Miyamoto wanted to patent ‘jumping’, thinks New Super Mario Bros is too easy
Demonstrates knowledge of turtle anatomy
In Nintendo’s most recent Iwata Asks interview, Shigeru Miyamoto has been spilling Mario-flavoured beans as copiously as a breakfast chef with delirium tremors and a broken spoon.
Amongst the most interesting of Miyamoto’s revelations is that he once considered a career is a trademark troll, having invented jumping. ‘I went as far as thinking that jumping is an original idea and that it should be patented! Anyway, I thought: "Right, I'm not going to let those other games top us!”’
He also expresses some remorse about the difficulty level of New Super Mario Bros, exhibiting his famous perfectionism.
“As you can imagine, no matter how hard you try, it just isn't possible to settle on a difficulty level that will satisfy everyone ranging from people who haven't played a game in years right through to players who know all the Mario games inside out. You have to focus it on either one or the other.”
Miyamoto also reveals that Mario looks the way he does as a matter of necessity. With only 64 pixels to play with, his designers gave him a moustache rather than a mouth, a hat rather than hair, and dungarees rather than sensible clothes in order to make the best of the limited materials at their disposal.
It’s all rather interesting. Head here to read the full Miyamoto interview.
