He’s the Stan Lee ofNintendo. If you’ve played a Nintendo game it’s almost certain he had a hand in making it special. He’s so valuable to Nintendo they don’t even let him bike to work anymore. That man’s name isShigeru Miyamoto.
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He was one of the many talented people that shepherded Nintendo into the video game powerhouse it is today. He’s the father ofSuper Mario,Donkey Kong,The Legend of Zelda,and many more. Shigeru Miyamoto’s hands helped shape so many Nintendo titles that even the first ten he helped mold only cover a small fraction of his career.
10Sheriff (1979)
NowadaysSheriffis most well known for being an assist trophy inSuper Smash Brothers. However, this character and his game are much more important than a small appearance in a fighting game.
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The game, which is also known asBandito, follows the titular Sheriff protecting his town from bandits (who are also arguably titular). It was one of the first arcade games to utilize two joysticks, with one controlling movement and the other controlling where Sheriff points hisgun.
Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo in 1977 when the company was impressed by the toys he had invented. Two years later, he was credited as a designer on this game. He drew the art for the arcade cabinet and also worked on the pixel art for this game.
9Radar Scope (1979)
While Nintendo had flirted with the video game scene before,Radar Scopewas the first step towards them committing to a long-term relationship. Too bad it was a massive failure.
Even Miyamoto, who once again did the art, thought the game was “simplistic and banal.” The company had bet a large amount of money on a game that just didn’t sell. To seek a new perspective, the company began taking proposals from every employee that was interested.
8Space Firebird (1980)
This game represents a strange point in Miyamoto’s history. It was shortly before he would makeDonkey Kongand his career would change forever.
While the game is by no means bad, it also isn’t surprising it didn’t become the hit thatDonkey Kongdid. It was aspaceshipgame that came out two years after the iconicSpace Invaders.While the gameplay certainly wasn’t a carbon copy (the player was free to move around the screen instead of being confined to only left and right movement,) it’s not hard to see why the game never caught.
7Donkey Kong (1981)
Back when video games were excessively limited by their hardware, there was no room for a story. Only gameplay. Within the confines of a 19-inch screen, Miyamoto and his team painstakingly crafted the story of an Italian man rescuing a damsel from a gorilla. The game progressed as Mario followed Donkey Kong up the building and actually concluded when he saved Pauline after three significantly different levels. While it seems infantile compared to thenarratives of modern-day games, in the 80s this was literally a game-changer.
6Sky Skipper (1981)
Shortly afterDonkey Kongchanged the world,Sky Skipperwas released. It wasn’t very successful. Onlya few more than a dozencabinets were sent to America. It was only to test how successful the game would be in America. When Nintendo wasn’t pleased with the results, they never released the game officially in the region.
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Parker Brothers (the company that ownsMonopoly, Trivial Pursuit,and many other popular board games)acquired the license and released an altered & inferior version for the Atari 2600. In 2018, Nintendo announced the game would be coming to their eShop.
5Donkey Kong Junior (1982)
The secondDonkey Konggame presents Mario, the former protagonist, whipping a caged monkey. It’s hard to believe it would take modern games so long to feature themoral greyness and complexitythatDonkey Kong Jr.presents to the player.
After the overwhelming success ofDonkey Kong,a sequel was inevitable. The gameplay ofJr.is similar enough to the first game that it feels like a natural progression while still an entirely new experience. Instead of following a mostly linear path up girders, players have to traverse through a jungle of vines and platforms to reach the top.
4Popeye (1982)
If Nintendo had gotten the rights to make aPopeyegame the first time they pitched it, it could have ruined the whole company. It might have even changed the entire trajectory of the video game industry.
When Shigeru Miyamoto first pitchedDonkey Kong,it wasn’t a Mario game. He wanted to make a game based on thePopeyefranchise. However, the deal didn’t go through and he decided to take it as an opportunity to make his own characters.
However, Nintendo was able to get the rights eventually and a game was made. Miyamoto was able to work on the game as a designer. Because of licensing rights, the game has now fallen into obscurity. Its most recent port was an updated version that was released for iPhones in 2008.
3Mario Bros. (1983)
If most people were asked what game Mario first starred in, they would most likely saySuper Mario Bros.orDonkey Kong.However, technically the first time an Italian plumber named Mario starred in a Nintendo game wasMario Bros.
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Prior to his appearance in this game, our favorite red-overalls wearing hero was known as Jumpman. However, when the landlord for Nintendo’s offices,Mario Segale, entered their building unannounced to demand rent, the team decided to change Jumpman’s name to Mario.
The game is notable for introducing elements that would become staples in the franchise such as Mario’s brother Luigi, Koopa Troopas, and green pipes.
2Donkey Kong 3 (1983)
While most may at least be passively familiar withDonkey Kong Jr.,people outside of the gaming world would probably assumeDonkey Kong 3was a cheap and unlicensed knockoff. It bears almost no resemblance to its predecessors outside of the fact that it starsMarioand Donkey Kong.
It started an odd trend where sequels to Miyamoto’s titles (most notably the original SuperMarioBros.andLegend of Zelda) were massively different from the first. It didn’t last long, as it became the standard forNintendoand the rest of the gaming industry to make sequels that enhance and build on the original instead of completely upending the table.
1Baseball (1983)
Baseballis a simplisticsportstitle that does everything one would expect it to do.Super Mario Bros.andDonkey Kongrevolutionized the video game industry.Baseball, which is by no means is terrible, simply exists.
It may be an anti-climatic end to this list, but at this point Miyamoto’s career had hardly even begun. There’s no figure in the gaming industry even now who is remotely comparable to Shigeru Miyamoto. He has influenced the world of video games just as much, if not more so than Shakespeare influenced the world of theatre.
People still perform Shakespeare’s plays centuries after his demise. Likewise, people will likely still playSuper Mario Bros.for as long as the Earth continues to turn.
