Jennifer Dewinter, Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong

98 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • FALL 2016 pily travel with her as she traverses the As the video game industry ages, the need art and craft of designing for social play, to discuss game designers and their contri- physical play, and more. Still, there is the butions becomes paramount. While there niggling (and inevitable?) question of what are several ways of looking at and con- exactly constitutes “meaningful choice.” textualizing past milestones in the game After all, even the most complex games industry—such as the books in the MIT offer players only a handful of options in Press Platform Studies series—Jennifer the grand scheme of things and, there- deWinter and Carly Kocurek’s Influential fore, the promise rather than the reality Video Game Designers series, published of choice. But I suppose that will have to by Bloomsbury, is an attempt to move for- be a question for another book. ward the conversation between the design- For the uninitiated, I expect that How ers and their games over an entire career. Games Move Us will be pleasant reading, In the series’ debut book, Shigeru and it might make a good opening text in Miyamoto, deWinter examines the cre- an Introduction to Game Design course or ator of Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikmin, and find its way onto a friend’s summer read- many other games to figure out how the ing list. More experienced readers, though, designer’s life and interests affected his will likely be better served by exploring game designs. Miyamoto is a fitting icon Isbister’s traditional scholarly work, upon to begin a series like this, considering his which How Games Move Us is based and contributions to games are both large and examples of which are cited in the book’s significant. It is hard to imagine what notes. That said, even seasoned researchers games would look like without Mario, will appreciate the ease with which Isbister Donkey Kong, or the Legend of Zelda’s confronts the complexity and inscrutabil- influence on design. However, biography ity of human emotion and play. Games is hard to write effectively in a book about and feelings both are strange and powerful game design. Readers will want to learn things, and How Games Move Us provides about a designer’s life but also see it rooted an accessible lens for examining them. in his or her art. Game designers are also often collaborative projects with many —Judd Ethan Ruggill, University of Ari- participants. As deWinter points out, zona, Tucson, AZ Miyamoto’s narrative is tied to Nintendo and its many employees. DeWinter chooses to move beyond Shigeru Miyamoto: Super this linkage by emphasizing key aspects of Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Miyamoto’s life and training. The book’s The Legend of Zelda structure follows this thinking by focusing Jennifer deWinter on the Miyamoto’s work in distinct areas, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, including hardware and software devel- 2015. Acknowledgments, foreword, opment, experience design, storytelling, gameography, works cited, and index. and the overall Japanese cultural context of 184 pp. $16.00 paper. his work. DeWinter also discusses the late ISBN: 9781628923889 Nintendo game designer Gunpei Yokoi’s Book Reviews 99 influence as a key source of Miyamoto’s past interviews and speeches to analyze design philosophies. She outlines each of Miyamoto’s games, but the study lacks these points in the introduction and devel- any original interview or discussion with ops them further in subsequent chapters the game designer. This is likely because focusing on Miyamoto’s world building, Miyamoto seldom gives interviews, but narrative structure, open playground-like having an additional discussion with the design philosophy, and interest in casual designer would have made the book even and welcoming design. The book con- stronger. The text also could have pro- cludes with a transcript of his 1999 Game vided more historical context or meaning, Developers Conference keynote speech, and it doesn’t touch on Miyamoto’s con- a chapter exploring the designer’s legacy, tribution to the larger game industry. The and a gameography that spells out his role book assumes readers have knowledge of on each project. the more linear eras of video game history. The book explores themes and styles Ultimately, the book is effective in dis- of play through Miyamoto’s catalog rather cussing the context and styles of Miyamo- than looking at them chronologically. to’s influential work as a game designer. It Still, deWinter notes and outlines some serves as a great beginning text to explore meaningful changes in his style of design. a designer’s games through a biographical Miyamoto begins with a story-focused lens. And at 184 pages, the relatively brief game, Donkey Kong, followed by open- study should be accessible to scholars and ing up the play space with games such as nonscholars alike who are curious about Zelda to encourage exploration. Later, his game development. design goals focus on the kinds of experi- ences that made Mario Kart (which doesn’t — Alexander Bevier, Independent Scholar, attempt to simulate actual cart racing) and New York, NY Wii Music (which created a improvisa- tional experience unlike the more game- like Guitar Hero) popular and innovative Tempest: Geometries of Play games. The final essay discusses the Nin- Judd Ethan Ruggill and Ken McAllister tendo Wii and the intention to create more Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan welcoming and inclusive styles of play, Press, 2015. List of figures, introduction, which offer a small structure to encourage appendixes, notes, works cited, and willing playfulness from any age or gender index. 168 pp. $29.95. demographic. All of these concepts bring ISBN: 9780472052691 the reader back to Miyamoto’s childhood love of exploring caves and his recent love Judd Ruggill and Ken A. McAllister’s Tem- of gardening. pest: Geometries of Play presents a book- The challenge of the book’s narra- length study of the titular Atari arcade tive is that it doesn’t serve strictly as a game Tempest, a 1981 3-D vector graphic biography of Miyamoto. The essays and shooter. Ruggill and McAllister provide analysis illuminate the work almost more both a close reading of Tempest and a wide than the man. DeWinter expertly uses sweep of its cultural context. Geometries of .

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