Miyamoto, creator of Mario, wins Japan's Order of Culture

Miyamoto's remarks at the October 22 press conference traced a career that began at Nintendo in 1977 and produced Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. He described the difficult transition from GameCube to Wii, when he felt a wall between people who played games and people who did not, and said the Wii controller was designed for first-time users. That same logic — designing for people who are not already game players — is how he frames the award itself, noting that fathers and now grandfathers have grown up with games, so three generations know them.

On generative AI, Miyamoto drew a line between making something and the work of finishing it. He warned that the work is enjoyable, so it is easy to mistake a polished result for a good one, and said AI taking over that work is a chance to reconsider what really matters. His example was design built only by copy-and-paste, which he said does not remain.

He also noted that the boundary around games has blurred. Calling the Nintendo DS possibly the world's cheapest computer, he recalled building the Nintendo DS Classroom system with Sharp and a Louvre guide system, and said that once interactive computer use is defined as a game, almost everything qualifies. He added that he is currently absorbed in filmmaking and may want to make games again.