Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto doesn’t play games anymore – with one exception

Don’t ask him about Ratchet & Clank (Amy Sussman/Getty Images) The creator behind Super Mario Bros. and The Legend Of Zelda has said he rarely plays video games, although he does make one exception. Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most influential designers in video game history, having created 1981’s Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., and The Legend Of Zelda, amongst many others. In recent years, he’s become more synonymous with Nintendo’s efforts on the big screen and the Super Nintendo World theme park. In fact, his last credit as a director on a game was 2016’s Super Mario Run. He was also supervising director on Star Fox Zero the same year, but before that his last straight director credit was for the seminal Super Mario 64 in 1996. However, despite being so instrumental to the medium, Miyamoto, 73, doesn’t spend much of his time playing video games anymore. Speaking in an interview with Famitsu, Miyamoto was asked if he plays the Nintendo Switch 2 on a regular basis. ‘Well, I don’t really play by myself that much anymore,’ Miyamoto replied (via machine translation). ‘In my case, my grandchildren… if they have the games at their own house they play too much, so I keep them at my house and tell them, ‘Come to Grandpa’s house when you want to play’ (laughs).’ Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. He added: ‘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.’ While his executive role at Nintendo, and his age, might be the main reasons Miyamoto doesn’t play many games solo today, it’s unclear how much he really played games before that point. Pikmin, for example, was inspired by Miyamoto observing ants in his garden. Before that in 2007, Miyamoto refuted the idea that Super Mario Galaxy was inspired by Ratchet & Clank, admitting he’d ‘never seen the game in question’, while enquiring as to whether it was a PC title. Miyamoto has previously said that he doesn’t look to existing games for inspiration, but instead encourages developers to ‘start with an idea that personally means something to them’, like an ‘individual’s personal hobbies’. Elsewhere in the Famitsu interview, Miyamoto said he believes ‘customers are no longer just looking for specs’ when it comes to buying a console, citing the success and longevity 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 explained. ‘Smartphones are everywhere, aren’t they? I think that’s one ideal. But Nintendo has always been providing gameplay that only we can create, including the interface, and compared to smartphones, it has the advantage of being able to respond quickly and having a high degree of freedom because it only requires one architecture and support for one piece of hardware.’ It’s an interesting point to make coming off the Switch 2, which was primarily marketed on its improved specs, but the question surrounding the value of improved graphics will certainly hang heavy over the PlayStation 6 and Xbox’s Project Helix. In the same interview, Miyamoto also confirmed development on the Star Fox remake and Yoshi And The Mysterious Book were kickstarted by each character’s involvement in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, even though they had nothing directly to do with the film. An unlikely movie tie-in (Nintendo) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: EA boss got £29,000,000 bonus for Battlefield 6 while the devs were laid off Arrow MORE: Xbox still not making a profit on console sales despite price rise says report Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 the only game you’re buying this autumn? GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.