>The Japanese video game maker behind “Pokemon” and “Zelda” got the coveted stage that corporate sponsors pay millions for after they were approached by those creating the festivities for “cooperation,” not the other way around, says Nintendo Co. spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa.
“I want to make that clear. We did not pay,” he said in a telephone interview. “And we are not going to become Olympic sponsors either.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s emergence in a Super Mario costume was the highlight of the handover section for Tokyo, the host of the 2020 games.
The segment was so favorably received in Japan as surprisingly playful and tasteful, given the staidness usually associated with Japan Inc., that Abe earned a new nickname, “Abe-Mario.”
Tokyo city official Masahiro Hayashi said Japan’s top advertising company Dentsu Inc. was tapped to produce the handover segment, with a total budget for the Rio Olympics and the Paralympics of 1.2 billion yen ($12 million).
>“Top Olympic sponsors pay millions of dollars to the IOC for permission to promote their brands to a massive global audience. Nintendo just did it for free. With Japan’s prime minister as their pitchman. Easily the marketing coup of the Rio games,” said Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing analyst and creative director at Baker Street Advertising of San Francisco.
Purists might feel the commercial branding was a bit overdone, and argue for other ways to promote Japanese culture, according to Dorfman, who has lived in Japan.
“But gaming and anime are certainly major aspects of modern Japan, and Mario is a universal icon. As someone who doesn’t take sports or the Olympics too seriously, I found the whole thing pretty funny and entertaining,” he said.
>Freed marketing >Free CGI
Based as usual.
Jayden Thomas
This is hilarious.
Aiden Lee
the house always wins baby
Jonathan Fisher
I'm surprised Nintendo didn't try to shut it down.
Colton Rodriguez
>The Japanese video game maker behind “Pokemon” and “Zelda” >The Japanese video game maker behind “Pokemon” >maker behind “Pokemon”
Ayden Williams
Doesn't surprise me one bit.
Michael Wilson
>As someone who doesn’t take sports or the Olympics too seriously, I found the whole thing pretty funny
Camden Butler
Why won't they become corporate sponsors? They literally fund a game with Sega sanctioned by the Olympic Committee.
Also, I thought the inclusion of Captain Tsubasa was the biggest shocker. And I think it would be smart for them to have an anime tie-in for every sport. Since pretty much all of them except maybe shotput or long jumping has a Manga/Anime equivalent.
Isaiah Moore
>taking primitive sports seriously
nah in the future augmented bodies will shit on everything including little hops and flips
Jayden Russell
Nintendo just keeps getting lucky breaks, at this rate the NX will actually be successful.
Brody Allen
advertising is always targeted at people who don't buy the product. It makes sense.
Charles Howard
34 percent and part of the Pokémon company, what more does it take to make Pokémon their creation.
Isaiah Ramirez
Well good for them, I thought it was adorable. I hope it shows up more in 2020.
Robert Adams
I'm trying to think of an analogy about how cool Nintendo is sometimes but I just can't.
Any good analogies Sup Forums? You guys are pretty good at them.
Brandon Foster
Don't they own the characters? As in the actual Pokemon designs?
Cameron Powell
They probably had to make that statement considering their last poor results. the board would be mad to learn they spent millions on that instead of paying them their dividends.
Gabriel Thomas
It's like when you eat a steak and it's medium rare and doesn't even need ketchup.
Logan Richardson
With so many varied sponsors and it being a promo video, I didn't think Nintendo would pay. If anything, I think it would have been the other way around. They would have had to get permission and possibly pay for the various IPs we see in the commercial.
I'm glad to hear that Nintendo didn't demand money for it. And it was a great decision given how it pretty much stole all the spotlight on the final day.
Adrian Thompson
Nintendo didn't create Pokemon.
Aaron Mitchell
Do you think they'll make a 2020 Olympics game too? Are they just stuck doing that forever now?
Cameron Rivera
Got a source for that?
Josiah Edwards
Nintendo is like married sex. Half the time it just feels like work with a lackluster payoff. But the other half the time, its the greatest feeling in the world. Its the inconsistency and surprise that keeps you coming back for more.
Cooper Reyes
They own the rights to certain aspects of pokemon.
Evan Garcia
Nintendo own the trademark to Pokemon and all current Pokemon designs.
Luke Harris
Nintendo didn't create Pokemon.
Disney didn't create Iron Man.
Cameron Sanders
>I'm glad to hear that Nintendo didn't demand money for it. Get ready for the next shareholder meeting to insult them for that decision.
John Diaz
googling nintendo olympics and checking news shows plenty of results. Ah, thanks. I suppose that's why their name is on the official website.
Logan Wood
Not surprised at all that they didn't pay. I'm sure the company behind Doreamon didn't have to either.
Colton Nelson
I'm still not completely sure how Mario is viewed in Japan. Especially in relation to the West.
Do they get how relevant he is over here? Obviously Nintendo does, but does the general populace?
Sebastian Myers
The Nintendo shareholders (and all shareholders) can go to hell. They only care about increasing revenue for the next year so they can cash out their stock. Even if it hurts Nintendo 10 years later.
Nathaniel Diaz
Well that's nice. I enjoyed it and it was hilarious seeing Abe with a Mario cap.
Angel Gutierrez
Do you think they keep pokemon games to nintendo hardware by choice? kek'ems
Landon Scott
>Nintendo didn't create Pokemon. But they put forward the vast majority of the money for its development. As well as publishing it when many other companies wouldn't take a chance on it. You can hear the whole story about how Iwata basically went behind the backs of the Nintendo shareholders and got Pokemon made.
Christian Bennett
Obama dressed up as Master Chief would be pretty based.
Kevin Evans
>Nintendo didn't create Pokemon. >Disney didn't create Iron Man.
Not the same thing.
Nintendo actually helped to fund Pokemon's development and eventually published it.
Disney did no such funding with Iron Man, only recent publishing.
Daniel Morgan
Stop calling him "Abe" like you know who the fuck he is or if you live in Japan you fucking weeb.
Jeremiah Powell
Japan doesn't even recognize that Anime is popular in the west. They probably know Mario is popular, but don't really care.
Its like how most Americans who are obsessed with Star Wars don't even realize its popular elsewhere in the world. They just care about their own fans.
TWILIGHT!
Chase Young
The Prime Minister? It's his name, the fuck am I supposed to call him retard?
Evan Bennett
are you 14? You sound like a massive case of "the world stops at my windows and school friend" retard
Angel Brown
>"The segment was so favorably received in Japan as surprisingly playful and tasteful, given the staidness usually associated with Japan Inc., that Abe earned a new nickname, “Abe-Mario.”
Owen Reed
Call him "Japan's Prime Minister".
John Peterson
You can talk shit on their games and the removal of fangames and shit all you want but deep down they're pretty based
Kayden Williams
I love you Abe kun sama sempai dozo!
Henry Jones
>Future
We exhaust our resources due to severe overpopulation + wastefulness in western cultures
Or Muslims get a nuke and world war 3 starts
Henry Green
They helped
Juan Thomas
This is some serious mental illness right here.
Oliver Thomas
Fine. >Well that's nice. I enjoyed it and it was hilarious seeing "Japan's Prime Minister" with a Mario cap. Happy?
Samuel Adams
>And we are not going to become Olympic sponsors either
>Olympics are in Japan this time >Everyone knows nintendo >Have an olympic game >Mario and Sonic
Are Nintendo fucking dumb. Wait don't answer that, of course they are.
Brandon Young
hey man, just because I'm a shareholder in a video game company doesn't mean I want to hear about video games every time they have a meeting. When are they going to make something with value that adds value to their product and customers can really feel the value they're paying for?
Woman CEO when?
Josiah Williams
stop calling him Obama like you know who he is or if you live in the USA you fucking nigger
Nicholas Morales
It's like a foreigner addressing President Obama as just "Obama". You're a foreigner, you address the man by his full title, otherwise you look like some weeb.
David Miller
Abe is his last name. >Stop calling him "Obama" Like you know who the fuck he is
Bentley Brown
They should have used Uncharted and Sackboy instead.
Jacob Green
how many Obamas do you know, user?
Leo Russell
Lol'd
Jacob Ramirez
Someone post the Bosman webm.
Sebastian Evans
>Helped Iwata fixed all the shit from gen 2 and put entire kanto on the cart. He did the entire Pokemon Stadium coding from scratch.
GF and Pokemon Company owns a lot from Nintendo.
Lincoln Sanders
None, but, I and all other Americans, can call him Obama because we live here.
Isaiah Walker
who?
John Morales
>Its like how most Americans who are obsessed with Star Wars don't even realize its popular elsewhere in the world. They just care about their own fans. Holy shit this actually never occurred to me. You just blew my fucking mind, user.
Nolan Flores
The Pokemon Company is basically a dummy corporation set up by Nintendo to manage the Pokemon IP
Tyler Clark
a foreigner has the same rank as an american civilian when it comes to what he wants to call Obama.
Adam Ross
This shit again? "The Pokemon Company" as a whole is owned by Gamefreak, Creatures, and Nintendo. Gamefreak develops the mainline games, Nintendo publishes them. This has always been the case. While Nintendo is the sole owner of the trademark, all three companies hold the copyright.
Chase Butler
>Japanese prime minster murders 50 million dolphins and chinese people, is responsible for don king's rape >"playfully" appears on stage in a mario costume How does he sleep at night?
Jacob Brooks
SACKBOY! A popular and beloved Sony mascot!
Ian Richardson
Bitches be mirin'
Aaron Brooks
is this 'the duck' segment from chris-chans autism manual?
Bentley Gomez
What the fuck is with Sup Forums and food analogies
Joseph Taylor
just kill yourself retard
Aiden Robinson
lmao what the fuck everyone calls him Obama Everyone called George Bush "George Bush" or just "Bush", Thatcher, Tony Blair, Clinton. No one calls politicians by their titles.
Joshua Baker
Wouldn't they have to call him the Master in Chief though?
Ethan Ortiz
>Ketchup
Kill ya self mayne.
Jaxon Anderson
This is how I feel every time someone refers to a game related person by their first name. >I really enjoyed Hideo/Toby/Marcus's game!!! I thought the criticisms leveled at them were uncalled for :) Fucking die.
Oliver Gray
Abe is his last name you fucker It's "Ah-bey", not Abe like Lincoln.
Luke Baker
Sup Forums and food analogies are like oil and vinegar.
Hudson Ramirez
Mario is almost a staple of Japan itself. Of course they didn't pay for that. I thought it was painfully obvious.
Parker Sullivan
this guy gets it
Landon Collins
More or less, Pokemon brand work as said.
But the stuff is too big for Nintendo itself handle, so pokemon company take care of everything related, merch, anime, mango, etc, but mainline games GF and Nintendo are the one that work on it.
Also Nintendo don't send DCMA for Pokemon related stuff it is always TCPI. It's not Nintendo job do that shit.
Robert Cooper
They are video game makers, they publish poekmon and own a third of it. They are not the makers of pokemon, but they are video game makers that are behind pokemon.
Charles Russell
Sup Forums likes food analogies as much as a fat guy loves cheeseburgers and fries.
Carson Young
>"I've got this great idea-desu! Let's use an Italian plumber from a video game that hasn't been relevant since the late 90's to represent Japan"
Austin Bennett
people are given a name for a reason, kill yourself it would be bad if they called them nicknames
Carter Morgan
>muh chinks
Luke Jones
/jp/ here
Of course Nintendo didn't pay anything; they bribed him with a nice tab on dinner and some perks on the side. For those not in the know of Japanese politics; it is one of the most corrupt right up next to the USA. They all say something and do dirty stuff under the table.
Not antagonizing Nintendo. Just letting you all know this is a thing, and the fact they had to release this statement is to save face in front of the young men of Japan and those in the loop of the culture/news
Michael Rivera
>it is one of the most corrupt right up next to the USA Fuck off weeb.
Isaac Fisher
Maybe they... gee, I dunno... contacted Nintendo in advance.
Juan Rogers
>calling someone a weeb on a Japanese keyboard fetish website Is this the birth of a new epic meme?
Brody Taylor
I guess the Sup Forums shills post here too.
Ethan Sullivan
Not everyone on Sup Forums is cultured /JP/-sama
Nicholas Bailey
>Japs being bribed by food You skinny fucks aren't fooling me.
Benjamin Nelson
No one is addressing Obama or Abe or Trudeau or May or anyone else.
We're talking about them.
Please seek mental help.
Jace Fisher
Everyone addresses politicians this way you colossal autist. Hell they even frequently wind up with nicknames like Dubya and Bibi.
Justin Hill
>You skinny fucks aren't fooling me Old nip men, especially influential or rich, tend to be more gluttonous and fucked up. It's why there's so many "ugly but mighty" male figures in anime and manga that are depicted in the most disgusting way
Art imitates life and vice versa
Landon Moore
When nintendo going to sue japan gov for use mario?
Isaiah Cox
Never, they're in bed with them
I mean for fucks sake, there was a scandal some years ago when bandai namco's heir to the throne (son? Grandson of CEO) started calling out Nintendo for illegally attempting to take over the company by bribing the national Japanese bank of selling their shares to them
The government literally had to come in and tell Nintendo "no, don't do this."
People forget grievances for this company way too many times
Parker Wright
Ever seen the rich and wealthy in America? Or what the inbred monstrosoties that call themselves royalty look like in other countries?
Their hideous toad people with not even the best looking of them rising above only kind of ugly.
Only in recent times when media became so big have they started to TRY to cover up how naturally unattractive they really are with make up and plastic surgery and drugs.
Blake Johnson
It's literally free advertisement.
Hunter Myers
His name is Shinzo Abe, you fucking idiot foreigner. It's not Abe as in Abraham, holy shit. Why does this post infuriate me so fucking much Jesus Christ
Connor Evans
People call him Abe-san in Japan, fucking dumbass.
Logan Sanders
And Address him as Shinzo Abe or Prime Minister Abe