is a Japanese

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

er, producer and game director at

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in video games, he is the creator of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling game franchises of all time, including ''

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

,'' ''

The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...

'', ''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

'', ''

Star Fox ''Star Fox'' is a rail shooter, space flight simulator, and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic a ...

'' and '' Pikmin''. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold. Born in Sonobe, Kyoto, Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts. He originally sought a career as a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

artist, until developing an interest in video games. With the help of his father, he joined Nintendo in 1977 after impressing the president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, with his toys. He helped create art for the arcade game ''

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

'', and was later tasked with designing a new arcade game, leading to the 1981 game ''

''. Miyamoto's games '' Super Mario Bros.'' (1985) and ''

'' (1986) helped the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

dominate the

console game A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connec ...

market. His games have been flagships of every Nintendo

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

, from the arcade machines of the late 1970s to the present day. He managed Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development software division, which developed many Nintendo games, and he played an important role in the creation of other influential games such as ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'' (1996) and '' Metroid Prime'' (2002). Following the death of Nintendo president

Satoru Iwata Satoru Iwata (; December6, 1959July11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer and producer. Beginning in 2002, he was the fourth president of Nintendo, as well as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo of America from ...

in July 2015, Miyamoto became acting president alongside Genyo Takeda until he was formally appointed "Creative Fellow" a few months later.

Early life

Miyamoto was born on November 16, 1952, in the Japanese town of Sonobe,

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

. His parents were of "modest means", and his father taught English. From an early age, Miyamoto explored the natural areas around his home. He discovered a cave, and, after days of hesitation, went inside. His expeditions into the Kyoto countryside inspired his later work, particularly ''

'', a seminal video game. In the early 1970s, Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts with a degree in industrial design. He had a love for

and initially hoped to become a professional manga artist before considering a career in video games. He was influenced by manga's classic '' kishōtenketsu'' narrative structure, as well as

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

genre television shows. He was inspired to enter the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

by the 1978 arcade hit ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...

''.

Career

1977–1984: Arcade beginnings and ''Donkey Kong''

In the 1970s,

was a relatively small Japanese company that sold playing cards and other novelties, although it had started to branch out into toys and games in the 1960s. Through a mutual friend, Miyamoto's father arranged an interview with Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. After showing some of his toy creations, he was hired in 1977 as an apprentice in the planning department. Miyamoto helped create the art for the coin-operated

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

, ''

''. He first helped the company develop a game after the 1980 release '' Radar Scope''. The game achieved moderate success in Japan, but by 1981, Nintendo's efforts to break it into the North American video game market had failed, leaving them with a large number of unsold units and on the verge of financial collapse. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to convert unsold ''Radar Scope'' units into a new arcade game. He tasked Miyamoto with the conversion, about which Miyamoto has said self-deprecatingly that "no one else was available" to do the work. Nintendo's head engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, supervised the project. Miyamoto imagined many characters and plot concepts, but eventually settled on a

love triangle A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneo ...

between a gorilla, a carpenter, and a woman. He meant to mirror the rivalry between comic characters Bluto and

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl, although Nintendo's original intentions to gain rights to ''Popeye'' failed. Bluto evolved into an ape, a form Miyamoto claimed was "nothing too evil or repulsive". This ape would be the pet of the main character, "a funny, hang-loose kind of guy". Miyamoto also named "

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

" and the 1933 film ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' as influences. Miyamoto had high hopes for his new project, but lacked the technical skills to program it himself; instead, he conceived the game's concepts, then consulted technicians on whether they were possible. He wanted to make the characters different sizes, move in different manners, and react in various ways. However, Yokoi viewed Miyamoto's original design as too complex. Yokoi suggested using see-saws to catapult the hero across the screen but this proved too difficult to program. Miyamoto next thought of using sloped platforms and ladders for travel, with barrels for obstacles. When he asked that the game have multiple stages, the four-man programming team complained that he was essentially asking them to make the game repeat, but the team eventually successfully programmed the game. When the game was sent to Nintendo of America for testing, the sales manager disapproved of its vast differentiation from the

maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

and

shooter game Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...

s common at the time. When American staffers began naming the characters, they settled on "Pauline" for the woman, after Polly James, wife of Nintendo's

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. The city h ...

, warehouse manager, Don James. The playable character, initially "Jumpman", was eventually named for Mario Segale, the warehouse landlord. Interview with Don James starts at 51:16. Quotation occurs at 52:00. Quotation occurs at 2:25. These character names were printed on the American cabinet art and used in promotional materials. The staff also pushed for an English name, and thus it received the title ''

''. ''Donkey Kong'' was a success, leading Miyamoto to work on sequels such as '' Donkey Kong Jr.'' in 1982, and '' Donkey Kong 3'' in 1983. In January 1983, the 1982 Arcade Awards gave Donkey Kong the Best

Single-player video game A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

award and the Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year. In his next game, he gave Mario a brother: Luigi. He named the new game '' Mario Bros.'' Yokoi convinced Miyamoto to give Mario some superhuman abilities, namely the ability to fall from any height unharmed. Mario's appearance in ''Donkey Kong''—overalls, a hat, and a thick mustache—led Miyamoto to change aspects of the game to make Mario look like a plumber rather than a carpenter. Miyamoto felt that New York City provided the best setting for the game, with its "labyrinthine subterranean network of sewage pipes". To date, games in the ''Mario Bros.'' franchise have been released for more than a dozen platforms. Shortly after, Miyamoto also worked the character sprites and game design for the ''

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

'', ''

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

'', and ''

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

'' games on the NES.

1985–1989: NES/Famicom, ''Super Mario Bros.'', and ''The Legend of Zelda''

As Nintendo released its first home video game console, the Family Computer (rereleased in North America as the

), Miyamoto made two of the most popular titles for the console and in the history of video games as a whole: '' Super Mario Bros.'' (a sequel to ''Mario Bros.'') and ''

'' (an entirely original title). In both games, Miyamoto decided to focus more on gameplay than on high scores, unlike many games of the time. ''Super Mario Bros.'' largely took a linear approach, with the player traversing the stage by running, jumping, and dodging or defeating enemies. It was a culmination of Miyamoto's gameplay concepts and technical knowledge drawn from his experiences of designing ''Donkey Kong'', ''Mario Bros'', '' Devil World'' (1984), the side-scrolling

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a motor racing, racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more re ...

'' Excitebike'' (1984), and the 1985 NES port of side-scrolling

beat 'em up A beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in Side-scrolling video game, scrolling, 2D c ...

'' Kung-Fu Master'' (1984). This culminated in his concept of a platformer set in an expansive world that would have the player "strategize while scrolling sideways" over long distances, have aboveground and underground levels, and have colorful backgrounds rather than black backgrounds. By contrast, Miyamoto employed

nonlinear gameplay A video game with nonlinear gameplay presents players with challenges that can be completed in a number of different sequences. Each may take on (or even encounter) only some of the challenges possible, and the same challenges may be played in a ...

in ''The Legend of Zelda'', forcing the player to think their way through riddles and puzzles. The world was expansive and seemingly endless, offering "an array of choice and depth never seen before in a video game." With ''The Legend of Zelda'', Miyamoto sought to make an in-game world that players would identify with, a "miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer." He drew his inspiration from his experiences as a boy around

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, where he explored nearby fields, woods, and caves; each ''Zelda'' game embodies this sense of exploration. "When I was a child," Miyamoto said, "I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this." He recreated his memories of becoming lost amid the maze of sliding doors in his family home in ''Zelda''s labyrinthine dungeons. In February 1986, Nintendo released it as the launch game for the

's new Disk System peripheral. Miyamoto worked on various other different games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, including '' Ice Climber'' and '' Kid Icarus''. He also worked on sequels to both ''Super Mario Bros'' and ''The Legend of Zelda''. '' Super Mario Bros. 2'', released only in Japan at the time, reuses gameplay elements from ''Super Mario Bros.'', though the game is much more difficult than its predecessor. Nintendo of America disliked ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', which they found to be frustratingly difficult and otherwise little more than a modification of ''Super Mario Bros.'' Rather than risk the franchise's popularity, they canceled its stateside release and looked for an alternative. They realized they already had one option in '' Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic'' (Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic), also designed by Miyamoto. This game was reworked and released as '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' (not to be confused with the Japanese game of the same name) in North America and Europe. The Japanese version of ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' was eventually released in North America as ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels''. The successor to ''The Legend of Zelda'', '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'', bears little resemblance to the first game in the series. ''The Adventure of Link'' features side-scrolling areas within a larger world map rather than the bird's eye view of the previous title. The game incorporates a strategic combat system and more RPG elements, including an

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

s (EXP) system, magic spells, and more interaction with

non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

s (NPCs). Link has extra lives; no other game in the series includes this feature. ''The Adventure of Link'' plays out in a two-mode dynamic. The overworld, the area where the majority of the action occurs in other ''The Legend of Zelda'' games, is still from a top-down perspective, but it now serves as a hub to the other areas. Whenever Link enters a new area such as a town, the game switches to a side-scrolling view. These separate methods of traveling and entering combat are one of many aspects adapted from the

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

genre. The game was highly successful at the time, and introduced elements such as Link's "magic meter" and the Dark Link character that would become commonplace in future Zelda games, although the role-playing elements such as experience points and the platform-style side-scrolling and multiple lives were never used again in the official series. The game is also looked upon as one of the most difficult games in the ''Zelda'' series and 8-bit gaming as a whole. Additionally, ''The Adventure of Link'' was one of the first games to combine

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

and platforming elements to a considerable degree. Soon after, '' Super Mario Bros. 3'' was developed by

Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EAD and formerly known as Nintendo Research & Development No.4 Department (abbreviated as Nintendo R&D4), was the largest software development division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. It was pr ...

; the game took more than two years to complete. The game offers numerous modifications on the original ''Super Mario Bros.'', ranging from costumes with different abilities to new enemies. Bowser's children were designed to be unique in appearance and personality; Miyamoto based the characters on seven of his programmers as a tribute to their work on the game. The Koopalings' names were later altered to mimic names of well-known,

musicians in the English localization. In a first for the ''Mario'' series, the player navigates via two game screens: an overworld map and a level playfield. The overworld map displays an overhead representation of the current world and has several paths leading from the world's entrance to a castle. Moving the on-screen character to a certain tile will allow access to that level's playfield, a linear stage populated with obstacles and enemies. The majority of the game takes place in these levels.

1990–2000: SNES, Nintendo 64, ''Super Mario 64'', and ''Ocarina of Time''

A merger between Nintendo's various internal research and development teams led to the creation of

(Nintendo EAD), which Miyamoto eventually headed. Nintendo EAD had approximately fifteen months to develop '' F-Zero'', a launch game for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

. Miyamoto worked through various games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, one of them ''

''. For the game, programmer Jez San convinced Nintendo to develop an upgrade for the Super Nintendo, allowing it to handle three-dimensional graphics better: the

Super FX The Super FX is a coprocessor on the Graphics Support Unit (GSU) added to select Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game ROM cartridge, cartridges, primarily to facilitate advanced 2D and 3D graphics. The Super FX chip was design ...

chip. Using this new hardware, Miyamoto and Katsuya Eguchi designed the ''Star Fox'' game with an early implementation of three-dimensional graphics. Miyamoto produced two major ''Mario'' games for the system. The first, '' Super Mario World'', was a launch game. It features an overworld as in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' and introduces a new character, Yoshi, who appears in many other Nintendo games. The second ''Mario'' game for the system, ''

Super Mario RPG ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a 1996 role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was the final ''Mario (franchise) ...

'', went in a somewhat different direction. Miyamoto led a team consisting of a partnership between Nintendo and

Square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

; it took nearly a year to develop the graphics. The story takes place in a newly rendered Mushroom Kingdom based on the ''Super Mario Bros.'' series. Miyamoto also created ''The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past'' for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the third entry in the series. Dropping the side-scrolling elements of its predecessor, ''A Link to the Past'' introduced to the series elements that are still commonplace today, such as the concept of an alternate or parallel world, the Master Sword, and other new weapons and items. Shigeru Miyamoto mentored Satoshi Tajiri, guiding him during the creation process of ''Pocket Monsters: Red and Green'' (released in English as ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue''), the initial video games in the

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

series. He also acted as the producer for these games and worked on social gameplay concepts such as trading. Pokémon would go on to be one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world, spanning video games, anime, and various other merchandise. Miyamoto made several games for the Nintendo 64, mostly from his previous franchises. His first game on the new system, and one of its launch games, is '' Super Mario 64'', for which he was the principal director. In developing the game, he began with character design and the camera system. Miyamoto and the other designers were initially unsure of which direction the game should take, and spent months to select an appropriate camera view and layout. The original concept involved a fixed path much like an isometric-type game, before the choice was made to settle on a free-roaming 3D design. He guided the design of the Nintendo 64 controller in tandem with that of ''Super Mario 64''. Using what he had learned about the Nintendo 64 from developing ''Super Mario 64'' and '' Star Fox 64'', Miyamoto produced his next game, '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'', leading a team of several directors. Its engine was based on that of ''Super Mario 64'' but was so heavily modified as to be a somewhat different engine. Individual parts of ''Ocarina of Time'' were handled by multiple directors—a new strategy for Nintendo EAD. However, when things progressed slower than expected, Miyamoto returned to the development team with a more central role assisted in public by interpreter Bill Trinen. The team was new to 3D games, but assistant director Makoto Miyanaga recalls a sense of "passion for creating something new and unprecedented". Miyamoto went on to produce a sequel to ''Ocarina of Time'', known as '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask''. By reusing the

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

and graphics from ''Ocarina of Time'', a smaller team required only 18 months to finish ''Majora's Mask''. Miyamoto worked on a variety of ''Mario'' series spin-offs for the Nintendo 64, including '' Mario Kart 64'' and ''

Mario Party is a series of party video games created by Hudson Soft and owned by Nintendo. It features List of Mario franchise characters, characters from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or Artificial inte ...

''.

2000–2011: GameCube, Wii, and DS

Miyamoto produced various games for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

, including the launch game '' Luigi's Mansion''. The game was first revealed at Nintendo Space World 2000 as a technical demo designed to show off the graphical capabilities of the GameCube. Miyamoto made an original short demo of the game concepts, and Nintendo decided to turn it into a full game. ''Luigi's Mansion'' was later shown at E3 2001 with the GameCube console. Miyamoto continued to make additional ''Mario'' spinoffs in these years. He also produced the 3D game series '' Metroid Prime'', after the original designer Yokoi, a friend and mentor of Miyamoto's, died. In this time he developed '' Pikmin'' and its sequel '' Pikmin 2'', based on his experiences gardening. He also worked on new games for the ''Star Fox'', ''Donkey Kong'', ''F-Zero'', and ''The Legend of Zelda'' series on both the GameCube and the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

systems. With the help of

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...

, he guided the developers of '' Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''. He helped with many games on the Nintendo DS, including the remake of ''Super Mario 64'', titled ''

Super Mario 64 DS ''Super Mario 64 DS'' is a 2004 platformer, platform game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch game for the Nintendo DS. ''Super Mario 64 DS'' is a video game remake, remake of the 1996 Nintendo 64 game ''Super Mario 64,'' with new gr ...

'', and the new game '' Nintendogs'', a new franchise based on his own experiences with dogs. At E3 2005, Miyamoto showed off ''Nintendogs'' with Tina Wood, where he promised to show her "a few more tricks" backstage. Miyamoto played a major role in the development of the Wii, a console that popularized motion control gaming, and its launch game '' Wii Sports'', which helped show the capability of the new control scheme. Miyamoto went on to produce other titles in the ''Wii'' series, including ''

Wii Fit is a 2007 exergaming video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It features a variety of yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance mini-games for use with the Wii Balance Board peripheral. Designer Hiroshi Matsunaga ...

''. His inspiration for ''Wii Fit'' was to encourage conversation and family bonding. At E3 2004, Miyamoto unveiled '' The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'', appearing dressed as the protagonist Link with a sword and shield. Also released for the GameCube, the game was among the Wii's launch games and the first in the ''Zelda'' series to implement motion controls. He also helped with '' The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword'', which featured more accurate motion controls. He also produced two ''Zelda'' titles for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

, '' The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks''. These were the first titles in the series to implement touch screen controls. Miyamoto produced three major ''Mario'' titles for Wii from 2007 to 2010: '' Super Mario Galaxy'', '' New Super Mario Bros. Wii'', and '' Super Mario Galaxy 2''.

2011–present: Wii U, 3DS, Switch and other projects

Unlike in the 2000s, during which he was involved in many projects as producer, Miyamoto's activities in development were less pronounced in that decade with Miyamoto only producing '' Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon'' and '' Star Fox Zero''. Otherwise, Miyamoto was credited as General Producer, Executive Producer and Supervisor for most projects, which are positions with much less involvement in comparison to a producer. Following the death of Nintendo president

in July 2015, Miyamoto was appointed as an acting Representative Director, alongside Genyo Takeda. He was relieved of this position in September 2015 when Tatsumi Kimishima assumed the role of the company's president. He was also appointed the position of "Creative Fellow" at the same time, providing expert advice to Kimishima as a "support network" alongside Takeda. In his capacity as Creative Fellow, he provides feedback and guidance to game directors during development. In 2018, it was announced that Miyamoto would be working as a producer on '' The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' based on the ''Mario'' franchise by Illumination. Miyamoto was heavily involved with the design and construction of Super Nintendo World, a themed area featured at

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Destinations & Experiences, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operat ...

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

, and Universal Epic Universe and under construction at Universal Studios Singapore. Miyamoto oversaw the design and construction of the land and its attractions and acted as Nintendo's public representative on the land, hosting several promotional materials including a December 2020

Nintendo Direct Nintendo Direct is a series of online presentations or live shows produced by Nintendo, where information regarding the company's upcoming content or franchises is presented, such as information about games and consoles. The presentations began ...

in which he gave a tour of parts of the land.

Development philosophy

Miyamoto, and Nintendo as a whole, do not use focus groups. Instead, Miyamoto figures out if a game is fun for himself. He says that if he enjoys it, others will too. He elaborates, citing the conception of the ''Pokémon'' series as an example, "And that's the point – Not to make something sell, something very popular, but to love something, and make something that we creators can love. It's the very core feeling we should have in making games." Miyamoto wants players to experience '' kyokan''; he wants "the players to feel about the game what the developers felt themselves." He then tests it with friends and family. He encourages younger developers to consider people who are new to gaming, for example by having them switch their dominant hand with their other hand to feel the experience of an unfamiliar game. Miyamoto's philosophy does not focus on hyper-realistic graphics, although he realizes they have their place. He is more focused on the game mechanics, such as the choices and challenges in the game. Similar to how manga artists subverted their genre, Miyamoto hopes to subvert some of the basic principles he had popularized in his early games, retaining some elements but eliminating others. His game design philosophy typically prioritizes gameplay over storytelling. In a 1992 interview, he said "the important thing is that it feels good when you're playing it" and "that quality is not determined by the story, but by the controls, the sound, and the rhythm and pacing". However, he requires a "compatibility etweenthe story and gameplay ecausea good story can smooth over that discrepancy and make it all feel natural". * His use of real-time rendered cinematics (not prerendered video) serves both his own rapidly interactive development process with no rendering delays, and the player's interaction with the game's continuity. He prefers to change his games right until they are finalized, and to make "something unique and unprecedented". He prefers the game to be interactively fun rather than have elaborate film sequences, stating in 1999, "I will never make movie-like games"; therefore, the more than 90 total minutes of short cutscenes interspersed throughout ''Ocarina of Time'' deliver more interactive cinematic qualities. His vision mandates a rapid and malleable development process with small teams, as when he directed substantial changes to the overall game scenario in the final months of the development of ''Ocarina of Time''. He said, "The reason behind using such a simple process, as I am sure you have all experienced in the workshop, is that there is a total limit on team energy. There is a limit to the work a team can do, and there is a limit to my own energy. We opted not to use that limited time and energy on pre-rendered images for use in cinema scenes, but rather on tests on other inter-active elements and polishing up the game". For these reasons, he opposes prerendered cutscenes. Of ''Ocarina of Time'', he says "we were able to make use of truly cinematic methods with our camera work without relying on rerendered video" Miyamoto has occasionally been critical of the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

(RPG) genre. In a 1992 interview, when asked whether ''Zelda'' is an RPG series, he declined but classified it as "a real-time adventure"; he said he was "not interested in amesdecided by stats and numbers ut in preservingas much of that 'live' feeling as possible", which he said " action games are better suited in conveying". In 2003, he described his "fundamental dislike" of the RPG genre: "I think that with an RPG you are completely bound hand and foot, and can't move. But gradually you become able to move your hands and legs... you become slightly untied. And in the end, you feel powerful. So what you get out of an RPG is a feeling of happiness. But I don't think they're something that's fundamentally fun to play. With a game like that, anyone can become really good at it. With ''Mario'' though, if you're not good at it, you may never get good." While critical of the RPG gameplay system, he has occasionally praised certain aspects of RPGs, such as Yuji Horii's writing in the ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...

'' series, the "interactive cinematic approach" of the ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'' series, and Shigesato Itoi's dialogue in the ''

Mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

'' series.

Impact

''Time'' called Miyamoto "the Spielberg of video games" and "the father of modern video games," while ''The Daily Telegraph'' says he is "regarded by many as possibly the most important game designer of all time." ''GameTrailers'' called him "the most influential game creator in history." Miyamoto has significantly influenced various aspects of the medium. ''The Daily Telegraph'' credited him with creating "some of the most innovative, ground breaking and successful work in his field." Many of Miyamoto's works have pioneered new video game concepts or refined existing ones. Miyamoto's games have received outstanding critical praise, some being considered the greatest games of all time. Miyamoto's games have also sold very well, becoming some of the bestselling games on Nintendo consoles and of all time. As of 1999, his games had sold 250 million units and grossed billions of dollars. Calling him one of the few "video-game

auteur An (; , ) is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded and personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, thus manifesting the director's unique style or thematic ...

s," ''The New Yorker'' credited Miyamoto's role in creating the franchises that drove console sales, as well as designing the consoles themselves. They described Miyamoto as Nintendo's "guiding spirit, its meal ticket, and its playful public face," noting that Nintendo might not exist without him. ''The Daily Telegraph'' similarly attributed Nintendo's success to Miyamoto more than any other person. '' Next Generation'' listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", elaborating that, "He's the most successful game developer in history. He has a unique and brilliant mind as well as an unparalleled grasp of what gamers want to play."

Industry

Miyamoto's first major arcade hit ''Donkey Kong'' was highly influential. It spawned a number of other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal. Particularly novel, the vertical genre was initially referred to as "''Donkey Kong''-type" or "''Kong''-style", before finalizing as "platform". Earlier games either use storytelling or cutscenes, but ''Donkey Kong'' combines both to introduce the use of cutscenes to visually advance a complete story. It has multiple, distinct levels that progress the storyline. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...

'' called ''Donkey Kong'' "the most momentous" release of 1981. Miyamoto's best known and most influential game, ''Super Mario Bros.'', "depending on your point of view, created an industry or resuscitated a comatose one". ''The Daily Telegraph'' said it "set the standard for all future videogames". G4 noted its revolutionary gameplay and its role in "almost single-handedly" rescuing the video game industry after the North American video game crash of 1983. The game also popularized the side-scrolling video game genre. ''The New Yorker'' described Mario as the first folk hero of video games, with as much influence as

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' featured ''The Legend of Zelda'' as one of the 15 most influential games of all time, for being an early example of open world,

, and for its introduction of battery backup

saving Saving is income not spent, or deferred Consumption (economics), consumption. In economics, a broader definition is any income not used for immediate consumption. Saving also involves reducing expenditures, such as recurring Cost, costs. Methods ...

, laying the foundations for later

action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...

s like '' Metroid'' and

s like ''

'', while influencing most modern games in general. In 2009, ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' called ''The Legend of Zelda'' "no less than the greatest game of all time" on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it was "ahead of its time by years if not decades". At the time of the release of ''

'', the use of filled,

three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), position of a point (geometry), poi ...

polygons In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon' ...

in a console game was very unusual, apart from a handful of earlier titles. Due to its success, ''Star Fox'' has become a Nintendo franchise, with five more games and numerous appearances by its characters in other Nintendo games such as the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series. His game '' Super Mario 64'' defined the field of 3D game design, particularly with its use of a dynamic camera system and the implementation of its analog control. '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time''s gameplay system introduced features such as a target lock system and context-sensitive buttons that have since become common elements in 3D adventure games. The Wii, which Miyamoto played a major role in designing, is the first wireless motion-controlled video game console.

Critical reception

Miyamoto's games have received outstanding critical praise, and are widely considered among the greatest of all time. Games in Miyamoto's ''The Legend of Zelda'' series have received outstanding critical acclaim. ''A Link to the Past'' is a landmark game for Nintendo and is widely considered today to be one of the greatest video games of all time. ''Ocarina of Time'' is widely considered by critics and gamers alike to be one of the greatest video games ever made. ''Ocarina of Time'' was listed by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as the highest-rated video game in history, citing its

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

score of 99 out of 100. ''Twilight Princess'' was released to universal critical acclaim, and is the third highest-rated game for the Wii. It received perfect scores from major publications such as CVG, ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...

'', ''

'', GamesRadar, and

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

. Critical analysis of '' Super Mario Bros.'' has been extremely positive, with many touting it as one of the best video games of all time. In 2009, ''

'' put ''Super Mario Bros.'' in second place on its list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", behind ''The Legend of Zelda'', saying that it "remains a monument to brilliant design and fun gameplay". '' Super Mario 64'' is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time. According to Metacritic, '' Super Mario Galaxy'' and '' Super Mario Galaxy 2'' are the highest- and second-highest-rated games, respectively, for the Wii. A 1995 article in ''Maximum'' stated that "in gaming circles Miyamoto's name carries far more weight than

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's could ever sustain."

Commercial reception

More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold. Miyamoto's ''Mario'' series is, by far, the best-selling video game franchise of all time, selling over 800 million units. ''Super Mario Bros.'' is the sixth best-selling video game of all time. The game was the all-time bestselling video game for over 20 years until its lifetime sales were surpassed by '' Wii Sports''. ''Super Mario Bros.'', ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', and ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' were, respectively, the three bestselling games for the

. Levi Buchanan of IGN considered ''Super Mario Bros. 3''s appearance in the film '' The Wizard'' as a show-stealing element, and referred to the movie as a "90-minute commercial" for the game. '' Super Mario World'' was the bestselling game for the

. ''Super Mario 64'' was the bestselling Nintendo 64 game, and as of May 21, 2003, the game had sold eleven million copies. At the end of 2007, ''

'' reported sales of 11.8 million copies. As of September 25, 2007, it was the seventh best-selling video game in the United States with six million copies sold. By June 2007, ''Super Mario 64'' had become the second most popular game on Wii's

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

, behind ''Super Mario Bros.'' ''Super Mario Sunshine'' is the third best-selling GameCube game. The Mario series continued to see success in sales with entries like Super Mario 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS and New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World, and Mario Maker all topping the charts for the Wii U. The Mario series continued its success on the Nintendo Switch with titles like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Bros. Wonder selling tens of millions of copies. The original game in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series is the fifth-bestselling game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. '' The Wind Waker'' is the fourth bestselling GameCube game. '' Twilight Princess'' was commercially successful. In the PAL region, which covers most of Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe, ''Twilight Princess'' is the bestselling ''Zelda'' game ever. During its first week, the game was sold with three out of every four Wii purchases. The game had sold 4.52 million copies on the Wii as of March 1, 2008, and 1.32 million on the GameCube as of March 31, 2007. Moving forward, ''The Legend of Zelda'' series continued to prove a force for sales and critical acclaim with titles like ''The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword'' for the Wii in 2011, ''The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds'' for the Nintendo 3DS, and the titular titles on the Switch, ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' which sold 32.62 million copies on the Switch (in addition to modest sales on the Wii U version) and ''The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom'' which sold 21.04 million units. Both of these Zelda games rank among the top sellers for the Nintendo Switch. The ''Mario Kart'' series is currently the most successful racing game franchise of all time. ''Mario Kart'' titles tend to be among the bestselling games for their respective consoles; '' Super Mario Kart'' is the third bestselling video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, '' Mario Kart 64'' is the second bestselling Nintendo 64 game, '' Mario Kart: Double Dash'' is the second bestselling game for the

, and ''Mario Kart Wii'' is the second bestselling game for the Wii. ''"Mario Kart 8'' is the best selling game for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

and its enhanced edition, ''Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' remains the best selling game on the

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

as of April 2025. ''Mario Kart'' games similarly sell millions, such as in ''Mario Kart Super Circuit'' for the

, ''Mario Kart DS'' for the

, and ''Mario Kart 7'' for the Nintendo 3DS. Miyamoto produced '' Wii Sports'', another of the bestselling games of all time and part of the Wii series. ''

'' designed by Miyamoto, was the third best selling console game not packaged with a console, with 22.67 million copies sold. Outside of video games, Miyamoto produced '' The Super Mario Bros. Movie'', which ended up becoming the third-highest-grossing animated movie of all time, grossing $1.347 billion worldwide during its theatrical run as of July 14, 2023. It is also the highest-grossing film based on a video game (or video game series) by a huge margin, making it a huge statistical outlier; for context, the second-highest-grossing film based on a video game is ''

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. Like previous ''Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic'' games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting Rings (Sonic the Hedgehog), ri ...

'' (2024), which grossed $900 million less, for a total of about $492 million.

Awards and recognition

The name of the main character of the PC game '' Daikatana'', Hiro Miyamoto, is a homage to Miyamoto. The character Gary Oak from the ''Pokémon'' anime series is named Shigeru in Japan and is the rival of Ash Ketchum (called Satoshi in Japan). ''

'' creator Satoshi Tajiri was mentored by Miyamoto. In 1998, Miyamoto was honored as the first person inducted into the

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

. In 2006, Miyamoto was made a ''Chevalier'' (knight) of the French

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

by the French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. On November 28, 2006, Miyamoto was featured in ''TIME Asia'''s "60 Years of Asian Heroes". He was later chosen as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of the Year in both 2007 and also in 2008, in which he topped the list with a total vote of 1,766,424. At the

Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game developer, game developers and video game, games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by ...

, on March 7, 2007, Miyamoto received the Lifetime Achievement Award "for a career that spans the creation of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong to the company's recent revolutionary systems,

and Wii."

GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...

and

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

placed Miyamoto first on their lists for the "Top Ten Game Creators" and the "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time" respectively. In a survey of game developers by industry publication '' Develop'', 30% of the developers, by far the largest portion, chose Miyamoto as their "Ultimate Development Hero". Miyamoto has been interviewed by companies and organizations such as CNN's Talk Asia. He was made a Fellow of

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

at the British Academy Video Games Awards on March 19, 2010. In 2012, Miyamoto was also the first interactive creator to be awarded the highest recognition in Spain, the

Prince of Asturias Award The Princess of Asturias Awards (, ), formerly the Prince of Asturias Awards from 1981 to 2014 (), are a series of annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Princess of Asturias Foundation (previously the Prince of Asturias Foundation) to individuals ...

, in the category of Communications and Humanities. Miyamoto was awarded Japan's Person of Cultural Merit in 2019 in recognition for his contributions towards Japan's video game industry. He was the first person in the video game industry to receive the honor.

Personal life

Miyamoto is married to Yasuko, and they have two children. In 2010, his son was 25 and working at an advertising agency, while his daughter was 23 and studying zoology at the time. His children played video games in their youth, but he also made them partake in outside activities. Although he can speak some English, he is not fluent and prefers to speak in Japanese for interviews. Miyamoto does not generally sign autographs, out of concern that he would be inundated. He also does not appear on Japanese television, so as to minimize his chance of being recognized. More foreign tourists than Japanese people approach him. Miyamoto is

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

but usually favors his left hand, which is why his characters Mario and Link were designed to be left-handed. Miyamoto spends little time playing video games in his personal time, preferring to play the guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, and

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

. He avidly enjoys

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in African America ...

. Miyamoto said in a 2016 interview that when he had his own family he took up gardening with his wife, which influenced other games that he was making at the time. He has a Shetland Sheepdog named Pikku that provided the inspiration for ''Nintendogs''. He is also a semi-professional dog breeder. He has been quoted as stating, "Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

." He is alleged to have said that "a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." In 2023, fans deduced that it was taken from a quote by Siobhan Beeman, who worked on the '' Wing Commander'' franchise at Origin Systems. She first uttered the phrase at GDC in 1996, or something close to it, "a game’s only late until it ships, but it sucks forever." It somehow was misconstrued as a Miyamoto quote, circulating on the internet for many years. Miyamoto enjoys rearranging furniture in his house, even late at night. He also stated that he has a hobby of guessing the dimensions of objects, then checking to see if he was correct, and reportedly carries a

measuring tape A tape measure or measuring tape is a long, flexible ruler used to measure length or distance. It usually consists of a ribbon of cloth, plastic, fibreglass, or metal (usually - hard steel alloy) strip with linear measurement markings. Types Ta ...

with him everywhere. In December 2016, Miyamoto showcased his hobby on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

'', while also performing the ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme on guitar with

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

during the same show.

Works

Selected ludography

Other

References

External links

* * on Nintendo Miiverse
"Master of Play"
profile in the ''New Yorker'', December 20, 2010

May 25, 2008 * from the digital TV series ''Play Value'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Miyamoto, Shigeru 1952 births 20th-century Japanese artists 21st-century Japanese artists Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame inductees BAFTA fellows Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Game Developers Conference Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Golden Joystick Award winners Japanese animated film producers Japanese video game designers Japanese video game directors Japanese video game producers Living people Nintendo people People from Kyoto Prefecture Persons of Cultural Merit Japanese video game artists