Shigeru Miyamoto tests new Mario and entrusts the future of the franchise

The creator of Super Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, discussed the change in his role after stepping back from the leadership of the development of the series, revealing that now he entrusts most of the work on new games to other talents. The 72-year-old designer maintains a crucial supervisory role, but the passing of the torch to a new generation of developers is a positive point for the longevity of the franchise.

In an interview with the Japanese magazine Casa Brutus (via VGC), Miyamoto detailed his new routine:

"These days, I have teammates who help me maintain the Mario world, so I entrust a lot of that to them," said Miyamoto. "Even so, I always play the first 30 minutes of the game and check the interface meticulously — to ensure that it really feels like a Mario game."

The veteran designer, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., expressed the wish to stay healthy for Mario's 50th anniversary in ten years: "I just hope to stay healthy until Mario's 50th anniversary!"

Miyamoto has been appearing less frequently in Nintendo Direct broadcasts, usually focusing on the expansion of Nintendo into theme parks and movies. In the 40th anniversary segment, he passed the torch to designer and director Yoshiaki Koizumi, whom fans speculate to be involved in a new 3D Mario game.

Speaking about the brand expansion, Miyamoto showed enthusiasm: "With the help of many passionate people outside our company, Mario has expanded into theme parks and movies, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how things will develop from here."

Regarding the future of games, the designer teased the current team: "Up to Super Mario Odyssey, I feel like we've done practically everything we could on the Switch. In the past, whenever a new console was released, we launched a new Mario game, so I'm curious to see how the current team will handle this challenge," he chuckled.

The next adventure of Mario in the movies will be the Super Mario Galaxy film, which fans believe will feature Princess Rosalina and Bowser Jr., due to leaked images on a cookie dough box. Miyamoto expressed confidence in the project: "The setting for the next movie is, as the title already says, the galaxy — that's all I can say. We're in the final stages of production, but I think it's going to be fun. Normally, I just say, 'I'll keep working on it until it's fun,' so that alone should show how confident I am (laughs)."

Shigeru Miyamoto has delegated most of the development of new Mario games to teammates, while maintaining supervision over the first 30 minutes to ensure that the game "feels like Mario". The 72-year-old designer hopes to be healthy for the franchise's 50th anniversary. He shows confidence in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy film and teased the team about the next 3D game for the new Nintendo console.