Shigefumi Hino (日野 重文 Hino Shigefumi, born 1963) is a Japanese graphics designer, game director and planner from Nintendo. He is the creator of Yoshi from the Yoshi franchise. Hino later served as the director of the Pikmin series, alongside Masamichi Abe.
Career Shigefumi Hino joined Nintendo in 1989, where his first project was designing a sequel to Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race, which was ultimately unreleased. His first released product was Super Mario World in 1990, where he created the game's pixel art, as well as the character Yoshi, based on a rough sketch by Takashi Tezuka. Afterwards, Hino had the idea for a game with Yoshi as the main character, which would become Yoshi's Island. He chose a hand-drawn visual style to differentiate it from Rare's Donkey Kong Country, a game that notably used pre-rendered 3D graphics.
Hino then co-directed Pikmin and Pikmin 2 with Masamichi Abe, as well as Pikmin 3 with Yuji Kando. He has additionally worked as a designer for Super Mario Maker, Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Works Year Title Role1990Super Mario WorldCharacter designer1992Yoshi's Cookie 1993The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 1995Yoshi's Island Director, character designer1996Super Mario 64 CG illustratorTetris Attack Design adviserMario Kart 64 CG character designer1997Game & Watch Gallery 2 Design adviserYoshi's Story CG designer1998Pocket Monsters' Stadium Effects designerMario Party Design support1999Game & Watch Gallery 3 Design adviserPokémon Stadium 2D CG designer2001Pikmin Director2004Pikmin 2 2006New Super Mario Bros. Demo scene director2007Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree Sub-director2009New Super Mario Bros. Wii Planning2013Pikmin 3 Director 2015Super Mario Maker Planning 2016Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS Game design2019Super Mario Maker 2 2023Super Mario Bros. Wonder
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