Hideo Kojima Credits Super Mario Bros for Inspiring His Game Development Career: “I realized this medium could one day outshine movies.”

Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind iconic titles like Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, found his way into the gaming world thanks to an unexpected classic: Super Mario Bros.

While the classic platformer may not seem like a direct influence on Kojima’s cinematic and expansive games, it was the spark that ignited his passion for game development. “I played it for a year. I was a college student. I skipped school to play at home,” Kojima shared. “Without Super Mario, I probably wouldn’t have been in this industry. Yeah. I can’t really play it now, though. It’s a side-scrolling action game. Mario just goes left to right. Basically just jumping.”

Kojima reflected on how the original Super Mario had “almost no story” beyond the quest to rescue a princess from a villain, yet that simplicity didn’t detract from its impact. “It felt like you were on an adventure,” he noted. “When I saw that, although it was pixel art with no story, I felt this medium would one day surpass movies. That conviction brought me to the game industry.”

In discussing his influences, Kojima mentioned legendary filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, and Akira Kurosawa, but he emphasized that none had a greater impact on him than John Carpenter. “He defied genre,” Kojima remarked about the director of classics like The Thing and Halloween.

Kojima also pointed out that Metal Gear Solid 2 is “often mistaken for a story about AI,” but he clarified that it’s really about “what human life would become” in the digital age.