Miyamoto never reached the level of worldwide popularity despite being the Walt Disney or Stan Lee of video games
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How well regarded is Shigeru Miyamoto nationally in Japan?
- Thread starter HomokHarcos
- Start date
Iwata was the President and biggest public figure for one of the world's most beloved companies. That is different.
Sure. I have no idea who the president of Disney is though, for reference. Maybe most people do?
It is believed that a new star and a double rainbow appeared in the sky when Shigeru Miyamoto was born. He invented the hamburger and has never pooped.
Hayao Miazaki seemed more known when I was in Japan, although I did visit the Ghibli museum, so I'm biased.
No matter where in the world, few recognize game developers by name, face, or reputation.
MGSV sold 6 million copies. Kojima plasters his name on screen every 5 minutes. Fans of video games I know IRL...even people I know who played MGSV still don't know who he is.
MGSV sold 6 million copies. Kojima plasters his name on screen every 5 minutes. Fans of video games I know IRL...even people I know who played MGSV still don't know who he is.
That was meant as publicity for Japan for international audiences.
I don't think the general public care about "Director" roles at all.
I doubt many people could tell you who directed Titanic or any movie really.
I doubt many people could tell you who directed Titanic or any movie really.
'Mario Bros.' creator Shigeru Miyamoto to be given one of Japan's highest honors
Shigeru Miyamoto is a titan in the video game industry, having created beloved franchises such as "Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda." For his work, he is being awarded the "Person of Cultural Merit" by the Japanese government on November 3.
Shigeru Miyamoto recognised with Japanese cultural award
Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has been honoured with a Japanese cultural award, for his career in video games. T…
www.gamesindustry.biz
Shigeru Miyamoto honoured with Japan culture award | VGC
Nintendo designer recognised as Person of Cultural Merit…
www.videogameschronicle.com
He is much much much much less famous. Almost everyone knows Miytazaki's name. They show the Ghibli movies in fairly heavy rotation on TV and many people grew up on them, his name is attached to them and he is widely respected. I think it would be extremely rare to find someone who said "Who?" at his name.
On the other hand, I would say almost nobody knows who Miyamoto is. I dont think even fairly geeky kids who stay up playing Switch or whatever have ever heard of him. Kojima might be slightly more famous but only among hardcore gaming teenagers even then.
Walt Disney hosted his own TV show for over a decade (Walt Disney's Disneyland/Walt Disney Presents/Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), back when network TV was a huge, huge deal.
Wait didn't Miyamoto create Japan 2000 years ago by blowing into a Trumpet-shaped Wiimote peripheral? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Just gonna drop this on a poster who clearly lives there and just not come back to the thread, huh? Take the L.
Reddit parody shitpost for those unaware.
Free karma stuff, always gets upvoted to the moon on r/nba.
Yeah, like even most of my friends who play games would have no idea who he is if I asked. I'm in the US.
Miyazaki is more famous, all his movies were advertised as Gibli studios directed by Miyazaki (as is usual in movies). But Mario games are not advertised with Miyamoto's name on it. Not a big statistic, but my wife (Japanese) plays videogames but doesn't follow games coverage, knows who Miyazaki is but she didn't knew who Miyamoto was.
I imagine there's a reason he specifically called himself "Mario's dad" during the theme park video.
I'm not really sure where non-video game fans would have seen him? He sometimes did interviews to promote stuff but he usually only comes out during E3 and Directs and the like. I don't think he promotes for the sake of promoting like Stan Lee or Walt Disney did.
I'm not really sure where non-video game fans would have seen him? He sometimes did interviews to promote stuff but he usually only comes out during E3 and Directs and the like. I don't think he promotes for the sake of promoting like Stan Lee or Walt Disney did.
My Japanese wife was hardcore into SMB back in the day, and even she had never heard of him until I mentioned his name.
Mario is super famous, Miyamoto is not.
Mario is super famous, Miyamoto is not.
GREAT OP question.
Fascinated by the answers.
I assumed he to be a god - like Kojima - over the years. Especially in Japan.
We maybe have some work to do in making gaming storytellers more prominent in widespread conversation?
Conversely, I admire the internal and exclusive community we've developed among industry enthusiasts.
Fascinated by the answers.
I assumed he to be a god - like Kojima - over the years. Especially in Japan.
We maybe have some work to do in making gaming storytellers more prominent in widespread conversation?
Conversely, I admire the internal and exclusive community we've developed among industry enthusiasts.
Kind of patronizing, no?
Mario is an incredibly famous character, and Nintendo is willing to bet on that enough to build out theme parks around the globe. Given Miyamoto is both the creator and from Japan, I didn't think it'd be that far fetched to know about him over there.
Walt Disney and Stan Lee are true Americans, always happy to present themselves and also ready to sell their own grandmother if necessary. Disney released the first cartoon with own sound, which was a big deal and then he released this ground breaking first feature length cartoon Snow White (the first trailer was presented by him). Basically, he was kind of Steve Jobs of early 21st century, that the company had his name on also of course helped. And Disney always made clear its all his effort, trying to put other artists down. This even resulted in a mass dropout in the 40s. Later on he presented also his own show as before mentioned, which made him known to many US kids. As this show was also localized, he was also present to many more kids around the world. This made him so well known to generations of people.
Stan Lee was also always happy to present himself, and it is also often discussed how much he was really involved in inventing the now famous Marvel heroes. He started to become famous as he was in charge of the TV and movie productions, also he regular was present on comic conventions. But he was not really famous, except you were a Marvel fan. He was not much different to a Todd McFarlane or Carl Barks in popularity. What all this changed were his cameos in the Marvel Studio movies. It likely started with Avengers, that also non-fans noticed that old guy in the productions and thus got known to Stan Lee. But I am sure for most of the people he is just that old guy in the Marvel movies.
Miyamoto on the other side is a true Japanese, very reserved. Also he does not have his own company nor he was in charge of any kind of public relations. As its not an often used trope for video games (beside Sid Meier), his games also does not have his name on and I would be surprised if Miyamoto would want to have this, if he would be asked. Furthermore, he never got filthy rich, which in Japan also does not result in becoming famous, contrary to US.
So it's not surprising that he is not well known, if you are not interested in the topic. As in many other areas, if you are not doing any PR (good or bad) you are not known except by your direct competition or fans. Let's take the real estate investors as example. You know of course former US president Trump, but do you ever heard of Donald Bren, Hugh Grosvenor or Sam Zell?
If folks want to know what game creator is at least a bit famous and somewhat of a household name, it's Shigesato Itoi. You may only know him for Mother/Earthbound but he's a cultural force - he did a lot of copywriting, including for Miyazaki's films (he also voices the father in My Neighbor Totoro,) is a well-respected essayist and runs a very successful design company, selling billions of yen worth of products online each year despite not advertising.
This topic is a little dissapointing but understandable. Creators like Stan Lee and James Cameron are rare exceptions. Most people don't know who is behind the products they enjoy.
I personally know plenty of Kingdom Hearts fans, but mention Tetsuya Nomura and I get the deer in the headlights look.
I personally know plenty of Kingdom Hearts fans, but mention Tetsuya Nomura and I get the deer in the headlights look.
This sounds morbid, but widespread knowledge of him will probably happen once he passes.
it'll be a "holy shit, this man is responsible for all of these things I loved?!" moment for the general public.
It's gonna be a huge news day when that happens, probably bigger than we think. Miyamoto really is the first and most famous person in games.
it'll be a "holy shit, this man is responsible for all of these things I loved?!" moment for the general public.
It's gonna be a huge news day when that happens, probably bigger than we think. Miyamoto really is the first and most famous person in games.
Well just the US is nearly 3x bigger than japan population wise so 3x twitter followers, plus including at least Canada and Uk as English speaking followers would make it pretty equal or even higher ratio for his Japanese acct.
I made sure my wife knows who miyamoto shigeru is...
No but I dont think he is a widely known celebrity in Japan like miyazaki hayao despite their works having comparable cultural impact.
However he sure is famous in the gaming community(duh) and gaming in genera is really widespread in japan.
And zelda, donkey kong, starfox, pikmin, waverace, luigis mansion, paper mario, mario kart, wii sports resort, wii fit
Wouldnt say so. Miyazaki hayao or hideo kojima have their names all over the commercials so everyone knows them.
i think miyamoto is a pretty private guy and tries to keep it that way. The popularity in the west is not harming his everyday life so...