Short answers, pulled from the story.
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer and producer at Nintendo, born on the 16th of November, 1952, in Sonobe, Kyoto. He created the Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and Pikmin franchises. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring his franchises have been sold.
Miyamoto's father arranged an interview with Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi through a mutual friend. After Miyamoto showed Yamauchi his toy creations, Nintendo hired him in 1977 as an apprentice in the planning department.
Miyamoto drew inspiration from his childhood in Kyoto, where he explored fields, woods, and caves, and once discovered a cave after days of hesitation. He also recreated his memory of becoming lost in the maze of sliding doors in his family home in Zelda's dungeon designs.
Donkey Kong was named by American staff at Nintendo of America. The playable character, originally called Jumpman, was renamed Mario after Mario Segale, the landlord of Nintendo's Redmond, Washington, warehouse. The woman character was named Pauline after Polly James, wife of the warehouse manager Don James.
Miyamoto was the first inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2006, France made him a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2012, he received Spain's Prince of Asturias Award, and in 2019, he received Japan's Person of Cultural Merit honor, becoming the first video game industry figure to do so.
Miyamoto tests games himself first, believing that if he enjoys a game, others will too. He prioritizes gameplay feel over storytelling, stating in a 1992 interview that quality "is not determined by the story, but by the controls, the sound, and the rhythm and pacing." He wants players to experience kyokan, feeling about the game what the developers felt themselves.