Shigeru Miyamoto is probably one of the most famous names in gaming, being the pioneer behind iconic characters and titles like Donkey Kong,The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros.With the release of the Nintendo Switch this year, Vox has taken an in-depth look at Miyamoto and his philosophy towards making his games.
In the video released by Vox, Miyamoto recalls the early state of video games during his time, and the thought that he put behind each title that he worked on. He revealed that in the earlier days, games were originally worked on by technicians. Miyamoto was a designer at heart, and his work marked the first time that games were actually given some sort of "lore" or "backstory."
When it comes to game design, Miyamoto has said that the most important elements of making his games were immersion and simplicity. He also says that the games have to give players a sense of accomplishment.
The video also explores the design of Super Mario Bros., and how it was able to convey instructions to the player without having them read anything. Modern games right now rely heavily on instructions and written directions, but Super Mario was a prime example of teaching gamers how to play games as they played them. Arin Hanson a.k.a. Egoraptor on Youtube made the same commentary on Megaman games in his "Sequelitis" series.
Some people have actually expressed their mixed feelings for Miyamoto, as Miyamoto has also commented that he does not like to follow other "trends" like online gaming. This move was said to have halted the progress of Nintendo, and now the company seems to be trying to catch up by releasing its first mobile game, Super Mario Run. If Miyamoto was only keen enough to jump in on the trend earlier, then Nintendo may be in a different place as of now.
Nevertheless, Miyamoto remains to be one of the more important faces of modern video games, and fans are excited for the release of his company's next console, the Nintendo Switch, which comes out on March 3.
