The new Netflix video game documentary series, High Score, isn't out until later this month, but one story that airs in the final episode is already doing the rounds within the Nintendo community.
According to the former Argonaut Software developers Dylan Cuthbert and Giles Goddard (the team behind Star Fox on the Super Nintendo), the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto would regularly enter their section of the office in Nintendo HQ, light up and share his thoughts. Cuthbert explains in detail:
The only place in the office where they allowed Miyamoto to smoke was in the place, the area where we were. He’d light up behind us and he’s, like, smoking away. And we’re, like, programming away and we’re like, ‘Oh, is he back again?’ So we’d be trying to implement something quite interesting, and then he just starts talking about trees or something, or, you know, just something completely out there. But we realized after a while that that’s actually the reason why he’s so much a creative genius. It’s because his brain is kind of thinking about all these different things at the same time.
Keep in mind, this was many years ago when smoking indoors was commonplace in Japan. As of April this year, new laws have taken effect "banning smoking indoors in principle at restaurants, offices, hotel lobbies and other public places" (via The Japan Times).
Surprisingly, this isn't the first time we've heard about this. It's also been publicised how the creator of Mario used to play pachinko machines. Thankfully, he's now a reformed gambler and smoker.
High Score arrives on Netflix on 19th August - will you be watching it? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendoenthusiast.com]
Comments 85
Breaking news.
Imagine working on a video game and suddenly feel a burst of smoke pushing against the back of your head, and turn around and find someone talking about trees.
"then he just starts talking about trees or something, or, you know, just something completely out there."
Sounds like some strange tabacco to me...
Hopefully he quit
People tend to forget that not that long ago, people smoked just about everywhere.
Imagine first meeting Miyamoto because your office was the only place you could smoke
I thought it was common knowledge that he smoked in the office back in the day.
@Bon_Kurei
Don’t be alarmed. It’s for medicinal purposes only.😜
@PoopScoop I'm with you there, buddy. My Dad's tried several times over the last decade to quit, and he'd always be back on it in a matter of weeks, if not days.
Not even stints in the hospital (be it double pneumonia from a cold or COPD triggered by another cold) would stop him from lighting up. I guarantee you, he could get COVID-19 tomorrow, and in the event he survives it, he would still smoke.
Almost everyone smoked back in the day. It's just something people did. No reason to get upset about it.
I say let people live their own lives.
@Apportal "Maaann... Do you ever think, about, like... The trees?"
To be fair, loads of software engineers smoke these days as well. Not always tobacco, mind, but it’s a stressful job.
My late mother-in-law smoked like a fiend and wouldn't even stop when she got cancer. Nicotine is an addictive drug. The tobacco companies know it, and, fortunately, they're now paying for it to the tune of billions of dollars in lawsuits.
@PoopScoop cowboy bebop made me think it was cool lmao
@Bon_Kurei It was probably some of that wacky tobaccy...
Whoa send him to prison!
The kicker is that he was smoking tobacco not cannabis and going on about trees.
John Carpenters smoke can even be seen in a scene from Halloween. He smoked so much and near the camera.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/a0dmrz/in_halloween_1978_a_wisp_of_smoke_passes_by_the/
@Yanina There's this saying that he played Michael Myers in a few scenes and seeing that makes me think of the ending with Michael's heavy breathing in a new light.
Of course he was smoking! A guy who runs around and jumps on turtles, they must have been ON DRUGS to create something THAT strange! That's not something people normally do in day to day life! Mario eats mushrooms, and they make him grow? Wait a minute, mushrooms don't do that in real life! In real life, MUSHROOMS ARE DRUGS!
I'm glad to be the first one to ever come up with this joke
@JasmineDragon
It's still quite common in Japan. Had to leave some places because there were so many people smoking indoors I found it hard to breathe.
As much as I dislike cigarette smoking near me, this is Miyamoto, the man is a visionary. He can smoke around me wherever he wants, I'll light it for him.
@romevi I thought the smokers were just random Nintendo employees until I saw this.
I assume Miyamoto was the one who thought of the slot machine boss then?
Right so dude walks into a room, takes a puff and decides to talk about trees.
I’m guessing it wasn’t tobacco that he was smoking
Yeah I'm confused as to why some of the comments are talking about tobacco. I didn't know Miyamoto used to Cheech & Chong it up! Bad ass
That's another Miyamoto being an ***** moment I will add to my list.
I guess the scarcity of Nintendo announcements is getting to you.
trying to quit smoking myself.
little by little.
@Eel "Like.... they come from a hiccups tiny seed and grow into like..... a big broccoli? burps"
@Apportal “duuuuude... Like, what are seeds, man.”
(That’s how Pikmin was created)
Japan's smoking laws are 20 years behind. It's gross going into a McDonald's in Japan and one whole floor is a dedicated smoking section (the restaurants are often small but multi-level). I don't know if the new laws have had an effect yet, but I hope so.
There was a time when smoking was cool. Obviously times change. No big deal he was living in it. I smoked cigarettes for 8 years. Eventually quit but I do enjoy a nice fine cigar from time to time. Not often but when the time is right (especially on vacation and/or in Vegas) a smooth cigar hits the spot
@RustedHero Smoking cigarettes definitely aint so cool anymore. But smoking weed has definitely become more and more cool, especially as it's getting more and more acceptable and legalized.
@Apportal Sounds like Cowboy Bebop.
Rambling incoherently about trees? Sounds like he was prolly smoking more than just tobacco.
Got me thinking about another creative genius, Frank Zappa, that was anti drugs overall and kicked out band members that were using different mind altering stuff, but at the same time he was a big smoker, calling tobacco his "favorite vegetable".
I'm glad we have implemented strong anti smoking laws in my country.
why is this news? vast majority of the japanese population smoke. slow news day?
@Bon_Kurei 😂 Right!
He makes me think of Michael Jackson! His creative partner said Michael would call him, at all times of the day or night, whenever an idea or an image came to him... he’d get a call at two o’clock in the morning and it would be Jackson, and he’d say ‘fireflies!’ or something lol. I love an eccentric genius!
Lol, a smoke-free eviroment wasn't commonplace back in the day. And maybe it still isn't in Japan, I don't know. As for Miyamoto talking about trees: Remember that he was obsessed with climbing the trees in botw, lol!
Miyamoto blazing it
now we know the origin of those bizarre great fairies from OOT!
I don't find particularly shocking that someone smoked in an office at that time, or that Miyamoto smoked cigarettes — big deal (but as a Parisian I might be biased).
But that Japan only banned public smoking in April just this year is....
Creative mind = psychedelics, according to many here.
Why is this news? He is not exactly the only one on the planet who ever smoked.
@Ventilator I love when Ivan lights up his cigarrets in Devils Third. I do miss smoking in games. Killing in games is OK, ***** up stories are ok, but smoking is a crime, and when it appears in games people feel the need to protest. So incoherent!!
This is mundane news. Some of us even use the bathroom. I'm waiting for NL to cover the miracles he performed.
@ss213 Yeah. It's weird. Boobs and smoke is banned in games, while you can have as much violence and gore as you want...Mortal Kombat 11, Bulletstorm etc.
It's unrealistic when noone ever fires up a cig in a game.
It was the early 90’s in Japan. I’m surprised they only let him smoke there and didn’t have a smoking group. In United States (I’m sure many place around the world as well) in the early 90’s, nurses still could smoke cigarettes on the hospital floor and the med carts were equipped with ash trays. Wasn’t banned until 1993.
@Prizm how did humanity survive such austere conditions?
People tend to forget that smokers aren't just selfish people blowing stink around and laughing about it. For a long time society backed up and promoted their habit and it was a cultural thing.
Judging the past by today's standards.
It's hard to quit, I managed to stop October 1st 2018.
Still until this day, I have moments where i would like to spark up.
When I was writing for my bands, I would often spark up.
It can really change perception on things.
It's absolutely ***** for your health though.
I'm glad he managed to quit.
Nicotine is as addictive as opiates.
Thankfully times have changed when it comes to tobacco in the west.
Tobacco in rising economies in the East is a huge growing problem.
The tobacco companies are really setting there claws into developing countries.
Nice to see Japan have changed laws regarding smoking indoors.
I'm not anti smoking, but it's better you don't.
Been there, done that, feels good, but it's a waste of time and money.
@Bon_Kurei This is the same guy who was shown a prototype of Breath of the Wild and spent several hours just climbing the trees, to everyone's bafflement. Dude really loves trees, I guess.
I'm glad many people quit smoking and pachinko machines and replaced it with cocaine and online poker.
If you smoke you should be cool and quit
What a shocker. Smoking in Japan used to be a social norm, though it has declined in recent years. Know Miyamoto, he's probably quit by now.
smoking trees, quite the connection there
@JasmineDragon some people still do smoke just about anywhere
This is pretty common knowledge, a lot of the pictures from him in the office back in the day show him with a cigarette in his hand. But it's funny to see the comments either condemning or trying to justify it. It's a thing some people do and probably some part of the population will always do. As someone who used to smoke a lot, it's just silly when clueless non-smokers try to preach and teach you, as if they'd somehow be the one to "enlighten" you with knowledge you didn't have before.
i want to get high with miyamoto
@e-love The dream
@Apportal Probably similar to working on set with Rod Serling
@romevi I didn’t know he smoked at all
@Heavyarms55 We’re upset about him smoking indoors in a close knit environment. I say don’t let people “live their lives” if it involves forcing innocent others around them to: struggle just to breath; inadvertently absorb super harmful carcinogens into their lungs; fill and stain their room or place of daily employment with a sickening, unnatural odor.
Nah, F— smoking! It’s one of the most evil and exploitative examples of malevolent consumerism ever, and it has ruined so many lives.
@ogo79 Best of luck; you can do it
@Trajan - Both of my grandfathers died relatively early from lung cancer. They both smoked all the time. One gave it up in the later years but it was too late.
As people have commented, it was the culture of the time and society condoned it (smoking in restaurants, airplanes, etc).
back in the 60s, Smoking was quite common and considered like a norm, now thank goodness Smoking is now forbidden, my beloved marternal grandmother died because of this stupid cigarrete, she tryied to quit, but sadly it was too late and if Miyamoto dindt quit we coundt have classics like Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64.
It was the 90s. Why is this news
@Antraxx777
appreciate that
@Prizm I’m aware. I’m not anti-Tobacco.
I can just envision the following scenario:
Miyamoto Sensei: "I dreamed that I turned into a dolphin and swam through the forest, where the trees would sing me happy birthday."
Cuthbert: "Woah man... where do you get your weed?"
Miyamoto Sensei: "From you..."
Cuthbert: "Oh yeah! Knarly, haha."
I'm just thinking to myself how many chats and cigs I've bummed off coworkers back in my youth. Just to be able to spark one up and have idle chit chat with the man would have been an awesome experience.
Then it'd get weird if he catches me keeping the butt off the cig I'd have bummed off him 🤣
We want Miyamoto with us for many, many years so I hope he has given up.😁
„And then he starts talking about trees...“
Ah I see. „Smoke trees“ that is.
How on earth is this newsworthy, especially considering the content of it? Do you really want to promote smoking that way? @nintendolife @Liam_Doolan
@Apportal then Shigeru Miyamoto kisses your cheek and tells you you're doing a good job. I mean weirder things have happened.
@John_Koshiro Puff puff pass, yo!
Eh. It was indeed a different time. I remember cigarette vending machines and Smoking or No Smoking sections at restaurants.
@Apportal You made it sound like a hippie thing.
is this website taking the p*ss with this article. 30-odd year old man legally smokes in 1990s Japanese office
@Antraxx777 I'm not defending smoking per say, but people should be allowed to make their own choices. And I totally understand that second hand smoke is nasty. But 20-30+ years ago, that wasn't common knowledge. Different environment, different culture.
I could understand being upset if someone did that today, but I lived in Japan for 5 years, people don't do that anymore there.
Welcome to everyone before 1995
has netflix got a lot of gameing documentarys or programmes?
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