Shigeru Miyamoto
The father of modern game design
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong, establishing the vocabulary of video game design.
Overview
Shigeru Miyamoto is, by most measures, the most influential video game designer who ever lived. His creations—Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda—didn’t just sell millions; they established the grammar of how games are designed, played, and understood.
Fast facts
- Background: studied industrial design at Kanazawa College of Art; joined Nintendo in 1977 as a staff artist.
- First hit: Donkey Kong (1981), designed when Nintendo needed to repurpose unsold Radar Scope cabinets.
- Mario: the jumping man from Donkey Kong became Nintendo’s mascot. Super Mario Bros. (1985) defined the platformer.
- Zelda: The Legend of Zelda (1986) pioneered open-world exploration and battery-backed saves.
- Later work: Pikmin, Nintendogs, Wii Sports—Miyamoto continued innovating across decades.
- Current role: Representative Director and Fellow at Nintendo.
Design philosophy
Miyamoto’s approach shapes how games are made worldwide:
- Prototype first: build the core mechanic before worrying about story or graphics. If running and jumping isn’t fun, nothing else matters.
- Garden of childhood: Miyamoto draws on memories of exploring caves and forests near Kyoto. Games should evoke wonder and discovery.
- Upending the tea table: his habit of demanding late redesigns (chabudai gaeshi) frustrates teams but often transforms games.
- Accessibility: games should teach through play, not manuals. The opening of Super Mario Bros.—safe ground, a Goomba, a block, a mushroom—is a masterclass in wordless tutoring.
The Mario formula
Super Mario Bros. codified platformer design:
- Momentum: Mario accelerates and decelerates, making movement feel physical.
- Risk/reward: power-ups make you bigger (more capable but a larger target) and grant abilities.
- Secrets: hidden blocks and warp zones reward curiosity.
- Difficulty curve: World 1-1 teaches everything; later levels remix and intensify.
The Zelda formula
The Legend of Zelda established action-adventure conventions:
- Non-linear exploration: go anywhere, tackle dungeons in varying orders.
- Persistent progress: items gained open new areas, creating a Metroidvania-before-Metroidvania structure.
- Hidden secrets: bomb every wall, burn every bush—the world rewards experimentation.
Legacy
Miyamoto’s fingerprints are on nearly every game made since 1985. Platform games use his physics. Open worlds use his structure. Tutorials use his “show, don’t tell” approach. He proved that games could be art, craft, and entertainment simultaneously.