Chapter 257 Recruiting Shigeru Miyamoto

The people Miyamoto usually associates with are mostly artists who are bohemian and wear weird clothes. Five years passed by in a hurry, and he completed his studies as if on thin ice.

Shigeru Miyamoto had no interest in entering a large company and working in a routine manner. He knew that he could not adapt to that rigid and restrictive environment.

Shigeru Miyamoto hopes that his career can give full play to his imagination, and that the working environment should be comfortable and pleasant. Obviously this is a bit idealistic, and he is not a rich second generation.

After living at home for more than a year, Shigeru Miyamoto's father recommended him to Nintendo's boss Hiroshi Yamauchi through connections. In 1977, Nintendo was actively entering the field of electronic games, and Nintendo had always valued science over writing.

Compared with talented people who can write a thousand words, creative electromechanical technicians are employees with real practical value.

As a result, the atmosphere when Miyamoto Shigeru and Yamauchi Hiroshi met for the first time was slightly awkward, and Yamauchi Hiroshi said bluntly: "What we need here are engineers, not painters like you."

During the second meeting a week later, the atmosphere relaxed a lot, and the conversation between the two touched on many practical things. Hiroshi Yamauchi suggested that Shigeru Miyamoto provide some practical design ideas for children's toys when they meet next time.

During the third meeting, Shigeru Miyamoto brought many hand-made toys and explained each of his masterpieces to Hiroshi Yamauchi. Hiroshi Yamauchi recognized Shigeru Miyamoto's talent and decided to formally invite him to join Nintendo.

Since there was no suitable position for the time being, Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned to the planning department, and his direct leader was Gunpei Yokoi. At that time, most of Nintendo's products were related to machinery. The tasks Yokoi Gunpei assigned Miyamoto were mainly related to arcade machines.

Odd errands such as exterior decoration of the stage,

However, thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto's clever combination of colors and patterns, the arcade machines produced by Nintendo at that time were very popular.

It is not difficult to see from these experiences that Shigeru Miyamoto's journey into Nintendo was not smooth sailing, and his current status in Nintendo is a marginal role. It can even be said that he has achieved nothing.

During the period before Shigeru Miyamoto was appointed leader of the 4th R&D Department by Puyu Yamauchi in 1984, his road to fame was still relatively tortuous.

In 1980, Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa had a large number of outdated products that were unsaleable, and Kyden requested the development of the latest arcade products. At that time, Nintendo's three major development departments were operating at full capacity and could not spare manpower to add new projects.

At this stage in the Japanese and American electronic game industries, there was no clear division of departments in the development of software and hardware products. Hardware manufacturing teams were often responsible for software design work at the same time.

Therefore, Gunpei Yokoi proposed the establishment of a specialized software development department. Hiroshi Yamauchi strongly agreed with this and focused his attention on Shigeru Miyamoto, the only idle person in the company.

Shigeru Miyamoto, who was trying his hand at the game for the first time, made his debut with "Donkey Kong", which was first launched in Japan at the end of 1980. The result was a complete failure. After selling thousands of units, it was relegated to the sidelines.

For Shigeru Miyamoto, the failure of "Donkey Kong" was a major blow. Everyone at Nintendo, including Gunpei Yokoi, was skeptical of his abilities.

Perhaps only Hiroshi Yamauchi believed that Miyamoto Shigeru still had greater potential to be tapped, and the GAME & WATCH department was in urgent need of manpower, so he directly transferred him to Yokoi's No. 1 Development Department.

But a dramatic scene happened. "Donkey Kong" became a great success after landing in North America the following year, with cumulative sales of more than 60,000 units, creating a profit of approximately US$120 million for Nintendo of America.

After carefully summarizing the failures of "Donkey Kong", Shigeru Miyamoto seemed to have completely found the feeling of making games. He successfully designed the "Super Mario" series, "The Legend of Zelda" series, and almost all of Shigeru Miyamoto's games. The games he participated in the development have received good market response.

Gunpei Yokoi, the head of Nintendo's first R&D department, might not be able to recruit people to Bai Zirui, but Shigeru Miyamoto was very likely to be poached by him. Therefore, after signing the contract, Bai Zirui asked Mikio Nakamura to meet with Shigeru Miyamoto.

Although Shigeru Miyamoto was a little surprised by the invitation from Mikio Nakamura, the senior executive of Scorin Co., Ltd. (Diens), he still accepted the invitation. This meeting took place in a high-end coffee shop in Kyoto.

After Shigeru Miyamoto came to the coffee shop, Mikio Nakamura introduced the two of them to each other. When Shigeru Miyamoto learned that Bai Zirui, who was about the same age as him, was the boss of a game company, he couldn't help but show envy on his face. color.

While Mikio Nakamura and Shigeru Miyamoto were chatting, Bai Zirui looked at Shigeru Miyamoto, who was still slightly shy despite working for several years, and at the same time, he was adjusting his lobbying plan to poach people.

For a game designer like Miyamoto Shigeru with an artistic temperament, those simple and crude methods may not work, and some skills must be paid attention to.

Therefore, Bai Zirui did not rush to ask Miyamoto Shigeru if he was willing to change jobs, but found a common topic with him by chatting about music. Bai Zirui said casually: "Miyamoto-kun, do you still like the music of the Beatles now?"

Shigeru Miyamoto replied without hesitation: "Of course!"

Bai Zirui asked pointedly: "Miyamoto-kun, do you think your job at Nintendo makes you free, happy and reflects your self-worth?"

Shigeru Miyamoto hesitated and replied: "It's okay!"

Bai Zirui smiled and said: "Is it okay? That means Miyamoto-kun's current job is not satisfactory. Miyamoto-kun already knows that I have a game company in Hong Kong. Although our company has just started, we have already developed a game. Classic arcade games, Nakamura-kun can attest to this, and our company’s working environment is comfortable and pleasant, and employees are encouraged to give full play to their imaginations. Are you interested in joining, Miyamoto-kun?"

Shigeru Miyamoto asked in confusion: "Shiro-kun, I'm just a small game designer, and I also designed a failed game. Why did Shigeru invite me?" He didn't know that "Donkey Kong" was a hit in the United States. news.

Bai Zirui said: "When looking at a person's development, we need to look at the long term. We should not just look at fame, but also at his talent. The game industry must value a designer's love for games, otherwise everything is empty talk. I think I have seen some of Miyamoto-kun's works, and although some are not very mature, they are full of creativity. This is what I appreciate about Miyamoto-kun.

My game company and Nintendo have different development mechanisms. You now do software and hardware together, while my company divides the work between the two. After Miyamoto-kun came, he was specifically responsible for the development of game programs. This work What’s more needed is the creative thinking of artists like you.

In addition, we have specially prepared game ideas for Miyamoto-kun, so that you can quickly get into work. I have good game ideas but suffer from lack of outstanding talents to implement them. I can just leave it to you to practice. Even if you fail, it doesn’t matter. , just sum up experience and lessons.”

If it weren't for Mikio Nakamura, an executive of the well-known company Scorin Co., Ltd. (Deans), sitting next to him, Shigeru Miyamoto would have thought that this man named Bai Zirui, who kept saying he admired his talent, was a liar.
Chapter completed!