Monday, January 21, 2013

Additional evidence that Shigesato Itoi is an awesome guy

The main pieces of evidence that Shigesato Itoi is an awesome guy, of course, can be found in the trio of quirky-yet-poignant RPGs he made for Nintendo systems between 1989 and 2006 known as Mother, Mother 2 (aka EarthBound) and Mother 3.

Another such morsel of proof just popped into my conscience, though, thanks to the stellar Yomuka! blog--with that morsel being that Itoi and his colleagues at Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun (Almost Daily Itoi News) have a tradition of "celebrating the release of every Animal Crossing game by turning office-wide gameplay into an actual work project."



Not only that, but pretty much every employee at "Hobo Nichi," as Itoi's company is called, maintains a blog about their experiences. Check them out by visiting 1101.com and then clicking on the heads of each staffer (scroll down to the bottom of the page). If you only want to see Itoi's Animal Crossing: New Leaf blog, go here.

(Via yomuka.wordpress.com)

4 comments:

Steve Pixel said...

Alright, I'm going to ask the obvious question. Since the Mother series seems to be over and done with, what the hell is this guy doing now besides blogging about Animal Crossing? Is he just so rich that he doesn't have to do real work anymore?

thegaygamer.com said...

Actually, Steve, as far as I'm aware, his main job has never been to make games. He's an author/writer, first and foremost, and I believe that's how he came to create the first Mother game.


As for what he does today: the company mentioned in the post above runs what appears to be a very popular news site. Also, it publishes Japan's best-selling day planner as well as other books/novels.


BTW, Itoi has been making comments about Mother on Twitter lately, with many people thinking he's suggesting a remake of the first Mother is in the works. Either that or another Mother compilation, maybe?

Steve Pixel said...

That's interesting, I really had no idea he had a life outside of making games for Nintendo to publish. Running a website, writing books, creating day planners and making games are all very different activities too. He must be quite the Renaissance man. Hopefully if there's a 3DS compilation of the 3 Mother games, and it comes out early enough in the lifespan of the console, they'll see fit to bring them to America this time. The following for Mother has become almost as fanatical as any other Nintendo franchise (at least tumblr makes it seem that way).

thegaygamer.com said...

Yes, I think's basically a really creative guy and puts that creativity to use in whatever medium he can.


As for the possibility of a Mother remake or a Mother compilation: I'm hoping for a Mother remake myself. Of the three Mother games, it's by far the most in need of an update, and I'd love to see what Nintendo could do with it.


That said, I wonder if Itoi himself is working on any of this or if he's just spreading the word about it?