Evolution: Shigeru Miyamoto

Background Information:

If you're a gamer or somehow involved in the videogame industry, you should have heard of Shigeru Miyamoto. Often billed as the 'Grandfather of Videogames', Miyamoto-sensei is best known as the creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, and Pikmin. He is also known for his enthusiastic presentations at gaming conference like the Tokyo Game Show and E3.

Born in Kyoto in 1952, Miyamoto spent much of his childhood roaming the countryside near his family home. He had a great love for manga and was interested in a career as a manga artist. With that in mind, he graduated from the Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts. He was hired by Nintendo as a product designer in 1974.

Life at Nintendo, 1979-1984:

When Nintendo began to focus less on distributing electronics developed by other companies and more on developing their own, Miyamoto's first big task was to design the cabinet casing for Nintendo's Color TV Game. Nintendo had some limited local success with early arcade games, but it was Miyamoto's first big hit, Donkey Kong, that threw them into the forefront of the emerging videogame industry. Released in 1981, it was inspired by King Kong and Beauty and the Beast. Donkey Kong revolved around a story about a carpenter, a princess and an angry gorilla. Miyamoto reportedly chose the gorilla as his antagonist as he was, 'nothing too evil or repulsive'. Donkey Kong broke new ground, with the inclusion of cutscenes and multiple stages of play. The carpenter character, named Jumpman by Miyamoto, was eventually renamed Mario for the American release, after an Nintendo of America employee. With the huge success of Donkey Kong, Miyamoto then worked on its sequels, Donkey Kong Jr., and Donkey Kong 3.

During this period, Miyamoto also worked on Nintendo games Excitebike and Devil World. He eventually reworked the carpenter character from the Donkey Kong series, transforming him from a carpenter to a plumber and equipping him with a brother and a backstory. This chubby plumber, formely a carpenter named Jumpman, became Mario - perhaps one of the most iconic videogame characters of all time. Mario Bros. was Mario's first starring role and was a huge success.

1985-1989

During this period, Nintendo were prolific and Miyamoto worked on a selection of classic Nintendo titles. It was during this period that the sequel to Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. was released. Super Mario Bros. introduced some of the characters and settings and the colour palette that is most often associated with the Mario franchise.

During this period, Miyamoto also began development on another iconic Nintendo franchise, The Legend of Zelda. Inspired by the sense of exploration he felt on his childhood rambles about the countryside, Miyamoto tries to imbue each Zelda title with this sense of adventure and exploration.

This period also saw the release of sequels to these two iconic titles - Super Mario Bros. 2 (originally a Japan-only release) and The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link. The Adventure of Link was a departure from the original in many aspects but was still well-received.

Not long after this, work began on Super Mario Bros. 3, which took 24 months to complete. This title gave Mario a selection of 'costumes' and new powers to accompany them. Several of the now-iconic enemies were added to the title or redesigned.

1990-2000
A sub-department of Nintendo, Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, was founded in 1983. By 1990, Miyamoto was promoted to the head of the department. He currently shares the management of Nintendo EAD with Takashi Tezuka.
In the early 90s, Nintendo EAD, and Miyamoto, were responsible for the development of a wide selection of Nintendo titles, including F-Zero and Star Fox, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
With the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1996, Miyamoto directed the development of Super Mario 64, Nintendo's first foray into 3D graphics. Not long after the production of Super Mario 64, development began on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Miyamoto was a central member of the development team, as well as the producer. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is widely regarded as a fantastic game and has recently been re-released for the Nintendo 3DS.

During this period, Miyamoto worked on a selection of Mario spin-offs, a sequel to Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Star Fox 64.

2000-2006

The release of the Nintendo GameCube saw Miyamoto working on Mario, Zelda, and Star Fox titles. He also developed Pikmin and Pikmin 2. While the GameCube was not hugely commercially successful, hardcore Nintendo fans were pleased with games like The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee.

2006 - present day

The Wii and the Nintendo DS changed the Nintendo business model significantly. The company went out of their way to make their products more appealing and accessible to casual gamers and families.

Miyamoto was part of the team that worked on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a Wii launch title. He also acted as the producer for the Wii Sports and Wii Fit titles. During this period, he was the producer for the two Zelda titles released on the DS - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, as well as the three major Mario titles released for the Wii - Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

He is currently involved in the development of a new Zelda title expected for release at the end of this year, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, as well as working on two different Mario titles for the Nintendo 3DS.

Miyamoto is an inspiring and important figure in the international videogame industry. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Zelda franchise, and the Mario franchise is even older. He has been recognised for his contributions with awards from various organisations, as well as being recognised as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Infuential People of the Year in both 2007 and 2008.
As he ages, he's showing no signs yet of slowing down and is still an engaging and vigorous figure in the industry. Games fans the world over hope he'll be around for many years yet, continuing to work on his iconic Nintendo titles.



Defining Fun

People have individual ideas about what makes an experience fun. Some people run, others listen to grindcore music, some people like to iron their clothes. These differences are part of what defines each of us as an individual.
For myself, I find a wide and varied range of experiences and activities to be fun.
I like to draw, paint and create. I watch a lot of DVDs. I read all the time. Sometimes I knit. And I play a lot of videogames, from a selection of genres. At the moment, for example, I'm currently playing The World Ends With You on Nintendo DS, LittleBigPlanet on Sony's PSP, Super Mario Galaxy 2 on Nintendo Wii, and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker on Nintendo GameCube (although I'm playing it on my Wii console.) I also play a lot of other games, that I don't necessarily own, casually with friends - various Call of Duty games, Wii Sports, Guitar Hero, several racing games.

I like games with a good story, engaging characters, attractive visual styles and challenging objectives. I'm a big fan of The Legend of Zelda series, as well as several of the Mario titles. My favourite game, of all time, is a bit of a cliche. It is every second person's favourite game of all time. Even after 13 years, it still features on many 'Top Ten/Fifty/Hundred Games' lists. Whether it's your cup of tea or not, it is universally acknowledged as a good game. It is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Ocarina of Time is an action/adventure title, set in the mythical realm of Hyrule, where most of the Zelda universe takes place. The protagonist, Link, travels across the lands and even through time to save the land (and the titular princess!) from the clutches of the evil Ganondorf. The game starts off a little slowly, beginning with a chunk of narrative and some cutscenes, before throwing the player out in to the world. Guided by a pesky little fairy, Navi, the player heads off to face the first dungeon pretty much immediately. Equipped with a sword he found in a maze and a shield he bought in a shop, Link must defeat the boss and purge the evil from the Great Deku Tree, the spiritual leader of his home in Kokiri Forest. This kickstarts his journey, as once the battle has been won, the Great Deku Tree sends him on a journey, beyond the forest home he has never left, to find Princess Zelda and warn her of impending doom. After sneaking into the castle gardens to see the princess, the core story-based gameplay rushes on from there, allowing the player to swept up in the battle for good and evil. But, if they choose, players can ignore Navi's plaintive cries (Hey! Listen!) and spend hours exploring the expansive overworld, the different areas and peoples, as well as completing side-quests and playing mini-games. The added element of the time travel (not all over the place, 7 years forward or 7 years back) means that certain challenges must be completed or items must be obtained when Link is younger, in order for the effects to be felt in the future.

The player faces many different challenges and obstacles. There is physical opposition from the wide variety of different kinds of enemies, as well as the boss battles, often requiring specific tactics or strategies to achieve a victory. As well as all this, the player is faced with riddling clues and puzzles in dungeons, in side quests and all over the map. Fast button-mashing will only get you so far in this game.
The ultimate objective of the game is to defeat Ganondorf and save the princess. Along the way to achieving this, with some 50+ hours of gameplay, there are many minor objectives for the player to complete. From simple things like carrying a letter to a gatekeeper, all the way to awakening the sacred sages of the realm, the player is constantly being challenged.
As Link's journey becomes more and more perilous, the player must rise to the occasion, completing increasingly challenging quests and dungeons.
Still acknowledged today, 13 years after its original release, to be a fantastic game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is engaging, challenging and just plain fun.

Munchkin!

I'd never heard of Munchkin before the lecture last week, and I'd certainly never played it before the tutorial. I have a handful of friends who are really into Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop gaming, but I've never really gotten into it myself. Munchkin, on the other hand, doesn't take itself seriously like D&D and I rather enjoyed the parody aspect of it.

My group was a little hesitant at first, we had to read the rules several times before we actually started dealing out the cards. After a few dodgy and timid turns from everyone, we started to understand the rules more fully and got into it. We played open-handed, and it was interesting to see people pointing out different cards and strategies to the other players. It was a fun tutorial and I find myself looking forward to another game of Munchkin, especially since I was the closest to winning last week! 

As a game, it wasn't overly complicated (once we got the hang of it) but it wasn't dull or simple either. The silly art, comic curses and bizarre monsters were most amusing.

Edit: I actually purchased a copy of the game myself, and have since played several games with my friends. I think I'm getting pretty good at it, actually! Once all the players get the hang of it, it becomes much more interesting and challenging as players do all they can to drag each other down!