Miyamoto talks about the transition to GameCube
Elvis of games talks on Game Cube switch
big company, small man
At a recent press conference, Nintendo Lead Producer and creator of all things Mario, Donkey Kong et al, Shigeru Miyamoto, talks about switching to the company’s latest home console gaming platform, the GameCube.
“As we move from one format to the next, it's my job to take advantage of that new system's capabilities,” said Miyamoto. “But to explain the life of Nintendo, going from NES to SNES we were working with the same elements - going from 8bit to 16bit, staying in 2D. We were just able to do more in the same framework than we could before. Whereas going from the SNES to the N64 we were going from a 2D word to a 3D world and we had to completely start everything over. It took a lot of energy, everything had to change. It took a lot of time. I think that change was really drastic for us.
“This time around - going from the N64 to the GameCube – we’re going from a 3D platform to another 3D platform so it's more like the move from the NES to the SNES. They're both within the same basic framework - only we can do a lot more.
“So in terms of gameplay when we went from 2D to 3D it was really exciting, it had a of appeal for me personally to grow the game in that manner, and I think it had a lot of appeal for the customers too, to be able to experience these brand new lush worlds. But really I think we've got to a point where the capabilities of the new system, the 3D world is just one option in the world of creating meaningful and creative gameplay. The period where '3D world = value' for the customer is over. It doesn't have the freshness that it had before and now it's really just one option in many for creating these kinds of fun in games.”
The shift to SNES from NES was a wonderful point in gaming history. We were happy with the NES and then the SNES came along and just blew the gaming world away. If, like Miyamoto says, the company can now concentrate on building games, instead of being shifted towards a massive technical overhaul, we are in for a treat!
“As we move from one format to the next, it's my job to take advantage of that new system's capabilities,” said Miyamoto. “But to explain the life of Nintendo, going from NES to SNES we were working with the same elements - going from 8bit to 16bit, staying in 2D. We were just able to do more in the same framework than we could before. Whereas going from the SNES to the N64 we were going from a 2D word to a 3D world and we had to completely start everything over. It took a lot of energy, everything had to change. It took a lot of time. I think that change was really drastic for us.
“This time around - going from the N64 to the GameCube – we’re going from a 3D platform to another 3D platform so it's more like the move from the NES to the SNES. They're both within the same basic framework - only we can do a lot more.
“So in terms of gameplay when we went from 2D to 3D it was really exciting, it had a of appeal for me personally to grow the game in that manner, and I think it had a lot of appeal for the customers too, to be able to experience these brand new lush worlds. But really I think we've got to a point where the capabilities of the new system, the 3D world is just one option in the world of creating meaningful and creative gameplay. The period where '3D world = value' for the customer is over. It doesn't have the freshness that it had before and now it's really just one option in many for creating these kinds of fun in games.”
The shift to SNES from NES was a wonderful point in gaming history. We were happy with the NES and then the SNES came along and just blew the gaming world away. If, like Miyamoto says, the company can now concentrate on building games, instead of being shifted towards a massive technical overhaul, we are in for a treat!
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