Miyamoto Interviews> January 2001, Nintendo Power

On Technology

SM:  "High tech hardware may seem attractive, but it's only as good as the games that are made for it.  For example, someone could come out with a super fast car and everyone would want to drive it just because of its speed.  But in the development of games, if faster is the only important component, then all you need is the hardware engineer.  My job is as a developer and planner.  If I don't do my job in making an exciting game, then people will lose interest in the hardware.  Speed isn't enough.  Of course, Dolphin is very fast --- faster than PSX2.  Dolphin is really a superior piece of hardware, but we need to develop the best way to use it."

On Dolphin

SM:  "Dolphin has so much more power than previous systems that it's taking longer to experiment with game ideas to see what it can do.  People ask me if it's difficult to make games for such a powerful machine.  I don't think it will be difficult to make games, it's just not quite clear to me yet what sorts of interesting things we can do in those games with this cutting edge technology."

On Mario

SM:  "I created the character of Mario when I was 27 years old.  I didn't intend him to be cute.  Mario is an adult, and I developed the first game with Mario for people 18 years of age and older.  Mario's success made him popular with younger age groups, which caused some problems.  When he appears in games such as Yoshi's Story, Mario has to have a cute personality, but that's different from the original concept of Mario.  In the next title, I'd like to return to the original idea and not restrict the age of Mario's appeal."

On Dolphin Games

SM:  "I'd like people to think that the new Mario for Dolphin is something that they've never seen before.  That's what I'm thinking about right now.  I think I can make an entirely new game experience, and if I can't do it, some other game designer will.  I'd like to make a new Mario game that appeals to everyone, full of interesting new ideas.  If it turns out that Mario doesn't really fit into the type of game I want, I wouldn't mind using Zelda as the basis of the new game."

Miyamoto's Goal

SM:  "Super Mario Bros. established the category of side-scrolling action games.  Mario 64 created the standard for 3-D action games (I believe).  It is imperative to me that this next game also influences the direction of video games.  Sometimes I think it's more important for me to create this new direction for games than to make the game fit Mario or Zelda.  Perhaps Mario and Zelda fans wouldn't mind if the game is fun.  If they think, 'Wow!  I've never played a game this great before,' then I've succeeded."

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