Miyamoto

We've seen Shigeru Miyamoto's ever-beaming self quite a lot over recent years, often during big events such as E3 where he's essentially presented as the face of Nintendo and an all-round gaming icon, but we don't often get the chance to see him in his younger days. Thanks to this rediscovered interview with the BBC, however, now we can.

The British television broadcaster gets an exclusive look into Nintendo's famous walls - a treat reserved for very few even today - and sits down for a chat with Miyamoto-san to talk about life at Nintendo back in 1990. Despite only being around 38 years old at the time, he was still considered the "god of games" back then by youngsters - of course, he had already designed and released the likes of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda by this time, so we guess that's fair enough.

https://twitter.com/TheRetroEarth/status/1027685791005401088

In the video, it is explained that all of the Nintendo colleagues wore a uniform to work, and were paid an "ordinary" salary despite their games being able to earn the company several hundred million dollars a piece. Miyamoto explains why the developers were happy to work in these usual, non-flamboyant conditions:

"That's a difficult one... Well, we’re not paid glamorously for developing games which sell well, but the company's a sponsor; it encourages and pays for us to visit museums, to go to movies, or even short trips so that we can get inspired. So everyone’s happy to work for the company, especially as we get the prestige of being associated with it."

That's a nice sentiment, and one that shows a high level of loyalty to Nintendo's name. The passion for developing the games and working under Nintendo's roof were clearly larger inspirations than earning huge amounts of money, which no doubt, in turn, helped the quality of the final products. 

Now then, when are we being invited to take a visit to Nintendo HQ?

[source twitter.com]