Find out why Miyamoto was so against the use of the peace sign by the plump, lovable plumber.

Shigeru Miyamoto pushed strongly for a peace sign “ban” in Mario titles. While it isn’t known exactly when he started to push this agenda, in an interview Shigesato Itoi conducted with Miyamoto in 1999, Miyamoto explained that the main reason he wanted to get rid of the peace sign was to help shake the “kiddie” image, and to make sure that people would not only know Mario for the gesture.

Miyamoto went on to say, “About that ‘peace sign ban,’ that’s something I've been saying for a long time. (Laughs) Our Tezuka-san, he likes that so he's put it in the games from the beginning, but in the later games it's permeated too much - to the point where when you think Mario you think that, ‘He's the guy that gives the peace sign for his winning pose.’ So I'm saying now, let's get rid of that sooner rather than later. Well, and part of the source of that is that Nintendo is generally said to be “kiddie.” But even if that's a promise we want to keep to our audience, I don't think it means at all that making Mario do the peace sign is going to bring in the kids.”

You can read more about Miyamoto’s thoughts on Nintendo’s image in part four of the Itoi interview here, and can find the beginning of the full six page interview with Miyamoto here.