Miyamoto (slightly) critical of Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Oct 29th 2008 at 4:21PM }
MTV's Stephen Totilo has posted the third and final part of a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. Though the bulk of the article was lent to discussion of Wii Music, the pair broached other subjects, including what Miyamoto perceives as a lack of innovation in titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy.
Though Twilight Princess was "not a bad game," Shiggy felt there was "something missing," and was also semi-criticial of the previously untouchable Galaxy, which he thought was "very new and [...] very unique," but "somewhat conservative in terms of how far we branched out with design." If we may mount the Wii Fanboy soapbox for a moment, we'd concur that Twilight Princess was far from being the best Zelda, but found Galaxy to be consistently creative and entertaining.
Elsewhere, Miyamoto referred to the "next Galaxy," which may or may not mean we'll be getting another Mario-in-space game (we wouldn't read too much into it), and that he loves Portal. Nintendo fanboys we might be, but we can probably all appreciate that last statement.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Marcelo @ Oct 29th 2008 4:29PM
I actually agree. Aside from a few specific moments and an absolutely gorgeous look, SMG was largely uninspiring. An improvement over Sunshine, to be sure, but otherwise I was underwhelmed. I really started to feel it when I landed on a new galaxy only to find a recolored and slightly tweaked version of a previously visited galaxy.
Daryl @ Oct 29th 2008 4:33PM
I was happy with both but I support them changing the formula. The key is to make sure you are always doing something new, not re-using old ideas.
Monodi @ Oct 29th 2008 4:34PM
Loving the Portal comment.
MowDownJoe @ Oct 29th 2008 5:30PM
Doesn't Shiggy usually make games out of things he likes? Yeah, I doubt he'll make a Portal clone, but to maybe include an item similar to the Portal Gun in the next Mario game (or make that the game's main gimmick... Mario + Physics + Portals... could be something, you never know. Sadly, we won't have the sadistic taunting of GLaDoS or something similar, but the platforming could become extra fun.)...
I dozed off there from how excited those two things together would make me.
Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 6:14PM
A warp-pipe themed Mario game with similar physics to Galaxy?
Oh yeah.
Hardy @ Oct 29th 2008 4:34PM
The only direction I see Zelda going is voice acting with everyone but link, and REAL music, not MIDI, and a REAL story. One that involved politics between all the people of the land, and much much bigger.
Mario.. I really liked SMG, I thought it was very original!
It sounds like he wants to stray FAR from the formula, but what's "Too far"? Do we want another Zelda II or Mario Bros 2?
Marcelo @ Oct 29th 2008 5:36PM
I'd like to see Hyrule expanded into a massive world, like GTA-massive. Then you could wander around and find stuff and do things that had nothing to do with the story, and hey, maybe you wouldn't even know what the story was at first, you just had to wander around and get your bearings and find things.
It's that sense of exploration, of navigation and getting lost and discovering random things that I miss from the old Zelda.
Jimiisama @ Oct 29th 2008 8:56PM
^
I disagree; I think the reason that the previous Zelda games (particularly the first) was an "I'm lost" simulator was because a game with 0 direction was considered fun for that era. Nowadays people like to have an idea where to go.
Roto13 @ Oct 29th 2008 4:40PM
Super Mario Galaxy is one of the best games ever made. And I don't mean that the way I mean it when I say things like the pizza I'm eating is the best thing ever. I mean Mario Galaxy is one of the greatest games I've ever played. But hey, if he thinks he can do better (and if anyone can, it's Miyamoto) then I look forward to the next Mario game. (And I'd look forward to it anyway.)
As for Twilight Princess, well, it suffered from being the least daring of the Zeldas. I think if it had been developed from the ground up for the Wii it would have taken better advantage of the Wii hardware, and especially the Wiimote. It's still a great game, but it could have been greater. I really think Twilight Princess was Nintendo's way of telling all those people who just want every Zelda to be Ocarina of Time just exactly why they're idiots. Every other Zelda does something very differently from it's predecessors. Twilight Princess basically just added a new control scheme.
I don't think one old-feeling game in the series means the series is stale or anything, though. Just that it hit kind of a blip as far as innovation goes. Hell, the last Zelda game was Phantom Hourglass and it did things pretty differently, even from Wind Waker, to which it was a direct sequel.
Dustin @ Oct 30th 2008 3:48PM
Y'know, there was that whole wolf thing. That kind of separated it from ocarina.
I played through Twilight Princess before I finished Ocarina. And I'm not ashamed to say that I think TP was an overall better game than Ocarina. It was a major improvement on the formula set up by Ocarina.
Roto13 @ Oct 30th 2008 4:07PM
Transforming was done before in Majora's Mask. And the light/dark worlds were done in Link to the Past. The key difference is that those other games integrated them better.
phenylketonurics @ Oct 29th 2008 4:48PM
See, it's not just me! Galaxy was one of the least interesting Mario titles I've ever played -- granted, I'm no fan of Sunshine, either. But I completed 42% of the game and just lost interest. It's gorgeous! It's well-designed but it didn't hook me.
Super Mario Land, Super Mario 64, and ... Super Princess Peach (dare I lump that in) are my loves as of now. Gross tastes, aren't they?
TWOO DEE @ Oct 29th 2008 6:04PM
perhaps you were just too caught up in the hype? i, too, only completed a portion of the game before 'giving up.' i returned to the game 3-4 months later and just had a complete blast finishing it up.
CJC @ Oct 29th 2008 4:55PM
Nintendo needs to take another crack at something like Majora's Mask, where you become a lot more invested in the characters. I really didn't care about anyone in TP, sadly.
Metayoshi @ Oct 29th 2008 6:11PM
Definitely!
Majora's Mask was one of my favorite Zelda games of all time just because the character development was so amazing. It was such a deep game that I'd say the 3 day system was necessary in order to experience everything the game had to offer. Almost every character and every location had some sort of deep story behind it. It's also a game you can keep playing even after you've beaten it once since starting the game after the credits puts you back at "dawn of the first day".
Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 5:09PM
I think in the case of Twilight Princess they caved to fan pressure, and gave the fans exactly what they screamed for when they unveiled Toon Link for The WindWaker: Ocarina of Time 2.
Similar world, similar creatures, slightly different story. I felt the game was trying too hard to be dark. It had its moments of glory and was a great game overall, but it doesn't stand up like the modern Zeldas tend to
Galaxy, on the other hand, was balls to the wall awesome. A thrill from start to finish, with a wide variety of gameplay and a new spin on 3D platforming.
As for Portal, why not? Shiggy likes First person games, and he likes inventive games. Put the two together and Portal's what you get.
Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 5:16PM
Also: Good to see that they're focused on building the story of Punch-Out!! up a bit. Little Mac's rise to fame will be fun to follow
Magnus @ Oct 29th 2008 5:10PM
Personally, I didn't think Galaxy was an improvement over Sunshine, mainly because Sunshine wasn't as bad as most people claim. It was a great idea, implemented in an excellent way, and it had a nice mission variety as well as a challenging difficulty. Galaxy has better graphics, sound, and is far more innovative, of course, but it is still a direct evolution from Sunshine and it is MUCH shorter and easier than Sunshine. In fact, Sunshine is one of the few games that I actually enjoyed paying 50 dollars for it. On the other hand, Galaxy was very short and playing as Luigi was a no for me, as the missions were EXACTLY the same.
Now that Miyamoto is complaining about Galaxy, will Galaxy have as much bad reputation as Sunshine? Especially because most of the complaints about Sunshine weren't made back when the game was released, but when Miyamoto said that Sunshine wasn't a true successor to Mario 64 and he was developing the "true" successor, Galaxy.
Metayoshi @ Oct 29th 2008 6:17PM
Well... I wouldn't call Luigi's missions EXACTLY the same.
The Cosmic Comets in Luigi's missions (the one where you race against a dark version of the Mario brother you're playing) were MUCH harder than Mario's Cosmic Comet missions. That's probably the only difference, but I welcomed the extra challenge.
canaroo @ Oct 29th 2008 5:26PM
Well, here's to the hope of greater things. And, yes, if anyone can do it, Shiggy can.
scissors125 @ Oct 29th 2008 5:38PM
I agree with you fully, Shiggy.
I would be more critical of Galaxy, though. I personally thought the game was really really boring.
I don't really care for the Zelda series much, so I don't care about his criticisms towards TP.
They both had something missing; a factor that for some reason broke the games for me.
moo083 @ Oct 29th 2008 6:00PM
I have been really depressed at the Wii-Miyamoto. On Gamecube he made Pikmin. What has he thought up for the Wii and DS? Brain Age, Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Wii Music....ALL casual games? What happened to real games with plots and interesting game mechanics?
Sure those are neat ideas, but what happened to the Miyamoto that makes games and not casual activities?
zelda247 @ Oct 29th 2008 6:34PM
I love portal and I loved mairo/zelda. But a mario shooting portals from a portal flower. no.
Tobear @ Oct 30th 2008 4:58PM
Twilight Princess was easily the most emotionally compelling game of the series. When the moblin kidnapped Colin, I was actually angry. I sat up, gritted my teeth and attacked that moblin with serious aggression. Not to mention, after you defeat him, the heroic tableau of Link, Epona, and the setting sun floored me.
I don't care if a game has a new control scheme or not, if it doesn't stir your emotions or imagination, the experience is meaningless. I would happily play a game with the exact same graphics engine and control scheme as Twilight Princess time and time again if it continued to move me in such a way that I became emotionally invested in the characters in the same way that I did with Colin and the other children.
Sonic_13 @ Oct 29th 2008 7:41PM
I could see what he means with Zelda.
In regards to Super Mario Galaxy, it is my favorite game of all time. Nothing was more beautiful and inspiring. To hear that he was concerned about how conservative they were makes me super excited about what they may have planned next.
TGStarfire @ Oct 29th 2008 8:55PM
Maybe the return of the Koopa Kids (maybe as teens?) I know they were technically generals in the Japanese SMB3, but I'd love for them to do something fresh and interesting for the Mario franchise.
Okay, yeah, yeah, the Mushroom Kingdom and the princess have been kidnapped one too many times over. Heck, who knows, maybe Larry tries to take over his dad's throne, Ludwig's been doing experiments on a new generation of Pirahna Plants, or we find out Roy...has been hitting on Birdo and plans to take over the skies. Something other than just plain underlings, y'know?
And for the love of all things spamoni...get rid of Baby Bowser. Or...maybe make him a little more kick ass by showing off his 'siblings'. ;3 I dunno.
time @ Oct 29th 2008 11:47PM
"Actually, I think it might be a little bit different. If somebody were to come to me and say, “There’s this particular genre of games and these are all the different games in that genre and they’re all very similar. We want you to create something very similar to what those are,” certainly from a design perspective I would be able to design a game like that."
I'd like to see Miyamoto do an FPS. That's one genre that's really getting stale.
Polecat @ Oct 30th 2008 6:50AM
That'd be awesome to see Mario carrying a portable pipe launcher. A nice sploot sound as one hits a surface, and mario jumping onto one pipe and flying out of another. Shig could even act like it was a completely original idea, and that it was the natural progression of the whole pipe-travel concept. ( I'd buy it anyways)