Miyamoto's Tea Table is a Necessary Ritual

There's no denying that Shigeru Miyamoto has a strong presence at Nintendo - so much so that "upending the tea-table" is a ritual.

In recent interviews and roundtables the creator of The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros and other iconic Nintendo franchises was painted as somewhat of a menace, lurking deep within the shadows whilst the rest of the development team skip around, content with their work on the latest A++ Nintendo game. Just before laying the final pieces down, Miyamoto would leap out, slamming fists on desks, breaking bottles like a drunken hobo and of course, up-ending a coffee table or two. Bloodshed there would be!

That certainly isn't the case, says Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, whilst being pointed to the head with the Master Sword.

It’s a necessary process, because I find that when he offers that feedback, a lot of the time, he points out things that I, myself, was having trouble with and maybe felt that I couldn’t solve or didn’t have a good time for or felt like we didn’t have the time for and he comes in and really gives focus to everything.

So I’d really like to reinforce that fact that I don’t view the process that people refer to as 'upending the tea table' as something unpleasant. It’s actually quite necessary and useful.