Art that Inspires Art that Inspires Art

I'm finally near the end of unpacking from my move, and pleasantly surprised to find these lovely Jed Henry prints I had purchased years ago at a game convention. These are interpretations of franchises that were foundational in my creative journey as a game developer.  One thing that is so lovely to me about these is the personal resonance they bring, because I spent 5 years of my childhood in Japan. I was quite young, I think around 2-7 years old. So my memories of Japan are hazy and magical.  It's interesting that Japan became so ascendant in the medium of videogames, so not surprisingly, all 3 of these franchises are Japanese in origin.  It's hard to say how much of my creative influence is "Japanese".  But in looking over these artifacts, it's clearly a lot. 

Let's see if I can categorize the effects these had on me.

1. (Center) Legend of Zelda (NES) My 11-year-old mind is blown by the idea that a game can be a WORLD, as opposed to my previous experience of games as a series of near-identical screens that simply progress in difficulty.

2. (Left) Metroid (NES) My 12-year-old mind is blown by the amount of ATMOSPHERE that a game can create. Chills. True sense of the sublime through tension created with sound and visual aesthetics in perfect unity with the mechanics of exploration, secrets, and many many deaths.

3. (Right) Team ICO trilogy. My early-20s mind is blown that games can not only embed themes in mechanics, but narrative as well. Story does not have to be patched in with linier edited cutscenes. Games, I am now convinced, can be profound, transformative works.