Miyamoto Confirms At Least Three Nintendo Games Were Made With Mario Movies In Mind

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that at least three Nintendo games were developed with the Super Mario Bros movies in mind, shedding light on how closely the company’s game development and film projects have been linked.

Speaking in the latest issue of Famitsu, Miyamoto confirmed that the recent Star Fox remake was created partly to build on Fox’s appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. He also revealed that Princess Peach: Showtime and Yoshi and the Mysterious Book were made with the first and second Mario movies in mind, so that players would have new games featuring those characters around the same time the films were released.

“I don’t decide the entire lineup myself, but sometimes decisions are made based on specific needs,” Miyamoto said, according to a machine translation of the interview. He gave an example of how such decisions come about, saying ideas like including Fox in the Mario Galaxy movie script led directly to plans for a new Star Fox game.

Miyamoto explained that the relationship between the games and movies worked both ways, with some games shaping what happened in the films just as much as the films shaped which games got made. He said work on the first Mario movie and Princess Peach: Showtime began around the same time, which led to conversations about giving Peach a bigger role in the film since the game was already in development. He added that a similar decision was made early on to include Yoshi in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which led to development starting on Yoshi and the Mysterious Book so a Yoshi game would be available as well.

“It varies by case, but I think we will continue to move forward while maintaining a positive relationship between our games and other media initiatives,” Miyamoto said.

Miyamoto said Nintendo had held back on crossovers in the past partly because there is no clear stopping point once they start, and also due to complications with merchandise licensing. He said Fox’s inclusion in the Mario Galaxy movie came from a specific idea that felt worth pursuing, comparing it to the kind of crossover that might happen in a manga. He noted that breaking from Nintendo’s usual approach was well received by audiences in this case.

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