Miyamoto defends remakes and floats a future for Mii linked to personal IDs

In a new Famitsu interview, Shigeru Miyamoto revisited some of Nintendo's longest-running design questions, from whether to create original characters to when older games deserve a second release. He also looked back at Splatoon, where the team once seriously considered replacing its prototypes with Mario.

Miyamoto said Nintendo has to be strict when judging whether new characters will work worldwide, even though creating them remains important. He said that thinking came up during early Splatoon development, when the team was unsure whether the prototype characters were strong enough and wondered if Mario should be used instead. Once the first version of the current Inklings was ready, that doubt disappeared.

He also defended remakes. In his view, some players outgrow games after a few years, while younger players often do not get the chance to play titles from 10 years ago at all. For that reason, Miyamoto said, remaking older games to make them more playable and releasing them again is a good way to meet demand.

The interview also touched on Miyamoto's own future. He said he is not currently thinking about directing games again, though he noted that with Pikmin Bloom, he got involved because he wanted to make it himself. He added that one game can require about 200 people now, which makes large projects harder to carry by himself.

Miyamoto also said he does not have anything specific he wants to pursue right now, and that he hopes Nintendo can keep working without problems over the next ten years. The most unusual part of the discussion, though, was his idea that Mii characters could one day be attached to personal IDs all over the world.

This is only a thought for now, but it is still a striking one for anyone following Nintendo's long-running approach to avatars and identity. Could Mii characters ever become that closely tied to personal IDs worldwide?