Shigeru Miyamoto

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Shigeru Miyamoto
宮本 茂
Shigeru Miyamoto in 2026
Shigeru Miyamoto in 2026
Born November 16, 1952 (age 73)[1]
Super Mario–related roles Representative director, game developer, artist, game designer
Years active 1977–present[1]
Employer Nintendo
“What if, on a crowded street, you look up and see something appear that should not, given what we know, be there. You either shake your head and dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than we think. Perhaps it really is a doorway to another place. If you choose to go inside you may find many unexpected things...”
—Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto (in Japanese: 宮本 茂) is a Japanese video game designer, producer, artist, and game director at Nintendo,[2] best known for being the creator of the Super Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, and Pikmin franchises, among others. He joined the company as a character artist and product designer in 1977.[3] In Japan in 2019, Miyamoto was recognized as a Person of Cultural Merit,[4] and in 2026, he received the Order of Culture award,[5] being the first video game developer to receive both awards. Miyamoto currently holds the position of Executive Fellow and Representative Director at Nintendo.[6]

Biography[edit]

In his early childhood, Miyamoto was raised in the small, rural town of Sonobe, Japan, near his current home of Kyoto, about ten blocks from Nintendo's headquarters. His home lacked a television, so he would spend a large amount of his leisure time exploring the surrounding countryside. He would also make his own toys and cartoon flip-books.[7] Miyamoto often attributes his experiences exploring the countryside as having inspired the creation of the series The Legend of Zelda.[8]

Miyamoto wanted to make things that would astonish the world. In elementary school, he considered becoming a puppeteer or a painter, and he later found interest in making toys. He also learned how to play the guitar and banjo. Miyamoto decided to study industrial design at Kanazawa College of Art in 1970. Miyamoto attended his classes only half of the time, and it took him five years to graduate.

Miyamoto was 24 years of age when his father contacted an old friend, named Hiroshi Yamauchi, at the toy company Nintendo. Yamauchi requested to see some toy designs, to which Miyamoto responded by returning with a bag of products and a portfolio. Miyamoto became Nintendo's first staff artist in 1977, working on designing characters and artwork for arcade games.[9][3] His first work involved making the casings for the Color TV-Game line of plug-and-play consoles. Some of Miyamoto's first times working on games themselves were Nintendo's Sheriff and Space Firebird, from 1979 and 1980, respectively.[9]

In 1980, Nintendo of America was looking for a successful video game to establish itself in the arcade market. Nintendo ordered a large number of units of the arcade game Radar Scope, but by the time the machines arrived, interest in the game began to decline. Following this failure, Nintendo sought a game that the unused machines could be converted into easily. Yamauchi called Miyamoto into his office, as he was the only staff member available at the time, and questioned him about his knowledge on the video game concept, to which Miyamoto claimed to have loved video games in college. Gunpei Yokoi, then lead of Nintendo's engineering team, was assigned to oversee the project. The two went on to create the highly successful game Donkey Kong.[10]

With Donkey Kong's success, Miyamoto was given his own team: the Creative Department, later known as Nintendo EAD and then Nintendo EPD. Miyamoto became Yokoi's protégé and the two developed a close relationship, with Yokoi often giving Miyamoto advice on game design. Together they came up with the idea for Miyamoto's next game, Mario Bros.,[11][12] a competitive experience inspired by the 1982 game Joust.[9] In 1985, Miyamoto, along with Takashi Tezuka, developed Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda simultaneously. The respective series that started from these games would go on to become two of Nintendo's main flagship series.

While Miyamoto has mentioned that he finds it difficult to say who his favorite Nintendo character is, he has stated that some of his more beloved favorites include Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Zelda, Toad, Link, and Donkey Kong.[13] On separate occasions, he has cited Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario World as being his favorite game.[14][15] His favorite games for the NES are Baseball, Golf, and Mario Bros.[16] Miyamoto's favorite non-Nintendo game is Angry Birds.[17]

Miyamoto starred in a Mega64 sketch about New Super Mario Bros.[18] Despite being an influential figure in video games and responsible for multi-million dollar franchises, Miyamoto is said to be very humble, insisting on settling for an average income. Miyamoto is also ambidextrous, though he favors his left hand and likes to make characters that are left-handed (Bowser Jr. and Link being two examples). He rides his bike or walks to work each day, usually with his wife, whom he met on the job (she was a general manager for his current occupation).

Following the in-office passing of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in July 2015, Miyamoto worked alongside Genyo Takeda as Representative Director of Nintendo,[2] both leading the company until Tatsumi Kimishima was inaugurated as the next president of Nintendo in September of the same year. Following Kimishima's inauguration, Miyamoto assumed the position of Creative Fellow, later Executive Fellow.

Miyamoto has stated his interest in bringing Super Mario characters to a wider audience, believing that Nintendo should be seen for its characters rather than simply as a video game company.[19][5] His most recent projects with Nintendo, including Super Mario Run, Pikmin Bloom, the films The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and the Super Nintendo World theme park, exemplify this goal.

Super Mario–related work[edit]

Games[edit]

Films[edit]

Other works[edit]

Awards and honors[edit]

Gallery[edit]

Photos[edit]

Hand-drawn artwork[edit]

Miscellaneous[edit]

Quotes[edit]

  • "Who knows how Mario will look like in the future. Maybe he'll wear metallic clothes!" – 1991[32]
  • "Videogames are bad for you? That's what they said about rock 'n' roll."[33]
  • "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."[34] (Possibly apocryphal)[35][36]
  • "No, my favorite video game character is not Mario, it's Pacman."[sic][37]
  • "A great idea can solve multiple problems at the same time."[38][better source needed]
  • "I'll put my neck out and say that PlayStation games sound good, but when you watch them in action they're not finished at all in my opinion. A game is finished when a creator decides it is."[39]
  • "I don't want to make games where the player is just a puppet in the hands of the creator, playing exactly as scripted. Trying to get players to become better and better at your game is certainly one valid approach to making games, but for me, I want to present games to players that are more like pure toys: something you can use, explore, and play with freely."[40]
“The most pivotal aspect [of Donkey Kong Country Returns's development] was having the chance to sit down with Mr. Miyamoto and get an understanding from him what he wanted to see, what he hoped to see with DK. He never at any time stood up and said, 'This is what it will have. This is your checklist. This is what I want period.' He just offered feedback and guidance and mentorship, and that's one of the things that made Mr. Miyamoto so valuable as a resource. He can be incredibly demanding at times and there have been plenty of occasions where he just flipped the table over and said 'start again', but you can tell he wanted to happen. He wanted to see DK in a new adventure. I'll never forget as we were wrapping up our conversation with him in Kyoto, he said in English, 'Please take care of DK. He is my friend.'”
—Bryan Walker[41]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Annual Report 2025 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. Nintendo Co., Ltd. Page 42. Retrieved July 17, 2026.
  2. ^ a b July 13, 2015. Notification of Death and Personnel Change of a Representative Director (President). Nintendo. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  3. ^ a b Pelland, Scott, George Sinfield, Leslie Swan, and Dan Owsen, editors (1991). The Nintendo Mario Mania Player's Guide. Redmond: Nintendo of America. Page 30.
  4. ^ a b Allen Kim (October 29, 2019). ‘Mario Bros.’ creator Shigeru Miyamoto to be given one of Japan’s highest honors. CNN. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c October 23, 2026. 【快挙】任天堂・宮本茂氏が「文化勲章」を受章、ゲーム関係者としては初。“ゲームが文化になった50年”についても触れる会見の質疑応答を詳細に掲載. Denfaminico Gamer (Japanese). Retrieved October 23, 2026.
  6. ^ Corporate Information. Nintendo Co., Ltd. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  7. ^ Paumgarten, Nick (December 12, 2010). Master of Play. The New Yorker. Retrieved October 24, 2026.
  8. ^ June 19, 2015. Q&A;: Shigeru Miyamoto On The Origins Of Nintendo's Famous Characters. NPR. Archived June 19, 2015, 15:24:26 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 24, 2026.
  9. ^ a b c Shigeru Miyamoto – 2000 Developer Interview. Shmuplations. Retrieved October 24, 2026.
  10. ^ Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-7615-3643-7. Page 155-160.
  11. ^ Iwata Asks: Super Mario 25th, volume 1, part 5 "You're Pretty Negative". Nintendo of America. Retrieved October 24, 2026.
  12. ^ Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros Wii, volume 1, part 2 "The Reason Mario Wears Overalls". Nintendo of America. Retrieved October 24, 2026.
  13. ^ Jevon Phillips (December 23, 2011). Nintendo mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto isn’t ready for ‘game over’. Los Angeles Times. Archived December 23, 2011, 21:03:22 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  14. ^ Samuel Claiborn (June 15, 2012). This Is Shigeru Miyamoto's Favorite Mario Game. IGN. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived May 24, 2015, 10:50:15 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  15. ^ Mike Snider (November 8, 2010). Q&A: 'Mario' creator Shigeru Miyamoto. USA Today. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived November 11, 2010, 14:01:07 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  16. ^ Jason Cipriano (March 8, 2013). Miyamoto Discusses 'Hyrule Historia' Highlights And Names His Favorite Famicom Games. MTV Multiplayer. Archived December 25, 2013, 02:55:38 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 27, 2026.
  17. ^ Daniel Cooper (April 12, 2012). Shigeru Miyamoto admits he's a fan of Angry Birds, just like the rest of us. Engadget. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived November 11, 2020, 21:09:30 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  18. ^ March 12, 2007. Mega64: New Super Mario Bros. Video. Mega64. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  19. ^ Kat Bailey (February 20, 2023). Interview: Shigeru Miyamoto Opens Up About Super Nintendo World and Nintendo's Future. IGN. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  20. ^ April 4, 2023. Mario Is Moving Away From Mobile Games, Reveals Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived April 4, 2023, 15:26:22 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  21. ^ Back of the VHS cover for Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!
  22. ^ May 3, 2022. The 28th Annual TEA Thea Awards Program. Themed Entertainment Association. Page 52. Retrieved June 17, 2026 from Issuu.
  23. ^ List of Hall of Fame award winners. Retrieved June 17, 2026 from https://www.interactive.org/.
  24. ^ June 16, 2002. Miyamoto. Archived December 29, 2005, 04:15:19 UTC from G4TV.com via Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  25. ^ Matt Casamassina (March 8, 2005). GDC 2005: Live at the Walk of Game. IGN. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived February 3, 2017, 07:43:01 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  26. ^ François Bliss de la Boissière (March 14, 2006). From Paris with Love: de Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Game Developer. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  27. ^ Will Wright (November 13, 2006). 60 YEARS OF ASIAN HEROES. Hong Kong: Time Asia. Page 72 and 73. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  28. ^ List of Lifetime Achievement Award winners. Retrieved June 17, 2026 from https://gamechoiceawards.com/.
  29. ^ List of Fellowship award winners. Retrieved June 17, 2026 from https://www.bafta.org/.
  30. ^ rawmeatcowboy (May 23, 2012). REPORT - Shigeru Miyamoto awarded Spanish Prize for Communication and Humanities. GoNintendo. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  31. ^ Verity Townsend (July 3, 2024). Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto receives lifetime achievement award. Automaton Media. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  32. ^ August 1991. Mario Mania. Nintendo Power. Page 31.
  33. ^ David Shelf (1993). Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World. Random House.
  34. ^ Simon Parkin (April 27, 2012). Shigeru Miyamoto: A rushed game is forever bad. The Guardian. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived July 1, 2014, 23:32:49 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  35. ^ Rory Young (March 20, 2022). Famous Miyamoto Quote About Delayed Games Could Be Misattributed. GameRant. Retrieved June 17, 2026. (Archived March 20, 2022, 21:44:36 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  36. ^ November 21, 2023. Shigeru Miyamoto never said his most famous quote reveals new research. Metro. Retrieved August 15, 2026.
  37. ^ "No, mi personaje de videojuegos preferido no es Mario, es Pacman."[sic] – David Doñas Salinas ''Metroide'' (2002). Biografía Shigeru Miyamoto. Spanish. Archived December 13, 2002, 07:47:18 UTC from http://usuarios.lycos.es via Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  38. ^ http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo_direct
  39. ^ Colin McIsaac (March 15, 2014). Miyamoto Says PlayStation Games Felt Incomplete. Gamnesia. Archived February 12, 2016, 03:33:03 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  40. ^ Terebigēmu―Denshi Yūgitaizen. Retrieved June 17, 2026 from shmuplations. (Archived March 8, 2017, 22:18:04 UTC via Wayback Machine.)
  41. ^ October 2, 2021. #109 - Bryan Walker Interview (Senior Producer At Retro Studios). KIWI TALKZ. Retrieved June 17, 2026.

External links[edit]