Nintendo legend and father of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, thinks there's a limit to how many people the company "can reach through Nintendo's systems and consoles," and so he wants his beloved red-hatted plumber to continue to evolve outside of video games.
Speaking in a new interview with Polygon about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Miyamoto is presented with the point that, thanks to the movies, many fans will now be encountering Mario for the first time before ever even playing any of his games. Asked if this has any impact on his thoughts when it comes to making games, Miyamoto says he's keen to see Mario evolve outside of the format he was first introduced in.
"When we're talking about Mario as a character, he's always evolved alongside the evolution of digital media," he begins. "As we approach Mario and developing Mario games, I start to feel like there's only so many people that we can reach through Nintendo's systems and consoles. And so now with things like digital streaming and the expanse and the reach of what the technology allows now, I feel like that's a great way to get Mario involved too, and really be able to evolve alongside with digital media."
He continues, noting that "going from being able to have a touchpoint with Nintendo only through Nintendo consoles, we want to expand." Of course, the company has already been doing this, as he acknowledges that fans can now "have a touchpoint with Nintendo characters through various media" – no doubt he's thinking of the two Mario movies here, as well as perhaps the Super Nintendo World theme parks that have started popping up in the last few years.
All of this means he has a new hope for how people might dream about Nintendo's future projects going forward. "In that way, instead of people thinking, 'What kind of game is Nintendo going to come up with now?' I would love for them to think about, 'What kind of world Nintendo will expand on now,'" he adds. "That's the kind of approach and thinking I have currently."
Even though I doubt the constant cries for new Nintendo Directs with dozens of big first-party games are ever going to subside, I think it's fair to say we're already seeing Miyamoto's new dream play out in reality. After all, the reveal of Star Fox's Fox McCloud in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie led to further hope and speculation for a Super Smash Bros. movie, chasing the idea of a Nintendo cinematic universe.
As it happens, in this same interview, Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri essentially told fans not to expect a Smash Bros. adaptation any time soon, so perhaps we should put a pin in that idea, but clearly, the demand for more non-video-game Nintendo content is real.
