Miyamoto Bans Dirty Jokes in Mario Films; Wario Possible

Shigeru Miyamoto instructed Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and the studio team to avoid dirty jokes in Mario films during a Japanese media tour for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which opened in Japan after releases elsewhere.

In remarks translated from Japanese, Miyamoto described children as “adults who just don’t have as much knowledge yet” and indicated he did not want to rely on crude humor to make them laugh. “So I don’t want to make them laugh with dirty jokes, and I’ve even given Chris a ban on dirty jokes (laughs),” he added via machine translation.

He left open the possibility that Wario could appear in future films, noting that action appeals to both adults and children and can keep a movie engaging without adult-only humor. “Oh, that doesn’t mean Wario won’t appear, though? Action is something that both adults and children can understand equally, so I think that if we make a film centered on action, we can make a film that won’t be boring,” he noted.

Illumination, led by Meledandri, produced the recent Mario film adaptations. Miyamoto joined promotional events for the latest release in Japan following its global rollout.

Wario was introduced as Mario’s rival and is often written with brash, greedy traits. Miyamoto outlined that crude jokes should be avoided while characters who fit an action-focused story may still appear in future projects.