# Hiroji Kiyotake

Hiroji Kiyotake (清武 博二, Kiyotake Hiroji), born December 21, 1960, in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan) is a game designer for Nintendo and has been a part of the history of Nintendo since 1983.

## Education

Kiyotake graduated from Kyoto Seika University with a BA of Visual Design and was part of the rugby club.

## Career

Kiyotake started his employment at Nintendo in 1983, working in the Nintendo Research & Development 1 and Product Engineering Departments, and is currently a member of the Planning and Development Department.

## Game design
### Metroid

Hiroji was a designer for Metroid, which was originally designed for the Famicom Disk System. Hiroji is the character designer of Samus Aran and named the Metroid character after Pelé, but he later found out that Pelé's full name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, not Samus Arantes. Hiroji and Yoshio Sakamoto and the rest of the team decided at the end of Metroid to reveal that Samus was a female character, making Samus Aran one of the first female protagonists in a video game.

### Wario series

Kiyotake is the original designer of Mario's rival Wario and one of the key people in the Wario series. Kiyotake and Takehiko Hosokawa were the directors and graphic designers of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. For Virtual Boy Wario Land, he acted as a director, and for Wario games released after Wario Land 4, his role is mostly limited to the Wario design and advising, according to the staff credits of the respective games. During the development of Wario: Master of Disguise, Kiyotake supervised the numerous forms of disguised Wario designed by SUZAK.

## Games

* Pinball (Game & Watch) (1983) - Graphic Designer
* Bassmate Computer | Probe 2000 (1984) - Designer
* Duck Hunt (1984) - Graphic Designer
* Wrecking Crew (1984) - Graphic Designer
* Metroid (1986) - Character Designer (as Kiyotake)
* Kid Icarus (1986) - Assistant (as Kehiroji)
* Famicom Wars (1988) - Design (as Kehiroji)
* Tennis (Game Boy) (1989) - Graphic Designer
* Dr. Mario (1990) - Director, Graphic Designer
* Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991) - Director, Graphic Designer
* Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) - Director, Graphic Designer
* Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994) - Director, Graphic Designer
* Super Metroid (1994) - Samus Original Design
* Wario Blast (1994) — Graphic designer
* Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! (1994) - Graphic Designer
* Virtual Boy Wario Land (1995) - Director
* Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium (1997) - Technical Support
* Wario Land II (1998) - Character Designer
* Tetris DX (1998) - Director
* Mario Party (1998) - Original Character
* Super Smash Bros. (1999) - Original Game Staff (Samus Original Design)
* Mario Golf (Nintendo 64) (1999) - Original Characters
* Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) (1999) - Original Characters
* Mario Party 2 (1999) - Original Characters
* Wario Land 3 (2000) - Designer
* Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64) (2000) - Original Characters
* Kaijin Zona (2000) - Nintendo Staff
* Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) (2000) - Original Characters
* Mario Party 3 (2000) - Original Character
* Mobile Golf (2001) - Original Characters
* Wario Land 4 (2001) - Designer
* Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) - Original Game Staff (Character Design: Samus)
* Mario Party 4 (2002) - Original Characters
* Metroid Fusion (2002) - Samus Original Design
* Mario Party-e (2003) - Original Characters
* WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (2003) - Wario Original Design
* Wario World (2003) - Advisor
* Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (2003) - Character Design
* WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! (2003) - Wario Design
* Mario Party 5 (2003) - Character Design
* Metroid: Zero Mission (2004) - Samus Design
* Mario Golf: Advance Tour (2004) - Character Design
* WarioWare: Twisted! (2004) - Wario Design
* Mario Power Tennis (2004) - Character Design
* Mario Party 6 (2004) - Character Design
* WarioWare: Touched! (2004) - Wario Design
* Mario Party Advance (2005) - Character Design
* Mario Party 7 (2005) - Original Character Design
* WarioWare: Smooth Moves (2006) - Wario Design
* Wario: Master of Disguise (2007) - Wario Supervisor
* Mario Party 8 (2007) - Original Character Design
* Zekkyō Senshi Sakeburein (2007) - Supervisor
* Mario Party DS (2007) - Original Character Design
* WarioWare D.I.Y. (2009) - Wario Design
* Metroid: Other M (2010) - Concept Art
* Pushmo (2011) - Special Thanks

## Interviews

* Super Mario Land 2 - 1992 Developer Interview (Shmuplations)
* Nintendo Dream: Famicom Disk System
* Metroid Developer Interview - NES Classic Edition