Four Times Miyamoto was… not… an asshole

It’s no secret that I was very displeased with Larry Bundy Jr’s recent video addressing Miyamoto’s alleged mishaps through the years. I found it to be a very poorly researched, one sided video that desperately tried to present Miyamoto and Nintendo as a whole as being incompetent.

Now that I’ve spent about… oh, an hour clarifying some aspects of he video, I can safely say that pretty much none of it is true. Larry and his retarded fans are writing off everyone who is talking about what is wrong with the video as blind fanboys, but that is simply not the case. This shall be a blow by blow analysis of what Larry is saying.

0:39: “AND ABSOLUTELY NO LIES.”

Kek. This should be a good one.

Number one: Getting into a pissing match with Rare

The video begins with a brief overview of what Rareware actually is. We haven’t even started talking about the actual alleged controversy yet, and I have already noticed a grave error.

1:12: “As cherished as they are, their tenures of THIRD PARTY DEVELOPMENT with Nintendo…”

They were a second party developer, like Game Freak. Nintendo owned 48% of the company. He then goes on to talk a little bit more about the issues that Nintendo had with Rareware, and tries to say that the main problem with their relationship was Miyamoto himself, which is not the case. The relationship was much more complicated than that.

What Larry tries to do, in this segment, is use a quote with questionable origins to try and frame Miyamoto as being jealous of RareWare, despite the lack of any real evidence that he held a personal dislike to the developers. In fact, we know he did offer feedback and general input on the game quite extensively. I feel as if the quote, if real, isn’t really an honest opinion on how Miyamoto felt about the game because… let’s face it, it doesn’t really add up with anything he’s said about the game before or since.

I can’t find any information related to why Donkey Kong wasn’t playable in 2 or 3, but I strongly doubt it was for the reason that Larry cited, which was to spite Miyamoto. What I can tell you, however, is that the Dinosaur Planet story is incorrect. Nintendo and Rare were at odds at this point, but not due to the change. In fact, a little bit of research has dug up this quote from someone who worked on the game.

“According to Phil Tossell, the Rare staff had no problem changing the game to Miyamoto’s demands, “It seemed like a no-brainer. They’re offering this great character from this great franchise! I was attached to Dinosaur Planet but I love the original Star Fox. Our only concerns were how we could fit it into this game we have.”

The change was probably suggested by Miyamoto primarily as a means of guaranteeing that Adventures did see release on Nintendo platforms. Other games that were in development at that time, like Kameo and Grabbed by the Ghoulies, did end up making the jump to Xbox despite starting as Gamecube exclusives. To say that Adventures ‘triggered’ Rare leaving for Microsoft is laughable. Nintendo could have easily held on to their shares of the company, but decided to cut them loose because they were losing talent by that point and had been since 1999.

An amusing anecdote: Rare hasn’t done anything noteworthy since their Nintendo days. Nintendo has a talent for bringing out the best in developers, even those who would otherwise be considered mediocre.

2. Nintendo CANCELS STAR FOX 2 and then steals it’s assets for other games

From what I understand, this story, alongside the third one, is coming from a single interview with a former Argonaut executive (AKA someone who DOESN’T WORK ON THE FUCKING CODE) who claimed that Nintendo ripped the code straight from Star Fox 2 to improve 64.

My answer? Dylan Cuthbert, the actual fucking designer of the game, has already responded and dismissed the claims. Ouch.

It’s not exactly a secret that 64 used a lot of ideas from Star Fox 2, but to try and pretend that Miyamoto ‘stole’ ideas from… another game he worked on is Irate Gamer tier shit. No, I’m completely serious. This is what it reminds me of.

Also keep in mind that if the code really was stolen, that would be grounds for a lawsuit that they could have won. If Argonaut didn’t take it to court… well, that just means they didn’t have a case.

Larry goes on to insist that the reason that Star Fox 2 isn’t coming to the virtual console is due to bad blood between Nintendo and Argonaut. Actually, it’s because of the FX chip, which makes emulating games that use it kind of a pain. The original Star Fox hasn’t been released either, alongside Yoshi’s Island (Although the GBA port has made it)

 

In short, this entire section is trying to pretend that the reason Miyamoto cancelled Star Fox 2 was due to jealously, despite the fact that the fact that a lot of 2’s ideas being used in 64 is public knowledge, and was actually brought up again with Zero and the return of the walkers. Larry seems to think that Nintendo using ideas from a Nintendo property is plagiarism. In short, he thinks Miyamoto plagiarized… himself…?

I think the official reason given, that Miyamoto didn’t want to release a new 2D game at a time when 3D games on consoles were starting to become a thing is perfectly reasonable.

3. Nintendo STEALS concept for Super Mario 64!

http://www.shacknews.com/article/80104/why-super-mario-64-owes-croc-legend-of-the-gobbos

Everyone was making 3D games around this time. Claim is bogus.

9:31 “They didn’t give a reason!”

They were well into development on SM64 by that time.

10:08 “I can’t find any evidence of Nintendo taking this idea!”

Your whole list is like this…

There’s a reason no one remembers this game, by the way.

Next.

4.

You can tell he’s reaching at this point. My assumption is that he ‘discovered’ the allegations made by Argonaut’s founder and then scrambled to find more examples of things like it to put into a Miyamoto bashing video. None of them really panned out. Honestly, this is probably the least offensive out of all of them because… well, there’s nothing really here.

According to Larry, Miyamoto was an asshole because development on a game didn’t go well. Okay.

But yes, a really terrible video in general because it tries really hard to present Miyamoto as this bad guy, probably an attempt to appeal to the butthurt Paper Mario audience (Seriously, the comments section is SWARMED with people saying 5. Ruining Paper Mario) despite a lack of any real evidence. This article may seem like I didn’t address many of his points, but that’s because there were none. A lot of it was rampant speculation based on statements made by single people. A very unfair video.

I’ve unsubscribed from Larry and will never watch his content again.