Today in Nintendo History:
Hiroyuki Kimura was born! (1965)
Born in 1965, graphics designer Kimura joined Nintendo back in 1988 as a trainee. His first assignment: character design in Super Mario Bros 3! One of the characters he designed for the game, Spike, has appeared in multiple games since then.
Kimura was then assigned to work under the Legendary Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game Boy. Under him, Kimura worked on games like Metroid 2 for the Game Boy and then Super Metroid for the SNES. After Yokoi's departure though, Kimura went back to Nintendo EAD.
Kimura went under the radar for a few years until the GBA era, when he played a major role in the Super Mario Advance series of ports/remakes. A designer for the original, he then directed Super Mario Advances 2 through 4.
Thus, it's no wonder that Hiroyuki Kimura got a role producing a certain series of 2D platforming games starting on the DS.
Since 2006, Kimura's main claim to fame is as the producer of the New Super Mario Bros series, the series that helped bring the 2D platformer back into the limelight. All your love or hate of these games can be directed at Kimura. Personally, I have more love than hate. Especially since he was also the producer of the Wiimakes of Pikmin 1 and 2 and Pikmin 3.
When I think of Hiroyuki Nimura, I think of 2D Mario games in the 21st century. He was the one who brought those ports to the GBA, and he is largely responsible for the quality of the farily recent "New" series. He might not have had the impact of some other Nintendo employees, but let's wish him a happy 49th!
Other Tidbits
- Worked on the NES Zapper
- Produced the Big Brain games
- Supervised the GBA Mario Kart, Super Circuit
- Given Thanks in 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Lacks a decent picture
A quickie retrospective for a busy day.
