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The King of the Mushroom Kingdom

Posted by Zonk on from the don't-call-him-shiggy dept.

This past weekend Shigeru Miyamoto visited Nintendo World in New York City. Hundreds of people stood in line for hours to get a few moments with the man behind some of Nintendo's most well known games. The Game Chair has a look at what it felt like to be on the ground at the event, while Joystiq has a more information based writeup of the event. From Joystiq's post: "While there, we learned that Miyamoto is left-handed. That had to have been tough for him growing up, because in Japanese culture left-handedness is loaded with negative meaning and experiences. It's considered rude to hold your chopsticks in your left hand in Japan and China, for instance. It's also a helluva lot more difficult to write classic kanji with the left hand. Top calligraphers are never left-handed, as brush strokes look wrong when pushed across a page rather than pulled across the page with the right hand. It's also considered a sure sign of creativity and artistry, according to some."

50 comments

  1. LEft Handed by Atlantic+Wall · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I thought i had it bad being left handed. In college we had only right handed desks, but compared to this guy i had it easy.
    Great man, great life

    --
    To Hell with the Queen of England!
    1. Re:LEft Handed by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      Yup, ol' Shiggy has contributed a lot to the world.

    2. Re:LEft Handed by uberjoe · · Score: 1
      I always knew that right meant correct but I had no idea how much negative connotation there was to left until high school when I took french. As a southpaw I was very upset to learn that the french word for left was 'gauche' which also means clumsy, akward, and rude. It's also interesting to check out the definition of sinister. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sinister/

      http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gauche/

      --

      The days of the digital watch are numbered.

    3. Re:LEft Handed by Destoo · · Score: 1

      Yes.. Left, fr: Gauche, latin: Sinistra..
      While Right, fr: Droite (meaning straight), latin: Dextra (leading to dexterity)

      There's a story in the boy scouts that the reason they shake the left hand is because it's closer to the heart.
      Apparently, the untold story is that when you offer peace with your left hand, you can keep your weapon in your right if things go bad.

      --
      Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
    4. Re:LEft Handed by Grab · · Score: 1

      The story I heard when I was in Scouts was based on African traditions (since Baden Powell got his military education in Africa), IIRC the Zulus. Anyway, the story goes that they hold their spear in their left hand and their shield in their right hand (or the majority will, assuming righthandedness is the majority). If you're shaking hands with someone you don't trust, you use right hands because then you still have your shield to protect yourself from him and his mates. But to show trust, you discard your shield and shake with your left hand. You're then unprotected so you're trusting them not to kill you.

      Don't know whether it's true or not, but it's a nice story. :-)

      FWIW, spiral staircases also spiral up clockwise so that a defender can retreat up the stairs and still use their sword in their right hand. Hence there's a historical urban legend that various European kings had squads of left-handed swordsmen specifically for digging people out of towers!

      Grab.

  2. Oh yeah?? by Rethcir · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Well, thanks to the reverse-wiring of the human brains, it's well established that only us lefties are truly in our right minds.
    Famous lefties include Joan of Arc, Michaelangelo, Paul McCartney, and David Ortiz.

    1. Re:Oh yeah?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      Famous lefties include Joan of Arc, Michaelangelo, Paul McCartney, and David Ortiz.

      ...not to mention the Boston Strangler, John Dillinger, Jack the Ripper, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and... Osama bin Laden!

      PS: The moderators who will mod down this comment are probably lefties too :-)

  3. 1 in 10 People are Left-Handed by bclark · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...so 9 out of 10 of us are always right. Thankfully for the rest of us, those crazy left-handed people have shorter lifespans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed#.22Disapp earing.22_Left-Handers/

    1. Re:1 in 10 People are Left-Handed by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

      That's only because we kill ourselves fumbling with right-handed devices... you bastards >:(

      I'm tired of being oppressed. It's time to start a Revolution!

      --
      "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
    2. Re:1 in 10 People are Left-Handed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, since the right half of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain, only the left-handers are in their right minds.

  4. The best line... by Otter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "One great story I heard was of a family who evacuated their home in Texas and decided to drive all the way to New York for the event making the best of a difficult situation."

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  5. Wow, great writeup by identity0 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That's Slashdot for you: a story about a video game industry legend turns into a thesis on left-handedness. And completely speculative, too, it's not like Mr. M. himself went on a long rant about how hard it was being left-handed.

    Slashdot: Rants by nerds. Stuff we made up.

    Quick, somebody make a Simpsons reference so this story's Slashdot quotient will be complete!

    1. Re:Wow, great writeup by B3AST! · · Score: 0

      it seems that slashdot has Ned Flanders on the staff.....

      i always wondered where those ads for the Leftorium were coming from

    2. Re:Wow, great writeup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I for one welcome our new left handed overlords.

  6. Left Handed, eh? by MagicDude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While there, we learned that Miyamoto is left-handed.

    Could that be the reason Link is left handed? At least, I presume he's left handed, he always carries his sword in his left hand and shield in his right hand.

    1. Re:Left Handed, eh? by KDR_11k · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The other theory is that Link is supposed to be the mirror image of the player. Personally I consider the Link==Miyamoto equation more likely. Miyamoto went on the record saying that if Link were to talk in a Zelda game, he'd do the voice work for him.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Left Handed, eh? by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      Actually, due to sprite flipping, in a Link to the Past he carries it both ways.
      In some (Maybe all) of the Gameboy ones, you get to select two items to have ready at once, so you can wield it either way, I believe. I may be wrong about that last one, though.

    3. Re:Left Handed, eh? by edwdig · · Score: 2, Informative

      My Oracle of Ages cartridge was sitting right in front of me, so I just checked that. Link always swings the sword left handed, regardless of whether it's on A or B. Well, if you face left or right, the animation is the same, just flipped, so one of them is left handed and one is right.

    4. Re:Left Handed, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot: News for dullards. Stuff that people learned years ago.

      Seriously, any card carrying member of the Nintendo Fun Club * could have told you that Shiggity Shiggity Shwah-sama was a lefty more than fifteen years ago, and that this was why Link was a lefty too.

      (Yes, my NFC card from the pre-Nintendo Power newsletter days is laminated, though I don't actually carry it around. I don't have to, since I've memorized my membership number, including the additional trailing digit from the numbering scheme update that occurred in the mid-90s.)

    5. Re:Left Handed, eh? by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      I thought I may have been wrong about that one.
      Thank you, kind sir.

  7. Ned Flanders by the_skywise · · Score: 1

    Runs the Leftorium.

  8. There is no left-handed spoon by rizzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My mom is Korean. My dad is American and left-handed. When my brothers and I would hold utensils with our left hands my mom would whack the hands with a large wooden spoon. You can imagine how much that really freaking hurts.

    I could have been a top baseball pitching prospect too! ;)

    --

    "More organs means more human." - Zim

    1. Re:There is no left-handed spoon by steveo777 · · Score: 1
      My Grandpa would stab anyone in the hand with his fork if they fell out of line at the dinner table. He was extra fiercesome at Thanksgiving. I actually witnessed him poking his mom (she was about 75 at the time) when her sleeve came close to brushing a neighbors dish. Boy oh boy did he catch hell for that one! My whole life I never saw that man intimidated, untill the time he was humbled by a woman who could barely speak audibly.

      But, yeah, I got my share of forks in the hand as he kept me close. Apparently he picked me as the "trouble maker."

      --
      This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
  9. Link is a Lefty by Phil+Resch · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Seeing this article summary sparked something in my memory. I seemed to remember hearing once upon a time that Link, from the Legend of Zelda, is left-handed.

    This Wikipedia article tells me I remembered correctly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_(Legend_of_Zelda )

    Seems pretty obvious to me that Shigeru Miyamoto's being a southpaw has something to do with it.

    (I'm a lefty too, which is why it stayed in my memory.)

  10. I'm left handed, by Naikrovek · · Score: 5, Funny

    and it was hell growing up for me as well.

    My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Cuba, used to beat my left hand when i would use it. "DEVIL'S HAND! DEVIL'S HAND!!" Forcing me to write with my right hand, I found it somewhat difficult at first but I became somewhat useful writing with my right hand.

    When she died i spray painted "DEVIL'S TEACHER" on her gravestone with a spraycan in my left hand. I was 16. this is the first time i have ever told anyone.

    1. Re:I'm left handed, by technoextreme · · Score: 1
      "While there, we learned that Miyamoto is left-handed. That had to have been tough for him growing up, because in Japanese culture left-handedness is loaded with negative meaning and experiences. It's considered rude to hold your chopsticks in your left hand in Japan and China, for instance. It's also a helluva lot more difficult to write classic kanji with the left hand. Top calligraphers are never left-handed, as brush strokes look wrong when pushed across a page rather than pulled across the page with the right hand. It's also considered a sure sign of creativity and artistry, according to some."

      Dam... I feel sorry for him. The worst I get is,"Gee you write so well for a left handed person."
      --
      Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
    2. Re:I'm left handed, by wandazulu · · Score: 1

      I get no comments except "what's that on your hand?" and I realize I've been dragging it through the ink as I write. I had to give up on fountain pens completely (just a phase) and I discover that pencils smear too. Bic pens are about the only thing I use these days.

    3. Re:I'm left handed, by jx100 · · Score: 1

      Try writing upside down? It'll allow the writing to flow away from your hand, and should help things.

    4. Re:I'm left handed, by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

      As a fellow lefthander, I salute you, sir! With my left hand, of course.

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    5. Re:I'm left handed, by MadMoses · · Score: 2, Funny

      And it would have been even funnier if you'd have registered your slashdot account just a bit earlier ;)

      --

      Do not be alarmed. This is only a test.
    6. Re:I'm left handed, by Naikrovek · · Score: 1

      actually I believe the UID 666 is one that was intentionally skipped.

      I remember when slashIDs came out sitting there for two hours before finally deciding to create one. I wonder what my number could have been.

  11. Ambidextrous? by varco · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to Wikipedia's artice on ambidexterity, Miyamoto is ambidextrous. The article doesn't specifically say that he himself said he was left-handed, maybe he was just using it at the time?

    1. Re:Ambidextrous? by varco · · Score: 1

      I should have noted that I am left-handed, and I do realize that someone could have put unreliable information in the article.

    2. Re:Ambidextrous? by MrAndrews · · Score: 1

      My father-in-law is Japanese and technically ambidextrous... as they say, you couldn't really survive at home or at school if you were left-handed... but he never quite got rid of the ability, so he's functional with both hands. I lucked out in that way, being left-handed, because he isn't as strict about that was some other families we visited there, where I got downright nasty looks for eating with my left hand (they'd never say anything cause I think they were afraid the crazy gaijin might snap and kill them all).

      Anyway, from what I understand from my father-in-law, if you're left-handed in Japan, you're likely ambidextrous as well.

      --
      The world's only surviving livewriter.
  12. Eating Left Handed by jazman_777 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It's considered rude to hold your chopsticks in your left hand in Japan and China, for instance.

    Hmm, when I went to Japan on business, nobody mentioned this, and saw it nowhere in my reading. So I blithely ate left handed. For knife-and-fork types, trying to use chopsticks with your off-hand is very difficulte, even with your strong hand it's hard. But I never stuck my chopsticks into my bowl of rice.

    --
    Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
    1. Re:Eating Left Handed by Blue_Nile · · Score: 3, Informative

      They just called you a baka gaijin behind your back.
      Another unwritten rule is that you don't use soy sauce on white rice. It's considered an insult to the chef...

      --
      Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    2. Re:Eating Left Handed by 0rionx · · Score: 1

      Far more important to the Japanese is maintaining the facade (sometimes) of politeness and respect, even if they think you're being an idiot. Furthermore, because you're a gaijin (or so I'm assuming), they won't hold you to the same level of behavior that they would a native Japanese.

      This is one thing that many Japanese who grow up overseas have a lot trouble with when returning to Japan. If you're a foreigner, it's ok for you act different, you're supposed to be different because you're gaijin. However, if you *look* Japanese but you don't act Japanese, look out! You may quickly become a social outcast, because you look like part of the "in-crowd", but act differently.

      Even foreign exchange students often feel this after picking up a few American/Australian/British habits before returning to their native country. Just all part of the great Japanese cultural dictomy...
      --
      The Slashdot Limerick
    3. Re:Eating Left Handed by CableModemSniper · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Good. I'd rather be a "baka gaijin" than a close-mouthed racist. If I'm doing something that offends you, you have to tell me or else I'll never know.

      --
      Why not fork?
    4. Re:Eating Left Handed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's considered an insult to the chef

      Plus it tastes like shit.

    5. Re:Eating Left Handed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Another unwritten rule is that you don't use soy sauce on white rice. It's considered an insult to the chef..."

      Really? I mean fuck.....really???? Tell us more!

      It seems like everything under the sun is on-topic in this stupid, pathetic excuse for a Slashdot story.

    6. Re:Eating Left Handed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Modded insightful.... Roffle.

      All Japanese cook their rice in automatic rice cookers. How exactly did the chef have his skills insulted?

  13. This is pretty high on the scale of Geekiness by michaelzhao · · Score: 1

    Waiting hours in line to get a glimpse of Miyamoto is pretty high on the almighty scales of geekiness. However, Miyamoto has done so much for Nintendo. Speaking of Miyamoto, the next Zelda game is sure to be fantastic. Miyamoto wasn't pleased with Windwaker. He made several negative comments regarding that. However, he said in a recent press release that the new Zelda game made up for Windwaker. I don't know about you guys, but I'm really excited about the new Zelda game. More excited about the Revolution.

  14. Offtopic by wed128 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can a summary be modded offtopic?

  15. Pics from the event by Kamalot · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I ended up wandering by the store at around 9:00 the evening before the event. There was already a large group of people there preparing to camp out for the night. What the hell, I joined them!

    I'm glad I did too! The line soon exceeded the 200 people that were guaranteed to get autographs. By morning it went around the block. The entire night people were playing DS and GBA games out on the sidewalk and good gaming discussions flowed like wine.

    Others came prepared with lawn chairs and blankets, but my daughter and I had nothing but the clothes on our back and a few games. People brought all kinds of cool stuff to have signed. I saw, an original NES, the original Zelda cartridge, a power glove, even the front piece of monitor glass on a Donkey Kong arcade game. One gentleman from Canada a few spots ahead of me in line brought a photograph of him as a child opening his first NES as a Christmas present to have Miyamoto sign it. I had him sign the NES Bluetooth Handset I had in my pocket.

    When all was said and done, the evening was a great success. I was #31 in line but still managed to download Miyamoto's Nintendog he was sharing to the first 10 people. I got my handset signed (I even got a picture of Miymoto talking on it)and my daughter got her DS signed. We got special DS skins. We met Reggie and a bunch of cool gamers in line.

    I have a bunch of pics up from the evening. Check them out.

    http://kamalot.blogspot.com/

  16. Things like this by iamnerd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Are what make Miyamoto so great, IMO. You never hear about any other game designers doing this, let alone ones as great as him. Miyamoto truly is a humble man, he isn't even a millionaire. People who have watched the Icons on Miyamoto on G4TV have seen that Miyamoto is payed the same as any other game designer at Nintendo. He still considers himself part of the team.

    1. Re:Things like this by leland242 · · Score: 1

      If that's true, then it's a shame. His creations have entertained millions of people - he should be filthy, stinking rich.

  17. Speaking of the Revo... by idonthack · · Score: 1

    I wonder if it will have optional left-handed controllers?

    --
    Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
    1. Re:Speaking of the Revo... by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 1

      The revolution's controllers are laterally symmetrical. To enable left-handed use, all they need is a software toggle to swap the up/down left/right buttons on the controller.

      And since the controller contains orientation-sensors, maybe the swap will happen automatically depending on how you hold it.