Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japenese game designer and producer at Nintendo. He created the Donkey Kong, Mario, Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda video game series for Nintendo.
Miyamoto grew up in a very low-tech world, where fun had to come from his imagination. He was very adventurous as a child, exploring the hillsides, creek beds, and small canyons beside his home. Miyamoto also loved reading, drawing, and painting – early signs of his budding creativity. When the family moved to Kyoto, Miyamoto met new friends with whom he went on adventures with, exploring forbidden places and holding secret meetings . In school, Miyamoto often scolded for daydreaming during lectures. Instead of schoolwork, he concentrated on drawing comic books and scenery. His mother encouraged his creativity, supporting him through art school even though many said Miyamoto had “lost his way” in life.
After five years at the Hanazawa Munici College of Industrial Arts and Crafts, Miyamoto graduated with a degree in industrial design but had no clue what his next step would be. Luckily, his father was old friends with the president of Nintendo Company Limited, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Miyamoto asked his father to set up an interview for him, and although Yamauchi was reluctant, he granted this favor to his old friend. After two separate meetings with the job, Yamauchi gave Miyamoto the task of creating a game that would save NCL’s American branch.
After reviewing the schematic drawings of “Radarscope,” Miyamoto decided Nintendo needed something completely different. He had often regarded the “shoot- ’em-up and tennis-like games that were in the arcades at the time” as “unimaginative and simply uninteresting to many people.” Miyamoto wanted video games to tell stories, and the story he told was “Donkey Kong.”
Released in 1981, “Donkey Kong” was Nintendo of America’s first smash hit. Not only did “Donkey Kong” bring NOA the success it needed to stay afloat in the American market, but it also revolutionized the way video games were made.”Before ‘Donkey Kong’,” explains Miyamoto, “those who were making the video games were the programmers and engineers, not the character designers and other artists.” Miyamoto knew nothing about programming – for “Donkey Kong,” he designed and handed the game off to a programmer who implemented his design. Perhaps, the first time the formal concept of a game designer or game artist was realized in such a way.
We can learn something from his success. Games at the time were pretty much a variation on one another: You shot at things, they shot at you, and eventually you were overwhelmed by either sheer speed or numbers until you lost. Then you entered your name in the high-score memory and challenged your friends to beat you”. In a sense, “Donkey Kong” was a rebel because it defied typical gaming expectations. It wasn’t like the other games out there. Where “Radarscope,” a variation of “Space Invaders,” failed, “Donkey Kong” succeeded. So if we want to stand out from the crowd, we must be creative and different.
Source:
“Miyamoto, Shigeru.” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/miyamoto-shigeru.
DeWinter, Jennifer. Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda. Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 2018, pp. 1-27.
Burns, Jan. Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo Game Designer. KidHaven Press, 2006, pp. 6-8.
“US7762891B2 – Game Apparatus, Recording Medium Having Game Program Recorded Thereon, and Game System.” Google Patents, Google, patents.google.com/patent/US7762891B2/en.
“Shigeru Miyamoto Biography.” TheFamousPeople, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/shigeru-miyamoto-8697.php.
I never know the Donkey Kong was made by him. Thank you for your sharing that!