youngest grandchild struggles with certain games, saying, 'My youngest grandchild can't clear the game yet, so they're happy when I play with them and help them clear it. They say the boss in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is scary, so I play that part for them.'
A Shift in Focus
Miyamoto has become more involved in Nintendo's film and theme park ventures in recent years. His last credit as a director on a game was 2016's Super Mario Run, and he served as supervising director on Star Fox Zero the same year. Before that, his last directorial role was on the groundbreaking Super Mario 64 in 1996.
It remains unclear how much Miyamoto played games even earlier in his career. For instance, Pikmin was inspired by observing ants in his garden, and in 2007 he refuted comparisons between Super Mario Galaxy and Ratchet & Clank, admitting he had 'never seen the game in question' and asking if it was a PC title.
Inspiration and Philosophy
Miyamoto has previously stated that he does not look to existing games for inspiration. Instead, he encourages developers to 'start with an idea that personally means something to them,' such as 'an individual's personal hobbies.'
In the same Famitsu interview, Miyamoto shared his views on console specifications. He believes 'customers are no longer just looking for specs,' citing the success of the original Switch. 'I think the ideal is that if you buy the software, you can play it on the device you have at home,' he said. He also noted that Nintendo's advantage over smartphones lies in its ability to 'respond quickly and have a high degree of freedom because it only requires one architecture and support for one piece of hardware.'
Future Projects
Miyamoto also confirmed that development on the Star Fox remake and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book was sparked by each character's appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, despite having no direct connection to the film.
