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Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto

Producer and writer · Born November 16, 1952 (73) · Sonobe, Kyoto, Japan

BAFTA Award winner

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. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold. Born in Sonobe, Kyoto, Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts. He initially sought a career as a manga artist until developing an interest in video games. With the help of his father, he joined Nintendo in 1977 after impressing the president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, with his toys. He helped create art for the arcade game and was later tasked with designing a new one, leading to the 1981 game Donkey Kong. Miyamoto's games Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986) helped the Nintendo Entertainment System dominate the console game market. His games have been flagships of every Nintendo video game console, from the arcade machines of the late 1970s to the present day. He managed Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development software division, which developed many Nintendo games. He played an essential role in creating other influential games such as Pokémon Red and Blue (1996) and Metroid Prime (2002). Following the death of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in July 2015, Miyamoto became acting president alongside Genyo Takeda until he was formally appointed "Creative Fellow" a few months later. Description above from the Wikipedia article Shigeru Miyamoto, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
November 16, 1952 (73)
From
Sonobe, Kyoto, Japan
Works as
Producer and writer
Titles
7 on MovieCove · 20 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 156 days to Oct 27Up 26% in 30 days

What are Shigeru Miyamoto's films like?

Across their 7 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.

Themes

share of theme weight
Bonds
78%
Self
12%
Morality
4%
Survival
4%
Ideas
3%
Family bonds5 titles, browse their movies with this themeFriendship4 titles, browse their movies with this themeSelf-worth2 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 3 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Light: How heavy the subject matter and outlook get. Browse their light movies.
Tone · Weight
lightdark

Light 3 · Serious 0 · Dark 0

Heightened: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their heightened movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

Grounded 0 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 2

Charged: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their charged movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 0 · Charged 3 · Intense 0

Shifting: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their shifting movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 0 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0

Some laughs: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their some laughs movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

A split, not a type: Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 2

Even-paced: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their even-paced movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0

Casual: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their casual movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

Casual 3 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Joyful
7
Thrilling
4
Hopeful
3
Manic
1
Romantic
1
Other
3

How their films linger

Fun7 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteFeel-good5 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

How their films end

  • Happy5
  • Bittersweet1
  • Cyclical1

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Shigeru Miyamoto's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 6 of their 7 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.

Also on these channels

Subscription and free streaming for Shigeru Miyamoto's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

20 credits, 7 with a MovieCove page; 8 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

  • The Legend of Zelda (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2027)

    Other · Producer

  • Star Fox – Prologue (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)

    Creator

  • The Super Mario Galaxy Movie(2026)

    Producer

    Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films

  • It's Me, Mario! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)

    Show 7 episodes · Characters

  • Mario, le Plombier qui voulait détrôner Mickey (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)

    Actor

  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie(2023)

    Producer

    Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films

  • Shigeru Miyamoto's 1999 GDC Keynote (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)

    as (Himself)

  • Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)

    Executive Producer

  • Pikmin Short Movies (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)

    Show 3 episodes · Creator · Executive Producer · Storyboard

  • Treasure in a Bottle (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)

    Executive Producer · Screenplay

  • F-Zero: GP Legend (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)

    Show 51 episodes · Supervising Editor

  • Donkey Kong Country: Speak No Evil, Dude (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2000)

    Characters

  • Donkey Kong Country(1997)

    Show Writer

    Midcredits score: 15th percentile of all shows

  • Mario Kirby Masterpiece Video (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Characters

  • Super Mario World(1991)

    Show Writer

    Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all shows

  • The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3(1990)

    Show Writer

    Midcredits score: 62nd percentile of all shows

  • The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!(1989)

    Show Writer

    Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all shows

  • Super Mario Brothers: Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach(1986)

    Characters · Producer

    Midcredits score: 38th percentile of all films

  • Untitled Donkey Kong Film (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Producer

  • Untitled Super Mario Film (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Producer

Career shape

A full career of 16 titles, 13 of them dated from 1986 to 2026.

Biggest box office

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

$1.4B worldwide

Highest rated

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Midcredits 82nd

Most popular right now

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Acting2 of 16: 2 only acting, 0 with another roleWriting6 of 16: 3 only writing, 3 with another roleProducing9 of 16: 5 only producing, 4 with another roleEditing1 of 16: 1 only editing, 0 with another roleOther crew3 of 16: 1 only other crew, 2 with another role

16 titles, 4 with more than one role — producing and writing overlap on 3 of them.

By decade

1980s1 · crew1990s1 · crew2000s2 · crew2010s4 · 1 acting · 3 crew2020s5 · 1 acting · 4 crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it.

Awards

a BAFTA Award from 4 major nominations, 2010.

WinNomination
  1. 2010
    • BAFTA Award, won · Games
    • BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Family and Social Game
    • BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Gameplay
    • BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Sports Game

Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.

How do Shigeru Miyamoto's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 60th percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 67th percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

67thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Approval · how many liked their films

52ndpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Reach · how many have seen their films

98thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 3

Midcredits score across 7 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up1
  • 50th to 74th2
  • 25th to 49th3
  • Below 25th1

Shape of the crowd

4 of their 7 titles are Crowd Pleasers.

  • Cult Classic1
  • Crowd Pleaser4
  • Mixed2

Most divisive · writer

Donkey Kong Country (1997)

79th percentile spread · 25% rated it 4 or lower

Most loved · producer

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Midcredits 82nd · 73% liked

Reviewers score the dialogue 33/100 and the plot and story 33/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Is Shigeru Miyamoto's work okay for kids?

Across up to 6 MovieCove titles with content scores, sex & nudity, profanity and alcohol & drugs run lighter than most films.

Their medianMedian of all filmsMiddle 80% of their titles
Violence & Gore6 titles33–51 · median 42 · moderatenear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 44
Sex & Nudity6 titles11–36 · median 21 · mildlighter than most filmsMedian of all films: 32
Profanity6 titles11–34 · median 19 · mildlighter than most filmsMedian of all films: 36
Alcohol & Drugs6 titles9–30 · median 17 · mildlighter than most filmsMedian of all films: 33
Frightening / Intense6 titles23–47 · median 35 · moderatenear the median of all filmsMedian of all films: 39

Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.

Who does Shigeru Miyamoto work with?

People who share at least 2 of Shigeru Miyamoto's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Martha Moran shares the most, 3.

Directors

Writers

Actors

Composers and editors

Producers

Mixed roles