The Tanooki » Shigeru Miyamoto

This Threadless tee shows what happens when your Link is broken

Holly Green — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:26:10 +0000

This week’s Threadless tees have a great reprint gamers! Entitled “URL Link”, the shirt features our Hyrulian hero masterfully illustrated with Legend of Zelda themed web code, including words like “Miyamoto”, “Great_Deku_Tree”, and “F_U_Water_Temple” (just kidding) .

Comes in Navi. Er uh, Navy. And it’s yours, in men and (now available in) women’s sizes, for $20. Shirt detail after the jump!

Threadless

Miyamoto explains “what happened” to the Wii Vitality Sensor

Holly Green — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:46:41 +0000

Ah, the Wii Vitality Sensor. The accessory so little used, you may not even know what I’m talking about. All the same, some people do in fact remember, and one of them thought to ask Miyamoto about the device, which has never seen in use in the two years since it was announced. The excerpt from GameInformer’s liveblog says:

“…What happened to the Wii Vitality Sensor?”

“Next question” says Miyamoto in English, to a lot of laughter. He then begins a more detailed response in Japanese. “So development on that has continued, but what we found is that the device has a hard time performing consistently in a variety of challenges and environments.” As such it’s not ready for market just yet.

So, it sounds like it’s just not there yet. If it’s gonna happen at all now, it’ll probably happen on the Wii U.

GameInformer

A new Pikmin installment confirmed for Wii U

Holly Green — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:32:31 +0000

At the Nintendo roundtable session at E3 2011, it was confirmed the long delayed Pikmin title is still in the works, and will be pushed from the Wii to the Wii U. Miyamoto took the stage at the end of the meeting to discuss Pikmin‘s 10th anniversary and his desire to see the new game finally come to fruition, saying that while he wanted to finish it this year, he’d now like to see it on Wii U, “so we’ll make it on that”.

An HD platform sounds about right for a Pikmin title, don’t you think? Maybe it’s good the game has been delayed for so long.

Gamespot

Miyamoto discusses why he loves the Tanooki suit

Holly Green — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:46:26 +0000

The revelation of the Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3DS was definitely one of the more exciting moments for the Tanooki staff during E3 2011. Our namesake, returned to the mainstream Mario spotlight! While we’ve reported on Miyamoto’s fondness for the Tanooki suit before, we thought we’d just highlight another tidbit on his power-up pride, with this excerpt from a recent GameInformer interview:

GI: The appearance of Mario in the Tanooki suit during the E3 press conference was met with a very strong positive reaction from the crowd. Why do you think fans seem to love the Tanooki suit above all Mario power-ups?

This is maybe not necessarily related to why it’s so popular, but a couple things about the Tanooki suit is when first worked on it we had a lot of freedom and came up with this whimsical suit that Mario could use. In Japan there are a lot of folktales about the Tanooki, which is an actual animal in Japan. But the folktale talks about how the Tanooki can grab a leaf, hold it to its head, and transform. We had a lot of fun with that idea and bringing it into the game. From a functional standpoint what the Tanooki suit does is Mario jumps in the air and whips his tail back and forth so that he floats down very slowly. The slow floating is something that I think is very fun, but it also has very strong meaning, particularly when you’re playing in a 3D game in terms of having that ability to float down slowly and glide through the environment. Again, not related to why it’s so popular, but those are some of the elements of the Tanooki suit that I really like.

That certainly explains why Miyamoto would bring back the suit, initially almost cut from Super Mario Bros. 3 because of anticipated confusion on the part of Western players. As far as I’m concerned, when you’re talking plumbers, bullets with faces, and life granting mushrooms…you really shouldn’t be trying to bring logic into the equation. It’s just too late.

GameInformer

Miyamoto: Your 3DS may double as a second Wii U controller

Christian Ponte — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:39:31 +0000

While Nintendo won’t confirm anything regarding the final product, we know that none of the E3 demos used more than one Wii U tablet controller per system at a time. Any multiplayer was done by either adding Wii Remotes or by playing over a network with multiple systems. The lack of player indicator lights on the controllers also suggested no more than one. When asked about this, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto had the following to say:

Our basic premise is that you can use one with a system. If we got to an idea of having multiple (controllers) it might be just more convenient for people to use their Nintendo 3DS and have a way to connect that. That being said, we are doing research about if someone brings their controller to their friends house and they want to play together on Wii U to whether or not something like that would be possible.

So nothing’s set in stone yet, but they’re looking into possibly allowing more than one tablet controller per system, as well as allowing you to use that $250 handheld you bought as a potential controller substitute.

…and here we thought $50 was plenty for a controller.

News.com.au
via Siliconera

Rare DS, signed by Miyamoto and others, to go on auction for Japan relief

Holly Green — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 02:18:43 +0000

If you’ve yet to donate funds to Japan to assist them in their time of great need, you may want to jump on this opportunity. For four years, this valued DS has been under glass and is now up for auction to benefit victims of the disaster. It is signed by Shigeru Miyamoto, composer Koji Kondo, Eiji Aonuma of the Zelda series, North American voice of Mario Charles Martinet and Martin Leung, the Mario theme YouTube video pianist whom the Tanooki staff had the pleasure of seeing perform at Video Games Live last year. As of this writing, the listing is up to 22 bids for $510, and that seems almost a shame in light of the rarity of the item and the severity of the devastation in Japan. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

To get your chance at this one of a kind DS, follow the Ebay listing link below.

Ebay
via Joystiq

The New Yorker profiles Shigeru Miyamoto

Christian Ponte — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:00:37 +0000

If your looking for a good read today and you’re a fan of Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, you might want to head on over to The New Yorker. Nick Paumgarten has written a detailed profile of what Mr. Miyamto’s work is like these days, as well as what it took for him to get to this point in his career and life.

“One day, when he was seven or eight, he came across a hole in the ground. He peered inside and saw nothing but darkness. He came back the next day with a lantern and shimmied through the hole and found himself in a small cavern. He could see that passageways led to other chambers. Over the summer, he kept returning to the cave to marvel at the dance of the shadows on the walls…”

It’s a whopping 10 pages in length, but if you’ve got some time to spare, it’s a nice way to read up on Nintendo’s legendary creative genius.

The New Yorker
via 4colorrebellion

Nintendo considered dropping Tanooki Suit from Super Mario Bros. 3

Holly Green — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 02:54:15 +0000

The booklet insert from Nintendo’s 25th anniversary re-release of Super Mario All-Stars, covering the history of the epic series, reveals some tasty tidbits about the series never before revealed. In one section, the wording suggests that Nintendo strongly considered dropping the Tanooki suit from Super Mario Bros. 3, with creator Shigeru Miyamoto remarking:

“Even though I knew it wouldn’t make sense to some non-Japanese players…I was so excited about it that I left it in.”

I’m kind of glad he did, as cultural tidbits like these encouraged me to be curious about other cultures at a young age. Oh to think what might have been if it’d been removed! What would Tanooki be without its namesake? The Kuribo Shoe? It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Miyamoto talks all things Super Mario Bros. in new interview

Jason Leavey — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:51:09 +0000

You haven’t had enough Mario talk this holiday season, have you? The plumber has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first platforming adventure, and Nintendo has done quite a lot to celebrate. To continue the trend of celebration, Nintendo has posted a new video, on the Nintendo Channel, of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto talking all things Super Mario Bros.

During the interview, he reveals that the game was actually released in September, on the dreaded Friday the 13th. Although this alarmed Miyamoto during the game’s release, it clearly had no negative impact on first exposing the world to the most successful video game franchise of all time. He also remembered during the testing stage that game testers wouldn’t want to leave after their shifts were over, staying to continue playing the game. He knew they were onto something big.

Watch the interview in its entirety above.

NintenDaanNC

Shigeru Miyamoto reveals his favorite Mario game

Holly Green — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:56:38 +0000

Can you guess what Shigeru Miyamoto’s personal favorite Mario game is? When asked by USA Today, the Nintendo mastermind readily answered Super Mario World, explaining:

“Super Mario World is something that included of course all the action you saw in Super Mario Bros…(but) it also had the map features, so it also had that element of players having to think about where they were going and what they were going to do next. I also think that it is a game that developed a large number of staff people who became producers and directors.”

Makes somewhat sense from his perspective I suppose, but I think I’ll personally prefer Super Mario Bros. 3 for its replay value alone (read: Super Mario World was too hard). Which was your favorite?

USA Today
via MyNintendoNews

Super Mario Bros. speedrunner fails as Miyamoto looks on

Holly Green — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:59:54 +0000

Question: can you perform a five minute Super Mario Bros. speed run? Well, Andrew Gardikis can. Can you perform a five minute Super Mario Bros. speed run as Shigeru Miyamoto looks on? That even Andrew Gardikis can’t do. The 20 ear old gamer was on hand, as was Shiggy himself, at this weekend’s grand reopening of the NYC Nintendo World Store, coinciding with a 25th anniversary party for Nintendo. Above is a picture from the Nintendo of America Twitter feed, showing the mob scene around Andrew and Miyamoto as he attempts a re-do of the speed run in front of the very man who created the game. Ultimately he failed, but frankly, who could blame him? I’m impressed he could even hold the controller.

Kotaku

Master Zelda timeline places Skyward Sword before Ocarina of Time

Holly Green — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:32:50 +0000

Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma, undoubtedly a top authority on all things Hyrule, has confirmed in an interview both the existence of a Zelda time line, and Skyward Sword‘s placement in it. The above scan, courtesy of a source at Zelda Dungeon, is from the latest issue of Official Nintendo Magazine and is part of an interview Aonuma, who said:

“Yes there is a master timeline but its confidential document! The only people to have access to that document are myself, Mr. Miyamoto and the director of the title. We cant share it with anyone else! I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this so I am comfortable in releasing this information – this title [Skyward Sword] takes place before Ocarina of Time. If I said that a certain title was ‘the first Zelda game’, then that means that we cant ever make a title that takes place before that! So for us to add titles to the series, we have to have a way of putting the titles before or after each other.”

The fact that Skyward Swords takes place before Ocarina of Time is a no brainer–SS is said to explain the origins of the Master Sword. But it’s nice to get another confirmation that a Nintendo-created Zelda time line does exist. Now to figure out where The Minish Cap fits into all of this…

ZeldaDungeon
via GoNintendo

The E3 trailer for Zelda: Skyward Sword

Jason Leavey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:01:36 +0000

Missed the trailer for Shigeru Miyamoto’s highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? No problem, we’ve got it right here.

Take a look at the new game, which brings Link to a new world, with new weapons and a new art style. Hopefully this trailer will be enough to whet your appetite, because Skyward Sword won’t hit store shelves until 2011. Pure torture.

E3 2010: Nintendo Press Conference Live Blog!

Rhody Tobin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:11:58 +0000

Hello faithful readers! We’re here live at the NOKIA Theatre waiting for Nintendo’s press conference to start! The conference is scheduled to run from 9 to 11 PT so watch this space for our glorious Nintendo press conference live blog. We’ll also be posting constant updates on Twitter so be sure to keep an eye on that too.

All times are in Pacific Time.

8:45 – Just 15 minutes until it starts. We have great seats (10th row or something) and the music is much less obnoxious than it could be. There’s a giant screen in the middle of the stage that will most likely be used for trailers, but right now it’s showing a series of trivia questions. Did you know there are 34 different Imagine games on Nintendo consoles? Doesn’t that make you feel… kinda sick?

8:50 – Ten minutes! Pins and needles!

9:00 – The Nintendo logo just replaced the trivia questions on the screen. Any time now!

9:02 – Reggie Fils-Aime takes the stage, talking about how awesome E3 is. Focusing on different forms of control, including those of Nintendo’s competitors, but not in a catty way. “Technology is only a tool. What matters is the experience.”

9:05 – Video of Miyamoto talking about changing Zelda to replace the sword and shield with the Wii Remote and nunchuck. Sounds like there will be 1:1 swordplay. Giant scary Miyamoto is talking to tiny little Bill. He’s demoing the controls now.

9:07 – Bill is being eaten by a Deku Baba. Miyamoto says he’s doing it wrong and just kind of popped out of nowhere and is now on the stage. He’s detailing the controls. You’ll only be using a few buttons on the controller. Most moves are done with motion controls. Z targeting is back, naturally. He’s abusing a poor mushroom and showing the slices at different angles.

9:09 – The Deku Baba is toast. There’s an eye on a door you have to confuse by spinning your sword in a circle to make it dizzy. Demoing the shield now. Shake the nunchuck to raise the shield. Miyamoto is having a little trouble doing a shield bash to deflect Octorok shots. Thos Bokoblins are kind of creepy. They’re blocking attacks with their weapons. You have to swing your sword in a way that gets around their attack. This game is going to make my arms tired, I think.

9:12 – Link can finally dash with the A button when not in battle. Oh, this is nice. Hold the B button to open a menu of items and select an item like bombs or a bow on the fly. No more assigning items to buttons. You don’t have to press a button to bring your slingshot out once it’s equipped. Just point at the screen to aim. The graphics are, of course, much nicer than they were in Twilight Princess, by the way. Miyamoto just blew himself up with a bomb. Whoops. If you’re holding a bomb, you can throw it by raising the Wii remote and just kind of flinging it. A target line shows where it will land. You can also just kind of roll a bomb like a bowling ball.

9:15 – There’s a little interference so the bow isn’t working too well. Miyamoto is holding the controller like it’s actually a bow and arrow. Hold the C button to hold an arrow and pull bakc, then release to fire. Now they’re playing with a “beetle.” You can throw it and then tilt the remote to make it fly around. It can pick up items for you. It looks tricky to control, but fun.

9:17 – They’re playing around with the whip now. Focusing on how quick it is to switch items while taking out a Bokoblin most badassly. They’re kind of apologizing about the interference with the demo, but it will work fine on the show floor. Sadly, it looks like Zelda won’t be out this year, but next year. Trailer time again. Lots of thinsg that were just shown in the demo, plus a giant scorpion boss, rolling around on a giant rock, and pinning a heart (health pickup) to a fence with an arrow. Which is just cool. Stalfox is holdin gtwo weapons. This looks great. We’ll be sure to post the trailer as soon as we can!

9:21 – Reggie is talking about casual games again. Now talking about sports games, comparing realistic games to arcade games. Specifically mentions NBA Jam. An exclusive Wii version will be on the show floor. New Mario sports game showing several kidns of gameplay, including hockey and volley ball. (This might be multiple games, actually.) Showing Mario Dodge Ball now. And basketball. Yes, it’s one game. Called Mario Sports Mix.

9:24 – Mario Sports Mix is coming next year. Now Reggie is talking about how amazing Nintendo is and how everyone is buying Wiis and Wii games. Now he’s talking about “bridge games” that help casual gamers turn more hardcore, including Mario Kart Wii and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

9:27 – The next “bridge title” will use Miis. It’s Wii Party. Trailer Time. Showing some minigames and different game modes. Shows “house party” mode but is a little vague about what that means. Wii Party is coming this Christmas.

9:28 – There’s a new Just Dance game coming, apparently. There’s a trailer. It’s,,, kind of obnoxious. 40 plus songs. Hottest dance moves. Dancing duets. Some of these people in the trailer are not dancing very well. Up to 8 players.

9:31 – New Golden Sun news! Called Golden Sun Dark Dawn. Trailer! The world has been reborn. Not Isaac is kind of wandering around towns and caves. “A new generation must rise to the challenge.” Showing touch screen Psynergy powers. Battles are 3D. Showing a summon taking up two screens. I don’t recognize the summon but it’s been a while. I think there were character names shown on the top of the screen but I missed them. Whoops? Looks nice. Coming this holiday!

9:33 – Talking about the new Goldeneye. Jason has just wet himself, and me as well. “A new Goldeneye game is coming out for the first time this generation!” Stars Daniel Craig, mysteriously. Wii exclusive. Jaws, Odd Job are involved. Paintballs are back, which are key. Sniper. Dude on a toilet. This is all very fast paced. Bond jumping off a dam. Jason says it’s a remake but I can’t tell because I didn’t play Goldeneye that much. Coming this holiday.

9:35 – Epic Mickey time. Reggie talking about how iconic he is. Warren Spector takes the stage! And Adam Creighton, a producer. Looks like a walkthrough similar to the Zelda one. Let’s see if this one actually works.

9:38 – Mickey is in “wasteland.” There will be weird versions of lots of forgotten stuff that Disney hardcore fans will probably love. There will be worlds based on Disney theme park attractions as well as animated worlds. Drawing and erasing are key in this game. He’s using paint thinner to erase things like walls and characters. There will be a “morality system” type thing that we already knew about, focusing on creating things or destroying them.

9:40 – There are three kinds of areas. About to show a “travel zone.” It’s side scrolling, and inspired by Steamboat Willy. (Others will be based on other cartoons.) Warren is thrilled to be making a Mickey game. It will be playable on the show floor. There will be an Iwata Asks with Spector on e3.nintendo.com.

9:44 – Reggie is talking about Masahiro Sakurai. Talking about how great Kirby is and how he hasn’t been on a home console in a starring role in 7 years. It’s about we heard more about that! Trailer time. This is already adorable. Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Kirby is made of yarn and it’s the cutest thing in the history of the world. He’s whipping at enemies and objects with yarn. It’s 2D. The entire world is made out of various kinds of felt and other materials. It’s a very pretty game, I have to say. Looks like he has a little helper. A blue Kirby with a crown. Now there’s a giant Kirbot shooting missiles. Showing a few bosses now. That fire effect is nice. Comes out this fall. Will be playable today.

9:47 – Talking about Dragon Quest IX now and how Japan has such a boner for it. Throwing some numbers out there. Talking about how it was the multiplayer action that sold the game in Japan. (If you’ve been following this game, there isn’t much you don’t already know.) Dragon Quest IX comes out here in 26 days.

9:48 – Metroid Other M trailer time now. Showing Samus running around and shooting stuff, naturally. Morph Ball, blowing a hole in a door, scanning stuff. Wall jumping too. Some side scrolling and some full 3D. We’ve known this stuff for a while but it’s nice to see it in motion. Though I have to say, some areas are looking kind of jaggy. It’s coming out in August.

9:54 – It’s 3DS time now. Talking about 3D games in your living room being kind of expensive and a pain. Talking about how terrible the glasses are and I have to agree completely. Considering how much he’s talking about price, this 3DS had better be pretty frigging cheap. 3DS trailer is talking about 3D throughout the ages. Trailer didn’t actually show a 3DS, but there’s one on stage right now. Uh oh, a fog machine. Those give me nosebleeds. It’s glowing blue. I think it might be alive. Satoru Iwata takes the stage.

10:01 – There’s a 3D slider on the side that can adjust the intensity of the effect. A 3D touch screen doesn’t work so the bottom screen isn’t 3D, I guess. Graphics are improved. Will have a motion sensor and gyro sensor. Hopes people will innovate with them. Is compatible with DSi games. Has two cameras on the outside. Will take 3D pictures! Wow, that’s neat. Will be able to show 3D hollywood movies. Includes How to Train your Dragon, Tangled, and something else.

10:04 – New 3DS game, Project Sora, is Kid Icarus! “Sorry to keep you waiting” says Pit. Full 3D. Lots of flying. Pit is protecting a town. The graphics are amazing. I forgot I was looking at a 3DS game. It looks almost like a Wii game. Kid Icarus Rising? I, uh, missed the title. Will have a 3D trailer on the show floor.

10:06 – 3D will make it easier to tell how far away a floating object is. Sleeping 3DS systems can talk to each other. Uh oh. Automatic communication is a hardware thing now and not a software thing. Will download things without you knowing. Lots of online features, and no monthly fee.

UPDATE: Uh, much headache during the conference concerning our Verizon mifi connection. Very unstable. So unstable, actually, that apparently all of my updates past 10:06 didn’t actually get posted. So… sorry about that, I guess? It’s too bad because I typed a big list of all of the announced third party 3DS games (and there were a LOT, including Metal Gear Solid, Professor Layton, and Kingdom Hearts) that I couldn’t possibly do again right now from the Media Hospitality Lounge at the conference center. It was pretty awesome, though!

Iwata Asks featuring Miyamoto on Galaxy 2

Jason Leavey — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:06:50 +0000

The latest Iwata Asks segment on Nintendo’s official website is all about Super Mario Galaxy 2. With the game on the horizon, Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata spoke a bit about different elements of the sequel, and what was different about developing the title over previous Mario games.

One interesting aspect heavily discussed is “resonance.” If an aspect of the game doesn’t resonant with the audience, then it can’t benefit from being included in the game. This aspect was heavily discussed with it came to including story, in-game movies, enemies and gameplay with Galaxy 2. In fact, Miyamoto and producer of the title Yoshiaki Koizumi had a lengthy four hour conversation about how much story to include, or not include, in game.

Another interesting note for the extreme Mario players is a revamped tutorial system for Galaxy 2. Miyamoto said he always struggled when creating a Mario title’s tutorials because while he knew newcomers would need them to know how to play, series veterans would want to jump into the game. With Galaxy 2, Miyamoto created the Tip Network, a separate entity that can be bypassed by the more advanced players. The game is said to be more difficult than its predecessor, another reason why Miyamoto’s team suggested including a DVD for beginners (bundled outside of the U.S. with the title).

Lastly, Galaxy 2 is about 20% larger than Galaxy 1, with some levels so difficult, even Miyamoto himself pounded on his table out of frustration!

To read more between Miyamoto and Iwata, check out the entire Iwata Asks segment below.

Wii

The Tanooki » Shigeru Miyamoto

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