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Is Hidetaka Miyazaki the best game director of all time?

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I love Souls game and Bloodborne is one of my favourite games of all time.

Saying that, I wouldn't say Miyazaki is the greatest game director of all time. One of the best working at the moment no doubt, but th GOAT? Not for me. Doesn't have enough diversity in his lineup to warrant that praise.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Relevant games he actually directed: SM64 and SMB3, lmao. Not even top 10.



Considering there's like 2 or 3 good games on that likes, it's pretty easy.
Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary game designer at Nintendo, has directed several influential and iconic games. Some of his notable directed games include:

  1. Super Mario Bros. (1985) - This game, which Miyamoto directed alongside Takashi Tezuka, is one of the most famous and influential platformers ever created.
  2. The Legend of Zelda (1986) - Miyamoto co-directed this groundbreaking adventure game with Takashi Tezuka. It introduced many of the gameplay mechanics that would become staples of the action-adventure genre.
  3. Super Mario 64 (1996) - This game was a landmark in 3D platforming, and Miyamoto directed its development, making significant contributions to the design and gameplay.
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) - Often cited as one of the greatest games of all time, Miyamoto directed this highly influential 3D adventure game.
  5. Pikmin (2001) - Miyamoto directed this real-time strategy game where players control a group of tiny space explorers.
  6. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) - Known for its distinctive cel-shaded art style, Miyamoto played a significant role in directing this entry in the Zelda series.
  7. Super Mario Galaxy (2007) - Miyamoto directed this critically acclaimed game that brought new dimensions to the Mario series with its innovative gravity mechanics.
  8. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) - Miyamoto again directed this sequel, which expanded on the gameplay and creativity of the original.
  9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011) - This installment in the Zelda series was directed by Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, featuring motion controls and a focus on the series' origins.
  10. Super Mario Odyssey (2017) - Miyamoto directed this open-world Mario adventure, which received widespread acclaim for its creativity and exploration.
Miyamoto's influence extends beyond just these titles, but these are some of the key games where his direction and creative vision were particularly impactful.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary game designer at Nintendo, has directed several influential and iconic games. Some of his notable directed games include:

  1. Super Mario Bros. (1985) - This game, which Miyamoto directed alongside Takashi Tezuka, is one of the most famous and influential platformers ever created.
  2. The Legend of Zelda (1986) - Miyamoto co-directed this groundbreaking adventure game with Takashi Tezuka. It introduced many of the gameplay mechanics that would become staples of the action-adventure genre.
  3. Super Mario 64 (1996) - This game was a landmark in 3D platforming, and Miyamoto directed its development, making significant contributions to the design and gameplay.
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) - Often cited as one of the greatest games of all time, Miyamoto directed this highly influential 3D adventure game.
  5. Pikmin (2001) - Miyamoto directed this real-time strategy game where players control a group of tiny space explorers.
  6. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) - Known for its distinctive cel-shaded art style, Miyamoto played a significant role in directing this entry in the Zelda series.
  7. Super Mario Galaxy (2007) - Miyamoto directed this critically acclaimed game that brought new dimensions to the Mario series with its innovative gravity mechanics.
  8. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) - Miyamoto again directed this sequel, which expanded on the gameplay and creativity of the original.
  9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011) - This installment in the Zelda series was directed by Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, featuring motion controls and a focus on the series' origins.
  10. Super Mario Odyssey (2017) - Miyamoto directed this open-world Mario adventure, which received widespread acclaim for its creativity and exploration.
Miyamoto's influence extends beyond just these titles, but these are some of the key games where his direction and creative vision were particularly impactful.

Didn't Koizumi direct Mario Galaxy, and Galaxy 2 with Takashi Tezuka?

Eiji Aonuma absolutely was the director of Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, and one of the directors of OOT (Miyamoto wasn't one of the directors of that game IIRC)

I'm also certain Kenta Motokura directed Odyssey as well.

I don't think Miyamoto has directed anything in a very long time.
 

brenobnfm

Member
Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary game designer at Nintendo, has directed several influential and iconic games. Some of his notable directed games include:

  1. Super Mario Bros. (1985) - This game, which Miyamoto directed alongside Takashi Tezuka, is one of the most famous and influential platformers ever created.
  2. The Legend of Zelda (1986) - Miyamoto co-directed this groundbreaking adventure game with Takashi Tezuka. It introduced many of the gameplay mechanics that would become staples of the action-adventure genre.
  3. Super Mario 64 (1996) - This game was a landmark in 3D platforming, and Miyamoto directed its development, making significant contributions to the design and gameplay.
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) - Often cited as one of the greatest games of all time, Miyamoto directed this highly influential 3D adventure game.
  5. Pikmin (2001) - Miyamoto directed this real-time strategy game where players control a group of tiny space explorers.
  6. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) - Known for its distinctive cel-shaded art style, Miyamoto played a significant role in directing this entry in the Zelda series.
  7. Super Mario Galaxy (2007) - Miyamoto directed this critically acclaimed game that brought new dimensions to the Mario series with its innovative gravity mechanics.
  8. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) - Miyamoto again directed this sequel, which expanded on the gameplay and creativity of the original.
  9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011) - This installment in the Zelda series was directed by Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, featuring motion controls and a focus on the series' origins.
  10. Super Mario Odyssey (2017) - Miyamoto directed this open-world Mario adventure, which received widespread acclaim for its creativity and exploration.
Miyamoto's influence extends beyond just these titles, but these are some of the key games where his direction and creative vision were particularly impactful.

Yeah if you put him as director of a shitload of games he didn't direct his resume will look better indeed.
 
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Embearded

Member
Even though i liked DS and Bloodborne, man i really loved BB!!
Sekiro is an overrated POS that is too hard for me.
ER is overwhelming with its open world and the way FromSoftware does story telling and player guidance.

I prefer Kojima and Itsuno in general.
 

Arachnid

Member
Lmao

A lot of haters ITT. Dude basically created a whole genre and his game design has other franchises like God of War and Assassins Creed. IDK if he's the best, but he's absolutely in the conversation. Him and Kojima are my tops, personally. Miyazaki also gets extra points for being an all around good person. He's humble, passionate, and he believes in giving his employees positive work lives.
 
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Neff

Member
He's great but no

1. Takashi Tezuka
2. Shigeru Miyamoto
3. Yu Suzuki
4. Shinji Mikami
5. Hideki Kamiya
6. Fukio Mitsuji
7. Yoshinori Kitase
8. Rieko Kodama
9. Hideo Kojima
10. Yoshio Sakamoto
 

brenobnfm

Member
Even though i liked DS and Bloodborne, man i really loved BB!!
Sekiro is an overrated POS that is too hard for me.
ER is overwhelming with its open world and the way FromSoftware does story telling and player guidance.

I prefer Kojima and Itsuno in general.

Sekiro is absolute perfection game design wise and the proof that people who say he makes the same games know shit.

but yeah it's obnoxiously hard
 
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peek

Member
Hes most DEF one of the goats. Love him or hate him, you cant deny the huge impact hes had on gaming. For that alone, hes one of the goats.

Hell, how many gaming directors can you even name off the top of your head? Not too many notable impactful ones out there.
 

Nankatsu

Member
We all know it's Phil Spencer. Even though he is not even a game director at all.

phil-spencer.gif
 
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simpatico

Gold Member
Sekiro is absolute perfection game design wise and the proof that people who say he makes the same games know shit.

but yeah it's obnoxiously hard
I'm not even good at games but I cruised through Sekiro once it clicked. Mind you, it took three times of starting the game fresh and progressing until I hit an early skill check I couldn't pass. But once it clicked it's not really harder than any of the other From games. Anyone who thinks they can't hack it just keep trying every month or two. Eventually you'll just cruise and be happy you did.
 

brenobnfm

Member
I'm not even good at games but I cruised through Sekiro once it clicked. Mind you, it took three times of starting the game fresh and progressing until I hit an early skill check I couldn't pass. But once it clicked it's not really harder than any of the other From games. Anyone who thinks they can't hack it just keep trying every month or two. Eventually you'll just cruise and be happy you did.

The problem with Sekiro's difficulty is that there is no way around it like Souls games, where you bullshit your way through equipments and leveling up, so i can understand why a lot of people simply don't enjoy the absolutely necessity of "gitting gud" in Sekiro, because it can feel like work.

MGS 1 - MGS 2 - MGS 3 combo is still unbeatable to this day. Kojima genious

MGS 3 is straight up mid, it does nothing outstanding in any aspect.
 
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I'll go in a different direction than the usual suspects: EA Big's Steve Rechtschaffner.

jitqmgq11qmc1.jpeg


Here's an interview with the guy himself:


Is he the best of all time? Well, I guess it depends on how much fun you had with arcade sports from 2001 to 2012. Even if not, his team had a hell of a run.
 
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simpatico

Gold Member
The problem with Sekiro's difficulty is that there is no way around it like Souls games, where you bullshit your way through equipments and leveling up, so i can understand why a lot of people simply don't enjoy the absolutely necessity of "gitting gud" in Sekiro, because it can feel like work.



MGS 3 is straight up mid, it does nothing outstanding in any aspect.
For me it wasn't a gradual progression though. I was ok and unable to progress past a certain mini boss. Hit that wall twice. Tried it a third time and something just snapped into place and I was able to play through the entire game with about the same trouble as any Souls game.
 

ReyBrujo

Gold Member
it's not comparable to the actual quality of the games

Wait, you are calling someone "greatest of all time" but don't want to consider other options' past games? How can that be "of all time" then? The "greatest of all time" then is just "the greatest of this century" at best.

He's great but no

1. Takashi Tezuka
2. Shigeru Miyamoto
3. Yu Suzuki
4. Shinji Mikami
5. Hideki Kamiya
6. Fukio Mitsuji
7. Yoshinori Kitase
8. Rieko Kodama
9. Hideo Kojima
10. Yoshio Sakamoto
Not a single western director? Nothing wrong with that... just curious.
 
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brenobnfm

Member
For me it wasn't a gradual progression though. I was ok and unable to progress past a certain mini boss. Hit that wall twice. Tried it a third time and something just snapped into place and I was able to play through the entire game with about the same trouble as any Souls game.

It's absolutely beautiful when it clicks, probably the most "flawless" From game, it does everything it tries to do on an exceptional level

Art direction - Check
Level design - Check
Gameplay - Check
Pacing - Check
Soundtrack - Check
Writing - Check
Cinematography - Check

Imagine comparing this caliber of experience with fucking Mario lmao (from 50 generations ago on top of that)

Wait, you are calling someone "greatest of all time" but don't want to consider other options' past games? How can that be "of all time" then? The "greatest of all time" then is just "the greatest of this century" at best.

I do absolutely consider, it's also true new games are better than old games on average, technology and game designers improve with time.
 
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No, it's just recency biased at play. I still think Shigeru Miyamoto is leagues above Miyazaki for all his contribution to the industry and gaming as a whole.
 

Neff

Member
Not a single western director? Nothing wrong with that... just curious.

Nah. There's a lot of Western directors/designers/creatives I have respect for, but the typically Japanese-dominated arenas of consoles and arcades have always been my main jam.
 
It's Shigeru Miyamoto. He essentially laid down the foundation of the quintessential 1) 2D platformer [Super Mario Bros.], 2) top-down action-adventure [The Legend of Zelda], 3) 3D platformer [Super Mario 64], and 4) 3rd-person adventure [Ocarina of Time].

That resume alone and games in those two series (including Mario 3, ALttP, and Mario Galaxy) are practically enough to secure the top spot but there're plenty of other great games helmed by him, such as Donkey Kong (arcade), DK '94, Yoshi's Island, the very consistent Pikmin series, Wii Fit, Star Fox 64 and others. There's a pretty wide variety of gameplay styles here too, while the games listed in the OP are all essentially the same genre.
No. Who do you think got the main idea of Super Mario Bros in the first place? not Miyamoto, it was Tezuka. Miyamato didn't direct Ocarina of Time, neither Alttp (Tezuka directed it) and only co-directed Super Mario Bros 3...with Tezuka. Who do you think designed the most complex (interesting?) parts of Legend of Zelda, the left side of the map? Tezuka again.

It's Miyazaki > Takashi Tezuka > Miyamoto. You can all come at me, I got this.
 

El Muerto

Gold Member
The guy is only popular because of the internet. Kids on twitch and reddit are hyping the game online going "oMg tHiS GaMe Is So HaRd LoLOL". The graphics are weak, controls are something out of a ps2 game, and there's no story. I will say Sekiro is probably the best from Fromsoft, but his other games arent that great. Team Ninja makes a better souls game than Fromsoft.
 

begotten

Member
How I see it:

One of the best currently no doubt, morphed Metroidvania into a new Action Genre and his games are a big point of reference currently with people trying to capitalize on the Soulsborne formula.

Excels at a few things, Combat & Level Design being those things (despite not evolving on it much, but that doesn't have to be a negative)

However, the very best have a much broader understanding of video games and have done more with a more diverse portfolio.

If he can make something akin to the game that got him into this industry, something truly differentiating from what he's done AND highly acclaimed, I'd consider him in Top 5 conversations.
 
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Little Mac

Gold Member
Fun fact. My favorite game of all time is Metroid Prime … did you guys know that it was Miyamoto who put the project into Retro’s hands. Oh and it was Miyamoto who insisted it be in first person …

“Nintendo producers, such as Miyamoto, Kensuke Tanabe and Kenji Miki, as well as Metroid series producer Yoshio Sakamoto, communicated with the Texas-based studio through emails, monthly phone conferences and personal gatherings. The game, like Metaforce, was developed with a third-person perspective for the first three months, but this was changed to a first-person perspective after Miyamoto intervened, causing much of what was already developed to be scrapped, including a vertical platforming section.[7] Among the reasons for leaving the third-person perspective were Rare's trouble with the camera in Jet Force Gemini, shooting in third-person "not being very intuitive", and exploration being easier using first-person.”
 

Holammer

Member
First post nails it.

Even if you love Souls likes, they do seem to be pretty formulaic and not terribly ambitious. Need to create another 2 or 3 game types before OP's question can be taken seriously.
It's a good formula, but it's getting dangerously close to 'Seen one, seen all'.
Now that I think about it, maybe they follow the formula slavishly because they're afraid of losing their golden egg layin' Goose.
 

Rran

Member
Wow, it's been a while since I've seen the "Nintendo is kiddie" idiocy thrown around. This thread takes me back to gaming in 2004!
No. Who do you think got the main idea of Super Mario Bros in the first place? not Miyamoto, it was Tezuka. Miyamato didn't direct Ocarina of Time, neither Alttp (Tezuka directed it) and only co-directed Super Mario Bros 3...with Tezuka. Who do you think designed the most complex (interesting?) parts of Legend of Zelda, the left side of the map? Tezuka again.

It's Miyazaki > Takashi Tezuka > Miyamoto. You can all come at me, I got this.
I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda Takashi Tezuka. Granted, his contributions to gaming are major as well, but I'm going to have to see sources for some of this stuff. What do you mean the "main idea of Super Mario Bros?" And what are you referring to regarding the most complex parts of Zelda?

I'm not saying Miyamoto was the only person involved in making these games, and Tezuka is one of my favorite game developers as well. But it's splitting hairs to say that he "only co-directed" a game, or completely discount games he's produced rather than directed when he's still been extremely involved with their development (such as with OoT). Or the weird picking-and-choosing on what parts of Zelda 1 are most valuable or something.

My point is that Miyamoto (often alongside Tezuka, sure) has been heavily involved in a large number of critically-beloved, revolutionary games across several genres.
 
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I'll give him the nod for milking the same game over many, many different iterations for his fans to use as a fleshlight.

He's good, sure. Great even if you want to keep playing that same game.
 

simpatico

Gold Member
I can give Miyamota the number one spot for visionary reasons. But I've accepted that Miyazaki is second at worst. This is coming from a Kojima defender. Miyazaki just wins by volume, and his output quality is still trending upward. Valve did a few, but at this point I think From outnumbers them. Overall as a studio, everything they've released since Demon's Souls on PS3 has been S Tier classic material. Several of which being legit GOAT contenders. It's just never been done with this combination of consistency and volume. Every time we hype ourselves for a From release, when the launch day comes we're still completely and utterly blown away. Every time. It's just crazy. I know a lot of people are tired of it, but Elden Ring really is the magnum opus. It took that refined kino dungeon crawling and mixed in the most magical, enchantingly rewarding exploration I've ever explored. Every new hill crest was a painting. Stumbling unspoiled into Siofra River still makes my heart flutter when I think back on it. Blasting through the DLC and now about up to Altus Plateau on a replay, I can freely say it's my favorite game of all time.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
It's a good formula, but it's getting dangerously close to 'Seen one, seen all'.
Now that I think about it, maybe they follow the formula slavishly because they're afraid of losing their golden egg layin' Goose.

They should have their B team work on Elden Ring 2 while the A team works on an entirely new framework.
 
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