Mario's Papa tells the story behind his creation and about his passion on playing games himself

Nintendo brain Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the smash hit game Super Mario Bros. has revealed how he came up with the idea to create it.

shigeru miyamoto

Though he said it's hard to remember how ideas struck him for creating a game. He said sometimes he relied on childhood experiences. For instance, what he found scary.

He said that the idea to create Super Mario Bros. started with a simple idea. He thought; "I wonder what it would be like to have a character that bounces around. And the background should be a clear, blue sky. I took that idea to a programmer, and we started working on it. Mario ended up being too big, so we shrank him. Then we thought, what if he can grow and shrink? How would he do that? It would have to be a magic mushroom! Where would a mushroom grow? In a forest. We thought of giving Mario a girlfriend, and then we started talking about Alice in Wonderland.'

Now we know big things start with a simple idea, right? The popularity of Super Mario Bros. is unparalleled in the history of gaming and it is still one of the most popular games around.

When being asked if he had a favourite video game, he replied nonchalantly; 'The only time I play is maybe the 20 minutes I spend testing rivals' new machines. I don't play video games in my free time. On the weekends, I fix things around the house, garden, or play the guitar. Or I'll exercise, go swimming, take the dog for a walk, or go for a hike'.

Now did that come as a major surprise? Nah, not really to me after learning Jonathan Hayes the brain behind of Xbox design said something similar about playing games himself.

Source: BusinessWeek Online