by N Rumas - 12.05.07
I think we may have the next Miyamoto on our hands. Meet Yoshiaki Koizumi, sixteen-year Nintendo veteran and director of Mario Sunshine, Jungle Beat, and now, Super Mario Galaxy.
Koizumi recently did a string of interviews with various news outlets, and while they’re all good reads, it was Wired’s Chris Kohler (pic credit) who got the relatively unknown designer to talk about the most interesting stuff of all. Here are a few snippets:
“My ambition had always been to make drama. That was my goal: Having a character, in a certain kind of world, having him go through a series of actions to accomplish something, and creating a dramatic tension throughout that. And games seemed like a really good opportunity to create a kind of drama that you don’t find in films.”
“The only person who has any idea what [Miyamoto] means is me. And everyone else who is CC’ed on these emails from him has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. So I’ll translate for everyone else, “I think he’s trying to say this.” Having that sort of information gap is sort of like a puzzle or a riddle. It’s like playing Brain Age.”
Calling him the next Miyamoto might be a little presumptuous — not to mention a bit of a smack to all of Nintendo’s other lesser-known geniuses — but in reading the interview, it’s impossible not to recognize a streak of renegade brilliance in the guy. Anyone with the guts to smuggle stories into Zelda games behind Miyamoto’s back gets an ‘A’ in my book 
A few things I like about this person.
1. He’s the one who came up with the storyline for Link’s Awakening.
2. The presentation of the story in Link’s Awakening, and in Super Mario Galaxy are done mostly with the in game engine and usually subtle ways.
The only thing I don’t like about this guy is that he’s a film student. There is always a chance he could fall into the Koijima trap, where he becomes over-reliant on complex, over-wrought storyline to make up for gameplay. His remarks that Super Mario Bros. was too difficult worry me too. The combination of Heavy Story Emphasis + Easy Play = A game of only medium to poor quality. There needs to be a balance in game design when approaching both mass market and hard core markets. I like storyline; but I would rather sacrifice storyline for challenging, and compelling gameplay. Koizumi is best as a side player, a game with him solely in front may not turn out as well as people would anticipate.
Philip Wesley - 12.05.07 12:45 pm
But then again, Mario Galaxy is great from a difficulty standpoint…starts off easy, then the more hardcore people like us who want every star get the more difficult tasks (some of those coins are hidden pretty well) and the crazier levels.
9th_Sage - 12.05.07 12:59 pm
I have no problems with games like MGS actually. Now, I wouldn’t want all my games to be like it, but the MGS games tend to be fun, while having a good story.
rbelmont - 12.05.07 1:24 pm
If you think MGS is easy then play it in difficult mode. I bet you will change your tune.
Jon - 12.05.07 3:43 pm
Miyamoto says, “I’m not dead yet!”
silkylove - 12.05.07 9:15 pm
I don’t think MGS is “easy” — it’s not overly difficult either on the default settings. However it’s definitely NOT super accessible to new players. I had a hard enough time learning the controls in MGS2 after playing MGS1! MGS3 on the other hand… everything got complicated and it didn’t even hold my attention
Namssorg - 12.06.07 12:35 pm
I like his hair!
Momus - 12.06.07 3:38 pm