Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and co-director of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, has revealed that the Japanese version of the film was “rebuilt” with its audience in mind.
In an interview with Crank In (translated by Automaton Media), Miyamoto explained how his team changed its approach to Galaxy’s localization compared to how it was handled for its 2023 predecessor, The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
“Since this is a project made both in Japan and the US, we didn’t want the Japanese version to be just a localization of the English version,” he said, “we wanted to properly write and craft it in Japanese.”
Miyamoto credited Makoto Ueda – director of the theater group Europe Kikaku – with handling Galaxy’s Japanese script, and said he has known him for a long time.
“I want Mario and company to speak with the kind of natural dialogue you’d hear in one of their stage productions,” Miyamoto said, “but localization tends to alter the rhythm of conversations.
“Jokes differ between Japan and overseas, so we wanted to make the dialogue feel as natural as possible.”
Japan’s version of the first Mario film included some adlibbing during the localization process, though the cast was instructed not to change the source material. This restriction was lifted for the sequel, however, with actors told to “use the visuals as a base to create something entertaining in Japanese.”
“Since we recorded the scenes with improvisation allowed and then refined them afterward, there’s a lot of care packed into the final product,” Miyamoto explained.
Last month, Miyamoto said he was surprised by the mixed critical response to the movie, stating: “We stepped in from another medium and did our best to help energize the film industry. And yet the very people who are supposed to champion the film industry are the ones being so negative; it’s truly baffling.”
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now showing in theaters worldwide. The film’s digital release is reportedly expected to launch this month.
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
