It's no secret at this point that Kanye West wanted to work with Nintendo on a video game idea. The presidential candidate and occasional rapper pitched an idea to the publisher but was ultimately rejected, with Reggie Fils-Aime himself "politely declining" the opportunity to work with Mr. West.
Now, thanks to a story related by Twitch Community Producer Zachary Ryan via Twitter, we now have insight into the initial conversation between Kanye West and industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto at E3 2015. Ryan states that Miyamoto launched into the story during an interview to promote Star Fox Zero the following year after a Nintendo rep brought up the then-recently released Life of Pablo album.
West had reportedly arrived at Nintendo's E3 booth unannounced and requested an audience with Miyamoto specifically to pitch his game idea. The game itself would later be revealed to be called Only One and would depict West's mother, Donda West, ascending to heaven accompanied by a soundtrack conceived by West himself. The game has yet to see the light of day at the time of writing.
Ryan goes on to say how Miyamoto was shaking his head whilst describing the game; not because it necessarily sounded bad, but more so that he couldn't quite believe that Kanye West was pitching him a video game. He reportedly described the idea as "very interesting" and "very moving" before laughing and exclaiming "Kanye West wanted to make a video game with Nintendo - WOW!"
A trailer for the still-unreleased Only One was revealed shortly after that 2016 encounter. You can it check out below:
What do you make of Kanye West's encounter with Miyamoto? Do you think his video game idea sounded interesting? Let us know!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 32
Hahaha I had never heard about this before! Feels like an out of season April Fool's joke
....According to Reggie
Miyamoto: "He's so cool!"
There's a lot to unpack here.
Let me guess: you play as Kanye and create the universe.
This could have been the new Kid Icarus & Ninty passed up on it...
That's a very cute story.
Honestly I'm sure Kanye would have been a poor business partner but if Nintendo really did collaborate with him they could have made history.
“Farting while tending the barbecue leads to wholesome family fun” - Shigeru Miyamoto
@nessisonett "Game devlopment is like a fart; if you have to force it, it will proably turn out to be sh*t" Shigeru Miyamoto
Nintendo was never going to touch this game, under any circumstance.
Let Annapurna or Devolver take a crack at it, and I'm sure they could turn it into a masterpiece.
@Duffman92 that would've been awesome 😂😂😂
Kanye: Overrated as a hip hop producer. Underrated as a free-thinking innovator who does not require or need the approval of blue checkmarks to speak up for what he believes in. He has my respect for that.
@LordPieFace why would you have that opinion? Dude is a business genius.
I have to say Kanye is one person I absolutely loathe without having to meet him. Weird ass stalker egomaniac cry baby is all I see, no genius there (not that he can spell that correctly).
I did enjoy playing as him in South Park Fractured But Whole though.
I remember hearing the story from Reggie's point of view. I wasn't aware there was an actual visual concept that existed or that Miyamoto was also involved in this pitch
I will I usually try to stay out of conversations involving Kanye. I absolutely don't deny narcissism or a really grandiose sense of importance plays a part in his actions. But there's also the mental illness aspect. There's no forcing anyone to get the proper help they may need. But it also doesn't help having yes people, hanger ons, and enablers exasperating the situation. So that part of his story makes me incredibly sad for Kanye.
With all that being said, I am not entirely surprised the subject of the game involves his mom. Her death seems to be when things really started going off the rails for him and he's never seen to really recover from it. Though I guess, who ever truly recovers from a loss like that?
I also find the trailer a bit unsettling. Not so much in it's subject matter. I'm not religious at all. But have no problem discussing concepts on angels, heaven, or the afterlife. I think it's more so the presentation of it all. The visuals, the haunting music and who it's from. It's like watching the thoughts of a saddened individual come to life in a medium you don't expect to see them in
Run away Miyamoto.
@SteamEngenius old skoool Kayne is fine, but nutccase Kayne is just a edgelord right now lol
@Franklin oh no, true words tho 😂😂😂
That would've been such a trainwreck. Best for anyone to just ignore that man and let him drown in his own delusions.
After watching the trailer, all I can say is: wow.
I would have loved to see what the end product could have been. Also the collab would have been quite interesting to say the least!
Sounds like a terrible idea for a game. Looks like it would be one of those indie games that would last 40 mins and be over.
Also, why would I want to play as some guys dead mother ascending to heaven? Kanye being egotistical as usual thinking his ideas are all genius and that everyone would care about this.
“No. This is NOT Miyamoto. Go away. “
@NImH I don't know Kanye religiously I just know him from celeb pop culture, but I think it's fairly reasonable to assume hip hop star to game dev lead is not a clean transition, and the lack of progress on this game project doesn't encourage me.
I can't imagine anything productive from Kanye. What an ass
Moving in the sense that Miyamoto wanted to run away from him for his own sanity.
I remember south park parodied this lol
@Duffman92 it was supposed to be about kanyes mother's journey to heaven after she died I think
@NImH ...but he is a blue checkmark?
Removed - off-topic
Given the timing, after Wii U had been acknowledged to be a flop and before Switch was revealed, his faith in Nintendo suggests either that genius knows genius or that he was kind of out of touch with the industry. I could go either way.
The story behind the game concept is moving because it looks like Kanye was attempting to immortalize his late mother in video game form. Granted, video games are a great piece of media to do that with, they last forever (provided you preserve the hardware that can play them).
Where the problem lies imo is: How do you make Kanye's mother flying to the gates of heaven a fun experience for gamers? There in lies the rub
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