There are some pretty big video game names out there, such as “The Legend of Zelda,” “Mario,” and “Donkey Kong.” However, not everyone who plays and enjoys these games stops to wonder who’s behind all of them. The three famous franchises mentioned were all created by the very influential video game designer and producer, Shigeru Miyamoto.  

Shigeru Miyamoto was born Nov. 16, 1952, in Sonobe, Kyoto Prefecture. Growing up in the countryside, he was able to explore the vast lands around him, which ended up being an inspiration behind some of the content and elements in his video games. After graduating from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts, Miyamoto’s initial goal was to become a manga artist; however, when he was introduced to “Space Invaders,” the most popular game of the 1980s, his career aspirations changed.

When Miyamoto first entered the field of video game design, Nintendo was still a relatively small company that had just begun to start making toys and games. After showing off some toys and figures he had made to the company president, Miyamoto was hired as a trainee in the planning department. He helped design the graphics for one of the arcade games called “Sheriff,” which was partially successful in Japan, but failed to get into markets in North America. This left the company on the verge of bankruptcy, so to fix it, the company tasked Miyamoto with converting all unsold copies of another arcade game called “Radar Scope” into something else. This was the beginning of a game that, after some struggles, would turn out to be a huge success. After brainstorming a few other characters, Miyamoto eventually settled on a plot involving a carpenter, a woman, and an ape. At first, making the graphics for the different levels and obstacles was a challenge, but was eventually made and submitted to the Nintendo of America for viewing and testing; the game was eventually named “Donkey Kong.”The video game was so successful that it led Miyamoto to create other sequels, like “Donkey Kong Jr.” and after that “Donkey Kong 3.” Afterwards, “Mario Bros” was released in 1984 and the first Zelda game in 1986. 

Miyamoto’s creativity with design and knowing what kind of games people wanted to play not only boosted the sales of the actual video games but also the consoles used to play them. When it comes to the success of the company Nintendo, Miyamoto is often credited for being the main person who led the company to where it is today. Although his beginnings were humble, his contributions have changed the video game industry forever. If you are someone who hasn’t heard of any of the games mentioned before, or maybe you have heard of them but just haven’t played them, give them a try. The open-world qualities of Miyamoto’s games along with the feeling of exploring something new hardly ever fail to disappoint.