Regarding our creative world, we love to put up people who have made multiple incredible properties. Whether in movies, TV shows, cartoons, music, or even video games, you likely know the “all-stars” who make things special. For Nintendo, you can easily say a handful of their “rock stars,” including Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the man who created Mario, Link, the Pikmin, and so many other characters. In addition, he’s the guy who helped save Nintendo after the video game crash of 1983 and would lead them to many glorious years on top of the industry.
He has so many IPs under his belt and famous games he helped create that many have decided to call him the “Steven Spielberg” of video games. It’s not hard to see why that comparison works in some ways due to their “visionary” status and the ability to work well in many genres. However, in an interview, Miyamoto swats that comparison down:
“As you said, I’ve also been called the Spielberg of the game world, but I actually don’t like that,” Miyamoto said in an interview with GameSpot. “I’m Miyamoto. Miyamoto is Miyamoto and Nintendo is Nintendo. However, I do feel very honored to be compared with Disney. But with that said, rather than comparing Nintendo to Disney, I feel that Disney to some extent, especially for families, [represents] a sense of reassurance for families.”
While it’s unclear what “reassurance” means in this context, it’s simple enough to guess that he means that Nintendo is associated with being the “family-friendly console.” Since the beginning, the perception around Nintendo platforms has been that it’s something that families can buy, and there won’t be any issues with the games played there. Many of those “family-friendly games” are ones that Shigeru Miyamoto helped create in some fashion.
He even said later in the interview that the comparison to Disney makes him feel confident in where Nintendo has gotten in the public eye. That’s fair to say, given how much Nintendo has done over the decades of its video gaming life.
For example, the Nintendo Switch recently sold enough units to become the 3rd best-selling video game platform of all time. Furthermore, many of the Switch’s biggest software titles have sold millions. The company also recently opened Super Nintendo World in the US and has already announced a second location for the country.
So while Miyamoto might “just be Miyamoto,” he has much to be happy about.
