Wii

This is the first Mario game that uses an orchestrated soundtrack. Miyamoto-san, how did you feel about this?

With the orchestra, there were quite a number of people who were against using one. But, I think all those people were against it because they assumed that I would say no, so they would talk about it as if it were the plague.

I can imagine how they were pulling each others’ sleeves, telling the other person "You go tell him"! (laughs)

The fact is, I was even tempted to ask them, "Why can’t we use it?" Since I had felt that instruments like the timpani and strings would be suited to express the theme song of Super Mario Galaxy, I had approved this at a fairly early stage. Although, I think everybody was still feeling uneasy, thinking that I had made a ground-breaking decision, or that I would upend things at the very last minute.

Hearing all this makes me rethink how like with the design, music plays a major role in expressing the functions. By the way, I watched a video that showed the studio recording. You looked very serious as you were listening in.

I might have been sleeping! (laughs)

(laughs)

I’m kidding (laughs)
Yokota-kun in sound was very detailed with everything. When he told me "I can tell how the orchestra will sound different just by imagining how to change the way the musicians would play", wanting to see this, I replied "I would really like to be there".

Before they started performing, I heard you talked to everyone in the orchestra.

I talked about some big things. When I told them "The Super Mario series sells more than 10 million copies worldwide", everyone in the orchestra was very surprised! (laughs) And I continued introducing myself by saying "On top of that, the people who are going to buy our game will play the game a number of times, so all the music that you will be playing today will be played more than 100 million times, so please do your best".

Wouldn’t that be a lot more than 100 million?

Would it be more? (laughs)
When people in the orchestra cheered in excitement, I really felt I was glad I went.

So for Super Mario Galaxy, do you have an idea of what kind of people would play, and in what way?

Recently, If a young man has a Wii, I don’t think their girlfriends would tell them "You’re playing video games again!?" (laughs) Even between college students, I think they’re saying things like "He’s got a Wii, let’s get everyone over there to play." As the gaming audience expands, I think Super Mario Galaxy is something that these people can play with confidence. In the past, there were a lot of games that were a compilation of minigames, and I think this has become a game where you can sit down and thoroughly play.

In the day of Super Mario for the NES, I think video games were played a lot more frequently in the living room, by a group of people. But as the times changed, the video game was now placed in the bedroom, and we started to see more games that were only meant to be played by a single person. However, Wii is often placed in the living room; I would love for people to play Super Mario Galaxy in the way video games were played in the yesteryears. Without exception, a well-made game is one that is fun, just by watching someone else play.

I touched on how the staff in Tokyo would watch me play, but although everybody was working, I think everybody was actually having fun! (laughs) Also, we made the courses shorter and made the bosses appear fairly earlier than in past games, so I think the game is now easier for busy people who are not able to find that much time to play. We also placed checkpoints in the middle of the stages.

When you lost a Mario in past games, you had to start again from all the way back in the beginning of the level.

Games have now become 3D, and the scale of each game has grown much larger, but that always results in the levels becoming longer. That really has to be changed, because playing the same part over again is supposed to be fun. As you’re playing the same course over and over, you become more attached to that level. But by placing checkpoints it makes it easier for the players to move on in the game, which I think results in each of the levels leaving less of an impression to the players. So five years from now if somebody asks you "What did you think of that game?", you’re not able to say anything about it. I want to make something that everyone would remember.

It would be ideal to make a game where the players are repeating the same thing over and over again, but that doesn’t dissipate their challenging spirit in the slightest.

This is something personal, but when I listen to classical songs that are about an hour long, I only tend to remember its main parts. But if this was a song from the Beatles, I remember mostly every song. I think depending on the song, there are some that you remember things like the place and the situation of when you heard it for the first time. I wish things like that would happen with games. In that sense, I’m not for things like adding too many checkpoints, but I don’t think it’s right when someone who wants to relax and play a game for a few minutes, has to spend 30 minutes trying to get just one star! (laughs) So I think this game balanced out well in the sense of how long it takes from one point to another. In fact, I heard many people at playing events compliment the game’s tempo and how they weren’t good at action games, but were able to enjoy it. I think this broadened the possibility that even the most unsuspecting person would end up liking the game. I hoping things like that would happen with this game.

There are two missions in this game. One is to get those people who have a preconception that 3D games aren’t for them to realize how fun a game in 3D could be. The other, is to make those people who think Wii only has games for beginners, know that the Nintendo EAD’s sporting-gym styled gameplay experience is still alive and well! (laughs)

I agree. I would like to challenge the players to get all the stars, if they can! (laughs)

Now, if I could please get some final words to wrap up this interview.

I think I was able to eliminate elements in the game that made players think "This is not my fault that I’m not able to do this". This game is worth the challenge. However, you don’t have to clear every single thing in this game, so you’re still able to beat Bowser by playing normally, and it would be best if players could play this game at their own pace where they would set their own goals like "One star, every time I go home."

And in four months, you realize that you had collected 120 of them.

That’s great! (laughs) As I said earlier, Mario is a fun game, even if you just move him around. You’re able to experience new things you were not able to before. I would really like the people who are good at this game to teach people who are not good at playing video games using the Co-Star mode, I think they’ll be in for an experience like no other. I think it would also be fun to assist grandpa, and having your mom play the game.

Would the Wife-o-Meter¹¹ in your house go up again? (laughs)