Shigeru Miyamoto on ‘Legend of Zelda’ and ‘Mariokart’

Last year saw The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary with the release of Skyward Sword; it also marked the beginning of the fastest-selling Zelda game in franchise history. Not only is it amazing for any franchise to last that long, but it happened in the videogame industry, which has seen entire empires rise and fall within a few decades of existence. Interestingly enough, Zelda is the second of franchises to hit that benchmark, because Super Mario turned 25 the previous year with the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Also note that SMG2 became one of the Wii’s top-selling titles.

While every videogame is a daunting task to produce, it’s completely reasonable to say that one man is the backbone of both these franchises. Shigeru Miyamoto has been the major lightbulb of Nintendo since the dawn of videogame time, with achievements running from the 8-bit era all the way to the modern era of mobil gaming. Miyamoto had a phone interview (via translator) with EW to discuss recent Nintendo releases. When asked about upcoming projects he might be participating in, Miyamoto said, “I’m sorry. I need to refrain from saying anything.”

Here’s a section of the interview below:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I just completed Skyward Sword, which really makes good use of the Motion Plus controller. Can you talk a little bit about how existence of Motion Control changes the development process of these videogames?

SHIGERU MIYAMOTO: First of all, thank you for completing Skyward Sword. You probably know more than I do when it comes to the game, because the version I played was actually the prototype. The version I played through was more challenging than the version you did.

The very first Legend of Zelda game for Wii was Twilight Princess. At the time when we were designing the Wii remote, we were thinking about incorporating the pointer functionality into the new Legend of Zelda game. I think, to some extent, our efforts worked out. For example: When players were trying to aim at some objects in order to shoot an arrow, or fire the hookshot, we came up with something really handy. Unfortunately, when the player was required to take a sudden and immediate action, and aim at something with a pointer, it took some time. And Link could not perfectly reproduce whatever you were doing.

We really wanted to do that. With the Wii Motion Sensing technology, it became possible. So we were able to incorporate the real sword-fight feature. It’s not like you’re just fighting by freely waving your sword. [In Skyward Sword], you need to see how your opponent is acting. You’re taking into consideration your opponent’s movements. It’s actually a real sword fight!

You said that you had played an earlier version of Skyward Sword that was more challenging. How much more difficult was it?

As the development period goes on, we get accustomed to the content and the gameplay and the riddles and whatnot. The developer is almost always thinking, “It’s too easy for me. It must be too easy for the player, as well.” The same with designing bosses: Because the developers are supposed to be very, very skillful in challenging these tough enemies, they often make the boss too tough. It’s a dilemma we always have as developers.

[middle section of interview was cut here]

I have an important question. Nintendo has also just released Mariokart 7 for the 3DS. In every iteration of Mariokart, I’ve always preferred to play as Toad. Who’s your favorite character?

That’s the most challenging question! I’m sorry that I cannot come up with an interesting answer. Somehow, it’s habit to me, but I play with Mario. He’s a very balanced character.

Who’s your least favorite character?

Toad. [Laughs]

My favorite character is your least favorite character?

I understand that he has some popularity. Somehow.

You can check out the entire interview here.

It’s nice to know that there are still some people who are actually dedicated to their jobs, no matter how long it’s been.

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