Nintendo’s recent push to work on more film adaptations based on its various franchises has been paying off quite well for the company, as seen by the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In a recent interview, translated via Bluesky user Erasu, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto spoke about this recent push, and how it came about as a way for Nintendo to preserve its IPs for future generations of gamers.
In response to a larger question about the expansion of Universal Studios Japan with the Nintendo Museum, Miyamoto noted that games tend to start feeling “obsolete” when they start getting sequels or when new consoles come out. Which means that older Nintendo games only remain playable for newer audiences through things like Virtual Console.
“Ultimately, what people remember are the IPs,” said Miyamoto. “Games become obsolete when new versions come out. But that’s incredibly sad. We started video production partly because of that sadness—seeing our creations become playable only on Virtual Console.”
Miyamoto also talks about the role that Nintendo Museum can play in this, since it allows attendees to experience historic consoles and games made by the company. However, he addresses the fact that there are still limits to what can be done with Nintendo Museum, and that “video content can endure forever.”
“I envision more and more of these things accumulating, making Nintendo itself a huge brand,” he said. “I always say our theme is ‘creating reasons for people to choose Nintendo.’ I dream of a world where, when a child enters first grade, the conversation isn’t ‘What game should be buy?’ but rather ‘When you start first grade, we’ll get you a Nintendo.’”
As for the Nintendo Museum itself, Miyamoto has described the fact that it features various characters from across Nintendo franchises at the welcome zone, with each character also having their own themed exhibits. The museum, he noted, was primarily designed around showing off the company’s past products and hardware.
“But to help people understand Nintendo as a whole, we decided showing them the IPs was the best approach, so we created this space,” explained Miyamoto. “Now we’re operating it as a gateway to introduce these IPs and bring people back to Nintendo games, much like IPs, theme parks and movies do. Looking ahead, while games are obviously part of the larger Nintendo IP brand, we envision creating even more compelling things. We hope to think of it as a space where all sorts of things can be incorporated.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was incredibly popular, with a report from May 2024 revealing that it was the most profitable film of 2023, beating out competitors in the medium like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It was also able to beat out heavy hitters like Oppenheimer and Barbie.
The sequel was officially unveiled just last month, with the confirmation that it will tackle more cosmic elements of the Mario universe. Dubbed The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the film is slated to hit theaters on April 3, 2026.
So this is just legitimate ragebait. The context was specifically about expanding the Nintendo IPs and the Nintendo Museum where they can see and use old hardware. Here’s the question and answer