Shigeru Miyamoto is without a doubt the most well-known and most popular video game creator of all-time, creating games like Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Star Fox. All of which were published under Nintendo. Now this begs the question: What if Miyamoto did not work for Nintendo, but worked for SEGA instead? Remember, SEGA was a notable developer in arcades alongside ATARI and Namco before Nintendo released Donkey Kong, which was also made my Miyamoto, So it would've been possible for him to join SEGA's crew of developers. As far as a POD goes, the most plausible idea to me would be that not be hired by Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, due to not being interested in his ideas and so Miyamoto's father applies him to SEGA instead and gets hired. How would this affect Miyamoto, SEGA, and video games as a whole? Feedback would be very much appreciated!
WI: Shigeru Miyamoto works for SEGA
- Thread starter connorCD
- Start date
Ummm the thing was Miyamoto wanted to be a mangaka but her mother wanted him more stable job, So she talked with family friend Yamauchi and seems when Miyamoto played space invaders got the idea work with them as nintendo was starting with video Games.
Maybe nintendo didnt make videogames at the time? Thus miya is forced to move to tokyo to look for job? Remember nintendo was in Kyoto and Kyoto to tokyo is like Rome vs london a world of diference
i see. Though it should be mentioned that SEGA has made arcade games before nintendo by only a few years. Nintendo started with not an arcade machine, but a pong console back in 1977 (the same year Miyamoto was suggested and hired), so perhaps Nintendo would have to make the console at a later date. maybe 1978 or 1979. Then maybe Miyamoto and his family would go to Tokyo and SEGA.
Only Miyamoto, like much japanese travelling looking for Job, let's say he got Sega like the army of new recruits every spring, Miyamoto Started working as Illustrator and designer, Sega already have arcades done so already is pushing into it.
Sheriff might have happened if Yu Suzuki or other of Amusement Machines Division(that is sega internal name for arcades teams) teams accepted the idea, Donkey Kong is butterfly away as the butterflies their creation might not happen...unless the idea of Congo Bongo(Sega own blatant Donkey Kong Copy ) somehow happen but i digress..is very hard to happen...
Zelda Might get a chance to live although...when Sega enter into console they would want a game can't be done in Arcade and Zelda idea could born from that(Zelda idea was a 'discovery' game and more slow paced the 'athletic' Super Mario Bros).
Other butterfly...Miyamoto would get Yu Suzuki over Gunpei Yokoi over mentors and both guys are so far different personalities, when yokoi was 'do more with less' and ' a good idea is one solve multiple issues at once' (aka lateral thinking with Withered Technology) Suzuki was 'looks beyond' and 'search the next big advance' as Suzuki was so forward with revolutionary, he always looked for inspiration or ideas in any place(Bike races, chinese kung fu,etc). That would affect games and make remplacement for Sega hits.
interesting. now, how would this affect sega's own games. Would alex kidd and sonic the hedgehog among others still exist?
Those two are butterfly away dude, the PoD is so far away and more important, no Mario, meaning not need a platformer Mascot to compete Mario, thus both are butterfly away, yeah that is a mothra size butterfly, anything here would be the same thanks to the impact
wow. well, what games could we see remain and what replacements would we see? also, i'm wondering how this would affect sony, since nintendo was the reason they are even in the gaming business in the first place.
Reading up on it myself, Donkey Kong getting butterflied could have effects down the line. See, DK was made as a conversion of Radar Scope, which was doing poorly in the west.
Given Donkey Kong was Miyamoto's idea, Nintendo might just cut losses and opt not to release games for a western market (at least for a time) meaning potentially no NES.
Given Donkey Kong was Miyamoto's idea, Nintendo might just cut losses and opt not to release games for a western market (at least for a time) meaning potentially no NES.
to be honest, I doubt Sony would even be in the console wars at all since Sega probably won't be willing to make a "Sega CD" with them if that idea even comes up in the first place. My best guess is that it would be a console war between Sega and Atari, with the latter most likely falling at some point since....well....its Atari. They were kinda bound to screw up eventually.
Sega dies as a console player in mid-late 90s instead of early 2000s with Miyamoto's quirks added on top of sega's issues in OTL.
As connorcd say, Sega made the Sega CD all by themselves(with third parties companies help but mostly themselves) so they would not ask Sony, unless sony want to enter all alone now.
Also consider WI Miyamoto became a mangaka.
And with the Crash in '83 there's a good chance that without Donkey Kong, Nintendo would consider console gaming dead in the States and there would be straight up no push for the NES.
And with the Crash in '83 there's a good chance that without Donkey Kong, Nintendo would consider console gaming dead in the States and there would be straight up no push for the NES.
So, extrapolating on that, if Nintendo's opts to not bring over the Famicom, what becomes the system that brings console gaming back to the States? Master System?
And what games do you see being franchises for the Big Two? Nintendo lost Donkey Kong (and by extension, Mario) to the butterflies and Miyamoto brought the ideas that would become Zelda with him to Sega.
And what games do you see being franchises for the Big Two? Nintendo lost Donkey Kong (and by extension, Mario) to the butterflies and Miyamoto brought the ideas that would become Zelda with him to Sega.
There the Master system or Yamauchi bringing the famicom later and different, without DK nintendo might wait for the famicom or have games for it from the scratch.
Without DK , platformers Will not exist as we knew it, might nintendo Focus in shoot em up? Sports game? The game and watch variety?
As Say before the idea of Zelda were base on Miyamoto life experience and wanting a longer game for console and diskette , the mark iii would get Zelda as speahead in that front?
Sports games would probably be the best match. Having looked at the offerings of Switch Online for NES, there's a pretty good representation of sports games; Baseball, Excitebike, Ice Hockey, Pro Wrestling, Soccer, Tennis, Tecmo Bowl, plus Super Dodgeball and NES Open Tournament Golf in October, so Nintendo clearly has a history with sports games that would be better emphasized due to platformers no longer dominating the system, with racers and beat-em-ups probably being also part of the norm.
Zelda would most likely be the major game for the Mark III in its early years, along with the Master System when/if they opt for exporting. Plus there's the possibility of Sega picking up RPGs as well for their library to differentiate from the more action offerings of Nintendo.
Yeah and without Mario, they would looks for a variety mascot as an evolution of the game and watch or something done from scrath either Yokoi or Uemura Teams(who created Mach Rider and sports game) they would crave that niche for the time being.
This is interesting as a little role reversal as Sega would goes full Adventure and RPG when Nintendo was the one OTL(alongside platformers), so yeah, they would make Zelda, The Golden Axe spinoff, Phantasy Star is coming too, Dragon Quest would be Multi too.
Plus there's a small window for Final Fantasy on the Mark III.
It really is amazing, though. Just how many of the mascot-type characters on early Nintendo were platformer-driven. Mario, Kirby, Megaman, Samus, Simon Belmont, Pit. By contrast, the sports games had very few mascots, though Little Mac is available when they port Punch-Out to the Famicom, but it's looking grim for Nintendo on the mascot front in comparison to Sega getting Link.
actually, platformers existed before donkey kong in 1980. Therefore, platformers would still exist, but would simply never explode in popularity.
i'm also questioning the existence of nintendo's other flagship franchise: pokemon. since miyamoto and nintendo obviously didn't make the game (that would be game freak), would that franchise still exist and end up on any sort of sega console? if so, would it be on the home console line or become part of a new handheld line?