The evolution of videogames as we play them today is the result of dozens of development studios, and the hard work and ideas of hundreds of individuals. At the same time, few people working in the industry have had quite as much influence of Shigeru Miyamoto, who’s widely recognised as one of the most important figures in gaming history. The creative mind behind, among many other things, Donkey Kong and Super Mario, there’s scarcely a genre that hasn’t, in some form, felt the impact of Miyamoto’s ideas.

During the development of what would become the enormously successful Super Mario Bros – which would go on to sell more than 40 million copies around the world in the years after its release in 1985 – Miyamoto began work on what is perhaps his most personal videogame, The Legend Of Zelda. Working with storywriter Takashi Tezuka, the pair created a game that was quite unlike anything that had appeared on a console before, and would have a far-reaching impact on those that would come after it.

Lest we forget, deeper, RPG-like experiences were largely unknown on consoles of the mid-80s, and were still the preserve of home computers. A quarter of a century ago, developers were more intent on bringing home the sort of quick-fix thrills you’d find down the local arcade, and the concept at the core of The Legend Of Zelda, therefore, was quite a fresh one.

Where Super Mario Bros contained all the immediate, infectious energy of the era’s coin-ops – a mad dash from left to right, a skilful player could conquer the game within minutes – The Legend Of Zelda would project a very different pace and atmosphere. Zelda would unfold more like a fantasy novel than a 10-minute thrill-ride, with an open world to explore and a definite, if simple, character arc for its protagonist. Like a compressed dice-and-paper role-playing game, it would contain monsters, dungeons, missions to complete, characters to converse with, and ultimately, an evil villain to be defeated and a damsel to rescue.