Abstract
At first glance this readable and informative book may seem limited in scope, focusing solely on the work of a single videogame designer still, arguably, in the midst of his career. However, it quickly becomes clear that deWinter’s study is about much more than it purports. On the surface Shigeru Miyamoto is a dedicated exploration of an undeniably important contributor to videogame history and culture; as the leading force behind formative videogame franchises such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Bros., the Wii and Wii U platforms, Miyamoto’s career is not only a history of innovation and ingenuity, to a large extent is the story of the medium itself. Yet deWinter’s study has a secondary motivation: this short volume is attempting to add another divergent path to games studies’ already disparate trajectories by taking the focus away from games as played objects and instead presenting them afresh as the products of a driven auteur. It is admirable then, given this bold desire, that deWinter presents an accessible but always academic study that could provide design students with fresh inspiration just as quickly as it could provide an academic a fresh perspective from which to approach digital games.
From the outset the mission statement is declared succinctly: this is a book about game designers being recognised as cultural innovators creating ‘new systems, new experiences, shaping future games and the experiences of players’ (p. xi). A brief overview of the designer’s life is provided and recognition is made of his important contributions to the medium. Importantly, this does not result in a conflation between auteurs and artists. Although deWinter makes it clear that throughout Miyamoto’s life he has crafted some of the most aesthetically memorable and narratively relatable games of all time, the designer keeps his distance from the so-called, ‘games versus art debate’. Following a succinct timeline of Miyamoto’s creative life, the book shifts towards a more nuanced view of Miyamoto as a product of his cultural and traditional roots as a Japanese citizen. It is explained that the particular quirks in Miyamoto’s games, ‘seem to be personal idiosyncrasies or brilliant innovations, make a type of historical sense when viewed in a cultural context’ (p. 8). Reflecting on Miyamoto’s training as an engineer, the cultural particularities of the business practices of the Japanese company Nintendo and the ‘iterative design’ process that builds slowly throughout his games under his direction, deWinter somewhat debunks the myth of Miyamoto as a spiritual visionary in favour of a more modest appreciation of his talents as a hardworking craftsman.
The book comes into its own in later sections when the biographical approach is sidelined in favour of rigorous close reading. The assertion that Donkey Kong is an early example of a spatially dependent narrative experience, shaped by the vertical nature of the arcade form, is a brilliant insight into a text that could otherwise be overlooked for its simplicity. This framework is similarly applied to Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda as deWinter argues that the explorative and narrative experiences of players are shaped by the spatial arrangement of these titles. This is all the more impactful when we are reminded that these games also represent breakthroughs in engineering as, although titles prior to Super Mario Bros. had attempted to have multiple different stages, the linking of these stages together into a single, cohesive, explorable ‘world’ (the now ubiquitous ‘virtual world’ of a videogame) was an innovation propelled forward by Miyamoto’s revolutionary thinking. These insights are echoed in the later chapters through the exploration of Miyamoto’s 3D games, casual games and games for adults (such as the Wii-fit exercise platform). The argument comes together increasingly convincingly that Miyamoto not only shaped gaming history in its inception but has shaped the modern landscape indelibly as well.
In all, deWinter’s book represents the first entry in a series that is reshaping how we think about videogames in the study of culture and the arts. By reconsidering game designers as cultural innovators we are taking the first steps towards a new recognition of this medium. The book is not without its shortcomings, such as a potentially reductive link made between Miyamoto’s professed love of nature and Japanese Shintoism, unsupported by first-hand evidence. Further, the book has a curious structure that suggests a lack of certainty (an entire chapter is dedicated to including a transcript of speech, easily found, for free, online). These imperfections, however, merely denote the inherent uncertainty around recasting the game designer as auteur. These are still early days and it is clear that efforts are being made to reshape our perceptions of the current digital cultural landscape.