Shigeru Miyamoto is not retiring from game development, but things are definitely changing for gaming’s best known designer.

The creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda has been the guiding hand of Nintendo creative efforts for years, generally overseeing the company’s biggest projects.

Wired reports Miyamoto will be changing his role at Nintendo, remaining at the company but working on smaller projects, allowing some of the younger staff to step up their roles.

“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” said Miyamoto. “Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”

Miyamoto said he expected to start on a new project in 2012, and will hopefully show his new creation off in the next year. He expressed interest in moving away from overly long development cycles.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen something truly personal from Miyamoto. Hey, maybe this is a good thing.