Developer Appreciation: Shigeru Miyamoto

As mentioned in my previous post, Scarybooster has declared this week as Developer Appreciation Week.  Each day this week, he will be writing about a developer who has impacted the games that he plays.  He challenged other bloggers to dedicate one blog post to a developer whom they appreciate, and this is my response to that challenge.

I have chosen to write a few words of thanks and appreciation to Shigeru Miyamoto.  As a nintendo pioneer, this man almost single-handedly shaped the video gaming industry into what it is today.  He has contributed to many games, consoles, and concepts over the past two decades.  Just to list a few:

• Contributed to game development for NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64, Gamecube, DS, and Wii
• Mario series
• Donkey Kong
• The Legend of Zelda series
• Star Fox

To thank him for all that he has done in the gaming industry would take many long, boring hours of my time and yours.  So I am going to focus on one game that he contributed to that impacted me most.  That game is Zelda: a Link to the Past, arguably one of the greatest games ever made.  From the time that I was old enough to hold an atari stick, I was playing video games.  I beat a handful of games before conquering Ganon in Zelda on SNES, including Pitfall, Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario 3, The legend of Zelda, Contra, and more that I won't spend time listing.  However it wasn't until I played and beat Zelda: a Link to the Past that I got a real sense of accomplishment for defeating the final boss/level of a video game.  I remember facing and defeating Ganon repeatedly because I honestly enjoyed how the encounter engaged me.

Zelda: a Link to the Past is probably the game that kick started my passion for video games.  Sure I played games before this one, but that was only in between setting off firecrackers, fishing, hunting, getting dirty as a mechanic, and whatever else little boys from Georgia do.  Zelda: a Link to the Past was a turning point in my gaming life.  Sure, if it hadn't been this game, it would have probably been another at some other point in my life.  But it WAS this game, and it DID have a huge impact on my life and what my hobbies and interests would be for decades to come.  And for that, Mister Shigeru Miyamoto, I thank you.

Ironically enough, I decided on Saturday (Mar 19) that I was going to recognize Miyamoto as my developer of DAW.  Today, two days later, I saw an article focusing on Miyamoto's efforts to push Nintendo DS consoles into the educational system for children and young adults to use as tools for learning.  This just adds icing on the cake.