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https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/dec/30/nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto-interview-mario-zelda-switch-pikmin-splatoon>
"You can tell a Nintendo game not just from its feel – the satisfying swish of
Link’s sword in the
Zelda games, the weight of Mario’s jump – but by its
look. They are bright, energetic, characterful. In
Splatoon, the game-maker’s
most recent hit series, the shooter is reimagined as teams of transforming
squids splattering arenas in glossy paint. Mario’s red cap and blue overalls,
originally designed to create a recognisable character with just a few pixels
for 1981’s arcade hit
Donkey Kong, is now a stylistic signature – Nintendo’s
logo is the same shade of red. When you look into the company’s department
store outlets in Japan, a dozen colourful characters stare back at you from
reams of merch:
Animal Crossing cookware,
Super Mario gloves,
Zelda
wallets and ties,
Pikmin vases.
Next to the riot of colour that characterises its most famous games, Nintendo’s
HQ is conspicuously bland: two mid-rise white buildings in close proximity a
half-hour’s walk from Kyoto’s central station, a grey Nintendo logo outside
each. A small basket of Mario plush toys on the receptionist’s desk is the only
clue as to what’s made in this building. Perhaps it’s more interesting-looking
upstairs, but that’s a mystery to anyone who doesn’t work here. As I am firmly
but politely told when I ask if there’s any chance of a tour,
nobody goes up
there.
I am here to meet Shigeru Miyamoto, the most influential game designer in the
world. It was Miyamoto who designed that first pixelated Mario, and the games
he starred in. He is best known for the creation of Mario, but he is also
responsible for several of Nintendo’s other hit games – among them
The Legend
of Zelda, whose latest instalment just topped many of 2023’s game of the year
lists. He has been involved in the design of all of the company’s consoles,
from 1983’s Famicom (known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System)
to its latest, the 130m-selling Nintendo Switch. Since 1977, when Miyamoto
joined the company, Nintendo has sold more than 1bn copies of games featuring
his creations. He is the architect of several generations’ worth of childhood
dreams."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
