At Nintendo’s 81st annual general meeting of shareholders, a Q&A section allowed those present to ask all kinds of business-related questions. One, however, was so obvious I cannot believe it hasn’t been asked before: someone simply wanted to know what everyone’s favourite video games were.
Those asked included President Shuntaro Furukawa, senior executive officer Ko Shiota, Senior Managing Executive Officer Shinya Takahashi, senior executive officer Satoru Shibata and legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
You’ll find their responses below. Don’t go expecting much that will shock you—there’s a lot of, “Well I made old Nintendo games so those,” kinda replies—but Miyamoto’s in particular is pretty cool.
Furukawa: Super Mario Bros. was released when I was in junior high school, so I was right in the middle of the Famicom (NES) generation. Even today, in my private time, I play various games, both from Nintendo and from other companies. I play most of our own first-party titles, but recently I’ve been playing a lot of the Hanafuda card game in Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics.
Shiota: Like Mr. Furukawa, I was part of the Famicom generation and grew up with the NES and SNES. I’m in charge of hardware now, but I’ve tinkered with hardware and been interested in how things work ever since. That probably explains why I gravitate to games like our recent product Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, which I play with my kids.
Takahashi: I’m in charge of all our first-party software, so it’s hard to choose one game over another. But the first game I was involved with when I joined Nintendo was Yuyuki for the Family Computer Disk System. It’s a lesser-known adventure game, but it left an impression on me as the first title I was involved with.
Shibata: I like adventure games, and I just recently cleared Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind for Nintendo Switch. Back in the day, I really loved playing Shin Onigashima for the Family Computer Disk System. I’m in charge of the Licensing Division, which serves as a contact point for software publishers, and they also have many adventure games that I enjoy.
Miyamoto: I basically tend to play the games I created myself, so I haven’t been influenced much by the games of other companies. That said, the first game that influenced me when I started the job of game development was Pac-Man, and from a design perspective, I think TETRIS is wonderful. I’m currently hooked on Pokémon GO. This game, which I’m playing with my wife, is a dream come true of playing a game with my whole family. I’ve been enjoying Pokémon GO with my wife and neighborhood friends for some two years now. The average person playing Pokémon GO in Japan is probably around 60 years old (laughs).
I would pay a lot of money to see a series where Miyamoto (the host) walks around his neighbourhood playing Pokémon Go, chatting with friends about love, life and game design. Like Nintendo’s own version of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, just with leisurely strolls instead of cars, and Pokémon Go instead of coffee.
Just so you can see what some of the more unfamiliar games mentioned above look like, here’s Shin Onigashima:
And here’s Yuyuki: