 The game 's mechanics were inspired by the Nintendo Entertainment System games Fish played in his youth , particularly Super Mario and The Legend of <unk> . Fish cited <unk> <unk> 's Ico as the game 's third inspiration , and he sought to emulate its feeling of nostalgic and isolated loneliness . Fish also sought to emulate <unk> 's " design by <unk> " philosophy , where the Ico development team would periodically remove parts of the game so as to leave only what was essential to their vision . In this way , ideas like player health and object weight puzzles were gradually struck from Fez . Fish made a personal challenge of designing a game without relying on " established mechanics " . As such , Fez was always a peaceful game and there was never an enemy coded into the game . So as to better emulate <unk> Miyazaki 's signature " open blue sky " , " feel @-@ good " atmosphere , Fish watched all of the director 's films one weekend early in the development cycle . 
