Shigeru Miyamoto

 

 

 

 

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game creator and designer.  Few outside the video game culture know who he is, but they are certainly familiar with his work.  His impact has been felt since the early '80s and continues to be a driving force within gaming.

 

 

Growing Up

 

Born in on November 16th, 1952, Shigeru Miyamoto grew up in the Sonobe, a town in the Funai District of Kyoto.  It has since merged with the neighboring towns of Yagi, Hiyoshi and Miyama to form the city of Nantan.  As a child, Miyamoto spent the majority of his time playing outside, exploring nearby caves, lakes and whatever else there was to discover in the natural world.  He also enjoyed drawing and painting pictures.  His childhood experiences would later be the inspiration for many of his games and the components within those games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going to College

 

In 1970, Shigeru Miyamoto enrolled at the Kanazawa Art and Industrial Design University.  At this point in his life, Miyamoto was still very much an avid drawer and admits to not making his studies his number one priority.  He graduated five years later with a degree in industrial design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting a Job

 

In 1977, after having taken some time off upon having graduated with his degree, Shigeru Miyamoto decided to meet with a friend of his father's to see about getting a job.  This man's name was Hiroshi Yamauchi and was the president of company called Nintendo.  Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889 as a Hanafuda card maker.  In 1956, Nintendo began entering other markets.  They started a taxi business, a lovel hotel chain, a television network and a food company, selling instant rice.  It was not until 1974 that Nintendo entered the electronics market, after all of their previous endeavors had failed, with the exception of the Hanafuda cards, which still remained strong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nintendo Breaks into Video Games with the Help of Shigeru Miyamoto

 

When Hiroshi Yamauchi, Fusajiro Yamauchi's grandson, hired Shigeru Miyamoto to work for Nintendo, he was hired as a staff artist and assigned to work in the planning office.  Miyamoto's main job there was to design the art to go on the arcade cabinets.  Nintendo's first big jump into the arcade scene was made with a game called Radar Scope.  It was a complete failure and Nintendo needing something to help them recover from this huge blow.  Yamauchi asked Miyamoto to come up with a game that would re-establish the company's standing.  The game that Miyamoto designed and created with the help of Nintendo's engineers and programmers was a game called Donkey Kong.  Nintendo quickly converted its supply of Radar Scope cabinets to Donkey Kong cabinets.  The game was a success.  It was the overnight sensation that Nintendo needed.

 

 

 

 

 

FamiCom/Nintendo Entertainment System

 

It was with this success that Nintendo decided to follow in the steps of Atari and other home computer console makers by designing the Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as the NES.  It was called the FamiCom in Japan.  FamiCom was short for "Family Computer."  In 1983, Nintendo finally released the FamiCom in Japan.  The FamiCom had seen great success in Japan, so Nintendo decided to allow its American branch, Nintendo of America, to release the system there, but only after testing the waters with a limited release in NYC in 1985.  Nintendo made the decision to make an official North American release and so the NES was available on the store shelves in 1986.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super Mario Bros.

 

There was a very popular game that launched alongside the NES when it was released in North America.  You may recognize the main character in this game from Miyamoto's previous game.  That's right!  It's Jumpman...?  Before the character known as Mario was the smash hit that he became, he was known simply as Jumpman.  The story goes that the landlord of NOA's manufacturing warehouse was named Mario, and so the American localization team decided to name Jumpan, Mario, instead.  Mario saw a release on the Atari 2600 in the game Mario Bros, and then later on the NES in the game Super Mario Bros.  Mario has since become a worldwide sensation and still has a large amount of success, still today, having to this date, appeared in over 100 different games.  This is all because of Shigeru Miyamoto, mind you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shigeru Miyamoto's Role in the Revival of Video Games and the Birth of Modern Gaming

 

As you may or may not know, video games were in a steep nose-dive by the mid '80s, due primarily to the fact that there was such an oversaturation of games and systems in the market.  Nintendo, or should I say, Shigeru Miyamoto virtually single-handedly not only saved video games from a certain death, but he also revitalized the industry.  Nintendo began licensing their games, mening only games that met their approval would be allowed to be released on their system.  Miyamoto, meanwhile, was at work, creating games that are still major foundations in the industry and whose series continue to grow and thrive.  The Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto's third big game, was largely influenced on his adventures and discoveries as a child.  Shigeru Miyamoto basically gave birth to modern gaming and many of the genres that we all enjoy.  Miyamoto's work has seen success on every Nintendo console and around the world.  To this day he continues to expand the industry with his ideas and his creative imagination.

 

Just to give you an idea of what all he has created, take a look at this list:

 

-Super Mario Bros.

-The Legend of Zelda

-Donkey Kong

-StarFox

-Super Smash Bros.

-Wave Race

-1080 Snowboarding

-F-Zero

-Pikmin

-Nintendogs

-Wii Fit

-Wii Music

 

All of these and countless other series and spinoffs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shigeru Miyamoto, Today

 

Shigeru Miyamoto's games today are more based on his hobbies and what he likes to do.  Things such as Wii Fit, Nintendogs and Wii Music are good examples of this.  Miyamoto has taken his personal health more seriously in recent years, which is the reason for Wii Fit.  He wants people to become more interested in their own personal health.  By becoming more health-conscious, he believes people can make their lives better.  He also considers himself to be somewhat of an amateur dog breeder.  This is the reason for games like Nintendogs.  Many people in Japan don't have the room to maintain a dog, so this is a great way for people to have some sort of pet, even if they can't really have one.  Wii Music is part of Miyamoto's effort to teach music to children at a younger age, but to also get people in general more interested in learning to play or just have fun jamming, even if you do not have any real musical skill.

 

 

Shigeru Miyamoto is a great fan of bluegrass music.  He plays the banjo and the acoustic guitar.   He also has his own little bluegrass band.  Every year, they go to a big gathering in the woods and jam for a few days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The French government has even awarded him with Knighthood.  He was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature.

 

 

 

 

Who knows what Shigeru Miyamoto will do in the future, but one thing is for sure:  It will be creative and innovative.  Miyamoto has been compared to many people, most notably, Steven Spielberg.  But I don't believe this does him justice.  Not to take away from Spielberg, for he's a magnificent director, but I think a better comparison would be Walt Disney.  Shigeru Miyamoto is geniusly creative and created a brand new medium and form of entertainment, nearly all on his own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Game Head Miyamoto Special

 

 

Play Value: Shigeru Miyamoto