Shigeru Miyamoto

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Shigeru Miyamoto (Japanese:宮本茂, Hepburn: Miyamoto Shigeru; born November 16, 1952) is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in video games, he is the creator of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling game franchises of all time, including Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and Pikmin.

Connection to theMOTHER Series

The concept and premise forMOTHER was pitched directly to Miyamoto as "ESP1" by Shigeato Itoi, and according to Itoi, Miyamoto made him cry on his way home from his initial reaction. Miyamoto eventually was able to get a team together for Itoi to developMOTHER, also known asEarthBound Beginnings. Miyamoto served as producer. After the game's release, Miyamoto's opinion of it notably shifted, and even said it was the first RPG he had ever finished.

Miyamoto later acted as a Supervior onMOTHER 2/EarthBound. He also suggested the game's Auto-Win system.

Miyamoto went on to join on as a producer forMOTHER 3, when its development initially began for the Nintendo 64 Disc Drive. Due to the game falling into development hell over the course of a six-year development, the project was cancelled. It was notably Miyamoto, along with Satoru Iwata, who approached Itoi directly in 2003 about continuingMOTHER 3's development, suggesting it be developed for the Game Boy Advance. He is not listed in the game's credits.

Relationship with Shigesato Itoi

Miyamoto and Itoi's relationship starts with the first game's development. Itoi pitched the game to Miyamoto, who was skeptical about the project. Though he liked Itoi's ideas, he met the project initially with indifference. He eventually, along with then-president of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi to assemble a development team for the game. Miyamoto went on to act as a supervisor onMOTHER 2, before returning to the producer role forMOTHER 3's initial development for the Nintendo 64. After its initial cancellation, Miyamoto is notably the person who in 2003 convinced Itoi to resume the project on the Game Boy Advance.

In 2021, six years after Satoru Iwata's passing, Miyamoto, in collaboration with Itoi (and Itoi's company Hobonichi) publishedAsk Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's Legendary CEO, a compilation of the Iwata Asks interview series.