Last Saturday, Nintendo's legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto made an appearance during the latter half of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii tournament held in Tokyo. The designer was on hand to greet attendees, hand out trophies to the winners, and deliver some final words to close the country-wide tournament.

The tournament was first announced in January and toured Japan. The finals were held on March 27 in Tokyo. The tournament was divided into three categories: tag battle, single-player general, and single-player youth.

At the end of the tournament, Miyamoto expressed that "It was incredible! I watched with excitement, similar to watching the Olympics on television and cheering on the curlers." When closing the tournament, Miyamoto delivered a speech of brotherhood and good sportsmanship, expressing that "Today, we've all gathered here, so let's hold hands. In particular, hold hands with the team that was your rival just now."

Miyamoto's parting words were all about the importance of tools in game design. "I originally did industrial design, and wanted to make tools -- things that could be used to draw the Koopa Troopas, for instance. So, this game was made as a tool that everyone can play, rather than as a game that you strategize to clear. Tools are useful because everyone uses them. Play is like this. Even a single stick can be fun if everyone plays together. We plan on continuing to make this type of product, and would be happy if you'd play and play and build up what we've made into something even more interesting."