Shigeru Miyamoto Names Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 as Standouts
Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed which Mario games hit him on a personal level, pointing to how Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 connected to his own memories and creative interests. In an interview published in a special issue focused on Super Mario Bros., the Nintendo veteran explained that the shift from 2D to 3D wasn’t just a technical leap—it brought back different parts of his childhood.
Which Mario games Miyamoto says impressed him most
In the interview, Miyamoto named two specific titles:
- Super Mario World — Miyamoto said finishing the game made him feel, to a degree, that he had “mastered” the two-dimensional Mario world.
- Super Mario 64 — he described the move to 3D as a reminder of his childhood.
Why Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 mattered to him
Miyamoto linked the feel of each era of Mario to different childhood inspirations. He compared 2D Mario to drawing manga and said 3D Mario brought him back to puppet theater—something he connected to his long-standing interest in puppets.
He also described how his younger years shaped his perspective on game creation. Miyamoto said he loved NHK puppet shows as a child, specifically mentioning “Chirorin Village and the Walnut Tree” and “Hyokkori Hyotan Island.” He added that he even wanted to become a puppet maker, building “monster dioramas” and photographing them. In his view, creating Super Mario 64 felt like a return to that period.
What he said about Mario’s next era on Switch 2
Miyamoto also addressed what comes after Mario on current hardware, noting that Nintendo has “done just about everything it could” with the series on Nintendo Switch. He expressed curiosity about how the team will meet the challenge of making a new Mario game for Switch 2.
