Shigeru Miyamoto,Nintendo’s game designer responsible for the creation ofMario,Zelda,Pikmin,Donkey Kong, and so many other well-established franchises that forever changed the gaming industry, didn’t always think about working with games, and instead, had different dream jobs growing up – all of which I believe influenced the quality of the games he created during his career.
Miyamoto is a legendary voice in the industry following his successes. He’s grown such a reputation that there are evenquotes falsely credited to Miyamoto, as much as they seem like something he would say.
The game developer has a unique view on games entirely, and has contributed to many of Nintendo’s hits, even when he wasn’t directly involved with their production. One example is howMiyamoto criticizedSplatoonin its early stages, saying it had no appeal, which made the development team rethink its entire approach.
This eventually led to what is a huge franchise with a great reputation within the company.Miyamoto has been indispensable to Nintendo’s popularity over the years, but it may not have been like that, as he had other aspirations growing up.
Nintendo’s Miyamoto Considered Being A Maestro
The Developer Lived His Dream Job For A Day In 2006
In an interview withGamejinmagazine back in 1998 (viaGood Blood Games), Miyamoto was asked about his affinity with classical music. He mentioned that he bought his first record in junior high school. “When you listen, you get quite a visceral feeling inside that elevates your mood, don’t you think? I really loved that feeling and couldn’t get enough of it.”
Miyamoto also revealed that, during that time, he quite often thought about becoming a conductor for orchestras and choirs. His connection to music isn’t unknown, asMiyamoto played the mandolin inZelda: Wind Waker’s intro.
Funnily enough, Miyamoto did get to live his childhood dream of being a conductor, at least once.During Nintendo’s panel at E3 2006, Miyamoto started the presentation by joining the stage and conducting a virtual orchestra to promoteWii Music, a game that he helped produce.
During the presentation,Zelda’s Overworld Theme was played, as can be seen in a video uploaded byCarlslockon YouTube. Surely, the game was poorly received and is one of the worst-performing titles in theWiiseries, but he did successfully become a maestro, if only for a day.
Miyamoto Also Considered Being A Puppeteer & Manga Artist
During the interview, Miyamoto also talked about other dream jobs he had, aside from being a conductor.He said he wanted to become a puppeteer around the time he was in elementary school, explaining that he wanted to create his own puppets, just like the Japanese showHyokkori Hyotanjima:“Later on, in junior high school, I also had aspirations of becoming a manga artist.”
Miyamoto explains that those two dreams had ended by the time he graduated. After that, he went on to study industrial design at an art university, which may have helped forgeMiyamoto’s controversial view on games.
Overall, it seems like Miyamoto was always drawn to the idea of being an entertainer of sorts, be it through music or different media. While he had “quite the succession of setbacks” that impeded him from working in those fields, I believe that his affinity with the subjects eventually made him a better game developer.His interest in music, especially with it leaning toward him being a conductor, could have helped Miyamoto understand how powerful music can trigger emotions, something that is remarkable across several of his games.
His interest in puppets and manga could also show how much he appreciates unique character design, as that is often the backbone of creating unique characters that mark generations.While he didn’t work with puppets or illustrate manga, Miyamoto has some of the most notable character designs in the gaming industry– so much so that Mario is a well-known figure even for non-gamers. Miyamoto didn’t directly work with his childhood jobs, but he sure did get to live a portion of them during his career so far.
How Miyamoto Started Working With Nintendo
The Game Developer Presented His Toy Creations To The President
Never having considered working with games before, it’s curious to see that his path into Nintendo was quite natural. In an interview withTime Magazinein 2007, Miyamoto revealed thatSpace Invaderswas the game that caught his eye and made him consider working with video games. As much as he didn’t make a profession out of puppeteering, Miyamoto did create toys, and after an interview with Nintendo’s president in 1977, Hiroshi Yamauchi, in which he presented his creations,the young 24-year-old Miyamoto was hired as an apprentice and started working as an artist.
Miyamoto’s past is thoroughly described by a profile posted onThe New Yorker.
The rest is history, something that Miyamoto continues to leave his impressions on, even if he ismissing fromMario Kart World’s credits. It seems like the game developer is moving a bit away from active development roles, as a fellow at Nintendo, but he is certainly still contributing to help the company materialize its vision for its games. As wild as his childhood dreams may have seemed, I’m willing to bet that all that helped him andNintendobecome the powerhouses that they are nowadays.
