Shigeru Miyamoto

"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 is the man who invented Mario born in November 16, 1952. He grew up near his current home of Kyoto, about ten blocks from Nintendo headquarters. He rides his bike, or walks to work each day, usually with his wife, whom he met on the job (She worked in general administrations.). He joined the industry as a designer for character art in 1977. He has worked on many famous Mario games, and the well known Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, Doki Doki Panic.

Miyamoto was born and raised in the small, rural town of Sonobe, Japan. His home lacked a television, so he would spend a large amount of his time exploring the surrounding countryside. One time, he discovered a large series of caves. He returned with a lantern and spend the summer spelunking.

Miyamoto wanted to make things that would astonish the world. He considered becoming a puppeteer, a painter, and later made toys. He decided to study industrial design at Kanazawa Munici College of Industrial Arts and Crafts in 1970. He only attended class half the time, so it took him five years to graduate.

Miyamoto was 24, and had shaggy hair when he had his father contact an old toy company friend, named Hiroshi Yamauchi. The company's name was Nintendo. Yamauchi requested to see some toy designs, to which Miyamoto responded to by returning with a bag of goodies, and an amazing portfolio. Miyamoto became Nintendo's first staff artist. This was in 1977.

Three years later, in 1980, Yamauchi called Miyamoto into his office, and announced that he wanted a video game to be created. He questioned Miyamoto about his knowledge on this new concept. Miyamoto claimed to have loved video games in college. After some licenses fell through, Donkey Kong was born.

With Donkey Kong's success, Miyamoto was given his own team: R&D 4, later known as Nintendo EAD. They would go on to make some of Nintendo's most memorable games, including Mario.

Awards and Honors

 * Inductee to the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame
 * A star on the Walk of Game
 * French Order of Arts and Literature
 * Featured in Time Asia's "60 Years of Asian Heroes"
 * GDC's Lifetime Achievement Award
 * Subject of an episode of Icons

Trivia

 * Miyamoto did not attend his college classes half the time, causing him to stay a full five years.
 * Miyamoto is ambidextrous. He favors his left hand and likes to make characters that are left handed.
 * Miyamoto can play both the guitar and banjo.
 * In the Japanese version of Pokémon Red and Blue, Blue is named Shigeru after Miyamoto.