I played for over 30 minutes without losing a life when Mr. Arakawa said, “Okay, that’s enough. We believe you can play.” That day I was extended an offer to start as a consultant. I was ecstatic.
My first days pay…
For this day I was given two Nintendo “Game & Watch” handheld games, “Oil Panic” and “Donkey Kong”. Within a few weeks I was moved to a full-time employee.
Little did I know then that my first video game job would turn out to be my dream job. Looking back, I can say that with certainty. I was Nintendo of America’s original game master and the envy of anyone who loved playing video games. With each new game, I was the first to play it. R&D in Japan valued my feedback, awaited my weekly field test reports and answers to their questions.
In Tukwila I tested games from my warehouse “office” made of monitor boxes. Was this the original “game cube”? lol
The Tukwila warehouse had very little office space. It was primarily dedicated to manufacturing, shipping and the storage of game parts. Our manufacturing manager, Don James was great about accommodating the confidential nature of my work with new games.
He built me an “office” by stacking Wells Gardner monitor boxes (w/monitors inside) to construct four walls. A flat cardboard game box served as a ceiling. It was just large enough for one upright game and a stool to sit on.
Until we moved to Redmond, I would analyze prototypes and conduct game timings from here. If the production floor was suddenly in need of space, Don used the forklift to disassemble it, then rebuilt it elsewhere. It was “mobile” before there was mobile!
Frank Ballouz and I during one of our epic Mario Bros. matches.
I even went to New York City and played Donkey Kong before Judge Sweet during the most pivotal time in the young company’s existence. The case was “Universal vs. Nintendo.” And when I could, I tagged along with the sales guys to demo our games for distributors. It was like a “dog and pony show”. I’m not sure if I was the dog or pony.
All of these games I got to touch featured early designs by gaming rockstars Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda. It was my job to help them make games popular amongst American players and sell more than our competitors. I got to tip-toe the lines of product development and sales & marketing. If you liked video games, this was the best job ever.
Figure 1: Good instructional design builds comprehension and engagement.
Even back in the day I believed engagement in the form of comprehension was a key building block of good games. Easy to understand concepts and core loops, layered with evolving skill and challenge kept players engaged. Nintendo games have a near timeless quality with their fans. Fantasy-oriented and playful, they provide a whimsical departure from reality. Back then, most American games dealt in more “realistic fantasy” and sci-fi themes. I have always enjoyed helping designers to make games more enjoyable for players. Figure 1 is a drawing I made to help designers teach players how to play Mario Bros.
Featured in the local newspaper back in 1985.
My first video game job occurred long before schools offered degrees in game design and programming. No one studied the “user experience” (UX), nor had ever heard of “game user research” (GUR). There was no natural path to gaming since it was not yet considered a real industry. Few saw it as anything more than just a passing fad. If you work in games or worked during the golden age of video games, please share your personal stories. From back in the day, we all have amazing stories to tell.
Thanks for reading!
1983 AMOA Show. Note a young Shigeru Miyamoto (fourth from left) and Genyo Takeda (second from right). And “Knock-Out” was still the working title for Punch-Out. I’m in the front row with dark jacket and mustache.
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What a great story – compelling and moving. It truly is wonderful to see how synchronicity leads you in a direction that you’ve come to love and enjoy. Seems things were much simpler then.
I’m curious on how today’s games compare in terms of their learning curve – guessing is that the entry level probably isn’t too hard in order to engage the player. But where does one strike a balance between making a game challenging and yet accessible initially?
First of all, thank you and I apologize for the delay. I missed your comments.
Great question. Most games today have more gentle learning curves. With the F2P model, there’s evidence that higher retention rates lead to higher conversion rates.
I feel all games must initially be easy and accessible to everyone – whether for a casual or core gamer. From this point challenge and designs diverge, based on genre and business model.
Thanks for reading and leaving comments!
[…] research has yielded a (very) few additional pictures of the game, with one of the best being from Jerry Momoda’s blog post ‘Nintendo: My First Video Game Job’. It’s an excellent article detailing his role at Nintendo of America, and you can see […]
[…] research has yielded a (very) few additional pictures of the game, with one of the best being from Jerry Momoda’s blog post ‘Nintendo: My First Video Game Job’. It’s an excellent article detailing his role at Nintendo of America, and you can see […]
What an absolutely amazing story. I’m blown away by that picture of “Knock Out.” I never knew Punch Out had an alternate name. I’m a huge fan of that series of arcade games and have gone sofar as to create a custom set-up that includes Punch-Out, Super Punch-Out and Arm Wrestling, all playable on original hardware.
This is a very obscure question, but were there ever early versions of these games that would be changed prior to the final releases? Specifically, a few folks in the arcade collecting community have mentioned an early version of Super Punch-Out in which Super Macho Man was listed as hailing from “Venice Beach” – Of course in mine today and all others, he is listed as simply from “U.S.A.” They recall some gameplaying differences between this version and the actual release as well.
At any rate. Thank you for sharing your experience with these now “classics.”
Your question is not obscure at all. All Nintendo arcade games had versions during development that altered gameplay. The first version(s) were intended for conceptual and playability feedback, while later version(s) incorporated test findings. English text and game instructions changed as well.
Regarding Super Punch-Out, my fuzzy recollection recalls Super Macho Man being from Venice Beach. Strategic testing included our distributors and key arcade locations across the country for marketing purposes. Findings during testing resulted in gameplay and tuning modifications.
Arcade games included a bank of dip switches that incorporated the ability to change game difficulty. This made a game easier or harder for players. In effect, it controlled average playtimes to maximize earnings. Better operators optimized demand and game difficulty. What may have been perceived as “gameplay differences” may have simply been difficulty changes. That said, it wasn’t uncommon to find different versions in the field. We would send distributors the latest production versions, but we couldn’t guarantee all games were updated.
Thanks for your interest and being a fan.