Though not directly involved in many games these days, Miyamoto's legacy continues to live on in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was unveiled this week.
Donkey Kong, Mario, Star Fox, F-Zero. The list of franchises he created is legendary. We all know his games. All his games. All of them... or do we?!?
Here are six more that Miyamoto worked on in his early years at Nintendo, which you may not know about. Or maybe you already do. Frankly, we don't really care.
Radar Scope was the very first video game that he was involved in - albeit merely as the graphics guy. It was a fairly typical vertical shoot 'em up, which deployed a subtle 3D effect. Alas, it wasn't quite enough to make it stand out from Galaxians and Space Invaders, which were doing big business in the arcades at the time.
When the game failed to recoup its investment, Nintendo's president Minoru Arawaka asked his employees how they could reuse the hardware. This ultimately led directly to Miyamoto's Donkey Kong - his first big hit. Over 2,000 of the 3,000 Radar Scope cabinets worldwide were converted to Donkey Kong... USING MAGIC!
Verdict: not very good. Aged horribly. The proverbial "bad cowboy".
Originally, Donkey Kong was intended to be a Popeye game - which is quite apparent when you look at the similarities between Donkey Kong and Bluto (short for "Blutovian"). When Nintendo failed to get the Popeye licence in time, Miyamoto designed his own characters - quite literally creating a "Pop-eye for the ape guy".
Nintendo finally secured the Popeye licence a year later, which led to this Donkey Kong-ish Popeye game. Its influence can also be felt in the front pocket of Miyamoto's Mario Bros., which was released later the same year.
Technically the first console game that Miyamoto worked on, Devil World was only ever released in Japan - perhaps due to its bizarre religious connotations. It's essentially a Pac-Man clone, wherein the player controls a green dragon who must collect dots, crucifixes and Bibles, in order to defeat no less an evil than the so-called "ultimate menace": The Devil himself.
While Miyamoto's trademark design is apparent in the characters - he was also producer - and it may have had an impact on future beat 'em ups, the game was a well-deserved flop at the time. What a sad and tawdry end for this list. And!