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Donkey Kong 64 is a title with lots of gameplay mechanics, arguably too many. One such example is how each member of the Kong clan comes equipped with a jungle-themed, gun-like item that uses various types of fruits as ammo and the player could use it to fight baddies and hit distant switches. However, early in development, these weren’t guns that shot coconuts and peanuts, they were just real guns as placeholders.
The game’s director, George Andreas, recently participated in a retrospective with Games Radar and shared a story about when Shigeru Miyamoto visited their office to see an early build of the game. The famed developer was apparently quite shocked to see Donkey Kong with a shotgun blasting real bullets and immediately thought of a better idea, quickly sketching what would eventually become the Coconut Shooter in the final game.
Aside from just being an interesting story, this is yet another example of how Miyamoto became such a legend. It’s hard to imagine many people with such clear vision and creativity that they can so quickly identify and solve a problem otherwise overlooked by a group of already exceptionally talented developers. Given how many games have been developed under Miyamoto’s watchful eye, it makes you wonder what other tales of his ingenuity are waiting to be told.
Source: Kotaku
