pikman are not carrots

December 17, 2002, 10:19 am

From the Wired article, Why Nintendo Won't Grow Up:

“It was an amazing game,” [talking about Miyamoto's game, Pikman] says Lorne Lanning, creator of the Oddworld series. “But it was about cute little carrots.” He's quick to add that he finds Miyamoto's games inspiring as a designer. “But I don't play them for the same reason I don't watch Powerpuff Girls.”

Arg! After reading this, I was reduced to thirteen-year-old arguments like:

First, Pikman is not about fucking carrots! The Pikman merely look like carrots! And second, the Powerpuff Girls is a fucking awesome cartoon! Asshole.

And there are other hilarious bits in the article as well, such as:

.... Even if his games never appeal to adults, they're reaching a much more valuable audience: other designers. Shinji Mikami, creator of the hit horror series Resident Evil, cites Miyamoto as a direct influence on the control mechanics of his game. “When you press the button to shoot a zombie, you're pressing the button to make Mario jump,” he says. “It's that simple.”

Miyamoto-san would never make a game where the camera and control mechanics fight against you, like they do in Resident Evil. Of course, the camera being at odd angles and hiding things from your view is okay and appropriate for Resident Evil because the player can be surprised by zombies and whatnot if they can't see them on camera. But for Mikami-san to cite Miyamoto-san as the inspiration of RE's control scheme is almost insulting!

The only thing people need to know is that Miyamoto-san plays banjo. Take that.