Earthbound creator says Shigeru Miyamoto made him cry
No, not tears of joy
Shigeru Miyamoto is the man behind many of Nintendo’s big-name franchises. Without his contributions to gaming, who knows where Nintendo would be at this point? Miyamoto has brought to life countless worlds and characters, and it also turns out that he almost stopped one in its tracks.
As we’ve mentioned over the last week or so, Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi sat down with Shigeru Miyamoto to talk about gaming in general, which led to all sorts of interesting discussions. One of those discussions pertained to the original pitch for Earthbound Beginnings (MOTHER in Japan), which it seems Miyamoto wasn’t a fan of.
“By the way, all of you gathered today, do you know the story of how Miyamoto-san once made me cry? There’s a story which is well-known in certain circles about me crying on the Shinkansen [bullet-train]. That was when I showed him my notes on what would become the base plot of a game called “MOTHER.”
At that time, I showed my plot to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, assuming, honestly, that he was going to greatly admire my work. So I showed him my penciled notes, and of course, he didn’t give me any exultation, just saying “Hmm..”
I expected that Shigeru Miyamoto would see my drafts and say “Wow!” But there wasn’t even the smallest hint of “Wow” from him. So then when I was riding the Shinkansen home I was thinking “…This was all for nothing” and my tears started welling up.”
Miyamoto’s forward-facing personality is one of smiles and happiness, but we’ve heard for years now that the man can be a bit blunt behind the scenes. It seems that’s exactly what Itoi was met with, but it seems that’s exactly what Itoi needed. We know Itoi never gave up on MOTHER, as he eventually worked with Nintendo to release not just that title, but two more in the franchise as well. Apparently Miyamoto is an expert at tough love!
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conangiga
4M agoWell... Miyamoto and plot don't exactly mesh well together.
shuhei
4M agoWe Japanese are reading that article based on the content of this Shigesato Itoi's documentary manga about the making of MOTHER(=Earthbound)
https://comic-walker.com/viewer/?tw=2&dlcl=ja&cid=KDCW_AM19200793010005_68
You can use Google Translate to read it.
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