Shigeru Miyamoto: Game DesignerA Case History by Patrick Kai ChenSTS 145: History of Computer Game DesignProfessor H. Lowood17 March 2002Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of suchclassics as Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong,has for over two decades shown the worldhis idea of fun not just in his oddball dancingbouts, but in his video games as well. Hisgames have undoubtedly shaped and stillinfluence todays video gameindustry. They easily serve as thehigh standard of video game designand have served as such sinceMiyamotos first creation. When agame created by Miyamoto hitsstores, Nintendo sees acorresponding spike in the numberof game systems sold (Mowatt, par.11). Often referred to as the greatestgame designer of all time, Miyamotois revered in an almost god-likefashion. Many refer to great gamedesign as being blessed by theMiyamoto Magic, but thisphenomenon is easily explained byMiyamoto: To me, [creating videogames] is all about fun (Griffiths, par. 7).Perhaps its just that simple.Born on November 16, 1952 in Sonebe,Japan, Miyamoto grew up in a very low-techworld, where fun had to come from his ownimagination. He was very adventurous as achild, exploring the hillsides, creek beds, andsmall canyons beside his home. Miyamotoalso loved reading, drawing, and painting early signs of his budding creativity. Whenthe family moved to Kyoto, Miyamoto metnew friends with whom he went onadventures with, exploring forbidden placesand holding secret meetings (Sheff 44-45).In school, Miyamoto was often scolded fordaydreaming during lectures. Instead ofschoolwork, he concentrated on drawingcomic books and scenery. His motherencouraged his creativity, supporting himthrough art school even though many saidMiyamoto had lost his way in life(Griffiths, par. 4).After five years at the Kanazawa MuniciCollege of Industrial Arts and Crafts,Miyamotograduated with adegree in industrialdesign, but had noclue as to what his next step would be(Burnham 247). Luckily, his father was oldfriends with the president of NintendoCompany Limited, Hiroshi Yamauchi.Miyamoto asked his father to set up aninterview for him, and although Yamauchiwas reluctant, he granted this favor to hisold friend. After two separate meetings withMiyamoto, Yamauchi hired him asNintendos first staff artist and also assignedhim to be an apprentice in the planningdepartment (Kent 46). Though Miyamotodidnt have any programming experience, hewas not clueless about video game design.In college he had spent countless hoursplaying in arcades, and for the first few yearsat Nintendo he had helped design charactersfor games like Sheriff. Moreover,Miyamoto had been designing games on hisown time, but his ideas were repeatedlyrejected by Nintendo (Muldoon, TheLegend, par. 3-5). As fate would have itthough, Miyamoto was soon given theopportunity of a lifetime. Nintendos firstventure into America, the arcade gameRadarscope, had flopped. Because hecould not spare any other designers for thejob, Yamauchi gave Miyamoto the task ofcreating a game that would save NCLsAmerican branch (Timberman, par. 4).After reviewing the schematic drawingsof Radarscope, Miyamoto decidedNintendo needed something completelydifferent. He had often regarded the shoot-em-up and tennis-like games that were inthe arcades at the time as unimaginative[and] simply uninteresting to many people(Sheff 47). Miyamoto wantedvideo games to tell stories, andthe story he told was DonkeyKong.Released in 1981,Donkey Kong was Nintendoof Americas first smash hit(Trueman, par. 1). Not only didDonkey Kong bring NOA thesuccess it needed to stay afloatin the American market, but italso revolutionized the wayvideo games were made.Before Donkey Kong, explainsMiyamoto, those who were making thevideo games were the programmers andengineers, not the character designers andother artists (Muldoon, The Father, par. 8).Miyamoto knew nothing aboutprogramming for Donkey Kong, he didthe designing and handed the game off to aprogrammer who implemented his design.This was, perhaps, the first time the formalconcept of a game designer or game artistwas realized in such a way.Not only was the process of gamedesigning revolutionary, but the outcome wasas well. Donkey Kong debuted in a videogame environment comprised of ahomogeneous entity of space shooters andPong knock-offs. Games at the time weret the 2000 ECTS show in London, Nintendo unveiled itsGameCube console for the first time in Europe. Followingsome demo footage of the GameCubes capabilities, a middle-aged Japanese man with shoulder-length hair, one of Nintendosgame designers, came onto the stage to unveil a video demo ofthe new Pokémon game, Meowths Party. As the music gotpumping, surprisingly, so did the Japanese game designer. Asthe crowd cheered him on with synchronous clapping, thedesigner danced up a storm, demonstrating his hip moves andhis air guitar to boot. But who was this man? Who was thisdancing fool of Nintendos? Why, who else could it be? AsNintendoWeb so eloquently puts it, Shiggy was just getting jiggy.AShigShigShigShigShiggggggy gy gy gy gy gets jigets jigets jigets jigets jiggggggy ay ay ay ay at the ECTS shot the ECTS shot the ECTS shot the ECTS shot the ECTS showwwwwMiyamotos air guitarMiyamotos air guitarMiyamotos air guitarMiyamotos air guitarMiyamotos air guitarTTTTThe GameCubehe GameCubehe GameCubehe GameCubehe GameCubepretty much a variation on one another: Youshot at things, they shot at you, andeventually you were overwhelmed by eithersheer speed or numbers until you lost. Thenyou entered your name in the high-scorememory and challenged your friends to beatyou (Trueman, par. 4). In a sense, DonkeyKong was a rebel because it defied typicalgaming expectations. It wasnt like the othergames out there. Where Radarscope, avariation of Space Invaders, failed,Donkey Kong succeeded.Unlike the other games out on the market,Donkey Kong provided a compellingstoryline to follow (Donkey Kong Synopsis,par. 6). The story involved a stumpycarpenter and his pet gorilla, who escapesand captures his girlfriend, Pauline. Thegorilla climbs to the top of variousconstruction sites and buildings, and thecarpenters job is to save his girlfriend, allthe while avoiding thebarrels that his
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