Miyamoto ‘never throws away bad ideas’, we await Cooking Mama: Hitler Edition

Apparently, Mario’s dad (aka Shigeru Miyamoto) doesn’t throw away any ideas while he’s making games, even if they stink. Hmmm, probably explains why we’ve got Wii Music and still haven’t had a new Wave Race, then.

Speaking toSatoru Iwata, during the President of Nintendo’s regular Iwata Asks interview show, The Shig admits he locks unused ideas away untilhe can make them work. "If you think for yourself about what's wrong with your idea, and you understand the reasons why it's no good and get a handle on the problem, then you're sure to be able to use that idea sometime," Miyamoto points out.


Above: Hey, a Hitler cooking game might seem like a bad idea now, but maybe it could work on the Wii 14

He goes on to add: “That's why, while I used to tell people to store up ideas in a drawer, I recently suggest putting ideas that were no good into a drawer with the reason why they were no good affixed to them. If you have a bunch of ideas like that in store, the time will come when, in some way, you can take off that label. Like, 'oh, the rules are different now, so it's okay'.”

The Wii’s Mii avatars illustrate Shigy’s thought… eh, drawer-locking process. Miyamoto had wanted to make caricatures of people since the days of the NES back in the 1980s. Alas, he couldn’t think of a way to make the idea work. And it wasn’t until technological wizardrycaught up that we were finally given Mii Forest Whittaker.

What an age we live in.

Source: Official Nintendo Magazine

Sep 28, 2010

CATEGORIES
David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for 12DOVE and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too. 

Latest in The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time screenshot showing Link, a young boy with elf-like ears and blond hair, with a surprised expression on his face
"I can't go through [with] this": The weirdest Zelda ad didn't get Nintendo's approval, but it probably happened anyway because the marketing execs were already on-site
Link and Epona
A Zelda movie is finally happening, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto used to adamantly oppose the idea even "if Steven Spielberg himself" wanted to do it
A screenshot of the moon in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Despite Zelda: Majora's Mask basically being a horror game, one of its key devs didn't think its creepiest features were scary at all: "People on the team were like 'whoa!'"
The Witcher 3 next-gen
Zelda and Star Fox legend Takaya Imamura would "love" to make a Star Wars game with The Witcher 3's CD Projekt Red – and now I'm desperate to make it happen
Botw
Legendary Zelda dev "wasn't too pleased" about working on A Link to the Past as it robbed his enjoyment of playing the finished game: "I still really don't want to play that game"
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is at the front line of the debate over the Nintendo Switch 2's computing power, because if the Switch 1 can load three worlds at once, imagine what its sequel can do
Latest in News
Rise of the Ronin's photo mode offers some wonderful shots
On the heels of Rise of the Ronin's PC launch, its director says there's a "significant" amount of Japanese Switch gamers: "I am closely watching how this will change with the release of Switch 2"
Stardew Valley Castle Village mod
Stardew Valley Expanded creator is building an "even more ambitious" mod with a whole new city and "dungeons inspired by The Legend of Zelda"
Dino Crisis 2 art showing a young woman and man back-to-back amid tall green grass, both with their weapons drawn
Dino Crisis gets a fresh trademark filing by Capcom, but it might not mean the 26-year-old survival horror franchise will get a new installment like fans expect
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog
Dragon Age 2
Veteran Dragon Age dev says one big delay is better than several small ones: "You are laying band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid"
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily