Eiji Aonuma

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Eiji Aonuma

Eiji Aonuma at the Game Developers Conference 2007
Born 1963
Flag of Japan Japan
Occupation Director and producer of video games at Nintendo

Eiji Aonuma (青沼 英二 Aonuma Eiji?, born 1963) is a Japanese designer and director of video games. He currently works for Nintendo, and the latest game he oversaw was The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the latest installment in the popular The Legend of Zelda series.

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[edit] Biography

[edit] Education

Aonuma attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where he majored in design, working on moving mechanical figures (whose members were articulated), which were essentially marionettes. He graduated in 1988 and then acquired his job at Nintendo, with whom he has remained since.

[edit] Nintendo

Aonuma began work on the Super Famicom game Marvelous: Mouhitotsu no Takarajim, which was only released in Japan and was influenced by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's renowned game designer, saw his work and asked him to be game system director on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, destined for the company's Nintendo 64 system. He is also the director of the next titles in the Legend of Zelda series, Majora's Mask, the Nintendo 64 successor to Ocarina of Time, and The Wind Waker, the first Zelda game for the company's GameCube console. After The Wind Waker, Aonuma considered moving onto other projects, but was convinced by Shigeru Miyamoto to continue with the Zelda series.[1]He said he "would like to make a Zelda that somehow surpasses the Ocarina of Time",[2]and Aonuma has recently finished working on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the newest title in the franchise and the second major Zelda title to be released for the GameCube, and a launch game for the Wii. He has recently completed work on a sequel to The Wind Waker for the Nintendo DS, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. He also assisted in making Link's Crossbow Training which was the first game which incorporated the use of the Wii Zapper. The game has since been released and it is unknown what game he and his team are working on now.

[edit] Miscellaneous

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  • Aonuma believes that Mario's name finds its origins in the word "marionette"[citation needed].
  • He enjoys music very much, being a member of a wind orchestra called "The Wind Wakers", named after The Wind Waker, which is composed of several Nintendo employees who perform concerts four times a year for other employees of the company, and in which he plays percussion (instruments as diverse as bongos, congas and timpani).
  • Aonuma also has a great passion for cooking, an affection he would somehow like to implement in a game.
  • Aonuma was voted Designer of the Year for his work on Twilight Princess in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 2006 1Up Network Awards.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Electronic Gaming Monthly, Issue 213, March 2007. Page 79.
  2. ^ N-Sider.com: Eiji Aonuma. Retrieved on July 16, 2004.

[edit] External links