I should say not. Whatever genre you work in, you probably owe something to Nintendo, pretty much unless you're in text RPGs. The historical impact of their works are foundational to game design as a whole, and if you think you can ignore the foundations, then you need a lesson in humility.

It's like anyone who aspires to be a great movie director, "Birth of a Nation" (white supremacist morals aside) is required viewing. If you haven't seen it, you can't understand where the medium's been and can make no credible claim towards contributing to the medium in a progressive way. So it is with video games and Mario, or Zelda. So much of what present games take for granted comes from these resources, and you cannot be groundbreaking without appreciating those who broke the ground that you stand upon, or more importantly, understanding why they were so successful.

Yes, it pretty much invented the classic platform game. In the 80's. So i agree with you. Today's mario games are overrated. Are they still good games? In my opinion, no. It's the exact same game that it was 25 years ago. 

Speaking purely on 2D mario games. The 3D ones are superb although they don't innovate as much as the previous iteration. 

So since you owe it to nintendo you must play their games eh? First of all, Nintendo furthered the game industry not because they were doing any of us favors but because they were making money for themselves. Don't act like it was a great act of altruism. Entertainment value  by nature is subjective and  as such, good entertainment is subjectiveas well.

Some people really do think Mario sucks and shouldn't be required to play it just to do their jobs. I think Mario is a stereotypical mess that has somehow flown under the radar for years while people complain about other issues in gaming. It started the trend of the weak, damsel-in-distress female characters in gaming as we know it yet is never subject to the blame alongside other games because Miyamoto is supposed to be some kind of god of gaming. 

I should say not. Whatever genre you work in, you probably owe something to Nintendo, pretty much unless you're in text RPGs. The historical impact of their works are foundational to game design as a whole, and if you think you can ignore the foundations, then you need a lesson in humility.

It's like anyone who aspires to be a great movie director, "Birth of a Nation" (white supremacist morals aside) is required viewing. If you haven't seen it, you can't understand where the medium's been and can make no credible claim towards contributing to the medium in a progressive way. So it is with video games and Mario, or Zelda. So much of what present games take for granted comes from these resources, and you cannot be groundbreaking without appreciating those who broke the ground that you stand upon, or more importantly, understanding why they were so successful.

So since you owe it to nintendo you must play their games eh? First of all, Nintendo furthered the game industry not because they were doing any of us favors but because they were making money for themselves. Don't act like it was a great act of altruism. Entertainment value  by nature is subjective and  as such, good entertainment is subjectiveas well.

Some people really do think Mario sucks and shouldn't be required to play it just to do their jobs. I think Mario is a stereotypical mess that has somehow flown under the radar for years while people complain about other issues in gaming. It started the trend of the weak, damsel-in-distress female characters in gaming as we know it yet is never subject to the blame alongside other games because Miyamoto is supposed to be some kind of god of gaming.

I should say not. Whatever genre you work in, you probably owe something to Nintendo, pretty much unless you're in text RPGs. The historical impact of their works are foundational to game design as a whole, and if you think you can ignore the foundations, then you need a lesson in humility.

It's like anyone who aspires to be a great movie director, "Birth of a Nation" (white supremacist morals aside) is required viewing. If you haven't seen it, you can't understand where the medium's been and can make no credible claim towards contributing to the medium in a progressive way. So it is with video games and Mario, or Zelda. So much of what present games take for granted comes from these resources, and you cannot be groundbreaking without appreciating those who broke the ground that you stand upon, or more importantly, understanding why they were so successful.

In view of the OP, what Inafune seems to be trying to say is not whether today's Mario games are overrated, good or not, but rather that Mario in all its heritage (he goes on to name his favorite, SMB3 on the NES) is part of a sort of developer's bible, from which a dev can take a pattern and work from it, so as to infuse their games with creative awesomeness.

I think that's what he means, and that would make perfect sense coming from the maker of Megaman and the upcoming MN9.

Holy mother of cherrypicking. The themes and story of Mario are full of stereotypes and cheesy art, but I think what Inafune was referring to was the creative  genius in gameplay innovation, as well as not taking itself too seriously. It's pretty transparent from the OP.

"Creative genius in gameplay innovation" is nothing more than jumping up and down while moving from left to right to me. That's as subjective as it gets. The points you praise Mario for are so subjective that it's pointless to argue them. Some see the Mona Lisa as a great work of art, others just see an ugly female portrait. Who is right? It's nice that you called my criticism "cherrypicking" but realise that it's valid. It brings home my point. When it comes to Miyamoto, everyone is quick to say 'shhh, hide the flaws' and sing how about how great he supposedly is.

Depends on what you mean by "do their jobs." If you're anyone involved with *touching* gameplay design, it should definitely be required that you play the most fundamental games that created modern gaming. I'd say (even though i haven't played or only barely played a few of these myself): Doom 1, Super Mario Bros 3, Legend of Zelda 1, Final Fantasy I, and one of the early Ultima games. Tetris and Pac-Man not wholly required but very severely recommended.

If a person is designing gameplay and worlds without having played these games, i would very much question their credentials.