Shigeru Miyamoto to receive Person of Cultural Merit award

Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Nintendo franchises such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda, will receive the Person of Cultural Merit award on November 3, known as Culture Day in Japan.

He is the first person representing video games to be named for the award, given by the Ministry of Culture. Overall, twenty people were recognized for the award in the fields of the arts, music, science, and academia.

Miyamoto told CNN, “the video games I’ve been involved in developing could not have been made by a single person, so I’m very humbled to receive this honor as an individual.”

At Nintendo, he currently works as as Representative Director and Creative Fellow.

Besides the creation of Mario and Zelda, Miyamoto-san also created the Donkey Kong and Star Fox franchises.

“Those who started to develop games together close to 40 years ago are continuing to work together with me even now, while also cooperating with developers worldwide,” Miyamoto stated. “I am very grateful for this acknowledgement given to our development teams for their sustained efforts and for recognition of the video game as Japanese culture. We will continue to make our utmost efforts to put smiles on the faces of people around the world.”

[Sources]: CNN: ‘Mario Bros.’ creator Shigeru Miyamoto to be given one of Japan’s highest honors. Kotaku: Japanese Government Honors Shigeru Miyamoto As Person of Cultural Merit.