Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto (born November 16, 1952) is a Japanese video game designer. He is the creator of the Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero and Pikmin video game series, among others, for Nintendo game systems. He has also supervised many titles published by Nintendo on behalf of other developers, including Metroid Prime and Mario &Sonic at the Olympic Games. Miyamoto is a world-renowned game designer, and is often called the "father of modern video gaming". Video games designed by him typically feature refined control-mechanics, intuitive gameplay, simplistic story lines, and imaginative worlds in which the players are encouraged to discover things for themselves.
Early life
Shigeru Miyamoto was born in Nantan, Kyoto, Japan. He is the second child of Iijake Miyamoto and Hinako Aruha. As a young boy, Miyamoto loved to draw, paint pictures, and explore the landscape surrounding his house. The Legend of Zelda in particular took inspiration from his childhood exploration. As a child Miyamoto was menaced by a neighbour's dog - kept at bay by a chain attached to a post - inspiring the Chain Chomp enemy from the Mario series. In 1970, he enrolled in the Kanazawa College of Art and graduated five years later - though he would later remark that his studies often took a backseat to doodling. Miyamoto was said to have had a broad taste in music for his age, being interested in groups such as The Beatles. In 1977, with a degree in industrial design, Miyamoto arranged a meeting with Hiroshi Yamauchi, head of Nintendo of Japan and also friend of his father. Yamauchi hired Miyamoto as a "staff artist" and assigned him to the planning department.
6 GameGeneration / June, 2014