Originally posted Nov. 2, 2009

And speaking of StarTropics, Miyamoto and I were talking about the upcoming secret yet to be announced Wii version (that's only a mere weeks away from getting an official announcement).  After taking our kids Trick or Treating we were going through their candy looking for razor blades in the candy and stealing the choice pieces (he is a total fiend for Charleston Chews), and he shared yet another surprise.  When Nintendo decided they wanted to revive an old action/RPG series, Star Tropics was not their first choice. . .  it was actually Crystalis.

See, Miyamoto was a huge fan of Crystalis (or God Slayer as he refers to it).  Loves it. He says it was better than the original Zelda. Only problem was Nintendo didn't develop it. However, they did buy the rights to the game about 10 years ago and released a port of it onto the Gameboy Color. Now that deal expired a while back, but Nintendo was prepared to buy them again from SNK, this time for good. But there was a little snag.

You see one of the top guys at SNK plays backgammon with Miyamota a lot, and well Miyamoto is very competitive. Talks a lot of trash when he's winning.  Apparently he beat the guy at SNK very badly last time and threw in some choice insults about the guy's mother.  So now SNK won't sell the rights anymore, and eventually Nintendo gave up.... and went with StarTropics instead.

robio said:

Just to spoil it for everyone, I called Miyamoto this morning and he gave me some insight about the new Zelda game.  He bitched me out since he's still on West Coast time but I told him to quit whining like a little girl (swear to god this story happened).  

That silver girl-humanoid-thing in front of Link IS the sword.  The sword is going to do all sorts of wacked out stuff with motion plus and you'll be able to transform the sword into her on occasions for some other tasks, but he wouldn't tell me everything.  Oh yeah, and Wii Vitality will also be used in place of the shield.  If your pulse is strong the shield will be up, but if it starts beating too fast then Link will not be able to block.

And then we made plans to go grab lunch after our step class next Tuesday, so all in all it was a productive call.

robio said:

Miyamoto and I were playing mini-golf over the weekend talking about this very thing (he's a very poor mini-golfer for the record but just loves the windmills).   He made an excellent point though using the golf club as an example.  

Natal misses several things, but there's one key element in particular that it lacks and its the force feedback.  It doesn't seem like much but swinging your hands like a golf club and seeing a ball move is all well and good, but when you feel a little feedback when the ball and club connect that really pulls you in.  That's just one reason why a controller is so important.  It provides that final element that you need to compliment the motion controls.

I ended up winning the game pretty much hands down and won our little bet.  So he bought me a snowcone and I got to tell you it was a sweet victory.

robio said:

I was at Baskin Robbins last night with Miyamoto (he can scarf down rum raisin like nobody's business) and we talked about racing games.  He made a pretty good point about why a game like Mario Kart is ultimately going to be more successful than most of the racing games and it has very little to do with Mario believe it or not.

As racing games get more and more realistic, they become less fun to play.  Most gamers are old enough to drive cars now.  In fact, they've been driving for many many years. There's just no thrill to it anymore.  It's the same reason why adults don't do the car racing at Disney World.  Why pretend to drive when it's something that's more or less an everyday hassle?

Mario Kart on the other hand offers something different with the crazy tracks, obstacles, shells, etc.  No matter how many years of driving you do you're not going to be dodging turtle shells, racing down waterfalls, and dodging cows (well assuming you're not a really shitty driver).

That's Miyamoto's viewpoint anyway.  And we're going to a water park tomorrow for those who are curious.

robio said:

Dvader said:

I am down if you can get a jury. We can do PH right now, I will be the guy against it and was it Robio that really likes it? Well whoever it was that loved it can be the other dude. The problem is finding an impartial jury.

I am quite happy to defend Phantom Hourglass (finest Zelda game ever made), but I'm afraid this won't be the day for it.  I'm not going to be around much tonight.  Got to make it an early night as I actually am going to a water park tomorrow; Aquatica - SeaWorld's new water park.  Miyamoto may or may not actually be able to make it though.  He had a root canal today (the ice cream last night was sort of a last hurrah before going to the dentist), and he's still not feeling real well so he may have to take an extra day to just chill.

travo said:

But he said he was taking me to the park.  I hope you drown!

You got a baby to take care of. You shouldn't be trying to hang out with middle aged Japanese developers right now anyway.

SteelAttack said:

bugsonglass said:

SteelAttack said:

You going to do watersports with Miyamoto?

you are a sick sick man

He said he was going to a water park! He wasasking for demanding me to say that!

You truly are a sick man.  There's nothing sick about the bromance that Miyamoto and I have going on.

robio said:

That reminds me, Nintendo still has one big game to announce before the end of the year.  Miyamoto and I were at the Build-A-Bear Workshop over the weekend.  He made a Mario bear and I made a Luigi bear and we had the people sew the hands together - BFF's!!!!!  But while we were waiting in line he mentioned that they didn't announce everything at E3.  They planned one more Fall/Winter release on the table.  He didn't say anything but he folded his hands together like a pair of wings and fluttered them about, so I think its safe to say Icarus is on its way.

After that we left the workshop and had lunch at the Orange Julius.

robio said:

travo said:

   Sounds like PilotWINGS to me.

It could have been.  It's a flying game.  Miyamoto is very mysterious like that.  

Ravenprose said:

Really? Wow, that's totally awesome! I wish I was friends with Miyamoto. I can't wait to play Kid Icarus.

He's really neat.  We're going go-carting next week, and that big prankster better not try to throw a banana peel at me.

robio said:

bugsonglass said:

robio said:

Told you Wii would see a huge jump in sales when Tri came out.  Of course I only thought the sales would double from the previous week, and not triple. . . my bad.

what does miyamoto have to say about it all?  did you ask him when you went karting or were you too busy trying to banana peel and turtleshell each other?

Oh we're not go-carting until next week.  I am going to see him this weekend though.  I'm barbequing on Saturday and he's going to come over and hang out by the pool.  At least I hope that's all he does.  He loves doing cannonballs and trying to make the splash reach the grill.  For a little guy he makes a hell of a big splash.

But I'll ask him what he thinks about the game once I see him again just for you.

robio said:

travo said:

What kind of BBQ does Miyamoto make?  Mustard or ketchup based?

Oh he doesn't BBQ.  Truth be told he's kind of a mooch in the food department, but in all fairness anytime I'm barbequing and he decides to crash he always brings a 6-pack along.

robio said:

phantom_leo said:

bugsonglass said:

from eurogamer: "Pilotwings was made for the SNES by Shigeru Miyamoto, who's done some other games since then - notably Wii Music."

sarcasm in games journalism.  we've come a long way baby

anyway is the SNES version good/worth getting?  i used to own pilotwings64 and i liked it.  think i will just wait for that maybe since it must be coming soon now they made a start

Poking fun at Miyamoto?!

That's like flinging poo at Mother Theresa! That's just NOT right!

You know, Miyamoto and I were out picking wild blackberries last weekend.  He has a fantastic recipe for homemade berry jam.  He won't share it with me, but one of these years I think I'll coax it out of him.  

Anyway, we talked a bit about this article and he confided in me that it does indeed hurt when someone speaks badly of Wii Music.  It sold 3 million copies, and while that didn't reach the internal expectations, it still put a lot of money in a lot of people's pockets.  He has his regrets about the game (he really wanted downloadable content for new songs, but that bastard Iwata said NO), but overall he's still pleased with the final product and wishes it wouldn't be ridiculed so much.

He ended up calling the journalist who wrote this piece "the son of a syphilis infected goomba whore" and then moved on back to picking black berries. He also mentioned that the berry picking reminded him of some new levels in Pikimin 3, but he wouldn't share any other details than that.

robio said:

Nintendo has a new AAA game that they're going to bring out of nowhere and this is news??  Come on, I broke this story over a month ago after Miyamoto told me at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. Honestly I need to start making bigger announcements after he and I hang out.    

robio said:

gamingeek said:

RUMOR - more details on the incoming Nintendo game announcement

Remember back when IGN said that they knew of a new game from Nintendo that was pretty unexpected, and wasn't a B-level game? Things have been pretty quiet since then, but we do have a few rumors we can share with you.

- not related to the Charles Martinet Twitter comments
- revealed last Friday to some outlets
- from established I.P.

Yesterday Miyamoto and I went out to a pumpkin patch to pick out out pumpkins for Halloween.  He's got a great design for his jack'o lantern.  It's Olimar with a bunch of Pikmin around him, and he has a special rotating light for the inside of it so that the shadows it casts dance around the room.  It's pretty neat.  He also sprays it with a candy corn aroma spray.  It's all very festive.

So as we were roasting the pumpkin seeds the topic of this game came up.  And he told me that I could come right out with it.  It's the new Star Tropics game.  They're bringing it back.  He wouldn't come right out and say it, but I think it's going to be a retooling of the original.  You see, Nintendo wants to release more Zelda kind of games, but they don't want to whore out the Zelda name.  So they looked into the catalog and the game seemed like an obvious choice.  

He showed me a couple screenshots and it does look good.  He had more to show me, but he and I got into a disagreement when I wouldn't let him use my good carving knife, and he thought it'd be funny to hold a grudge.  He can be a little douchey like that from time to time.  Oh well, more will be revealed soon.

robio said:

My turn to say thanks to Yoda. He got me Star Tropics.  Now a bevy of overweight Island chieftans (or at least one) awaits me!!

And speaking of StarTropics, Miyamoto and I were talking about the upcoming secret yet to be announced Wii version (that's only a mere weeks away from getting an official announcement).  After taking our kids Trick or Treating we were going through their candy looking for razor blades in the candy and stealing the choice pieces (he is a total fiend for Charleston Chews), and he shared yet another surprise.  When Nintendo decided they wanted to revive an old action/RPG series, Star Tropics was not their first choice. . .  it was actually Crystalis.

See, Miyamoto was a huge fan of Crystalis (or God Slayer as he refers to it).  Loves it. He says it was better than the original Zelda. Only problem was Nintendo didn't develop it. However, they did buy the rights to the game about 10 years ago and released a port of it onto the Gameboy Color. Now that deal expired a while back, but Nintendo was prepared to buy them again from SNK, this time for good. But there was a little snag.

You see one of the top guys at SNK plays backgammon with Miyamota a lot, and well Miyamoto is very competitive. Talks a lot of trash when he's winning.  Apparently he beat the guy at SNK very badly last time and threw in some choice insults about the guy's mother.  So now SNK won't sell the rights anymore, and eventually Nintendo gave up.... and went with StarTropics instead.

So there's your little story this morning everyone.

robio said:

SteelAttack said:

robio said:

Iga_Bobovic said:

SteelAttack said:

Blame Uncharted 2. My wife has been telling me to log in and send you the money, but everytime I approach the TV set Uncharted beckons.

GG buy me New Super Mario Bros Wii and I will shatter both his kneecaps and I will kick Robio in his nuts for no extra charge

I'm just going to go ahead and change my title from God of Trendy to Most Abused Member of the Forums.

It seems customary on the VGPress to inflict some sort of vexation upon you. Not by me, of course. I follow closely and eagerly expect every single post detailing your activities with Miyamoto. Anyone who gets ice cream and plays minigolf with that man shouldn't be kicked in the nuts ever.

You may need to go back a few weeks.  I made a couple posts about when he and I were carving Halloween pumpkins and then sorting through our kids Halloween candy.  I really need to find a way to archive those.

robio said:

Before the end of the year I wanted to go ahead and collect all of the posts I've made about me and my best buddy Miyamoto.  He's a great friend to have and I want to chronicle all of our adventures together so that I can look back and have a good chuckle at his antics. Plus we spend so much time together I'll eventually inspire him to create his next masterpiece.  "The Legend of Robio". . . has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Oh wow, check this out

Fedor told me the following:

I also wanted to clear something up. I have nothing against computer games. The thing is I don't have time for gaming right now. I train twice a day and all my rare free time I try to spend with my family and friends. However as I said previously, when EA MMA hits the stands next year I'll definitely test my strength in it.

Yesssssssssssss

I also received some questions about me being on twitter. I don't use twitter yet but I am planning to real soon. Once my twitter is up you'll be the first to know!

Twitter?! Noooooooooooooooooo

We need more visits from Miyamoto.