Super Mario’s father turns 70 with R$40 million in his pocket

The success of “Super Mario Bros. The Movie” is thunderous. Close to reaching the mark of US$ 1 billion (almost R$ 5 billion) in profit in just three weeks of release, the film should make a significant leap at the box office because this Friday (28) it officially arrives in theaters in Japan and South Korea. It is already the most watched audiovisual product on the planet in 2023.

The film made the creator of the iconic Nintendo character even richer. This is Shigeru Miyamoto, who turned 70 and, before the release of the film, accumulated a fortune of US$ 40 million (almost R$ 200 million). It is estimated that these numbers will grow a lot after the historical success of the film.

Miyamoto is a game designer and producer born in Kyoto, Japan, who started working at Nintendo in the 1970s. He started out doing the art for games like “Sheriff” and “Radar Scope”, but his first big success was with the classic “Donkey Kong”.

Inspired by the success of “Donkey Kong”, he created the characters Mario and Luigi for the first “Mario Bros”. From then on, he became a true legend in the creation of successful characters and games, such as “The Legend of Zelda”, “F-Zero”, “Star Fox”, “Pikmin” and “Wii”.

Best-selling franchise in history

“Mario” is the best-selling game franchise in history, followed by “Wii Sports” – both by Miyamoto. And there’s more: he also created the classic “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”, considered the best game design of all time.

Along with his wife Yasuko, Miyamoto has two children and is extremely private in his private life, consistently turning down invitations to appear on TV.