Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto explained why Nintendo has suddenly started focusing on movies in the last few years.
Since the release of Super Mario Bros. in 1993. under the leadership of Bob Hoskins, Nintendo has seemingly given up on the prospect of releasing films based on its games (with the exception of anime adaptations such as the Japan-only Animal Crossing film and various Pokemon films). However, in the last few years there have been 180 of them, with the Super Mario Bros. movie coming out in 2023 to huge success, a sequel coming out next year, and a The Legend of Zelda movie coming out in 2027 – not to mention chatter about Donkey Kong and Luigi's Mansion movies.
Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong and Pikmin (who recently got new own short film) talked to the creator Shigeru Miyamoto Kyodo News (by using TheGamer), and was asked about Nintendo's change in attitude. Miyamoto said: “Games stop working over time when new versions come out, but movies last forever.”
Honestly, I understand what Miyamoto is saying: with new hardware, it's becoming harder to access older games, while movies remain watchable regardless of hardware. But I think this is a bit of an odd comment considering how common Nintendo classics are on these consoles. The original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64 are still two of the most popular games of all time when it comes to speedrunners, and both of these games are available on the Switch 2.
You can play some form of Super Mario Bros on almost any hardware Nintendo has released since the NES (with the exception of the Game Boy, N64, and Virtual Boy). And while Nintendo has made some of the strangest anti-save moves in recent memory with the timed releases of Super Mario 3D All Stars and Super Mario 35, Nintendo is so popular that fans will never let them die, even if it's through unofficial methods.
