As the saying goes, “We all have to start somewhere.” That applies to all sorts of things, including the gaming industry, where people “find their way in” by all sorts of methods. For the legendary creator Hideo Kojima, you might think a “grand scale narrative” brought him to the mix, as that’s the kind of thing he puts into his games. Yet, as he revealed to Wired, that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, what brought him in was the simplest of games: Super Mario Bros.
“Super Mario Bros., definitely. Played it for a year. I was a college student. Without Super Mario Bros., I probably wouldn’t be in this industry… Yeah. I can’t really play it now, though. It’s a side-scrolling action game. Mario just goes left to right. Basically just jumping. But there’s a dash button. Using that and jump subtly changes the jump trajectory to attack or dodge. It had almost no story, but it felt like you were on an adventure. When I saw that, although it was pixel art with no story, I felt this medium would one day surpass movies. That conviction brought me to the game industry.”
That says a lot, wouldn’t you say? The foresight of Hideo Kojima really guided his life on this one. He is correct that the medium has “surpassed movies” in certain ways, as there are video games that do what movies can’t in terms of “connecting” with people. Some video games have been adapted into movies, including a big one with Mario, and they have made a lot of money at the box office.
A simple game jump-started a legendary career that continues to this day, and that’s something we should all be inspired by.
Source: Wired
