Two big-time Luigi fans

Yesterday we brought you the latest comments from Shigeru Miyamoto on the subject of his eventual retirement, and now GameSpot has released a larger chunk of its interview with the iconic Nintendo executive.

Looking at upcoming games, the ever-approaching Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon was a key subject; the fact it's a focus is hardly surprising, especially as Miyamoto recently appeared with Satoru Iwata in a skit related to the game.

When asked about the loyal fanbase that seems to exist from the GameCube original, Miyamoto was thankful and explained some ways that he felt the spooky Luigi games differentiate themselves from other popular franchises.

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The first thing I want to say is I'm very grateful to everybody who feels that way. There are actually quite a number of Luigi supporters internally, as well. And in fact the reason that we were able to do the Year of Luigi this year is because there were so many people who wanted to work on Luigi titles and it just, by coincidence turned out all of the projects they were working on ended up releasing this year.

When you have a meal in front of you, and you have people who eat meat or you have people who eat vegetables, there's sort of the main dish and then you might have a dessert or a salad. Luigi is green, so maybe he's kind of like a salad and right now it seems like people tend to like lighter fare. [Luigi] is a little weaker and timid and maybe people like timid things these days. I guess Link's green, too [laughs].

On the other hand, I do think that the world of Luigi's Mansion and sort of the kind of "scary feel" to the mansions and whatnot is something that has a big contrast to the Mario games, which obviously are very bright and more action-focused. So having that nice story that wraps around the Luigi games is something that perhaps lingers with people a little bit longer and when they think back and remember it, they think 'Oh, I want to experience that again.'

It should also be noted that, although involved and no-doubt over-seeing the project at an executive level, Miyamoto seemed keen to draw attention to the game's Western studio, Next Level Games, as well as the role of its younger producer, Kensuke Tanabe; Next Level Games has produced a few titles for Nintendo, including Punch Out!! on Wii.

The background for that is we've worked with Next Level Games for a number of years now and there's another producer internally at Nintendo who I've also worked with for a long time: Kensuke Tanabe. And he's been working with Next Level Games and has also worked on the Donkey Kong series. He was able to find Next Level Games and start working with them originally and help build that relationship that allowed us to work with them all these years.

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon arrives in North America on 24th March and PAL regions on 28th March. Is this long-awaited sequel to the GameCube launch title on your wish-list, and do you agree with Miyamoto-san's comments on a desire for "lighter fare"? Let us know in the comments below.

[source uk.gamespot.com]