Shigeru Miyamoto Short Bio And Facts
He was born on November 16, 1952, as Shigeru Miyamoto. He works at Nintendo as one of its representative directors and is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and director. He is credited with creating some of the most well-known and successful video game franchises, including Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and Pikmin. He is considered one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games.
Shigeru Miyamoto Family
Wife Name: Yasuko Miyamoto
Dad: Iijake Miyamoto
Mom: Hinako Aruha’s
Children: Kenshi Miyamoto’s
Shigeru Miyamoto Career
After earning his degree in industrial design, Miyamoto met with Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of “Nintendo,” a Japanese company that makes playing cards, toys, games, and other novelty items. After seeing Miyamoto’s toys, Yamauchi hired him as an apprentice in the company’s planning division in 1977.
He eventually rose to the position of “Nintendo’s” first artist and contributed to creating the artwork for the arcade video game “Sheriff,” produced by Nintendo R&D1 in 1979.
The first game he worked on was the cabinet arcade game “Radar Scope,” which was released in Japan in December 1979 and internationally in November 1980. Although the game did rather well in Japan, its total commercial failure left “Nintendo” on the verge of a catastrophic financial collapse.
In these conditions, Yamauchi assigned him to convert a sizable quantity of unsold “Radar Scope” copies into a new arcade game. This marked the creation of “Donkey Kong,” a classic platform game that Nintendo released on April 22, 1981.
The first time this happened in creating a video game was when Miyamoto focused on creating a plot before concentrate on technical and programming details. Due to “Donkey Kong’s” enormous popularity, Miyamoto was able to begin work on two of its sequels, “Donkey Kong Jr.” (1982) and “Donkey Kong 3.” (1983).
Then, he transformed the character of Jumpman from “Donkey Kong” into Mario and gave him superhuman abilities to develop the platform game “Mario Bros.” In the game, Luigi, Mario’s brother, was inserted by him.
The ‘Super Mario Advance’ series includes ‘Mario Bros.’ as a mini-game that debuted in 1983. Over the years, the game was re-released on several platforms and enjoyed limited popularity.
Then he produced ‘Super Mario Bros.,’ a follow-up to ‘Mario Bros.,’ which is still one of his most impressive works. It was released in Japan and North America in 1985, and Australia and Europe followed a few years later.
The enormous success of “Super Mario Bros.” prompted the creation of several sequels over the years, as well as a larger franchise that included the anime film “Super Mario Bros: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!” (1986), a TV show called “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show,” and a feature film called “Super Mario Bros.” (1993).
The Legend of Zelda, another outstanding work by Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, was released by “Nintendo” on February 21, 1986. Over 6.5 million copies of the action-adventure video game were sold, making it a best-seller for “Nintendo.”
The expansion of the “Legend of Zelda” series, which has won praise from both reviewers and the general public over the years, was inspired by “The Legend of Zelda,” which is frequently included among the best and most influential video games.
Miyamoto began leading “Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development” as his duties at “Nintendo” expanded.
He contributed to the 1993 rail shooter video game “Star Fox,” which Nintendo later turned into its second three-dimensional game. As a result of its continued success, the “Star Fox” franchise—which includes sequels, spin-offs, and several media adaptations—was created.
“Metroid Prime,” “Pikmin,” and “F-Zero” are a few other well-known video games and television shows on which Miyamoto worked.
In 1997, he was named the first video game developer honoured in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences “Hall of Fame.”
He played a crucial role in the creation of Nintendo’s Wii, a home video game platform unveiled on November 19, 2006. He was made a Chevalier (knight) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres that year by French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.
Following the passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in July 2015, he was appointed, along with Genyo Takeda, as an acting Representative Director of the company. He served in that capacity until September 2015. He was also formally appointed as the company’s “Creative Fellow.”
Shigeru Miyamoto Achievements & Awards
- Donkey Kong was the best-selling game for “Nintendo” in the summer of 1983 after becoming a great success and gaining enormous popularity in the US and Canada. It won the 1983 Arcade Awards for “Best Solitaire Videogame” (1982).
- Super Mario Bros. was released in 1983 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, an 8-bit home video game platform created by Nintendo. The game not only won praise from critics but also succeeded in maintaining its title as the best-selling single platform game of all time for about three decades.
- Super Mario Bros. was voted the “best game of all time” in a 2005 IGN survey. Additionally, it assisted in restoring the 1980s American video game market, which had collapsed.
Shigeru Miyamoto Personal Life
Yasuko, Miyamoto’s wife, and their two kids. His daughter was 23 and studying biology at the time, while his son was 25 and employed by an advertising business. While growing up, his kids played electronic games, but he also forced them to go outside. He can speak some English, but he is not fluent. Therefore he prefers to use Japanese when giving interviews.
Miyamoto typically declines autograph requests out of fear of being deluged. For privacy, he also avoids appearing on Japanese television. He gets approached by more international tourists than Japanese folks.
He prefers to play the guitar, mandolin, and banjo instead of video games in his spare time. Miyamoto has a Shetland Sheepdog named Pikku, who served as the inspiration for Nintendogs. He is also a semi-professional dog breeder. He quoted saying, “Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock and roll.”
Even in the middle of the night, Miyamoto likes to rearrange the furniture in his home. He also admitted that he enjoys estimating an object’s dimensions before checking to see if he is right and always carries a measuring tape. In December 2016, Miyamoto demonstrated his hobby on The Tonight Show, Starring Jimmy Fallon, while also playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on guitar with The Roots.
