While Miyamoto was picking up his award at the 13th Annual Japan Media Arts Festival and letting us know about his new MotionPlus game in the works, he also took a minute to give a brief history of his game development, including that Super Mario Galaxy was inspired by a hamster.

Mr Miyamoto said that he was looking after a hamster and the animal gave him an idea. He wanted to make Mario run free like a hamster, so he made Galaxy set on planets that could allow you to run and return to the same point.

Miyamoto’s hobbies and passions have leaded us to Pikmin and Nintendogs before this respectively. So what’s next?

Source: Official Nintendo Magazine UK