Shigeru Miyamoto, The Tonight Show
Image: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Having Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto as your father must be quite the experience, being constantly reminded of his success and fame wherever you go, but it also means you've probably had countless Nintendo games to play over the years, right?

Well, as it happens, Miyamoto's kids aren't just fans of Nintendo's work, but are also pretty keen on Sega, once the Big N's largest rival. Can you imagine being the creator of Mario and coming home to find your kids playing Sonic instead? Ouch.

This interesting little tidbit comes from an interview hosted by The New Yorker, in which Miyamoto was asked about how he helped his children to maintain a healthy relationship with games. Here's what he had to say:

"Kids feeling like they can’t stop playing because the game is so fun—that’s something that I can understand and sympathize with. It’s important for parents to play the games, to understand why the child can’t quit until reaching the next save point, for example. In terms of my own kids, I’ve been fortunate in that they’ve always had a good relationship with video games. I’ve never had to restrict them or take games away from them.

"It’s important to note that, in our household, all the video-game hardware belonged to me, and the children understood that they were borrowing these things. If they couldn’t follow the rules, then there was an understanding that I could just take the machine away from them. [Laughs.] When it was good weather outside, I would always encourage them to play outside. They played a lot of Sega games, too, by the way."

Miyamoto reveals that his kids liked Sega's driving games like OutRun, and also played a lot of Space Harrier – not bad taste, then, eh?

He was then asked whether he was jealous about his kids' affection for Sega games. His response is pretty much exactly what you'd expect:

"[Laughs.] Not jealous so much as inspired to try harder, so that they preferred the ones I made."

You can read The New Yorker's full interview with Miyamoto here if you're interested – in it, the Nintendo veteran reveals that he's no longer concerned about who will replace him at the company, and that he wants us to understand the motives of the enemies we kill in games.

[source newyorker.com]