Danica Davidson
July 13, 2021 
Recently a Nintendo shareholder said to top people at the company during a meeting that discussed candidates for the board of directors, “We hope that those holding key positions at Nintendo are at least game enthusiasts, even if they don’t have skills in game production. In order for us to get to know the personalities of each director candidate, please tell us your favorite games.”
And several top people from Nintendo gave their answers.
“When I was in junior high school, Super Mario Bros. was released, and I’m right in the middle of the NES generation,” remarked President Shuntaro Furukawa. “I still play a variety of games in my private life, regardless of which company I work for. Each candidate will respond to this question to this extent.”
President Furukawa also said, “I play most of our own titles, but recently I’ve been playing a lot of hanafuda on Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics.”
“Like Furukawa, I am of the NES generation and grew up with the NES and Super NES,” said Senior Executive Officer Ko Shiota. “I’m still in charge of hardware, but since then I’ve been interested in the mechanics of things, such as tinkering with hardware. That’s why I’ve been playing games such as Mario Kart Live Home Circuit with my children.”
“I basically played only my own games, and was not influenced much by the games of other companies,” said Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto. “However, when I started working in game development, the first game that influenced me was Pac-Man, and I think Tetris is a great design. My dream of playing games with my whole family came true with this game, and for the past two years, I’ve been enjoying playing Pokémon GO with my wife and neighborhood friends. I think the average age of Pokémon GO players in Japan might be around 60 (laughs).”
“I’m in charge of all our software, so it’s difficult for me to pick a favorite because of my position, but the first game I was involved in after joining the company was Famicom Fairytales: Yūyūki for the Family Computer Disk System,” commented Senior Managing Exec Officer Shinya Takahashi. “It’s not a very famous adventure game, but it left a strong impression on me as the first game I worked on.”
“I like adventure games, and I just recently completed the Nintendo Switch game Famicom Detective Club: The Vanishing Successor/Ushironi Tachijo,” said Senior Executive Officer Satoru Shibata. “In the past, I also really liked Famicom Fairytales: New Island of Ogres on the Family Computer Disk System. Also, I’m in charge of the Operations Division, which is the contact point for software makers, and there are many adventure games from software makers, and I enjoy those as well.”
Source: grape
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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