Today is a special day, as Nintendo’s legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto is celebrating his 64th birthday!
Few names are as synonymous with Nintendo as Miyamoto. While not the company’s only high-profile designer, he’s arguably its most influential, creating some of Nintendo’s most beloved characters and franchises. Miyamoto first joined company back in 1977 as an artist. After lending assistance on the early arcade game Radar Scope, Miyamoto would helm his breakthrough project, Donkey Kong, which would go on to be the company’s most successful arcade game and would spawn two sequels. Since then, Miyamoto has had a hand in creating many of the company’s premiere franchises, including Super Mario Bros., the Legend of Zelda, Pikmin, Nintendogs, and many others, all of which are still captivating fans young and old to this day. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Nintendo would not be the company it is today without Miyamoto’s visionary approach to game design.
From all of us at Nintendojo, happy birthday, Mr. Miyamoto!