Shigeru Miyamoto to receive Japan’s Order of Culture – the first game developer ever
The creator of Super Mario and Zelda is honoured with one of Japan’s highest awards. He accepts it on behalf of his teams.
Archive image · Photo: 大臣官房人事課 (MEXT) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Nintendo veteran Shigeru Miyamoto is to receive Japan’s Order of Culture (Bunka Kunshō). As GamesIndustry.biz and My Nintendo News reported on Friday, citing the Japanese government, he is the first person from the games industry to be awarded the order. It has been granted since 1937 for outstanding contributions to Japanese culture in art, literature, science and technology, and is traditionally presented by the Emperor on Culture Day, 3 November.
The honour recognises almost 50 years of work at Nintendo, which Miyamoto joined in 1977. His breakthrough came in 1981 with the arcade game Donkey Kong; he went on to create Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox and Pikmin, among others. In 2019 he had already become the first game developer to be named a Person of Cultural Merit.
In an interview with Japanese outlet Denfaminico Gamer, Miyamoto said, in essence, that games are never made by one person alone; he accepts the award on behalf of all the teams he has worked with and feels deeply honoured.