Nintendo movie cameos based on fun and 'what feels right' to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto

Despite the Star Fox cameo in Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo says there are no plans to make a kind of inter-connected Nintendo cinematic universe, so-to-speak, with intricate crossover events that evolve over time. It's more about fun and what feels right to Miyamoto.

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Super Mario Galaxy is rocketing towards a record-breaking opening, and is expected to make $350 million in global five-day ticket sales. A big draw of the new film is how it uses more of Nintendo's iconic characters, including Star Fox's dashing pilot Fox McCloud.

But fans shouldn't expect a vast webwork of strategically-plotted storylines any time soon--in other words, Nintendo has no plans to make its own take on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination's Chris Meledandri discuss what kind of thought process went into Super Mario Galaxy's production and development.

It's all about vibes, what feels fun and most importantly, what feels right. Who determines what actually feels like a right fit? Mr. Nintendo himself, Shigeru Miyamoto.

"Right off the bat, I'll say that unlike something like Super Smash Bros., I don't think you'll have a situation that all Nintendo characters would be joining," Miyamoto said.

"As we're working on this movie, I re-realized how varied and how multi-talented the Mario cast is. When we had ideas from Illumination about [what characters to use in the movie], I was like, 'Oh yeah, that's right. We had this character and that character.'"

That being said, guest appearances and cameos will still happen. What Miyamoto is saying is that these characters won't be shoehorned into a story for the sake of having an expansive universe--they'll be included if they fit the story, or the scenario.

"We have plenty of characters to create a movie, and yet we wanted to add a little bit of spice, a few secret cameos here and there.

"So I think there might be introductions of characters like this potentially in the future, something like that."

Illumination's Chris Meledandri says that any ideas that the studio comes up with are run by Miyamoto first:

"Our process is actually very different from that. It's much more geared toward conversations about what would be fun within a certain scene in the movie.

"So these ideas come up based on, 'Oh, wouldn't it be fun if the Pikmin appeared here? Wouldn't that be fun?'

"And then that conversation, if we agree that it's a fun idea, then we look to Miyamoto-san to just make his own judgment about whether or not it feels right to him, but it's much more incidental than strategic."

Whatever the process, Super Mario Galaxy is already a bonafide success, and it's likely to push Nintendo's earnings even higher through direct royalties, merch, and game purchases.