Shigeru Miyamoto,  the man regarded as one of the best game designers alive, hasn't actually designed many games in recent decades. In fact, while every Nintendo title released in the last 15 years benefitted from his influence, Miyamoto hasn't personally directed every single element of a video game since 1985.

Looks like that's about to change. In an interview with Wired Magazine, Miyamoto said he's "retiring" his position as the senior managing director and general manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development Division.

They completely spelled my name wrong. I quit!

A Nintendo PR spokesperson issued a hasty denial following a precipitous drop in stock prices, but if we take Miyamoto at his (translated) word, "end of an era" barely covers it. Either way, he doesn't plan to leave Nintendo so much as take on a new role. Despite Nintendo's insistence to the contrary, Miyamoto told Wired he plans to step away from the big chair to do what he really wants to do: make games.

Hallelujah.

Even if you actively dislike Nintendo games and their hard-to-deny recycling habit -- you can describe the plot of nearly every Mario game that exists in one short sentence -- it takes a real fool to overlook Miyamoto's accomplishments. This is the guy who decided different levels of a video game should actually look different. He bridged those levels with cut-scenes that progressed a narrative (as opposed to Pac-Man's intermissions). He created a visual language for a full 3D environment and made gamers feel instantly at home in it. He made us explore and turned exploration into a game. An artist by training, Miyamoto made game design into an art.

But here's the thing. In any venue you care to name, the higher up you go, the less often you visit the trenches. In a director role, it's likely that with few exceptions, Miyamoto focused mainly on high-level matters. Details? No time to delve into those...and details make a game.

I'm-a free! You're-a no gonna chauffeur me to my gold-plated mansion a-no more!

And there's so many exciting things happening out there right now. Small teams have given us amazing experiences like Bastion and Limbo. Super Meat Boy? Four guys made that. And If you're the man who sweated over every brick while creating Super Mario Bros., I have to suspect watching all those kids having all that fun making all those indie hits from the distant remove of the executive office might just give you a few pangs to get back into the games.

That's exactly what Miyamoto's discussed with Wired. Working hands-on with agile teams to create something small and fast, or even sitting down and doing something entirely on his own.

I want that. I want that a lot. It's the perfect move for him to make.

Miyamoto did amazing things back in the 8-bit era. Assigned to take thousands of arcade cabinets and change them from a failed game called Radar Scope to a smash hit that could save the flagging Nintendo of America -- without stepping outside the hardware specs -- Miyamoto created Donkey Kong. Working inside limitations forces you to hone the details down to the absolute essentials, leaving something incredibly clean and focused. Few have ever done it better.

So if Miyamoto cut his teeth creating elegant solutions to 8-bit-era problems, what can he do with today's technology and tools at his fingertips? I honestly don't know how many breakthroughs he has left, but the idea of this man sitting down and thinking about possibilities makes me oddly giddy. Where can he take us next? How can he make us think differently? What can he show us that we've never seen before?

I shall fillet you with the Master Sword, villainous fish!

I'm hoping Miyamoto challenges himself to do something radically different. He might still be under Nintendo's roof, but I get the feeling he'll enjoy complete autonomy to do whatever the hell he wants, with the financial backing of a billion-dollar corporation that owes its billions to him. That's a very special kind of freedom. Technically, that could make him the world's most powerful independent game developer.

Sure, it's been a while. Maybe he's out of practice. Certainly, Miyamoto never hesitated to stick a project in a drawer and leave it there if it didn't live up to expectation. And if we believe him over his company, it leaves an open question as to what might happen with Nintendo's console game development, even if that division's seeded with people Miyamoto personally trained. We're talking the first Mario games made without input from Mario's creator since the early Gameboy days. Sure, it had to happen eventually, but it might be a reality now. And hey, Nintendo's not exactly known for its slate of original, A-list downloadable titles, the kind of which Miyamoto suggested he'll do.

Y'know what? I'll take my chances, because I want this to be true. The master wants to create again. Good for him. And good for us.