Who is the most influential game designer?

Who do you think is the most influential game designer in history?

Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario)?
Sid Meier (Civilization)?
Will Wright (The Sims)?

or maybe Kenji Eno (D)?

Youtube: Kenji Eno Interview(JP)

Youtube: 3DO Longplay [002] D's Diner Director's Cut

Have you chosen one of those people? Sorry, you are wrong.

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Certainly, they are truly influential creators.

Miyamoto laid the foundation for modern video games. Sid and Will created entirely new genres. Eno proved that video game is a form of art.

If the question were "Who is the most IMPORTANT game designer in history?" it would be much easier (or boring) because there's only one possible answer - Shigeru Miyamoto.

Although I don't think you need much evidence for that, here's some:

• He made two of the most successful video game franchises - Mario and Zelda.
• His games sold more than 400 million copies (excluding those games in which he is credited as a producer but didn't play significant roles, such as Pokemon and Super Smash Bros.)
• Many other important game designers including Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) and Yuji Naka (Sonic) were deeply influenced by his works and philosophy.
  
  
  
  
  

Hideo Kojima (2004 @ Konami) : 

I can't express how much I was influenced by his works. Without them, I would have never become a game designer. But I can't call him my teacher of game design; he is much more than that. 

- Dorimaga (vol.23, p.58) Softbank Publishing in Japanese

Yuji Naka (2001 @ SEGA) :

I think there's no chance of me ever surpassing him as a game creator. Rather, I hoped that one day I would be able to make a game which has equally high quality as his works. I knew there was no way to achieve it if I had made a copycat of Mario; that's why I made Sonic in that way.

 - Weekly Famitsu (around Dec. 2001, p.168) Enterbrain in Japanese

Even so, I don't regard him as the most influential game designer. Why? That's because I know the person who deserves the honor more than Miyamoto.

His name is Gunpei Yokoi.

- He invented the most important input device for video games.
- In a sense, he is one of the founders of the most important gaming company.
- He created the world's first modern game.

- And most of all, he taught Miyamoto how to make a video game.

So, if you call Miyamoto the father of modern video games, he should be called the "grandfather".

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I'm gonna write about his huge influence on the game industry and the creation of the world's first modern game in the coming articles.


Fmitz.