Miyamoto, Shigeru (1952-…), a Japanese video game designer, is sometimes called the father of the modern video game. He has become known for creating games that appeal to a broad range of players through simple, innovative play; bright, colorful graphics (visual elements); and memorable stories and characters.
Miyamoto was born Nov. 16, 1952, in Sonobe (now part of Nantan), near Kyoto. He studied industrial design at the Kanazawa College of Art, graduating in 1975. In 1977, the Japanese company Nintendo hired Miyamoto as an artist.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 to manufacture Japanese playing cards called hanafuda, but in the 1960’s the company expanded its business to include games and toys. Miyamoto’s first major success came in 1981, with the release of his game Donkey Kong, one of the earliest widely popular arcade machines. An arcade machine is a coin-operated video game housed in a freestanding cabinet.
Miyamoto developed some of the most popular games for Nintendo’s video game consoles. Video game consoles are household computers built specifically for gaming. Super Mario Bros. (1985), a colorful and imaginative adventure, starred a plumber named Mario, first introduced as a carpenter named Jumpman in Donkey Kong. The Legend of Zelda (1986) enabled players to explore a fantasy world filled with monsters and dungeons, saving their progress across multiple gaming sessions. Miyamoto designed many sequels and spin-offs of these games. Notable examples include Super Mario 64 (1996) and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), both of which reimagined classic, two-dimensional Miyamoto games for play in three dimensions. Miyamoto also developed F-Zero (1990), Star Fox (1993), Pikmin (2001), Metroid Prime (2002), Nintendogs (2005), and many other titles.
Miyamoto has suggested that game designers should think creatively and try to make games that appeal to everyone, not just to gaming enthusiasts. He employed this philosophy in the design of the Wii, a video game console Nintendo released in 2006. At a time when other consoles focused on advanced graphics and computing power, the Wii appealed to non-gamers with simple, social play and easy-to-use, motion-sensitive controls.
See also Arcade game; Electronic game (The Nintendo revolution) (Renewed interest in consoles); Mario; Nintendo.
