Insights on Development Process Within Nintendo’s Games, Including Smash Bros.
Nintendo’s legendary game producer and designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, was interviewed by Famitsu on creating new Mario titles in their last issue. Since Mario as a franchise has grown quite large, there can be multiple teams working on new games in multiple locations, so somebody has to look over them to make sure everything is in line with what the character’s brand. Something that Miyamoto calls “Mario-esque”.
He defines it as: “Put simply, it would be “family-friendly”. This is a pretty firmly held sensibility within Nintendo, and sometimes I have to say they’re being a little too strict.”
On projects that are trying something really new, like Super Mario Run for mobile, Miyamoto works closely with the developers to make sure it stays true to the brand. This apparently was true for Super Mario World with Universal Studios, building something in the real world on a scale that hasn’t been done with the IP before. He’s there to see how far people can push Mario creatively while staying honest to the character.
On the strictness part, apparently even Miyamoto doesn’t have the last say on these decisions, and that goes to many people in Nintendo as a whole. Some believe that Mario should never kill (oops, sorry for dropping you into lava, Bowser) and getting projects like Smash Bros. greenlit was a struggle in itself.
He says this about it: “When we were making “Smash Bros.”, there were some people who were worried; they asked me, “Is it really okay to have Mario punch and kick?” I actually had to plead with them by explaining that he already pulls turtles out of their shells.”
You know, stomping on Koopas sound a lot more gruesome if you put it like that. Thanks, Miyamoto. I wish the interview went deeper on what it really meant to be “Mario-esque”, it could be an interesting game design think piece. Kind of like what defines a rogue-like, doom-clones, souls-like, and so on. Maybe one day Nintendo will release their secret formula.
Source: NintendoEverything