Miyamoto wants to introduce new Nintendo characters beyond Mario and Zelda

Shigeru Miyamoto has gone on record saying he wants Nintendo's IP expansion to go beyond its biggest franchises — and that means new characters, not just more Mario and Zelda in movies and theme parks.

Speaking at Nintendo's investor Q&A, where the official English translation has now been published, Miyamoto responded to a question about Nintendo's strategy of growing its brand through films, theme parks, and non-gaming products. An investor asked how the initiative to reach non-gamers had performed so far and where it might go next. Miyamoto's answer pointed clearly toward ambition: he wants to bring "new characters to the world" outside of Nintendo games, explicitly name-dropping Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda as franchises he wants to move beyond.

Nintendo has spent the last several years aggressively pushing its IP into new spaces — The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive box office hit, Nintendo theme park zones have opened at Universal Studios locations globally, and merchandise lines have expanded significantly. Until now, that push has leaned heavily on its most recognisable faces. Miyamoto's comments suggest the company is thinking about how to build new franchises with the same kind of cultural reach, rather than simply recycling established ones.

No specific characters, projects, or timelines were mentioned, so this is still firmly in the vision stage. But coming directly from Miyamoto at an official investor briefing, it signals that Nintendo's ambitions for its next wave of IP go well beyond what's already on the table.