Eiji Aonuma

**Eiji Aonuma** (青沼 英二, *Aonuma Eiji*, born March 16, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, director and producer, who works for Nintendo as the producer and project manager of *The Legend of Zelda* series.

## Biography

Aonuma attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where he completed his masters in composition design, working on marionettes. He graduated in 1988.

### Nintendo

After graduating, he interviewed at Nintendo. Aonuma met Shigeru Miyamoto during the interview, and showed Miyamoto samples of his college work. When he landed a job at Nintendo, however, he had never played a video game before, as he did not play them as a child. He asked his girlfriend about video games, and she introduced him to two Yuji Horii games, *Dragon Quest* (1986) on the Famicom and *The Portopia Serial Murder Case* (1983) on the PC-8801, which were the first video games he ever played. His first projects involved graphic design, creating sprites for Nintendo Entertainment System games such as 1991's *NES Open Tournament Golf*. Aonuma was director of development on 1996's *Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima* for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In a move which Aonuma attributes to his position on the *Marvelous* team, Miyamoto recruited Aonuma to join the development team for the *Zelda* series. He spent several years as a lead designer of *The Legend of Zelda* series: *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* and its sequel *Majora's Mask*, both for the Nintendo 64; and *The Wind Waker*, the first *Zelda* game for the GameCube. After *The Wind Waker*, Aonuma considered moving onto other projects, but was convinced by Shigeru Miyamoto to continue with the *Zelda* series.

He then led the production of *The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess*, the second major *Zelda* game to be released for the GameCube and a launch game for the Wii. He then produced a sequel to *The Wind Waker* for the Nintendo DS, *The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass*, followed by another Nintendo DS title, *The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks*. He also produced *Link's Crossbow Training* and *The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword* for the Wii, *The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds* for the Nintendo 3DS, and *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U. In November 2016, Aonuma received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Joystick Awards. In addition to producing *Zelda* games, Aonuma plays percussion as a member of a brass band he founded with five others in 1995, known as The Wind Wakers, named after the game of the same name. The band comprises over 70 Nintendo employees who perform four concerts a year. In June 2019, he was promoted to the position of Deputy General Manager within the company's Entertainment Planning & Development division.

## References

1. ↑ "今度のゼルダは「ダンジョンがたいへん」らしい。その１". *「ゼルダの伝説　時のオカリナ」の情報・産地直送！*. Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. 28 November 1998. http://www.1101.com/nintendo/nin1/nin1-7.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
2. ↑ "ニンドリドットコム〜ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計 開発スタッフインタビュー〜". August 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20070913111536/http://www.nindori.com/interview/160zelda/index.html.
3. ↑ "Eiji Aonuma (Part 1): Before The Legend of Zelda" (in en-US). 2019-08-22. https://switchaboo.com/2019/08/23/eiji-aonuma-part-1-before-the-legend-of-zelda/.
4. ↑ Woolf, Nicky (2009-11-25). "Legend of Zelda director Eiji Aonuma | Interview" (in en-GB), *The Guardian*.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Template:Cite journal
6. ↑ Latest Zelda’s making process & “Ocarina of Time” proposal disclosed (Nintendo Eiji Aonuma x SQEX Jin Fujisawa) (interview), DenfaminicoGamer, 2017-06-09
7. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, Issue 213, March 2007. Page 79.
8. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (April 17, 2013). "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past sequel coming to Nintendo 3DS this holiday". *Polygon*. Vox Media. http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/17/4234398/the-legend-of-zelda-link-to-the-past-sequel-coming-to-nintendo-3ds.
9. ↑ "IGN: GDC 2004: The History of Zelda". *IGN*. Ziff Davis. March 25, 2004. http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/03/26/gdc-2004-the-history-of-zelda?page=3. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
10. ↑ "IGN: Miyamoto and Aonuma on Zelda". *IGN*. Ziff Davis. December 4, 2002. http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/12/04/miyamoto-and-aonuma-on-zelda?page=5. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
11. ↑ Whitehead, Thomas (November 18, 2016). "Eiji Aonuma Wins Golden Joystick Lifetime Achievement Award as Pokémon GO Picks Up Two Gongs". Gamer Network. http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/11/eiji\_aonuma\_wins\_golden\_joystick\_lifetime\_achievement\_award\_as\_pokemon\_go\_picks\_up\_two\_gongs. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
12. ↑ Puha, Thomas; Kennedy, Sam (October 16, 2007). "1up Profiles Zelda Director Eiji Aonuma". 1up.com. http://www.1up.com/features/zelda-interview. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
13. ↑ Hilliard, Kyle. "Zelda Producer Eiji Aonuma Talks Creating Majora's Mask And His Personal Hobbies". Game Informer. https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/02/21/zelda-eiji-aonuma-interview.aspx?amp. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
14. ↑ Cole, Michael (May 17, 2004). "GDC 2004 - Eiji Aonuma Zelda Roundtable". Nintendo World Report. https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/interview/2180/gdc-2004-eiji-aonuma-zelda-roundtable. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
15. ↑ Doolan, Liam (June 15, 2019). "Eiji Aonuma And Multiple Others Have Been Promoted At Nintendo". https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/06/eiji\_aonuma\_and\_multiple\_others\_have\_been\_promoted\_at\_nintendo. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
16. ↑ Shea, Brian. "Breath Of The Wild's Director Is Returning For The Sequel". https://www.gameinformer.com/e3-2019/2019/06/11/breath-of-the-wilds-director-is-returning-for-the-sequel. Retrieved 12 June 2019.

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