Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto (Japanese: 宮本 茂, Hepburn: Miyamoto Shigeru?, born November 16, 1952 ) is a Japanese video game designer and producer. He is best known as the creator of some of the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, most enduring, and most influential games and franchises of all time. Miyamoto joined Nintendo in 1977, when the company was beginning its foray into video games and starting to abandon the playing cards it had made starting in 1889. His games have been seen on every Nintendo video game console, with his earliest work appearing on arcade machines. Franchises Miyamoto has created include Mario (the best-selling video game franchise of all time), Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pikmin, and the Wii series. Noteworthy games include Super Mario Bros., one of the most famous sidescrolling platformers; Super Mario 64, an early example of 3D control schemes; The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is considered one of the greatest games ever made; and Wii Sports, the second best-selling game of all time. He currently manages the Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development branch, which handles many of Nintendo's top-selling titles. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of the city of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work.