Found this while looking around, he either did or did not say it in an interview with The Guardian in 2001, but it was also said by some people a few years earlier.
I’m not entirely convinced, having read the quote from The Guardian in an interview they did with Miyamoto, you’d think that’d be proof enough. People in the associated Twitter thread really decided that it was just unsourced.
I played the demo during Steam’s Next-fest. Was good. I look forward to playing it all. I need a good, new, metroidvania.