In a recent interview over at Wii.com, father Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, decided to expand on the difference between what makes a game a “kid’s game” and what makes a game a “casual game”. Specifically, he said that it was never Nintendo’s policy to make kid’s games, specifically because he knows that adults play Nintendo games just as much.

“Unless you’re careful, there’s a tendency for games like Mario that can be played by children to gradually become childish … Those making the game tend to unconsciously make them that way.”

According to Kotaku, someone once proposed that a Nintendo character say the line, “Where did my mommy go?” and Miyamoto was vehemently against it. “When someone in their fifties like me hears their player-character speak childishly like that, it doesn’t quite sit right … After all, Mario wasn’t a game only for children in the first place. As I make a game, I try to keep in mind that guys in their fifties will play it, too.”

Miyamoto admits that certain things that appeal to hardcore gamers aren’t necessarily needed for some Nintendo games. For example, Super Mario Galaxy 2 barely has a story at all. In fact, Super Mario Galaxy 2 was almost entirely designed in a minimalist fashion. It’s all about the gameplay, so much so that Nintendo even cut out hub worlds and tutorials for more stages and a traditional menu-based map. It’s almost what the original Super Mario Brothers would have been like if we had the technology available today. No hand holding, no story, just gameplay. “For Super Mario Galaxy 2, we wanted a suitable amount of story and movies, so we made lots of new enemies, but we wanted this game to be fully elaborated in keeping with the essence of this particular game. If we hadn’t, some players would think things like, “Why is this enemy here?” and be jarred out of the experience.”

However, at the same time that gameplay can appeal to people of all ages, Super Mario Galaxy 2 in particular has segments that require reflexes and skills that rival or surpass fighters, shooters, and other hardcore counterparts to Nintendo’s casual games. At the same time you aren’t forced to do these portions of the game, which allows the game to continue to be accessible to a younger crowd. A kid’s game is a game that is designed for a children’s market, and that is not the case with Nintendo games. A casual game, however, is a game that anyone can get into regardless of skill level, and that seems to fit Nintendo’s design policy.

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