by Stone Marshall | Dec 18, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
The success of Minecraft has led to many people claiming that they too once had the idea to create an elaborate game of digital building blocks. When you hear these claims, you tend to just nod your head and smile politely. When Shigeru Miyamoto starts talking about a Minecraft-like vision he once had, however, it’s fairly notable.
In an interview with Glixel, Miyamoto shared his admiration of the Minecraft series and his regret that he never followed through on similar ideas that he had in the past.
“I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made,” said Miyamoto on whether or not he plays any non-Nintendo games. “We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar. It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
The fact that Miyamoto’s nearly unmatched level of success in the video game industry makes him an unlikely candidate for professional exaggeration certainly helps the validity of this claim, but it’s actually not that difficult to imagine Miyamoto shaping a Minecraft-style game many years ago. He’s always been a huge proponent of slightly bizarre experiences that emphasize child-like creativity (such as Mario Paint), and games that draw upon fairly common real-life experiences.
So why didn’t Miyamoto ever finish working on this project? If there’s a reason, he’s not saying, but it seems likely that it was just one of many Nintendo projects that was worked on for a time but ultimately never led to anything tangible. It’s also fairly interesting to hear Miyamoto praise Minecraft so openly given how long Nintendo resisted bringing the game to Wii U.
Should Miyamoto ever decide to finish that particular project, we’re sure that the world wouldn’t have a problem with that particular clone.
Shigeru Miyamoto imagined a Minecraft-like game for N64
by Stone Marshall | Dec 18, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted that Nintendo almost made a Minecraft-style game at one point.
In an interview with Glixel, it was mentioned that Miyamoto plays the cat-collecting mobile game Neko Atsume. He was then asked if there are any other games that he enjoys playing. “Not really,” he stated. “I do like Minecraft, but really more from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made. We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar. It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
The next Mario title is Nintendo’s first big game to come to mobile devices: Super Mario Run. This past weekend, the game received both a new trailer and a television commercial. The television ad was filmed with live actors, showing people around the world running and jumping. The trailer shows gameplay of the upcoming runner, and teaches players what they can do in the game, as well as how to do it.
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto says Nintendo nearly made a Minecraft-style title
by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
Even before Minecraft became a big hit that brought millions of revenues to its sole creator, Nintendo also had an almost exact same game design and concept but did not seem to materialize.
Coming from Nintendo ‘s Shigeru Miyamoto Himself
The revelation is more than just hearsay. The statement came directly from Shigeru Miyamoto himself during an interview with Glixel, as per IGN.
As the creative mind behind some of gaming’s most successful franchises such as Donkey Kong, Mario, and Pikmin, Miyamoto admitted to liking the Swedish-developed game.
But unlike initial perception about the statement when cut halfway, his liking of the game is leaned more towards the idea that the game itself is something they “should have made.”
Elaborating on the idea, Miyamoto revealed that back in the N64 era, they had been doing some experimental designs when developing some games for the console. Some of these designs closely resemble the Mojang-developed title.
The notion, however, does not surmise that there is an infringement in one of game developing company’s intellectual properties. The project which Shigeru Miyamoto was referring to did not actually pass the planning stages because they find one critical element to the game missing: a compelling gameplay, as per VG247.
Miyamoto later admitted he surprised on how the sandboxed game title turned out to be a success in the West given that it did not fare as well in Japan, in terms of gameplay.
The Growing Success of Minecraft
Since entering beta testing in 2011, the originally one-man project has sold over 100 million copies throughout the years. Apart from the original PC title, the game has also spawned a number of iterations across different platforms which further add success to the franchise.
Although there is no telling of how a game similar to Minecraft would fare in the N64 back in the day, Nintendo has nonetheless given their own twist to the existing Wii U title of the same game called the Super Mario mash-up pack.
Nintendo Had Their Own Unfinished Version of ‘Minecraft’ Back in N64, Says Miyamoto
by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
The creator of the most successful game character of all time says he came close to making something like one of the most successful games of all time.
In an interview with Glixel, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto explained that he admires Minecraft “from the perspective of the fact that I really feel like that’s something we should have made”.
The Mario creator said: “We had actually done a lot of experiments that were similar to that back in the N64 days and we had some designs that were very similar.”
It sounds as though the idea didn’t meet Miyamoto’s notoriously high bar for quality, however – which seems to be why he’s impressed by Minecraft‘s success in that department: “It’s really impressive to me to see how they’ve been able to take that idea and turn it into a product.”
Minecraft has sold over 100 million copies since entering its beta phase in 2011. Nintendo finally got in on the blocky action earlier this year, when it released a Super Mario mash-up pack for the Wii U edition of the game.
Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo Planned a Minecraft-Like Game for N64
by Stone Marshall | Dec 16, 2016 | Minecraft News, Minecraft questions |
This week’s launch of Super Mario Run should power up shares of Nintendo, 7974.TO -2.786675208199872% Nintendo Co. Ltd. ADR U.S.: OTC USD30.35 -0.87 -2.786675208199872% /Date(1481757601000-0600)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1026072 P/E Ratio 69.83433041877589 Market Cap 34748994841.3984 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 753082 More quote details and news » which still offer value as the Japanese game maker looks to replicate the massive success of Pokemon Go that fueled a powerful rally in the stock this year.
Nintendo’s (7974.JP) release of Super Mario Run marks the company’s first proper foray into smartphone games, and it’s been a long-time coming for the 130-year old company. Nintendo has missed out on the mobile craze, which has spawned mega hits from Candy Crush to Clash of Clans. Sales of its gaming hardware have dwindled. Pokemon Go, which has been downloaded 500 million times, was developed by Google’s Niantic and its impact on Nintendo’s bottom line has been negligible. For the company’s full-blooded mobile debut, players take control of Mario as he runs through levels collecting gold coins and fighting his arch-foe – a large turtle called Bowser.
While the success of the launch of Super Mario Run will dictate the stock’s short term direction, there is more to Nintendo than just its mustachioed Italian mascot. Long-term earnings should lift as the company gradually unlocks the mobile potential of its intellectual property, while new hardware set for next year could get gamers logging on again. The stock is up roughly 70% this year, placing it on track for its biggest calendar year return since 2007, but potential to grow earnings at a double digit pace could lift the stock another 30%.
Nintendo Can Score 40% Gain on Super Mario Run
