Shigeru Miyamoto, born November 16th 1952 is arguably the most influential creator of videogames in the world.

His is the mind behind such instantly recognizable classics as Super Mario Land and The Legend of Zelda.

Miyamoto was born in Kyoto, Japan and from a young age showed an affinity for drawing and painting pictures. Apparently, as a young boy he also made many discoveries in the area surrounding his house that would later become pivotal features in the games he designed (see the Legend of Zelda series).

After completing a degree in industrial design, Shigeru Miyamoto was first employed by Nintendo in 1977 as an artist and part of the team working on a game called “Radar Scope” which was not as successful as Nintendo had originally hoped.

However, Miyamoto, utilizing the thinking that has made him such a global success, reused the hardware to produce the original “Donkey Kong” which became a franchise that survives to this day.

From then on, Miyamoto shot to games-design stardom. He was first honoured officially in 1998, being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame- an award which recognized his dramatic and highly inspirational effect on the gaming industry as a whole.

In more recent years he has headed the production of the Nintendo Wii games console (which was a revolution in control interfaces and player interaction types) which outsold both of its main rivals (the PS3 and the XboX 360) easily.

Video Courtesy Of 'Play Value' by On Networks