Shigefumi Hino (日野重文 ''Hino Shigefumi'', born 1963) is a Japanese graphics designer,

game director A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Art ...

and planner from Nintendo. He is the creator of

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the ''Yoshi' ...

from the ''

'' franchise. Hino later served as the director of the ''

Pikmin is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and published by Nintendo. The games focus on directing a horde of plant-like creatures called Pikmin in order to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoiding ...

'' series, alongside Masamichi Abe.

Career

Shigefumi Hino joined Nintendo in 1989, where his first project was designing a sequel to '' Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race'', which was ultimately unreleased. His first released product was ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 19 ...

'' in 1990, where he created the game's pixel art, as well as the character Yoshi, based on a rough sketch by

Takashi Tezuka is a Japanese video game designer, director, and video game producer, producer. He is a senior officer of Nintendo EPD and executive at Nintendo. Career Upon graduating the Design Department of Osaka University of Arts, he joined Nintendo in A ...

. Afterwards, Hino had the idea for a game with Yoshi as the main character, which would become ''

Yoshi's Island ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' is a 1995 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls Yoshi, a friendly dinosaur, on a quest to reunite baby Mario with his ...

''. He chose a hand-drawn visual style to differentiate it from Rare's ''

Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and foll ...

'', a game that notably used pre-rendered 3D graphics. Hino then co-directed ''

'' and ''

Pikmin 2 is a 2004 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube home video game console. It is the direct sequel to the 2001 game ''Pikmin (video game), Pikmin'' and is the second game in the ''Pikmin'' series. ...

'' with Masamichi Abe, as well as ''

Pikmin 3 ''Pikmin 3'' is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U video game console. It is the sequel to the GameCube games ''Pikmin'' (2001) and '' Pikmin 2'' (2004), and was released in Japan on July ...

'' with Yuji Kando. He has additionally worked as a designer for ''

Super Mario Maker is a 2015 side-scrolling platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U, released worldwide in September 2015. Players can create, play, and share courses online, free of charge, based on the styles ...

'' and '' Super Mario Maker 2''.

Works

*''

'' (1990) – Character designer *'' Yoshi's Cookie'' (1992) – Character designer *'' The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening'' (1993) – Character designer *'' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'' (1995) – Director, character designer *'' Super Mario 64'' (1996) – CG illustrator *''

Tetris Attack ''Tetris Attack'', also known as in Japan, is a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A Game Boy version was released a year later. In the game, the player must ...

'' (1996) – Design adviser *''

Mario Kart 64 is a kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was also released for the iQue Player in China in 2003. The game is the second main entry in the ''Mario Kart'' series and is the successor to ''Super Mari ...

'' (1996) – CG character designer *''

Game & Watch Gallery 2 ''Game & Watch Gallery 2'' is a game developed by TOSE and released by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1997 and the Game Boy Color in 1998. It is the third game in the ''Game & Watch Gallery'' series, containing six remastered games from the ''Gam ...

'' (1997) – Design adviser *''

Yoshi's Story Yoshi's (also known as Yoshi's Jazz Club and Yoshi's Oakland) is a nightclub located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California, United States. The venue originally opened in 1972 as a restaurant in Berkeley, later moving to Claremont Avenue ...

'' (1997) – CG designer *''Pokémon Stadium'' (JP, 1998) – Effects designer *''

Mario Party is a party video game series featuring characters from the ''Mario'' franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters (called " CPUs") compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The games are currentl ...

'' (1998) – Design support *'' Game & Watch Gallery 3'' (1999) – Design adviser *''

Pokémon Stadium ''Pokémon Stadium'', known in Japan as is a strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. First released in Japan on April 30, 1999, it was later released as the first ''Stadium'' title in Western regions the foll ...

'' (1999) – 2D CG designer *''

'' (2001) – Director (with Masamichi Abe) *''

'' (2004) – Director (with Masamichi Abe) *'' New Super Mario Bros.'' (2006) – Demo scene director *'' Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree'' (2007) – Sub-director *'' New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' (2009) – Planning *''

'' (2013) – Director (with Yuji Kando) *''

'' (2015) – Planning (with Arisa Hosaka) *'' Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS'' (2016) - Game design *''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...

'' (2018) - Original game supervisor *'' Super Mario Maker 2'' (2019) - Game design

References

1963 births Japanese video game designers Japanese video game directors Living people Nintendo people {{videogame-bio-stub