Miyamoto talks Super Mario 3DS, hints at the raccoon's return

In a recent interview with Edge, industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed two of the suspicions we'd developed regarding the handful of Super Mario 3DS details revealed during the publisher's GDC presentation. First, he explained, "It's a combination of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario on N64." Which makes sense, considering we knew it was being developed by the team between both installments in the Galaxy series. He added that the device's 3D capabilities makes platforming a bit smoother, explaining, "The floors floating in space: in 2D it's difficult to judge the distance, but in 3D it's really easy."

Second, remember the tail that was springing out of the logo? That wasn't just some sad remnant of a half-deleted Wingding -- it was, as you probably expected, an appendage. Miyamoto explained, "The tail you mentioned on the logo – it's what you think it is. You probably know what's going to happen using that character." Who, Tanooki? Yeah, we know that guy's style. He's gonna get right in our trash cans, mess up our yard and then fly off into the crisp, night sky.

We'll have our opportunity to get reacquainted with that ringtailed jerk relatively soon -- Miyamoto explained, Super Mario 3DS is "completely original, and coming this year."