Zhu 1

Wenhao Zhu

Professor Tabitha Clark

English Writing

10/15/20

Shigeru Miyamoto: Master of Modern Game

“It’s me, Mario,” says a man wearing a red hat and a blue overall (see fig. 1.). One of the most

famous uncles in the world. Mario is a video game character that likes jumping around and

entering pipes. This classic figure of Mario is from Super Mario USA in 1988 (on manual Mario

wears a red overall, but in the game, he wears a blue one), but the “father” of Mario is Shigeru

Miyamoto, is a legend of modern video game designers (“Instruction Booklet”). One of the traits

Fig. 1. Mario with classic outfit (Parish, Jeremy); Ranking the core Super Mario games; Polygon, 8
Nov. 2017, https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/11/8/16621744/the-best-mario-games
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of his games is an adventure. There are plenty of maps, monsters, and items waiting for players

to discover. He creates a whole world for each game series such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario

Bros, and The Legend of Zelda. However, fate is strange and unpredictable. If Shigeru did not

meet that game, he would not be a game designer, and Mario was just another guy on the earth.

The story will begin with the game that changes Shigeru’s life.

In the late 1970s, Space Invaders, one of the most successful arcade games, became a great hit in

the world (Gallagher par.1). Although it was the beginning of arcade games, Space Invaders’

graphic, sound, and gameplay gave players a memorable experience that influenced the

following arcade games. Then in the 1980s, more and more arcade games appeared with

different and creative gameplays (Dillon ch.7). The young people would prefer to go to the

Fig. 2. A man who plays with a light gun in an arcade (gwaar); File:Light gun survival horror arcade
game.jpg; Wikipedia Commons, 28 Aug. 2004,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Light_gun_survival_horror_arcade_game.jpg
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arcade in their spare time not only because of the games but also because of the social contact.

“Arcades are usually located in crowded areas, some play to boast or getting attention like

facebook users nowadays, or some are playing with friends and want to make noises for fun

since they would get shouted by their parents if they make noises at their homes” (Noriman par.

3). At the same time, although there were many kinds of home video game consoles, arcade

games could provide a better experience. They had a better graphic, better systems, and more

gaming tools that appealed people to play in arcades rather than buy a console (see fig. 2.).

Our main character, Shigeru Miyamoto, was born November 16, 1952, Kyoto (Jennifer ch.1). He

graduated from Kanazawa Art and Industrial Design University. He learned a lot from human

interactions with a complex process. He did not have a specific goal after he graduated from

university, but he wanted to try to be a manga artist. In 1977, his father provided an opportunity

for him to show his works to the chairman of Nintendo (Jennifer ch.1). Luckily, Shigeru was

hired and became an artist. Then, he designed toys for Nintendo. When Space Invaders became a

hit in Japan, “Nintendo decided to go into the video game business, and that’s how I got my start,

designing graphics” said Shigeru (Jennifer ch.3). It was his first favorite game, and he tried to

find out why people love this game. Then, he made his first game, Donkey Kong. With this

experience, he thought more about the interactions in games. In 1985 and 1986, Super Mario

Bros. and The Legend of Zelda were born (Jennifer ch.3). These games became popular and

Nintendo developed fast. From 1984-2015 he was the general manager of Nintendo, but since

then, he quitted from the frontline and became a fellow of Nintendo (Jennifer ch.4).

“When I create a game, I try to focus more on the emotions that the player experiences during

the gameplay”—Shigeru Miyamoto (10 Quotes 6). Even Space Invaders could not get rid of the

limitation of the highest scores. However, Super Mario Bros. made that. The character in the
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game, Mario, jumps from here to there. New enemies, new challenges, and new mushrooms,

everything made players drown in the world. Shigeru believes that gameplays are more

important than scores. Although he kept the scoring system in his game, it would not affect

players’ way to play. Players preferred to have an adventure instead of chasing high scores.

However, because of the limitation of the technique, Shigeru’s ideas could not be fully achieved.

So, he tried his best to use the technique he has.

“I think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that

we have to act more like adults.”—Shigeru Miyamoto (10 Quotes 2). When Shigeru was young,

he enjoyed hiking and climbing mountains. He would like to start an adventure to explore new

things nearby. Once, Shigeru was climbing a mountain. This was his new adventure, so he did

not know what he was going to see, but it seems like he was very excited. When he arrived at the

top of the mountain, the view of the lake shocked him. He had climbed many mountains before,

but obviously, he had never seen or even thought of this view before. Then, he made this scene

into his game, The Legend of Zelda (NPR q.2). Interestedly, before he became a game designer,

his dream was to be a manga artist. The manga was popular among young people that many of

them wanted to publish one in the future, including Shigeru Miyamoto. However, he had no

confidence to compete with other manga artists. Space Invaders points out a new way for him to

explore, which was game design. He found that video games contained all the things he loved

like music and design (Jennifer ch.1). That was why he changed his dream.

“I enjoy thinking about ways to create something that other people have not even thought about,

something no one has managed to achieve.”—Shigeru Miyamoto (10 Quotes 8). Players would

like to enjoy a new experience, and that is why they pay for games. It is easy to find different

new gameplays in his games: The side-scrolling in Super Mario Bros.; the open world in the
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Legend of Zelda; and the camera system in Super Mario 64 (Jennifer ch.2). Shigeru was not the

first man who invented these gameplays, but he was the one who understood and used them

perfectly. Then, many game designers learned the potential of current gameplays, and tried to

find it out by themselves. “we played lots of open-world games, (The Legend of Zelda:) Breath

of The Wild gives us a different open-world experience,” said by the producing team of Genshin

Impact (A Letter sec.1). Also, as I mentioned, arcade games had better expression than home

video games, but Shigeru’s games made people stay home and enjoy the adventure by

themselves. If people need to experience the whole journey in Super Mario Bros., it will take a

long time because there are lots of different levels. However, the game was so interesting that it

attracted people to buy home video game consoles (see fig. 3.). Plus, player 2 can join in the

game, which means people can play this game with their family or friends at home. Then, more

and more games were published on home game consoles, which changed people’s way to play.

Today, it is still an interesting topic to determine how Mario became a world-wide known game

character since Super Mario Bros. Shigeru Miyamoto used the gameplay of jumping to create a

memorable adventure for players, which shapes the characteristic of Mario. Although most of his

games were popular, he challenged himself all the time to try new things. Then, other game

designers learned ideas from his games and put thought into their own games, which form

modern games. "I don't like all the attention. I think it's better to let my work do the talking."—

Shigeru Miyamoto (Do the Talking 1).

Reference:

A Letter to Players From Producing Team. 米游社, 25 June 2019,

bbs.mihoyo.com/ys/article/78179.

Dewinter, Jennifer. Shigeru Miyamoto: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, the Legend of Zelda,

Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central,

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/northeastern-ebooks/detail.action?

docID=2014926

Dillon, Roberto. The Golden Age of Video Games: the Birth of a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry.

CRC Press, 2011.

Gallagher, Jason M. How Space Invaders Became a Gaming Phenomenon. Den of Geek, 12

Aug. 2018, www.denofgeek.com/games/how-space-invaders-became-a-gaming-

phenomenon/.

Gurafiku; Japanese Video Game Ad: Famicom karaoke. Bow tie and sweater vest.; Pinterest,

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/199847302184949353/

gwaar; File:Light gun survival horror arcade game.jpg; Wikipedia Commons, 28 Aug. 2004,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Light_gun_survival_horror_arcade_game.jpg

I Don't like All the Attention. I Think It's Better to Let My Work Do the Talking. YourDictionary,

quotes.yourdictionary.com/author/shigeru-miyamoto/85576.

Noraiman, Wan. Comment on Why are arcade games still popular? Quora, 19 Sep. 2018,

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-arcade-games-still-popular
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Parish, Jeremy; Ranking the core Super Mario games; Polygon, 8 Nov. 2017,

https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/11/8/16621744/the-best-mario-games

Staff, NPR. Q&A: Shigeru Miyamoto On The Origins Of Nintendo's Famous Characters.

NPR, NPR, 19 June 2015,

www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/06/19/415568892/q-a-shigeru-miyamoto-

on-the-origins-of-nintendos-famous-characters

Super Mario Bros. 2 Instruction Booklet, 1988.

Top 10 Shigeru Miyamoto Quotes. BrainyQuote, Xplore,

www.brainyquote.com/lists/authors/top-10-shigeru-miyamoto-quotes.