Miyamoto: Games should be fun, not difficult

In an interview in the latest issue of Famitsu, Shigeru Miyamoto spoke about how he intends to balance difficulty and accessibility in Super Mario Galaxy.

At last June’s E3 conference, Miyamoto said that Nintendo intended to break down the wall separating hardcore and casual games. When asked by Famitsu how Super Mario Galaxy fitted into this, he said: “When we started these new ways to play with this new interface, I was a little suspicious that a beginner would be able to beat a veteran.0

“But, actually, that’s not the case. In the Super Mario Club [the debugging team at Nintendo], there are lots of part-timers that haven’t played games before. But, give them two weeks playing a game, and there’ll be some that are better than a lot of the other members. Even my wife always gets better scores than me in one of the More Brain Training games.

“So, regarding skill, I don’t think there is a ‘wall’ between casual gamers and hardcore gamers. The thing is, even core gamers will play ‘casual’ games. Essentially, we should be making games that are fun but aren’t difficult. In other words, trying to make a game fun using difficulty isn’t any good. With Super Mario Galaxy, while searching for new and interesting things, we’ve tried to build a game that beginners can play well without us underestimating them or going easy on them.”

Super Mario Galaxy is due out later this year.