It's one of the great masterpieces of Shigeru Miyamoto.

Will Wright calls him the Stephen Spielberg of games.

It was the flagship title of the N64, whose 3D graphics processor was designed by SGI.

Shigeru Miyamoto GDC 1999 Keynote (Full) [@2:56]:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC2Pf5F2acI&t=2m56s

>In 1996, Nintendo shook the video game world with the breakthrough N64. Miyamoto's creativity now had free reign, and an exhilarating new era in interactive entertainment was born. N64's flagship game has been called his masterpiece.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27918255

>I posted these earlier about Shigeru Miyamoto, and just transcribed a highlight from one of the videos of his two GDC keynotes (but watch both keynotes in full -- every word is profound, and they bracket an amazing time in game development history: 1999-2007!):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7626656

>I've seen some great talks by the amazing game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Miyamoto

>In an earlier talk, he explained that he designed his games starting with how you physically interact with the controls you're holding in your hand, and then inwards into the computer, instead of the other way around like so many other people tend to do.

>In a later talk, about the Wii, he explained that now he designs his games starting with the facial expressions of the people playing them, then to the physical experience that could evoke such an expression, then on into the computer that could conduct such an experience.

>As an example, he showed a picture of a grandfather with his granddaughter sitting in his lap, playing a game, looking totally entranced and delighted at the game, and her grandfather looking at her, with just as entranced and delighted an expression as on his granddaughter's face, even if he didn't necessarily understand what the game itself was about. He got so much enjoyment out of just watching his granddaughter enjoying the game, that it was fun for him, too.

>The Wii was so successful as a social party game, because the players themselves were more fun to watch than the game on the screen, because they make spectacles of themselves, which is much more entertaining to watch than the computer graphics. And you don't get bored waiting for your turn to play, because it's fun watching other people play.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15486280

I wrote this earlier on another forum but I'll repost it here:

I've seen Shigeru Miyamoto speak at several game developer conferences over the years. He's absolutely brilliant, a really nice guy, and there's so much to learn by studying his work and listening to him talk. Will Wright calls him the Stephen Spielberg of games.

At one of his earlier talks, he explained that he starts designing games by thinking about how you touch, manipulate and interact with the input device in the real world, instead of thinking about the software and models inside the virtual world of the computer first. The instantaneous response of Mario 64 and how you can run and jump around is a great example of that.

Shigeru Miyamoto GDC 1999 Keynote (Full): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC2Pf5F2acI

At a later talk about how he designed the Wii, he said that he now starts designing games by thinking about what kind of expression he wants it to evoke on the player's faces, and how to make the players themselves entertain the other people in the room who aren't even playing the game themselves. That's why the Wii has so many great party games, like Wii Sports. Then he showed a video of a little girl sitting in her grandfather's lap playing a game -- http://youtu.be/SY3a4dCBQYs?t=12m29s , with a delighted expression on her face. The grandfather was delighted and entertained by watching his granddaughter enjoy the game.

This photo -- https://i.imgur.com/zSbOYbk.jpg -- perfectly illustrates exactly what he means!

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En9OXg7lZoE

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jer1KCPTcdE

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY3a4dCBQYs

>So let me move from the vision of Nintendo to the vision that I have always employed personally in my career as a game developer.

>In interviews, I'm often asked about specific elements of my games. Where did you get the idea for that character or that hardware? Why did you design that level in that way?

>And sometimes I can tell that the people who are asking these questions have spend a lot of time analyzing my games in very detailed fashion to search for the answers.

>But the riddle here is the harder they look at the individual parts of the game itself, the further away they get from determining that answer.

>The reason for this is that my initial focus and my primary focus throughout development is not these individual elements of the game.

>When I'm creating a game, what I always try to envision, it's what I always think about, is the core element of fun within the game.

>And to do that, I imagine one thing, and that's the face of the player, while he or she is experiencing the game.

>Not any individual part of the game itself.

>And what the players feel will be reflected on their faces. And as an entertainer, I want them to be entertained.

>I was remind of this recently, when we launched Nintendo DS in Japan, and first put the system out in public, for people to start playing.

>We asked some of those people if we could video tape them, and you can see some of these videos, the first time they're playing the DS, at a web site called MyFirstTouch.ds.

>So let's take a look at two cuts that impressed me most. Let's take a look.

>(Girl singing in joy.) So cute. That guy there is happy because his girlfriends are so excited.

>And of course this grandfather's happy that his granddaughter's having so much fun as well.

>And since this is a stylus, a touch pen, he's able to play the game too.

>So as you can see, not only is the person who's playing the game being entertained, but the people standing around watching are getting caught up in the excitement, and they're being entertained as well.

>And that made me very happy. That's the reaction that I always want.

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqBee2YlDPg

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI3DB3tYiOw

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwYBSkzevw

Shigeru Miyamoto Keynote GDC 07 - Wife-o-meter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GMybmWHzfU