Most people dream of meeting a member of their favorite band, or a sports legend, or… Neil Patrick Harris. If you’re a 12 year old girl, maybe it’s Justin Bieber; if you’re German, maybe it’s David Hasselhoff. We all have different idols. However, if you’re a guy named Mike and you’re writing a blog about Nintendo, the man you want to meet more than anyone else is none other than Shigeru Miyamoto! Who… apparently knows how to play a mean banjo!
There is a reason I am both a Nintendo fanboy as well as a nostalgia-gamer. When I was but a young lad in circa 1985 San Francisco, life was simple. You were either a Sega Master System guy, or a Nintendo guy. Sure, Sega had some cool games like Alex Kidd, Ghostbusters, and Sonic; but what really blew me away was playing games like Mario 3, Double Dragon, Punch Out!, Contra, and Legend of Zelda! There were so many great games. And remember the Power Glove!? Come on, admit it… you wanted that thing! I developed a love for Nintendo so fierce that I even enjoyed the Super Mario Bros Super Show. The NES was bloody awesome, and I couldn’t have imagined anything better.
Then the Super Nintendo came out… and HOLY $%^&. That blew my mind. Not only did I not have to blow into my cartridges any more (shooting blinding dust missiles into my eyes), but the graphics were the most impressive visuals I had ever seen in a game! I believe I was in 3rd grade the time I first saw Mario hop onto a Yoshi in those incredible 16-bit graphics. And of course, the RPG’s on the Super Nintendo were the greatest of all time! Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV and VI, EarthBound, Robotrek, Lufia (OK, maybe not Lufia), Mario RPG… it was simply the best RPG console ever.
Long before Paper Mario, there was Mario RPG
Now of course Nintendo has been criticized for ages for being a kiddie console, for only making sequels and Mario spin-offs, and more recently, for releasing massive amounts of shovelware on the Wii. Even as a Nintendo fanboy, I have to acknowledge these points as being true. However, Nintendo is like my favorite baseball team. No matter how bad they play in any given season, I have faith in them and know that they will rise up once again and impress me as they have throughout my entire life. I know in my gut that the trusty Nintendo team will pull off that very feat with the much anticipated “Wii 2/Project Café.'”
Gotta love the Mockup Concept Art!
Nintendo dishes out innovation like nobody’s business. The Wii successor will feature yet another brand new way to interact with games, via (you guessed it) an awesome new controller, complete with a built-in touch screen. The graphics are expected to exceed PS3 and Xbox 360 capabilities (one would hope!) and the system will be backwards compatible with both the Wii and Game Cube. Of course, nobody is 100% sure what to expect until Nintendo officially reveals the full story at this year’ s E3 expo in Los Angeles. I never thought I’d ever say these words but, damn I wish I could be in LA (Yuck! Now I have to bathe in hot lava to get these Dodgers vibes off of me).
If Miyamoto could turn an 8-bit plumber into a work of art that changed the lives of millions, just imagine what he can do ~27 years later with the release of Nintendo’s most exciting console yet. Yeah, I get it—Halo is flippin awesome. Modern Warfare is the shiznit—whatever. Long before these young whipper snappers came along, there was Nintendo! And long after Master Chief visits the intergalactic retirement home, Mario will once again appear (preferably in a Tanooki suit) to do something unique, such as saving Princess Peach, for the good of the lands! To paraphrase Mel Gibson in his Scottish days—I love it. Always have! Nintendo is that song that AC/DC has been re-releasing for the last 30 years—it’s old, it’s familiar, it sticks to what it’s good at, and sometimes it even gets laughed at… but in the end, you always know that it’s going to rock with that incredible vintage power. [Insert predictable ending here] Nintendo, Miyamoto—we salute you!
