• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Iwata Asks: Developing Super Mario Galaxy (now in english)

C

CubeRevolution

Member
MFB_IA_SMGDEV_enGB.jpg


http://uk.wii.com/software/18/
 
Koizumi:Correct. I look at this as if I had borrowed a vegetable garden from Miyamoto-san. It was as if I had asked him, "Please let me borrow your ‘secret garden’. I promise I will produce great things from it", and then started sowing the seeds with my staff members. Once we’d cooked the dish with the harvested crops, we decided to have Miyamoto-san be the first one to taste it. He is the owner of the garden, after all. We sent every plate to Kyoto for him to sample, and he gave us comments back like "This is a little too hot", or "This part tastes better now". Towards the end of development, we had him come and visit our "restaurant" in Tokyo. While he was here, we had him sample an unbelievable number of dishes. We had him eat until he was very full.
Click to expand...

heh. Thats a pretty awesome comparison.
 
Shimizu:
We unveiled Super Mario Galaxy for the first time last year at the E3 event5 held in the US, where Miyamoto-san announced that it would be released within 6 months after Wii's launch. At the time, I thought that we’d hopefully make it somehow.
5 E3 is a game show held annually in Los Angeles. Super Mario Galaxy was first announced here in May, 2006.

Iwata:
But, that turned out not to be the case.

Shimizu:
Correct. I truly apologise to our customers who have been waiting for this game to come out for so long. But with this being the first 3D action Mario game in a while, we had very strong feelings about this game, and we felt that we couldn’t have our fans play it until we had managed to deal with any elements that we were not fully satisfied with. So although it was important to try and release this simultaneously with Wii's launch, we also felt that it was much more important to make a game that the customers would feel was really worth buying. We were so determined that we even thought of closing down the Tokyo office if Super Mario Galaxy received poor reviews.
Click to expand...
Nintendo aiming for the GOTF spot confirmed.
 
So, about two years ago, after we were finished developing Donkey Kong Jungle Beat3 for the GameCube, we had some time to plan what our next game would be. I had suggested creating a new, original game on our own, but then Miyamoto-san said in a rather sad tone, "I wish you could make a game with Nintendo characters...". (laughs)
Click to expand...

See, Miyamoto is holding Nintendo back.
 
You won't get motion sickness from the game, one of the team members actually has motion sickness so they changed the stuff that would make people sick.
 
So, about two years ago, after we were finished developing Donkey Kong Jungle Beat3 for the GameCube, we had some time to plan what our next game would be. I had suggested creating a new, original game on our own, but then Miyamoto-san said in a rather sad tone, "I wish you could make a game with Nintendo characters...". (laughs)
Click to expand...

Haters, this is your cue!
 
nice interview :D

now i can related SMG to Mario 128 demo, cuz as i remember Mario(s) were running aorund a globe or something
 
[Nintex] said:
You won't get motion sickness from the game, one of the team members actually has motion sickness so they changed the stuff that would make people sick.
Click to expand...

I know someone who has been getting motion sick from every 3D game with a rotating camera. They will be VERY pleased to hear this.
 
boutrosinit said:
Why the fuck are the developers wearing suits?
Click to expand...

well they have to wear something nice infront of big ppl and this being a PR.

the actually ppl making the games (artist/programmers) usually wear casual during work.
 
So, about two years ago, after we were finished developing Donkey Kong Jungle Beat3 for the GameCube, we had some time to plan what our next game would be. I had suggested creating a new, original game on our own, but then Miyamoto-san said in a rather sad tone, "I wish you could make a game with Nintendo characters...". (laughs)
Click to expand...

It was probably just an instance of "how can you say 'no' to that face?".
 
Koizumi:So in order to make the game so that anyone can play it, we made the game very easy to clear during the early stages of development. However, when Miyamoto-san tried that version out, he said that it was too easy, and lacked intensity.
Click to expand...

Good. They aren't THAT out of touch as it seems.

Koizumi:Since we're talking about the intensity of the game, I placed a rather bold suggestion for this game. I wanted to change the life meter’s maximum to 3. With this, Mario ends up losing more lives as a result, but at the same time we increased the number of 1-Up mushrooms that are available throughout the game, and created checkpoints. In Mario 64, the life meter’s maximum was 8. That meant it was rare to lose a life. The life meter’s maximum was also 8 in Super Mario Sunshine, but I felt that the life parameter didn't really tie in to the intensity factor. Even when you find a 1-Up mushroom, you don't think much of it. So this time, we changed the life meter’s maximum to 3, and it became a lot easier to lose a life, but you could get more 1-Up mushrooms to compensate.
Click to expand...

The sad irony is that 20 years ago, Nintendo were masters of this sort of balance between challenge, accessibility, difficulty, and intensity. They REALLY lost that craft in the last decade, to a severe fault. Hope they find it again...particularly for Zelda.
 
So awesome.

Glad to hear that they figured the game was too easy before.

3 health is way different than 8 health.

Also Miyamoto was the one saying it was too easy, glad he did his tea table thing again.
 
[Nintex] said:
You won't get motion sickness from the game, one of the team members actually has motion sickness so they changed the stuff that would make people sick.
Click to expand...
I want a motion sickness option!
 
Only in Japan will you see game developers with ties on... TIES!!! Investment bankers don't even wear ties anymore around here...

I don't even know how to tie a tie :(
 
Its Miyamoto way or highway! No seriously you have to wonder what it would be like working with him, especially if you had solid idea and he didnt agree.
 
I had suggested creating a new, original game on our own, but then Miyamoto-san said in a rather sad tone, "I wish you could make a game with Nintendo characters...". (laughs)
Click to expand...

bleh

i guess that's what depresses miyamoto these days -- the prospect of a nintendo game without mario in it

the whole section of the interview with the extended vegetable metaphor is strange to read -- probably just because it's been translated from a foreign language. but there's something really off-kilter about it, and you imagine the laughter as mirthless
 
So, I made sure there were lots of areas in the game that could be enjoyed, even by little children, just by moving Mario around. In these places, you don't have to think about what you have to accomplish, so you can play around freely. I hope people who will play this game will find a special place of their own in the game, and discover their own way of enjoying the game.
Click to expand...


free roaming play areas??
 
drohne said:
bleh

i guess that's what depresses miyamoto these days -- the prospect of a nintendo game without mario in it

the whole section of the interview with the extended vegetable metaphor is strange to read -- probably just because it's been translated from a foreign language. but there's something really off-kilter about it, and you imagine the laughter as mirthless
Click to expand...

I prefer to think of it as a poor dub job.
 
madara said:
Its Miyamoto way or highway! No seriously you have to wonder what it would be like working with him, especially if you had solid idea and he didnt agree.
Click to expand...

Well, he does have more experience, and that tends to happen in companies. However, the interview does note that the director did indeed have different ideas, and that they were incorporated as well. He just had to talk them out and explain the decision to Miyamoto, and vice versa whenever there was a disagreement.

This is how you make a game, people!
 
Jackson said:
Only in Japan will you see game developers with ties on... TIES!!! Investment bankers don't even wear ties anymore around here...

I don't even know how to tie a tie :(
Click to expand...

The four in hand, the tie's easiest knot:
Fat end about 6-9 inches longer than skinny end. Wrap fat end over skinny end... then under... then over... and now when the fat end gets to the back, pull it up and then down through the loop that's made. Put the skinny end inside the holder on the back of the fat end and then tug until it looks sensible.
 
DefectiveReject said:
free roaming play areas??
Click to expand...

My ONE wish for this game is that it has a part where you can just control flying Mario in space and fly around. The planet to planet parts look so much fun but you don't control those parts :\
 
I'm fine and dandy with them making a Mario game over an original IP simply because it guarantees that a platformer will be made (an *actual* platformer as opposed to an "action" game with jumping).
 
Tristam said:
I'm fine and dandy with them making a Mario game over an original IP simply because it guarantees that a platformer will be made (an *actual* platformer as opposed to an "action" game with jumping).
Click to expand...

uh

"Shimizu: In a 3D action game, the most basic action you do is running. While you are running, the easiest way to attack is not by jumping, but by spinning. So in Super Mario Galaxy, running and spinning are the basic actions."
 
drohne said:
uh

"Shimizu: In a 3D action game, the most basic action you do is running. While you are running, the easiest way to attack is not by jumping, but by spinning. So in Super Mario Galaxy, running and spinning are the basic actions."
Click to expand...

...and now the game's status as a platformer is negated, amirite? There's more platforming involved in Mario than...well, in pretty much every other 3D action game.

And he mentioned nothing of navigation (ever seen the cookie factory galaxy video?); he simply said spinning was easier than jumping for defeating enemies, just as in Mario 64 punching or kicking enemies was easier than jumping on them. That's a consequence of the added dimension -- it's more difficult to judge where you're going to land in a 3D platformer than a 2D one. At any rate, a goomba dies whether you do a spin attack or jump on him, so who's complaining?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Super Mario Galaxy Decomp passes 50%
21
113
SpiceRacz replied
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reviews are in... and not great
8 9 10 11 12
553
3K
IlGialloMondadori replied
Fox McCloud joins The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
2 3
149
2K
GateofD replied
‘Super Mario Galaxy’ movie nears $1 billion at the box office
2
50
158
IAmRei replied
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now the highest grossing movie of 2026 ($629M WW) *Theatrical release in Japan on April 24
45
669
mckmas8808 replied
Top Bottom