Mark Cerny--best known as the lead architect of the PlayStation Vita, PS4, and PS5--recently appeared on Simon Parkin's My Perfect Console podcast to choose five games he would preserve on a fictional console. While much of the conversation naturally touched on his long history with Sony, one of the most surprising and heartfelt moments came when he talked about his love for Nintendo's Pikmin.
Despite his deep ties to PlayStation, Cerny made it clear that Pikmin left a lasting mark on him. Cerny described playing the original Pikmin as a truly "transformative" experience. He explained how emotionally invested he became in Captain Olimar's struggle to survive and return home.
"I had this thing where I tended to play smaller, lighter games for about 10 years, so I don't know, Portal or Plants vs. Zombies or Flower or Katamari Damacy. Pikmin, I just [picked] out of that list because I thought it was such an emotionally involving story," Cerny explained. "Poor Captain Olimar, he crash lands, and he's got 30 days to reassemble his ship, or he'll run out of oxygen and die, and he's sending letters home every day."
He went on to say how he loves a good story and the evolution in Pikmin 2. "I mean, I guess I'm a sucker when it comes to story, right? But then for Pikmin 2, it's totally different. So they're on Earth, they're running around picking up trash on Earth. That's the storyline, if you recall. Literally, you're running around somebody's bathroom floor in Pikmin 2. And in one of those, you're running from debt collectors, if I have that right. But that first Pikmin, yeah, that's one I just treasure.”
Although Pikmin was the emotional highlight of their conversation, Cerny also discussed the other games he selected for his fantasy console. These included Atari's Defender--a nod to his early days in the industry--as well as Sony's The Legend of Dragoon, the narrative-focused indie game Firewatch, and the highly acclaimed action-roguelike Hades. Together, his choices span several decades and represent a broad look at the evolution of game design.
Cerny stressed that he wasn't choosing games as a hardware designer, thinking about technical benchmarks. "I should also say this is not me designing a console, right? Because if I [were] doing that, it would be the usual, 'Well, how does GTA 6 play on it?' I'm just looking at interesting games over five decades."
Cerny's career has taken him through major studios, having created Marble Madness at Atari and worked on Sonic 2 after helping establish the Sega Technical Institute. Even being most associated with PlayStation hardware and Sony’s first-party studios today, seeing those plant-powered heroes on his list was quite a surprise.
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Despite his deep ties to PlayStation, Cerny made it clear that Pikmin left a lasting mark on him. Cerny described playing the original Pikmin as a truly "transformative" experience. He explained how emotionally invested he became in Captain Olimar's struggle to survive and return home.
"I had this thing where I tended to play smaller, lighter games for about 10 years, so I don't know, Portal or Plants vs. Zombies or Flower or Katamari Damacy. Pikmin, I just [picked] out of that list because I thought it was such an emotionally involving story," Cerny explained. "Poor Captain Olimar, he crash lands, and he's got 30 days to reassemble his ship, or he'll run out of oxygen and die, and he's sending letters home every day."
He went on to say how he loves a good story and the evolution in Pikmin 2. "I mean, I guess I'm a sucker when it comes to story, right? But then for Pikmin 2, it's totally different. So they're on Earth, they're running around picking up trash on Earth. That's the storyline, if you recall. Literally, you're running around somebody's bathroom floor in Pikmin 2. And in one of those, you're running from debt collectors, if I have that right. But that first Pikmin, yeah, that's one I just treasure.”
Although Pikmin was the emotional highlight of their conversation, Cerny also discussed the other games he selected for his fantasy console. These included Atari's Defender--a nod to his early days in the industry--as well as Sony's The Legend of Dragoon, the narrative-focused indie game Firewatch, and the highly acclaimed action-roguelike Hades. Together, his choices span several decades and represent a broad look at the evolution of game design.
Cerny stressed that he wasn't choosing games as a hardware designer, thinking about technical benchmarks. "I should also say this is not me designing a console, right? Because if I [were] doing that, it would be the usual, 'Well, how does GTA 6 play on it?' I'm just looking at interesting games over five decades."
Cerny's career has taken him through major studios, having created Marble Madness at Atari and worked on Sonic 2 after helping establish the Sega Technical Institute. Even being most associated with PlayStation hardware and Sony’s first-party studios today, seeing those plant-powered heroes on his list was quite a surprise.
Source