Topic: How cool is Icons?

[Perfect Cell]

Icons has quickly become my favorite show on G4 Tech TV... Just today both the Donkey Kong and the Gameboy Shows were very interestingly informative. Anyone else like the show?

[ThePerm]

yeah, out of all the g4 crap...icons is actually a gem

[Perfect Cell]

I loved the DK show. I never knew Miyamoto hated Rares Donkey Kong Country...  

[joeamis]

is that true?  Is there anyway I can get an excerpt of the show in text online, or dl the episode or something.  Theres no G4 here.  Why did he say he hated it?  I'm surprised given that DKC was a great platformer and had some sweet monkey loving music, even without the graphics it was a great game and DKC 2 as well, never played DKC3 myself.

[Hostile Creation]

He hated the game, eh?  I remember liking it, a bit, but it's been a long time.  But I know I was never a huge fan of Donkey Kong at all.

I've never heard of Icons, though, or (what I assume is) that channel.  Alas.  Sounds cool, though.

[Ian Sane]

Miyamoto hates Donkey Kong Country?  Damn.  I now think less of him.  DKC is amazing and easily on par with Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island.  Maybe that's why he doesn't like it.  Because they were able to match him.  It's seems unlikely that he would be that egotistical though.  He certainly doesn't across as that type of person.  Maybe he doesn't like the "cooler" look DK has thanks to Rare or that his creation was handed off to someone else.

Have you noticed that DKC seems to get a bad rap lately from the media?  In the last few years I've read at least two "most overhyped games" lists that included DKC and virtually every review I've read for the GBC and GBA ports mention how the original was only popular because of the graphics and thus the less pretty portable versions don't hold up.  That game plays great and it's not just because of nostalgia.  It truly is very fun and well designed.  I don't get why it's getting picked on now.  

[Deguello]

"Miyamoto hates Donkey Kong Country? Damn. I now think less of him."

I don't think he said "I hate Donkey Kong Country."

I remember the show saying Miyamoto said, "DKC in a way proves that a game with mediocre gameplay will sell a lot as long as it has great graphics."  paraphrased.

You must remember that Miyamoto only speaks so much English, like "Hello"  "This"  heh "Baby."

And he might have been mistranslated or taken out of context, or heaven forbid BOTH.

And you know what, he's right.  DKC does sorta prove that a game with great graphics and mediocre gameplay will sell a lot.  It did sell a lot.  The Reviewers seemed to really like the graphics and forget about gameplay.  The graphics were held over the gameplay IIRC.

And why the sudden newfound picking on this game receives, Ian?  Well, everybody is in "hate Nintendo" mode now.  Why not piss on their legacy?

[ruby_onix]

Actually, I've heard before that while Miyamoto was working on the original version of Yoshi's Island, he got called to Yamauchi's office, and was asked something to the effect of "Hey, look at this game, Donkey Kong Country. It looks amazing. All the play testers say it's the most amazing thing they've ever seen. You're supposed to be the real big shot around here. Why don't your games ever look as good as this one does? Scrap that weak game you're working on and make something that's at least comparable to this one."

And AFAIK, he had even worked closely with Rare (in both his capacity as Nintendo's "third-party tech support representative", and as the guy who created the Donkey Kong franchise that Rare was borrowing at the time) to make sure that they had gotten the gameplay as dead-on as they could.

When he went back to his workspace, he tossed out everything he and his team had built for the original Yoshi's Island, and started work from scratch on the Yoshi's Island that we all know and love, and he deliberately went in the complete opposite direction with the cartoony pre-cel-shading look, as a kind of "F-you" to anyone who would complain that his games weren't realistic enough.

So I think it's basically that he had a bad experience once involving Donkey Kong Country, and he's a "gameplay over graphics" kind of guy anyways, so he doesn't much care for DKC, or it's role as a "landmark game" in graphics history.


(Although to be fair, Miyamoto's apparently done that "upend the table" thing on some of his subordinates when he's not happy with a product, and he wants to get them all fired up and motivated to do better, so I don't think he can really complain that it's happened to him, but... we really don't know to what level he's annoyed at DKC, or if maybe he got over those feelings years ago... or even if he's still mad, I'm sure he's allowed to get at least two or three sentences worth of complaining in before we can really start calling him a lazy jealous whiner.)

[Perfect Cell]

Maybe Miyamoto didnt "hate" DKC, but to say its got Mediocre Gameplay is pretty frigging harsh IMO.... Makes me think if the Rare-Nintendo break up  had more history than what we know...

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I've never heard of Icons, though, or (what I assume is) that channel. Alas. Sounds cool, though.

ITs a show on G4 Tech Tv... They basically tell the story of important people, companies or organizations or games in the industry.... Ive seen alot of them already.... From  cool ones like the one on Tetris, DK, The Game Boy ( The Story of Yokoi was very sad) EA, Peter Moleneux, To boring ones like the one on the ESRB....  

[Rancid Planet]

I seem to miss Icons every time it comes on. I did catch the Final Fantasy episode though and it was really good.

[RABicle]

I''m glad the greatest game designer supports my position on the most overrated SNES game ever, DKC.

[Kirby_PopStar]

I thought Shigeru Miyamoto no longer felt that way about Donkey Kong country, and even suggested the remake of it for GameBoy Advance?

Back on topic, Icons is a diamond in the rough beside all of that other G4 garbage. I enjoy a bit of gaming history every now and then-- I'd just like to see a bit more Nintendo oriented stuff.