Shigeru Miyamoto Quotes & Sayings

Game music has a purpose and it does incorporate sound effects. — Shigeru Miyamoto

There's definitely space for uniqueness in a home console. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Most people think video games are all about a child staring at a TV with a joystick in his hands. I don't. They should belong to the entire family. I want families to play video games together. — Shigeru Miyamoto

My days all follow much the same pattern. They are structured and typical. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I could make Halo. It's not that I couldn't design that game. It's just that I choose not to. One thing about my game design is that I never try to look for what people want and then try to make that game design. I always try to create new experiences that are fun to play. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Today, there are many, many ways to entertain people in one single videogame. And the Internet has made it so easy for people to ask for clues. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I'd like to be known as the person who saw things from a different point of view to others. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Anything that is impractical can be play. It's doing something other than what is necessary to continue living as an animal. — Shigeru Miyamoto

As I am ageing, naturally, how I want my videogames to be played must be changing. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Games are a trigger for adults to again become primitive, primal, as a way of thinking and remembering. An adult is a child who has more ethics and morals, that's all. I am not creating a game. I am in the game. The game is not for children, it is for me. It is for an adult who still has a character of a child. — Shigeru Miyamoto

A late game is only late until it ships. A bad game is bad until the end of time — Shigeru Miyamoto

Nowadays I think it's really important that designers are really unique and individual. — Shigeru Miyamoto

When I'm working on games I don't think necessarily about what the end benefit of the game is going to be. Typically I'm trying to think of: "What can I do that is going to find new ways to entertain and surprise people." — Shigeru Miyamoto

When we're doing an action game, we make the second level first. We begin making level 1 once everything else is completed. — Shigeru Miyamoto

People often say that videogames made by Western developers are somehow different in terms of taste for the players, in comparison with Japanese games. I think that means that the Western developers and Japanese developers, they are good at different fields. — Shigeru Miyamoto

A great idea solves multiple problems at the same time. — Shigeru Miyamoto

When I'm making video games today, I want people to be entertained. I am always thinking, How are people going to enjoy playing the games we are making today? And as long as I can enjoy something other people can enjoy it, too. — Shigeru Miyamoto

You can use a lot of different technologies to create something that doesn't really have a lot of value. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Actually, 3D is really the most normal thing because it's how those of us with two eyes usually see the world. TVs are the unusual things in 2D! — Shigeru Miyamoto

The PSP will not be able to display anything that you cannot do on a current system. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Their attitude is, 'okay, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me.' It's kind of a passive attitude they're taking, and to me it's kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games]. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I used to draw cartoons. I'd just show them to some of my friends, expecting that they were going to appreciate them, that they were going to enjoy reading them. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I try not so much to create new characters and worlds but to create new game-play experiences. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Entertainment companies always have to stay on the edge of trying to catch that certain thing that will grab people's attention. And that thing is always changing. Nintendo has been doing this for a long, long time. Originally, we weren't even a video game company, but we were still an entertainment company. So I can't say what that next thing is, but I can say, at Nintendo we're trying to create new ways to play. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I never really participated in specific sports or anything, but once I hit 40, I started to get a little bit more active and began swimming more. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Players are artists who create their own reality within the game. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Throughout the Zelda series I've always tried to make players feel like they are in a kind of miniature garden. So, this time also, my challenge was how to make people feel comfortable and sometimes very scared at the same time. That is the big challenge. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Well, for over a year now at my desk, a prototype program of Luigi and Mario has been running on my monitor. We've been thinking about the game, and it may be something that could work on a completely new game system. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I am not Link, but I do know him! Even after 18 years, the Legend of Zelda never stops changing and this game is no different. We are now taking you to a world where Link has grown up
a world where he will act different and look different. In order to grow, Link must not stand still and neither will I. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I feel more reassured with physical media. Entertainment is something that will not just become digital. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Angry Birds is a very simple idea but its one of those games that I immediately appreciated when I first started playing, before wishing that I had been the one to come up with the idea first. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I don't let Mario appear in just any kind of game. Mario could not appear in Zelda games. They are two distinct game worlds. — Shigeru Miyamoto

When I create a game, I try to focus more on the emotions that the player experiences during the game play. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I always try and come up with a clear theme when I'm making a videogame. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I don't think as a creator that I could create an experience that truly feels interactive if you don't have something to hold in your hand, if you don't have something like force feedback that you can feel from the controller. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I'm very impressed that there are so many fans - not just in Japan, but here in America - that are fond of the work that I've done. I'm actually kind of embarrassed by it all. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I made some games, but I'm pretending like I didn't because they all turned out weird. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think I can make an entirely new game experience, and if I can't do it, some other game designer will. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think Zelda 64 is utilizing about 90 percent of the N64 potential, ... When we made Mario 64 we were simply utilizing 60 to 70 percent. So we have come a long way I believe. — Shigeru Miyamoto

If we end up creating a gameplay structure where it makes sense for, whether it's a female to go rescue a male or a gay man to rescue a lesbian woman or a lesbian woman to rescue a gay man, we might take that approach. — Shigeru Miyamoto

It isn't about games, for me, personally, and it never really was. It was about creating something- anything- far bigger than yourself. — Shigeru Miyamoto

So you know cats are interesting. They are kind of like girls. If they come and talk to you it's great. But if you try to talk to them it doesn't always go so well. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I enjoy thinking about ways to create something that other people have not even thought about, something no one has managed to achieve. — Shigeru Miyamoto

A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever. — Shigeru Miyamoto

What I'm really excited about is that continued challenge to create things that gamers of all experiences can play. — Shigeru Miyamoto

What comes next? Super Mario 128? Actually, that's what I want to do. — Shigeru Miyamoto

All the time, players are forced to do their utmost. If they are challenged to the limit, is it really fun for them? — Shigeru Miyamoto

When I look around and see how aged cartoonists continue to work on their manga and how movie directors create new movies all the time, I understand that they would never retire. And by the same token, I guess I will still be making games somehow. The only question is whether the younger people will be willing to work with me at that far point in the future. — Shigeru Miyamoto

When I look back I can tell that after I started having a family, I certainly wanted to make games that could be played with all the family members. — Shigeru Miyamoto

So, it's important for us to acknowledge that we're prone to be conservative, and in turn surround ourselves with individuals who will help break down our conservatism. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Up until now, the biggest question in society about video games has been what to do about violent games. But it's almost like society in general considers video games to be something of a nuisance, that they want to toss into the garbage can. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Games have grown and developed from this limited in-the-box experience to something that's everywhere now. Interactive content is all around us, networked, ready. This is something I've been hoping for throughout my career. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Providing new means of entertainment is the important thing. — Shigeru Miyamoto

What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think when you talk about competing against others, the problem is that you refer to something that's been done already and try to beat it. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I don't want to criticize any other designers, but I have to say that many of the people involved in this industry - directors and producers - are trying to make their games more like movies. They are longing to make movies rather than making videogames. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Of course, I would like to know what [Sony and Microsoft] do with their machines, but there is no game that I feel the need to go see. So far, from what I've seen on the show this year, there does not seem to be any games that I would like to have created myself. — Shigeru Miyamoto

We don't pay a whole lot of attention to the Internet until people have played the game - then we pay a lot of attention to whether people liked it. We read through it and see it, but we don't take it into consideration ... [The Internet] is not going to dictate the direction of where the game goes. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I don't like all the attention. I think it's better to let my work do the talking. — Shigeru Miyamoto

As a kid, I was a big comic fan and I liked foreign comics as well. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Controller is so intuitive, even your mum can play. — Shigeru Miyamoto

A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software. If we hadn't used NAND flash memory and other pricey parts, we might have succeeded. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good. — Shigeru Miyamoto

For a long time at Nintendo we didn't focus as much on online play because for many years doing so would have limited the size of the audience that could enjoy those features. But certainly now we see that so many people are connected to the Internet. It opens up a tremendous amount of possibilities. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock n' roll. — Shigeru Miyamoto

In other words, I'm not intending to start from things that require a five-year development time, — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think what's really the most ideal thing is for the player themselves, within their own imagination, to carve out what they view as being the essence of the character. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Fortunately, because of the spread of smart devices, people take games for granted now. It's a good thing for us, because we do not have to worry about making games something that are relevant to general people's daily lives. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I know as a child, I was really interested in becoming a manga artist, to create my own stories and illustrate them and present something that people would be interested in reading and looking at as well. — Shigeru Miyamoto

What if everything you see is more than what you see
the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it is really a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I don't really think of things in terms of legacy or where I stand in the history of Nintendo or anything like that. — Shigeru Miyamoto

A good idea is something that does not solve just one single problem, but rather can solve multiple problems at once. — Shigeru Miyamoto

The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Our job as the game creators or developers - the programmers, artists, and whatnot - is that we have to kind of put ourselves in the user's shoes. We try to see what they're seeing, and then make it, and support what we think they might think. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Japan actually is an aging population, and so as the population has aged, they have had a lot more problems with health. — Shigeru Miyamoto

What I found is that just in the lifestyle today, people have fewer and fewer opportunities to get exercise. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I'm not saying that I'm going to retire from game development altogether. — Shigeru Miyamoto

If it turns out that Mario doesn't really fit into the type of game I want, I wouldn't mind using Zelda as the basis of the new game. — Shigeru Miyamoto

An adult is a child who has more ethics and morals. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I believe that any sort of changes to interface that allows people to get into games and enjoy games is a great trend. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Who knows how Mario will look in the future. Maybe he'll wear metallic clothes! — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think everyone can enjoy games. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Nintendo's philosophy is never to go the easy path; it's always to challenge ourselves and try to do something new. — Shigeru Miyamoto

There are big lines between those who play video games and those who do not. For those who don't, video games are irrelevant. They think all video games must be too difficult. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that we have to act more like adults. — Shigeru Miyamoto

To create a new standard, you have to be up for that challenge and really enjoy it. — Shigeru Miyamoto

This is the entertainment industry, so game designers have to have a creative mind and also have to be able to stand up against the marketing people at their company - otherwise they cannot be creative. There are not that many people who fit that description. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Japanese people have a funny habit of abbreviating names. — Shigeru Miyamoto

It would be a joy for me if someone who was working with me became a big success. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Of course, when it comes to Japanese role-playing games, in any role-playing game in Japan you're supposed to collect a huge number of items, and magic, and you've got to actually combine different items together to make something really different. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I think that the entertainment industry itself has a history of chasing success. Any time a hit product comes out, all the other companies start chasing after that success and trying to recreate it by putting out similar products. — Shigeru Miyamoto

Of course, I have my own limits as to how much game software I can take care of at any one time. — Shigeru Miyamoto

I wanted to make something very unique, something very different. — Shigeru Miyamoto

There are some ghost stories in Japan where - when you are sitting in the bathroom in the traditional style of the Japanese toilet - a hand is actually starting to grab you from beneath. It's a very scary story. — Shigeru Miyamoto