Check out the full notes for “Super Mario” by Jeff Ryan
Miyamoto wanted Mario to control more like Ryu eventually would:
Miyamoto wanted up on the directional pad to be the jump control, freeing A and B for actions. No, no, others said, jumping is too important to not be given its own button. His coworkers wore him down, and Miyamoto eventually agreed to make A the constant jump button, with B for fireballs when tapped, and running when held. By “losing” the argument, Miyamoto showed he would let the better idea win, even if it lost the daimyo a bit of face. Ironically, this commitment to quality gained him unparalleled face.
Eventually, of course, Street Fighter would influence Super Smash Bros. Then it would all come full circle with Ryu appearing in Super Smash Bros.
But I mostly shoehorned the Street Fighter thing in here. The real lesson is to listen to teammates. It turned out fine. Maybe it actually didn’t matter and there’s some universe where Mario jumps when you press up on the directional pad.
Getting back into shoehorning fighting games in here… we’ve certainly seen the inverse: Hit Box controllers allow people to play fighting games with just buttons and no joystick. The directional controls are just mapped to the buttons. And it’s not just a gimmick. Some pros exclusively use a Hit Box.
Now to find a mod of Super Mario Bros. with up as jump…