Hiroshi Yamauchi | Super Mario Bros. | Nintendo | Kyoto

Or, as he puts it, half directly and half through an intermediary (Miyamoto's fluent in English but still uncomfortable with the language): "[All this attention] is embarrassing. I find it quite awkward. Looking back, it's fair to say fame was never supposed to be part of the deal."

INDEED YOU WOULDN'T find a less likely candidate for superstardom than this former bohemian, who spent his childhood days in a rural community near his current home of Kyoto, Japan, painting, drawing pictures, and dreaming of imaginary worlds. His explorations of the territory surrounding his home - of rivers, rice fields, and caverns - provided fertile inspiration for later games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

But in 1977, the long-haired romantic and former bandleader, fresh out of college after a five-year stint, was just another naive idealist desperately seeking work. His father, a friend of Hiroshi Yamauchi, head of the then playing-card and toy manufacturer Nintendo, arranged an interview for Miyamoto, which eventually led to a job as Nintendo's first staff artist.

Come 1980, after three years of producing art for use in coin-­operated arcade games, Yamauchi assigned Miyamoto a monumental task: to revamp Radarscope, a failed title he'd staked the company on. Miyamoto's response: He scrapped Radarscope's design entirely, citing cinematic inspiration and the need to employ moviemaking characterization techniques.

In its place, the legendary Donkey Kong was born. Released in 1981, the title (whose name came from a humorously misguided search through a Japanese/English dictionary) went on to storm arcades around the globe and save the firm. It also introduced the world to the mustached hero Jumpman, who eventually evolved into the character we recognize today as Mario.