Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto recently spoke with Stephen Totilo at MTV Multiplayer, and the man behind the Mario and Zelda franchises was surprisingly candid about the recent iterations in those classic Nintendo franchises. Regarding the need to innovate in these series, Miyamoto noted that it's "something that I talk to the members of my development team about on a regular basis."
He continued, "What I've been saying to our development teams recently is that Twilight Princess was not a bad game, by any means. But, still, it felt like there was something missing. And while, personally, I feel like Super Mario Galaxy was able to do some things that were very new and were very unique, at the same time, from another perspective, certain elements of it do feel somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design. And so this is something I've been talking to both of those teams about.
"Of course, as is customary with Nintendo, it's very rare that we are able to announce any games until they're ready for release, but I can say that these are themes that both of those teams are taking into account and the hope is that for both of those franchises, when we do release the next installments of the Zelda [franchise] or maybe the next Galaxy, hopefully they will feel newer and fresher than their most recent versions."
Nintendo isn't ready to say anything about the next Mario or Zelda, but another classic franchise – Punch Out! – already seems to be getting Miyamoto excited. He commented that not only have many Nintendo fans been waiting for this game, but many people at Nintendo have wanted to make a new Punch-Out! for some time now. Miyamoto will serve as the game's producer.
"I think people who are fans of the original will be very thrilled to see the kind of style we've designed the game in. It will feel very classic," he said. "But at the same time, with the 3D polygons and the polygonal rendering of the characters, I think is going to make for some very nice cut-scenes and a little bit deeper story."
You also might be interested to hear that Miyamoto believes Valve's Portal is "an amazing game."
Check out the full interview at MTV, and you can also read our own recent Miyamoto interview in which he discusses Wii Music, user-generated content and more.
Phahtrox: This is good news, espeally for a guy like me who has seen the Zelda pattern go somewhat bland. They are still good, by all means, but I would just like to see new adventures into new gameplay.
