Two of Nintendo’s biggest franchises have created quite a stir since their GameCube games were revealed at last year’s SpaceWorld. Now, their creator, Shigeru Miyamoto has come to set the record straight about Mario Sunshine and the cel-shaded Zelda.

Thanks to Jurjen Tiersma, a respected journalist in the Dutch gaming community, the answers can now be revealed. Tiersma met up with Shigeru Miyamoto in Frankfurt (Germany) for games magazine Power Unlimited and got the latest news on Zelda and Mario. Tiersma kindly then leaked some of the info to Dutch gaming site, GameSen.

A recent poll on Nintendo of America’s website asked what people thought of the cel-shaded look and if it should go back to its realistic. Although the poll overwhelmingly asked for a return to the realistic look, the rumors it might switch back are just that. Miyamoto said he likes the fact that Internet users are discussing the new Zelda, but rumors that it's gone back to the realistic route are completely false. The game's still 100% toon-shaded. However, he did mention that Link's eyes have been changed, which should be encouraging news for some. Miyamoto stood up for the new look and said: "If you like the new Zelda, you will learn to like the graphics too."

As for Mario Sunshine, one of the biggest mysteries involved a backpack that Mario is seen wearing. Miyamoto reaffirmed that it will be an evolution of Mario 64 and that Mario's watergun on his back will be uses to clean up the paint which falls from the sky. Bizzare! Yoshi will be in the game, but it's not yet known if Mario can ride him and there'll be climable fences ala Super Mario World. "Mario is ready to rock n roll, and will be out in Europe this year!"

Thanks to our ol’ pals at Cloudchaser Nintendo for the translation. Thanks also to Sean O’ Neill of GCAdvanced for the head’s up on this breaking news.

UPDATE:Thanks to The GIA and Rahul Choudhury, we have a better translation of some of Miyamoto’s statements!

On Zelda: "The rumors about a more realistic style of graphics on the internet are incorrect. The version that will be playable at E3 will be practically identical to the version we first showed you at Space World 2001. However, I have made some adjustments to Link's eyes."

"I find the discussions on the internet very interesting," he continued. "You've actually started experiencing the game - talking about videogames is also part of the gameplay these days. I won't show any more of this game, because you can only truly understand it once you play it. At E3, everyone will be able to play it, and gamers will be able to decide for themselves if they do or don't like it. I see it this way: if the game is interesting, you might start to value the graphics as well."

On Mario Sunshine: "I don't want to say much about it yet, only that that thing on his back is indeed sort of a water gun. The controls are actually largely based on Super Mario 64's. I'm only really showing this to prove that Mario's ready to go; he'll definitely be launched in Europe this year."

A video was evidently shown during the interview, which had new footage from the game, which showed the blobs of paint falling from the sky. Mario also displayed techniques such as hanging from a laundry line and climbing fences in a manner similar to Super Mario World.