Miyamoto's Inspirations

[JPS]

Im reading the new EGM this month and its interesting to see how each game was inspired by something in his life.

• Wii Fit was inspired by his love of weighing himself
  
• Nintendogs was inspired by the love of his new pet
  
• Pikmin was inspired by his love of gardening
  
• Chain Chomps were inspired by an angry dog that lived in his neighborhood when he was a child
  
• Legend of Zelda was inspired by his love of exploring
  
• Donkey Kong was inspired by his landlord

Its strange to think how differently some of these games would have been(or their complete existence) that rested on a single event that happened in his life.

I also find the landlord thing ironic as Obi has to pay rent to his landlord today which he passionately hates. Maybe he'll make a barrel tossing gorilla game one day.

[Chad]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

The landlord became Mario. The dude is forever immortalized as being a fat, Italian plumber. I think that's pretty funny.

[Kire]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Darn, here I was hoping his landlord was a big hairy dude who tossed barrels down the stairs at him when he didn't pay the rent on time.

[Valkysas]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

So, for all you people complaining about the games he makes lately, just go about influencing his life. dress up as a dragon and kidnap him, and make him fight hobos dressed up as robots to escape or something. a few months later, there will be a game about it.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

I'll just poke him in the shoulder and there will be a game about it.

[Perversion]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Yeah...I read the same EGM article, and almost thought about writing a letter to tell them they did not have all their facts right.

Okay, so the Zelda=exploring caves when he was a kid, the Pikmin=his new-found interest in gardening, the Nintendogs=his new family pet, inspirations are seriously old news. I thought everyone had read about these at some point in time. But the one I take issue with is the Mario one.

First, Donkey Kong was named such due to Miyamoto wanting to have the character named "Stubborn Gorilla," but, due to wanting to have an American breakthrough, used a Japanese to English dictionary, and came up with the word "Donkey" for stubborn, and "Kong" for gorilla. That's not what I take issue with, though. Nintendo of America had its offices in Manhattan and its warehouse in New Jersey. The president of Nintendo's son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, was set up to run NOA. It was the landlord of the warehouse in New Jersey that was named Mario (Mario Segale). Miyamoto was making games in Japan, and at this point, had never set foot in America (as far as I am aware). It was Arakawa who changed the character's name from Jumpman (in the original Donkey Kong) to Mario, as the sprite resembled his landlord. Apparently, Miyamoto didn't mind.

Oh, yeah. If anyone else is interested in the history of Nintendo, do yourself a favor and read the book Game Over by David Scheff. It might have changed titles since I read it, because it was subtitled with something negative about Nintendo (like, How Nintendo Brainwashed your Children...not exactly that, but something close), when in reality, it's an imminently readable book that actually gives an unbiased history of the company since their days of making playing cards, and includes details and interviews that no one else had managed to secure.

I might buy it soon (I originally checked it out of the library, and read all 400+ pages in three days) as it was a wonderful read.

[JPS]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

[Nje789]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Zelda was inspired by some romp in the woods?

I bet he just ripped off the movie "Legend"-

You've got a dude in green forest getup, with fairy no less, grabs sword n' shield, goes in dungeon to save princess from big-horned monster overlord of dungeon, who's after the unicorn's horn of the power of creation(triforce of this world, more/less), ending in a big battle between the two. Also- dungeon puzzles involved(that whole light reflection pans setting up deal).

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

That's incredibly naive and short-sighted, letters-and-numbers-man.

[Libby]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Hmn..I can see the connection, but would Legend really have circulated to Japan translated and in time for Miyamoto to create Zelda less then a year later?

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

It's a connection because they're common fantasy elements in generic fantasy settings?

[Funk]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Why couldn't Miyamoto be more inspired by female anatomy?

[JPS]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

Could Miyamoto be gay? :3

[Valkysas]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

No.

Have you seen his wife?

[JPS]

Re: Miyamoto's Inspirations

I know hes married...but it could all be a cover-up.