Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto Selected as First Game Developer to Receive Japan’s Order of Culture

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and The Legend of Zelda, has received Japan’s Order of Culture. At a press conference, he talked about his fifty years of work, the future of games, generative AI and the secrets behind creating Mario.

The award ceremony took place after the October 22 press conference at Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto. Miyamoto said he sees the award as recognition of the entire team’s contributions: “I am very happy to receive such an honorable award. As I always say, I didn’t create all of this alone, but together with many people, so I intend to accept it on their behalf.”

Miyamoto joined Nintendo in 1977 and worked on Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. He explained that he wanted to make games that appeal even to people who don’t usually play, and he named interactivity as one of the industry’s main strengths.

Speaking about generative AI, Miyamoto stressed that automating routine tasks only increases the value of an author’s vision:

He also revealed a secret of Super Mario Bros. Mario originally didn’t defeat Bowser in combat and simply jumped over him. That decision helped make the ending interesting without a complex boss fight.