Super Mario Bros 3 is widely regarded as one of the best Mario games ever made, and certainly the peak of the series on NES. Its wide array of unique items and power-ups, including one that lives in infamy: the Frog Suit. The adorable sight of Mario dressed up as a four-legged frog is one of the platformer's most enduring images, but it always kind of sucked in practice. In fact, that's part of why Shigeru Miyamoto was so keen to keep it in the game.
The legendary Nintendo designer said as much in a 1989 interview for the Japanese publication Gamer Handbook, which was recently translated by shmuplations. Miyamoto was joined by Shigesato Itoi, lead on the Mother series (known as EarthBound worldwide), and they both agreed that games of the time could stand to be a lot more playful.
"We distinguish between 'field' and 'performance' systems in a game's structure," Miyamoto explained. "Mario is built that way, too. Say I want to add some funny animation for an enemy at the end of a level, and I show it to programmers or hardcore gamers… they'll say 'It's the end of the level, no one's going to even see that!' But I just tell them, 'That's fine. There will always be some people who stop to watch.' (laughs)"
Miyamoto added, "It's fun for me, too. I might think, 'I wonder if I can make him dance?' And then when I see it, it's just fun to watch. There are so many enjoyable things in a game beyond just 'beating' it."
"Like the Frog Suit in Mario," Itoi offered. "That thing is basically useless!"
"It just hops around awkwardly once you're on land," Miyamoto agreed. "I really had to force that one into the game. (laughs)"
Throughout the interview, both Itoi and Miyamoto lamented the tendency among gamers to simply want to "beat" whatever it is they're playing. Itoi mentioned strategy guides telling players about items that make players "so strong it practically breaks the game."
"That's because their goal isn't to inhabit the character and enjoy the experience, it's just to beat the game," Miyamoto said.
Miyamoto's tendency to focus on the fun of simply playing around in game worlds has brought us a lot of fun anecdotes, like the time he spent an entire New Super Mario Bros. Wii test demo just sliding around with the Penguin power-up, or when he spent all his time in Donkey Kong Bananza just sticking to one spot and smashing the ground over and over.
There's something to be said for goals, challenges, and the feeling of accomplishment you get from beating a game, but Miyamoto's focus on the small details probably goes a long way to explaining why Nintendo titles still knock that ephemeral sense of "game feel" out of the park. After all, a whole generation of gamers still remember the Frog Suit – even if they ditched it the instant they reached dry land.
