The Mushroom Kingdom Created by Shigeru Miyamoto

Discover the fascinating world of the Mushroom Kingdom, designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. This iconic realm is home to beloved characters like Mario and Luigi, who embark on thrilling adventures. Explore the kingdom's imaginative landscapes, rich lore, and the creativity that has captivated gamers for decades. Miyamoto’s work has significantly influenced video game culture, making the Mushroom Kingdom a cherished destination for players around the globe.

Shigeru Miyamoto has been consistently asking all new employees at Nintendo for at least the last ten years to create games that have the potential to sell 30 million copies, for the love of Super Mario.

This request for major hits that could yield over $1.5 billion seems quite reasonable, especially coming from the cheerful septuagenarian with raised eyebrows and a collection of beloved cultural assets that could impress Walt Disney. Even after creating iconic characters like Super Mario, Princess Zelda, and Donkey Kong, which have generated billions for Nintendo, Miyamoto maintains a humble appearance, often dressing like a typical salaryman with company-branded attire under his blazer.

He has advised on numerous games and played a vital role in developing the Wii and Switch consoles, but his recent focus has shifted towards the films and theme parks that Nintendo hopes will support its future growth. “I actually don’t know why I create the things I create,” Miyamoto remarked through an interpreter during a private interview this week. “I’m just having fun, and that is what motivates me.”

He was speaking from within the Nintendo Museum in Kyoto, Japan, which will open on October 2 and showcases the company's journey from a local shop selling handmade playing cards in the 1880s to a leading video game developer nearly a century later. As expected, the museum mainly highlights this second phase, beginning with Miyamoto’s entry into the company. (His father, an English teacher from a nearby suburb, had arranged a meeting with then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi.) Four years later, in 1981, Miyamoto became indispensable by creating the Donkey Kong arcade game, which introduced an early version of Mario and became a global sensation.

“Mr. Yamauchi would often remind us that we are not strong in combat: ‘We are weak — so avoid confrontations with other companies,’” Miyamoto explained, illustrating the company’s long-standing commitment to innovation. He shared this vision with Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Game Boy, who collaborated with him on Donkey Kong. Their initial interactions were somewhat formal. “We discussed and he gave feedback,” Miyamoto noted. “Some of it was quite critical.” However, their professional relationship deepened: Yokoi served as a witness at Miyamoto's wedding, and he has kept in touch with Yokoi's widow.

A number of people with electronic devices stand on a floor scattered with large cards featuring Japanese text. Tickets for the Nintendo Museum, set to open on October 2, are distributed via a lottery system, and they are sold out for the first two months. Pursuing originality has characterized Miyamoto's recent work with Nintendo consoles and, by extension, the company’s unconventional approach to an industry focused largely on high-cost graphical realism.

“It may appear that we are simply going against the grain for the sake of it, but we are genuinely trying to discover what makes Nintendo unique,” Miyamoto stated. “There is a lot of discussion surrounding A.I., for instance. When that happens, everyone tends to follow the same path, but Nintendo prefers to forge its own way.” The museum itself symbolizes the latest chapter in Nintendo’s history: its evolution from a video game entity to a worldwide entertainment brand.

Through a blend of physical space and nostalgia, Nintendo is, perhaps for the first time, proclaiming its intent to be a lasting part of popular culture. A silhouette of a person passes by a museum display featuring video game consoles and controllers suspended on a white wall. After the Wii U struggled to find its audience, Nintendo revived its fortunes with the Switch. Just ten years ago, industry analysts speculated that Nintendo's only chance for survival following the Wii U’s unsuccessful launch was to cease console production and concentrate on software.

The media was harsh. “What the Hell Is Wrong With Nintendo?” questioned Wired editor Chris Kohler. In 2013, Bloomberg News published an article highlighting that Sony and Microsoft sold more consoles in just 24 hours than the Wii U maker did in nine months. For the first time in its contemporary history, Nintendo — whose name, “Ninten,” means “leave luck to heaven,” a gambling prayer — began reporting financial losses to its investors.

A branding decision to capitalize on the name and considerable success of the previous motion-controlled Wii console left consumers confused. Buyers were outraged when the console was released with limited functionality, prompting then-president Satoru Iwata to issue an apology. No game for the Wii U came close to Miyamoto's benchmark of 30 million copies sold. The best-selling title, Mario Kart 8, managed to sell 8.46 million units.

At the museum in the outskirts of Kyoto, however, the Wii U is displayed proudly alongside the Super Nintendo, the GameCube, and the other consoles in the company’s lineup, which are showcased on the second floor. Curiosities are tucked away in corners. A toy rifle and a baby stroller are featured in a back display labeled as the company’s “age of exploration.” The accompanying Japanese text describes a period from the company's inception to its video game era as the “age of challenge.”

The museum features very few written descriptions, and Nintendo is not offering guided tours, leaving visitors without context to understand that licensed games like Twister and an early collaboration with Disney were pivotal in enabling the company to negotiate its own products onto Japanese shelves. Additional research is required to discover that the Famicom, the predecessor to the Nintendo Entertainment System, was technologically advanced in 1983: it had an online adapter that allowed users to check the weather, conduct banking, and place horse race bets.

Miyamoto indicated that the absence of detailed explanations was intentional, allowing visitors to grasp Nintendo intuitively. “We aimed to ensure that this is a space where people can interact and understand regardless of language or cultural barriers,” he expressed. A man directs a video game weapon toward a large screen displaying paint splotches on a brick building. Characters like Goombas, Shy Guys, Boos, and Koopa Troopas from the Mario franchise can be spotted throughout the museum.

The company experienced a resurgence with the Nintendo Switch in 2017. Initial releases such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The COVID-19 pandemic also coincided with the release of comforting titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which attracted casual gamers seeking a virtual escape, described by one young player as “essentially peace in electronic form.” Both titles surpassed Miyamoto’s sales expectations by millions of copies.

Behind the scenes, Miyamoto was implementing a strategic plan to broaden the Nintendo brand to new demographics and revenue streams. He now holds a position on the company’s board of directors and also carries the title of “Executive Fellow,” akin to a chief creative officer overseeing the development of new products at other companies. After years of neglecting the rise of mobile gaming, the company launched applications like Super Mario Run, which Miyamoto humorously noted during a presentation with Apple could be played while eating a hamburger. (In what seems like a subtle nod, the museum café serves burgers as its only main dish.)

Miyamoto was also visiting Hollywood to develop “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which became the second-highest-grossing film of the previous year at nearly $1.4 billion. The movie debuted just two months after the launch of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood, the second of four planned theme parks worldwide. A sequel to the Mario movie is already slated for release in 2026, alongside plans for a Zelda film.

Miyamoto is contemplating how the company will transition into a media brand, especially as he considers expanding the museum to include more archival materials, past console prototypes, and artistic sketches. “If we eventually produce 10 movies, perhaps we can establish a theater next door,” Miyamoto suggested during a press conference at the museum. The Nintendo Museum is located in a former factory that produced playing cards, a business the company began in the 1880s.

It’s not surprising that the Nintendo Museum draws inspiration from the whimsical amusement designs that delight children. Floating question blocks and singing Toads from the Mushroom Kingdom are scattered throughout the museum grounds — a sterile building from 1969 originally served as a playing card manufacturing plant before it was repurposed in 1988 into a customer service center for product repairs.

The museum offers various interactive activities, including the opportunity to paint versions of the company’s original playing cards. In another area, visitors can use oversized controllers to play classic Nintendo games; operate a mechanical arm to grab balls; test love matches with partners; and swing a cushioned bat in a mock living room setting.

The museum is primarily focused on the chapter of Nintendo that began after Shigeru Miyamoto joined in the late 1970s, where he became essential by inventing the Donkey Kong arcade cabinets. These exhibits enable Nintendo, which has chosen not to disclose the number of employees working at the museum, who manages it, or the renovation costs, to keep the finer details of its history somewhat enigmatic.

Modern audiences recognize the Nintendo brand through its vibrant colors and playful designs; even the company’s logo matches the vivid color of Mario’s red cap. However, the Kyoto headquarters are surprisingly plain, located in a white rectangular office building with an interior design that Miyamoto has affectionately compared to a hospital waiting area. Many tourists visit Kyoto to see the unremarkable building, even as the pagoda roofs of 800-year-old shrines like Tofuku-ji temple rise in the background. Some Nintendo officials hope that these tourists will now journey a few train stops to the museum, although the company remains conflicted between being discreet and being transparent.

“When I consider the consumer perspective, I naturally want to see behind the scenes,” Miyamoto confessed at the press conference. “Creating a museum like this feels very un-Nintendo, and it might be a bit late,” he admitted. “However, we’ve been talking about doing this for 20 years, and I’m excited to finally have it come to fruition.”

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Source: NYTimes‍