A Gaming Icon

A Small Biography
The man officially known as Shigeru Miyamoto is an icon in the gaming industry. He is known throughout the gaming world for the countless contributions he has made and accomplishments he’s done. If it weren’t for him, the gaming industry just wouldn’t be the same just because of his genius and incredible imagination!

Shigeru Miyamoto was born in the small Japanese town Sonobe-cho in Kyoto on November 16, 1952. As a child, he had a strong passion for drawing, painting pictures, and explore the vastness of the landscape surrounding his home.

In 1970, he attended the Kanazawa Munici College of Industrial Arts and Crafts. He did graduate in 5 years, although he has claimed that a lot of his studies weren’t exactly “priorities” at times because of his obsession with “doodling.” Because of his father, in 1977, armed with a degree in industrial design, he was able to score an exclusive meeting with former Nintendo of Japan President Hiroshi Yamauchi.

He would be hired by Yamauchi to be a “staff artist” and was assigned to take an apprentice position in the planning department.

In 1980, the fairly new American branch of the company would release an arcade game known as “Radarscope.” They had hoped this machine would be the catalyst to a long standing reign of success for them, but it flopped, proving otherwise.

With Nintendo of America in desperate need for a smash-hit game, Yamauchi gave Miyamoto the daunting task of creating a game that would single-handedly make or break the company. Oh the pressure!

Nevertheless, after Miyamoto continually worked with some of the company’s engineers since he had no prior programming training himself, and composing the music to the game by himself on a small electronic keyboard, Donkey Kong was born!

Donkey Kong was a total overnight success. Out of the three original characters that Miyamoto created to star in the game, Donkey Konga, Mario and Pauline, Mario has undoubtedly experienced the most success. Since his debut in the original Donkey Kong, Mario has made appearances in over 100 games spanning over a dozen gaming platforms!

His Involvement With Other Games
• Donkey Kong – Producer
• Mario Bros. – Producer
• Super Mario Bros. – Producer
• The Legend of Zelda – Producer
• Super Mario Bros. 2 – Producer
• Super Mario Bros. 3 – Producer
• Super Mario World – Producer
• Kirby’s Dream Land – Producer
• Earthbound – Supervisor
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – Producer
• Star Fox – Producer
• Super Mario 64 – Game Director
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Producer
• The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker – Producer
• Metroid Prime – Producer
• Pikmin – Producer
• Pikmin 2 – Producer
• Pilotwings – Designer

Some Keynote Facts
• Other inventions by Miyamoto are the L/R buttons, and the analog stick
• He was the first member ever to be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame in 1998, an award that outlines his lifetime achievement and dramatic effect on gaming
• In March 2005, he was among the first honorees to receive a star on the Walk of Game, a section of San Francisco’s Metreon Center that is modeled after Hollywood’s Walk of Fame

Quotes
“What if everything you see is more than what you see – the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn’t? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it is really a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you’ll find many unexpected things.”

“I don’t know what Mario will look like next; maybe he will wear metallic clothing.”

“Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock and roll. ”

“A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever.”