Video game developer Shigeru Miyamoto is now a ripe old 70 years old.
Fan Twitter Mario Museum reminded fans of the anniversary, but we’ll share our own biography of the esteemed developer, and some of our stories about him.
Born in Sonobe, Kyoto, Miyamoto lived near rural settings, and grew up playing in forests and exploring caves. He graduated in Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts with an industrial design degree, but came out of it actually endeavoring for a career in manga.
Miyamoto’s big break came thanks to his father arranging a meeting with Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. In 1977, he got his start at Nintendo, which was still a toy company at that time, as apprentice in the planning department.
Miyamoto’s achievements in the industry are innumerable, so take this as an outline of the highlights of a decades long career. You will note that Miyamoto did not create every Nintendo game or takes credit for all their innovations. Miyamoto didn’t even work on all the Mario games. It’s more interesting to consider Miyamoto’s real role, as a steward of sorts for the way Nintendo makes games. That includes taking risks other companies don’t take, even ideas nobody has ever thought of before.
1981: Miyamoto works on the creative design, narrative, and gameplay for Donkey Kong, one of Nintendo’s first major hits in Japan and the rest of the world.
1983: Miyamoto leads the team that produces Super Mario Bros, conceived as the ultimate Famicom video game, before Nintendo comes up with the Famicom Disk System and memory mappers to expand the Famicom’s capabilities.
1986: Miyamoto is part of the team that produces The Legend of Zelda, the first major game that utilizes the abilities of the Famicom Disk System. In this capacity Miyamoto again defines the abilities of the hardware the game is based on. Ironically, the game is later backported to the NES.
1990: Miyamoto is one of the team leaders on Super Mario World, the first time he produces a Mario game as a launch game. This platformer introduces the idea of reexploring levels the player has already finished to find items and even discover secrets.
1996: Miyamoto leads development of Super Mario 64. While it is not the first 3D platformer, his team’s design comes to define how 3D games and the 3D camera for these games work.
2002: Miyamoto handpicks and guides Retro Studios in development of Metroid Prime. The first shooter Miyamoto works on is a radical reimagining of his mentor Gunpei Yokoi’s Metroid franchise, and introduces Nintendo to a more hardcore gaming audience.
2006: Miyamoto works on the development of the Wii console and its most successful game, Wii Sports. Through Wii Sports, Miyamoto reintroduces the ideas of gaming for the whole family, and successfully makes the case for motion controls.
2015: Taking a page from Walt Disney, Miyamoto steps away from game development to work on Super Nintendo World, a new miniature theme park franchise in partnership with Universal Parks. They set up parks in Universal Studios Parks in Japan, Hollywood, and Singapore.
2018: Nintendo has partners with Illumination Studios to make the Super Mario Bros animated movie. Miyamoto is co producer with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri.
Now, here’s some of our best stories of good old Miyamoto:
Miyamoto Asked Rare to Reduce the Amount of Killing GoldenEye
Who’s Bowser Jr.’s Real Mother? The Answer May Shock You: Miyamoto Reveals New Mario Trivia Facts
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto Answers Yes / No Questionnaire About His Life
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto States ‘Passive’ Gamers Take Gaming for Granted
Miyamoto: Developers Should Focus on Uniqueness, Not Hardware Power
Source: Twitter
