Nintendo’s legendary Shigeru Miyamoto has been asked how he thinks the company will fare without him one day.
Miyamoto, now 70, originally joined Nintendo in 1977, before going on to help create Donkey Kong, Mario and The Legend of Zelda. In the decades since, Miyamoto has become synonymous with Nintendo, and his projects have continually found huge success.
In an interview with NPR, Miyamoto was asked what Nintendo will look like without him. His response? That actually, it would be very similar.
“You know, I really feel like it’s not going to change,” Miyamoto answered. “It’s probably going to be the same. There’s, you know, people on the executive team, creators within the company and also people who create Mario, they all have this sense of what it means to be Nintendo.”
Miyamoto served as the boss of Nintendo’s internal studios until 2015, when he took on the more senior title of “Creative Fellow”.
Once a regular face during Nintendo live events and Direct broadcasts, Miyamoto now typically only appears for announcements directly related to projects he is involved in – such as presenting details of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, or the long-awaited Pikmin 4.