8 Things To Know About Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto is the greatest video designer ever and the odds-on favorite to take over Nintendo. But can he once again save the video game company?
With the sudden death of Nintendo's president, Saturo Iwata, Nintendo needs a new leader, and most bets are on Shigeru Miyamoto, the game designer who in many ways is responsible for Nintendo's mere existence.
In the late 1970s and early 80s, Nintendo was trying to break into the North American video game market. It was struggling and on the brink of bankruptcy. Miyamoto was tasked with converting a bunch of unsold arcade consoles for a failed game called Radar Scope into a new title. Despite being an artist and not a programmer, Miyamoto eventually designed Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong would not only be a huge hit, but would spawn Nintendo's flagship character, Mario. By 2012, over 500 million copies of Mario games had been sold, and recent releases for the Wii U have pushed that number higher.
Many credit Miyamoto with doing a simple thing: starting with a story instead of a game. The love triangle between a monkey, a plumber, and a princess gave just enough humanity to a game about jumping over barrels to give it the life many early games lacked.
Miyamoto went on to create or produce most of Nintendo's biggest games. Given that Nintendo is at a new crossroads, it seems comforting to turn to the man that previously pulled them from the brink. Not only has Nintendo lost Iwata, but the company is struggling to adjust to mobile gaming. With the Nintendo DS, the most successful mobile gaming console in history, struggling to compete against phones and tablets, and the Wii U struggling to compete against more powerful consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, Nintendo needs a fresh take.
Miyamoto, who has always put story and gameplay first, could be the one to do it. On the other hand, Nintendo is not struggling with gameplay. They are struggling with vision in platforms and in business decisions. Perhaps taking their best game designer away from the front lines is a bad idea. Only time will tell. But before Miyamoto likely takes the reigns. Here are some things you need to know about him.
Miyamoto wasn't hired as a developer. He was a concept artist. The tiny picture above is his signature looks artsy enough to me. He went to Nintendo because of its wide variety of products. (They were a playing card and toy manufacturer at the time.) It wasn't until he started designing characters for early video games that he had any experience in the genre. He had no experience at all as a developer or an engineer when he made his first games.
Miyamoto had to convince two Seattle bars to even try Donkey Kong. After just a few days, they had hundreds of dollars worth of quarters and a phenomenon was born.
Miyamoto would have been a success had he only made Donkey Kong, but it was Nintendo's consoles, beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), that made him a real legend. He took the Mario character, gave him a brother, and created the Mario Brothers franchise. And then he went on a roll.
The Legend of Zelda, in many ways the first RPG game, launched another successful multi-decade franchise. Miyamoto's emphasis on character and puzzle over combat would lead to whole new genres of games. Zelda was the first standalone game to sell a million copies.
With the launch of the Nintendo 64 in 1996, Miyamoto would take on more of a producer role, but he took a hands-on approach to Nintendo's Zelda entry for the Nintendo 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It is the highest-rated game in history on both Metacritic and Gamerankings.
Miyamoto also invented the first fitness video game of note for the Wii Fit. The US Navy has even used the Wii Fit for physical therapy, as you can see here.
Miyamoto counts Paul McCartney among his friends. No word on whether McCartney plays Mario Kart, but he did write the score for the Activision video game Destiny.
People have referred to him as the Spielberg of games, the Walt Disney of games, and the Stan Lee of games. IGN called him simply the best game designer of all time.
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