Nintendo boss Shigeru Miyamoto once said a certainNintendogame had “no appeal” - that game went on to become one of the best-selling titles of the generation, and has since become one of Nintendo’s Big Four properties. To anyone with even the basest familiarity with video game history, Shigeru Miyamoto needs no introduction - but I’ll give him one anyway. He was the driving creative force behindSuper Mario Bros.andThe Legend of Zelda, and has had some hand in almost every major Nintendo game since -except, notably,Mario Kart World.
Miyamoto’s unique design philosophy and unparalleled creative vision has turned Nintendo into the massive, international success it is today. He’s the brain behind some of the most iconic characters, settings, and concepts in gaming - buteven he gets it wrong sometimes, andhe’ll be the first to admit it. This was the case when Miyamoto was shown an early build ofSplatoon, but despite his criticisms, it went on to become one of Nintendo’s greatest hits, topping charts for the Wii U - the console on which it was originally released.
But Time Has Proven Him Wrong
According to an interview inEdge Magazine(viaGames Radar) co-director ofSplatoon,Tsubasa Sakaguchi, once showed Miyamoto an early test build, only to be told thatSplatoonhad “no appeal.“According to Sakaguchi, the game was still in a rough state: although the team had determined much of how the gameplay would work, they were having trouble making it into a cohesive whole. He’s quoted as saying:
“We had the basics. And then we were like, ‘Let’s add the hiding feature; let’s add jumping; we need height…’ And we realized we’d added all this stuff, and we got confused. We didn’t even know what the game was about.”
Apparently, while the team was hard at work onSplatoon, they were subject to constant pressure from Miyamoto. When they presented this early build to him, Sakaguchi quotes Miyamoto as having said, “I don’t understand. What do you want to do?There’s no appeal to this game.”
And Miyamoto may have been right, at least at that early stage: the build he was looking at likely used simple 3D cubes as placeholders for playable characters, and probably lacked a lot of the polish thatSplatoonhas today. Miyamoto might not have been totally correct -Splatoonhad some appeal, but it needed a fresh coat of paint (or ink). His comments may have been meant as constructive (if harsh) criticism, or he may have truly hatedSplatoonas he experienced it that day. One thing’s for sure:Miyamoto’s criticism made a difference.
Splatoon Has Come A Long Way
One Of The Wii U’s Bestsellers, With Multiple Sequels
After Miyamoto expressed his disregard for the early build ofSplatoon, though, work on the game continued. I imagine the developers took this time to flesh out the world, finalize the character designs, and create some interesting levels. At some point, Miyamoto had to have seen the game in a later state and given his stamp of approval. After all, it eventually made it to store shelves - before flying off them, that is.Splatoonbecame the sixth best-selling game on the Wii U, according toNintendo’s own financial data; it shipped 4.95 million copies.
Splatoonrecently celebrated its tenth anniversary, and it’s not alone.There are now no fewer than three mainlineSplatoongames out in the world,and aSwitch 2-exclusive spinoff,Splatoon Raiders, is coming soon. Its characteristic Inklings have appeared as playable characters in both major Nintendo crossover franchises,Mario KartandSuper Smash Bros., and is considered one of Nintendo’s biggest properties alongsideMarioandZelda. If that’s not the mark of success, I don’t know what is.
At least part of that success must be attributed to its brilliant character design, unique setting, and bizarre, bloopy music. So, even ifSplatoondidn’t have any appeal when Shigeru Miyamoto first got his hands on it, it eventually expanded to become one ofNintendo’s greatest hits.
