Shigeru Miyamoto's Favorite Game is a Surprise One

An interview with IGN revealed that Shigeru Miyamoto's, creator of Mario and Zelda, favorite game come as a surprise - Super Mario Bros. 2.

"Perhaps as a player, I might go for what was, at least in Japan, we referred to it as Super Mario USA, which was a game that just had a very different sort of feel. I think we had such a loose approach to it, we really came up with something interesting."

If ever you're a Nintendo fan for so long, or if you're a new fan trying to dig up stories of Nintendo's past, this post is for you. There's an interesting story after the break!

There was a game called Doki Doki Panic which was released in Japan that was made by Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe. It was originally a Mario game at its prototype stage but was scraped and rework into Doki Doki Panic with the backing of Fuji Corporation (who, at that time will have an expo which has a name similar to the game's.)

Meanwhile, Super Mario Bros. 2 is now up and released in Japan, but Nintendo of America, feeling a lot of similarities with the first game, decided not to release it. That's when the original prototype comes in. Miyamoto and Tanabe check on Doki Doki Panic's protoype and reworked it again. They added the "Mario feel" it needed and also worked on the bugs. Nintendo of America backed up this idea of reworking Doki Doki Panic, as they felt that the intended Super Mario Bros. 2 (which was released in Japan and called Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels when finally released stateside) is very difficult and will be a factor for Mario's popularity to decline in United States. Another one is that this game doesn't have much Miyamoto contribution unlike Doki Doki Panic.

All this factors added up and Doki Doki Panic became Super Mario Bros. 2 as it was released in the United States. It was soon released in Japan as Super Mario USA. Various re-releases after, it would also be available in numerous platforms such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, The Game Boy Advance and the Virtual Console.

With regards to the legacy of this game, it was a hit among many Nintendo fans and sold millions of copies (as Nintendo of America hoped) which solidified its status as a proper Mario game. But its blunt difference with most Mario games will always stands out. And although Miyamoto-san would like to have another one of this kind of Mario game, he said it's up to series Lead Takashi Tezuka.

For more Shigeru Miyamoto articles, kindly check out the archives here in N-Handhelds - Nintendo 3DS Blog.


Sources: 
IGN
Wired