Miyamoto Opens the Vault
Find out what happened to Mario 128, Marionette and more.
by Anoop Gantayat

August 21, 2006 - The vault. That tightly sealed safe that' s home to videogame projects that have never seen -- and will never see -- the light of day. We know it has Virtua Fighter 3 running on the Saturn via a 3DFX powered upgrade card. It also has a " really cool" Nintendo CD game. It had the Saturn version of Shenmue, but Sega brought that secret out as a bonus clip included with Shenmue II.

It' s rare that we get a look into the vault, but Japan' s monthly Nintendo Dream magazine just gave us a full page of access. As part of a special interview with Nintendo' s Shigeru Miyamoto, commemorating the magazine' s 10th anniversary, the Nintendo Dream editors asked about a number of Nintendo titles that never saw the light of day.

First up, Mario 64 2. In asking Miyamoto about this missing sequel, Nintendo Dream' s editors stated, " It was being made for the 64DD, correct? You said in an interview (in the September 1997 issue) that Luigi is also in it." After a lengthy period of though, Miyamoto responded with a laugh: " I' m sorry. I' ve forgotten. However, I believe it' s become other games." To which Nintendo Dream responded, " As in the game systems are being used in other games, right?" Miyamoto' s response contained a Mario 64 secret: " From the time that we were originally making Mario 64, Mario and Luigi were moving together. But we couldn' t get it working in the form of a game."

Next, Mario 128. " We' ve been experimenting all this time," said Miyamoto about the mysterious title that was originally shown as a GameCube video demo. " Some percentage is included as Mario Galaxy on the Wii." Miyamoto wouldn' t break down exactly what in Mario Galaxy originated from Mario 128, but did give a few hints. " Mario 128 was a test concept for Mario, so, for instance, the parts in Mario Galaxy where you' re running around on the surface have come from Mario 128."

If you have access to the original Mario 128 demo clip, you' ll probably note some of the similarities to Mario Galaxy, as both titles feature Mario (or Marios, in the case of Mario 128) running about on a small, spherical planetoid. The feeling of gravity in Mario Galaxy originated in the Mario 128 tests, Miyamoto admitted.

" We ran many tests to get a good feeling when running about, which is Mario Galaxy' s theme," explained Miyamoto, taking somewhat of an aside into the new Wii title. Miyamoto referred to the Mario Galaxy camera as a " Camera that won' t make you sick," and credited the know-how of the game' s director, Yoshiaki Koizumi. " We were aiming for 3D action that anyone could play. We want to make a 3D game that is perfect for someone who' s just starting out with 3D games."

One of the lesser known Nintendo mystery project is Cabbage, a simulation title originally scheduled for 1998 64DD release. The pet-breeding game was being developed by such big names as Shigesato Itoi (Mother/Earthbound) and Tsunekazu Ishihara (Pokemon). Nintendo Dream broke the first word about the game in a 1997 interview with Itoi.

" It disappeared, didn' t it," acknowledged Miyamoto. " However, the conversations and design techniques that popped up when we were making Cabbage are, of course, connected to Nintendogs and other things that we' re doing now. Nintendo Dream pointed out a year 2000 interview where Miyamoto stated that he was still hoping to do something with the game. " We were still working on it six years ago?" asked Miyamoto with a laugh. " However, Itoi and Ishihara got busy."

Another MIA N64 title popped up in the interview as Nintendo Dream questioned Miyamoto on Marionette, a mysterious title which promised to let players manipulate a marionette character. " Marionette is probably more suited for something like the Wii," said Miyamoto. " However, that type of game is difficult. Just looking at it, it seems to be fun, but then you get the feeling of, ' Well, what do I do now?' ." Miyamoto feels that in order to make such a game last, you have to give it, among other things, a strong story.

Nintendo Dream noted that the title would be perfect for the Wii, as manipulating a marionette would be enjoyable with the Wii remote. The magazine also pointed out that the Japanese spelling of the name breaks down perfectly to " Mario" and " Net," suggesting network features. Still, Miyamoto had some partially disappointing news. " We' re not working on it any more. However, we' d like to release something like it with the right timing, so we' re preserving it in the form of its story elements. When Marionette was being planned, we were trying to use the N64 controller in interesting ways. However, if we now use the Wii remote controller, it seems that those types of interesting elements would appear more naturally."

Finally, Miyamoto was asked for some commentary on Stage Debut, a cancelled GameCube title that was first announced for the N64DD as Talent Maker. Stage Debut used the Game Boy Advance to take pictures of players which would then be mapped on to character models. The title was originally shown as featuring models with Miyamoto and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. Elements of this title have come to the Wii in the form of the models that are used in Wii Tennis.

Miyamoto may never actually make it to the stage, but he made his court debut at E3 thanks to the development work that went into Stage Debut.